449: Chapter 459 Ancient Stone Gate Formation

A deathly silence fell over the hall.

Only the charcoal in the stove occasionally made a faint crackling sound.

Su Ming sat there quietly. He could imagine the devastating catastrophe from a thousand years ago. The wrath of a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator could wipe out a prosperous Dynasty. Before such absolute power, schemes, military tactics, and grand ambitions were nothing more than a joke.

"Sir, you mentioned the Lantai Secret Garden. Does it have something to do with this Great Yan Dynasty?" Su Ming looked up and asked.

Elder Qingquan nodded. "Indeed. The Lantai Secret Garden is a hidden underground Secret Realm left behind by the Great Yan royal family. It is said to contain not only the rare treasures collected by the Great Yan Dynasty but also many lost ancient Formation records. When Great Yan fell, the last emperor used his final life force to seal the gates of the Secret Realm."

"When I passed through the capital years ago, I also took a look around those ruins. Unfortunately, an extremely ancient Restriction was placed on that stone gate, requiring a specific royal key to open. Although I am proficient in Formations, forcing it open would only trigger the Secret Realm's self-destruction. In the end, I could only observe the residual patterns of those Formations from the outside."

Elder Qingquan set down his teacup and looked at Su Ming with a gentle gaze.

"The Northern Mang diplomatic mission hasn't arrived yet, so we have some free time. Your Comprehension Ability in the Dao of Formations is extremely high; you should go and see the Lantai Secret Garden. Even if you can't get the things inside, meditating on the ancient Formation patterns outside will be of great benefit in solidifying your foundation in the Dao of Formations."

Su Ming did not hesitate in the slightest.

He didn't care about the treasures of the former Dynasty, and he knew his current cultivation level wasn't enough to handle things of that caliber. But if it was Formation knowledge that could increase his chances of survival, that was a different story.

He stood up and gave a respectful bow.

"This Disciple will go and take a look tomorrow morning."

...

The next morning, the fog in the capital was thicker than usual.

The damp, cold air carried the bleakness unique to late autumn. Su Ming, dressed in his grey long robe with a Purple Jade Medallion representing his status as a True Disciple of the Cloud Hidden Sect hanging from his waist, walked alone along the bluestone path leading to the northwestern corner of the capital.

The Lantai Secret Garden was not in the center of the palace, but located in a desolate area on the outskirts of the Imperial City, strictly enclosed by high red walls.

This place was once a Forbidden Ground heavily guarded by the Daxing court, but when Su Ming flashed that Purple Jade Medallion before the eyes of the general of the Imperial Guard, those mortal soldiers clad in heavy armor immediately knelt on the ground as if avoiding a venomous snake. They didn't even dare to raise their heads as they tremblingly pushed open the heavy, rusted iron gates.

Su Ming stepped inside the high walls.

Just a single wall separated them, yet it felt as if he had crossed a thousand years of time.

There were no carved beams or painted rafters, no pavilions or towers. What met his eyes was a vast but utterly desolate expanse of ruins.

Massive white jade pillars were broken into several sections, lying haphazardly in waist-deep wild grass. Residual fragments of glazed tiles shimmered dimly in the morning mist. On the ground beneath his feet, one could even see the glass-like scorch marks left behind by terrifying Spells a thousand years ago.

A cold wind blew through the wild grass, making a sound like a whimper.

This was the ruins of the Great Yan Dynasty's palace, the central battlefield of that fight between Nascent Soul Stage immortals.

Su Ming did not lower his guard because of the surrounding desolation. He circulated the liquid spiritual power within his body to his eyes, and a faint blue glow flickered deep within his pupils.

In his vision, beneath these seemingly lifeless ruins, countless broken spiritual power pathways as fine as a Spider Web were hidden. Although these pathways had lost most of their power, they were still like sleeping venomous snakes; a careless touch would trigger a fatal backlash.

"What violent residual spiritual power; it hasn't dissipated even after a thousand years." Su Ming felt a hint of solemnity in his heart. Using the footwork of the Ruoshui Art, he moved as if stepping on ripples, gracefully avoiding one hidden spiritual power trap after another.

After crossing most of the ruins, Su Ming stopped behind a massive, half-collapsed artificial hill.

There was no path ahead.

In its place was a massive rift valley deeply embedded into the underground rock layers. At the end of the rift valley, a colossal stone gate ten zhang high and five zhang wide was embedded.

The stone gate was an oppressive grayish-blue color, its surface covered with the mottled traces of time's erosion and thick moss.

Su Ming stood at the edge of the rift valley, looking up at the stone gate.

Even from dozens of zhang away, he could still feel an extremely ancient, desolate, and oppressive aura washing over him. This gate was like a silent Elder, coldly watching every intruder who attempted to pry into the secrets behind it.

Su Ming took a deep breath and followed the edge of the rift valley, slowly walking to the base of the stone gate.

Up close, he could finally see that the surfaces of these two massive stone gates were densely inscribed with ancient Seal Script characters of extreme complexity.

These seal characters were completely different from the runes commonly used in today's cultivation world. They lacked that light Daoist charm; instead, every stroke carried an air of martial slaughter, as if they had been forcefully carved with swords and spears.

Su Ming looked up, his gaze sweeping over the ancient seal characters one by one.

Suddenly, his heart skipped a beat.

An extremely strange sense of familiarity instantly surged into his heart.

"These characters..." Su Ming frowned, his fingers instinctively rubbing his chin as he whispered to himself in his Sea of Consciousness, "I seem to have seen them somewhere before. And... more than once."

But when he tried to think carefully, that memory seemed to be covered by a thick fog, impossible to grasp.

Su Ming was never one to dwell on gains and losses; if he couldn't remember, he simply wouldn't think about it. His eyes regained their calm, like a well with no ripples.

He stepped forward, reached out his hands, and gently pressed them against the cold, rough surface of the stone gate.

A thread of liquid, faint blue spiritual power followed his palm, cautiously probing into the stone gate.

"Buzz—"

The moment the spiritual power touched the interior of the stone gate, the entire gate jolted violently. The ancient seal characters covered in moss instantly lit up with a layer of dark gold light.

A massive, suffocating counter-shock force surged back through Su Ming's arms like a tidal wave.

Su Ming let out a muffled groan. His feet plowed two deep furrows into the bluestone floor as he slid back more than a dozen steps before finally managing to dissipate that terrifying counter-shock force.

His blood and Qi churned. The liquid spiritual power in his body circulated frantically for three major cycles before he finally neutralized the dark gold power that had forced its way into his Meridians.

"What a domineering Restriction."