Eternal Life: I Can Control My Essence Qi-Chapter 284 - 207: Sowing Discord? (2)

"Buzz!" "Buzz!"...

From the nine Golden Core Cultivators, each a translucent green command token flew out from their bodies and storage bags, emitting countless rays of light, covering each of their masters.

The front rays converged into a hexagon, shining onto the gap, where the light seemed to flow like water.

"Boom!"

The grand door of the Jade Divine Palace opened with a roar, revealing a wide and bright hall.

The nine Jade Orders flew back, reclaimed by their respective owners, Zhang Yao and Haihe Ancestor exchanged a glance and were the first to step into the hall.

At the moment of stepping into the hall:

Zhang Yao's vision blurred, as if he had entered a multicolored tunnel, with bizarre and strange sights flashing back and forth like a carousel.

"The first stage is here."

Calmness filled Zhang Yao's heart, with not a hint of panic.

The selection of the Jade Divine Palace's goal has fixed checkpoints, which he had long understood and prepared for thoroughly.

Soon, the multicolored tunnel disintegrated, transforming into a distorted, illusory path that turned the surrounding world into a maze.

Zhang Yao observed for a moment, then decisively chose a path to stride forward, without hesitation.

The first stage tests the strength of the Divine Soul and Divine Thought.

The weaker one's Divine Soul, the worse their perception abilities, making the maze's illusion harder to distinguish from reality; conversely, the stronger one's Divine Soul and Divine Thought, the easier it is to see through the illusion.

This distinction is based on the same realm, not absolute strength, which was undoubtedly great news for Zhang Yao.

"This is really quite simple."

With Zhang Yao's Divine Soul and Divine Thought strength, he could directly see through the illusion of seven or eight routes out of ten at a glance.

This greatly reduced his trial-and-error cost, needing at most one or two attempts to immediately find the true path to the next stage of the Divine Thought Maze.

After walking in the maze for about a quarter of an hour:

"Splash!"

His vision suddenly cleared, with brightness spreading, and the surrounding illusory maze collapsed.

Zhang Yao squinted and, regaining clarity, found he had reached the final part of the first chamber, before him a tightly closed ancient green jade gate.

"Truly impressive!"

There was a hint of seriousness in his expression.

He turned to find that his position was no more than a dozen feet away from where he had entered the chamber.

Yet within this short distance, he sensed traveling at least thousands of feet, indicating that the arrays targeting Divine Souls within the Jade Divine Palace were far beyond his comprehension.

"At least a level four top-tier grand array, possibly even a level five array!"

As Zhang Yao thought this, he suddenly sensed a movement.

An enigmatic message descended from above, flooding into his mind, which was the basic information conveyed by this Jade Divine Palace.

The message was simple:

Besides roughly introducing the rules of the Jade Divine Palace, it stressed that trial takers within the Jade Divine Palace could not attack each other, except in certain designated areas; violators would be expelled from the Jade Divine Palace.

"Designated areas?"

Zhang Yao keenly noticed this term, immediately understanding it.

No wonder Haihe Ancestor and Fairy Xia Guang deduced that the latter part of the Jade Divine Palace might contain competitive stages, precisely because of the implicit information revealed in this message.

Besides the competitive stages, the exploration itself wasn't dangerous, the real peril was during the end of the exploration.

"Not the time yet."

Zhang Yao withdrew his gaze, ignoring the many Golden Core Cultivators within the first chamber.

Apart from himself, the others were stumbling forward with their eyes closed, moving slower than snails.

The fastest, the Three Evils Daoist, was still seven or eight feet away from his position at the ancient green jade gate, which would take at least another quarter of an hour.

"Hmm..."

Zhang Yao turned to look at the transparent jade pendant beside the ancient green jade gate.

The transparent jade pendant bore lines of golden text, obviously representing some names, yet Zhang Yao couldn't recognize the script.

"Could this be some kind of ancient script derived from Yin-Eroded Yang Carving?"

Zhang Yao speculated but was unable to determine for sure.

The Ancient Great Destruction created a historical break, causing many things to be lost. The current language and script circulating within the Cultivation Realm and Mortal World were constructed by Immortal Dao Ancestors based on ancient remnants.

Interestingly, this meant that the previously ununified language and script of ancient times were unified afterwards, with the same language now used across all realms.

"The ancient times truly were an era of prodigious talents."

Zhang Yao mused while looking at the writing on the transparent jade pendant.

It was clear without guessing that these were likely some kind of list, followed by symbols resembling numbers, potentially a time scale.

Despite Zhang Yao's strong Divine Soul, enough to rival Soul Cultivators of the same rank, he couldn't even make it to the last position of the top ten on the list, which underscored how fierce the ancient competition was.

In all the stages within the Jade Divine Palace:

All trial takers must complete the stage, either successfully or unsuccessfully, before the door to the next stage opens.

This meant that despite Zhang Yao being the first to break through the first stage, he had to patiently wait for others to pass—given they were all in the Golden Core Realm, none should be unable to pass the first stage.

After waiting quietly for a moment:

"Huh?!"

The Three Evils Daoist finally arrived before the ancient green jade gate, suddenly opening his eyes.

He was momentarily dazed but quickly composed himself, a hint of delight in his eyes:

"Finally out..."

He then noticed Zhang Yao beside him, tensing momentarily but soon relaxing.

He realized it was the interior of the Jade Divine Palace; Zhang Yao, no matter how arrogant and vicious, couldn't attack him unless he wished to be expelled.

"He was sure to be the first, but how far ahead is he, I wonder..."

Even though Three Evils Daoist was mentally prepared, his feelings were still complicated when the time came.

During the last exploration, he had been first in all respects, ultimately acquiring an Ancient Spiritual Treasure.

This time, however, the competition was exceptionally fierce, with so many powerhouses. Not to mention first place, he couldn't even be sure of the top three, having to strive for an opportunity for later success.

"Fellow Daoist Qingxu."

Three Evils Daoist thought for a moment, then spoke:

"There's something I'd like to tell you."

"Oh?"

Zhang Yao glanced at him, responding casually: 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

"What does Fellow Daoist San Sha want to say?"

He was curious to see what the Three Evils Daoist was up to.

Surely this person wasn't foolish enough to try and sow discord between them while Haihe Ancestor and Fairy Xia Guang were still asleep?

Unexpectedly, the Three Evils Daoist truly did try:

"Daoist, I don't know what Haihe and Fairy Xia Guang have told you, but you should be wary of them!"

The Three Evils Daoist said seriously:

"You know, after we left the Jade Divine Palace, how I convinced Elder Yuanxu and Bai Hong Sword Immortal to join forces against Haihe and Dawn Light?"

Intrigued, Zhang Yao gestured for him to continue:

"Let's hear it."

"The reason I persuaded them, in fact, was for this one point alone."

The Three Evils Daoist said calmly:

"I can firmly state, there must be something wrong with either Haihe or Fairy Xia Guang!"

"Elder Yuanxu and Bai Hong Sword Immortal ultimately acknowledged my judgment and decided to ally with me."

Zhang Yao narrowed his eyes and asked:

"On what basis did you make that judgment?"

"Simple."

The Three Evils Daoist slowly explained:

"We've all attended the routine gathering at Feicui Lake many times, but it was the first for both Haihe and Fairy Xia Guang."

"As for Haihe, there's nothing more to say, he was originally an outsider, always excluded, only recently being grudgingly accepted, gaining the right to participate in the Feicui Lake discussions."

"As for Fairy Xia Guang, she achieved Golden Core status over fifty or sixty years ago, but previously her master, Fairy Hongxia, was still alive, and always represented the Luoxia Sect. It wasn't until sixteen years ago, when Fairy Hongxia passed away, that she attended."

Pausing here, his tone grew more serious:

"I never believe in coincidence without reason."

"We several Golden Core Cultivators have gathered at Feicui Lake many times before, always without incident."

"Yet, five years ago during the last gathering, after Haihe and Fairy Xia Guang attended, the Jade Divine Palace suddenly appeared. Isn't that suspicious?"