Five Immortal Sects-Chapter 135: Decision

Gong Chenying stared at the blue prism crystal and green gourds flying toward her. When she heard Li Yan’s voice through sound transmission, a jolt ran through her heart, but her expression remained calm as she replied without betraying anything.

“How can we pass through the checkpoint?”

“To be precise, adding the blue prism crystal in your hand, we should be able to have three people exit each stage's passage and reach the area beyond. I haven’t tested it yet, but I’m fairly certain that one blue prism crystal can take one person.”

This was the greatest secret Li Yan had discovered within the core of the blue prism crystal. However, with so many people present, he couldn’t speak openly. If he did, it would inevitably incite chaos.

“Oh? Three blue prism crystals can take three people to somewhere beyond the checkpoint? Are you sure?”

Gong Chenying pressed the question while remaining silent outwardly. Li Yan’s information was earth-shattering. After all, she had attempted to leave the street in the first trial and the ancient desert path in the second.

In the first, it felt like an invisible wall barred them, no one could step even half a foot off the street. In the second, when they tried to go more than a hundred zhang into the desert, it almost led to total annihilation.

Though she hadn’t tested the volcanic cave or the icy path of the current stage, she was well aware that they had always been confined within a limited area in each trial hemmed in by an unseen barrier, unable to move sideways or retreat, forced to move forward alone.

“I’m not certain.”

Li Yan replied. He couldn’t say for sure, but based on what he had seen at the core of the blue prism crystal, his intuition told him this was the case.

“How long will it take to confirm?”

“Probably five or six breaths but I’ll need to test it alone...”

Li Yan hesitated slightly, but Gong Chenying cut in quickly.

“I’ll find a reason to leave you behind. We’ll go ahead. If you manage to get out, be extremely cautious. Observe what lies beyond the passage. If something feels off, return immediately. I trust you can catch up to the group in a short time.”

At this point, Gong Chenying paused for a moment, as if uncertain about something.

“If possible… try to find Bai Liyuan and Gan Shi’s teams. Go inform them of our deductions regarding the Three Sects.” 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Li Yan was startled when he received this message. He hadn’t expected Gong Chenying to come up with such a plan in such a short time.

His original intent had been to find an opportunity to confirm what lay beyond the passage. If it truly was usable, he would reveal the secret to Gong Chenying alone.

In case of emergency, only the two of them would escape first. As for whom to bring with the third prism crystal, he didn’t particularly care.

Li Yan didn’t see anything wrong with his thinking. Call him selfish or cold-hearted, he wouldn’t feel the slightest guilt.

He only did what was within his power. If there had been only one blue prism crystal, he might not have told even Gong Chenying. He never saw himself as a saint, there was no blood tie between him and anyone here.

“If we can get out, you won’t come with me?” Li Yan steadied his thoughts and transmitted his message with an utterly emotionless tone.

“You think I would abandon them and leave with you?” Gong Chenying’s reply held an unusual undertone.

Li Yan sighed inwardly. Just as he had suspected, if there truly was a shortcut outside the passage, Gong Chenying would never abandon the others. That just wasn’t who she was.

“You’re right. Perhaps it’s even more dangerous outside,” Li Yan replied with a faint chuckle.

“Besides the blue prism crystal you’ll be using, will you need the green gourd?” Gong Chenying’s tone remained indifferent.

“Heh… there’s no need for the green gourd. Don’t forget, I’m a mixed-root cultivator!”

Li Yan let out a light laugh and quickly responded.

Their conversation via sound transmission seemed long, but it took place in only a brief moment. At this point, the blue prism crystal had only just floated in front of Gong Chenying.

She never questioned how Li Yan would reach Bai Liyuan’s team if he could find them, nor did Li Yan bring it up. Both were clever enough to know: if one can go out, then one can surely go in.

And just like that, in the space of a single breath, they had made their decision.

Looking at the five floating objects before her, Gong Chenying didn’t hesitate in the slightest. She reached out with a jade-like hand, curved her slender forefinger into a loop, and flicked one of the blue prism crystals.

With a soft hum, that blue prism crystal once again shot back toward Li Yan. At the same time, she said calmly:

“Junior brother, I just remembered something. Use this prism crystal to check the current state inside the sphere we passed through. It’s important. Return in ten breaths. Be cautious.”

As she spoke, she waved her other hand, and one blue prism crystal along with the three green gourds flew into her storage pouch. Then, she gave Li Yan a long, deep look.

This swift, almost theatrical exchange left the surrounding cultivators dumbfounded. They had no idea what these two junior and senior disciples were doing with blue prism crystals flying back and forth...

“We go!”

With a sweep of her long cyan halberd amidst the swirling snowflakes, a massive green light ring appeared.

She then dragged the halberd behind her with one hand, and in that moment, the ground exploded with waves of snow. She stepped onto the snowdrift and departed...

Seeing Li Yan remain still, cultivators like Mei Caichu and Wu Shixi, who were friendly with him, gave him a faint smile before melting away into the snowy world.

With Gong Chenying giving the order, no one dared to defy it even if they didn’t understand why Li Yan wasn’t moving.

None of them noticed that, just as the group vanished into the white expanse, four beams of dark light pierced through the snowstorm and shot rapidly toward Li Yan. The caster’s technique far outstripped everyone present, no one sensed it.

Li Yan looked at the beams of dark light shooting toward him. He showed no surprise. He simply raised his hand to intercept them. With a gentle sweep, four items flickering with pitch-black light fell into his hand, three of them were “Ghost Chariot Talismans.”

Each disciple had been issued these life-saving items, three per person.

The fourth beam of dark light was a bottle of healing pills.

“Sixth Senior Sister.”

A smile played on Li Yan’s lips as he transmitted a thought across the storm.

“Sixth Senior Sister, you know what the blue prism crystal and green gourd can do, right?”

Just ten or so paces ahead, Gong Chenying received the message in her mind but her figure continued flying like the wind.

“Either toss one into the sphere at the right moment, or unleash the green gourd.”

Gong Chenying’s lips curled faintly into a rare smile as she returned a message. Then she said no more, riding on alone like a solitary comet.

Li Yan withdrew his divine sense. His sixth senior sister had already figured out the blue crystal and green gourd’s functions after watching his tests. She truly possessed a mind of sevenfold insight beyond her age.

“Toss one into the sphere…”

As he recalled her words, Li Yan imagined a vast yellow sphere. Inside, cultivators from the three sects, hidden in ambush, waited excitedly for prey to appear. Then, suddenly flash a blue prism crystal lacking five-element equilibrium was tossed in. The elemental balance within the sphere immediately collapsed...

“Or unleash the green gourd…”

Li Yan envisioned another scene. In the midst of a fierce battle, Sixth Senior Sister suddenly pulled out a green gourd and released a flood of spiritual energy toward the opponent’s blue prism crystal. Instantly, the elemental balance in the enemy's crystal broke down. The face of their Foundation Establishment cultivator turned a thunderous green...

Clutching the blue prism crystal in one hand, Li Yan picked up one “Ghost Chariot Talisman” with the other. He slapped it onto himself amid a flicker of light. Then, scanning the area with divine sense, he confirmed that nothing suspicious was nearby for the moment.

He immediately immersed his divine sense into the crystal. In the five-colored elemental space, he didn’t pause but rushed straight toward the core.

His divine sense soon reached the deep cyan glowing center, the one that had belonged to the Grand Profound Sect’s Foundation Establishment cultivator. Li Yan had not specified to Gong Chenying which crystal to use; any of them would suffice.

Without hesitation, Li Yan’s divine sense rammed into the dark cyan core. Previously, all Wraith Sect cultivators who tried were repelled. But now, Li Yan's consciousness pierced directly into the core.

What appeared before his eyes was a world of deep azure. In the azure sky floated thirty-seven gray light dots: one large and thirty-six smaller ones, all in muted shades of gray.

Li Yan’s divine sense drifted toward the orbs and gradually took on his human form. He extended a finger and quickly tapped one of the gray dots. But in the next moment, his finger passed right through it tapping only empty air.

Expressionless, Li Yan moved his finger to the next dot. Again, his finger pierced through as if the dot didn’t exist. When he retracted his hand, the dot remained suspended, unchanged.

Sweeping his gaze across the area, he looked at the largest gray dot nearby and flew toward it.

This dot was slightly larger than all the others combined. Li Yan extended a finger again and tapped it but just like before, it passed straight through into emptiness.

With both hands behind his back, Li Yan looked up at the sky, lost in thought.

When he had previously entered the white-core crystal, he’d sensed a familiar aura. Coupled with the deep affinity he felt throughout the secret realm, he now realized: whether it was the blue prism crystal or the Life and Death Wheel, they all revolved around the five elements.

“Could this place have been created by someone from the Five Immortals Sect? Perhaps before or after Dong Fuyi descended to the mortal realm, another senior from the Five Immortals came here and used vast divine powers to create this world?

But then… why did the immortals all disappear, leaving behind only these beasts? Ancient texts say that in the archaic or primeval eras, many immortals resided within secret realms. They reared countless ancient and primordial beasts.

Later, for reasons unknown, all the immortals vanished, leaving only the beasts behind, who slowly became the rulers of the secret realms.

If this place is indeed connected to the Five Immortals Sect, didn’t Dong Fuyi say that the sect was extremely secretive and recruited disciples only under the rarest conditions?

If so, how could so many immortals have existed here, as the records suggest? When did the Five Immortals Sect become so open to accepting disciples? And why does the Guishui True Scripture react so sensitively here?”

(Chapter End)