My Enemy Became My Cultivation Companion-Chapter 780 - 488: Saintess in the Cauldron (Two in One)_2

Chen Yi pondered for a moment. After attaching the talisman, he still chose to perform the Eye-opening Spell to investigate further.

"By the decree of God, I am granted divine insight; opening the heavenly gate, illuminating the nine orifices…"

The Heavenly Eye immediately opened within the Heart Lake, its radiance engulfing the No-Life Tripod in an instant.

Everything suddenly transformed into a boundless expanse of light.

Chen Yi gazed intently at the No-Life Tripod.

However, to his astonishment, as his gaze fell upon it, the No-Life Tripod remained immobile, as if it were a speck of insignificant dust in a blank void—a world stripped bare except for this faint, diminutive grain.

Moreover, this grain appeared even darker, like ink-black fissures devouring the surrounding light.

Interesting… Chen Yi squinted his eyes thoughtfully, then slowly closed in on the No-Life Tripod with his vision narrowing.

He lowered his head, and the darkness within the tripod expanded in an instant!

Darkness surged to engulf the heavens, nearly swallowing his entire field of vision. Yet, when Chen Yi abruptly turned his head, the darkness within the tripod vanished from sight once more.

After trying several times, he confirmed the darkness was non-aggressive. He contemplated for a moment, then allowed his Divine Sense to delve deeper into the pitch-black realm.

It was unclear how far he ventured in, but eventually, a faint sound reached his ears.

Could it be… the sound of water?

As he pressed further, Chen Yi soon realized the deeper he went, the more the darkness resembled flowing water.

At a certain point, Chen Yi halted his steps. The surrounding pitch-black seemed to harden and coagulate, rising and stretching obscenely skyward, reaching to block out the sun. Suddenly, he had an odd sensation—someone calling out to him from behind.

"You're too close to the tree."

The voice was the raspy tones of an elderly woman.

Startled, Chen Yi whipped around to find an emaciated old woman with hollowed features, her presence ghostly, standing behind him.

Chen Yi furrowed his brows, his fingers unconsciously forming a hand seal as he asked in a calm tone, "Tree? What tree?"

"Even if I told you, you wouldn't understand…"

Though frail and wooden in posture, the old woman closed the distance swiftly and fixed her gaze behind Chen Yi.

Only then did Chen Yi realize the "tree" mentioned was the pitch-black entity before him: "This is a tree?"

The old woman turned back as if suddenly enlightened, muttering in surprise, "You're not a soul?"

"What do you mean?"

"Those who come here are all souls—wandering ghosts, or creatures birthed from the three corpses and nine insects—to nourish me and nourish this Five Venoms Dead Tree," the old woman replied languidly.

At the mention of the "Five Venoms Dead Tree," Chen Yi's expression shifted slightly: "…The Great Ming Venerate Buddha will rise and surely restore the World of Ignorance."

The familiar yet strange utterance brushed his ears. The old woman froze in disbelief, her tone incredulous: "You're a disciple of the Holy Sect?"

"…I am Chen Yi. And who might you be?"

Chen Yi had long been knowledgeable about the Ming'an Divine Sect. He had studied them extensively in his past life; otherwise, he could not have outmaneuvered Yin Tingxue this lifetime. The so-called "Five Venoms Dead Tree" had been crafted by the Dark Lord of Ming'an for contention against the Bright Venerable, serving as the backbone of his dark domain.

The old woman searched her memory briefly but found no recollections.

However, Chen Yi continued, "Are you… the Saintess in hiding?"

He recalled Zhu E once telling him there were only two Saintesses in the Divine Sect outside Zhu E and Yin Tingxue—one leading the sect and another living in secluded reclusion. Importantly, both were elderly women in their sixties or seventies.

"You even know this…" The old woman scrutinized Chen Yi with surprise, muttering, "Our Holy Sect has such a young elder as you?"

Choosing his words carefully, Chen Yi neither confirmed nor denied her assumptions. Instead, he calmly replied, "I have ties with Princess An Nan."

"Zhu E?… Hmm, interesting, interesting…" The old woman mumbled the words repeatedly.

Chen Yi surveyed the surroundings once more, scrutinizing the tripod's domain before releasing the hand seal.

If he pretended to be a disciple or elder of the Ming'an Divine Sect, it would only heighten the risk of exposing himself, especially since her position outranked his supposed status. Therefore, ambiguity served him better.

"What brings you here?" Using a neutral tone, he asked, his gaze meeting hers directly.

The old woman turned slowly towards him and answered, "Long ago, an Immortal concealed themselves within a wine jar to escape the world. Why couldn't I hide within this tripod?"

"Enough with meaningless words."

"And why must I answer you?"

"I have ties with Prince Annan."

"Don't bring that matter up."

"I shared a relationship with Princess An Nan."

"I've heard of that before. Having ties, so what… A relationship?!" 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

This remark stunned the old woman briefly. Her disbelief spilled into murmurs:

"You are… Prince Annan? No, that's impossible—Ann Nanh is a woman."

Chen Yi stood unmoving, refraining from giving any further explanation, leaving it to her conjectures. Often, speculation is more convincing than the truth, especially one's own speculations.

The old woman's face bore visible perplexity as her mind wrestled with possibilities, occasionally glancing at Chen Yi in astonishment, yet gathering only confusion.

"Hey, you…"

Before the old woman could question further, Chen Yi's Divine Sense suddenly flickered and merged into the overwhelming darkness, vanishing entirely.

The tripod grew utterly silent. The old woman called out multiple times but could no longer find any trace of him.

...…

Chen Yi sealed his Heavenly Eye.

After all, with the principle of minimizing errors, it was better to retreat promptly and leave the reclusive Saintess with imaginings to toy with. The No-Life Tripod was already in his possession, so the situation demanded no immediate action.

"It should've been obvious. Capable of extracting souls yet not resembling Holy Artifacts of the White Lotus Sect…it could only be from the Ming'an Divine Sect."

Chen Yi recalled clearly how the Ming'an Divine Sect advocated the idea that physical forms were merely filthy cages, while souls were pure and untainted. Only liberation from the flesh could absolve one from the World of Ignorance.

He closed his eyes briefly, collecting his thoughts.

Zhu E had mentioned that the leader of the sect was the Wisdom Saintess, which meant that this one, dwelling beside the Five Venoms Dead Tree, must be the Great Strength Saintess.

The No-Life Tripod was retrieved by the White Lotus Sect from a Secret Realm, indicating that the sect had cracked open… the Secret Realm belonging to the Ming'an Divine Sect?

"Pure coincidence, or… a thread of hidden design?" The truth remained elusive.