Chapter 117: The Closer the Shout, the Harder the Fall!

Jia Youke nodded repeatedly. Wuyun sighed and closed his eyes, his consciousness extending outward like clouds and mist; he was scanning for the location of Pan Fei’s consciousness.

The entire consciousness training facility was capable of projecting one’s consciousness to every corner of the planet, or even entering immortal artifacts to endure the trials of various miniature spaces. If luck permitted, one could even tear through a spatial rift to explore the most mysterious realms.

But where had the three of them projected their spirits in the Headless Spirit Forest?

Wuyun frowned, and Jia Youke hurriedly asked for the reason. The former replied, "Jueli is in danger. They did not go to the Headless Spirit Forest, but to an underground cavern within the Toyo Valley of the Hundred Flower Valley. The water there is tens of thousands of fathoms deep. They have already expended half of their soul power; if I interrupt them rashly, Jueli’s cultivation realm will no longer be perfect, and it will be difficult for her to recover her strength."

Jia Youke was stunned. Was this the retribution for his past teasing of a female immortal at the Ningshen stage? Given his current predicament—having offended numerous factions—if he dragged Jueli into this and Master Wuyun proved unable to prevail, would she, who had followed him without complaint, suffer for his sake?

Seeing his anxiety, Wuyun sighed deeply and said, "What a fine 'Bone Pill' she is. Once she consumes it, she will break through directly to the Great Immortal stage and end all this. Your temperament is still too soft. Immortals have their own emotions and desires, but there is no other way. The only solution now is to use force!"

What did he mean by using force?

Wuyun took Jia Youke and leaped several times, bypassing the cavern where the Great Immortals had entered, and arrived beside a massive immortal artifact that only a Profound Immortal could enter.

The immortal artifact was like a puppet, capable of changing into a thousand different forms. As soon as they arrived, Elder Taifeng—the son of the Immortal King Jianshi who was trailing behind them—frowned. Once he understood the situation, he let out a roar that reached the heavens. "You dare to interrupt my consciousness training and ruin my cultivation?"

Wuyun nodded, gesturing toward the layers of restrictions, and said, "Either you terminate the formation, or you open it yourself and let us use it. Otherwise, bear the consequences!"

"Do you truly think you can act recklessly just because you have a defensive immortal artifact?" Taifeng’s projected consciousness figure slowly faded, returning into the immortal artifact ahead.

This immortal artifact was a fourth-tier tool of the auxiliary type, capable of enhancing consciousness—it functioned like a magnifier, strengthening one's consciousness tenfold. With the addition of the formation, the effect was multiplied. Once a Profound Immortal reached a certain level of understanding here, they could pierce through the planet’s protective atmospheric gale and reach outer space. Taifeng used this artifact and the formation to hunt for dark, floating metals in space and to locate hidden caverns—the fabled treasures left behind by the Piaoyi Great Immortal Sect.

Just as Taifeng’s consciousness returned to awaken his physical body, an inappropriate voice rang out.

"Who is bothering our Young Master Zhang? Who is it? Come out!"

Before the words had faded, a point of light formed, and three elderly men stepped out. Someone exclaimed, "The three ancestors of the Zhang family have appeared!"

You beat the young, and the old come out to play. The three elders looked frail, but they generated a flow of water that constantly rippled the air before them, creating a hazy blur.

"Our Zhang family may not have an Immortal King, but our lineage is ancient, existing ever since the fall of the Piaoyi Great Immortal Sect!" The speaker was the Second Ancestor of the Zhang family, a mid-stage Profound Immortal; the other two were the Seventh and Eighth Ancestors.

After sighing for a moment and sensing that Bing Heng and Pan Fei were unharmed, the three formed a triangle, blocking Wuyun as he attempted to probe the formation.

The three ancestors stood for a moment, then transformed. Where they stood, a triangular torrent formed, and rolling water mist rose to surround Jia Youke.

Just then, a shocking surge of soul power arrived. The black horse let out a belch, absorbing all the mist. At the same time, the voice of the Yan-camel resounded: "Senior Wuyun, where are my bones?"

The short-horned black horse knocked Wuyun over again. After the latter made a promise, the horse returned to its usual silly state, letting Jia Youke pull it up by its tail.

Wuyun hoisted his Great Treasure Jar. Jia Youke’s limbs still bore restrictions that had not been cleared, otherwise, the power he released would have been enough to trigger the jar’s full potential.

As the jar was raised, the three Zhang elders were in no hurry. They stood in their triangle again. As they moved, a three-colored cloth appeared. One section depicted forests and grasslands; another, high mountains, flowing water, and oceans; the third, the sky with faint suns, moons, and stars.

Once this three-colored cloth was unfurled, Jia Youke’s communication stone lit up with a message from his friend, Feiteng Shi: "The Sky-Covering Three-Pattern Bag!"

It was, in effect, a massive, gaping bag.

Once the Sky-Covering Three-Pattern Bag was activated, it rotated naturally, forming an inner world. The Great Treasure Jar was inadvertently engulfed, and it unleashed its might within that inner world. Yet, in reality, Wuyun’s jar had been seized. He muttered bitterly for a while, but the jar could not break free for the time being.

"Bring out whatever other treasures you have. Our bag can contain heaven and earth; dealing with defensive weapons is child's play." The Eighth Ancestor stroked his long beard, his eyes fixed on Wuyun’s every move.

They assumed that since Wuyun possessed Great Immortal-level cultivation, he could not possibly wield a fifth-tier immortal artifact, so they all concluded he was also a Profound Immortal. In truth, Wuyun’s highest cultivation had been at the peak of the Profound Immortal stage, but having severed his own body and sealed himself, he was now only at the early stage—a Profound Immortal relying on external force, losing a bit of immortal power with every use.

Wuyun pointed at his trapped treasure, then turned to see a primeval force erupting from the formation behind him. He hurriedly scooped up the little black horse.

As the little horse shrieked in the face of death, the Yan-camel’s voice sounded again: "I feel my bones in your chest. Give them back."

As he demanded them, a surge of soul power erupted, neutralizing the descending primeval force. Wuyun then held up the black horse, turning it into a formation talisman. Once the talisman was drawn, the three of them vanished with a swoosh.

The Zhang ancestors frowned. They sensed that Wuyun hadn’t left but had instead entered the immortal artifact used for Profound Immortal cultivation. The Seventh Ancestor wondered, "Could he have a connection with Taifeng?"

After exchanging a few words and realizing that Wuyun had just clashed with Taifeng’s consciousness, they calmly closed their eyes and waited for the outcome.

Whoosh!

Wuyun and the others reappeared in a place with a strong mechanical feel. The surroundings were made of bright, hard metal engraved with countless runes. The space was hollow, and threads of multicolored gas flowed through it like water.

The space was vast. Wuyun looked left and right, then suddenly ducked, kicking the black horse in the leg. The silly horse’s eyes immediately brightened, a surge of pressure rising to block the hundreds of thousands of tons of metal guillotine blades descending from above.

Bang!

Nine sounds echoed in succession. When the surroundings were completely enclosed, the Yan-camel used the power of its soul to forcefully prop open nine gaps, keeping the three of them safe.

Jia Youke’s legs felt weak; had they been struck, they would have been trapped along with their souls, never to escape. For within the nine layers of metal that had been propped open, various soul-suppressing formations were inscribed, ensuring that no spirit could ever flee.

As Jia Youke rejoiced, Wuyun watched the propped-open space slowly healing; this fourth-tier immortal artifact was ever-changing, and the gaps would self-repair within minutes.

Wuyun looked at the little black horse, which had already fallen into a daze. The Yan-camel’s soul power was indeed effective—the power of an Imperial Soul was something the stars themselves could not resist.

As Jia Youke watched the growing metal slowly squeeze them, he brought out his heavy weapon, but it was like bread, unable to withstand the surrounding pressure. Furthermore, the heat and smoke produced by the intense compression made the space as stifling as an oven.

His only heavy weapon destroyed, Jia Youke tried to withdraw his soul, but as soon as he jumped out, he felt dizzy and was fixed in his body by Wuyun’s spell, daring not to move again.

Before them, only Wuyun stood tall. A flame like a candle appeared above his head. When the enclosing metal pressed against the flame, the entire immortal artifact trembled, the closed blades rose, and everything returned to normal.

"Alas, the spirits of immortal artifacts are all bullies—they fear the strong and pick on the weak. Only with true strength can one be respected." After Wuyun spoke, he began to walk slowly along the path. Every so often, he would stop, touch the formation runes, and mutter to himself.

After every mutter, the walls of the passage would shrink, as if startled.

When he reached the end, a glowing shadow appeared. A white-faced youth with a body over ten feet tall sat there, motionless.

Just as Wuyun was about to step forward, a voice accompanied a shadow—it was the artifact spirit, revealing its true form: like an amplifier antenna cap with dense metal rods standing upright.

"I am merely an auxiliary immortal artifact. Aside from changing forms, I possess no strong attacks. Just now, the true fire within your bodies was too strong and burned me. That must be the Nine-Fold True Fire, right? Only the Nine-Fold True Fire, second only to Immortal Fire, could burn a fourth-tier immortal artifact. But the Nine-Fold True Fire is something even Immortal Emperors fight over. How could you possibly have it on you, and how could you hide it on your body without being burned to ashes?"

Wuyun shook his head. "Don't delay. That pretty boy’s soul will return from space shortly. I only need to get inside, and then he will be at my mercy."

The spirit still shook its head. Wuyun looked around and suddenly realized, "I forgot, there is still this helper. Come out, I see you."

A light flashed, and a world of spider silk appeared, covering everything—body and soul alike.

This was a unique attack, a beast’s innate supernatural ability. Jia Youke, unable to move, was wrapped tightly like a giant rice dumpling, layer upon layer. This ability lacked strong offensive power, but after enveloping the enemy, various illusory formations appeared above the space. It seemed intended to stall until its master awoke.

"This is the innate ability of a Boro Spider. If you break it by force, this spirit pet will also suffer a soul death," the spirit warned, adding, "It fears no physical or soul attacks, nor any true fire, unless Immortal Fire appears."

Wuyun summoned the Immortal Fire above his head, but the silk was like a phantom, unaffected. As the temperature of the Nine-Fold True Fire rose, the silk began to spread. When the temperature reached hundreds of thousands of degrees, the silk acted like a thermal conductor, channeling the extreme heat into the eye-sized spatial rifts.

Each rift was surrounded by infinite gravitational pull. If this Boro Spider were any stronger—reaching the peak of the Great Demon stage—it could tear space to injure enemies, which would be extremely formidable.

After burning for a while, Jia Youke, bundled like a dumpling, let out a few howls. Wuyun finally heard him and looked at the new body that could no longer endure the heat, sighing.

One cannot have both fish and bear's paw. If he hadn't been avoiding being plotted against by divination, he could have restored his cultivation to the peak of the Profound Immortal stage.

"I fear that the more I call these 'seniors' affectionately, the harder they will throw me in the end!"