Chapter 501 - 443: True Monarch’s Handwriting

"Darkness beneath the lamp, a veil before the eyes...

"Searching high and low, but nowhere to be found...

"It is not in the distant heights of the sky...

"Lower your head, for it has always been... right under your feet."

The ethereal, indifferent voice rippled slowly through his Heart and Spirit like water, every word seemingly containing a profound mystery that pointed directly to the essence of things. Qi Yun’s eyes suddenly flashed like lightning streaking across the dark night, instantly illuminating the chaotic clues in his mind.

"Thank you for your guidance, Senior."

Qi Yun bowed slightly toward the ordinary-looking stone chamber and offered a salute. After finishing, he didn’t hesitate for another second. He turned and walked away, barking a low command to Cai Shen, who was still standing there in a daze, his gaze darting between the stone chamber and Qi Yun.

"Let’s go!"

"Eh? Wait!" Cai Shen abruptly snapped back to his senses and hastily followed Qi Yun’s rapidly departing Escape Light. Looking back with every step he took, he stared at the receding stone chamber, his face full of bewilderment and urgency. "Qi the Kid! Are we just leaving like this? Aren’t we going to save my third brother?! He’s right inside! That voice was definitely his!"

The two quickly retreated along the path they had come from. They passed through the terrifying area where the thirty-three "Dao Remnant Calamity" stone chambers floated, plunging back into the viscous, dark gray pool of water and ascending rapidly.

As Qi Yun maintained the Water-Avoiding Spiritual Light, he gave a calm, rapid explanation, his voice echoing clearly in the enclosed tunnel. "Elder Cai, don’t be anxious. Elder Luo’s condition might be better than we anticipated. But because of this, we must not act rashly right now. Every stone chamber here is connected to the entire Taixu Mirror Heaven!"

Qi Yun’s tone carried a trace of solemnity. "If we want to forcefully break open that stone chamber with brute strength and rescue Elder Luo, we would need absolute power capable of shaking the entire Taixu Mirror Heaven with a single strike! At the very least... it would require a Great Success True Monarch to personally take action, and they would need to be prepared to clash head-on with the entire Holy Sect’s Mountain Protection Array!"

Hearing this, Cai Shen’s expression shifted slightly. His Heart and Spirit had been too agitated earlier, entirely focused on sensing the aura of the same origin, so he truly hadn’t carefully examined the overall Array network of this place. Now that Qi Yun had pointed it out, he used his Divine Sense to inspect it closely. Sure enough, he discovered that the invisible, boundless Array Power binding the entire underground space tightly to the vast Taixu Mirror Heaven above was like countless unseen, incredibly tough chains of Law, piercing deep into every inch of the void!

Its sheer weight and complexity far exceeded his imagination.

"Furthermore," Qi Yun continued, his tone calm but filled with long-term foresight, "even if we could rescue Elder Luo... Without sufficient strength, Elder Luo might not be as safe on the outside as he is in here."

Cai Shen fell silent. Every word of Qi Yun’s analysis made sense; it was even more thorough and far-sighted than his own considerations.

"You’re right. I was being too hasty. Third Brother... will just have to suffer a grievance for a little longer. I hope he is doing well."

The two spoke no more and accelerated their ascent. They soon burst out of the eerie, dark gray pool and returned to the dead, chilly cave. Without lingering, Qi Yun cast another spell, bringing Cai Shen along as they turned into two illusory shadows. They silently passed through the ancient Restriction that stretched for tens of thousands of miles, leaving the highest-level secret grounds of the Taixu Mirror Heaven.

Wuji Holy Sect, the Sect Leader’s grand hall.

With its flying eaves and intricately carved corners, the grand hall emanated a strict, domineering, and awe-inspiring majesty under the illumination of the Sect’s Grand Array, which never faded throughout the year.

CLANG!

The massive, pitch-black doors—ten feet thick and inlaid with ferocious beast-head bronze rings—were slowly pushed open by a gentle yet irresistible force. A deep, drawn-out rumble echoed through the empty hall. The sound of the doors opening interrupted the discussions inside. Everyone in the hall, including Black Mountain Master, turned their heads involuntarily, their gazes collectively shooting toward the entrance.

Silhouetted against the slightly glaring daylight from outside, a figure stood as tall and straight as a pine. With a Deep Blue Daoist Robe fluttering slightly, the figure stepped over the threshold with a steady, unhurried pace.

"Qi..."

Black Mountain Master subconsciously started to blurt out that name. However, just as the word reached his lips, his gaze met the newcomer’s placid eyes—eyes that seemed to harbor an endless, fathomless depth and an invisible, oppressive might. It was as if an unseen hand had clamped down on his throat, and his voice abruptly cut off!

In the next instant, all the expressions on his face were swiftly withdrawn, replaced by absolute respect and solemnity. Stepping forward and leaving the side of the jade throne, he bowed deeply toward the slowly approaching figure, his voice ringing loud and clear across the hall.

"Acting Sect Leader!"

His cry was like a massive boulder crashing into a tranquil lake! The dozens of other Holy Sect Masters in the hall were momentarily stunned. However, upon clearly seeing the newcomer, they hastily followed Black Mountain Master’s lead. They bowed in perfect unison, their heads lowered, not daring to look directly at him.

"Greetings, Acting Sect Leader!"

The soundwave echoed through the hall, carrying undisguised awe and submission.

The current Qi Yun was no longer the "rising star" who needed their scrutiny, or even the one they had secretly looked down upon in the past. He was the pillar of the Holy Sect, the undisputed number one figure beneath the True Monarchs whose name alone made the Profound Yellow Realm pale in fear. He was a Supreme Being who could truly determine the rise and fall of the Holy Sect, and even the life and death of these Masters, with a single word!

Before him, even the slightest hint of "disobedience" or "disrespect" was a path to death!

Qi Yun acted as if he hadn’t heard the landslide of greetings or noticed the awe-filled gazes. His footsteps didn’t pause, and his eyes didn’t even linger on the dozens of bowing figures. His gaze merely drifted calmly and slowly to the far end of the hall, landing on the Sect Leader’s jade throne. Perched atop nine tiers of Black Jade steps, the throne was a translucent white, rippling with faint cloud patterns and Dao Rhyme.

"I have important matters to attend to," he said. His voice wasn’t loud, but it carried an unquestionable indifference that transmitted clearly into everyone’s ears. "All of you, leave for now."

He offered no explanation, no reason, and didn’t even spare them a second glance. It was as if they were nothing more than inconsequential decorations that needed to be temporarily cleared out.

"Yes, sir!"

No one dared to hesitate in the slightest, much less ask "why."

Including Black Mountain Master, all the Holy Sect Masters acted as if they had received the highest directive. They acknowledged the order in unison, then maintained their bowing postures as they retreated quickly, orderly, and silently toward the entrance of the grand hall. Their movements were swift and quiet, deathly afraid of making even a single extraneous sound that might disturb this terrifying figure’s "important matters."

However, just as they reached the entrance and were about to turn and leave, Black Mountain Master ultimately couldn’t completely restrain himself. Taking advantage of the moment he turned, he used the corner of his eye to steal a swift, incredibly discreet backward glance. His gaze traversed the vast, magnificent hall, landing on that tall, Deep Blue Daoist Robe-clad figure that was already treading up the Black Jade steps, slowly approaching the cloud-patterned jade throne.

In the end, all of his emotions dissolved into a silent sigh. He retracted his gaze, strode out of the doorway, and reached back to gently pull the two massive, heavy doors shut.

RUMBLE...

The hall doors closed tightly, severing the inside from the outside.

Inside the grand Sect Leader’s hall, only Qi Yun remained, along with the high-seated cloud-patterned jade throne. Silence reclaimed the hall; only the cold radiance spilling from the starstones on the domed ceiling stretched Qi Yun’s shadow into a long, thin silhouette.

He stood before the jade throne but did not immediately sit down. His gaze once again carefully scrutinized this seat, which symbolized the highest authority of the Holy Sect. The jade was warm and lustrous, its cloud patterns flowing. It exuded a faint Spiritual Rhyme and majesty, yet it appeared entirely unremarkable, seemingly no different from the Sect Leader’s thrones of any other Major Sects.

"Darkness beneath the lamp... a veil before the eyes... not in the distant heights... right under your feet..." he murmured. "Let me see exactly what is hidden behind this ’veil’."

Qi Yun hesitated no longer and swept his sleeve!

HUM!

His vast, boundlessly condensed Magical Power erupted like an invisible tsunami, roaring as it swept through the entire hall! At the same time, the sword mark between his brows glowed faintly. Countless streams of invisible Sword Qi—as fine as ox hair yet unparalleled in their sharpness—burst from the pores all over his body. In the blink of an eye, they wove into a sword net Restriction that covered every inch of space within the grand hall, isolating all internal and external Divine Sense probing and energy fluctuations!

With the lockdown complete, Qi Yun raised his hand, formed his fingers into a sword, and lightly pointed at the cloud-patterned jade throne.

SWISH!

A stream of chaotic gray Sword Qi, condensed to the thickness of a hair, shot through the air like an arrow unleashed from a bow. It struck the exact center of the jade throne with impeccable precision.

CLINK!

An incredibly sharp, crisp sound, like metal striking metal, abruptly exploded! A tiny, hair-thin puncture hole suddenly appeared on the jade throne.

"There really is a problem with it," he noted.

Seeing how sturdy the jade throne was, Qi Yun raised his hand in a grasping motion. A boundless, invisible suction force hauled the fiercely trembling jade throne into the air, suspending it right in front of him. The sword mark between his brows radiated a brilliant light. The Magical Power within his body surged out without reservation, transforming into an even more boundless, denser, storm-like flurry of endless gray Sword Qi that completely enveloped and submerged the jade throne!

WHIR! WHIR! WHIR!

The Sword Qi storm spun, sliced, and ground furiously!

The incredibly tough "outer shell" of the jade throne—sturdy enough to withstand all attacks below the True Monarch realm—began to thin and melt at a visible rate under the continuous bombardment of his "defense-ignoring" Sword Qi and his unsparing expenditure of Magical Power!

CRACK!

A crisp, clear sound echoed, like colored glass being completely Broken!

The final layer of resilient jade and the radiant film of the Restriction on the throne’s outer shell shattered explosively. It turned into a sky full of crystalline jade dust and dispersing specks of Dao Patterns, cascading downward! The jade throne’s "outer shell" had been completely whittled away, revealing the scene within.

At the hollowed-out core of the jade throne, there was no complex Array or hidden space as one might have imagined. Instead, there was only an object swathed in a soft, golden light. Outside the golden light was the phantom of an ancient scripture. It was neither silk nor leather, possessed a bizarre texture, and rippled with a faint purplish-gold hue. Ring after ring, layer upon layer, it firmly wrapped around and Sealed the cluster of golden light within.

The scripture was like a living creature, constantly slithering and shifting, revealing a boundless, majestic, and vast aura of the Great Dao.

"This is..." Qi Yun’s gaze instantly locked onto the phantom of the purplish-gold ancient scripture. "A True Monarch’s Handwriting?"

He muttered to himself, his eyes glinting with a light that saw through everything. "Heh... This is simply wonderful."

Seeing the Seal personally established by a True Monarch, Qi Yun smiled faintly.

The tighter the Seal...

The more genuine this item must be!