"Yes..." The seven disciples standing in front of the door responded, but none of them moved.
It wasn't that they weren't tempted by the treasure, but rather that they were too embarrassed to enter before Xiao Wenbing.
Xiao Wenbing looked once more at the bottomless darkness, feeling a chill run down his spine. He bowed deeply to the many experts before him and said solemnly, "Seniors, this junior takes his leave."
"Amitabha Buddha, good farewell, fellow Daoist."
Regardless of whether they knew each other or not, and regardless of their cultivation level, all the old Daoists of the Jade Cauldron Sect, from the highest-level Tribulation Transcending stage to the lowest-level Core Formation stage, solemnly returned the greeting.
Xiao Wenbing stepped forward and said to the seven people selected by HP, "Please, fellow Daoists, go first."
"Fellow Daoist, please go first."
"Not at all, you are all older than me, so you should naturally stand in front."
"Fellow Daoist's supernatural powers are unparalleled in the world. How dare we surpass them?"
Xiao Wenbing said with a forced smile, "Not at all... please go ahead, everyone."
Hmph... It's so dark. It's obviously a trap, trying to trick me into going in first. No way.
"Fellow Daoist, please go first."
The seven cultivators at the Nascent Soul stage and above cursed inwardly at the same time, "What are you dawdling for? If it weren't for our elders watching us like hawks, we would have gone in long ago."
Just as Xiao Wenbing was about to continue to defer, he suddenly saw a figure flash before his eyes, and Feng Baiyi silently entered the dark door.
Upon seeing this, he knew it was too late to stop him, so his body reacted automatically, twisting and dodging as he followed closely behind into the gate.
However, just before he stepped through the door, he suddenly felt uneasy. He turned his head and glanced back, just in time to see the bitter look in Zhang Yaqi's eyes.
He felt a chill run down his spine, but being in mid-air, there was no room to retreat. Everything went black, and their sight was cut off.
Zhang Yaqi stepped forward slowly, walked to the door, faced the seven people, and slowly entered.
Amo and the others returned the greeting, thinking to themselves, "This Xiao Wenbing is so modest, but as soon as someone goes inside, he immediately rushes to follow. It turns out it was all just empty politeness."
However, it's truly unfair that such a hypocritical person could so easily surpass everyone and reach the pinnacle of skill...
Perhaps they had become accustomed to that kind of hypocritical etiquette after all the time they had just spent deferring to each other. So, even though Xiao Wenbing and the others were no longer there, the seven of them still yielded to each other, and only after a while did they enter one by one according to their seniority.
HP sighed deeply and said, "I hope their luck will be better."
“Yes, it’s not easy to go in, and if we come back empty-handed, that would be a real loss,” someone next to him chimed in.
Hui Zhe smiled and said, "Everyone has their own destiny. We just need to wait patiently and there's no need to worry."
"Irrational Heavenly Venerable."
The group sat cross-legged, seemingly ready to wait there.
Only the Moonlit Wolf King sat down, but his large, bell-like eyes remained fixed on Hui Zhe's "kind" old face.
In his heart, he could never deduce what close relationship this incredibly old face had with the art of craftsmanship...
Volume 4: The Divine Artifacts Chapter 174: The Chaotic Barrier
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Everything before him was dark, devoid of any light. Even with the special eyesight of a cultivator, he could not see anything. At this point, Xiao Wenbing had to admit that he had become truly blind.
However, whether he was blind or not was secondary; catching up with that reckless Feng Baiyi was his real purpose for coming in.
Without hesitation, Xiao Wenbing rushed forward, trying to catch up with Feng Baiyi ahead.
At that moment, he forgot everything else; his only thought was to catch up with the reckless man ahead of him.
Suddenly, a purple light flashed before my eyes, and in an instant, lightning and wind swept around me.
Xiao Wenbing was very familiar with this light, to the point that he wouldn't mistake it even with his eyes closed. Of course, since he was so familiar with it, he also had a deep understanding of its power.
Upon seeing it, Xiao Wenbing was immediately terrified, but in his all-out sprint, he couldn't change direction. Fortunately, he was quick-witted and immediately opened his mouth wide, howling desperately, "It's me..."
The lightning vanished instantly, leaving only a thin strip of purple light suspended in mid-air.
However, Xiao Wenbing was so panicked that he didn't react at all, and unable to stop his momentum, he still crashed into it hard.
The light bar in front seemed to be startled and quickly moved aside, causing Xiao Wenbing's body to crash heavily into a beautiful and alluring figure.
With a loud "bang," the lightning-summoning sword fell heavily to the ground, making a crisp sound. Having lost the power of heavenly lightning provided by its master, the purple light gradually dimmed until there was no light left, and it returned to absolute darkness.
"Are you trying to die...? Do you think you can even hit something with a lightning-summoning sword?"
A coquettish cry came from her arms; though it was full of anger, it couldn't hide the fear and worry within.
In the darkness, the two, embracing each other, were speechless for a moment. They could both feel each other's hearts pounding. What if that collision had actually caused...
After a moment, Xiao Wenbing finally breathed a sigh of relief. He chuckled and shamelessly shifted the blame onto Feng Baiyi. "Hehe, look, you scared me so much that I couldn't stop myself."
"You..." Feng Baiyi was stunned, speechless.
Xiao Wenbing suddenly felt the person in his arms begin to wriggle, and realizing something was wrong, he quickly said, "Baiyi, why are you so reckless? This is so strange. Heaven knows what's inside. You rushed in without any preparation, you scared me to death."
Feng Baiyi suddenly calmed down and lay quietly in his arms, no longer making any movements.
Xiao Wenbing smelled the delicate fragrance and felt refreshed, so he took a few deep breaths.
Feng Baiyi's body seemed to tremble slightly, yet she seemed completely unaware of it.
Perhaps it was the endless darkness that emboldened him; he gripped his hand a little harder, and his breathing became a bit heavier.
Her warm, delicate body seemed to stiffen for a moment. However, it quickly went limp again, as if all its strength had been drained.
Xiao Wenbing's breathing grew heavier and heavier, and his head moved downwards little by little.
"Tap...tap..."
Soft footsteps sounded from afar, and Xiao Wenbing's movements came to an abrupt halt.
Feng Baiyi twisted her body, using some unknown method, and broke free from his embrace. She picked up the lightning-summoning sword from the ground, and a purple light shone back on it.
“Alas…” Xiao Wenbing suddenly sighed.
"What's wrong?" A soft voice sounded from ahead, so gentle and comforting.
Xiao Wenbing suddenly recalled Zhang Yaqi's bitter smile, and a strange pain suddenly welled up in his heart. He gave a bitter laugh and said softly, "Yaqi is here."
The steady, mountain-like purple light seemed to tremble slightly for a moment.
The two fell silent at the same time.
"Sister Feng...is that you?" A soft voice called out from behind.
“Yaqi…” Xiao Wenbing immediately strode forward and pulled her into his arms.
"Wenbing, how are you all?" Zhang Yaqi asked with a gentle smile.
"Yes," Xiao Wenbing nodded heavily, and by the faint purple light, he saw a pair of worried eyes in front of him.
The purple light seemed to brighten a little, and when Xiao Wenbing turned his head, he only saw a strong and upright back.
"Let's go," Feng Baiyi said calmly, her tone completely back to normal, without any fluctuation.
The three walked in silence for a while, then Zhang Yaqi suddenly exclaimed, "Something's not right."
"What's wrong?"
"Sect Master Huizhe once said that the main passage here can absorb all light. No magical artifact can emit a single ray of light here. How come my sister's Lightning-Attracting Sword..."
"Is that so?" Xiao Wenbing asked curiously.
“Yes, Sect Master Huizhe did say that the predecessors of the Jade Cauldron Sect tried every possible method, but ultimately failed.” Zhang Yaqi glanced at him gently and said, “Wenbing, what were you thinking just now? How come you didn’t even hear what the Sect Master said?”
"Hehe..." Xiao Wenbing chuckled dryly. This was not a good question to answer. After hesitating for a while, he suddenly asked, "Yaqi, where is the Qiankun Ring?"
Zhang Yaqi stretched out her wrist, and after a moment, shook her head and said, "No, even the Qiankun Ring can't emit any light."
Xiao Wenbing observed carefully. The light covered an area of several steps. He took a few steps back and stepped out of the light circle. Suddenly, everything went dark. He immediately understood that although he could see things inside Feng Baiyi's light circle, once he left the light circle, even if it was only half an inch away, he would become blind and could no longer see anything.
Such a strange thing can happen; it's truly baffling.
"Hmm, let me think about it. Please don't disturb me."
Xiao Wenbing gave an order and then focused his mind into the Heavenly Void Ring to discuss the matter with the Mirror God. Given the old man's curiosity, he would definitely be restless after hearing about such a thing.
As expected, when the Mirror God heard about this, he was greatly surprised and shot out a beam of white light from the Heavenly Void Ring. However, this beam of white light vanished without a trace as soon as it reached the outside world.
"Strange, what's going on in this realm? There's actually a chaotic barrier here."
"chaos?"
"That's right, it's the source of destructive power, the Chaos Realm."
"Oh, is this thing fun?"
"Play...?" Mirror God was silent for a moment, then suddenly shouted, "Play my ass!"
Xiao Wenbing frowned. This Mirror God was so lacking in manners, he really disgraced the divine artifact. Fortunately, it hadn't been made public, otherwise he would have lost face as well.
"Manners?" Clearly, the Mirror God sensed his thoughts and said disdainfully, "You want manners or your life?"
"How come it's related to life and death again?"
"Hmph, chaos is the origin of all life, but it is also the place of destruction for all life. If the power of chaos appears in the world, it will definitely appear in the form of destructive power. Destructive power, do you understand? The concentration of chaos here is simply inconceivable. If it explodes, hehe... this world will just have to wait for its demise."
"Really...really?" Xiao Wenbing stared at Jing Shen in surprise. Was this guy just exaggerating?
"It's true, of course. In a chaotic realm at this concentration, we should have died countless times already," the Mirror God exclaimed.
“Then…” Xiao Wenbing looked at the Mirror God suspiciously, and suddenly asked, “But how come you are still alive and kicking, not like a dead person at all!”
"..." Mirror God made a universally recognized hand gesture at him angrily and said, "Do you wish I were dead?"
"Where and when are you? You are my good friend... oh, my best and closest friend, my dear comrade-in-arms, my dear teacher, my dear... my dear baby."
"Alright, alright," Mirror God quickly stopped him. This guy looks respectable, but what he says is truly shameless.
"Is that enough? Alright, now tell me why you remained completely calm in the face of so much chaotic power."
"Because of the barrier," the Mirror God replied helplessly.