Chapter 658 - 279: Xuanji Grotto Heaven, Return to 1 Heavenly Water
Chapter 658: Chapter 279: Xuanji Grotto Heaven, Return to 1 Heavenly Water
After comparing them, he found that the two were nearly identical.
He smoothly slotted the iron piece into the indentation. As his fingertips applied slight pressure, a loud CLICK echoed. The sound of grinding gears immediately emanated from within the massive doors, followed by a heavy CREAK. The great doors—which had remained stubbornly sealed despite so many people pushing with all their might and hacking at them with weapons—now slowly swung outward.
Fang Shuwen fell silent for a moment. He suddenly suspected that the idiot pushing the door earlier had probably been pushing it the wrong way.
As he pushed the doors fully open, loud shouts erupted from the crowd.
"Charge!"
"The Profound Celestial Iron Mirror is mine! No one is allowed to fight me for it!"
"Bastard, who said you could run? I’ll chop off your legs!"
Moments ago, they had all seemed as harmless as sheep. But the instant the doors opened, they bared their gleaming fangs. Fang Shuwen held Luo Shuqing’s hand, remaining completely unmoved as the frantic crowd rushed past them on both sides.
Soon, only Luo Shuqing, Shui Tianxin, and their group were left standing beside him. Everyone else had already stormed inside.
Fang Shuwen glanced at Shui Tianxin in surprise. "You’re not in a hurry?"
"I am," Shui Tianxin said with a smile. "But I reckon this place won’t be that simple. It’s actually better if they go in first so we can see what traps and mechanisms lie ahead."
Fang Shuwen nodded slightly. "Let’s go in as well."
Shui Tianxin agreed, but she ordered the disciples of the Celestial Water Palace to wait outside. There were already enough people acting as stepping stones to test the path ahead; her own disciples only needed to stay behind as backup. She then followed Fang Shuwen, gracefully stepping through the doorway.
Ahead lay a massive cavernous space, but the ground sloped downward halfway through. Fang Shuwen’s mouth twitched. He knew it—this Xuanji Grotto Heaven was indeed hidden underground. This island was likely just the very peak of a tall mountain, leaving an enormous expanse of space beneath it.
They hadn’t even reached the crucial area yet, but they already saw numerous corpses littering the path. Clearly, the crowd that had charged in earlier had inevitably broken into violent conflicts along the way. Such a situation was to be expected and hardly worth mentioning.
They wound their way downward. After walking for who knew how long, the surroundings were no longer entirely man-made; instead, the path gradually merged into a natural karst cave within the mountain’s belly. Stalactites hung from the ceiling above, making the atmosphere feel rather oppressive.
When they reached the end of the path, three doors appeared before them. They were spaced far apart and tightly shut. There was no sign of the mob that had rushed in earlier; evidently, they had already passed through to the other side. The doors bore no markings whatsoever, yet they seemed incredibly important.
The group exchanged glances before Fang Shuwen turned to Shui Tianxin. "Palace Master Shui, which one do you think we should choose?"
Shui Tianxin shook her head, her brows furrowing slightly. "It’s hard to say. Three doors arranged like this might be based on the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams.
"As the saying goes, ’Nine at the head, one at the feet, three on the left, seven on the right, two and four as shoulders, six and eight as legs, and five in the center.’ Paired with the four cardinal directions, our current position... should be in the south.
"If that is the case, then the three doors before us correspond to the Geng Palace, Kan Palace, and Qian Palace respectively."
Fang Shuwen was somewhat surprised. "With how much we’ve wound around along the way, you can still tell north from south?"
Shui Tianxin smiled and pulled an item from her robes. It was a compact Compass. "This item still works perfectly fine down here."
Fang Shuwen was momentarily speechless. He could only nod and say softly, "Geng Earth, Qian Metal. I choose Kan Water right in the middle."
Shui Tianxin was a little surprised. "Why?"
Fang Shuwen smiled. "Intuition."
Naturally, it wasn’t intuition. If everything written in the booklet Elder Hai had given him last night was true, there was a specific path leading forward from Kan Water. As long as he followed the flow, they would naturally arrive at the Central Palace Taiji Position.
Though the others didn’t quite understand, they didn’t object since Fang Shuwen had made the call. Walking up to the middle door, he gave it a casual push.
The Stone Gate easily swung open. A desolate, biting chill immediately surged out from within. Stepping forward, his foot sank slightly. There was a layer of standing water on the ground, about three inches deep.
"Be careful, Young Hero Fang!" Shui Tianxin warned hastily. "This is ’Unity Celestial Water’! Once touched, anyone who hasn’t cultivated our Celestial Water Palace’s Celestial Water Unification Technique will feel as though they’ve sunk into a quagmire. Even though the water isn’t deep, it will be impossible to take a single step forward.
"Furthermore, water poison will emanate from it and seep into your entire body. Without our Celestial Water Palace’s Secret Technique, there is no cure!"
Fang Shuwen glanced back at her and gave a slight nod. He took a stride forward, landing directly above the water’s surface. Only then did Shui Tianxin realize that Fang Shuwen’s feet weren’t actually touching the solid ground beneath; instead, he was using a masterful Lightweight Technique to tread on the surface of the water.
Still, she said, "Even so, it’s inevitable that the water poison will invade your system..."
Fang Shuwen shook his head. "It’s fine."
He was Immune to Hundred Poisons. A mere water poison couldn’t do anything to him. He then looked at Luo Shuqing. "What are you going to do?"
Luo Shuqing thought for a moment. "How about I go back to the ship and wait for you, just like Zuo Hong and the others?"
Fang Shuwen hesitated before shaking his head. "Forget it, it’s safer if you stick by my side.
"Come here. I’ll carry you on my back."
Luo Shuqing didn’t say a word. With a single leap, she hopped right onto his back. Fang Shuwen felt a wave of speechlessness. If it weren’t for his five-times quest reward, how could he possibly agree to something like this?
Shui Tianxin, meanwhile, took a step forward, stepping directly into the water barefoot. The Unity Celestial Water was intrinsically linked to the Celestial Water Palace, so naturally, it couldn’t harm her.
The three of them proceeded forward. They hadn’t gone far before they saw a group of Jianghu people struggling to advance through the water. Every step they took looked as if they were carrying a massive mountain on their backs. Some had already collapsed entirely into the water. Their bodies were bloated, making them look as if they had been soaking for a very long time.
Luo Shuqing clicked her tongue in amazement at the sight. "I’ve long heard that the Celestial Water Palace’s Unity Celestial Water is an unparalleled marvel of our era. Seeing it now, its reputation is indeed well-deserved."
There was nothing else on this path aside from the Unity Celestial Water, but even so, its peril was extraordinary. Moreover, the further they walked, the colder it became.
When they reached the end, there was another door. Three large characters hung high above it. Despite the passage of many years, Luo Shuqing still managed to recognize them. The three large characters clearly read: Profound Ice Cavern!