I Cheated While Cultivating

Chapter 359: Chapter 79: Fortune Bestows, Killing Spree Arises

The sky was a pale gold, and layers of clouds tumbled like surging waves, flowing towards the giant doors ahead.

The white jade ground, as reflective as a mirror, shone brightly, even allowing one to see their own reflection, as if standing upon the surface of an incredibly clear lake.

This was where Zhou Heng and the others were at the moment.

“What’s going on?” Zhou Heng walked over to Cheng Jianjian and lowered his voice, “Were you also summoned here by the power emerging from the Star Tear Stone?”

“Yes,” Cheng Jianjian nodded lightly, “I was about to leave Kunzhou, but suddenly a strong force burst forth from the Star Tear Stone and brought me here.”

“Is it possible that when the Yao Palace’s Hundred Diagrams open, it automatically summons everyone who possesses the Star Tear Stone?” Zhou Heng was puzzled; he had a feeling this sudden turn of events was not simple.

“You all came too?” Just then, a female voice, heavy with surprise, reached them. They turned towards the voice and saw Ning Zeyu approaching with a broad smile, “You were brought here by the power of the Star Tear Stone too, weren’t you?”

“That’s right.” Zhou Heng nodded, “And you?”

“Yes, not just me—I think everyone here is,” Ning Zeyu said with a smile, seemingly having forgotten her previous unpleasantness with Zhou Heng and Cheng Jianjian, “I’ve already asked over a dozen people, and they all came for the Star Tear Stone.

“So it turns out to be like this.” Cheng Jianjian’s eyebrows knitted slightly, as she said to Zhou Heng, “If we had known this, we should have thrown away those two Star Tear Stones right from the start.”

“Maybe not,” Zhou Heng only shook his head. His gaze continued to observe Ning Zeyu, and after a while, he opened his mouth to ask, “Miss Ning, what brings you to us this time?”

“It’s still about the same issue, but I want you to think it over yourselves.” Ning Zeyu gestured subtly towards several people outside and spoke in a grave tone, “Those few are Sect Fifth Rank experts. If we keep going solo, we won’t stand a chance against them…”

“Really?” Zhou Heng’s face showed deep skepticism, then he shook his head, “I don’t believe it.”

“…” Ning Zeyu’s expression froze, speechless for a moment. It took a deep breath before she was able to reorganize her words, “Fifth Rank Sect Masters are much stronger than us. The treasures beyond that giant door are numerous and, competing against these people, neither you nor I stand a chance. Only by joining forces might we possibly…”

“No, you’re wrong,” Zhou Heng interrupted Ning Zeyu directly, quite bluntly, “Miss Ning, you made a mistake. Fifth Rank Sect Masters are not necessarily stronger than us.

“Moreover, your idea of cooperating with us isn’t really joining forces; it might even hold us back. Your strength is too weak, insufficient to help us, so please act on your own.”

Just like that, Zhou Heng spoke bluntly, his words acerbic and direct, leaving her at a loss for what to say next. Her face turned a steel-cold blue, with the corners of her mouth twitching slightly as she opened them to speak but then fell silent.

It was a considerable time before Ning Zeyu finally said, “Are you that confident? Do you even know how many palaces there are within the Yao Palace Hundred Diagrams, how big each one is, where they are located, and what kind of treasures they contain?”

“Do you know?” Zhou Heng’s eyes brightened at her words.

“Yes.” Ning Zeyu, seeing his reaction, was overjoyed and hastened to speak, “I do have some understanding of the Yao Palace Hundred Diagrams. If we work together, I’m sure we’ll be able to find what we want quickly.”

“But actually, I don’t have anything I want,” Zhou Heng’s mouth curved slightly upwards, looking at Ning Zeyu with a hint of mockery, “Miss Ning, please return. We definitely won’t accept your offer to cooperate.”

“Heh, then don’t regret it!” Ning Zeyu couldn’t do anything else; she glared fiercely at Zhou Heng, then turned and left, apparently to find someone else.

“I have a feeling that the reason we were suddenly summoned here might be related to what Ning Zeyu mentioned,” Cheng Jianjian said softly, watching Ning Zeyu’s retreating figure, talking to Zhou Heng.

“I feel the same, even though there’s no proof yet…” Zhou Heng nodded, “But the anomaly with the Star Tear Stone was too abrupt, clearly there’s an issue.”

Boom!

“`

At that moment, the massive gate in front of them burst open with a powerful and pure golden light that shot up into the sky, merging with the swirling golden clouds overhead.

Immediately, streaks of light raced through the air, each eager to enter through the gap of the now-opened gate; these were the owners of over thirty Star Tear Stones.

To them, whether it was the Yao Palace’s Hundred Halls Map itself, or the divine skills, treasures, and immortal elixirs hidden within, all held a fatally seductive allure.

Naturally, they wanted to grab them as quickly as possible.

Zhou Heng and Cheng Jianjian exchanged glances, their faces simultaneously revealing faint smiles.

“Compared to them, we seem to be just out for a leisurely excursion.”

“Isn’t that the case?”

Chatting and chuckling, the two of them casually strolled into the gap between the giant doors.

…

Ning Zeyu, shrouded in the golden light, gazed at the two entering with a gloomy expression and thought, “Just wait, once you step into the range of the Yao Palace’s Hundred Halls, I’ll make sure you have no ground to be buried in!

“My true form lies in the deepest part of the Yao Palace’s Hundred Halls. With this connection, I can influence many of the arrangements in numerous places. The moment you enter, you’ll be at my mercy!

“This is the death you sought for yourselves!!”

…

Zhou Heng actually didn’t have much expectation for the treasures hidden inside the map of Yao Palace’s Hundred Halls.

After all, he had already inherited the Three Pure Ones’ legacy in terms of martial arts; he was not in need of techniques, and although he didn’t have many treasures, his special ability cards and privileges were enough to surpass any treasure.

His choice to enter the giant gate was simply a desire to see what this place was like.

To be sure, it was the Sacred Inheritance of the Dream Saint, and in itself it was equivalent to a fully condensed Taoist seed. If he could observe and gain some insight from the divine charm within, he might be able to uncover some secrets related to the Dream Saint.

Past the dazzling golden light, they arrived at a cliff, and the view suddenly opened up, giving a sensation as if the clouds had parted to reveal the sun.

Before them, pavilions and towers were suspended in the air, joined by jade staircases, shimmering with multicolored clouds, resplendent and miraculous in their beauty.

“Truly a heavenly realm,” Zhou Heng couldn’t help but exclaim.

Standing now at a lofty vantage point, he could overlook all these structures, but the more he looked, the more he felt something was amiss—it seemed as though deeper within the Hundred Halls of the Yao Palace, something else lay hidden.

“It is said that the map of Yao Palace’s Hundred Halls was personally drawn by the Dream Saint. How He managed to depict such a scene is beyond imagination,” Cheng Jianjian also exclaimed excitedly.

Her gaze was completely captivated by the pavilions and towers, feeling even that the glimmering lights on the palaces corresponded with the principles of the martial arts she practiced.

In a trance, Cheng Jianjian felt as if her vision passed through the buildings in front of her, seeing a palace high above all the heavens.

An endless radiance enshrouded the palace, allowing her to see only its outline and sense its Taoist charm, but not the true form of the palace.

Yet just this one glimpse made Cheng Jianjian feel as though she had peered into the ultimate of Tao and principle.

Dominating the heavens, transcending all worlds!

This was the Taoist charm of the palace!

“`

Meanwhile, her cultivation realm suddenly soared, and the True Qi within her body rapidly condensed, astonishingly refining directly into true gangue.

And in that instant when the true gangue completed its condensation, borrowing the momentary clarity of her divine soul’s essence during the breakthrough of her realm, Cheng Jianjian finally snapped back to reality.

“This, this is…” Cheng Jianjian’s eyes widened, seemingly in disbelief as she sensed the true gangue surging within her, overflowing with surprise, “Did I break through? Have I refined the true gangue?”

Then, she turned to look at Zhou Heng, only to see that he had closed his eyes, standing there motionless, but his aura was increasingly profound and unfathomable.

Cheng Jianjian could sense that Zhou Heng seemed to have fallen into a strange state, one that absolutely could not be disturbed.

Thus, she immediately focused her attention, carefully sensing the surrounding situation, and prepared to protect Zhou Heng at a moment’s notice.

She was guarding over Zhou Heng.

At that time, Zhou Heng’s spirit was immersed in an earth-shaking scene.

When he had earlier sensed that something might be hidden in the depths of Yao Palace’s hundred halls, his attention concentrated and his perspective abruptly shifted in a bizarre manner, as if he had directly passed through the Yao Palace here and arrived in front of a majestic and splendid gigantic palace.

This palace was so grand and magnificent that Zhou Heng found it hard to describe in words, because the palace itself had completely exceeded his understanding.

In front of the palace gates, a plaque hung, inscribed with fascinating characters that Zhou Heng couldn’t recognize but inherently knew the meaning of—

Lingxiao Treasure Hall!

Zhou Heng’s heart and spirit trembled, he was shockingly astonished, and at the same time, he felt a thick purple aura bursting out from inside his body, vaguely revealing the outline of a tripod.

This was the aura of fortune!

Merely a single glance at this palace brought him an immense amount of fortune, and it even nearly congealed into a treasure of fortune.

“What’s happening?” Zhou Heng wondered, but then he suddenly felt a splitting headache and his mind was shrouded in a layer of shadow, sensing impending doom.

Even the “Lingxiao Treasure Hall” above became clouded with dark clouds!

Boom!

A thunderous roar exploded, as if an invisible thunder struck from an infinite height, viciously smashing onto the “Lingxiao Treasure Hall.”

The palace, which dominated all heavens and stood above all worlds, instantly collapsed under the strike, an extreme destructive force spread, dense black qi ran rampant, as if to unleash endless calamities.

Zhou Heng subconsciously raised his hand to grasp it, and the purple aura of fortune on his body was suddenly reduced by a half, but he also captured a stream of dark luck within his palm.

“Congratulations! Successfully collected both ‘Aura of Fortune’ and ‘Aura of Slaughter.’ Comprehension of the Taoist Formulas ‘Yin and Yang Positive and Negative Divine Light’ [Absolute Fourth Rank] has increased, proficiency +0.8.”

The prompt of increased proficiency resonated.

Zhou Heng, spurred by this voice, came back to his senses, exiting the mysterious scene, his will returning to his body, and he immediately sensed the aura of fortune and slaughter he had acquired from his “fortuitous encounter.”

With this, “Yin and Yang Positive and Negative Divine Light” would soon be mastered!

Afterward, he looked beside him and saw Cheng Jianjian, who was guarding him, and smiled, “I’m fine now.”

“You’re awake.” Hearing this, Cheng Jianjian’s eyes lit up, her entire being relaxed considerably, she looked at Zhou Heng with delight and said with a smile, “Did you see something just now too? That must’ve been a fortuitous encounter.”

“Indeed, a real fortuitous encounter.” Zhou Heng, noticing Cheng Jianjian had already refined the true gangue, said with a smile, “It’s allowed you to race ahead of me directly.”

“Hey, I was always ahead of you; when I was at the peak of the Seventh Rank, you were just Ninth Grade,” Cheng Jianjian said with a light smile.

“You’re boasting of past glories,” Zhou Heng also smiled and then looked towards the hundred palaces of the Yao Palace floating in the void ahead, “Shall we go and explore next?”

“I don’t really want to anymore,” Cheng Jianjian shook her head and said, “Having an epiphany and refining Zhen Gang this time is already a huge gain for me, I’m quite content with what I have.”

“That suits me just fine,” Zhou Heng nodded and smiled, “So shall we wait here for others to come out?”

…

At that time, inside the hundred palaces of the Yao Palace, quite a number of martial artists were making bold moves for the divine skills and treasures.

The few Sect Fifth Rank naturally held an absolute advantage.

For ordinary martial artists, Secret Six Rank could absolutely not rival a Sect Fifth Rank, which was destined to be a hopeless struggle for spoils.

However, inside the hundred palaces of the Yao Palace, there were many special arrangements.

There were traps, prohibitions, and even powerful formations; even the experts of Sect Fifth Rank were helpless in the face of these.

Thus, this provided many Secret Six Rank martial artists with opportunities. With the help of the various special arrangements within the hundred palaces of the Yao Palace, they managed to stand their ground against those few experts of Sect Fifth Rank.

A part of these special arrangements activated automatically, and Ning Zeyu covertly manipulated others.

However, dealing with these ordinary martial artists was not Ning Zeyu’s goal; she wanted to use this to get rid of, or even kill, Zhou Heng and Cheng Jianjian as a price for their rejection.

Yet, she waited left and right but did not find Zhou Heng and Cheng Jianjian.

This made Ning Zeyu extremely doubt her life choices and feel even more incredulous, “Could it be, could it be that they did not come to explore the hundred palaces of the Yao Palace at all?

“But how is that possible, the divine skill books, the wondrous treasures, the magical herbs, and the immortal pills here, are they not tempted at all?”

She could not understand the situation at all.

After waiting in vain, Ning Zeyu had no choice but to give up on that plan.

Then, using some of the arrangements she could influence, she barely managed to stop the other explorers and finally reached the palace she believed contained her true form.

But when Ning Zeyu pushed open the grand doors of the palace, eagerly wanting to retrieve her true form and regain her past life’s power, she found only a piece of paper inside.

There were no flower petals, and no body.

“What is this…?” Ning Zeyu picked up the paper with a perplexed expression and saw that it told a story, indeed the story of ‘A Smile in Passing’; “Could it be, this, this is my true form? A… story?”

Bang!

In the moment she realized that she was originally just a story, she exploded into nothingness together with the piece of paper.

Her form and spirit were utterly annihilated, no longer existing.

It was like—waking from a dream.

Meanwhile, at the same time on the cliff, Zhou Heng and Cheng Jianjian suddenly noticed that the hundred palaces of the Yao Palace floating in the void ahead were starting to collapse…