Chapter 1699: Entering the Outskirts of Temple of Confucius
Translator: StarveCleric Editor: Millman97
Taking the Prime Amulet, Luo Ruoxin stroked it lightly with her fingers. A moment later, she pa.s.sed it back. “Here you go!”
“Why don’t you just take it? I can wait for you at the entrance of the Temple of Confucius, and the two of us can enter together!” Zhang Xuan suggested with a smile.
He had no intention of leaving Luo Ruoxin behind in the Temple of Confucius, and he trusted Luo Ruoxin as well. Thus, it did not matter to him who was in possession of Little Amulet.
“There’s no need for it. It’ll be good to leave it with you. I just wanted to take a look at it…” Luo Ruoxin shook her head as she pa.s.sed the pendant back.
“Alright then… It would be great if we could use the Communication Jade Token after entering the Temple of Confucius, but if we are unable to contact one another, let’s meet at the entrance of the Prime Hall. I’ll be waiting for you there!” Zhang Xuan said.
“Alright.” Luo Ruoxin nodded with a light smile.
Strolling through the bustling crowd while making some idle conversation, Zhang Xuan could not help but remember the day that he confessed at Firesource City. It felt as if the entire world had become insignificant as long as she was by his side. It was a feeling of peace that he had never known to be possible.
He did not know how she felt about him, but she gave him a striking sense of familiarity. He knew that it was irrational to think of it in such a manner, but it felt like their fates were tightly interweaved together. Being beside her felt like the most natural thing to him, such that he could no longer fathom a world without her.
The time spent with loved ones always flew by swiftly. Unknowingly, a day pa.s.sed.
They swiftly returned to their accommodations.
Zhang Xuan was just about to bid Luo Ruoxin farewell when the ground suddenly started to tremble. Tremendous pressure abruptly descended upon Qufu, and the ancient buildings that made up the city swiftly succ.u.mbed to the pressure and collapsed one after another.
“What’s going on?” Zhang Xuan was taken aback.
This was the city that Kong s.h.i.+ had resided in during his lifetime, so it was bound to be a place of great fortune. Even the Sanctum of Sages had never suffered an earthquake before, so why would Qufu suddenly suffer such intense tremors?
Luo Ruoxin turned her gaze upward as she said grimly, “The Temple of Confucius is opening.”
Hearing those words, Zhang Xuan swiftly looked up into the sky as well. The second sun in the sky began to flicker non-stop, signaling that something was going to happen very soon.
Following which, rays of myriad colors descended upon Qufu, creating pa.s.sageways that linked the two worlds together. As more and more rays fell upon the world, the pressure on the ground seemed to grow stronger and stronger.
“This is bad…”
Sensing danger from the intensifying pressure, the cultivators who had yet to reach Great Sage hurriedly took out protective artifacts to s.h.i.+eld themselves.
Even Zhang Xuan felt gooseb.u.mps rising all over his body from the sheer pressure, and he quickly drove his zhenqi to ward off the force crus.h.i.+ng down on him.
Kacha! Kacha! Kacha!
Cracks began appearing on the ground. The spiritual energy in the surroundings swiftly formed a ma.s.sive tornado that swept everything toward the sky.
Amid the roaring hubbub around him, Zhang Xuan felt a warmth sensation on his hand—Luo Ruoxin.
There was a look on her face that Zhang Xuan had never seen before.
“Zhang Xuan, if I have hidden some things from you… will you hate me?”
Unable to comprehend why Luo Ruoxin would suddenly ask such a question at this point in time, Zhang Xuan replied, “I won’t. I know that you have your own concerns for keeping secrets from me, and I understand that. I’ll wait for the day that you are willing to speak…”
“Then, what if I…”
In the midst of Luo Ruoxin’s words, a deafening rumble suddenly echoed from the sky. Following which, the entire Qufu was devoured by a brilliant white light.
“Ruoxin!”
The sight before Zhang Xuan blurred as he felt the warmth in his hand vanis.h.i.+ng. He saw the world spinning around him before he blacked out altogether.
…
When Zhang Xuan opened his eyes once more, he was already in the midst of a vast mountain range. He was completely surrounded by tall gra.s.s that seemed to stretch all the way to the horizon.
“Ruoxin!”
Zhang Xuan quickly got up and searched his surroundings frantically. However, there was not a single person in sight.
Although Zhang Xuan was stunned for a moment, realization soon struck him.
It seems like the Temple of Confucius has opened, and we have all been randomly teleported in…
It was just a moment ago that he had still been in the Zhang Clan’s residence in Qufu, but in the blink of an eye, he was already in the midst of a mountain range. At the time, the young lady whose hand was locked together with his had vanished as well. It was apparent that he had been teleported away by some formidable force.
Without any doubt, it was clearly the doing of the Temple of Confucius.
Everyone that had been in Qufu should have been teleported to a random location in the Temple of Confucius.
Knowing that they had just been teleported to different locations, Zhang Xuan’s heart finally calmed down. He released his Spiritual Perception to sense the surroundings around him, and he could not help but nod.
The ‘teacher’s milieu’ in here is much more concentrated than in Qufu…
It was no wonder everyone wanted to come to the Temple of Confucius in search of their ‘fortuitous encounter’. Putting everything aside, just the ‘teacher’s milieu’ there was much more concentrated than in Qufu. A master teacher who cultivated there would find their Soul Depth growing at an astounding pace.
The spiritual energy in here is much denser too. I have never seen a blessed land of such quality before!
It was one thing for the ‘teacher’s milieu’ to be much more concentrated in Qufu, but even the spiritual energy was so dense that it almost felt tangible to the touch! Even without utilizing a pinnacle spirit stone, a cultivator would be able to advance their cultivation swiftly there!
Knowing that he was in a different environment, Zhang Xuan quickly checked his physical condition, and after confirming that his fighting prowess was no lower in the Temple of Confucius, he heaved a sigh of relief.
Following which, he flicked his hand and took out his Communication Jade Token.
He attempted to activate it, but to his disappointment, he was not able to contact anyone at all.
Just as he had guessed, it was impossible to use Communication Jade Tokens in the Temple of Confucius. It felt like there was some kind of barrier around the area that prevented remote communication.
Next, he whipped out his Dragonbone Divine Spear and pierced the s.p.a.ce before him.
The s.p.a.ce wavered a little, but it did not tear open to form a dimension rift.
It seems like I am unable to do spatial leaps in here.
If he could not open a dimension rift, he would be unable to construct spatial pa.s.sageways and leap from one area to another.
It doesn’t seem like I can perform Soul Traverse either… Zhang Xuan sighed deeply.This means that Teleportation Formations won’t work in here either!
To his amazement, the s.p.a.ce in the Temple of Confucius was actually even more resilient than that of the Master Teacher Continent! Despite the surge in his cultivation, he was still unable to tear the s.p.a.ce open.
Let me try flying…
Leaping into the air, Zhang Xuan attempted to head as high as possible in an attempt to get a bird’s eye view over the entire place. However, the higher he went, the greater the pressure weighing down on him seemed to become. It was as if someone was strapping more and more weights on him.
Driving his zhenqi furiously, he barely reached the top of a tree before succ.u.mbing to the pressure.
Hu!
He fell back down to the ground, producing a ma.s.sive pit below him.
As Zhang Xuan patted off the dust from his body, the astonishment on his face could not be concealed.
The s.p.a.ce in the ancient domain was clearly far more compact than the s.p.a.ce in the Master Teacher Continent, thus making flight exceptionally difficult. Even with his prowess, he could only reach the top of a tree before plummeting to the ground. It was likely that most other cultivators would fare worse than him.
He had been planning to quickly scout the area and ascertain the location of the Subordinate Halls and Prime Hall. However, from the looks of it, it seemed like Kong s.h.i.+ had already taken precautions to ensure that his trial would not be that easy.
Unwilling to give up, Zhang Xuan scanned the surroundings with his Eye of Insight.
Since there existed ‘teacher’s milieu’ in the air, it was likely that the Prime Hall was located in the area where the ‘teacher’s milieu’ was the most concentrated!
As such, as long as he followed the concentration gradient of the teacher’s milieu, he should be able to reach the center very swiftly.
But very soon, after taking a sweeping gaze across the area, his face turned livid.
It was true that ‘teacher’s milieu’ was omnipresent in the area, but to his astonishment… there was no concentration gradient at all! The concentration of teacher’s milieu was equal throughout.
To put it in other words, he could not make use of the concentration gradient to find the Subordinate Halls and Prime Hall!
Humph! Even if Kong s.h.i.+ thinks that he can stop me with just this much… I still have the Library of Heaven’s Path to fall back on! Zhang Xuan harrumphed coldly as he took out a book.
If it had been any other cultivator, they would have given up at this point and been forced to roam aimlessly around the area until they found a feasible path forward. However, that was not the case for Zhang Xuan. He still had a final trump card that he could use—the Library of Heaven’s Path! Back then, when he was in Ancient Sage Ran Qiu’s ancient domain, he had been able to use the Library of Heaven’s Path to find the location of the Dragonbone Divine Spear without any trouble. He would surely be able to do so this time around too!