Composing herself, Shi Yu looked once more at the pearl fragment in her hand. Recalling the torrent of information she had glimpsed when her divine sense made brief contact, she set aside the slaughterous scenes of the ancient desert battlefield. As the deeper, underlying message gradually surfaced, she voiced her speculation: “It seems to have some kind of cultivation technique or divine ability sealed within.”
Wrapped in her spiritual flames, the fragment quietly radiated a faint, shimmering glow, overflowing with colorful radiance. It appeared completely unfazed by the roasting heat of the Heavenly Fire.
Shi Yu looked down at it, adding softly, “It's quite extraordinary.”
Among all cultivation resources, method inheritances were the hardest to come by, especially for rogue cultivators.
Whether this secret treasure was an immortal dwelling or a grave of a fallen expert, one thing was certain: its master must have been an ancient powerhouse of supreme cultivation. Otherwise, how could it have triggered such a massive commotion?
And the allure of an inheritance left by an ancient powerhouse went without saying.
Hearing her words, the eyes of the others glinted. The same thought crossed all their minds: if this was merely a single fragment of the pearl, then the whole pearl must have held the true inheritance of the secret realm's master.
Over tens of millions of years, the Five Continents of the Origin Realm had suffered numerous calamities. As time passed, many ancient inheritances had been fragmented or lost entirely. If one could obtain even a fraction of it from this secret treasure, the benefits would be boundless...
Ji Yu rubbed his hands with a chuckle. “Sister, should we take this chance to look for more fragments?”
Shi Yu looked up at the sky. Large and small fragments streaked across the dark expanse like shooting stars, quickly vanishing into the distance with few flying toward them. “Let's keep moving forward. If we happen to run into any, all the better.”
Standing on the bridge with no path behind them and an abyss of unknown depth below, moving forward was their only option anyway.
No one objected.
Now that the pearl was shattered, the secret realm had lost its light source, leaving everything pitch-black. Shi Yu ignited her spiritual flames for illumination, but the light could only clear the area within a ten-foot radius. Any farther, and the glow was swallowed whole, unable to spread.
They had no choice but to carefully grope their way forward through the darkness.
Shi Yu walked ahead holding her fire, casually tossing the pearl fragment into the Fate-Tapping Bell.
Unexpectedly, as soon as the fragment entered the Fate-Tapping Bell, it suspended itself in midair and spun rapidly like a top. The dense spiritual Qi inside the bell, fueled by the Life Spring and Slaughter Spring, instantly swirled toward it, rushing into the fragment in an endless torrent.
Within the bell's spatial realm, the hatched bees and spirit butterflies were startled into flying erratically in all directions. Little Seven, who had been napping beside the Life Spring, raised its head and flapped its wings, protecting the nearby pupae while letting out two anxious, vigilant chirps at the fragment.
Seeing this, Shi Yu was surprised and briefly hesitated, unsure whether to take the fragment out or let it continue absorbing spiritual Qi.
In just those few breaths of hesitation, the entire spatial realm inside the Fate-Tapping Bell began to violently shake. A fierce, raging vortex formed around the fragment, whipping up gusts of wind and waves of energy throughout the space.
Watching the spiritual plants in the medicinal field being blown askew, and the spirit bees and butterflies fluttering frantically with nowhere to hide, Shi Yu frowned and extended her divine sense inside to pull the fragment out.
However, the moment she withdrew the fragment, even though she had already severed her divine sense connection, the countless pieces of information and wild emotions hidden within surged irresistibly into her sea of consciousness. Uncontrollable and relentless, it was overbearingly dominant.
Despite her prior precautions, her sea of consciousness could not resist, forced to absorb the full force of the impact.
Her eyes grew distant and unfocused, yet her body kept striding forward, still holding the Heavenly Fire to light their path. Neither Qingzhou nor the others noticed anything amiss.
Having absorbed the dense Qi from the spatial realm, the information within the fragment grew exponentially clearer. Unfolding like a grand scroll before Shi Yu's mind's eye, she seemed to experience the passage of countless ages in a single instant, scenes flashing before her like a feverish dream.
Her sea of consciousness felt as if it were being pierced by thousands of needles, giving her a splitting headache. At the same time, the sense of her mind being enthralled—just like when she had gazed at the secret realm's grand gates days before—washed over her once again. A low buzzing sound echoed in her ears with a beckoning tone. Faint and deep at first, it rapidly grew louder and louder until it pounded against her ears like a furiously tolled bell, leaving her dizzy and disoriented.
Her thoughts were devoured continuously, growing sluggish and murky. It felt as though a pair of gigantic hands was yanking her soul out of her body, leaving her vision floating and blurred.
Sweat dripped from Shi Yu's forehead as she fought desperately to guard her mind. In her dazed perception, she caught sight of a massive crimson shadow floating before her, seeking to replace her, drive out her soul, and claim her body!
Realizing instantly that she was suffering an attempted body seizure, horror flooded her heart. To think a tiny fragment could harbor such a powerful remnant intent!
It showed just how terrifyingly high the secret realm master's cultivation must have been in life!
Fortunately, this figure was merely a remnant thought, allowing her to hold it at bay for a fleeting moment to gain a precious breath of time.
Shi Yu discovered her body was firmly locked down by this overwhelming force, unable to move a muscle under her own will. She could only watch as it controlled her body to keep walking forward, while her divine sense was wrapped in layer upon layer of restrictions, unable to send out even a sliver of thought.
Cloaked in the gloom, her three companions noticed nothing out of the ordinary.
Yet right at that moment, she felt a familiar aura emanate from inside the Fate-Tapping Bell. It was Little Seven!
Due to the violent upheaval of Qi inside the Fate-Tapping Bell, Little Seven was forcefully ejected into the outside world. The moment it emerged, it circled Shi Yu and let out a sharp, piercing chirp.
Though dampened by the fragment's power, the cry was clear enough to catch the attention of Qingzhou and the others.
Qingzhou turned sharply toward her. “Ah Yu, what's wrong?”
Shi Yu tried to answer, but found her facial expressions and lips beyond her control. A delicate smile formed on her face as she offered Qingzhou a soft, alluring response, her voice sweet and gentle: “Nothing's wrong.”
Qingzhou paused, his expression stiffening. Taking a step closer, he asked in a low voice, “Are you really alright? You seem off.”
Before his words had fully faded, he thrust out his palm, sending a surge of wind toward her!
Nearby, Ji Yu froze in shock, exclaiming, “Sister!”
The wind carried a mist of water Qi right toward Shi Yu's face. The cool, damp moisture splashed over her face, instantly snapping her mind back to alertness. Sensing a brief moment of clarity, Shi Yu seized the opportunity without hesitation, condensing her divine sense into a sharp sword aimed straight at the remnant thought.
Begone! she barked inwardly.
Sensing her resistance, the remnant thought instantly redoubled its force to suppress her divine sense. A voice full of seductive charm echoed in her head: “Little girl, I have taken a liking to your body, yet you refuse to appreciate my favor?”
Shi Yu felt immense pressure crash over her from all sides, suffocating her. She let out a low chuckle, then delivered another fierce command: Get out!
A dazzling flash of light exploded inside her sea of consciousness. The voice screamed in disbelief before slowly fading into nothingness.
Her soul snapped back into her body. Shi Yu shuddered violently and began gasping for air.
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