Chapter 143: The Half-Severed Peak

Jiang Min continued, "The ancient teleportation array outside this grotto-heaven fragment is on the verge of collapse. Once it is completely destroyed, the connection will likely be severed, making it impossible for future generations to ever reach this place, even if the array is repaired."

"Rather than letting this place lie dormant and become lost in the boundless void, we might as well take away everything that can be carried."

The immortal statue remained silent.

Just as Jiang Min thought the elderly immortal was quietly refusing, a beam of spiritual light darted from her palm, transforming in mid-air into the translucent, illusory form of the old immortal, with flowing robes and drifting white eyebrows.

The old immortal glanced at her, shook his head helplessly, and then pointed a finger toward the ancient spirit lake.

Rumble!

That seemingly ordinary finger caused the vast ancient spirit lake to tremble violently. The lake's surface, shimmering with a faint golden glow, surged with towering waves, and even the towering Taiying Spirit Tree, which pierced the clouds, shook intensely.

The next moment.

A majestic spiritual light cascregated from the heavens, enveloping the ancient spirit lake entirely.

Hum!

Amidst the dazzling spiritual light, the boundless ancient spirit lake, along with the Taiying Spirit Tree at its center, vanished completely, leaving behind a bottomless, expansive giant pit. Immediately afterward, the overwhelming spiritual light retracted, turning into a stream of light that fell back into the old immortal's hand. The old immortal's figure then sank into her palm and disappeared.

"Many thanks, senior immortal."

Jiang Min hurriedly cupped her hands toward the empty air.

She extended her spiritual sense into her palm grotto-heaven.

She saw that this grotto-heaven world had expanded significantly and even undergone a drastic transformation.

Now, the lake water shimmering with gold occupied the majority of the grotto-heaven world. A towering azure mountain, wreathed in clouds and mists and covered in verdant forests, burst forth from the center of the lake, and a majestic Immortal Monarch Hall sat upon a bluestone plaza amidst the mountains.

The Taiying Spirit Tree had taken root in the back mountain, its golden-gleaming branches swaying gently as if it had just settled into its new home.

Reaching her spiritual sense toward the bottom of the lake, she could see that the Extreme Yang Spirit Vein had been relocated inside as well. Rich extreme yang spiritual Qi rose from the lake bed, filling this entire grotto-heaven world.

An immortal grotto-heaven.

It had already begun to take shape.

"This... where did the green mountain and bluestone plaza come from? Are these all immortal methods?" Jiang Min thought with a trace of astonishment.

In the blink of an eye, this grotto-heaven world had transformed utterly, gaining so many new features and turning into a blessed land highly favorable for cultivation.

Now, the yang energy required to refine the golden elixir great medicine would be more than sufficient!

"Let's go have a look around elsewhere."

After moving the Extreme Yang Spirit Vein and the Taiying Spirit Tree, Jiang Min steered her Wind-Thunder Shuttle to wander about, searching for other opportunities.

She chose a random direction and flew off.

In the distance, a pitch-black line suddenly appeared. Jiang Min's expression shifted slightly, and she flew toward the black line. As she drew closer, she realized it was actually a fragmented, pitch-black spatial rift, roughly a hundred zhang long and immensely wide.

The rift was pitch black, and merely gazing at it evoked a hair-raising sensation of dread. The edges of the rift were constantly collapsing, whipping up fierce gales and stirring up flying sand and fallen leaves, instantly pulverizing and devouring them within.

"A spatial rift?!"

A cold sweat broke out on Jiang Min's back, and she hurriedly retreated.

She noticed that this hundred-zhang-long spatial rift was still expanding at a slow pace, its edges continuously crumbling. In another century, it would likely devour this entire grotto-heaven and destroy it within the void.

Back in the ancient battlefield of the Myriad Sword Sect, she had also seen spatial rifts in the firmament, but those rifts had been quite stable and not nearly as terrifying as the one before her eyes.

"Senior immortal, can this spatial rift still be mended? If it continues to collapse like this, the entire grotto-heaven world fragment will eventually be destroyed."

After Jiang Min asked, the immortal statue gave no response.

Whether it could not be mended or did not need to be mended, she could not tell.

Jiang Min's heart sank slightly, and she said solemnly, "I'll go check other places to see if any inheritances remain. I should take whatever can be taken. How tragic it would be if these stunning and peerless ancient inheritances were to quietly vanish between heaven and earth and become severed forever."

She left the spatial rift and flew toward other regions.

Even though it was only a grotto-heaven fragment, the realm was vast. Jiang Min flew for a long time, only to find boundless ancient forests or desolate wastes burying all the ancient ruins entirely. During her flight, she encountered another even wider spatial rift, which was slowly devouring an ancient small town buried beneath an ancient forest...

"Hmm? The sound of a sword hums. Let's go take a look."

Clang!

A faint, sharp sword hum echoed from afar.

Jiang Min, flying along on her shuttle, slightly slowed her pace and then changed direction, heading toward the source of the sword hum.

As she drew closer.

She saw a hundred-zhang-long, slender broken peak lying horizontally across a desolate plain, resembling the severed blade of a giant sword that had fallen here. The sound of swords humming emanated from the broken peak, and a rich, majestic sword intent enveloped it.

Looking closely, the stone walls of the broken peak were carved with dense ancient characters and images. Accompanied by the long, ringing sword intent, they presented complex and profound transformations, with various sword Dao visions emerging from the stone walls, intersecting and changing, remaining clear even after ten thousand years.

Jiang Min stood upon the Wind-Thunder Shuttle, overlooking the massive broken peak lying across the wilderness, her eyes twitching slightly.

"Could this be..."

"The other half of the Ancient Battlefield's Sword-Enlightenment Cliff!"

The Sword-Enlightenment Cliff in the Myriad Sword Sect's ancient battlefield resembled a broken towering giant sword, with only half of it thrust into the ground, bearing the sword Dao heritage of ancient sword cultivators. However, many of the diagrams and texts there had been destroyed, leaving mostly fragmentary chapters.

This severed peak lying on the wasteland also possessed a sword Dao inheritance, and it had not been damaged. Upon closer inspection, it truly looked like the other half of the Sword-Enlightenment Cliff...

One half was at the Ziyin Sword Sect grotto-heaven fragment within the Myriad Sword Sect.

The other half was right here.

Thus, it was complete.

"Senior immortal, this broken peak should hold the sword Dao inheritance of the Ziyin Sword Sect. I have seen the other half of the broken peak in another place; I never expected to find this other half here."

"Shall we?"

Before she could finish her thought, another beam of light darted from her palm, transforming into a majestic spiritual light that enveloped the colossal broken peak and caused it to vanish from the spot.

Inside the palm grotto-heaven.

An island connected to the green mountain burst forth from the water, catching the broken peak and causing it to firmly take root upon the island.

Jiang Min glanced at it, withdrew her spiritual sense from the grotto-heaven world, and thought to herself, "Master once said that if one wishes to make progress in the sword Dao and walk one's own path, one must observe and learn more, understanding various sword Daos. Now that the grotto-heaven in my palm holds so many sword Dao inheritances, I will have the opportunity to contemplate them at any time..."

Having put away the inherited broken peak.

Jiang Min searched other areas once more, but finding no further inheritances, she decided to leave and flew toward the ancient teleportation array stored in the memories of the white-bone remnant soul.

Deep within the ancient forest.

A massive stone platform stood high, covered in cracks, looking vicissitudinous and ancient. Complex and abstruse array markings were drawn upon it, faintly emitting a halo of light.

"This teleportation array should work simply by infusing spiritual power."

Jiang Min stood upon the stone platform, raised her hands, and interlaced her ten fingers to form a hand seal. The spiritual power in her dantian was instantly mobilized, and pointing her fingers toward the ancient teleportation array, she cast the spell condensed from spiritual power into the array markings.

The array markings rippled, and then all movement ceased.

"..."

Several black lines crossed Jiang Min's forehead.

"Is the spiritual power of the Foundation Establishment realm not enough?"

With that, she took out a pouch of middle-grade spiritual stones plundered from others and refined them all. A vast amount of spiritual Qi instantly surged in her palm and was injected into the array beneath her feet.

Hum, hum!

The ancient teleportation array finally emitted a humming sound, and majestic spiritual light burst from the stone platform beneath her feet, enveloping Jiang Min, yet she was not teleported away.

"It seems the spiritual stones are still not enough."

Jiang Min once again produced pouch after pouch of middle-grade spiritual stones, taking out almost all she had plundered from Xiong Tianhai and the others, turning them entirely into spiritual Qi and driving them into the ancient teleportation array.

Hum!

Amidst a deep, resounding hum that echoed through the ancient forest, Jiang Min's figure finally vanished from the spot. She skillfully closed her eyes, a hint of nervousness welling up in her heart.

"Phew."

"Next, I will have to deal with those few Nascent Soul cultivators."