Altar

A short moment later, the small azure cauldron flickered within the Nascent Flames and released a scorching aura. The entire secret chamber began to roil with heat, and the temperature suddenly rose.

A cold light flashed in Han Li’s eyes. He raised his hand and struck the small cauldron with a spell seal.

With a light pop, a streak of azure light shot into the sky from the cauldron. The cauldron lid flew out of its own accord and hovered above the small cauldron.

When Han Li saw this, he quickly pointed at a square jade box on the ground in front of him. The lid of the box instantly disappeared without a trace, revealing a black stem-like object that was several inches in size and slightly round.

Han Li stared at it for a moment and waved his hand in the air. Immediately, the stem-like object flew out of the jade box and stopped three meters above the ground.

Han Li flicked his finger indifferently, and a green light flashed. A fifth of the stem fell down.

With a wave of his sleeve, azure light shot out from his sleeve, sweeping up the fallen portion and tossing it into the small cauldron.

He then struck the stem with another incantation seal, causing it to immediately fall back into the jade box.

Then, Han Li no longer paid attention to this item. He cast a spell to open another long wooden box, revealing an emerald-green stalk of an unknown spiritual herb.

Similarly, he cast a spell and cut off a small portion of the stalk before placing it into the cauldron.

Just like that, Han Li placed a portion of the ingredients into the cauldron according to the formula and finally took out the Spirit Kindle Fruit.

Azure sword light flashed, splitting it into four portions and placing one into the cauldron.

Only then did Han Li point at the lid of the floating cauldron.

The lid of the cauldron fell down and tightly covered the small cauldron.

Han Li exhaled lightly and opened his mouth again. The azure Nascent Flame spouted out, and the flames immediately surged, causing the temperature in the room to rise significantly.

At this moment, staring at the small cauldron in the flames, Han Li’s ten fingers continuously flicked as he continuously struck the small cauldron.

Not long after, the small cauldron began to emit a series of thunderclaps that grew louder and louder.

When Han Li saw this, he raised his eyebrows and changed the speed of his hand seals, sometimes slower and sometimes faster.

The cauldron’s thunderclaps were also increasing and then decreasing in pitch, creating a rather peculiar sight.

At this moment, Han Li’s expression was wooden, but blue light flickered in his eyes. It was as if he had directly seen through the cauldron wall and observed the situation of the medicinal pill in the small cauldron. He looked neither sad nor happy.

Time slowly passed.

…

Just as Han Li was bitterly refining pills, at the altar in the basin, the group from the Ghost Spirit Sect finally reached the top of the altar that was thousands of feet tall.

It was unknown what the ancient cultivators who had built the altar thought, but the restrictions on the stairs were truly abnormal. Starting from the bottom of the altar, the gravitational force on their bodies would increase significantly with each step they took.

As a result, the group of cultivators only took four hours to climb from the bottom to the middle of the altar. However, it took them a day and a night to reach the top. They even had to rest for half a day along the way to recover their magic power.

The Ghost Spirit Sect’s Master and the other Nascent Soul cultivators were still alright, but it was extremely difficult for the three Core Formation disciples to reach the top. This was because when they reached the last ten or so steps, every step seemed to exert a thousand kilograms of force on their bodies. These Core Formation cultivators moved to this place inch by inch.

Of course, Wei Wuya was the most relaxed of them all.

From the beginning to the end, nobody had seen the restriction affect this late-Nascent Soul cultivator in any way, and he hadn’t shown any signs of strain. Even when Wang Tiangu and the others reached the last section, they could only take one step at a time, and their expressions were quite unsightly.

Of course, when the Ghost Spirit Sect’s Master saw Wei Wuya’s performance, he couldn’t help but feel apprehensive. He couldn’t help but think even more highly of Wei Wuya.

Although their cultivation bases differed, the Ghost Spirit Sect’s Master had made neat arrangements so that they could climb to the top of the altar at the same time.

As soon as they stepped onto the top, the feeling of shouldering a heavy mountain immediately disappeared without a trace. The Ghost Spirit Sect disciples finally heaved a huge sigh of relief.

Even though they were protected by spiritual light, they still felt soreness in their backs and legs as they walked from the bottom of the altar.

It had been a long time since they experienced this feeling when they were mortals. After all, they would usually be able to reach any place with a stomp of their feet. They had never experienced such pain before.

Wang Tiangu and the others paid no attention to this. As soon as they stepped into this place, they immediately began to look around.

The area was over 1,000 feet wide, and the ground was covered with translucent white jade bricks. There was a 60 to 70-foot-long offering table at the center, which was crafted from exquisite jade. The rest of the area was completely empty, but there was a tall azure stone pillar erected at each of the four corners of the altar.

These stone pillars were around 100 feet tall, and the surface of each pillar was engraved with densely packed runes and incantations. They appeared to be extremely obscure and ancient. At the top of each of these stone pillars, there was a Qilin stone statue. They were lifelike and had various forms. They also emitted faint spiritual light as if they were extraordinary.

Naturally, they were able to see all of the simple items in the blink of an eye.

Wei Wuya couldn’t find anything more noteworthy, and he couldn’t help but frown as he glanced at the Ghost Spirit Sect’s Master.

The Ghost Spirit Sect’s Master was currently looking up at the sky with his hands behind his back, as if he had seen something interesting.

Wei Wuya also appraised the sky with astonishment in his heart. The sky was completely blood-red, and there was a myriad of colors floating in the lower portions of the sky. Apart from a few wisps of light, there was nothing out of the ordinary.

Wei Wu bluntly asked, “Sect Master Wang! We’re already here. Where is the entrance to the Spirit Ether Garden?”

The Ghost Spirit Sect’s Master calmly replied, “Fellow Daoist Wei, there is no need to be anxious. The entrance to the Spirit Ether Garden is naturally concealed by a restriction. However, the method to break the restriction is known only to the soul in the painting. As long as we summon him and ask him, we will know.”

Wei Wuya’s expression stirred as he slowly said, “So that’s how it is. It seems that this is part of the deal Fellow Daoist Wang made with Master Cang Kun’s avatar as well.”

“Hehe! Fellow Daoist Wei is a clever person. I’ve agreed to a few of his conditions. Please wait a moment, I’ll summon him.” The Ghost Spirit Sect’s Master smiled and reached into his sleeve, summoning the silver scroll.

Wang Tiangu’s eyes flickered as he walked over without a word.

This time, the Ghost Spirit Sect’s Master tossed out the scroll and a ball of green light flew out of it, immediately taking the form of the scholar.

“That’s right, this is the place. I didn’t think that I would be able to return to this place one day.” Master Cang Kun’s avatar spirit appeared. He didn’t pay attention to anyone and looked around excitedly.

The Ghost Spirit Sect’s Master coldly looked at him and said, “As agreed, I’ve brought you to the altar. According to you, this is the center of Devilfall Valley and the entrance to the Spirit Ether Garden. Now, it is time for you to fulfill your promise and open the entrance.”

“You’ve already placed a restriction on me. Could it be that you’re afraid I lied to you? The entrance to the Spirit Ether Garden is above the altar. I’m not lying to you. It’s just that the restriction is a bit strange and I’ll have to personally undo it.” With that said, the scholar also raised his head and looked at the rainbow light in the sky. He rubbed his hands together and a grey fireball appeared in his hand. He raised his hand and the fireball shot into the sky.

As a result, the fireball strangely disappeared into thin air as soon as it struck the clouds.

When the scholarly man saw this, he nodded and turned to look at the four stone pillars around him.

“Fellow Daoists, pour some spiritual power into the four stone pillars and leave the rest to me.”

Wang Tiangu and the other two glanced at each other. The Ghost Spirit Sect’s Master hesitated for a moment before saying in a low voice,

“Alright, we’ll do as Fellow Daoist says. The three of you go to the stone pillars over there. Junior Brother Wang, I’ll have to trouble you with the rest.”

“Yes, Sect Master!”

The three disciples immediately bowed and agreed. Without any hesitation, Wang Tiangu walked towards one of the stone pillars.

Under the command of the Ghost Spirit Sect’s Master, the four of them placed their palms on the stone pillars and slowly injected their spiritual power into them. Through the stone pillars, they then injected their spiritual power into the stone statues at the top.

Not long after, the four stone pillars began to hum and tremble slightly.

Spiritual light flashed from the Qilin statues, and their dull eyes suddenly lit up with blood-red colors as if they were coming to life.

When Wei Wuya saw this, he had a vague feeling that he had heard of the four stone pillars before. However, he was unable to remember for the time being.

The Ghost Spirit Sect’s Master stood in place and silently watched this scene.

All of a sudden, the Qilin statues slowly raised their heads and opened their mouths, within which five-colored light flickered as if something were about to shoot out.

At this moment, the ghostly scholar took action.

He raised his hands and flicked his fingers, releasing four grey incantation seals onto the stone statues.

All of a sudden, the Qilin statues’ mouths expanded and contracted as it continuously spat out the items.

Four pillars of five-colored light shot into the sky before erupting with brilliant light. A five-colored ball of light that was around 10 feet in size appeared in the air.

The space around the ball of light then warped, following which an earth-shattering boom erupted.

The five-colored spiritual light was blinding and covered the entire sky above the altar. An astonishing spiritual Qi fluctuation swept toward the cultivators on the altar like a tempestuous wave.

Even for a cultivator like Wei Wuya, his expression couldn’t help but change upon sensing the intensity of the spiritual Qi fluctuations. The others couldn’t help but take a few steps back and hurriedly mobilize the spiritual power in their bodies to block the fluctuations.

Fortunately, the process of the explosion was very short. In the blink of an eye, the light receded and the spiritual Qi dissipated. Only then did the Ghost Spirit Sect cultivators feel relieved and hurriedly raise their heads to look at the sky.

When they clearly saw what was happening in the air, they were all greatly shocked.

Wei Wuya’s face turned ashen as he turned to the scholar with an icy expression.

“This is the entrance to the Spirit Ether Garden?”