Passageway

Over 1,000 feet above the altar, an arc of light over 300 feet in length appeared.

The arc of white light was forty to fifty feet wide at its widest point and was shaped like a crescent moon. It was actually a rarely seen huge spatial tear. However, the spatial tear had previously been concealed by some unknown restriction. With so many powerful Nascent Soul cultivators present, no one had noticed such a terrifying existence in the sky.

Could this be the so-called entrance to the Spirit Ether Garden?

Even a cultivator as strong as Wei Wuya wouldn’t dare to enter this spatial tear. After all, the power of space wasn’t something that cultivators of this world could withstand. It was no wonder that Wei Wuya couldn’t help but fly into a rage!

The scholar swept his gaze past the crowd and indifferently said, “The Spirit Ether Garden is situated between the Spirit Realm and our human world. If you wish to enter this space, you will naturally have to use the spatial tear here. As long as you twist it, you will be able to directly open the entrance to the Spirit Ether Garden. Don’t worry, I naturally won’t allow you to force your way in. There are other methods to temporarily bring you in. However, there will be certain risks involved. I only have a sixty to seventy percent confidence. These Core Formation cultivators shouldn’t go. Their cultivation is insufficient, so they will only be courting death.”

“Sixty to seventy percent? Why didn’t you mention this before coming here?” The Ghost Spirit Sect’s Master wore an unfriendly expression.

“What difference does it make whether I said it or not? Let alone a sixty to seventy percent chance, even if you only had a twenty to thirty percent chance, you wouldn’t give it up.” The scholar sneered.

The Ghost Spirit Sect’s Master looked at the Confucian Scholar with a cold glint in his eyes and suddenly raised his hand, producing a blood-red command medallion.

“What are you doing?” The Confucian Scholar’s expression greatly changed upon seeing the command medallion. He flew back in panic and loudly shouted.

However, the Ghost Spirit Sect’s Master remained silent and gently waved the command medallion in his hand. The medallion released a large amount of crimson light, and the scholar let out a miserable cry as he fell to the ground. At the same time, strange crimson talisman characters appeared on his skin, circulating incessantly as if they were embedded into his body.

“Soul Shaking Curse?” When Wang Tiangu saw this, he was greatly shocked and couldn’t help but reveal a stern expression.

Wei Wuya’s expression shifted upon hearing this.

“This is one of the Ghost Spirit Sect’s secret incantations, the Soul Shaking Curse? I heard that this secret technique is even more vicious than ordinary restriction techniques. Any cultivator who is under this incantation might have their soul disintegrated with a single thought from the caster,” Wei Wuya said calmly as he stared at the scholar rolling on the ground.

The Ghost Spirit Sect’s Master’s gaze shifted and he replied with a smile, “Hehe! Brother Wei is truly knowledgeable. I am using this curse. This soul is only a wisp of Master Cang Kun’s clone. But he truly believes that he is the invincible Master Cang Kun. Since he dares to act so ungratefully, I will naturally punish him.”

Wei Wuya nodded and didn’t say anything else. To them, no matter how powerful a wisp of a soul was, they wouldn’t allow it to act so arrogantly.

As for the scholar, he seemed to be under great torture. Every time the blood-red runes on his body flickered, his body would involuntarily tremble. He held his head in his hands and rolled on the ground with an expression of unbearable pain.

The torture lasted for the time it took to finish a meal. Even the body that his soul had transformed into gradually became blurry and unstable.

When the Ghost Spirit Sect’s Master saw this, he waved his command medallion and casually stopped his secret technique.

“You should have learned your lesson by now, right? Even if your memories are exactly the same as Master Cang Kun’s, you’re only a remnant soul now. Don’t do anything stupid, or you won’t be punished so lightly next time. Although I have to enter the Spirit Ether Garden, I definitely don’t want to be led by the nose. However, don’t worry. As long as you lead the way obediently, I won’t go back on my word,” the Ghost Spirit Sect’s Master said with both kindness and solemnness.

“Alright, I’ll open the entrance now.” Green light flashed from the scholar’s body as he stood up, and his body instantly solidified, but his expression remained calm.

When the Ghost Spirit Sect’s Master saw the scholar’s expression, he was greatly surprised and his pupils contracted. Just as he wanted to say something, green light flashed from the scholar’s body and he slowly flew towards the rift in the sky.

The Ghost Spirit Sect’s Master could not help but swallow the words that were already at the tip of his tongue. After all, the matter of opening the entrance to the Spirit Ether Garden was more important than teaching the other party a lesson.

Wei Wuya and the others remained silent as they watched the scholar’s actions with cold expressions. They didn’t know what method he had to allow them to pass through such a terrifying rift.

When the scholar was about 200 feet away from the spatial tear, he stopped.

He raised his head to look at the huge crack above him for a moment before a peculiar expression appeared on his face. He suddenly opened his mouth and spat out a ball of green light. Within the ball of green light was an inky-black thumb-sized bead that was revolving in front of him.

The scholar’s face turned deathly pale and his spirit became sluggish. It was as if a majority of his soul power had been sucked away by the pearl.

“Go.”

Even so, the scholar tried to point at the bead and lightly spoke.

Spiritual light flashed from the black bead before it shot into the air.

When the Ghost Spirit Sect’s Master and the others saw this, they all wore expressions of surprise. What kind of effect could this small bead have?

Just as the Ghost Spirit Sect cultivators were feeling bewildered, the bead was affected by the suction force of the spatial tear as soon as it was several tens of feet away.

With a flash of white light, the nearby space warped and the bead disappeared.

For a time, the spatial tear remained unchanged and nothing out of the ordinary happened.

But at that moment, the scholar’s body swayed with a sullen expression and he plummeted down. In the blink of an eye, he had distanced himself from the spatial tear.

Wei Wuya and the others faltered slightly upon hearing this, but before they could figure out what he was trying to do, a muffled boom suddenly erupted from within the spatial rift.

Soon after, a streak of green light flashed at the center of the white mist, following which the green light rapidly grew in size. In the blink of an eye, it had turned into a three-meter ball of dark green light. Brilliant light radiated from it, following which a sharp cry rang out.

At that moment, the scholar landed on the altar and numbly said, “The rest will depend on your abilities. As long as you try your best to pour spiritual power into the green light, you will be able to completely open the passageway to the Spirit Ether Garden.”

When Wei Wuya and Wang Tiangu saw this, they couldn’t help but look over with bewildered expressions.

After a moment of thought, the Ghost Spirit Sect’s Master decisively said, “Let’s give it a try and see if it will work.”

Wei Wuya frowned, but he didn’t say anything after taking a glance at the dark green ball of light. Wang Tiangu naturally had no intention of objecting.

The three immediately split up and formed an incantation gesture at the same time. Then, they raised their hands, and three pillars of light of different colors shot out from their hands, directly striking the dark green ball of light in the spatial tear. At this moment, the depths of their cultivation could be seen at a glance.

The green spiritual pillar that Wei Wuya shot out was as thick as a bowl. As for the Ghost Spirit Sect’s Master and Wang Tiangu, their spiritual power pillars were much smaller.

As for the dark green ball of light that had been injected with boundless spiritual power from the three spirit pillars, it let out a sharp cry and began to expand inch by inch.

A short moment later, a pitch-black hole gradually formed at the center of the green light. At first, it was only about a foot in size, but its depths were unfathomable, and it was unknown where it led.

When the Ghost Spirit Sect disciples saw this, they were overjoyed. The appearance of this phenomenon meant that the scholar had not deceived them.

Spiritual power immediately circulated through their bodies, and the pillars of light in their hands grew thicker at the same time. The dark green light in the spatial rift became even denser.

After the time it took to finish a cup of tea, the black hole at the center had already expanded to three feet in size, and it appeared as if it could somehow accommodate a person. However, the scholar suddenly opened his mouth calmly while he was watching from the side.

“Although we can enter now, the entrance to the Spirit Ether Garden isn’t stable. I don’t have a second Realmbreaker Bead to open the passageway. If you don’t want to enter only to be unable to return, it would be best to continue injecting spiritual power into the passageway and completely stabilize it.”

Wei Wuya and the others were shocked to hear this, and they also looked at the swaying black hole and didn’t dare to withdraw their spiritual power. They could only continue to circulate their magic power and persevere.

However, it was clear that it would consume even more spiritual power to stabilize the black passageway than to open it. After a while, the black passageway still didn’t stabilize.

This caused the Ghost Spirit Sect’s Master to feel somewhat bewildered, but he still bluntly instructed the three Core Formation disciples,

“The three of you should also come and help. Although your cultivation is a bit low, it’s still better than nothing!”

“Yes, Sect Master!”

When the three disciples heard this, they didn’t dare to be negligent. They also condensed their spiritual power into several spirit pillars and shot them into the air.

As for the scholar, he stood on the spot and watched all of this with an expressionless face.

Time slowly passed. When Wei Wuya and the others all injected a small portion of their spiritual power into the rift, the black passageway finally stabilized and stopped shaking.

All of them heaved a sigh of relief and finally put down the pillars of light in their hands.

The Ghost Spirit Sect’s Master withdrew his magic power and narrowed his eyes as he asked, “Does this passageway really lead to the Spirit Ether Garden?”

When the scholar heard this, he had no intention of answering. Instead, Wei Wuya replied, “That should be the case. I can already sense that there’s a vast area at the other end of this passageway.” Wei Wuya licked his lips with a slightly surprised expression.

The others didn’t have enough spiritual sense to transmit it through the passageway, but when they heard this, they were overjoyed.

“Since Brother Wei has said so, it’s definitely true. However, for the sake of caution, it’s better to give it a try.” Wang Tiangu suppressed the abnormal excitement in his heart and shook his sleeve. A ball of black mist shot out from his sleeve. There was a faint ghost inside as it flew towards the passageway.