Chapter 598: Sudden Changes in the Altar

Although Elder Chen was an earth sage cultivator, he had no way to defend against the strength of Long Xiaoxuan’s dragon aura. The immense dragon aura had transformed into an ultimate overbearing strength that covered the heavens and earth, crushing down on Elder Chen so hard that he couldn’t move even a finger.

Long Xiaoxuan opened his maw and swallowed Elder Chen as if swallowing a date whole. Six exotic butterflies frantically flew out in the instant that he was swallowed, but all were diced into nothingness under the dragon aura. Long Xiaoxuan returned to a mustard seed of light to Jiang Chen’s side. The dragon had used the Dragon Domain to seal off the area as he killed Elder Chen, then swallowed everything whole. There was no need to clean up the scene.

Elder Chen’s storage ring naturally landed in Jiang Chen’s hands. He only swept a perfunctory gaze over it, not having enough time to look closely at it. “Brother Long, I’ll have to borrow your arts this time to take me across the lake.”

Long Xiaoxuan didn’t waste any time and immediately transformed a ball of wind and cloud to carry Jiang Chen through the fog and onto the island in a blink of an eye. Jiang Chen remained on guard even though this was his second time here, however, he didn’t need to take so many precautions as there was nobody else here. He could stop and closely observe anything that caught his eye along the way.

There wasn’t anything of particular note on the periphery of the island, so Jiang Chen quickly arrived at the altar again. He lifted his head to look at the altar sitting high at three levels into the air. The altar was located at the peak of the third platform, giving one a mysterious and fathomless feeling. Jiang Chen dashed upwards and quickly arrived on the third level. He stood beneath the altar and spent quite some time observing it, studying the various strange words and carvings on its side. The restrictions shimmering in and out of existence around the altar cautioned Jiang Chen from approaching lightly. He’d returned to this island purely because he wanted to make a thorough investigation. He felt that there was still something about this island that had yet to be uncovered, and that this secret was possibly more precious than the sky spirit herbs.

Now that there were no elders or heavyweights restricting his movements, Jiang Chen could investigate the situation as freely as he wanted, but he still hadn’t discovered any clues after half an hour. Jiang Chen grasped the nameless saber in his hand and felt the saber’s agitation. He still had no idea how the saber was connected to the altar. Even Jiang Chen found things odd. The altar was most likely a holy place and desecration should be absolutely forbidden. Although the blade was good, it was still an item of violence. There shouldn’t be any connection between the two.

However, he could just so happen to feel that there was an exceedingly mysterious connection between the two. Yet, he was unable to successfully bring them together even though he could feel this connection. Just as Jiang Chen was feeling slightly disappointed…

The vibrations from the nameless saber abruptly heightened as it suddenly turned into a beam of black light and shot through the air.

In the next instant, the saber actually stuck itself into the top of the altar like it was a key!

Wham!

It was a perfect fit, and the pillars around the altar started shaking in unison, emitting dull hums. The entire altar began to shake slightly as well.

In the next moment, numerous strange doors appeared in front of Jiang Chen. An incredible force roiled out of the doors and sucked in Jiang Chen’s body, a force that seemed to be able to take in everything beneath the heavens and on the earth. Everything went black in front of Jiang Chen’s eyes as he sank into the void.

…….

On the outskirts of Mt. Rippling Mirage.

As time began to count down, the expressions of the various heavyweights became noticeably graver. This was the last day to harvest within the mountain, and no one had emerged from the mountain up to now. They had no idea what was happening inside, because the interior of the mountain was completely segregated from the outside world. There was no way to communicate, even using one’s consciousness to probe the mountain was impossible.

Although everyone here was an exceedingly shrewd heavyweight of the Myriad Domain, they were all becoming more nervous as time went on. This time’s harvest had simply been too bizarre. No one had come out ahead of time even on the last day. This was completely different from usual as people would start exiting the mountain roughly three to four days before it closed. Judging from the complete lack of people, could it be that unexpected events had happened inside?

No one wanted to think that way but given this abnormal situation, ominous thoughts began creeping up in everyone’s minds.. All the sects had sent their elites this time, and the elders accompanying them had all been pillars of their sects. Even if the young geniuses weren’t the cream of the crop, they were still extraordinary existences within their sects.

“Ai, I wonder if something’s happened inside? This is very out of the ordinary.” Honored Master Tian Ming of the Dark North Sect sighed, further dampening everyone’s spirits. Just as they were all sinking into a solemn silence, the transportation formation on the outskirts of Mt. Rippling Mirage began to show a ripple of movement.

“Someone’s coming out!”

The formation rippled slightly as figures began appearing from within.

“Eh, it’s those from the Regal Pill Palace.” Palace Head Dan Chi immediately looked over and saw that Elder Yun Nie was emerging with the group, but his look immediately froze when he saw that there were only seven present. The one missing was Jiang Chen!

Dan Chi’s heart sank. Jiang Chen occupied a place in his heart that was even higher than Shen Qinghong’s. How could he not be shocked when he saw that Jiang Chen was missing from the group that had come out? He wouldn’t have been surprised if someone from the Regal Pill Palace had perished in Mt. Rippling Mirage, as there were all sorts of odd things happening within the mountain and many dangerous elements, but Jiang Chen wasn't the sort to lack fortune and perish young!

“Palace Head, Yun Nie has fortunately not let you down.” Elder Yun Nie ignored the odd looks coming from the other sect heads and directly walked up to Palace Head Dan Chi.

Although Dan Chi was concerned about Jiang Chen, he wasn’t at liberty to be frank with his questions. He could only nod. “Where are the others?”

Elder Yun Nie sighed. “It’s difficult to explain. Allow me to elaborate in detail later on as we truly have had great harvests in the mountain this year.”

However, Palace Head Dan Chi was feeling anxious and didn’t care about what they might’ve gained. That was all secondary to Jiang Chen’s existence. If a genius who could impact the fortune of the Regal Pill Palace for thousands of years to come had perished, then it would be an enormous loss that no treasure could replace.

“Elder Yun Nie, we can talk about the harvest later. Why are there only seven of you?” Palace Head Dan Chi decided to cut straight to the point.

Elder Yun Nie smiled ruefully. “Jiang Chen is fine. He told us to leave first as he seems to have some matters to take care of. That disciple undertakes his matters in mysterious ways. We can explore them in detail later.”

Palace Head Dan Chi’s heart settled back down when he heard that Jiang Chen was fine.

The other sects came up at this moment. “Elder Yun Nie, what’s happened inside? Where are the others from our sects?”

Elder Yun Nie smiled. “There aren’t many who perished on this trip. Don’t worry, they should be out soon.”

The formation stirred again as they spoke, and the Dark North Sect quickly walked out followed shortly thereafter by the Walkabout Sect.

When Sect Head Wei Wuying saw that there was someone missing, and that the person was Wei Qing, his expression couldn’t help but change subtly. “Elder Wu Hen, where’s Wei Qing?”

Elder Wu Hen sighed wryly. “Is Wei Qing not out? Then he’s likely perished.”

Wei Wuying’s expressions flickered rapidly. “Perished? How could he have perished?”

Although Elder Wu Hen guessed that it likely had something to do with Jiang Chen, he only wanted to draw clear the lines between him and Jiang Chen at the moment and not have this child become the Walkabout Sect’s nightmare. Therefore, he didn’t say anything even though he suspected that Jiang Chen was behind this. “Sect Head, Wei Qing insisted on going off alone and likely ran into a strong spirit beast within the mountain. It’s not just him, but also Ding Tong of the Tristar Sect, Du Lihuang of the Sacred Sword Palace…”

Tristar Sect Head Zhu leapt to his feet before Elder Wu Hen had the chance to finish. “What did you say? Ding Tong? What happened to Ding Tong?”

Elder Wu Hen responded sharply. “Sect Head Zhu, are you interrogating a prisoner?”

Sect Head Zhu had lost his composure because he was beyond shocked.. Ding Tong wasn’t a disciple of the Tristar Sect, but one that the Ninesuns Sky Sect had sent to set the scene in the Myriad Domain. How would he explain to the Sky Sect if something had happened to Ding Tong? Sect Head Zhu was stunned senseless for a moment and stood there dumbly.

Everyone thought that the sect head was concerned about his genius disciple. Who would know his real thoughts? It took Sect Head Zhu a short while to adjust his emotions before he could apologize. “I was brusque earlier, Daoist Wu Hen. If I may, what’s happened to Ding Tong of my sect?”

“He vanished without a trace early on.” Elder Wu Hen nodded. “If he hasn’t come out by now, then that means he probably perished within.”

Sect Head Zhu felt like he’d been struck by lightning as he fell into complete disarray. Although Ding Tong wasn’t as strong as him, the former wasn’t far off. As a sage realm cultivator, there was no one who could threaten him in the group that’d entered the mountain?! Ding Tong was a genius of the Sky Sect after all! His cultivation level and his methods made it so that he could do as he wished in the Myriad Domain!

Such a character had perished? And early on at that?

“Daoist Wu Hen, are there incredibly strong spirit beasts within the mountain?” Sect Head Zhu obviously couldn’t accept the news that Ding Tong had fallen.

Elder Wu Hen shook his head. “I only saw two wyverns that were third or fourth level sage realm and I didn’t run into anything stronger.”

Sect Head Zhu was further baffled by this. A third or fourth level sage realm wyvern wouldn’t threaten Ding Tong at all. Only a sky sage realm cultivator, and pinnacle expert at that, would be able to thoroughly overpower Ding Tong. How could Ding Tong have perished?