Chapter Thirty-Six: The Valley of the Celestial Chamber

Li Chungang will come?

Upon hearing someone voice this speculation, Xu Zhe was momentarily stunned, then quietly shook his head—such a possibility seemed quite remote.

"Impossible. How could the Blade Deity Lee possibly come here in person? Don’t forget, throughout this entire region of Heavenly Pride Valley, there are restrictions. Other than mortals, only those at Foundation Establishment and Qi Refinement can enter," someone immediately refuted the guess.

"Realm suppression is possible. With Blade Deity Lee’s strength, such a feat would be effortless," the original speaker persisted.

"Suppressing one’s cultivation? Easier said than done. Think of Blade Deity Lee's status—how noble he is, and how many enemies he’s made. If he were to suppress his realm and come here, wouldn’t that be handing his foes a golden opportunity to kill him?"

"Exactly. If he reduces himself to the Foundation Establishment stage, his enemies need only send enough assassins at that level, and no matter how formidable he is, he’d perish here."

"My friend, you’re still too young," someone chuckled.

Laughter erupted among the crowd.

"You’re not seeing it right..." The original guesser’s face flushed red as he retorted in frustration, "Others might send assassins, but Blade Deity Lee could bring his own guards. It’s said Xu Tianjiao and Blade Deity Lee were once as close as brothers. Now that Xu Tianjiao is in dire straits, how could Blade Deity Lee possibly not come?"

At these words, the crowd fell silent. Someone shot a quick glance at Xu Zhe, who was present, and then desperately signaled the speaker with frantic winks.

But the man remained oblivious, slinging an arm around his neighbor’s shoulders and proclaiming loudly, "It’s just like me and Brother Zhu—we’re as close as brothers, too! If I were in trouble today, Brother Zhu would surely risk everything to save me, right, Brother Zhu?"

The cultivator surnamed Zhu’s expression froze. He quickly picked up his wine cup, forced a smile and replied, "How could Brother Tang ever find himself in peril? Don’t say such unlucky things. Come, let’s drink! There’s no need for words between us; it’s all in the wine. I’ll finish mine first as a sign of respect."

"Indeed, all in the wine—let’s drink, drink, drink!"

One by one, the crowd raised their cups, tipping their heads back to drink heartily. Out of the corner of their eyes, they noticed that the gentle, refined Xu Tianjiao had, at some point, quietly slipped away. His lonely figure receded down the empty street, exuding a hint of desolation.

...

Over an hour later, Xu Zhe appeared at the heart of Heavenly Pride Valley.

Before him, the valley dipped into a sunken basin. Xu Zhe stood at the rim, gazing down at a hundred scattered, dilapidated sleeping pods—the very place where he’d previously awakened. Some cultivators had dubbed this spot the Valley of Heavenly Pods.

"Could Zhang and the others have really run off to the edge of Heavenly Pride Valley? I’ve made it all the way here, yet not a trace of them," Xu Zhe frowned, debating whether to continue searching.

After all, when Zhang Chang and his companions left, they hadn’t mentioned it to him; they had departed without a word.

He had set out to look for them only on a whim.

"Adults shouldn’t indulge their whims. Never mind, I’ll head back and sleep."

Xu Zhe considered for a moment and decided to return—any further searching, and he risked getting lost.

A sudden, clear sound—plop!—echoed from the valley below, as though a drop of water had fallen. In the tranquil, empty valley, the sound was particularly abrupt.

Xu Zhe halted, his gaze uncertain as he looked downward.

The hundred sleeping pods were still scattered as before, nothing out of place.

Above the valley, a formation barrier still enveloped the entire perimeter, allowing exit but blocking entry.

Standing at the edge, Xu Zhe could feel the power emanating from the formation barrier and couldn’t help but marvel.

This array seemed to have been in place for many years—perhaps over ten thousand. It might have even predated the arrival of the sleeping pods.

But something didn’t add up—if the barrier only permitted exit, not entry, then how did the sleeping pods get inside all those years ago?

"Interesting. In any case, for a formation barrier to endure for over ten thousand years without decaying, the one who laid it must have possessed peerless mastery—almost on par with myself," Xu Zhe murmured, giving fair credit to the unknown array master.

He took a step back.

One hand clasped behind his back, the other raised lightly. His fingers poised, spiritual energy surged and coalesced at his fingertips into a sharp, gleaming blade of energy.

"This sort of array is likely a composite of a protective and a confining-killing formation. If I’m not mistaken, I need only alter the array script at the core and reverse the exit to become an entrance..."

Xu Zhe spoke softly as he moved his fingers. The energy at his fingertip became as a pen-sword, precisely touching a spot on the barrier.

With a resonant thud, the formation barrier lit up, emitting a muffled boom. Runes surged forth, a dense network of interwoven lines manifesting across the barrier's surface.

At first glance, these tangled patterns looked like a massive knotted ball of thread.

But Xu Zhe only observed for a moment before his energy blade swept forward, lightly touching a single fine array script, tracing along its edge to carve a new line—drawing a fresh pattern into the barrier.

Boom!

In the next instant, the formation barrier shuddered, the ground beneath trembled slightly, then all fell silent once more.

Xu Zhe smiled faintly, dispersed the energy at his fingertip, and in a flash, appeared at the exit of the stone stairway.

Stepping forward, he crossed the barrier without resistance.

Xu Zhe swiftly descended the stone steps, arriving at the center among the hundred sleeping pods. He closed his eyes, releasing his spiritual sense to sweep the area.

"The terrain here is blessed and produces talent; spiritual energy swirls, yet it is very thin. So that’s it—the energy is silently seeping underground... According to the books, this place, more likely than not, harbors a rare treasure."

Xu Zhe’s gaze quickly landed on a patch of grass beside a massive boulder.

The spiritual energy was being drawn into the earth from that very spot.

Plop!

Again, the clear sound of a water droplet rang out.

Xu Zhe immediately looked toward the source and finally caught it—a crack had formed at the base of the very sleeping pod where he had awakened.

A single drop of golden blood slowly gathered at the fissure, then fell to the ground and vanished instantly.

"Dragon’s blood?"

Xu Zhe's spiritual sense swept out once more, passing through the earth to trace the drop of golden dragon’s blood as it was drawn by an unseen force to the base of the grass patch near the boulder.

"Well, well—this is no ordinary treasure. It can absorb spiritual energy… and dragon’s blood. But then, where did the dragon’s blood come from…?"

Xu Zhe’s figure flickered and blurred, and in the blink of an eye, he stood before the sleeping pod where his physical body had slept for ten thousand years.

The exterior of the pod was now extremely battered, but in one corner, a dragon-shaped totem was carved—ancient in style, though seemingly unremarkable.

"So that’s how it is…" Xu Zhe murmured, suddenly enlightened.

He reached inside the pod, seized a metal component, and yanked it free, peeling away a layer of iron.

Beneath the iron, a tangled mass of fine, transparent plastic tubes clustered at the bottom of the pod, slowly writhing as though alive.

...