Chapter 2863: Chapter 2863: The Courtyard
“That clue should be right. Come on!” one of the human Souls of Light called out.
“But if it is, that'll prove the Ear Mice are wrong, won't it?” said the human girl.
Her brother nodded. “Yes. The Ear Mice want to use that corporeal body to destroy the wall, but it'll be a disaster—you can't even imagine.”
“Will they all die? But what about the corporeal body?” the girl then eagerly asked.
“He will die too,” said the little girl's brother without so much as a change in tone.
At that, the human girl's face sank.
When she heard the man mention the Nine Li race, something pinched her heart—she had a feeling he had something to do with them.
It was a pity to realize he would die in the Grand Sky Temple.
“Should I warn him?” she suggested.
But her brother only sneered. “Would he even believe our words? How are we going to explain where this clue came from? Tell him we're descendants of the Nine Li race and expose all our identities?”
That shut her up.
After the Nine Li race suffered the massacre, they all went into hiding.
Although they had finally settled down after all those years, they still had to live with great caution.
On the Other Shore, it was relatively easy for them to keep their identities secret, allowing them to cultivate without worry. But once one of them was exposed, they would all be put in danger.
As the group advanced, they drew peculiar patterns along the passageway.
Although some of the monsters there had been eliminated by the warriors ahead, they were still moving all too slowly. It was a while before a faint cyan light appeared before them.
Several fist-sized ghosts then emerged from both sides of the passageway.
As they were in the seventh passageway, which was considered the simplest one, the cyan ghosts were not to be trifled with.
Many other Souls of Light had been extinguished by these cyan ghosts in that particular passageway. The survivors had to fight for their lives just to get through.
“Crack...”
A group of bees flew right at those Nine Li members as the ghosts emerged from the walls.
“Bro...”
The aura had the girl panicking immediately.
“Aariv, bring out the powder!”
Her brother, on the other hand, seemed rather calm. The group had made full preparations, after all. Even though it was their first trip to the Grand Sky Temple, they were quite familiar with this passageway, and even the ghosts, to an extent.
One of them pulled out some silver powder from his space ring. Soon after, the powder covered the entire crowd, triggering a bright-silver glow around their souls.
Then, something strange happened—it was as though the cyan ghosts had lost their minds.
Clearly, they could feel the breath of these Souls of Light, but they couldn't seem to find them, even in that proximity. All they could do was hover above their heads. Ɽ𝔞ＮоβÈᶊ
“The Silver Scales Powder proves to be very effective,” Aariv said with a smile.
They moved forward, unbothered by the cyan ghosts above them. After moving another hundred feet forward, a pattern was drawn once again.
After using the Silver Scales Powder to protect themselves, they decided to only leave one person behind to draw the pattern so the rest could move on quickly.
After a long while, everyone caught up and finally arrived at the end of the passageway.
“This is it, the 949th. The last one,” one of the men sighed and squatted down to draw the final pattern.
After that, the girl's brother gave the command. “All of you, step back.”
With that, he unfolded his palm, revealing thin, long lines drawn in the middle. The pattern they formed was similar to the Other Shore Key.
When he put his palm on the last pattern, the first-drawn pattern at the entrance of the seventh passageway began shining with a faint golden light.
“Buzz!”
“Buzz!”
“Buzz!”
The first pattern...
The second pattern...
The third pattern...
Soon, the entire passageway began glowing, forming a long chain tens of thousands of feet long.
At last, after the 949th pattern lit up, the entire passageway began trembling violently.
The vibrations reached the entire Grand Sky Temple—even the warriors who had passed through the passageways could feel them.
“It's coming from the back!”
“Is the passageway collapsing?”
“Forget it. We've come in anyway…”
“But we still need to go back!”
No one was willing to go back for further investigation.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!”
By then, the entire seventh passageway was shaking. The entire group began wobbling left and right. The cyan ghosts above their heads flew into the walls instantly.
The vibrations lasted for a while until the two walls began shrinking and narrowing. Simultaneously, a dull sound echoed throughout the passageway before a gate in the wall opened automatically.
Whether it was the little girl or the others, their eyes began gleaming with excitement.
Inside the gate stood a small statue—it was the same as what was in the hall of the Grand Sky Temple, but it held a few different details. On its front were three oval pieces of jade.
The pieces were each a different color—cyan, red, and purple.
At the sight, the little girl's brother bowed to the statue. “The seventh god in the Grand Sky race! Please forgive me for disturbing you!”
Each of the nineteen passageways in the Grand Sky Temple represented one of the nineteen gods of the Grand Sky race.
The man then strode through the door and took out the three jade stones. With that, the gate closed with a cracking sound as it sunk into the wall, leaving no trace.
After leaving the 19th passageway, Zen and Dorothy found themselves walking down a row of stairs.
At this point, they had reached the middle of the Grand Sky Temple. An open, wide courtyard came into view, where a variety of Other Shore plants were growing. A huge willow in the middle of it drew their attention instantly.
“What are they doing?” Zen examined the willow and asked curiously.
Hundreds of branches hung from the willow—at the end of each was a nonhuman Soul of Light, greedily sucking on it.
“They are sucking on the essence of the holy willow,” whispered an Ear Mouse.
Before something went wrong in the Dark Region, one of the reason why the Souls of Light on the Other Shore came to the Grand Sky Temple was for the willow.
The effect of the holy willow's essence was similar to that of the soul crystal, probably even better.
The Souls of Light from different races rushed through the passageways just to claim a branch to gain the essence from—it was a limited resource.
All the Souls of Light that failed to take up a branch were wandering around in the courtyard instead. Certain rare plants could make for special Other Shore Tokens—if they were lucky, they could nab something.