C138 Falling Fiancée

Yu Yuan's attunement with the myriad restrictions of this world had greatly improved. The descent of the multicolored thunderbolts had clued him into this fact. As his soul intertwined with Qin Yun's four Azure Yang Arrows through a blood oath, subtle shifts occurred within Yu Yuan's Heavenly Soul. Communicating with the sword soul through his thoughts, he noticed the specks of sword light on his arm bone transform into eyes—eyes that could peer into the depths of the forbidden area.

His cultivation level was not high enough to achieve the Penetrating insight. Had it been, he felt his spiritual sense could delve deeper into the sword light within his arm bone and reveal the intricacies of the forbidden area. This was akin to the cultivators of the Silvermoon Empire who had stealthily placed clam beads throughout the forbidden land. Using the Mirage Water Curtain, they turned these beads into eyes, monitoring every move within the area. The sword souls Yu Yuan had acquired offered a similar ability, yet they were far more profound and magical than the clam beads or the Mirage Water Curtain.

Now, at the Spirit Accumulating Stage, Yu Yuan could faintly perceive the oddities around him through the sword light, thanks to the refinement of his Heavenly Soul. He could detect the presence of malevolent spirits and strong spiritual fluctuations. It was this sword light that allowed him to lead Qin Yun, Lee Yuchan, and the others here, to unearth the Spirit Crystals concealed within the otherwise unremarkable meteorites.

With his mind connected to the sword light, he keenly sensed the presence of an unusually pure Spirit Crystal. He then precisely located and extracted Spirit Crystals that had been sealed away for untold years, whether naturally occurring or deliberately preserved.

"The Fallen Moon Forbidden Area is unlikely to naturally produce Spirit Crystals!" Lee Yuchan observed, gazing at the luminous, diamond-like Spirit Crystals. "These must have been embedded into the meteorites by a powerful cultivator who perished here, using a secret technique to conceal their energy so thoroughly that no soul could detect them."

Holding a Spirit Crystal, Qin Yun nodded, her eyes alight with a unique brilliance. "That seems to be the case."

Once again, all eyes turned to Yu Yuan.

"I don't care to explain," Yu Yuan said with a nonchalant shrug, casually picking up a Spirit Crystal and toying with it in his palm. "All you need to know is that within this Fallen Moon Forbidden Area, you should follow my lead and heed my commands."

"Senior Qin, I urge you to return to your peak combat form as quickly as possible. And you," he gestured toward Lee Yuchan, Lee Yu, and the elder from the Seven Divine Sect, "we're counting on you to use the Spirit Crystals to hasten your recovery. I have this premonition that if we turn a blind eye to the Devaputra lurking within the bronze monument, it might soon break free."

His expression darkened at the thought. Perhaps it was the refinement of his Heavenly Soul that heightened his attunement to this world, stirring a persistent restlessness within him. The root of his anxiety pointed unwaveringly toward the bronze monument he had consciously steered clear of. It seemed only a matter of time before it would shatter its bindings and seek him out.

"Do you truly believe you can overcome the Devaputra of the bronze monument?" Qin Yun asked, his brow furrowed with concern. "Are you aware of the sheer terror it represents?"

"Until I face it, I can't make any promises," Yu Yuan admitted, refusing to make light of the situation. "However, I do believe we must act with urgency."

With that, he gave Lee Yuchan a nod, entrusting her with the distribution of the Spirit Crystals. Given his current level at the Spirit Accumulating Stage, using Spirit Crystals for cultivation would be both extravagant and wasteful.

He took a Spirit Crystal and toyed with it in his palm, treating it more like a trophy of war than a tool for advancement. Clutching the crystal, he found a quiet spot to sit and meditate, using his Heavenly Soul to delve into the mysteries of the white paper fan. He was eager to discover if the battle between the figures of the black-clothed boy and the white-clothed boy, inscribed in the four ancient black characters, had reached a conclusion.

He believed that if he could harness the combined power of the two figures, his odds in the impending clash with the bronze monument would significantly improve. His consciousness began to drift deeper into the fan's enigma.

Streams of thought raced silently through the ancient black script, which enclosed a wondrous microcosm. Here, a myriad of black and white rays wove together, coalescing into an oddly captivating new figure.

A figure of contrasts: black and white. The new boy appeared as if sketched with lines of shadow and light, his form a mosaic of darkness and brightness, down to his mismatched eyes. Yet upon closer inspection, one might notice a slight dominance of white within the intricate pattern.

The newborn child, guided by a mere thought from Yu Yuan, entered the four ancient characters of 'Extreme Wisdom.' At the mention of 'wisdom,' it seemed as if everything was focused into that single word.

He watched Yu Yuan in silence, as if he were nothing more than a fleeting thought.

A soul thought, enigmatic and indecipherable to most, was something Yu Yuan could intuitively understand and decipher. It emanated from the child's eyes—one black, one white.

...

Lee Yuchan instructed Lee Yu to tally the Spirit Crystals and allocate them to Qin Yun for his recovery.

Suddenly, Qin Yun's gaze shifted and he murmured, "We have company."

Shortly thereafter, Lee Yuchan also detected the disturbance. Silently, she ascended into the sky as a Yin God, surveying the distance.

"What caused that Lim family girl to part ways with you?" she inquired of Lee Yu, Zhan Tianxiang, and the others.

"The Lim family and Van Ning believed that retracing our steps back to the Empire was the safest option," Zhan Tianxiang said with a smirk. "Yu Yuan had a premonition that the path would lead to a dead end. He was adamant about venturing deeper into the heartland and finding an exit from the Rainier Empire's forbidden area."

"And so, we went our separate ways."

"Van Ning, Lim Zhuyun, and a few others chose to leave on their own."

After sharing this, Zhan Tianxiang looked on curiously, "So, have they come looking for us?"

"Not them, just Lim Zhuyun," Lee Yuchan replied, her brow furrowed with concern. "The condition of young Miss Lim seems... less than favorable."

"What happened?" Su Yan interjected.

"All will be revealed in due time."

A quarter of an hour later.

Lim Zhuyun, the Lim family's leader within the forbidden area and one of the Empire's five new moons, approached alone. Her eyes initially brightened at the sight of everyone but quickly dimmed again.

It was evident to all that she bore a striking resemblance to Qin Yun and the elder from the Seven Divine Sect in her depleted state.

Her Qi and spiritual energy were nearly exhausted.

Despite her recent breakthrough to the Profound Break Stage, she appeared incredibly frail. Without external aid, her life hung in the balance.

A piece of spiritual jade soared from Lee Yuchan's sleeve, landing at Lim Zhuyun's feet.

Grasping it eagerly, like a drowning person who had just spotted a river, she clung to it.

A chill surged from her parched dantian, and she began to draw upon the pure spiritual energy within the jade with desperate urgency.

For a moment, she regained some composure before speaking with a forlorn tone, "They're all gone. Every member of the Lim family who left with us, Van Ning included, has perished."

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