Chapter 416 - 416 The Truth!

416 The Truth!

Xiang Mingfeng said, “I’ll handle persuading the others. You all can start looking for the key left by the emperor of Qingzhou.”

“But if we find the key, won’t Brother Xiang lose out?” Qin Huai asked with a smile.

“It doesn’t matter. As long as I can lead everyone out of here, I don’t mind giving up my share,” Xiang Mingfeng replied, showing an easy-going attitude.

“You’re much more noble than me, Brother Xiang!” Qin Huai confessed, feeling a bit embarrassed. He then shared the guess he and Fang Huo had made.

He had no other option. Xiang Mingfeng’s approach was so transparent, almost to the point of being naive. Given that they had discovered another path, they would undoubtedly disclose the clues about the emperor of Qingzhou’s key.

This would lead to significant disruption, with many people choosing to search for the key rather than gathering together. Keeping the secret then made no sense.

Upon hearing Qin Huai’s revelation, everyone was visibly shaken.

“Brother Zhou, you’re a genius!” Xiang Mingfeng and the others couldn’t help but exclaim, enlightened by the new perspective.

“Indeed, it makes perfect sense,” they admitted, reflecting on their past encounters. “When we split up and fought for the second or third time, the fights that should have ended early didn’t. They lasted for four to six hours.”

Eventually, they confirmed the accuracy of Qin Huai’s theory.

“Why didn’t you share this sooner, Brother Zhou?” Xiang Mingfeng asked directly.

Qin Huai just chuckled. “It’s all because of you.”

Xiang Mingfeng seemed taken aback, but Gou Jie and Le Ji’an nodded in agreement.

“I just wanted to provide a fair competition for everyone. Martial arts should be about the pursuit of the Great Path!” Xiang Mingfeng stated resolutely.

The others just shook their heads and chuckled. They were obviously accustomed to Xiang Mingfeng’s remarks. But this honesty was precisely why these exceptional talents from the five major sects could sit together peacefully. It was all thanks to the straightforward nature of this prodigy from Wuji Mountain.

“Let’s rely on our own abilities then!” Fang Huo slapped his thigh and stood up. “Since our killing speed was enough to meet the conditions, why don’t we speed up even more!”

Gou Jie twirled the horsetail whisk in his hand. “If it’s truly destiny, no hardship will be effective.”

“Enough with the nonsense.” Fang Huo scoffed at Gou Jie from the Thousand Divination Tower.

Ignoring Fang Huo’s disdain, Gou Jie put his palms together and waved his horsetail whisk, chanting, “Amitabha.”

Observing Gou Jie, Qin Huai finally understood that this fellow neither believed in Buddhism nor religion — he was just trying to annoy the two groups. No, more accurately, the Thousand Divination Tower was probably trying to vex the two great sects.

Everyone dispersed and began to search for the so-called key left by the emperor of Qingzhou in the level-one array. The consensus was that if a key did exist, it would be in a level-one array. One would have to reach the threshold to even have a chance at finding it.

Qin Huai advanced rapidly, punching indiscriminately like a bulldozer, leaving behind craters. After all, these were not real trees, so he just symbolically smashed them in hopes of a lucky find.

“If the key truly exists in a level-one array, then this bronze wall is the most likely spot,” he reasoned as he gazed at the bronze wall.

The bronze wall, the most distinctive aspect of the level-one array, towered into the sky. Its surface was covered with intricate patterns, symbols, fierce beasts, and some unidentifiable rules and regulations.

Suddenly, Qin Huai leaped upward, his feet landing on the protruding patterns as he raced skyward. He scanned the entire bronze wall, trying to spot any anomaly. He even activated his ancient azure illusion scripture, hoping it would resonate with the wall.

However, despite his frenzied search on the massive bronze wall, he found nothing.

“Does the key even exist in a level-one array?” Qin Huai pondered, falling silent. He had scoured the entire bronze wall for two days and two nights without any luck.

“Could it be that the key isn’t in a level-one array? Or is it that I’m just not destined to find it?” he wondered, sitting cross-legged in a tree hollow facing the bronze wall.

“I’ll focus on cultivation for now,” he decided, giving up on the search. If he had examined the entire bronze wall and found nothing, it meant either the key wasn’t there or he wasn’t meant to find it yet.

He activated the ancient azure illusion scripture and began to comprehend the essence of the bronze wall.

In the blink of an eye, another two months quietly passed. Qin Huai opened his eyes, exhaling. His breath turned into a bird-like figure in the air and floated off into the distance, then morphed back into gas and vanished.

“I’ve managed to cultivate the ancient azure illusion scripture up to the fourth level of the bone pattern realm,” he noted, standing up and gently caressing the bronze wall. “Still no reaction, huh? It seems like I’ll have to wait for the next two months before entering the rumored level-zero array.”

Qin Huai’s thoughts started to wander. “Yang Tianhan divulged this information to me to create an opportunity for himself. But even though he’s at the visceral prefecture realm, he doesn’t have a clear advantage in the illusion realm.”

Qin Huai recalled his analysis of Yang Tianhan’s use of the ancient azure illusion scripture. That man’s mastery of it was far inferior to the seasoned veterans. It seemed to be mostly blood refinement and didn’t surpass the bone pattern realm level.

“Where did he get such confidence… Could it be…” A daring thought suddenly emerged in Qin Huai’s mind.

…

Meanwhile, on a slope in the level-one array, Yang Tianhan was observing the distant forest.

“These youngsters are quite clever,” he mused. “They managed to connect the emperor of Qingzhou with the bronze realm so quickly.” He smiled confidently and continued, “But what good will it do them? They’ll never find the key.”

Yang Tianhan stood up, his eyes radiating confidence. That was because the key left by the emperor of Qingzhou was in his possession, and he was the one destined to have it! These young people were clever, but they had arrived too late.

“In this world, the early bird gets the worm! Age can’t be altered, but one can certainly catch up in terms of cultivation level,” Yang Tianhan thought, knowing that his twenty years had not been wasted. Even without the king’s force, he was still capable of beating these youngsters.

Suddenly, a familiar sound echoed, and the world around him began to shatter.