Chapter 478: Yun Jiuge’s Frightening Cultivation Speed
Yun Jiuge walked towards the tunnel without hesitation. The tunnel was a stark contrast to the magnificent Divine Temple that it was situated in. There were numerous clouds of black death energy floating about all over the place.
The entrance to the Secret Realm was located at the end of the tunnel. When Yun Jiuge approached it, a nauseating stench instantly assaulted her nostrils. She saw a Water Mirror at the entrance, and the image that was reflected off it looked extremely tragic and gruesome. There were countless bones piled on top of one another. It looked just like a snapshot of hell.
“How is this place a Secret Realm? It’s no different from hell!” Yun Jiuge reached out to touch the Water Mirror, but all she felt was air.
“What you’re looking at is probably nothing more than an image of the Secret Realm. You’ll have to find the real entrance if you want to make your way into it,” Zi Shang communicated with Yun Jiuge mentally as he stayed hidden in the mark on her hand.
“Where’s the real entrance located at?” Yun Jiuge summoned her Spiritual Eye and began scouring the place for another entrance, but it came up empty.
“Only Yue Ling’er knows where the real entrance is at, and only she can open it too,” Zi Shang said. There was nothing he could do at the moment.
“I thought you were invincible and could do anything,” Yun Jiuge remarked. She realized that Zi Shang had been very cautious ever since he met Yue Ling’er. He did not even dare to show himself before her.
“Well, it depends on the situation. If I were to take on a spiritual form right now, I would definitely be able to fight against Yue Ling’er,” responded Zi Shang. The curse on his body drew its strength from feelings of enmity or grudges. However, Zi Shang had been at peace ever since he found Yun Jiuge. Hence, it would be very hard for him to kill himself and take on a spiritual form.
“In the end, we still need her help to enter the Secret Realm,” Yun Jiuge said with a sigh. She felt like she would never be able to make her way into it.
“This is bad! She’s coming!” Zi Shang had only just finished his words when Yue Ling’er appeared before Yun Jiuge.
Her beautiful face had turned grayish white, and she looked just like a corpse. She stared at Yun Jiuge with bloodshot eyes and said in a sorrowful and indignant tone, “Your Highness, why do you still not listen to me after all that I’ve done?”
“Ling’er, I have to go to the Secret Realm no matter what,” Yun Jiuge tried to reason with her.
Yue Ling’er turned a deaf ear and said, “Your Highness, you’ve lost your mind. I will not watch you die just like that.” The moment she finished her words, she cast a web of grayish white threads around Yun Jiuge’s body and transported her back to her room before she locked her up inside.
“Yue Ling’er! What’s the meaning of this? Are you going to imprison me in this room?” Yun Jiuge could not believe that the once gentle and kind Ling’er would treat her like this.
“Your Highness, this is for your own good. You’ll understand the rationale behind my actions one day,” answered Yue Ling’er. Her voice grew distant as she walked away, and Yun Jiuge was left all alone in a room that was surrounded by white threads.
Yun Jiuge angrily hurled a ball of Holy Flame at the grayish white silk.
She was able to burn away layers after layers of threads with her flame, but sadly, she ran out of Holy Power before she could even burn a hole in them.
“It’s no use. You’re really too weak at the moment,” said Zi Shang. He did not want to dampen Yun Jiuge’s spirits, but what he said was true.
The fury that Yun Jiuge felt caused her chest to rise up and down wildly. But she quickly calmed down and began to think about things rationally.
She was not going to solve anything by throwing a tantrum. She had to come up with another way to get out of this room.
“Zi Shang, do you think I could trick her and say that I’m not going to the Secret Realm, and then sneak out and try to find another way to enter it?” Yun Jiuge remembered what Baili Moyun had told her previously. The Golden Core Cultivators from the five biggest righteous sects in the continent had formed a team and entered the Secret Realm from a different tunnel.
“It’s useless. She’ll never let you out of this place,” Zi Shang replied with a wave of his hands. An image surfaced before Yun Jiuge’s eyes.
The entire Empress Mountain was covered in webs of white threads, and it had turned into a giant peak as well.
“She’d chase us to the ends of the world even if I tried to help you escape. And she’d cause alot of pain and suffering on the people wherever she goes. I bet that’s exactly what the person who instigated Yue Ling’er to commit suicide wanted,” said Zi Shang. He did not know who that person was, but he was certain the person must be up to no good.
“What should I do? Am I really going to be trapped to death in this room?” Yun Jiuge felt depressed.
“There’s nothing bad about being trapped here. Yue Ling’er is extremely skilled at concocting Medicinal Pools that help people refine their bodies. You’ll even be able to nurture your soul with her Medicinal Pools. If you spent 10 years cultivating here, achieving the Nascent Soul stage would not be a problem. In fact, you might even have a chance to enter Soul Formation stage if you soaked in them for a prolonged period of time,” Zi Shang explained, painting a rosy picture of Yun Jiuge’s future.
“If it was that easy to enter the Soul Formation stage, then why was there only one goddess after so many thousands of years?” Yun Jiuge scoffed.
“Well, it’s not like you’ve anywhere else to go either. Might as well use this time to improve your Cultivation. It’ll definitely be beneficial to you in the future,” said Zi Shang. This was precisely the reason why he was not in a hurry to leave this place.
If they could take advantage of Yue Ling’er well, Yun Jiuge would be able to become much more powerful than she was now.
“Alright then!” Yun Jiuge agreed with a sigh. It would take some time before they could get rid of the conviction inside Yue Ling’er. There was really nothing else that she could do right now.
The next day, Yun Jiuge asked Yue Ling’er to prepare a Medicinal Pool for her. Yue Ling’er became very emotional at her request. She thought that Yun Jiuge had finally thought it through and was going to do as she say from now on. She prepared the Medicinal Pool for her at once.
Yun Jiuge’s meridians had never been in a better condition all her life after she soaked in the Medicinal Pool for three days. Thanks to that, she was able to jump from the Foundation Establishment stage to the Core Formation stage in an instant. Her cultivation speed was even faster than the speed needed to put on Thunderstorm Wings.
Despite the huge improvement in her cultivation, Yun Jiuge felt extremely uneasy. She knew that a lot of resources were needed to prepare the Medicinal Pool, and she was certain that Yue Ling’er must have snatched them from the lands because she could not have stocked up on them. Yun Jiuge did not know what had become of the Shiwan Grand Mountain, and that made her feel ill at ease.
“Zi Shang, we can’t let this go on any longer. We have to come up with a way to leave this place. If not, Ling’er would probably do something foolish,” Yun Jiuge discussed the matter with Zi Shang.
“What’s the hurry? Yue Ling’er has only prepared a few Medicinal Pools for you so far,” Zi Shang replied. He knew that Yue Ling’er was snatching resources from the lands to prepare the Medicinal Pools for Yun Jiuge, but he could not care less.
After all, the entire continent would be destroyed the moment the catastrophe struck. If that was the case, then all those resources might as well be used on Yun Jiuge. They owed her that much anyway.
“What do you mean by that? Do you not want me to go to the Chaotic Secret Realm as well?” The more Yun Jiuge thought about it, the more she found it to be a possibility. After all, Zi Shang had attempted to seal her memories in the past so that she would not know about anything.
“Of course not!” Zi Shang had an innocent look on his face as he spoke. How could he possibly admit that he was thinking the same way as Yue Ling’er? He too wanted to hide Yun Jiuge away in a safe place. He did not want her to sacrifice herself to save the lives of people who had nothing to do with her any longer.
“As if I’ll believe you,” Yun Jiuge retorted. She knew she could only rely on herself in times of need.
She decided to find her own way out. The first thing she needed to do was to find an ally who could help her.
All the palace maids and palace guards in the Celestial Palace, including Ye Yu, Luo Tian and Jun Yichen, were being controlled by Yue Ling’er at the moment. There was only one person who was not, and that was Ye Yunzhi.
Ye Yunzhi was Ye Yu’s Yin Corpse. Yue Ling’er was put off by her ugly appearance and had kept her at the outer regions of the Celestial Palace all this time. But she did not forbid her from entering the inner regions of the Celestial Palace.
Ye Yunzhi was the ally Yun Jiuge was looking for.
Everyone thought that Ye Yunzhi had lost her consciousness, but Yun Jiuge was still able to attach her soul onto Ye Yunzhi by making use of the Heart of the Heavens and the Earth to see what was happening on the outside.
Yun Jiuge did not tell Zi Shang of her plan. She secretly used this power and attached her soul onto Ye Yunzhi’s body before she manipulated Ye Yunzhi to walk out of the Celestial Palace.
The devouring white threads that Yue Ling’er had placed all over the Celestial Palace did not attack Ye Yunzhi when she moved past them because she possessed the aura of the Divine Temple.
The Empress Mountain was covered in countless grayish white threads at the moment, and it took Yun Jiuge quite some time before she could make her way out of there.
What she saw after she left the Empress Mountain stunned her.