Daoist Competition

After Ancestor Hui Xuan entered the pit, about an hour later, he reached the end of the pit and looked up to see before him a corridor deep and bottomless.

His gaze swept around, but Daoist Ji was nowhere to be seen, thinking he must have gone ahead, so he didn’t stop either and whirled up the Gang Wind to rush inside.

Within this pit, it was ten zhang high, and flying was unimpeded, yet the path was twisted and winding, coiled like a snake, with pits everywhere underground, water accumulation reaching an inch high, stalactites above were like a forest, densely packed together, as if thousands of swords and blades hung overhead, with Evil Qi floating around, every step hidden with a murderous aura.

However, most of the prohibitions here had dissipated, and any leftovers had been cleared by the Zhongtai Disciple who came before, thus needing no concern.

After journeying for half an hour, he paused as two paths appeared before him.

The path on the left had a cold breeze emanating from within, chilling to the bone, while the path on the right seemed to have an Earth River rushing, occasionally accompanied by the sound of water striking stones, noisy and blaring, suggesting the flow was quite turbulent.

He glanced back and forth, then raised his hand to capture a Qi Mechanism, intending to discern where Daoist Ji had gone.

But after trying for a long time, he found nothing, uncertain if it was deliberately hidden or due to the chaos of the Qi Mechanism here,

Musing silently for a moment, he flew into the left passage.

As he proceeded, a ghostly breeze occasionally swept up, causing him to stagger despite his cultivation, surprisingly, he quickly formed a spell to stabilize himself.

About an hour later, without knowing how deep he had ventured underground, the surrounding winds subsided, and a spacious cave hall came into view in the distance.

Out of caution, he lowered himself, only a few feet off the ground, hanging in mid-air as he moved forward.

After about ten zhang, he reached inside the cave, when he suddenly stopped, looking up to see a suspended platform seven or eight zhang high, Daoist Ji was standing alone on it, holding a Bright Pearl, seemingly searching for something.

Ancestor Hui Xuan ascended, his tone somewhat displeased, "Brother Ji, you made me search hard."

Daoist Ji didn’t turn back, waved to him, then gestured ahead, "Brother Hui Xuan, please come up here."

Thinking Ji had found something, Hui Xuan took a few steps forward, glancing down to see just a few feet ahead was a stone niche, within which a gaunt silver-robed Daoist sat, eyes closed, breath held, clearly a corpse.

He furrowed his brows, then suddenly sensed something, looking around, showing surprise on his face.

Within the entire cave, there were unexpectedly thousands of such niches, each occupied by a person, looking around with uncertainty, he asked in shock, "Who are these, and why are they here?"

Daoist Ji did not answer, but reached out, tugged a token from the waist of that Daoist, weighed it in his palm, and handed it over.

The corpse, after countless years, became decayed, and with this little tinkering, turned into a pile of dust.

Ancestor Hui Xuan took a look and frowned, "Gui Ling Sect? What sect is this? Does such a sect exist in our East Victory Continent?"

Daoist Ji’s voice was eerie, "Nearly ten thousand years ago, the Gui Ling Sect was the foremost great sect of our East Victory, dominating half the continent, at that time our Fu Yang Sect, Corpse Pride Sect, and Mangluo Palace, were just three small sects under its command."

It was the first time Ancestor Hui Xuan heard such a notion, and he thought for a while, puzzled, "According to Brother Daoist, this sect should have been immensely powerful, surely recorded in books, but why have I never heard of it?"

Daoist Ji sneered, "It’s not surprising that fellow Daoist hasn’t heard, it’s because someone intentionally obscured it."

"Who could do such a thing?"

Daoist Ji let out a cold laugh, "In our East Victory Continent, who else could manage such a feat besides Da Mi Ancestor?"

Ancestor Hui Xuan couldn’t help showing a bit of astonishment.

Daoist Ji tucked his sleeve behind him and slowly said, "Da Mi Ancestor possessed vast divine skills, yet his entire repertoire of skills was not acquired from nowhere. There’s a rumor that he was originally a disciple of the Gui Ling Sect, but for unknown reasons, he had a falling-out with his sect, thus fleeing to another continent for safety. After achieving cultivation, he returned, leveraging his divine passage skills, and battled the Gui Ling Sect for several hundred years, during which several Cave Heaven True Masters fell by his hand, causing the sect to decline irreversibly."

Ancestor Hui Xuan listened with fascination, clapping his hands, "To defeat a sect single-handedly, the demeanor and grandeur of the predecessors truly inspire awe." He cupped his hands, "May I ask Brother Daoist, what happened thereafter?"

Daoist Ji coldly stated, "Although the Gui Ling Sect was driven to this extent, it managed to cling to life in its mountain gate because it possessed a sect’s treasure called the ’Nine Yellow Star Bead.’ This treasure consisted of nine beads, when unleashed together, they could change the wind and clouds, cause sea surges and mountain collapses, even Da Mi dare not confront it head-on."