Chapter 196: Secrets of the Ancient Sect, Divine Sense Surge

Chapter 196: Secrets of the Ancient Sect, Divine Sense Surge

A feeble whine echoed through the dimly lit stone chamber as Chu Ning slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he heard was Ling Xiaobai's delighted cry.

"Master, you're awake!"

Chu Ning attempted to sit up, but as soon as he moved, his body felt like it was being torn apart.

"These injuries are even worse than I imagined," he muttered, a bitter smile crossing his face as he took stock of his internal condition.

He had sustained severe wounds from the successive attacks of the black-robed elder's Golden Core. Had he not refrained from using his spiritual power and taken the time to heal slowly, his condition might not have been so dire. But his subsequent forceful manipulation of the puppet and use of the Divine Wind Escape had undoubtedly exacerbated his injuries.

Recalling the events that had transpired filled Chu Ning with a sense of dread. If he hadn't prepared those beads similar to the Thunder Pearl during his idle moments, intending to use them to confuse his enemies, he might not have escaped. The Golden Core cultivator had truly believed in the power of the Thunder Pearl after experiencing its might and had retreated without thoroughly investigating, allowing Chu Ning to escape.

Even with all his efforts, he might not have made it out alive.

At this moment, he owed his awakening to his cultivation of the body-refining technique, which granted him stronger defensive and regenerative capabilities than an ordinary cultivator. And of course, there was also Ling Xiaobai's Mysterious Life Technique.

As he had been enveloped in Ling Xiaobai's white light, he had managed to take out a Small Heaven Pill from his storage bag and consume it. After leaving the ancient sect's ruins, he had specifically refined several Small Heaven Pills using the Heaven Grass.

However, at that time, he had been so badly injured that he couldn't even access his storage bag. Thankfully, after entering this restricted area and being continuously healed by Ling Xiaobai's cultivation of the Mysterious Life Technique, he had finally awakened.

He had no idea how much time had passed.

Chu Ning turned his head towards Ling Xiaobai and asked, "Little White, how long have we been here?"

"Seven days," Ling Xiaobai replied.

Chu Ning sighed softly, acknowledging the severity of his injuries. "Last time we were here, you were badly hurt, and I helped you by cultivating the Mysterious Life Technique. This time, it seems the roles have reversed, and you're helping me."

As he spoke, Chu Ning tested his condition and found that he could slightly manipulate his spiritual power. He took out a jade bottle from his storage bag, poured out a Small Heaven Pill, and swallowed it. Then he instructed Ling Xiaobai, "Continue cultivating the Mysterious Life Technique."

The Mysterious Life Technique could be employed between contracted parties. For the past few days, Chu Ning had likely been passively receiving treatment, much like Ling Xiaobai had before. But now, he could actively cultivate the technique as well. With Ling Xiaobai's assistance, he believed his recovery would be faster.

Indeed, as Chu Ning had expected, the combination of the Small Heaven Pill and the Mysterious Life Technique accelerated his healing. After just one day, he felt significantly better. While his spiritual power flow was still somewhat impeded, at least he no longer felt like his body was going to tear apart with every movement.

After a day of healing and cultivation, Chu Ning was finally able to get up. He took out the Green Light Pearl and began to examine his surroundings. To his surprise, he and Ling Xiaobai were in a stone chamber roughly five paces wide. The room was sparse, with only a few items scattered about. In one corner stood a stone bed, about one pace wide and three feet tall, upon which lay a skeletal remains.

The remains had clearly been there for a long time, as the flesh and clothes had decayed, leaving only gleaming white bones. What intrigued Chu Ning was that, logically, the bones should have also decayed and eroded away. Yet, these bones remained intact, and the chest bone, in particular, shone like jade, standing out conspicuously.

Chu Ning observed from a distance, making no move to approach, but he couldn't help but ask Ling Xiaobai curiously, "How did we end up in this room? Have you figured out where we are?"

"Whine!" Ling Xiaobai shook his head. "I passed through the restriction and arrived here. You were unconscious, so I didn't dare to leave."

Chu Ning nodded and pondered for a moment before speaking again. "Since we entered the formation restriction and ended up here without any danger for several days, let's stay put for now. Don't touch anything. We'll wait until I've recovered more before exploring further."

"Whine!" Ling Xiaobai nodded in agreement.

After a brief rest, Chu Ning and Ling Xiaobai resumed their cultivation of the Mysterious Life Technique to aid in Chu Ning's recovery. With the technique's stimulation, the medicinal effects of the Small Heaven Pill were dissolved and absorbed more rapidly. Nonetheless, it took Chu Ning a full ten days to completely dissipate the pill's effects.

He then took out another Small Heaven Pill to continue the healing process. Unlike Ling Xiaobai, who could only consume one Heaven Grass, Chu Ning had no such restrictions with the Small Heaven Pills. After consuming three pills, he spent an entire month in uninterrupted healing.

Finally, Chu Ning felt that his injuries had mostly healed, with only about 20% remaining. He didn't feel any significant discomfort, so he ended his healing session for the day.

The next day, Chu Ning rose again and surveyed the stone chamber, carefully probing with his divine sense. During the past month, whenever he had rested, he would inspect the chamber, but he had never dared to use his divine sense to explore, fearing that he might trigger a restriction and cause an unforeseen accident.

Now, as he extended his divine sense, he was astonished to discover that the seemingly blank walls of the chamber concealed hidden murals.

They told the story of the ancient sect's rise and fall.

"Lei Huo Zong (Thunderfire Sect)!"

The first thing Chu Ning saw was the rise of this sect.

Lei Huo Zong was initially founded by two Foundation Establishment cultivators, one specializing in lightning attribute techniques and the other in fire attribute techniques.

At first, they were not well-known on the Dong Sheng continent, but as their cultivation improved, they both became powerful existences in the late Nascent Soul stage.

Gradually, they ranked among the top ten powerhouses on the Dong Sheng continent, respectively known as the Heavenly Thunder Sage and the Fire Cloud Sage.

And thus, Lei Huo Zong also rose to prominence, not only as a top-tier sect on the Dong Sheng continent but also renowned throughout the Tian Yan world.

As he read these records, Chu Ning's eyes flickered with curiosity.

"So the cultivation world in this place is called the Tian Yan world, and these two were the top powerhouses on the Dong Sheng continent.

Then why did Lei Huo Zong end up in such a state?"

As these thoughts raced through his mind, Chu Ning continued to examine the walls with his divine sense, studying the paintings and texts.

After a long while, Chu Ning stood silently in the stone chamber, deep in thought.

From these murals, he learned that three hundred years after the Heavenly Thunder Sage and the Fire Cloud Sage had reached the late Nascent Soul stage, they entrusted the management of Lei Huo Zong to the Great Elder, the very person who had painted these murals.

Then they left and never returned.

Some claimed that these two powerful beings had ascended to a higher realm.

Others speculated that they had already passed away.

Fifty years after their departure, the Dong Sheng continent suddenly faced an invasion from extraterritorial Celestial Demons.

Numerous top sects joined forces to resist, but to no avail.

As one of the foremost sects on the Dong Sheng continent, Lei Huo Zong naturally became a target for the Celestial Demons.

Just when the Great Elder and the other cultivators were unable to hold off the assault, the Heavenly Thunder Sage and the Fire Cloud Sage reappeared. They fought against the two leaders of the Celestial Demons, resulting in mutual destruction.

Meanwhile, the Great Elder led the sect's disciples and used the sect's formation to defend against the remaining demons.

In the end, they achieved a bitter victory, driving away the Celestial Demons.

However, the Celestial Demons employed some unknown means, and as they left, they trapped Lei Huo Zong's location within a spatial fissure.

Many disciples, caught unprepared, were directly sucked into the spatial fissure and lost their lives.

Finally, the elders led the remaining disciples into the Elder's Mountain within the sect.

What devastated the elders and disciples of Lei Huo Zong was that within this spatial fissure, there was no spiritual energy.

All cultivators were unable to progress further in their cultivation.

After exhausting all means to escape the spatial fissure, the Great Elder and the others could only watch as their disciples aged and died before their very eyes.

Eventually, even the Great Elder, who had also reached the late Nascent Soul stage, exhausted his lifespan.

As he read through the lengthy pictorial records, Chu Ning couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

He could imagine the despair that the people of this sect must have felt within the spatial fissure, devoid of spiritual energy, hope, or light...

It was truly a hopeless situation.

He also understood why the ruins he had seen earlier appeared so desolate and decayed.

At this moment, Chu Ning also realized why, despite the simplicity of recording these events in text, the former late Nascent Soul cultivator had chosen to create these murals with his divine sense.

Perhaps it was also a way to pass the endless years.

"According to the Great Elder's murals, Lei Huo Zong's ruins should be within a spatial fissure.

But why has it formed its own small world within the Thousand Lakes and Islands region?"

Chu Ning's face showed his deep concentration as he pondered this mystery.

"Could it be that I'm currently within a spatial fissure?"

The thought sent a chill down Chu Ning's spine.

He clearly remembered the terrifying nature of the spatial fissure depicted in the Great Elder's murals, where ordinary cultivators would be directly devoured.

"That's not right!"

Chu Ning quickly realized the discrepancy.

"According to what's depicted here, the spatial fissure where Lei Huo Zong is located lacks spiritual energy.

But both during my previous visit and now, I can sense spiritual energy."

After some contemplation, Chu Ning formed a rough guess.

Perhaps, over the long passage of time, Lei Huo Zong's sect ruins had been pushed out of the spatial fissure and back onto the Dong Sheng continent.

As this thought occurred to him, Chu Ning sighed again.

It was a pity that even Nascent Soul cultivators, who could live for over a thousand years, still had a limited lifespan.

At this moment, Chu Ning looked through the pictorial records once more.

The front part, which described the rise of Lei Huo Zong, mainly consisted of text.

However, the section after the invasion of the Celestial Demons had more paintings.

What puzzled Chu Ning was that these so-called Celestial Demons not only included beings that looked like demons and beasts at a glance, but also quite a few that resembled humans.

Aside from their distinct clothing, they didn't seem any different from the cultivators of this world.

"If that's the case, why are they called Celestial Demons? Could they be cultivators from other worlds or even higher realms?"

Chu Ning's eyes flickered with curiosity, as he himself was a transmigrator from another world.

However, these were just his speculations, and he had no definite answers.

For now, he decided to stop thinking about it.

As his divine sense continued to scan the walls and the paintings, Chu Ning was intrigued by how the murals were so vividly created using divine sense.

And as Chu Ning immersed his divine sense and mental energy into the murals once more, he no longer simply observed the content.

Instead, he tried to penetrate the paintings and text with his divine sense, carefully studying the principles behind these murals.

Chu Ning's eyes flickered as he looked intently once more.

To his surprise, the mural he had just sensed lit up completely, now visible even without the aid of his divine sense.

At the same time, Chu Ning felt that his sea of consciousness had somehow gained several specks of light.

Greatly intrigued, Chu Ning immediately used his divine sense to examine the next mural, attempting to penetrate it in the same way.

Miraculously, the text and the mural transformed into streams of golden light that flowed into Chu Ning's sea of consciousness.

Subsequently, the text and mural became visible to him even without the use of his divine sense.

One after another, Chu Ning applied the same method to all the text and murals, penetrating them with his divine sense.

At that moment, all the specks of light in his sea of consciousness converged together.

Then, they merged with the divine sense liquid in his sea of consciousness.

Instantly, Chu Ning felt a wave of warmth spreading through his sea of consciousness.

Soon after, he clearly sensed that his divine sense had grown stronger.

This continued for the duration of an incense stick's worth of time before the warmth in his sea of consciousness finally faded away.

The cluster of golden light had completely merged with the divine sense liquid in Chu Ning's sea of consciousness.

"My divine sense is definitely much stronger now than it was before. It's a pity that there's a restriction here preventing me from fully releasing my divine sense. Otherwise, I would be able to get a clearer sense of it. However, I have a feeling that the range of my divine sense projection must have already exceeded a thousand feet," Chu Ning thought to himself.

With that in mind, Chu Ning immediately checked the proficiency levels of his techniques.

【Yan Huo Shen Mu Gong (High-Rank Xuan Tier), 3rd Layer (603/20,000)】

【Nine Transformations Body Refining Art, 1st Volume, Unending Soul (1500/3000)】

【Refine God Technique, 3rd Layer (6602/8000)】

Upon seeing these numbers, Chu Ning's eyes widened in surprise.

"500 points!"

He clearly remembered that before he went to the Thousand Illusion Island, his proficiency in the Refine God Technique was 6102.

During this period, he had not cultivated the Refine God Technique at all.

Yet, in just this short span of time, his proficiency in the technique had increased by a full 500 points!

A gleam of joy flashed in Chu Ning's eyes.

"The enhancement of my divine sense might be far better than I imagined."

Chu Ning was aware that while enhancing one's divine sense through other means would also increase the proficiency of the Refine God Technique, it was not the same as solely cultivating the technique.

To be precise, the enhancement of his divine sense was more pronounced than what was reflected in the technique's proficiency level.

He had experienced this before.

When Chu Ning was at the Foundation Establishment stage, the range of his divine sense projection had increased significantly.

However, the improvement reflected in the proficiency level of the Refine God Technique was only a little over a hundred points.

Now, the proficiency level of the Refine God Technique had increased by a full 500 points! According to Chu Ning's estimation, the enhancement of his divine sense must also be quite substantial.

Perhaps it was even comparable to that of the black-robed, skinny elder.

"I made a big loss before, but this has somewhat made up for it," Chu Ning thought to himself, a smile spreading across his face.

After all, during the previous pursuit, he had not only suffered severe injuries that required him to consume three Small Heaven Pills, but he had also lost two highly destructive Thunder Pearls and a meticulously crafted mid-Foundation Establishment puppet.

As for talismans and the like, he didn't bother to count them.

Now, with this sudden boost to his divine sense, Chu Ning finally felt a little better.

Once again, Chu Ning projected his divine sense around the stone chamber, making sure there were no other abnormalities.

He swept his divine sense through the chamber, eventually focusing on the skeletal remains.

With his divine sense, he noticed two things.

One was the chest bone that shone like jade.

The other was an ancient-looking jade plaque.

On both sides of the jade plaque were carvings of mythical beasts—one resembling a phoenix, and the other, a bovine creature.

As Chu Ning examined the plaque, his eyes flickered, and he reached into his storage bag to retrieve another plaque.

It was the token he had obtained from the storage bag of the Song family members he had killed in the Cycle Ancient Cave.

The two plaques were identical.

The only difference lay in the small patterns etched on them.

"If this plaque is the identity token of the Great Elder, then the one I have might be the identity token of another elder. I wonder how it ended up outside," Chu Ning wondered to himself.

After this thought crossed his mind, Chu Ning swept his divine sense over the area once more but found no other abnormalities.

He then slowly approached the stone bed.

"I apologize for my rudeness!"

Chu Ning bowed towards the skeletal remains and then reached out to grab the jade plaque with a wave of his hand, using the Drive Object Art.

Hesitating for a moment, Chu Ning waved his hand again and tried to take the chest bone that shone like jade.

To his surprise, the chest bone came off easily, and he held it in his hand.

The rest of the skeletal remains collapsed onto the stone bed.

It seemed as if the entire skeleton had been propped up by that chest bone.

As Chu Ning inspected the scene, the chest bone in his hand suddenly began to tremble.

Before he could react, the chest bone wriggled free from his grasp and shot towards his chest.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end