BOOM!
100 li.
BOOM!
200 li.
BOOM!
300 li.
Guàn Cui, Tang Li, Yan Zaizen and the White Crane Members followed deep into the earth with Ma Xiuren in the lead. With each smash of her tiny fist, a vigorous physical force would dig a deeper hole like a needle. Yan Zaizen could feel many different auras ahead and behind them, using various methods in an attempt to reach the core of the earth.
He wasn't exactly sure how the others discovered the location of the Asura Phantom Palace, but he found it due to the illusory laws the Moon of Asura emitted. With that clue, he started reaching about and found out that the Moon of Asura has a very faint, almost indiscernible, link into the ground. This was a common confusion tactic listed in the Anima Syndicate's records.
By projecting an illusory image linked to the true location, it'll feel as vivid and real as real could be. That's because when you scan the illusion, you'll be perceiving the actual location. Luckily, Yan Zaizen's spiritual sense was strong enough to notice the faint fluctuations of illusory laws. Not only that, he read about it so he had a reference to consider.
They burrowed in the ground for several days. Their depth exceeded four hundred thousand li.
"We're here!" Tang Li said, his eyes flickering. Exactly as he said this, another smash of Ma Xiuren's dainty fist caused the earth to collapse. A hole that seemed like one reminiscent of a hole in the sky was revealed. They exited this hole which revealed a place as if it was an entirely different world.
There was an incredibly wide, cylindrical tower, but it was incredibly short, about 100 meters tall. Surrounding that tower was a moat of inky black liquid that seethed with bubbles. If one saw the bubbles, they would realize some of them would occasionally pop revealing traces of a dark-greenish miasma.
The diameter of the tower was exceptional, about tens of li, but despite this, there was only a single door at its east. The moat of inky black liquid surrounded the tower, but it was rather small, only 20 meters needed to be taken to cross it.
The tens of thousands of experts looked onwards with vigilance in their eyes, but some had brilliantly bright gazes filled with excitement. Indeed, this was only the entrance to the Asura Phantom Palace! Despite it not being incredibly grand as the one seen at the Moon of Asura, it was only because the palace itself was buried further beneath the earth.
Despite knowing this, not a single individual burrowed deeper, staying several li in the sky.
Guàn Cui's delicate and prideful brows were furrowed into contemplation, her eyes revealed an intelligent yet cautious light. "Mister Zai, what can you sense?" During the travel downwards, she realized this Yan Zaizen contained some ability and shouldn't be underestimated. The fates of those who took a step into the sky first were examples of his capabilities.
She decided to trust him, for now.
Yan Zaizen, however, didn't send his spiritual sense outwards. He felt a profound sensation of intense danger from the inky black moat as if it radiated traces of death. However, it was uniquely different than his own concept of death. Just as he was contemplating his course of action, several horrific shrieks of pain resounded once more.
"Oh god!" Someone frenzied cried. This voice caught the thousands of experts gazes, spotting a giant that was several hundred meters in height. His skin was inky black and his breaths released traces of dark-green smoke. Yan Zaizen's scalp went numb as he saw this, realizing this giant originally had healthy bronze skin.
What caused his scalp to truly tinge with fear were his eyes. They were completely white, without a semblance of consciousness, as if his soul was robbed from him and his body was thoroughly tainted by some unknown force. The giant wasn't the only case, beasts and humanoids alike started to experience similar situations.
Someone from afar cried out, "Don't use your spiritual sense!"
Just as Yan Zaizen was about to speak to Pinaka, a soft voice revealed itself from behind him.
"Help...me…!"
"!!"
Everyone turned violently around to see one of the White Crane Sect members with a brilliant white light emitting from her eyes. Her left hand was completely black - very similar to the others affected. She seemed to be using her extraordinary true-essence to fight against the decaying effects of whatever's affecting her. Despite her struggles, one could see the blackness of her hand slowly extend to her wrist and approaching her forearm.
It seems those with a higher cultivation base was affected slower, in that case, there are probably many individuals who were affected! Guàn Cui's eyes revealed a trace of shock, but then decisiveness. She removed a slender white sword from her spatial ring.
SWISH!!
The sword's movement was swift and true, immediately slicing off the woman's infected hand. The moment the hand was cut off, as if it lacked the resistance to persist, it exploded into dark-green miasma like the bubbles in the moat. Many scenes similar to this were enacted. Since many didn't know how to deal with the situation, they could only take the quickest and crudest solution: REMOVAL!
After the hand was cut off, one could see the woman's expression visibly soften in relaxation. Tang Li produced a pill and elixir without any hesitation, without considering personal space, he directly stuffed the woman's mouth with the pill and splashed her amputated hand with an elixir.
Shizz!
A slight sizzle emitted from her bloody stump. In several seconds, the woman's hand was visibly healing and growing back. Within a minute, her hand was fully recovered with the softness of a baby child. Unfortunately, it wasn't tempered with true-essence, so it was considerably weaker. However, looking at her new hand, there was a happy gleam in her eyes as she looked at Tang Li with thanks.
Tang Li's expression was solemn and so was the rest of the group.
"It seems the moat can infect your spiritual sense with a unique soul poison. Spreading from your soul, it can corrode it and your body, ridding you of your lifeforce. However, removing the infected area physically prevents spread." Tang Li deduced.
Guàn Cui added, "It's a mixture of soul, death, and poison laws. To think the Asura Phantom Palace is so cruel." The scenes around was shocking, and no one used their spiritual sense to survey the small moat. As for those who were completely infected, they had low cultivation bases or simply weren't adept at handling poison, and thus were dead. Their bodies slowly diffused into a dark-green miasma and thoroughly vanished.
Yan Zaizen was watching all of these events but felt shocked by Tang Li's actions of regrowing a hand in a minute. He understood the importance of having an alchemist in your group. Despite this, they've now hit their first obstacle - the inky black moat. If one can't scan it with spiritual sense, then how dangerous would it be to cross it?
No one took the initiative. Instead, they landed on the ground and spread out in their respective groups. As if learning their lesson, no one carelessly took action, only slowly considering plans or making calculations. Due to the circumstances of the moat, he couldn't use his spiritual sense to survey the lands and thus was left on the sidelines.
Tang Li and Guàn Cui were discussing various plans of actions. From times to time, the White Crane Sect members would chime in with their ideas. As for Ma Xiuren, she stayed quiet like a mute, her eyes looking around like a lost little girl curious about the outside world.
Like the breeze of a wind, three days passed by so suddenly. Yan Zaizen discovered several things during these three days. One, the realm's space was isolated, and he couldn't enter chaotic space.
Two, he couldn't penetrate through the spatial void, but it was exceptionally stable and it exceeded what his qi cultivation base could penetrate. If he was at the Origin Core Realm, perhaps, but as he was, it was an impossibility.
Three, there was only one door into the palace - the short tower.
Four, qi sense wasn't affected by the moat, only spiritual sense. Despite this, qi-sense couldn't penetrate into the moat for clues or into the tower. From these things, he realized he had no practical way of entering besides crossing the moat.
"To be stopped at the door, truly frustrating." Yan Zaizen muttered, his gaze filled with discontent.