Cultivating for a hundred lifetimes to ascension-Chapter 684 - 414: Three Great Array Masters_2

But to his disappointment, Zhao Sheng refused without any hesitation, "I’m sorry, an elder of our sect has urgently summoned me; I cannot accompany Senior Mu to the ruins."

The bearded old man’s pupils contracted sharply at these words, and then his expression became even more benevolent, smilingly he said, "Ah, this time it was my presumption. Since a Great True Monarch has summoned you, I naturally won’t make an unwelcome nuisance of myself.

Taoist Zhao, please go ahead, and when you see the Great True Monarch, please convey my respects and wish him longevity and prosperity on my behalf!" ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm

"I will certainly convey Senior Mu’s kind words. I shall take my leave now!"

Having said this, Zhao Sheng bowed to the other party and then quickly ascended into the Sea of Clouds, disappearing into the depths of the colorful clouds.

Watching the vanishing figure, Mu Daoyuan’s face suddenly turned exceptionally grim, his eyes flickering with a cunning light, as if harboring countless schemes.

"Hmph, consider yourself lucky, kid!" Mu Daoyuan snorted coldly, then slapped the horn, signaling the Beast Taming to swallow the Heavenly Fragrant Wood.

The Six-winged Flying Dragon, unable to remain calm, spat out a beam of blood light, and in the blink of an eye, rolled the ancient wood back into its mouth, then carried its master off into the distance, in search of the next unfortunate target.

After a moment, a flash of fire suddenly broke through the colorful clouds and arrived in an exceptionally thin, frigid, and desolate Empty Domain.

The fire light transformed into an invisible Fire Shield, revealing Zhao Sheng’s figure.

He gazed around, seeing only the boundless expanse of the Heavenly Curtain, with Heavenly Pillar Mountain towering endlessly into the sky, its peak out of sight.

Yet, the eighth and ninth levels of the Cloud Sea, as if they had never existed, had mysteriously disappeared.

However, Zhao Sheng knew that the final two layers of the Cloud Sea had never vanished but had simply changed into another form of existence.

Above the Seventh Layer Cloud Sea, it was evidently a whole new world.

This Empty Domain was over a hundred miles above ground level, where the environment was exceptionally harsh and cruel, the cold enough to shatter Magic Artifacts, and the Gang Wind turned into invisible extreme currents of appalling destructive power, easily capable of eroding lesser Spiritual Artifacts,

and cultivators below the level of Golden Core simply couldn’t survive here for more than fifteen minutes.

What Zhao Sheng found even more remarkable was that, compared to the extreme harshness of the environment, the ecology of Heavenly Pillar Mountain thrived even more lushly and three-dimensionally.

Some of the ancient trees growing on the cliffs had enormous canopies hundreds of feet wide, almost a forest in one tree, and the entwined, growing grey-green vines hung densely into the Void like thick monstrous pythons, filled with a wild and primordial air.

In this section of the sheer cliffs, the ruins and remains became gradually sparser, whereas the intact man-made structures became more numerous.

Of course, compared to the lower areas, the number of ruins and cave mansions built on this section of the mountain had undoubtedly decreased greatly, but in contrast, the Ancient Prohibitions were denser and, in both scale and integrity, far surpassed those below.

For the first time in seven lifetimes, Zhao Sheng had flown to such a high place and for the first time saw such a rarely seen spectacle of antiquity, so he again greatly reduced his ascent speed.

Protected by the Ancient Prohibitions, this section of Heavenly Pillar Mountain had seldom been visited since ancient times, thus between the sheer cliffs, all sorts of rare thousand-year-old Spiritual Medicines would be seen everywhere.

Moreover, some areas had been cultivated by someone into different Medicine Gardens, and although they had been neglected for twenty thousand years and were in disarray, the various Strange Flowers and Herbs emitting colorful divine lights, along with many precious Spiritual Medicines, still looked very tempting to him.

Zhao Sheng felt it was very strange because, in theory, the Tianzhu Realm had not completely lost contact with the Taiyi Spirit Realm, and over the last twenty thousand years, more than a few Divinity Transformation True Monarchs had successfully ascended.

Yet, why had no one in the Tianzhu Realm been able to decode the Ancient Prohibition that enveloped Heavenly Pillar Mountain?

Zhao Sheng believed that over two millennia, countless Nascent Souls and even Divinity Transformation True Monarchs must have tried all sorts of methods to decode the Ancient Prohibition, but from what he could see now, their progress was extremely slow and almost fruitless.

Had he not seen it with his own eyes, Zhao Sheng would never have believed that the group of Ancient Prohibitions on the upper segments of Heavenly Pillar Mountain could have been preserved so well.

He could not believe that all the Monarchs from the past twenty thousand years were incompetent.

If no one could break the Ancient Prohibition, there must be another reason.

At this thought, his figure flashed, and he hastily retreated dozens of miles in an instant, fearful of being affected by the Ancient Prohibition.

...

Two days later, after Zhao Sheng had crossed both the eighth and ninth levels of the Cloud Sea, flying higher than two hundred miles, he finally saw from afar the summit of Heavenly Pillar Mountain, glowing with white light, which was extremely conspicuous against the dark Void.

The Eighth Layer Cloud Sea is named the Cloud Sea, but in reality, it is a "turbulent" zone of auroras; the area is complicated and ever-changing, with an extremely harsh environment. It’s also the highest level that a Golden Core Master can reach.

Further up is the Boundary Membrane, which is incredibly close to the Outer Domain Vacuum Environment. If one cannot form their own Magic Domain, just resisting the harsh conditions could cause a Golden Core Master to deplete all the True Yuan inside their body in just a short one to two hours.

The Ninth Layer Cloud Sea, also known as the Boundary Membrane, serves as the first line of defense against the many dangers of the Outer Void. With a total thickness exceeding two hundred miles, it is filled with extreme alien powers similar to Primordial Magnetic Divine Light, and can truly be called a Forbidden Land of death.

Even Nascent Soul Realm cultivators, if not careful, could take a tumble here, and although it might not be deadly, injuries are hard to avoid.

When Zhao Sheng crossed the Boundary Membrane and arrived at the true Outer Void, he suspended the Hundred Flames Tripod above his head. The Treasure Tripod cascaded a great amount of True Fire like a waterfall, forming a thick True Fire Shield around him, entirely enveloping him.

With the absence of atmospheric resistance, Zhao Sheng’s tunneling light speed surged.

In just a few moments, he quickly traversed a hundred miles of the void, and the Ascension Platform suddenly came into view.

His arrival immediately alerted a certain big shot.

Suddenly, a narrow white beam of light stretched out from the Ascension Platform, winding its way towards Zhao Sheng.

Zhao Sheng gave a slight smile, leaped into the beam of light, and in an instant, disappeared from sight.

Within a hundred breaths, the end of the light path suddenly appeared, and Zhao Sheng’s vision widened abruptly.

Thud!

He once again set foot on the vast and silent Roof Square.

In the surrounding area of the square, eighty-one Crystal Columns, each a hundred yards tall, stood unshakably but were covered in cracks.

To Zhao Sheng’s surprise, there was not only Zhao Xuanjing on the square but also three additional elders.

One of them was very familiar; it was the Array Master, Huang Yu.

One of the other two had sparse hair, a broad, corpulent body, and a pair of dark tortoiseshell glasses hanging on his nose. He was holding an array plate about a zhang in size, indicating he was also an Array Master.

The last person had a crane-like stature, lips thin as a blade, and a skeletal look; he did not seem like a good person at first glance.

However, this elder with the natural "villainous" look was one of the Three Great Array Masters of the Tianzhu Realm, known as Liu Tianyi, the man with "Wild Fanciful Thoughts."

Liu Tianyi’s distinctive features were so prominent that Zhao Sheng recognized him instantly.

With both Huang Yu and Liu Tianyi present, the identity of the other person was also apparent; he was the most famous Array Master in the Tianzhu Realm, Li Ziran, revered as the "First among Array Masters" of Tianzhu and also the Nascent Soul Elder of the Supreme Sensing Sect.

Upon seeing Zhao Sheng’s arrival, Zhao Xuanjing immediately waved and said, "Qiong Tian, don’t you come over quickly and pay respects to the three seniors?"

Zhao Sheng responded by flying over and bowing respectfully to the group: "Junior Zhao Qiongtian, greets the Ancestors, and the three senior elders."

Huang Yu immediately laughed and said, "It has been thirty years since our last meeting, Mr. Zhao seems even more elegant than before, and seems to have made significant progress, truly something to be celebrated."

"You flatter me, senior!" Zhao Sheng humbly replied.

Unfazed, Huang Yu pointed at the other two individuals and laughed, "Come come, let me introduce you. This bespectacled old man is Grandmaster Li. The one who doesn’t look like a good person is my arch-nemesis, called Liu Yishou with his whimsical fancies."

"Hmph, my esteemed name is Liu Tianyi, what’s this about Liu Yishou? Huang, you young scoundrel, cease your slander at once!" Liu Tianyi retorted.

"Yeah, Huang is the most annoying; my eyesight is poor, so I must wear glasses for protection, which everyone knows about. But in your words, I’m a shameless old man. In my opinion, you, Huang Yu, are the one who’s foolish and stupid. I am embarrassed to be ranked alongside you," the tortoiseshell elder also counter-argued suddenly.

It was clear that the relationship between the three Array Masters was quite good; after all, they got along harmoniously enough!

Seeing the three Great Array Masters, who together were over four thousand years old, arguing heatedly in front of Zhao Sheng was truly astonishing.

It wasn’t until Zhao Xuanjing spoke up that the quarrel among the three was put to rest.