Realms In The Firmament

Ye Xiao and Han Bingxue were walking at the back. In the dense fog, they couldn’t see, so they didn’t know how far they had traveled. They had at least walked in the fog for an hour before they smelled something like musk.

After they took a turn, Erhuo stopped.

Ye Xiao still couldn’t see things. He reached out his hands and Erhuo just tactfully jumped back to his hand. When it jumped on his hand, it felt a bit different than Ye Xiao expected. When he touched Erhuo in the hand, he realized Erhuo just jumped back from a stair. It was a bit higher than he expected, so it felt different.

On the stair, there was a door.

The door was the only thing that wasn’t covered by the fog in the third layer so far. It was the only thing they saw in this layer!

Ye Xiao and Han Bingxue stared at the door. It was not gold or wood, but they both could feel the toughness of it. They knew that no weapons, no matter how sharp, could break the door.

Ye Xiao stood right in front of the door and operated the East-rising Purple Qi in full power.

The fog started to roll fast all of a sudden. The martial art changed the status of the fog, made it like a boiling rice soup, rolling and whirling.

Ye Xiao reached his hand ahead and touched the door for a while. As expected, he found a hole that he could put his hand into.

He didn’t hesitate as he slowly put in his hand which was covered by the energy of purple qi.

When his hand entered the hole, he felt something was rising from beneath the earth, rushing over to his hand. It felt like… whatever it was, it must be in a hurry.

Ye Xiao felt cold in the hand and then realized it was a ring again.

He tried twisting it to the left, yet it didn’t move a bit. Then he twisted to the right, and something was moving. - Crack -

The ring rotated half round and the door suddenly disappeared.

The eyes of the two men and one cat lit up at the same time.

It seemed every layer of the Mountain of All Medicines was arranged differently from the prior layer. The first layer was filled with dense fog, so nobody could see anything in it. The second layer was clear. They could see everything. The third layer was foggy again and they were blind in the fog. When they reached the fourth layer, they could see again.

The fourth layer was definitely much more beautiful than the second.

Besides, it was much broader than the second layer too!

Ye Xiao thought, [I am right. The higher, the broader.]

[As it can be seen, it seems nobody ever entered this place before… Such a mysterious land…]

[I wonder if there are much more dangerous beings? Can Erhuo take care of it?]

Erhuo was the ’primal spirit in chaos’, and it seemed it overwhelmed the beasts they met earlier, but the fourth layer was a new world. Erhuo was still at such a young age. Could it overwhelm the beasts in this layer like the third layer?

It was doubtful and he felt emotional, but when he opened the door, he still stepped into it without hesitation!

The worst thing to do was hesitating. He had gone this far. The only thing he should do was to keep going ahead!

Han Bingxue saw Ye Xiao enter the door, so he didn’t hesitate either.

They both saw a tree of cinnabar fruit near the door. Lots of purple-red fruits were hanging on the tree.

When they took a closer look, they saw the fruits glaring with colorful glows and they were all spinning. That scene proved that this cinnabar fruit tree must be extraordinary. It should be a priceless treasure of the world!

”Rainbow Cinnabar Fruit!” Han Bingxue was a top-level cultivator of Dao Origin Stage who had a pair of sharp eyes. As he saw it, he recognized it and said it out, ”Boss, we are going to be so rich this time… We actually found such a valuable treasure just after opening that door!”

Ye Xiao was calm and steady. He didn’t move but just stared at the tree of Rainbow Cinnabar Fruit. He slowly said, ”Do not be overjoyed too early… It seems there is something weird behind this scene. The treasure may be right in front of us, but I don’t think it is going to be easy to get it!”

Around the cinnabar fruits, there were countless streams of rainbow glowing endlessly, moving around the tree. There was a comforting scent spreading out. However, it seemed Ye Xiao was right. No matter how Han Bingxie took a closer look, he felt that there was such a huge distance from them.

”As expected, there must be something behind it!”

Ye Xiao took in a deep breath. ”We should wait.”

”Really? Do we have to? It is not quite close, and maybe there is something we don’t know yet, but I can go and return within a second with my fast flying martial art. There won’t be a problem.” Han Bingxue seemed impatient. Before he finished talking, he had stepped out. ”The cinnabar fruit…”

The next moment, there was a sound of collision.

An invisible screen instantly rose up and stopped Han Bingxue. He hit the screen so hard and he was actually slammed back hard.

Before the tree of cinnabar fruit tree, a mass of purple qi rose up and formed into a few words in the air.

’Nine-layer Valley Awaits Monarch!’

The words showed up one after another slowly and then stopped.

”Nine-layer Valley awaits monarch?” Han Bingxue stared at the words and said, ”What does that mean?” He turned around looking at Ye Xiao and said, ”Can I understand it as… this Nine-layer Valley, no matter what it is, has been waiting for you, the Xiao Monarch, to come?”

Ye Xiao frowned and looked back at him speechlessly. ”I mean… Bingxue, can you answer a question for me?”

Han Bingxue was surprised. ”Boss, are you alright? Why did you talk to me like this? It is too polite! Just go ahead. Ask me whatever you want to. I will tell you everything I know! Go!”

”How many years do you think this mountain has been existing?” Ye Xiao asked.

”I don’t think anybody actually knows the exact number… But I guess it should be millions!” Han Bingxue rubbed his head and said, ”I don’t think anybody alive in Qing-Yun Realm can tell you the specific answer. I can only tell you it is millions. Does it help?”

Ye Xiao looked annoyed. ”Yes, of course, it does. You have given me the answer I want. You said it yourself, this mountain is at least one million years old. Now tell me, how are these words written for me? Do you even have a brain in your head? Even if I have been reborn eighty-thousand times, do you think I can be older than this mountain?”

Han Bingxue suddenly lost words. He could think of nothing to argue all of a sudden. However, he was always stubborn and reluctant to admit mistakes or defeats, so he said, ”There are lots of weird things in the world. Maybe there was a god…”

…