Over a hundred zhang above the altar, a luminous arc stretching more than thirty zhang had appeared in the air.
The arc was a hazy white, at its widest a full four or five zhang across, shaped like a crescent moon. It was nothing other than a colossal spatial rift — the likes of which were exceedingly rare. Yet some unknown restriction had concealed it beforehand, for despite so many Nascent Soul cultivators of extraordinary ability standing nearby, not a single one had detected this terrifying existence hanging above their heads.
Could this be the legendary entrance to the Ling Miao Garden?
Gazing at the visible warping and distortion of space, even someone of Wei Wuya's caliber would never dare charge headlong into that rift. After all, the severing force of spatial energy was not something cultivators of this realm could withstand. No wonder even Wei Wuya had flown into such a rage!
"The Ling Miao Garden has always existed somewhere between the Spirit World and our mortal world. To enter that space, one naturally has to make use of the spatial rift here. A simple adjustment to the distortion, and the entrance can be opened directly. Rest assured — I certainly won't have you force your way through. There is another method to send you all inside temporarily, though it carries a certain amount of risk. Whether you can make it through, I can only give you sixty to seventy percent certainty. As for these Core Formation cultivators, they'd better not go. Their cultivation is insufficient — going would be nothing more than throwing their lives away." The scholar swept his gaze over the crowd and spoke in an indifferent tone.
"Sixty to seventy percent? Before we came here, you never mentioned this." The Ghost Spirit Sect Master's expression darkened.
"What difference would it have made? Even if I'd said there was only twenty or thirty percent hope, you lot would never have given up." The scholar let out a cold laugh.
The Ghost Spirit Sect Master stared at the scholar, cold light flickering in his eyes, then suddenly raised his hand — and a blood-red command token appeared in it.
"What are you doing?" The scholar's face changed dramatically at the sight of the token. He shot backward in a panic, shouting loudly.
But the Ghost Spirit Sect Master said nothing. He gave the token a gentle shake, and the blood-red light upon it blazed brilliantly. The scholar, still hurtling backward, let out a shrill scream and crashed straight down from the sky to the ground. At the same time, bizarre crimson runes surfaced across his skin, flowing ceaselessly as though carved into both the interior and exterior of his body — a thoroughly eerie sight.
"The Soul-Terror Curse?" Wang Tiangu was shocked by the scene, his expression turning grim.
Wei Wuya's features shifted slightly at the mention.
"So this is the Ghost Spirit Sect's secret curse — the Soul-Terror Curse? I've heard it's three parts more vicious than ordinary soul-sealing arts. Once a cultivator is branded with this curse, the disintegration of their soul is but a single thought away from the caster." Wei Wuya fixed his gaze on the scholar rolling on the ground, his voice calm and even.
"Heh heh! Brother Wei is truly well-informed. What I've used is precisely this curse. This remnant soul is nothing more than a wisp of divine sense left behind from Cang Kun Shangren's incarnation back in the day, and yet it still believes itself to be the once-invincible Cang Kun Shangren, daring to be so overbearing. As Sect Master, naturally I must teach it a small lesson." The Ghost Spirit Sect Master's gaze shifted, and he answered with a smile.
Wei Wuya nodded and said nothing more. For them, no matter how great the provenance of a mere wisp of spirit, they would never tolerate such arrogance.
The scholar appeared to be undergoing tremendous suffering. Every time the crimson runes on his body flashed, his body twitched involuntarily. He clutched his head with both hands, rolling and convulsing on the ground, his face twisted in unbearable agony.
The torture lasted for the time it takes to finish a meal. Eventually, even the ghostly form his remnant soul had taken began to blur and grow unsteady.
Seeing this, the Ghost Spirit Sect Master finally waved the token and casually ended the technique.
"You should have learned your lesson by now. Even if your memories are identical to those of the old Cang Kun Shangren, you are nothing more than a remnant soul today. Don't do anything stupid again. Otherwise, next time the punishment won't be this light. I am determined to enter the Ling Miao Garden, but I have no intention of being led by the nose. Rest assured, though — as long as you guide us honestly, I will not go back on the conditions I've promised you." The Ghost Spirit Sect Master tempered severity with clemency.
"I understand. I'll open the passage now." The scholar rose to his feet. Green light flickered across his body, and his form instantly solidified once more, yet his expression was remarkably calm.
The Ghost Spirit Sect Master, somewhat surprised by the scholar's composure, had narrowed his pupils and was about to say something further when the scholar's entire body was enveloped in green light. He floated upward and began drifting slowly toward the rift in the air.
The words already at the Ghost Spirit Sect Master's throat had no choice but to be swallowed back down. After all, compared with teaching the scholar a lesson, opening the entrance to the Ling Miao Garden was the more pressing matter.
Wei Wuya and the others watched the scholar's movements in cold silence, unsure of what method he intended to use to get them through such a terrifying rift.
The scholar flew to within twenty-odd zhang of the spatial rift and stopped.
He raised his head and stared at the colossal tear above for a moment. A peculiar expression crossed his face. He suddenly opened his mouth, and a ball of green light shot forth. Encased within the green light was a thumb-sized bead, black as ink, spinning and floating before him.
Having expelled the bead, the scholar's face turned deathly pale and his vitality visibly withered, as though the bead had drained most of his soul force.
"Go."
Despite this, the scholar still managed to point at the bead and softly utter the command.
The ink-black bead flashed with spiritual light and instantly shot upward toward the rift.
The Ghost Spirit Sect Master and the others looked on with surprise. Could such a small bead really accomplish anything?
Just as doubt was forming in their minds, the bead approached to within several zhang of the spatial rift, whereupon the suction force within the rift took hold.
A flash of white light — the surrounding space warped — and the bead vanished without a trace.