Chapter 843: Happy and Unhappy Clans
The libationer, who was currently secluded in his residence in the academy’s rear mountain, suddenly opened his eyes. A look of shock appeared on his usually calm face. “Heaven and earth have reversed, and the world has inverted?” He stood up and took a step forward. The next second, he was in front of the dungeon entrance.
The libationer rarely showed himself. Whenever he did appear, it would cause a huge commotion among the people around him.
But Qi Yaoguang didn’t have such misgivings. She skipped over to the Libationer’s side and asked, “Teacher, what are you doing here?” She was in charge of opening and closing this dungeon, so she had to remain present the entire time.
“Teacher!” Jiang Luofu was also present. She had spent the past few days chatting with Qi Yaoguang to relieve her boredom.
After some hesitation, the libationer said, “I’ve sensed a great change in the dungeon.”
Qi Yaoguang was shocked. She quickly brought out her divination wheel, and her fingers drew patterns in the air. The divination wheel’s star spun quickly. A moment later, she exclaimed, “It’s really bad!”
Jiang Luofu cried out in alarm. “What does that mean?”
Qi Yaoguang explained, “I sense that the space in the dungeon is extremely unstable, as if it’s about to collapse!” Even though she was the closest to the dungeon entrance, her cultivation wasn’t as great as the libationer’s. Only now did she sense that something was off.
“What? My brother-in-law is still inside!” Chu Youzhao cried in alarm as she ran over. She had often visited over the past few days in order to find out what was happening to Zu An.
If the number of days that had passed were tallied up, those inside should have already completed their mission, yet no one had come out. She’d had an ominous premonition, and so she came here every day to wait for new information.
And yet today, she’d heard such devastating news as soon as she arrived. Chu Youzhao panicked. If something happened to her brother-in-law, wouldn’t her big sister be heartbroken? Furthermore, when she thought of how good her brother-in-law was to her, she suddenly felt as if the world were ending.
But she was stopped when she rushed up to the entrance. The guards said, “The dungeon’s entrance has been sealed. For the sake of fairness, no one else is allowed inside until those inside come out!”
Chu Youzhao panicked. “Something so major has happened in the dungeon! Why are you all just standing around here?!”
Unfortunately, the guards all remained expressionless no matter what she said, not moving out of the way at all.
Murong Qinghe, who was by her side, tried to dissuade her by saying, “Big brother Chu, don’t be so nervous. Big bro Zu is so formidable. Even if something happened, he’ll still be able to take advantage of it.”
Chu Youzhao was a bit absent-minded at that moment, but she seemed to have found comfort when she heard Murong Qinghe’s words. She instinctively agreed. “You’re right, he’s so amazing. I’m sure he’s fine.”
But the activity still alarmed many people. Whether it was King Qi Manor or the crown prince’s faction, they all walked toward the libationer and asked, “Sir Libationer, what’s happening inside?”
The libationer looked at the dungeon entrance. “I don’t know. I’ve only sensed that the elements in the dungeon seem to have become chaotic, to the point where the world inside has reversed. But how can this be…?”
Even he was a bit puzzled. Not even someone with his level of knowledge had ever experienced something like this before. It was to the extent where he wondered if there was a mistake in his own deduction.
Eventually, Zhuxie Chixin arrived as well. He had always been in the surroundings to prevent anyone from King Qi Manor from sneaking inside. At first, he had only watched when he noticed the activity. He’d thought that it might have been one of the King Qi faction’s schemes, but didn’t dare to leave his position without permission. But when he heard the libationer speak so seriously, he finally couldn’t sit still anymore and quickly walked over to inquire about what was happening.
The libationer shook his head. “I don’t know what is happening inside either. We can only find out if we send some people inside to investigate.”
Zhuxie Chixin was quite troubled when he heard the response, worried that the libationer might be colluding with King Qi, thinking that he wanted to go inside and ruin the crown prince’s exam.
Suddenly, a great shockwave erupted from the dungeon entrance. The nearest guards swayed from side to side; all of them were horrified as they looked at the dungeon entrance. The disturbance inside was so great that the berserk spatial force had even spilled out. It was easy to imagine just how bad things were inside.
Zhuxie Chixin’s expression changed. He couldn’t hold himself back and rushed at the dungeon entrance, planning to look into it himself.
However, the King Qi faction’s officials all stopped him. One of them said, “Fairness is absolutely crucial for this exam, so the crown prince must rely on himself to clear this trial! If Chief Commander enters, even if the crown prince brings out the Jade Moon Serpent’s tendons, how will we know that it wasn’t because of Zhuxie Chixin’s help? After all, with Commander Zhuxie’s cultivation, you could easily kill the Jade Moon Serpent.”
Zhuxie Chixin was enraged. “Are all of you blind? Which one of you can shoulder the consequences if something happens to the crown prince and princess?!”
“Chief Commander, please don’t speak such alarming words. Those who went inside with the crown prince are all carefully selected elites. How could anything happen?” The one who spoke was the Chief Attendant, Waterfront Duke Pei Zheng.
King Qi’s faction had sent him over to keep an eye on things. Zhuxie Chixin was worried that King Qi’s people might disrupt the crown prince’s exam, while they were similarly worried that King Qi’s plan would be ruined because someone else from the crown prince’s side entered.
Zhuxie Chixin coldly said, “Something has clearly happened inside, and both the crown prince and princess are in danger. However, it looks as if the Waterfront Duke is trying to stop me. Are you plotting a rebellion?”
Pei Zheng wasn’t intimidated in the slightest. “I’ve heard that when Commander Zhuxie handles a matter, he doesn’t need proof. Today, it looks as though you’re indeed quite domineering! This old one only cares about maintaining fairness for this exam. What’s Commander Zhuxie trying to do by referring to me that way?”
Zhuxie Chixin sneered. “Everyone knows where your true thoughts lie.”
Pei Zheng harrumphed. “Fine, if you want to go, this old one won’t stop you. But if you bring him out and he hasn’t completed the task, should we just call it a failure?”
“You scoundrel, the entire world inside the dungeon is changing; of course it’s not suitable for the crown prince’s exam any longer! We’ll obviously need to find another time to redo the test,” Zhuxie Chixin said.
Pei Zheng’s expression turned grave. “This exam is for the sake of selecting our empire’s next ruler. The results, to a certain degree, are the heavens’ will. If something has happened in this dungeon, it means that the heavens have made their choice. Is there a need for further examination?”
Qi Yaoguang spoke just then. “Stop arguing already. The spatial elements in the dungeon are extremely messy, so you guys can’t even go inside. Anyone who enters will be ripped to pieces by the berserk spatial storm.” She had been researching the dungeon entrance the entire time, and gave her conclusion when she heard them arguing.
“What?” Zhuxie Chixin’s face paled. He couldn’t be bothered to argue with Pei Zheng anymore. He removed a blade from a guard next to him, inserted it through the dungeon entrance, and quickly pulled it back. The weapon’s blade was already nowhere to be seen, the cut extremely smooth. It wasn’t something any known weapon could cause.
“A spatial storm!”
The expressions of those present changed. There were many secret dungeons in this world, but not all secret dungeons were suitable for people to enter. Most of them had harsh environments that ripped one to pieces the moment they entered. That lesson had been learned through countless bloody experiences. Could the academy’s dungeon also have become that way?
Some clans were happy, while others became dejected. King Qi Manor’s people were obviously elated. They wouldn’t mind even if the entire dungeon were destroyed, as that would mean the crown prince could never come back out. Once that happened, King Qi would become the sole worthy successor to the emperor.
But everyone from the crown prince’s faction was worried. There were even many from the academy who had dispirited looks. After all, the dungeon represented endless resources, a place where they trained their disciples for many years. Without it, the academy would lose a lot of its strength and resources.
A flash of golden light suddenly appeared in the skies, and the emperor’s image condensed in the clouds. He asked in a dignified voice, “What happened?”
Zhuxie Chixin quickly reported the events that had transpired to the emperor.
“The world has inverted?” The emperor looked at the libationer. “Will this dungeon be completely destroyed?”
The libationer shook his head. “Even though the elements of the world inside are chaotic, I can sense a new set of laws within everything. I don’t believe that it will be destroyed.”
“Then we’ll just continue to wait!” The emperor’s figure in the clouds scattered after he spoke, leaving Zhuxie Chixin and the others in dismay. What in the world did the emperor mean by that? Was he not worried for the crown prince’s safety at all?
…
Meanwhile, inside the imperial palace, the emperor opened his eyes. There was a portion of his soul in the crown prince, so it was fine as long as the world wasn’t destroyed. He trusted that his other self could deal with any situation. This was the perfect chance to inform the world that the crown prince was blessed by the heavens.
But how could he have imagined that his other self was in such a sorry state inside the dungeon? Zhao Ruizhi couldn’t even float steadily in the air. As he fell toward the sky, his limbs faced the opposite direction.
The same thing was happening to Zu An. Since the world had inverted and even the laws of the world had changed, he couldn’t fly anymore. He could only watch as he continued to plummet. That giant red crack in the sky below was like a giant mouth, waiting to devour everything.
He had previously seen online that some new skydivers might die from shock. Weren’t they going through the same thing right now? He was being tossed and turned to the point where his intestines were about to fall out. If it weren’t for his special aptitude, he might’ve already fainted.
He suddenly saw that there was a small island next to him that wasn’t falling as quickly, but rather floating in the sky. He quickly used Grandgale. Fortunately, that technique worked. He carried Bi Linglong with him, quickly moving onto the island. The two of them had never expected that having level ground to stand on would actually be such a blessing.