Supreme Emptiness

Outside the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion.

Jiang Fan ran into the anxious Liu Qingxian and the others head-on.

"Fan! Are you alright?"

Liu Qingxian hurried over, her face dripping with sweat from worry.

Upon hearing that Jiang Fan had been captured by someone impersonating her, she was utterly terrified.

Jiang Fan smiled and said, "I'm fine. Someone was pretending to be you and wanted to trick me into giving up my cultivation technique."

"But I saw through them and scared them off."

The crowd collectively breathed a sigh of relief.

Liu Qingxian threw herself into his arms, saying, "You scared me to death, Fan."

Feeling the warmth pressed against his chest, Jiang Fan nodded slightly.

This was the real Liu Qingxian.

Shang Shiqiu also exhaled deeply. "If we hadn't found you, I was about to notify the Pavilion Master."

Jiang Fan was speechless.

By the time you notified the Pavilion Master, my body would've already gone cold.

Luckily, the Vice Master of Jiangshan First-class Building, before killing him, had wanted to deceive him into handing over the "Sword Heart Engraving."

This gave Jiang Fan the chance to trick her into wearing the Dragon Binding Chain instead.

He glanced behind him and still felt a lingering fear. "Let's go, let's go—hurry into the underground world."

That relentless Vice Master, after killing her merchandise last time, was so furious that she dried up the large river next to Boundary Mountain.

If she was this set on harassing him again, wouldn't she grind his bones to dust?

Better to hide quickly while he still could.

Led by Shang Shiqiu,

the group arrived at the northern corner annex of the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion.

Inside the hall, there was no visible entryway leading underground, as one might imagine.

Only a massive circular array occupied the entirety of the great hall's floor.

It was inscribed with countless intricate patterns.

As Jiang Fan stared at it, he began to feel dizzy and nauseous.

"Don't look at the ground."

"This is a spatial array, and the patterns on it contain profound mysteries."

"Anyone not skilled in array studies will feel discomfort if they look at it for too long."

You Yunzi's voice drifted over.

Jiang Fan looked in the direction of the voice.

He saw You Yunzi seated in the depths of the hall.

He quickly bowed. "Vice Pavilion Master You."

"In such a hurry to delve into the underground world, are you?"

You Yunzi smiled, appreciating Jiang Fan's eagerness. "Still, the underground world is extremely dangerous."

"Especially with an abundance of sinister forces."

"The first seven layers are relatively safe."

"Starting from the eighth layer, you'll encounter unimaginable foul entities."

"Be careful not to let them latch onto you."

Jiang Fan had heard comments about the sinister forces in the underground world before.

Such descriptions, though, were rather ambiguous.

The remnant souls of the Six-Path Masters, in a way, also counted as evil spirits—one kind of sinister entity.

The Yin corpses of the Great Yin Sect similarly fell into that category.

In short, anything that deviated from ordinary living beings seemed to be lumped under the term "sinister forces."

These could take countless forms, defying any singular definition.

Thus, Jiang Fan couldn't resist asking, "Vice Pavilion Master You, what traits do these sinister forces in the underground world typically have?"

You Yunzi glanced intently at Jiang Fan and Liang Feiyan.

He gave them two cryptic words:

"Guard against lust."

Then, turning to Shang Shiqiu, Liu Qingxian, and Xia Chaoge,

he added two more words:

"Guard against anger."

Finally, surveying the entire group,

he gave one last piece of advice in two words:

"Guard against greed."

"Alright, now grip your jade talismans and step onto the spatial array."

Without giving the group time to fully comprehend his words, You Yunzi promptly issued this command.

Jiang Fan didn't ask further questions.

He was the first to step onto the array, with the others following closely behind.

As the array activated, a beam of incredibly pure light burst forth, engulfing the entire group.

Jiang Fan felt the world spin around him.

When he regained his footing, he was greeted by a dim and murky world.

Above, thick black clouds swirled, occasionally illuminated by flashes of lightning, the sky impossibly high.

All around were wide-open spaces, with no end in sight to the landscape.

"You call this a pavilion?"

Jiang Fan stared at Shang Shiqiu in confusion.

By the looks of it, this was more like an independent world.

Shang Shiqiu shrugged. "You're asking me? Who do you think I should ask?"

"This is the second layer of the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion. It's been well-trodden by predecessors, so there's nothing valuable left."

"Let's just press on to the next layer."

Counting from the ground floor,

the first underground layer would undoubtedly be the pavilion's second layer.

Unwilling to give up, Jiang Fan roused the Little Qilin. "Check it out."

The Little Qilin poked out its fluffy head, its big eyes darting around before shaking its head and saying:

"Trash."

Alright.

Jiang Fan gave up.

Following Shang Shiqiu to the center of this layer, there was another hall in this location as well.

However, no one was stationed there.

Mimicking their earlier actions, the group gripped their jade talismans and stood on the spatial array.

Activating it once again.

Jiang Fan soon understood that the jade talismans served as a form of pass for using this spatial storage mechanism.

If lost, one could become trapped on a certain layer.

Unless someone activated the spatial array, they'd have no way out.

Next,

they reached the third layer.

The Little Qilin poked its head out again, giving another slight shake.

"Trash."

And so,

the group continued leaping from one layer to the next within the pavilion.

The fourth layer.

"The items here are ancient, but they're of no use."

"Let's keep descending."

The fifth layer.

"Worth a few buns, but nothing useful."

"Let's keep going down."

The sixth layer.

"There are a few things here, but they're not to my liking."

"Let's keep heading lower."

The seventh layer.

"Wait!"

"What's that? Pick it up and let me take a look."

The Little Qilin extended one stubby leg, pointing at a human-height black boulder not far away.

At that moment, Shang Shiqiu also stopped. "Alright."

"For your first visit, stick to the seventh layer for now."

"There are very few sinister entities here, so there's no need to worry about danger."

"I'm going to check on how my master and senior brothers are faring in suppressing the yin energy."

"I'll come find you on this layer later."

Jiang Fan cupped his hands. "Senior Sister, tend to your own matters."

"We already know the way back."

As long as the jade talismans remained in their possession, they could use the transmission arrays to ascend layer by layer.

Shang Shiqiu responded with a fist salute and headed toward the transmission array leading to the next layer below.

Jiang Fan looked at Liu Qingxian, Xia Chaoge, and Liang Feiyan.

"Since this layer isn't particularly dangerous, how about we split up?"

"We can each explore and get a feel for the area."

The three of them were inclined to agree.

Liang Feiyan took out three signal flares left over from the Boundary Mountain battle and said,

"If we run into danger, we each fire a flare."

Jiang Fan accepted one and nodded. "Alright."

He watched the three of them walk off,

carefully memorizing their respective directions.

Turning, he approached the stone that the Little Qilin had pointed out.

"You're sure there's a treasure inside this?"

Jiang Fan frowned deeply.

He couldn't blame himself for being skeptical.

This stone was right next to the transmission array, no more than a few dozen feet away.

The surface of the stone had areas that were unusually smooth,

likely worn down over the years by countless passersby brushing against or touching it.

If it were hiding a treasure, wouldn't someone have already discovered it long ago?

However.

The Little Qilin's sensitivity to Heaven and Earth Spiritual Treasures far exceeded any ordinary person's.

Jiang Fan circled the large black stone once.

He did, in fact, notice something unusual.

On the back side of the stone,

the soil pressed against it seemed unnaturally fresh,

as if it had been dug up recently.

After some thought,

he unsheathed the Purple Sword, carefully scraping away the soil.

To his amazement, buried within was a small, dust-colored cloth pouch.

Using the sword, he cautiously cut the pouch open and peered inside.

Inside, he found a blood-red key emanating an eerie aura.

"What is this?"

He hesitated to touch it.

But just then.

A familiar, sultry voice sounded from a distance.

"Oh dear, Brother Ren, don't be angry, alright?"

"I really did lose that key."

"You saw it yourself—things were so chaotic back then, how could I possibly keep track of it?"

"I've even searched my entire body for you."

"You've looked everywhere along the way, too."

"It's really not something I've hidden."

Jiang Fan was dumbfounded.

That voice… Wu Manyue?

He glanced again at the blood-red key before him.

A wry smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

That woman was at it again, tricking and deceiving people wherever she went.

Ning Kun had once imparted this wisdom to Jiang Fan:

There is zero tolerance for evil winds and corrupt practices.

Thus.

Confiscation of stolen goods was in order!