Chapter Forty-Three: The Legend of Innate Constitution (Part Two)

The sudden noise immediately drew the attention of everyone in the great hall. The disciples of the Liu Yan Sect looked toward the opposite side with tense expressions, while the members of the Blood Moon Sect were bewildered, turning their heads one after another toward Lei Yan.

"What exactly happened? What was that moment just now?" Liu Qing, Sect Master of the Liu Yan Sect, stared coldly in Lei Yan's direction. The moment Lei Yan touched the wall, his spiritual sense had been blocked by a powerful force. He had only seen a flash of red light before Lei Yan was sent flying.

Liu Qing's words left the four elders of the Liu Yan Sect exchanging glances. Their spiritual senses had been blocked as well; they had no idea what had transpired inside.

"Damn it. It took my Liu Yan Sect an entire day to realize there was something peculiar about the patterns on this wall. Could this brat have already discovered the secret of this stone wall? No, his existence poses too great a threat to my Liu Yan Sect..." Li Lie gritted his teeth, silently calculating how to eliminate Lei Yan.

It wasn't just the Liu Yan Sect that wanted answers; the three elders and the hall masters of the Blood Moon Sect were equally eager to know what had occurred.

"What was that red light? A power capable of blocking spiritual sense... could it be..." Qin Zhu subconsciously turned his body.

"Could that brat have discovered something?" Qi Da muttered.

"Hard to say. At the very least, he isn't dead yet. But the power of that red light was truly immense," Luo Na nodded, her gaze never leaving Lei Yan.

"Cough... cough..." Lei Yan inhaled a large amount of dust, triggering a fit of violent coughing. "What happened? All sensation vanished. What was that scene just now? Was it trying to show me the 'birth' to 'death' of fire? No, it shouldn't be just that, because the feeling was too real." Reflecting on the experience, Lei Yan immediately checked his internal state.

"Late Foundation Establishment stage." Lei Yan was astonished. "How is this possible? It actually pushed me to the late Foundation Establishment stage. Could this wall be the treasure itself?"

Just then, an exclamation rang out from among the Liu Yan Sect disciples. "Look at the wall!" Following the disciple's cry, everyone's gaze was drawn to the damaged wall.

"Hum~"

A humming sound emanated from the wall. A stream of liquid fire, resembling molten lava, surged from the spot Lei Yan had touched. It flowed slowly along the cracks, and wherever it passed, the cracks and damages were repaired at a speed visible to the naked eye. In the blink of an eye, the damaged wall was as good as new, and even the patterns upon it were perfectly restored.

Seeing this, Liu Qing immediately swept his spiritual sense toward the wall. At the same time, the elders of the Liu Yan Sect and the members of the Blood Moon Sect sent their own spiritual senses toward the wall simultaneously.

"Hum~" A brilliant red light erupted from the wall, instantly repelling their spiritual senses. Everyone involuntarily took a step back.

"Repelled again." Qin Zhu frowned and shifted his gaze to Lei Yan. "Duan Hong, what exactly happened just now?"

Qin Zhu’s voice echoed throughout the hall. For a moment, everyone held their breath, waiting for Lei Yan’s answer.

"Reporting to the Elder, this subordinate does not know what happened. I felt the wall was somewhat strange, so I touched it, and before I knew it, I was thrown back," Lei Yan said casually, though his heart was racing with shock. The images in his mind and the illusion of time he had experienced had left him profoundly shaken.

Lei Yan’s words were both reasonable and disappointing to the crowd. It was a contradiction; they were unwilling to believe that a brat who hadn't even reached the Golden Core stage could discover anything, yet in their hearts, they hoped he had.

"Hahaha..." Liu Qing suddenly burst into laughter. He said to Qin Zhu and the others, "The Blood Moon Sect is indeed impressive. My Liu Yan Sect spent an entire day in this hall only to realize these wall patterns might be the key to the entrance. I never expected you to discover this the moment you arrived."

Qin Zhu snorted coldly. "Sect Master Liu, this hardly seems the time to discuss who deserves the credit."

"Of course, of course. But it is a fact that my Liu Yan Sect discovered this wall." Liu Qing chuckled and turned to Li Lie. "Li Lie, go out and see what is happening with the other sects."

Li Lie responded respectfully and vanished from the hall in a flash.

"Shameless. He wants to claim the credit for the Liu Yan Sect with just a few words," Qi Da cursed under his breath.

Luo Na snorted, offering no comment. Her gaze had not left Lei Yan from the start. Her intuition told her that Lei Yan was likely to find the entrance to the treasure. Such intuition was absurd and lacked any evidence, yet she believed it firmly, for her intuition had never steered her wrong.

"The 'birth' to 'death' of fire..." Lei Yan pondered internally. "Could this be the Five Elements? Is the pattern on this wall trying to tell me that fire gives birth to earth? That after fire 'dies,' earth remains? Earth... which pattern is earth?" Lei Yan began searching his surroundings.

"According to the orientation of the Five Elements, my position should belong to the south, which is indeed the case. South corresponds to fire, so the pattern on this wall is fire. Above is north; the position where the Liu Yan Sect is standing should be water. The right side should be wood, the left should be metal, and the center of the floor is earth." In a moment, Lei Yan identified the patterns on the walls surrounding him.

"Next is earth." Lei Yan did not know what these patterns had to do with the treasure, but the previous pattern had left such a deep impression on him. The images in his mind seemed to be revealing the 'Dao' of the Five Elements. The somewhat blurry 'Dao' of fire he had previously grasped suddenly became much clearer.

Lei Yan walked to the place where the pattern was carved on the floor and slowly lay down, touching the pattern with both hands.

"Could this guy have really found the entrance? What is he trying to do now?" Liu Qing thought to himself, shifting his gaze toward Lei Yan. "Little brother, have you made another discovery?"

"Duan Hong, what did you find?" Qin Zhu also asked. He had a feeling Lei Yan would bring him an unexpected surprise.

"No sensation. Why? Did something go wrong? Damn it, where did I go wrong? Calm down, calm down... fire 'death', death..." Lei Yan scratched his head, ignoring the questions from the outside world.

"This guy," Qi Da complained, "he doesn't even acknowledge an elder's question..." He prepared to rush over to interrogate Lei Yan, but was blocked by Qin Zhu.

"Qi Da, let him be. Look at him; he might have already discovered something," Qin Zhu said with a smile.

The Liu Yan Sect Master was also embarrassed, not expecting his question to be ignored, but he calmed down after realizing the boy had ignored the elders of his own sect as well.

"The first picture told me about the 'birth' to 'death' of fire, so this second picture must begin from the 'death' of fire." A flash of inspiration hit Lei Yan. He had never tried to convert his internal fire true energy into earth true energy, but the fire pattern had given him a spark of insight. With a thought, the fiery red true energy within him began to spin rapidly. Lei Yan attempted to merge, bit by bit, the yellow radiance within his spleen into the fiery red true energy.

"Crack, snap." The sound of bones shifting came from Lei Yan's body. He felt his entire being filled with power, and he even felt a sense of familiarity with the pattern on the floor.

"Hum~"

A beam of light shot out from the floor. Suddenly, an image appeared in Lei Yan's mind. Unlike the previous fire pattern, Lei Yan felt as if he were floating in an empty space. There was nothing around him but flickering yellow lights, and there was nothing beneath his feet but a void.

Suddenly, those yellow lights gathered above Lei Yan's head. The lights formed massive mountains—mountains floating in the sky above him, while he floated below. The entire sensation was like being in an inverted space. Waves of pressure descended from above, making it hard for Lei Yan to breathe.

"Boom."

The mountains in the sky collapsed suddenly, and a vast amount of debris fell like meteors.

"Ah!"

Lei Yan cried out instinctively. The image in his mind gradually blurred. The debris that fell to the ground seemed to turn into dust, and little white specks appeared on the ground. Everything that followed was blurry, just like when he had observed the fire pattern—the beginning was extremely clear, but it grew increasingly vague toward the end, leaving only a rough outline.

Lei Yan’s cry immediately drew everyone’s attention back. They noticed that the pattern beneath Lei Yan’s hands was slowly lighting up, just as the fire pattern had.

"Duan Hong, what on earth did you find?" Qin Zhu demanded, no longer able to remain calm.

"Hoo... hoo..." Lei Yan gasped for a moment. "Reporting to the Elder, I discovered that these patterns can be activated. As for their specific purpose, I do not know."

"Activate these patterns." Qin Zhu looked at the two patterns that had already lit up and turned toward the pattern on the right. He wanted to try activating the patterns as Lei Yan had described.

Hearing Lei Yan's words, Liu Qing also tried to walk toward the pattern behind him, but after sensing it for a long time, he could not find a way to activate it.

"It seems I must admit that your Blood Moon Sect is formidable," Liu Qing said, walking back slowly. "If all five pictures are fully activated, the entrance to the treasure will surely appear. Little brother, it seems the activation of these five pictures depends entirely on you," Liu Qing said helplessly.

"Duan Hong, put in the effort. The Blood Moon Sect will not forget your contribution," Qin Zhu nodded. He had tried to activate the pattern on the right just moments ago and had failed as well.

"This subordinate obeys," Lei Yan nodded, though he sneered inwardly. "Trying to activate them without observing the images of the patterns is nothing but a dream." Saying this, Lei Yan turned and walked toward the pattern on the right. "This time, it is metal."

Using the same method, Lei Yan activated metal and water in turn.

"This is the last one," Lei Yan thought to himself. He slowly arrived at the wall on the right. With his newfound experience, Lei Yan easily activated the final pattern: wood.

"Hum~"

Red, yellow, white, black, and green lights shot from the walls and the floor toward Lei Yan. For a moment, the light was so blinding that no one in the hall could keep their eyes open. Liu Qing and the others tried to observe with their spiritual senses, only to find them completely blocked.

"Boom!"

The light vanished, and Lei Yan disappeared along with it.

"What is going on?" Liu Qing, the Blood Moon Sect elders, and the hall masters exclaimed almost in unison.

"Sect Master, come look quickly!" A Liu Yan Sect disciple shouted, instantly drawing everyone's attention.

"Sect Master, this seems to be an entrance." The disciple poked the wall behind him. The wall, which was glowing with black light, rippled like water.

"An entrance? Does that mean the brat just entered the entrance of the wood pattern?" Liu Qing muttered to himself, walking slowly toward the water pattern behind him.

"So, Duan Hong entered the wood pattern," Qin Zhu thought, shifting his gaze toward the wood pattern.

Hearing the Liu Yan Sect disciple's voice, Luo Na also rushed to the pattern nearest to her and touched it. Sure enough, as the disciple had said, the pattern was an entrance.

"Elder, it is indeed so. This pattern seems to be an entrance. But that would mean there are five entrances in the entire hall," Luo Na mused for a moment.

"Five entrances? That is even better; there are five sects of us."

Just then, a group of people rushed into the hall. On the left were people in purple Taoist robes; on the right, those in green silk garments. In the middle were the people from Red Leaf Valley, and the one speaking was Li Hong, the mistress of Red Leaf Valley. In front of her was a disheveled-looking Li Lie.

"Red Leaf Valley." Liu Qing frowned. "Valley Mistress, your suggestion is fine, but why have you captured my Liu Yan Sect's elder? Please release Li Lie."

Li Hong struck Li Lie on the back with her palm, and he flew toward the Liu Yan Sect like a kite with a broken string.

"Hoo~" A Liu Yan Sect elder flew up to catch Li Lie, and they drifted slowly to the ground.

"Liu Qing, we will settle our accounts later," Li Hong said coldly.

Liu Qing ignored the Valley Mistress completely, his mind occupied by the question of Lei Yan's disappearance. "That brat chose the wood pattern. Could the wood pattern be the true entrance?"

Just then, Qin Zhu said in a loud voice, "Everyone, it appears my sect's disciple entered through the wood pattern, so our Blood Moon Sect chooses the wood pattern. Does anyone have an objection?" He then ignored the reactions of the others and ordered his sect members, "We are going to the wood pattern on the right."

Liu Qing snorted and announced to those below, "Everyone, since that is the case, my Liu Yan Sect will choose the water pattern entrance behind us. You may do as you please." He flicked his sleeves, turned to his people, and said, "Follow me in."

"My Red Leaf Valley will choose this fire pattern," Li Hong said, leading her people into the fire pattern.

The remaining Purple Cloud Temple and Clear Water Pavilion looked at each other and entered the metal and earth patterns, respectively.