A Martial Odyssey

Chapter 107: The Epicenter of the Astronomic Stellar Formation

All of a sudden, Yi Ping gasped aloud. "Lele, your forehead?!"

Everyone had noticed that there was a pink mark on her forehead!

Lele immediately unsheathed her Divine Echo as she looked at her reflection with a surprise gasp, "What is this?"

The Stellar Heaven Fairy immediately said with a trembling voice, "That is because Lele's cosmos channel has been cleared. She has now broken through her Heavens Way accupoint, a hint that she is oneness with the heavens now. In short, she has now awakened her heaven eye and attained perennial perfection!"

Even the Ascension Goddess was startled, "Perennial perfection?!"

Yu'Er nodded slowly, "That is right. Only one-tenth of the practitioners that cleared their cosmos channel are able to attain perennial perfection as evidenced by a perennial mark on their forehead. This has to do more with luck than attainment itself."

Lele was delighted as she laughed softly, "Really? I am so lucky"

Lingfeng said quietly, "It is more than lucky. It is just freaking lucky. These sort of good things rarely happen to the lowly celestial practitioners! There is only one try and never a second chance. Therefore most celestial practitioners will rather wait until they are readied to clear their cosmos channel."

The Universal Old Man added, "You must know that even for me, I am unable to open my heaven eyes even though my cosmos channel has already been cleared. The Heaveness is renowned for her Heaven Eyes Divine Skill in the past"

He immediately kept quiet for he had suddenly realized that he had said the wrong things.

Lingfeng smiled gently, "That's alright. I don't mind."

The Universal Old Man's expressions had suddenly become sorrowful. It was because even though Lingfeng could remember her past but unlike the Heaveness of old, she had not cleared her cosmos channel yet. Even if she were to clear her cosmos channel, there was also no guaranteed that she may awaken her heaven eyes. And without awakening her true heaven eyes, she was not able to fully utilize even a tenth of her Heaven Eyes Divine Skill!

The forbidding heavenly maiden turned around to hum coldly at them, "You better worry about following my pace first than engage in meaningless chat, if you value your life of course."

Yi Ping smiled weakly, "Yes, of course"

When they had reached the top of the white celestium platform, the grandeur of the white monument palace became more apparent and they were all in awe but at the same time, they were also taken aback at the two gigantic Golden Kirins that were standing on top of the platform; the two gigantic Golden Kirins were much larger, twice as huge as the Kirin that they had encountered earlier and much more terrifying than they had been expecting!

But the two Golden Kirins did not move an inch and was surprising docile as the forbidding heavenly maiden stopped in their midst!

The white celestium platform was extremely broad. At the end of it was a gigantic golden gate that was engraved with white dragon and phoenix heraldries.

Yunzi said all of a sudden, "Did you all notice that we can no longer hear the vibrations of the earthquakes?"

Lingfeng nodded, "That is because we have reached the formation eye of the Astronomic Stellar Formation. The eye of the storm is always calm"

The Universal Old Man stammered in awe, "Thisthis is the true center of Astronomic Stellar Formation? We are finally here?"

All of a sudden, the forbidding heavenly maiden had turned around as she reverberated softly, "HmphOne hundred!"

She appraised everyone coldly, "Good, you have all reached here at the count of a hundred"

It was obvious that she had delayed the count until they had all reached the top!

Yi Ping muttered with startled expression, "Thanks"

But the forbidding heavenly maiden did not even look at him as she said coldly to everyone, "The next part won't be easy. I can't be held responsible if you cannot follow me tight"

At this moment, Yi Ping thoughts were in a state of confusion. "Who is she? She is really an Immortal Being? Why did she stay her hand? What is she up to? Surely she is not oblivious to the divine swords that we are carrying? And she knows the name of the Celestial Alice"

There were many unanswered questions that Yi Ping had wanted to ask her. Where was she taking them? Was she really the mover of the mysterious Astronomic Stellar Formation?

But the heaviest thing that had weighed his heart was that he should not have raised his hand against her. After all, she had not harmed Lele and she was probably also the one that had called the Kirin off

Yi Ping sighed softly

Yi Ping was not the only one who was baffled. All the other maidens were all looking at one another secretly as they hinted their anxieties with their eyes. It was because they dare not use the Great Whispering Skill or even discussed their reservations openly lest they gave the forbidding heavenly maiden a hold over them.

They were all thinking the same; when Lele had tried to attack her, she had retaliated instinctively. However when Yi Ping had raised his hand against her, she did not even move an inch of a finger and had allowed herself to be slapped by him!

Yunzi was thinking, "Something isn't right here. I can't place a finger yet but it seems that we are walking into a trap"

Yu'Er was also silently thinking as she stole a glance at Mei'Er, "My Midheaven Epiphanies can't be wrong. If Mei'Er you can sense my thoughts, do you have the same feeling as me?"

Mei'Er nodded slowly but like Yu'Er, she dared not raised her suspicious. She could only ponder silently to herself, "Either something is very wrong with this place or her actions"

Lingfeng was also quiet as she stole a glance at Yunzi, "Yunzi, among all the sisters you are the most intelligent. Can you tell me what is wrong? There is something amiss in this but I simply cannot pinpoint it. Am I overreacting? Or is she luring us to somewhere?"

She stole a glance at Yi Ping secretly. But when she caught sight of the Celestial Alice, she had suddenly turned ashen as she had a frightful thought. "The Celestial Alice! She did say that she is awakened by the Celestial AliceNo one except Yi Ping can carry the Celestial Alicedefinitely not his enemies. Is she trying to lure and trick Yi Ping into taking the Celestial Alice to a place of her choosing?!"

But nevertheless, they were all forced to put their suspicious aside first. Even though some of them were already doubting if following her remained to be a correct choice but at the same time they did not want to lose sight of her; since she may be the only one that could show them a way out of the Astronomic Stellar Formation, they were forced to move quickly accordingly to her pace!

Therefore they began to follow the forbidding heavenly maiden through the golden gate and into the interior of the white monument palace.

Once inside, they were equally stunned for there were many towering white gold archways, hallways and stairways!

The hallways were so broad that even if their group were to stand an arm apart from each other, they would still be able to walk comfortably!

And the archways were so tall above that it was like the height of a city wall!

Yi Ping muttered, "This isall too imposingis there a need to build it so exaggerating?"

Yunzi muttered as she looked at the archways in awe, "Maybe it is for those Kirins and not for us"

There were three large hallways and the forbidding heavenly maiden picked the one on the right as she walked quietly in front of them while everyone was looking at the interiors of the hallways in complete awe.

Lingfeng said quietly, "Don't be deceived by the beautiful walls and the adornments. This place is exactly like the Stellar Sanctuary and is booty trapped. Don't lose sight of her or else we will be trapped here forever."

The Universal Old Man nodded solemnly, "If you notice, all the halls and passageways are all almost identical"

Lie Qing drawn out her Perpetual Darkness as she slashed the white celestium walls of the passageway, "Easy. I just make a marking then we won't be lost!"

The Universal Old Man was horrified as he shouted panicky, "No wait!"

All of a sudden, there was a sudden reverberating and the entire hallway was shaking violently!

Lie Qing was startled, "What is this? Did I do something wrong?"

The forbidding heavenly maiden had turned around as she said coldly, "Nothing. You have just triggered a minor defense formation that is in place here. That is just the shifting of the hallways. I have disabled the traps earlier or else the consequences will be much more serious than this."

She had suddenly backtracked to the other hallway while talking.

It seemed that the original route that she was taking them was now inaccessible.

The Universal Old Man heaved a sigh of relief as he muttered, "That is close. I thought that we are a goner."

Lie Qing was flustered while YI Ping said gently to her, "That is alright. I would have done the same too."

Lie Qing cuddled next to Yi Ping, comforted by his words.

Lingfeng interrupted with a sense of urgency, "Don't lose sight of her and be on your alert."

Everyone nodded.

Time passed and after dozens of winding turns that lasted two hours, they came to a large white stairway that had a thousand steps.

Immediately Yi Ping sighed softly at the steps as he muttered, "Not another stairs"

Even Youxue, Mei'Er, Lie Qing and Lele were muttering tiredly too!

Earlier when they had finished climbing the ten thousands steps, all of them were already near to exhaustion and there was now one thousand additional similar steps!

The Stellar Heaven Fairy muttered, "Now I think that the Divine Calamity is much easier than this"

Shen Xingyue who had been supporting Yi Ping and Yunzi through the climb nearly fainted at the sight of the stairs as she cursed softly, "This is killing me"

The Ascension Goddess who had been suppressing her fatigue through her stubbornness and because she thought herself as a superior celestial practitioner went wobbly at the sight of the stairs, "Thisnot again"

The Universal Old Man asked, "Do we have to climb this stairs? Surely, there is another way? I don't mind a longer route"

The forbidding heavenly maiden had already walked to the middle of the stairs turned around to say coldly, "The Immortal Practice is on top of the stairs. Do you want to take a look?"

Immediately the Universal Old Man said, "I used to train doing jumping squats on steep mountain steps several times a day. Thisthis is nothing to me!"

Lingfeng muttered sarcastically, "Oh? May I know when that was?"

The Ascension Goddess smiled weakly, "It is only a mere thousand steps. Let's go!"

Barely had she said that, Lele had made five startling hops forward and she was besides the forbidding heavenly maiden in an instant!

It seemed that after Lele had unlocked her heaven eyes, her martial level had also increased tremendously and now her swiftness movement speed was on the same level as Shen Xingyue!

She halted the forbidding heavenly maiden as she laughed softly, "What's the hurry? It does seem that the ones who are supposed to be in a hurry are us and not you, am I right? Right now, you are only a stranger to us. Why should we follow a stranger?"

The forbidding heavenly maiden looked coldly at Lele as she said icily, "You don't fear me? Do you know that I can kill you as easily as I can crush an ant?"

There was a strong killing malevolent air in her eyes and everyone was immediately startled. Yi Ping was panicky as he struggled with all his strength forward!

Yu'Er and Mei'Er immediately said, "Let me help you"

Shen Xingyue and Yixian who had the best swiftness movement skill in their group had immediately displayed the last reserves of their strength as they flew alarmingly besides Lele.

Yixian took a deep breath before saying gently to Lele, "Sister, waitstay cool"

The forbidding heavenly maiden noticed that Lele had completely shown no fear of her and she was secretly startled. She thought, "She is just a crimson eye celestial practitioner and yet she does not fear me?"

Lele smiled gently, "Will my own protg mistress kill me?"

The forbidden heavenly maiden raised her thin eyebrows as she said coldly, "Who says I am your protg mistress?"

Lele smiled lively as her eyes lit delightfully, "There is a saying; the master is the one imparting while the receiver is the protg. A day of tutelage is a debt that is forever. You have sacrificed your internal strength to clear my cosmos channel. So how can you say that you are not my protg mistress?"

The forbidding heavenly maiden was startled and her malevolent air disappeared.

She took a quick look at Yi Ping but it was immediately noticed by everyone. Why did she look at Yi Ping for?

She quickly turned to say coldly at Lele, "I have my own reasons for doing so but you are not going to find out why."

Lele was not deterred, "Then I shall wait for you to tell me"

The forbidding heavenly maiden turned around as she walked up the stairs. "Up to you. "

But this time, she had deliberately slowed down to a normal pace and was no longer as hurried as before.

Lele gasped hurriedly after her, "You haven't told me your name yet!"

The Universal Old Man looked up as he said solemnly, "That should be the way already"

Lingfeng kicked the Universal Old Man nastily on his foot as she said, "Stop looking at places where you shouldn't see."

The forbidding heavenly maiden appeared to have heard it and she was discreetly placing her hands behind

It was not before long that they had reached the top of the white celestial steps and a massive platform greeted them. And in the epicenter of the platform was an enormous black stele with white engraving on it!

The heart intricacy formula of the Immortal Practice!

That was the first thing that had come into the minds of everyone!

The forbidding heavenly maiden confirmed their thoughts as she said coldly, "This is the wordings of the Immortal Practice. It is all engraved on the black stele."

Everyone except Yi Ping and Lingfeng began to move nervously forward to the black stele for a closer look.

The forbidding heavenly maiden turned to ask Yi Ping and Lingfeng, "You are not interested in the Immortal Practice?"

Yi Ping smiled bitterly, "I can't read."

The forbidding heavenly maiden was genuinely startled as her eyes widened in surprise, "Whatyoucan't read"

Yi Ping was flustered but he answered, "IyesnoI just know a few common words."

All of a sudden Lingfeng interrupted hurriedly. "Wait everyone! Don't be hasty first."

The Universal Old Man asked, "My Heaveness, what is the matter?"

He was suppressing his excitement and was all too eager to read the wordings on the enormous black stele!

Lingfeng looked at the forbidding heavenly maiden as she questioned icily, "Just who are you? You are not the Dark Lord of the Chaos Cosmos. You are just an imposter!"

The Universal Old Man asked curiously, "If she is not the Dark Lord of the Chaos Cosmos, would she be able to lead us to the epicenter of the Astronomic Stellar Formation? Would she be able to show us the intricate heart formula of the Immortal Practice? It is justright in front of our eyes!"

The rest of the maidens and even Yi Ping were startled as they began to ponder as well. It was because the Heaveness Lingfeng was not one who would easily jump to conclusions.

Yunzi, Yu'Er and Mei'Er immediately looked at each other! Perhaps Lingfeng already knew something that they had not known!

The forbidding heavenly maiden started to arrange her black translucent robe elegantly as she gazed at everyone with her golden eyes before she said unhurriedly, "If I am not the Dark Lord of the Chaos Cosmos, then who I am?"

Lingfeng said icily, "If you are the Dark Lord of the Chaos Cosmos, then you must have known about the Cosmos Stellar Formation, am I right?"

The Cosmos Stellar Formation was the celestial formation that had allowed them to ascend to the Celestial Realm and was also the formation that allowed them to descend to the lower realm. It was left behind by the Dark Lord of the Chaos Cosmos in the upper levels of the Stellar Sanctuary and by a stroke of luck, was discovered by the Heaveness.

The forbidding heavenly maiden hesitated for a while before she said coldly, "Surely."

All of a sudden, the Universal Old Man had an odd expression on his face. Now he understood what the Heaveness was trying to remind him!

He said angrily, "You are not the Dark Lord of the Chaos Cosmos! Youyouactually lie to us! Just who are you?"

Lingfeng added icily, "Sure, the Cosmos Stellar Formation is able to transmigrate anyone to the lower realm. But the criteria to do so are extremely stringent. In order to descend to a lower realm, someone must be able to ascend at the same time too. However"

She looked at everyone and immediately everyone was gasping; they knew the crux of the question now!

Lingfeng continued coldly, "However, none has ever ascended to the Gods' Realm since our time. If that happens, there will be signs in the heavens. If no one has ever ascended, then it is impossible for the Cosmos Stellar Formation to work."

The forbidding heavenly maiden replied coldly, "Does it matter who I am? After all, the Immortal Practice is what you sought."

Lingfeng replied equally coldly, "If you are not the Dark Lord of the Chaos Cosmos, then we can't be sure if the inscriptions on the stele are the real Immortal Practice too."

The forbidding heavenly maiden hummed coldly.

Lingfeng continued, "Your real aim is the Celestial Alice, am I right? You have deliberately lure Yi Ping here, not out of benevolent but for your own malevolent purposes? You know very well Yi Ping is the only one that can awaken the Celestial Alice into the Celestial Antonym Alice and the Celestial Synonym Alice"

The forbidding heavenly maiden sighed softly, "That is right. If he is dead, then the Celestial Alice will not be whole anymore and will be useless to me. I have really underestimated you. What is your name?"

Lingfeng hummed coldly.

The forbidding heavenly maiden beamed with her eyes, "Don't misunderstand me. I don't intend to become friends with you. But your name will be something that I may remember when I am bored"

The Universal Old Man was muttering, "This isn't supposed to be happening"

Lingfeng asked the forbidding heavenly maiden, "Youyou are a Dark Celestial?"