A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality: Immortal Realm

Chapter 1045: Hesitance

"What do you have to declare, Fellow Daoist Jin?" Yu Kuohai asked.

"If we want to enter the pagoda to access the treasures inside, then we have to bypass this stone gate, which would require us to unravel this restriction. If I were to do that on my own, it would take at least two days, but if I can have all of your help, then perhaps the restriction can be overcome in an instant," Jin Liu said.

Wary looks immediately appeared on everyone's faces upon hearing this. The memory of what had happened to the cultivators in the Bipolar Yin Yang Array was still clear in their minds, and they were terrified of repeating their mistakes.

With no one answering his call, Jin Liu's expression instantly darkened slightly, and he said, "So all of you want to only reap the benefits without putting in any work. Surely that's too much to ask for, is it not?"

"Fellow Daoist Jin, please elaborate on how you plan to break this restriction. That way, we can all be mentally prepared and react accordingly if any unforeseen mishaps occur," Elder Yang said.

"The array on this gate is called a Yin Yang Latch Array, and all that's required is for all of us to inject our immortal spiritual power into the gate at once to create an imbalance in the yin and yang doornails. That will be enough to unravel the restriction and allow us to open this gate," Jin Liu explained.

"That certainly sounds very simple, but is there any potential for backlash from the restriction? Do we run the risk of meeting the same fate as all those fellow daoists in the Bipolar Yin Yang Array?" Yu Kuohai asked.

"This array is different from the previous one, and I can assure you that there's no risk involved here. In order to allay everyone's concerns, I'm willing to join all of you in this effort. If something happens, then I'll have to suffer the consequences as well," Jin Liu replied.

Even after this attempt at reassurance from Jin Liu, there was still no one willing to heed his call, and Su Anqian's brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this.

"Is there anyone willing to volunteer themselves?" she asked.

Everyone remained silent, pretending not to have heard her.

A cold look appeared on Jin Liu's face upon seeing this, and he said, "In that case, I'll have to trouble Sect Master Yu, Elder Yang, Valley Master Fu, Pavilion Master Zhao, and Pavilion Master Qin to pick out some cultivators from your respective sects to help me break this array."

"Fellow Daoist Jin..."

As soon as Yu Kuohai's voice rang out, he was sternly cut off by Jin Liu, who snapped, "You've all chosen to join the alliance, so I suggest you follow the orders assigned to you. Otherwise, once we leave this secret area, you won't be the only ones that will have to bear the consequences of your insubordination."

Everyone's expressions changed slightly upon hearing this. What Jin Liu was implying here was that if they were to oppose his orders, then the Heavenly Water Sect would come after their sects once they left the immortal manor.

In the face of this thinly veiled threat, everyone had no choice but to comply, and Valley Master Fu was the first to make his stance known, cupping his fist in a salute as he declared, "The Azure Lock Valley is willing to follow the alliance's arrangements."

After that, he began picking out some cultivators from his own sect.

The other important figures present exchanged a few glances with each other upon seeing this, then also followed suit.

Jin Liu's expression eased slightly upon seeing this, and he reminded, "Make sure to pick out one person from each sect who's skilled in unraveling restrictions."

Yu Kuohai immediately turned his gaze to Han Li upon hearing this.

"Fellow Daoist Shi, I'm afraid our Spirit Heaven Sect is sorely lacking in individuals well versed in the art of arrays, so I'll have to trouble you to step forward as our representative," Yu Kuohai said with a warm smile.

Elder Yang and Valley Master Gu couldn't help but roll their eyes upon hearing this, and they were kicking themselves for reacting too late and allowing Yu Kuohai to use this piece of cannon fodder ahead of them.

Han Li was cursing Yu Kuohai internally, and he put on a reluctant expression as he said, "Surely I'm not worthy of representing the Spirit Heaven Sect..."

"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Shi. For your contribution here, you can join our Spirit Heaven Sect, and I'll instate you as an inner sect elder, so you'll no longer have to be an itinerant cultivator," Yu Kuohao promised as he laid a hand on Han Li's shoulder.

"Are you being serious, Fellow Daoist Yu?" Han Li exclaimed as he feigned an ecstatic expression.

"Of course! Everyone here has just bore witness to my promise to you," Yu Kuohai replied with a smile.

"In that case, I'll do it," Han Li decided with a nod.

At this moment, Lan Yan was watching Han Li from nearby, and a hint of mockery and sympathy flashed through her eyes as she said to Lan Yuanzi through voice transmission, "What a poor idiot he is, willing to put his life on the line for the promise of such a tiny reward."

"You don't know how difficult life is for itinerant cultivators. For someone like him, an opportunity to become an elder of the Spirit Heaven Sect is far from a tiny reward," Lan Yuanzi replied.

Lan Yan was just about to say something else when Pavilion Master Zhao of the Worry Not Pavilion called upon the two of them to participate in the array-breaking effort.

Shortly thereafter, all of the sects had chosen their representatives, and Jin Liu gave all of the chosen individuals a rundown of the process that had to be undertaken to unravel the restriction on the gate.

Han Li heaved a forlorn internal sigh after hearing what Jin Liu had to say. If they were to follow his proposed method to unravel the restriction, then there was a very good chance that they would incur backlash from the array.

However, given his current identity, he naturally couldn't say anything.

After returning to the Spirit Heaven Sect representatives, he relayed the instructions from Jin Liu, but made some slight alterations that were subtle enough to escape everyone's notice.

Several minutes later, the dozens of cultivators that had been chosen to break the restriction were arranged on either side of the stone gate.

"Everyone, make sure to channel your immortal spiritual power with all your might while breaking the restriction, and do not hold back. Otherwise, if something goes wrong, then you'll have to answer to me," Jin Liu said in a stern manner, and everyone hurriedly gave a collective affirmative response.

"Alright, let's begin," Jin Liu instructed, then cast a burst of blue light into the stone gate, and everyone else immediately followed suit, injecting their immortal spiritual power into the gate as well.

Streaks of light of different colors surged into the doornails on the gate, and the sunken doornails began to protrude outward, while the protruding doornails began to sink inward.

The light that had converged over the stone gate began to swirl like a yin yang symbol, and the gate rumbled violently as it began to loosen.

"Keep it up, everyone! We're almost there!" Jin Liu encouraged in an ecstatic manner.

Everyone immediately redoubled their efforts upon seeing this.

Han Li had been observing the restriction on the gate this entire time, and he knew that this was nothing more than a precursor of the restriction on the gate being activated. At this rate, it was only going to take a few seconds before everyone was struck by backlash from the restriction.

Of course, he didn't really care about whether everyone here lived or died.

Everyone had to take responsibility for their own decisions, and there was always a risk of meeting a premature demise in the pursuit of opportunities.

However, the problem was that there was another group of cultivators currently making their way down the other path, so if he were to be delayed here, only for the other group to get to the treasures in the pagoda first, then that would be a far from desirable outcome.

Right as the yin yang symbol was accelerating in its revolution, the Spirit Heaven Sect representatives suddenly broke off from the rest of the group, injecting their immortal spiritual power into several doornails that Jin Liu hadn't mentioned.

The yin yang symbol instantly ceased in its revolution before disintegrating altogether.

Jin Liu was furious to see this, but before he had a chance to say anything, he suddenly noticed that the disintegrated yin yang symbol had been replaced by an image of a starry sky.

His expression changed slightly as he instantly arrived at the realization that he had misidentified the array, and he yelled, "Listen to me, everyone! There's been a change of plans..."

With that, he began issuing a series of instructions, ordering everyone to inject their immortal spiritual power into different doornails from before.

Thank heavens he's not a complete idiot. Otherwise, I would've had to take matters into my own hands, Han Li thought to himself.

With this new approach adopted, a burst of radiant starlight appeared over the stone gate, and the two deities engraved onto the gate suddenly raised their halberds, following which the gate began to open inward.

A dull grinding sound rang out as the two heavy stone gates gradually parted, revealing a vast expanse of golden light that gave off a burst of very peculiar energy fluctuations.

Everyone immediately peered into the golden light, but they were unable to see anything beyond the golden radiance, even through the use of various spirit eye abilities.

"Could this golden light be coming from some type of treasure?" Yu Kuohai speculated, and fervent looks instantly appeared in everyone's eyes upon hearing this.

"All of you are from major sects in the Golden Origin Mountain Range, are you not? How is it that you're unable to detect that these are clearly energy fluctuations from a metal forcefield?" Su Anqian scoffed with a derisive sneer.

"There are many metal force fields in the Golden Origin Mountain Range, so we are very familiar with such things. These energy fluctuations are clearly different, so surely they're coming from some type of metal-attribute treasure," Elder Yang countered as he raised an eyebrow.

Su Anqian offered no explanation, merely shaking her head with a faint smile, and upon seeing her reaction, Elder Yang was beginning to doubt his own judgment.

Meanwhile, Han Li had already grasped the nature of the situation after just a single glance.

Most of the metal force fields in the Golden Origin Mountain Range were formed naturally, so they received no enhancements from arrays, and as a result, the metal-attribute spiritual power that they released wasn't all that pure.

In contrast, the golden light beyond the stone gate was giving off extremely formidable and pure metal-attribute spiritual power fluctuations, and that was why everyone had been fooled into thinking that it was coming from some type of treasure.

Everyone was standing at the entrance, and they were very keen on getting their hands on whatever treasure lied up ahead, but none of them dared to rush in.