Chapter 290: Mountain Hollow
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
The tunnel was dark. As soon as he entered the tunnel, his mind entered a state of confusion.
He could feel as though he was falling. Tensed, Fang Yuan prepared his sword essence.
However, as soon as he woke up, he realised that he was standing in a hall. In front of him was a platform 10 feet wide and 30 feet tall. There was a glow coming from the top of the platform like a sun, and there was a silhouette of a person on the platform.
"Greetings, Old Mother of Tianmu!"
Fang Yuan took a deep bow and felt stunned as he detected the person's vast and powerful spiritual aura.
"Hehe... are you not afraid that you've got the wrong person?"
A clear voice travelled from the platform as though it was from a 15-year-old girl.
'I don't really have a choice here!'
Fang Yuan rolled his eyes inside but gave a respectful look. "Only the Old Mother of Tianmu would have such a majestic entrance!"
"You're right! You're from the Realm Alliance. What are you here for?"
The Old Mother on the platform laughed, and Fang Yuan felt as though he was being seen through.
"Ring!"
At this point in time, there was a chime from his robes. The small sword flew out and shimmered a brilliant red.
"This is a token from Elder Smelter of my alliance. Please accept it!"
Fang Yuan continued respectfully.
"Hehe... This token is not mine, but yours!"
As the glow of the sun spread, the face of a beautiful lady appeared, but all that Fang Yuan could see was a pair of glittering eyes.
Calm and emotionless... yet high up like a god.
She seemed like the gods in the heavens from the other realms which he had visited.
"Mine..."
As he mumbled to himself, he realised that he had fallen into the plan of Elder Smelter.
"That's right! It is extremely rare for anyone from the 5 powerful organisations to get the chance to visit the Changli Mountain Hollow! Who would've guessed that Elder Smelter would give it to you!"
The Old Mother of Tianmu mocked him. "Could you be... his illegitimate son?"
"... If I don't want this token, what will happen to me?"
Fang Yuan was speechless and directly asked about the token.
"There are no ifs. As long as you are a member of the 5 powerful organisations and you have the token, you can enter the Changli Mountain Hollow as you wish. If it is yours, it will be yours. Others cannot take this away from you, and you cannot reject this!"
The Old Mother of Tianmu sounded strict, as though this was a heavenly law.
'This is not good!'
Fang Yuan's hair stood on its ends.
"Be on your way!"
At that moment, from the Old Mother's finger, a streak of light landed on the small red sword.
After receiving the glow, the sword exploded and struck forward, shattering the mid-air. A door was revealed.
Fang Yuan quickly felt a huge force pushing him towards the door. Before he could react, he was sucked into the door.
In the next moment, the platform regained its peace once more, except for the golden glow of holy light which spread across the entire floor.
"You're clever to be on your guard. However, it will depend on your luck to see if this is a good or bad thing for you!"
Old Mother of Tianmu mumbled to herself. Soon, she returned to the glowing sun and disappeared.
...
"What the hell!"
In mid-air, a door appeared and a person fell from it.
Fang Yuan had composed himself and landed squarely on the branch of a tree. Looking at the dense vegetation, he knew that this was no longer Tianmu Mountain, but within a hollow.
While he was travelling to this hollow, a line of information appeared, allowing him to understand where he was.
"This is... the inside of the Changli Mountain Hollow?"
The hollow was, in fact, a miniature version of a small world.
Of course, such a miniature version was yet to be matured. Therefore, it still had to rely on the Da Qian Empire.
Changli was a Prominent Divine dream master and after his passing, his inheritance was a hollow situated near Tianmu Mountain.
Therefore, with the Old Mother of Tianmu in control and together with the power of the 5 powerful organisations, they had finally located the hollow.
Unfortunately, the hollow would reject access to highly-skilled dream masters. Therefore, in every organisation, they had to send a dream master of 4th Tier and below to explore the hollow. Everything would be kept a secret and only when the representatives arrive here, they would be briefed on the details of the hollow.
Of course, Fang Yuan felt like laughing after knowing of this.
"Why didn't he send someone who was loyal and had potential? Why did he send me? I have only just joined the alliance! This place must be full of dangers lurking everywhere!"
The state which he was in was akin to his many dream-traversing experiences. However, the only difference was that the hollow was within Da Qian and that he was using his real physical body!
If he were to die, he would really die and there would be no chance for him to come back.
"Elder Smelter, Old Mother of Tianmu... Although they might seem like respectable people in peacetime, they would be ever so willing to sacrifice those under them in times like this….."
He shook his head and started to gather information about him.
"Now... the hollow has yet to be activated. This should be the boundary of the hollow..."
Fang Yuan looked far and could see a layer of fog all around, surrounding him and the forest within.
"Based on the information, I will need to wait for another 2 months for the hollow to be activated. By then, the few of us selected explorers would have to explore the hollow and retrieve treasures from within. Of course, it would be best if we can obtain the Prominent Divine dream master's inheritance. If we can take complete control over the hollow, the organisation we come from would be heavily rewarded!"
Unfortunately, Fang Yuan was unwilling!
"After my arduous exploration, the rewards will still not go to me!"
"Fortunately, I have 2 months to spare... Furthermore, it seems like Old Mother of Tianmu has intentionally split the explorers up to prevent us from killing each other and wasting our energy..."
The size of a hollow would be as huge as a region or even a few regions combined.
With such a huge area and being separated by an array, other dream masters would not dare to do anything to it and hiding a few people within the hollow would most likely go undetected.
Of course, when the restrictions would be lifted and when all of them would head to the centre of the hollow, they would be detected by then.
"Does this mean that... now is my precious time to rest?"
Fang Yuan laughed, examined the geography of the area and casually came to a cave.
The hollow of this Prominent Divine dream master was indeed impressive. Every flower, every grass, every rock and every tree was exactly the same as the outside world.
Also, there was an exact same sun which glared from the skies.
Fang Yuan could not comprehend such complexity. Instead, he closed his eyes and attempted to enter the Dream Realm.
"I cannot feel it... It seems like I am separated from it by a void space... It seems that although the hollow depends on Da Qian for its existence, it is still an independent world after all..."
Fang Yuan sighed.
As soon as he realised that he was unable to enter the Dream Realm, most of his plans became futile. This would mean that he would not be able to call for backup.
"They didn't even give me time to prepare. It feels like they are plotting something against me... It's a pity that even if I am able to make it out alive, I am unable to immediately get my revenge!"
Fang Yuan's eyes were burning with passion.
"Looking at my 2nd Tier cultivation, it seems like I would be the weakest among all the explorers. Without any magical equipment to protect me, I would be endangered….. Extremely endangered!"
"In the next 2 months, I must quickly increase my cultivation. I must at least achieve the 3rd Tier of Illusionary Divine and gain some experience from the hollow before I become capable enough to explore the heart of the hollow. If I am discovered by other dream masters, I can only fight with all my life!"
"The only solution is the dream-traversing technique!"
Fang Yuan mumbled to himself and a look of determination appeared on his face.
He had yet to reach the maximum potential in the previous Water Realm. Therefore, he had left with the intention to return and reap everything from it in the future.
And now, his physical body was facing a threat. He could not care so much and had to do whatever he could. "Although I will only have 1 to 2 years over there, with careful planning, I will be able to gain enough karma! This is what I can use to protect myself!"
Fang Yuan gritted his teeth. After sealing the cave, he did a thorough check of his surroundings before starting to dream-traverse.
"The previous two times, I had the assistance of the Realm Spirit. Now, I will have to locate the coordinates myself, making it more troublesome. Furthermore, I will have to take care of my own physical body. Fortunately, with the Three Corpse Seven Murderous Magic Splitting Technique, I can leave a hint of consciousness to check on my physical body. If I encounter any danger, I can wake up immediately!"
As for locating the coordinates outside the Dream Realm, Venerable Dream Traverser had also described the process before... Most importantly, it is fortunate that I have gone to the Water Realm before with the use of Realm Evidence. With my incarnation within the Water Realm, it shouldn't be too hard to awaken it!"
He adopted a comfortable posture and laid down before executing his dream traversing technique.
As he closed his eyes, among the universe, it was as though one of the worlds had detected him and started to call out to him.
This was the connection between his real body and his incarnation. They shared the same consciousness and it would be extremely hard to separate them.
"This is the one!"
A Yin Spirit floated out and shook in mid-air. As it condensed elemental force, it started to perform a ritual.
In the middle of the ritual, space started to distort and slowly, a swirl appeared in mid-air. The calling from the incarnation was heard coming from the swirl.
Seeing this, Fang Yuan leapt into the swirl without hesitation.
"Bloop!"
As the swirl shook, it dispersed. As everything darkened, the cave returned to its original state.
...
Tianmu Mountain.
Flames started to appear as a fiery dragon danced around and transformed into a child.
Looking up at the platform, there was a look of fear and respect written on his face. "Old Mother of Tianmu, all my people have entered!"
"The Realm Alliance contributed 5 people and both the Divine Lotus Cult and Evil Divine Sect contributed 6 people each. Baize Mountain contributed 3 people and Source Seeking Sect contributed 1. Including the 10 over lone cultivators that we have attracted, everyone is accounted for..."
On the platform, the glow was glaring. Old Mother of Tianmu appeared and she was calm. "We have arranged it in a way that they will all meet as soon as the heart of the hollow is activated. There will be surely more than 20 deaths and we will fulfil the requirement of blood sacrifice..."
"Sigh..."
The Fiery Dragon Child who was possessed by Elder Smelter sighed. "Who would've guessed that the seal of Changli Mountain Hollow would require the blood sacrifice of dream masters in the Illusionary Divine Stage to be broken for us to enter? All of us have no choice. At most... we shall compensate whoever is fortunate among them to survive!"