The whirlpool closed up behind Bai Yunfei’s group when they walked through it. Without the abnormality there to exert its pressure, the area quickly returned to its normal docile state as if nothing ever happened to begin with.

The only difference was the fog. By an unnatural power, the fog that pervaded the valley was now being pushed to two different sides so a group could walk over to the lake.

It was Shangguan Xiongyan and Gu Jimie.

“It’s here! The entrance to the pocket dimension is right here!”

Shangguan Xiongyan shouted, he was staring at the reflection in the mirror and comparing it to the lake in front of him.

It didn’t matter if the area seemed ordinary. To him, a Saint, he could tell from the flow that it had recently been disturbed. He didn’t need the mirror telling him that someone had ‘opened’ something here.

Gu Jimie noticed it as well, but he was a little more impatient than his companion. “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s simply break open the space here and force the entrance open! We still have time to catch up!”

Shangguan Xiongyan remained unmoved. “No, they’ll slow down now that they’re in the pocket dimension. We should wait if we want to remain undetected. Otherwise we’ll be caught sooner than we want.”

“What need is there to wait when we’re here at the pocket dimension?” Gu Jimie glared, “What consequence is there if they catch us? We’ll simply kill them sooner than later!”

“If they’re so intent on leading the way, why not let them and wait? The Supreme Saint’s Inheritance isn’t so easy to obtain. There’ll most definitely be all sorts of danger to reach the inheritance, otherwise your esteemed Gu Lianhun wouldn’t have been caught two hundred years ago. If we stick behind them, we’ll be able to save ourselves the trouble of avoiding any traps. And if they reach Gu Lianhun first, then we’ll be able to attack them for a pincer attack. Wouldn’t that be better to finish off our enemies?”

It made a lot of sense when Shangguan Xiongyan said it, but Gu Jimie seemed to still be just a little bit hesitant. “Your words makes sense, however…who knows how long we’ll have the element of surprise? If we fail to appear when they come across my teacher…would he not be in danger?!”

Shangguan Xiongyan was up to no good, Gu Jimie was sure of it. Gu Lianhun was to be the ‘bait’ in the plan. If Bai Yunfei and Gu Lianhun were to fight and injure each other, who else but Shangguan Xiongyan would benefit most?

“You worry too much. Gu Lianhun is most likely a Mid-stage Soul Saint by now, what danger could he possibly be in?” Shangguan Xiongyan retorted.

“The battle won’t be over in less than half an hour. We have the Abyssal Snake Saint with us, we can at the very least keep track of his health with the bond when we get in. If four Saints fight together, what can two Saints and a group of weaklings do? Would we not be able to win so easily?”

“For two hundred years my teacher has been trapped, who knows what state he’s in? The three of us is already ample enough strength to defeat them, what point is there to put my teacher in danger?”

“That’s enough.” Hissed the Abyssal Sea Snake. “There’s no point to squabbling when we’re here at the entrance…Shangguan Xiongyan is correct, there’s no harm in waiting. Waiting for a good moment to strike is the most optimal plan.”

“……”

Gu Jimie fell silent at the Abyssal Snake Saint’s words. Of the three of them, he was the weakest and most injured. Should he continue to complain about the situation, then it was possible the Abyssal Snake Saint would cease to care about Gu Lianhun’s safety. All he could do was wait until Bai Yunfei’s group made it to where Gu Lianhun was and hope for the best.

Another three hours went by before Shangguan Xiongyan looked up from the mirror. “It’s time! They should be too far away from the entrance to spot us entering now.”

With the three Saints working together, the entrance was opened very quickly for them to fly into…

……

At this current moment, at the center of the pocket dimension.

Bai Yunfei and his group were just arriving in front of a seemingly endless corridor.

Stone pillars sat on both sides of the corridor and the ground was smooth as if they were the tiles of a palace.

Indeed, this part of the pocket dimension was like a palace. Bai Yunfei even found himself comparing it to the royal palace in the Capital.

It also felt like a maze. Bai Yunfei could see farther down the corridor where it suddenly split into multiple large pathways deeper into the palace.

Every pathway had another barrier that Shen Pojun and the Frostfeather Saint had to force down one after another, though the effort was absolutely taxing on their energy.

They had the strategies of both the Saint of Fate and the Wind Saint, so that made breaking down the barriers relatively easy.

The way they were set out and placed in such large numbers to stop them made them feel like the owner of this palace didn’t want any visitors at all. Or perhaps it was simply the previous Supreme Saint’s way of ‘testing’ those wanting his inheritance.

So even though the group managed to bypass several barriers already, they were all extremely wary of what would come their way in the future.

What unnerved them most was how the palace’s setup was significantly different than expected. What was described in the Saint of Fate and Wind Saint’s memories were definitely not the same as what the group was seeing right now…

The pathways they walked through all had their own differences. As a whole, the pathways were quite similar, but some details could be seen to distinguish them apart. And after walking for half a day through these pathways, Bai Yunfei was convinced they were walking in different paths than the ones the Saint of Fate and the Wind Saint walked…

It was peculiar. The barriers and how to dismantle them were the same, but the ‘sequences’ and ‘positions’ were different…

It wasn’t until they reached the fifth hall and barrier that the group discovered that…this was a completely ‘new’ barrier!

The trap was sprung the moment they stepped deeper into the hall. There was a flash of light as all sorts of elemental energy converged and formed blades of energy. Suspended in the air, the blades looked ready to fly everywhere and cut them to pieces.

This wasn’t something the Saint of Fate or the Wind Saint ever came across!

“It appears…these barriers are interchangeable. Replicating the journeys of the Saint of Fate or the Wind Saint will be impossible then. They managed to see a variety of barriers and what they could do, but it took only four barriers for us to come across a new one…traveling to the end will be much more difficult than we thought…”

Shen Pojun hummed to himself as the Frostfeather Saint deflected the many blades of energy already coming their way. “This trap seems like it’ll only be dispelled with force…It’s not too strong, so dispelling it should be simple, but who knows how the barrier behind this will react…”

……

The unexpected came sooner rather than later, but the two Saints remained calm. The trap was capable of slicing and dicing any Soul Emperor, but it was useless against the defenses of a Saint. With both Saints offering protection, the group was able to slowly make their way forward through the hall.

But this obstruction caused the two Saints to use far more energy than any other barrier so far.

The swords all disappeared when they stepped into the hall beyond, only for the group to see yet another long pathway.

“So this is how difficult it is to break through unknown barriers…ancestor and senior Frostfeather worked hard together to do so, but the Saint of Fate and the Wind Saint both did it by themselves without help. Just how powerful were they…”

Though Bai Yunfei didn’t personally see how hard it was to break a barrier himself since he was beside two Saints, Bai Yunfei was still highly befuddled and even stunned by the prowess of the Saints of before.

“Very well, let’s move on. Who knows what new barriers await us, be careful now.”

Bai Yunfei jolted awake at Shen Pojun’s words before quickly following after him.

But it was just at that moment when…

“Bzz…”

Bai Yunfei felt the air around him suddenly tremble before gray light shot across the sky!

“Whoosh…boom!!”

Faster than anyone could react, a powerful beam of energy barrelled through the air toward Bai Yunfei! The space in front of the beam crumbled when touched and had cracks shooting everywhere in space!

Blanching, Bai Yunfei quickly took a step back and threw the Cataclysmic Seal forward. It activated its barrier at once to protect Bai Yunfei from the powerful surge of energy.

That was when Bai Yunfei then looked up to see who was attacking him. A figure was flying out from the shadows at just the right time for Bai Yunfei to see his face!

“Gu Lianhun!! I…how are you here!?”