Chapter 1736: Painting Heart Leaves the Pass

Meanwhile,

Inside the stone obelisk in the Myriad Tribulations Holy Temple.

Huaxin sat cross-legged on an Angelic corpse, dressed in white with flowing dark hair. Her appearance and demeanor strikingly resembled Fairy Yunshang. Her ethereal soul body was much more solid than before.

“It seems you are indeed no ordinary person, to recover your soul to the Soul Transformation realm so quickly.” The white-robed skeleton on the tall stone tablet observed Huaxin with a thoughtful expression.

Huaxin opened her eyes and respectfully saluted, “Senior, it is your profound power that helped me recover to the Soul Transformation realm.” After only a few days of interaction, the more she learned about the white-robed skeleton, the more she sensed its unfathomable depth. Surprisingly, it had easily restored her fragmented soul to the Soul Transformation realm. What's more, the other party also seemed to be merely a fragmented soul! She dared not imagine what kind of existence it was at its peak.

The white-robed skeleton looked deeply at Huaxin and said, “Since your soul has reached the Soul Transformation realm, you can now be of use.” He flicked his finger, and the several Angelic corpses on the ground instantly dismembered. From different corpses, it extracted intact parts and combined them. This formed an Angelic body identical to Huaxin's physique.

“Go inside.”

Huaxin hesitated and asked, “Senior, is this considered taking over a body?” She was unwilling to cultivate as an Angel.

“No, it's not,” came the reply. “This is just a puppet, and it will consume your soul power.”

Only then did Huaxin feel relieved. Having no other choice, she transformed into a wisp of soul mist and floated into the puppet. She immediately sensed the puppet's strength. In terms of the physical body alone, it had already reached the level of a Heaven-Man's First Decline. Furthermore, with some holy power stored within its body, it could unleash some Angelic spells. Its overall combat power was no less than that of a Heaven-Man's First Decline.

However, the white-robed skeleton wouldn't simply give her a puppet for free. Indeed, the white-robed skeleton said, “Go out, find Jiang Fan, and bring him back! If he resists, shatter his dao body and bring back his soul.”

Huaxin's heart pounded, and she was secretly overjoyed. Was it going to let her out? Wouldn't she have a chance to escape then?

Just as she was thinking this, the white-robed skeleton raised a finger and pointed. Innumerable nine-colored lightning arcs emerged from the air and converged on the puppet's forehead. They formed a mark of a nine-colored lightning arc. This was identical to the nine-colored crystal, and both contained a destructive strike that even Sages would find hard to resist.

Besides that, the mark also suppressed Huaxin's soul within the puppet, preventing her from escaping.

The white-robed skeleton said indifferently: “If you cannot bring Jiang Fan back, you will be useless.” The implication was that if the mission failed, it would remotely activate the mark to kill Huaxin along with the puppet.

Huaxin felt a chill. She knew there was no such thing as a free lunch. Moreover, the main purpose of this mark was not to prevent her escape. Rather, it was to prevent the Sages of the Central Plains from obstructing her return with Jiang Fan. But no matter what, she was free.

“Yes, Senior,” Huaxin said, “this junior will surely not fail your mission.” Huaxin cupped her hands and bowed.

The white-robed skeleton waved its hand and sent Huaxin out. It looked up at the sky, a sharp glint in its eyes. “Heavenly Realm, I will return soon!”

As for Huaxin, after appearing outside, she used several consecutive teleportations to escape the Myriad Tribulations Holy Temple. Breathing in the long-awaited free air, an uncontrollable joy spread across her face:

“I am finally free! Jiang Fan, you little rascal, you trapped me in the Netherworld Crystal for so long, and even threw me into the Thunder God Heavenly Palace. This old woman is here to settle the score with you! Hehe, you wouldn't dream that I already possess the strength of a Heaven-Man's First Decline, would you? When we meet, don't you dare cry from fright!”

Heavenly Secret Pavilion.

Jiang Fan looked down at the desolate old site of the Heavenly Secret Pavilion. With his current insight and experience, as he re-examined the Heavenly Secret Pavilion, he had vaguely guessed the true nature of its underground world. Now, all that remained was to verify it.

He arrived at the teleportation hall and found that the previously closed array had been reconnected. Undoubtedly, Tiange had been here.

“She truly came for the Heavenly Secret Pavilion! What exactly is she plotting by taking such a huge risk to come to the underground world?” Jiang Fan pondered secretly. One must know that when she first arrived in Taicang Great State, her fate might not necessarily have been imprisonment. To reduce potential dangers, it was highly possible for Taicang Great State to execute her before the arrival of the Ancient Giants. Tiange was literally risking her life.

With his questions in mind, Jiang Fan stepped onto the array and entered the underground world. Soon, a familiar surge of Yin energy washed over him. The underground world remained as gloomy as before, with Yin energy pervasive everywhere. And as Jiang Fan delved deeper into the lower levels, the Yin energy grew even thicker, until he reached the tenth level.

Standing on the teleportation array, he was not in a hurry to find Tiange. Because, before that, there was another place he needed to visit alone. That was the cave dwelling Wumanyue had once explored. She had not only discovered puppetry techniques inside but also obtained numerous spatial artifacts, which had once made Jiang Fan envious. Now, with time having passed, these treasures no longer held much attraction for Jiang Fan. Still, he had to go. Because Wumanyue had once found a painting of a woman raising chickens in that cave dwelling. And the woman in the painting was Ancient Sage Yunhuang. This point, he could hardly ignore.

Raising his eyes, he scanned his surroundings. He remembered Huaxin once saying that the cave dwelling was not far from the teleportation array. A quick scan did not reveal any unusual location. This was within his expectations. The tenth level was the territory of Asura King Ayu. If an abnormality could be easily detected, Asura King Ayu would have found it centuries ago. It wouldn't have been left for Wumanyue, would it? But where was this cave dwelling?

After a brief thought, he extended his consciousness into the Heavenly Thunder Stone and searched for a long time, finally finding a small, long-forgotten pouch. This was something he had seized from Wumanyue when they were on a mission together. It was filled with spatial artifacts. He immediately took out a few pieces, sensed the auras on them, and once again scanned the surroundings.

Soon, at the foot of a black mountain not far away, he detected the same aura. He immediately flashed over. This mountain looked very unremarkable, with no discernible abnormalities. But as Jiang Fan raised his hand and waved, the mountain split open, revealing a blood-red crystal hidden within its core! Layers of arrays flickered on its surface, sealing its aura within.

Jiang Fan was astonished: “Wumanyue could actually find a place like this back then? This woman's treasure-hunting ability is top-notch.”

Gazing at the revealed entrance of the blood-red crystal, Jiang Fan summoned the Immortal King's Undying Bell to lead the way, and he followed closely behind. Stepping into the crystal, he discovered that the cave dwelling was very small. It was several meters wide and over a dozen meters deep. The interior had long been completely plundered by Wumanyue. Even the decorations on the walls had been stripped away, leaving only a bare nail. As far as the eye could see, there were only blood-red crystal walls.

Jiang Fan's mouth twitched. “She practically moved this crystal cave dwelling away.” He had wanted to explore clues about the ancient sage, but it seemed he had come for nothing. He turned to walk out of the cave dwelling.

But as he reached the entrance, he suddenly stopped. “Something doesn't seem right.” Jiang Fan turned back and measured the depth of the cave dwelling with his gaze, then recalled the length of the crystal as seen from the outside. He realized that the depth of the cave dwelling was only two-thirds the length of the crystal.

With this thought, he went to the deepest part of the cave dwelling, gazed at the bare red crystal wall, and struck it with his palm.

Crack! The wall shattered, revealing a hidden small space!