What exactly are these Spirit Stones?

Wang Jian discovered that the Spirit Stones were what had drawn him here. As he flew closer, he felt an unexpected pulling force emanating from them, tugging his Yang Soul forward.

At first, the pull was within his control, but the Array formed by the Spirit Stones seemed to possess a consciousness of its own. Midway through the pull, the force suddenly intensified, dragging him in instantly. In a flash, Wang Jian's Yang Soul plunged into the huge Spirit Stone in the center, and he lost consciousness. When he came to his senses, he found that his surroundings had changed.

From the outside, it simply looked as though his Yang Soul had entered the Spirit Stone. The Spirit Stone itself was like transparent amber, and he had become like a creature trapped within it. A closer look would reveal that the Spirit Stone's interior was not truly solid. It flowed and shifted along with Wang Jian's Yang Soul. The Eight Diagrams Array on the ground began to emit a faint luminescence, and even the smaller Spirit Stones surrounding it started to react in various ways.

「...」

The moment Wang Jian opened his eyes, he found himself back where he had first entered. But strangely, the area was now filled with figures, all of them people from ancient times.

He wanted to ask where he was, but found that no one paid him any attention. Some even passed right through his body without any reaction.

I must be in some kind of vision or dream, Wang Jian realized. It seems the Spirit Stone didn't actually transport me anywhere. It just wanted to show me these scenes.

These ancient figures varied in age, from old to young, and they moved in and out of the Stone Gate. They carried various tools on their backs, and some were even holding Spirit Stones. Their strength and abilities were somewhat beyond Wang Jian's expectations. Moreover, the scenery inside and outside the Stone Gate looked nothing like it did in the present day.

He realized that in that era, the area outside the Stone Gate wasn't a stalactite cave at all. It was a large plaza situated beneath a cavern.

I have no idea what could have happened to turn this place into a stalactite cave, leaving no trace of its past. If it weren't for the Stone Gate, Wang Jian would have thought he was in a completely different place. The situation inside the Stone Gate, however, was not much different from the present.

Wang Jian also noticed that these ancient people were all in their Yangshen state, yet they were carrying physical items and various weapons. He even saw people controlling objects and some flying via Sword Control. For an instant, he was struck by a sense of unreality.

Everything he was seeing showed him one thing: the immense power the Yang Soul was capable of.

But it seems strange that the Spirit Stone would bring me here just to see this.

The thought had barely crossed his mind when the scene before him pulled away as if he were on a roller coaster. That sudden sensation of being dragged returned. By the time he came to his senses, he was standing before the White Jade City Gate.

In front of the gate stood two figures. He couldn't make out their expressions. Their faces seemed to be obscured by a layer of gauze or fog. The harder he tried to see, the more he felt something obstructing his vision. With their features so blurred, it was impossible to recognize them. The two figures, one in a white robe and the other in gray, were staring up at the great gate that hung suspended in the air.

Even though the scene was illusory, Wang Jian could still feel an oppressive force emanating from these two. Though they were clearly Yang Souls, they felt as tangible as real bodies. They might have even reached the legendary state where a Yang Soul becomes as substantial as a physical body, capable of existing for eternity. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call them Immortals.

Of all the people coming and going in this entire space, only these two gave Wang Jian such an impression, which showed just how special they were.

There must be a reason why the Spirit Stone brought me before these two.

"Elder Brother, it has been ten years since we discovered this gate, yet it remains inert."

"Perhaps that disciple was merely having an illusion."

"..."

"Ziya is meticulous. He would not be so reckless."

"But it has indeed been a very long time."

"The demonic entity we extracted from Ziya's Yang Soul... have you ever seen it anywhere other than at this Heavenly Gate?"

"Never."

The two fell silent once more.

Just as Wang Jian was growing puzzled, he noticed the Stone Gate shudder, as if someone were pounding on it from inside. Then, thin black threads began to seep out from the cracks in the gate. At first, they looked like droplets of oil in water.

The two figures noticed this as well, but showed no signs of panic.

"Excellent! It has appeared again!"

One of them raised a hand and beckoned. The black substance was instantly seized by an invisible force, struggling as it floated toward the man's outstretched palm.

I recognize this stuff. It's the same thing I encountered in Zhang Haiyuan's mind, Wang Jian thought. This one, however, was clearly more aggressive and violent than the one from Zhang Haiyuan's mind. Just looking at it, he could hear its piercing screams—so shrill they even affected his Yang Soul. And even though it was being restrained by figures of their caliber, it still managed to counterattack and struggle fiercely. Compared to this, the thing in Zhang Haiyuan's mind was like a single-celled organism.

The conversation wasn't preserved in its entirety, so Wang Jian only caught it in snippets. The vision was like a video on fast-forward, periodically slowing just long enough for a few words to drift into his ears.

"...what on earth is this thing?"

"...behind this door might not be the so-called Immortal World at all." 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"The path of seeking Immortals... is a joke."

"This gate that fell from the sky... it could be a catastrophe."

"Order men to guard this place..."

Yet even these few short sentences revealed a great deal of information to Wang Jian.

Before he could ponder further, that familiar sensation of being pulled struck him again. The new scene was different. He was still in front of the gate, but now the great gate hanging in the air was open. The figures that had been bustling about were gone. An eerie silence had fallen over the area, leaving only a sense of strangeness. When they had first arrived, the place had also been empty, but they had been too awestruck by the spectacle to notice the terror that this kind of silence could bring.

Beyond that gate was a place he had never seen before.

Red Moon, Black Land!

Once through the gate, Wang Jian finally understood where all those ancient people had gone. They were fighting a battle here! The entire sky was a battlefield, filled with those ancient people fighting against black monsters. The monsters took on countless bizarre forms, but most had tentacles and multiple eyes. Their bodies seemed to be in constant flux, lacking a solid, physical form, much like a Yang Soul.

Swords, blades, and spears flew from every angle. Severed tentacles didn't simply dissipate. Some even reformed into smaller monsters. It seemed that as long as nothing devoured or destroyed them, they could exist indefinitely.

In a way, the characteristics of these creatures were very similar to those of a Yang Soul. The problem was that the influence they exerted was entirely negative.

Wang Jian realized that these monsters were their complete antithesis. It was a battle to devour or be devoured. That was likely the very reason this battle had begun.