History's Strongest Senior Brother

“Hall spirit…”

Yan Zhaoge was in a trance for a moment, but quickly recovered.

“Normally, he should be here.” He nodded.

Before the Grand Calamity, the Heavenly Court’s Divine Palace’s few core buildings would have their own hall spirits which were used to maintain the circulation of daily life. The Heavenly Court’s experts wouldn’t need to purposely watch over them.

Although the hall spirit itself had spiritual consciousness, it had no intelligence. Unlike creatures of intelligence that had their own independent consciousness, thought and memories, the hall spirit could only do things mechanically.

The Cloud Conquest Emperor seemed to have thought of something, and went deep in thought.

Yan Zhaoge was walking around in the pavilion. His fingers swiped gently on the tables and chairs.

He wrote one after another runes in the air. The runes sunk into the void of the pavilion. Before it could come in contact with the building itself, it dissipated.

Cloud Emperor and He Mian silently watched Yan Zhaoge’s actions. They did not interrupt him, nor did they snatch with him.

After a while, Yan Zhaoge shook his head, “I’m unable to refine this place to control the Pill Hall. There seems to be a layer blocking my path. Although it does work a little, it’s still far from succeeding.”

“If the hall spirit had already perished, then I might be able to succeed despite using up lots of time and effort.” Cloud Emperor muttered, “If you can’t completely refine it, that means the hall spirit is still alive…”

He Mian frowned, “However, the hall spirit doesn’t seem to be here. If it wasn’t hibernating after being gravely wounded, does that mean it left the Purple Divine Pavilion?”

He looked at his master with some uncertainty.

“Indeed. However, based on normal circumstances, it shouldn’t happen at all.” Cloud Emperor turned around and looked at Yan Zhaoge, “You said beforehand that something is weird about this Pill Hall itself. Unfortunately, from the looks of it, it seems like it’s true.”

Yan Zhaoge lifted his head up to look at the top part of the pavilion while pondering silently.

He Mian understood what he was doing. On his face, an expression of disbelief appeared, “The hall spirit of the Pill Hall has its own intelligence?”

“Not only does it have intelligence, it even condensed itself to become a soul, and goes wandering outside of its mind during the daylight,” said Cloud Emperor.

The “mind” he was referring to was naturally the Purple Divine Pavilion the three of them were in.

“Although it can leave the Purple Divine Pavilion, it still can’t escape the Pill Hall’s area. It can only be active around the internal hall’s universe.” Cloud Emperor let out a sigh, “The person that came in here before us isn’t a Heavenly Court’s survivor before the Grand Calamity, nor is it an outsider like us.”

Instead, it was the Pill Hall hall spirit that had its own consciousness!

“When the three people of the Minor White Peak had disappeared, was it because of this hall spirit?” He Mian quickly related them together, and asked in a deep voice.

Cloud Emperor nodded his head lightly, “There shouldn’t be any mistakes about it. However, we don’t know if they’re dead or alive, nor do we know why the spirit of the Pill Hall had captured them.”

“The three of them, along with the three missing people of the Ingenous Flying Peak are already dead,” said Yan Zhaoge softly.

Cloud Emperor and He Mian looked at him.

“I have retrieved six of their corpses,” said Yan Zhaoge.

Although Cloud Emperor and He Mian were hostile against the Profound Sovereign’s lineage, they both nodded and said, “Thanks, Fallen Deity.”

Yan Zhaoge didn’t mention anything else. He continued walking around the pavilion.

“If the Pill Hall’s hall spirit has its own intelligence, and wants to make things harder for us, won’t it be too easy? Aren’t we just walking into the lion’s den?”

“After he left the Purple Divine Pavilion, its controlling force towards the Pill Hall would also decrease.” Yan Zhaoge didn’t turn his head backwards. He continued venturing into the pavilion as he answered.

After hearing this, He Mian started thinking.

If that’s the case, why does the hall spirit want to leave the Pill Hall’s core hub, the Purple Divine Pavilion?

Yan Zhaoge slowly advanced. After a while, he suddenly extended his hand into the void.

On his other hand, the Profound Sky Purple Golden Furnace appeared.

The huge furnace shrunk, and fell into Yan Zhaoge’s palm. After that, radiance emerged.

After a short while, Yan Zhaoge’s hand who was venturing into the void slowly retracted.

In his hand, layers of lights were circulating.

Yan Zhaoge inserted these lights into the Profound Sky Purple Golden Furnace, and a “boom” was heard from the furnace.

As he re-opened the furnace’s cover, a jade slip radiating with purple light flew out from it.

Yan Zhaoge took the jade slip. He used his full force on five of his fingers, and immediately crushed the jade slip to pieces.

As he finished his action, the pavilion suddenly trembled.

Light radiated from the centre, the south, west, northeast, and northwest of the room. Among the radiance, an altar slowly formed on each of them.

At this moment, Yan Zhaoge, Cloud Emperor and his disciple felt a chill down their spine.

A surge of ice cold will arose within their hearts.

As if there was a pair of cold eyes staring at them.

Yan Zhaoge turned a blind eye to it. He continued advancing forward, and went to the altar in the centre first. After that, he placed the Profound Sky Purple Golden Furnace on it.

Above the altar, the changes in light and shadows were being displayed. In the end, they condensed into ancient sigil runes, and were engraved in the void.

“My own time… is almost up… Sadly, my own preparations aren’t complete… I know not if I will fail or succeed… For now, I can only risk myself. Only by then, I wouldn’t be awaiting my fate of death… That brat that stole mine own furnace, and ruined my plan… If it be true I succeed, I shall kill thee!”

Cloud Conquest Emperor walked beside Yan Zhaoge. He has done some research regarding the ancient runes, and could understand most parts of the writings in the void.

After he finished reading them, his gaze shifted towards Yan Zhaoge.

The being that left those words must be the hall spirit. The person that it hated was right in front of the altar.

Yan Zhaoge started thinking.

Because of him taking away the Profound Sky Purple Golden Furnace, it rendered the opponent unable to continue abducting others. This was why he said its preparations weren’t completed yet, and he didn’t know if he would succeed.

The hall spirit must have wanted to take things slow, and think of another plan. Until its preparations were complete, only by then would it start to make a move.

However, Exalted Wood Shao Junhuang had opened the pathway towards the Pill Hall. The appearance of Exalted Fire, Suo Mingzhang caused the hall spirit to experience a huge danger and sense of urgency. He had to execute its plan much earlier without completing its preparations. He had to take a risk.

He left the Purple Divine Pavilion because of that. He hoped to complete its plan before Suo Mingzhang, or Yan Zhaoge and the others arrived.

He didn’t know when Suo Mingzhang would arrive. Naturally, he wanted to complete his preparations as soon as possible.

Yan Zhaoge retrieved the Profound Sky Purple Golden Furnace. After contemplating for a white, he went to the altar by the south.

The paragraph of words just now seemed to be the last intent left by the hall spirit before it left the Purple Divine Pavilion.

The message wasn’t intentional. Instead, it was because his grudge was too strong, which caused it to be engraved within the pavilion. Now, Yan Zhaoge used his supreme arts to make it appear.

There was more than one intent here.

If the altar in the middle was its last sentence, which was the fifth, the altar at the south should be its first sentence.

The pattern here was based on the Lo Shu Square [1].

The first sentence would be by the South, and the second sentence would be by the Northeast. The third sentence would be by the West, and the fourth sentence would be by the Northwest. The last sentence would be in the middle.

Yan Zhaoge’s expression didn’t show any sadness or happiness. He placed the Profound Sky Purple Golden Furnace on the altar by the South.

[1] Lo Shu Square (洛书): http://www.numeroworld.com/lo-shu-magic-square.asp