Chapter 3552 — Ascending Cloud Terrace Island (Part 1)

"Opener, place both hands upon it and circulate the mnemonic of your heart method!" the Southern Heaven Libationer declared in a loud voice.

Wei Zhao did as instructed, laying his hands upon the spinning five-pointed star, only to discover that the star was no solid thing but an illusion. Be that as it may, he began swiftly circulating the mnemonic of his heart method!

The instant Wei Zhao's mnemonic began to turn, some force seemed to push Cloud Terrace Island—that island half-submerged in the sea—suddenly rising up out of the water, growing ever larger, until at last, at the edge where it joined the coastline, there abruptly appeared a passage-like formation corridor, much like the formation arrays by which the crowd had traveled to the Five Baleful Wastelands and the Five Baleful Mountains!

In that moment Wei Zhao finally understood: this corridor had been opened by the power of his own Five Elements, and something seemed to be hinting to him that should he cease circulating the mnemonic, the corridor would vanish!

At this, Wei Zhao wished to leap down and lead the inheritors charging swiftly into the Cloud Terrace Island corridor, but to his dismay he found that his hands seemed glued in place, utterly unable to pull free!

It was just like that time at the stone gate of the mountain cave—he could not extricate himself!

And when the thought of retreating arose in him, a voice seemed to hint that this was his mission! To open the way for these inheritors, he must hold on to the very last moment—only at the last moment could they enter the Cloud Terrace Island corridor!

They were burning themselves up to make possible the passage of the other trial-goers who would go onto the island! Such was their mission!

So the opener's role was no fine assignment after all—that fool bird Tagan Long had been so smug about it! Yet Wei Zhao did not regret it; after all, for the inheritors' sake, he too must do this! Wei Zhao could feel how utterly spent the inheritors were—if any one of them failed to give her all, that oppressive might would fall upon Wei Zhao. Whether Wei Zhao could survive such pressure in that instant was uncertain, but the opening of Cloud Terrace Island would certainly halt!

"The corridor is manifest—trial-goers, begin ascending the island one after another! Xuanchen, you come with me first!" With that, the Southern Heaven Libationer charged into the corridor at the head of them all, and Ancestor Xuanchen followed close behind!

Right after them, Kang Jingming and the other trial-goers likewise entered the corridor one by one in the order they had queued. They too had seen how the inheritors were trembling, and judged they could not hold out much longer—everyone must reach the island as quickly as possible!

Though Tianchan, Song Lingwei, Bingtang, Xueli, Xiao Che, Zhong Yongliang, and the others were likewise deeply worried for Wei Zhao and the inheritors, they had no choice but to enter the corridor in order, and could only pray that Wei Zhao and the rest would in the end make it safely into the corridor!

Yet once everyone had entered the corridor, Guan Xin suddenly could hold out no longer; her body swayed, and she collapsed straight to the ground! Of all these inheritors, Guan Xin was the woman with the weakest foundation.

Close behind her came Little Jiu, and then Gu Mengyao, Shen Yushu, Yu Ning, Tang Zhi, and Feng Xiaoxiao all fell one after another where they stood! It seemed none of them could hold on any longer—every one of them had fainted on the spot!

The moment they collapsed, the oppressive force upon Wei Zhao surged, and the vast, immense power pressed him straight down off the pillar of light!

Wei Zhao tumbled headlong into the sea!

This gave Wei Zhao a sudden start, yet with the inheritors on his mind, he wanted to go see how Gu Mengyao and the others were faring. But to his horror, the Cloud Terrace Island corridor, once he had left the pillar of light, was growing more and more insubstantial...

And all of Cloud Terrace Island began to show a tendency to sink again! Panic seized Wei Zhao's heart—at this moment he was caught between advance and retreat! He knew that with his departure, the Cloud Terrace Island corridor was about to vanish!

If he quickened his pace now, he could get in! But what of Gu Mengyao and the others?

Even if Wei Zhao ran over, rescued one, and carried her into the corridor, he could absolutely not save a second! For the Eight Trigrams formation was vast, and the distance between each inheritor was not short; for Wei Zhao to save one and turn back was a feat difficult enough in itself!

"Look after them for me—wait for my return!" Wei Zhao shouted to the throng of underlings in the distance, then flew up and swiftly entered the Cloud Terrace Island corridor!

He had to go to Cloud Terrace Island! Gu Mengyao and the others looked to be in no great danger—at least Wei Zhao could still faintly sense their life force—and so he first entrusted the underlings to carry them back.

Qiu Lingshan, Sun Jingyan, Xu Shilan, Cheng Yiyi, Ying Ziyu and the rest all came rushing over—this was the last scene Wei Zhao saw!

Zhang Naipao hesitated a moment, then followed after him—except that by the time he did, the corridor had already begun to flicker. Whether he could reach Cloud Terrace Island safely was now an unknown; it all came down to luck...

"Yaoyao, Xiaoshu, Tang Zhi, Xiaoxiao, Yu Ning, Guan Xin, Little Jiu... wait for my return!" Wei Zhao sighed. He had thought they would be his greatest support upon Cloud Terrace Island, but never imagined they would faint!

The last image Wei Zhao saw was of them collapsed around the Eight Trigrams formation, and then a dazzling white light flashed past—the corridor vanished, Zhang Naipao vanished, and Wei Zhao and all the trial-goers before him vanished beneath that blinding white radiance...

Whew... The one thing that set Wei Zhao's heart at ease was that his underlings and the women left behind were all top-tier masters now, at the peak of late Heaven rank, great perfection—the strongest beings to remain in the mortal world! With them, Wei Zhao need not worry that Yaoyao and the others would be left uncared for.

Once inside the corridor, Wei Zhao suddenly felt a spell of dizziness, as though he had entered a vague, ethereal space—and then everything before his eyes blazed bright...

His vision was utterly engulfed in white light, plunging Wei Zhao into brief blindness. Instinctively he shut his eyes, entered the jade pendant space, and activated his divine-sense spiritual power, seeking to perceive the situation all around him...

Yet to Wei Zhao's regret, about him there was nothing but endless white light upon white light, no other thing at all. This seemed to be a wondrous space—Wei Zhao could not even see his companions, or rather his enemies.

And his feet, at this moment, seemed to be hanging in the void, treading on nothing, as though he were in a state of complete weightlessness in midair.

In the spirit of taking things as they came, Wei Zhao knew that nothing he did now would avail him anything; he could only wait quietly.

After roughly who knew how long—Wei Zhao guessed about half an hour—the white before his eyes at last slowly dissipated, and beneath his feet he abruptly seemed to tread upon something: land... (Chapter 3!)