Chapter 1057: So Big

“Oh…”

Watching this scene, President Han’s pupils contracted as if he recalled something, his voice trembling: “I understand now…”

“Understand?”

“What exactly is going on?”

While he understood, everyone else remained confused and couldn’t help but look over.

Even Master Wu, a Saint 4-dan expert, couldn’t damage the powerful seal at all with his full-force attacks. How could a mere sprinkle of… this substance make it vanish and start to collapse?

“If my guess is correct,” President Han explained, “this seal is likely of the Pure Yang attribute, extremely vulnerable to impure substances and water. If it were just water, breaking it would still be very difficult, but with the unbearable ‘Green Water Spirit Fluid,’ it couldn’t withstand the attack and collapsed automatically.”

“Pure Yang seals don’t have this characteristic, do they? Why have I never heard of this before?” Master Wu frowned. He had seen many Pure Yang seals but never one that could be broken with urine. If it were that simple, such an array would have no practical use.

“A simple Pure Yang seal naturally wouldn’t have this characteristic, but… if it’s an ‘Immaculate Pure Yang Seal,’ then it’s a different story,” President Han stated. “In fact, many arrays are vulnerable to impurities. For instance, some people trapped in an array find it impossible to break free, yet the act of a woman giving birth can cause the spiritual energy to dissipate and the array to completely collapse!”

“This… I think I’ve heard of that before…” Master Mu, standing nearby, nodded. Many believed that the blood shed during childbirth was the most impure substance, ideal for disrupting array stability. Many had even used it to forge tools specifically designed to break arrays.

“To understand the seal’s flaw with just one glance, Dean Zhang’s comprehension of arrays is truly astonishing…” Seeing that everyone had understood, President Han looked at the young man hovering nearby and sighed with emotion.

While an Immaculate Pure Yang Seal sounded simple, in reality, it was far from easy. Even with an extremely impure substance like urine, if one couldn’t find the seal’s node and simply poured it on, it wouldn’t just fail to break the seal; it might even trigger a backlash. Similar to a power attack, the greater the force applied, the stronger the counterattack, eventually overwhelming the user. This seal was precisely like that.

Dean Zhang’s actions seemed simple: carrying the wooden bucket into the air, breaking it, and thus dispelling the seal. In reality, the height of the bucket, the impact force of the liquid, and its precise landing on the seal’s node… even a slight deviation would have failed. It demanded an extremely high level of control. Likely, only such a ‘freak’ could conceive of such a method and succeed in one go without any errors.

“With such a bizarre method of breaking the seal, how then… did Zhang Yinqiu and others from Hongyuan Academy get in?” A battle master couldn’t help but look over. Everyone else was equally curious. Such an odd method could probably only be conceived by Dean Zhang. Zhang Yinqiu was upright and rigid; even if he knew of it, he probably wouldn’t be willing to perform it.

“How exactly they got in, I’m not sure, but… this relic hasn’t appeared for so many years before, and we only came here after they entered…” After some thought, President Han said, “Perhaps they possessed a secret we don’t know, or they obtained the key to enter this place!”

For any ancient ruin to allow future generations to enter, there would surely be a so-called ‘key’ or a ‘passage artifact.’ Carrying such an item would make many otherwise insurmountable seals incredibly simple, certainly much easier than their current approach of forcefully breaking through every array.

“That’s possible…” Everyone nodded simultaneously. Indeed, without such a ‘key,’ getting in would be incredibly difficult. Without Dean Zhang, they would likely still be trapped above the molten lava, utterly helpless.

Creak! Creak!

During their conversation, the urine continuously flowed from the wooden bucket. The seal it touched crackled and slowly dissipated. Within moments, the massive gateway fully appeared before everyone.

“We can go in now…” Zhang Xuan swayed, flew down, and tossed the wooden bucket aside, letting out a sigh of relief. The Library of Heaven’s Path had revealed the flaw, indicating it was an Immaculate Pure Yang array, and urine was precisely its counter. This had given him the bold idea, and he hadn’t expected it to actually work!

“Alright…” Everyone nodded simultaneously and collectively flew towards the gateway. Master Wu still went in first, and only after confirming there was no danger did he signal for the others to enter.

Outside the seal, they had felt extreme heat, but upon entering, they discovered that this heat had vanished. Instead, a faint coolness emanated from the gateway, as if their previous sensation had been an illusion.

“Did we feel wrong before?” A battle master couldn’t help but ask. Just moments ago, outside the seal, they had even used the radiating heat for cultivation, which was greatly beneficial to their cultivation… They had expected to be intolerably scorched upon entering, but how could the situation be completely opposite? Not only did they not feel hot, but they felt cool? Could everything they experienced before have been fake? That would be too strange!

“Everyone, don’t panic. If I’m not mistaken, what we experienced before was real, and what we’re experiencing now is also real!” President Han said with a solemn expression, “It’s highly likely this is an array that blends hot and cold, similar to a climate-controlling array, capable of freely changing temperature to give different sensations.”

Many array master guilds set up arrays that can control temperature, and perhaps this gateway is an example of that. Before, everyone found it unbearable outside, but upon entering, it’s very possible that a specific mechanism was triggered, causing the temperature to adapt, thus giving them this sensation.

“That’s possible…” Hearing this explanation, everyone nodded simultaneously. While they found it somewhat incredible that an array alone could create such a vast temperature difference, the person who left this ruin behind must have been an expert of an unknown, high cultivation realm. Creating such an array would not be beyond their capabilities. After all, their own limited cultivation made it hard to comprehend, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t be done, just like Dean Zhang’s method of breaking the seal with urine.

“This is not an array…”

As everyone nodded, about to proceed further inside, a faint voice sounded. It wasn’t Master Wu nor Zhang Xuan speaking, but the usually silent Luo Ruoxi.

“Not an array? Then what is it?” Seeing her speak with such certainty, everyone looked at her curiously.

“It’s the application of space!” Luo Ruoxi stated.

“Space?” Everyone exchanged glances, perplexed.

“Similar to folded space and storage rings, this gateway leads to another space. It’s not on the same plane as what was concealed by the previous seal, so naturally, the sensations it gives are different!” Luo Ruoxi explained.

“Leads to another space?” Everyone felt a jolt, filled with shock. While arrays were comprehensible, the concept of space was far more difficult to grasp. For the senior who left this ruin to be involved in this level of mastery, how powerful must they have been?

“It’s said that Saint 9-dan experts can comprehend spatial laws and create folded spaces where living beings don’t feel suffocated… Could it be that the owner of this ruin has already reached that realm?” Master Wu clenched his fists. As a high-grade 7-star master teacher, he knew many secrets. Although Saint 9-dan experts were rare, he had read relevant books and knew how terrifying they were.

For them, artifacts left by an expert of such a realm were extremely rare and coveted. However, even a simple mechanism or array left by such an individual would be beyond their comprehension. Luo Ruoxi shook her head, unclear whether it was because she didn’t know or because she was refuting his answer.

“Only Saint 9-dan can comprehend spatial laws?” Zhang Xuan blinked. To be honest, this news was quite shocking to him. At the Conferment Stage, he had entered a folded space and even had the Myriad Ant Queen collect it. So, that means… that place was left by a Saint 9-dan expert? At that time, Master Kong had just made his breakthrough, so he certainly wouldn’t have personally set it up. It was highly possible that experts of that caliber were already following him, faithfully serving him. Given Master Kong’s unique charisma and abilities, it shouldn’t have been difficult for him to gain the loyalty of a few followers stronger than himself.

“When I first arrived at the Master Teacher Academy for an open lecture, I saw Luo Ruoxi walking through the crowd without a single collision, as if she controlled space…” A thought surfaced, but he immediately shook his head with a bitter smile: “That’s impossible! She’s only a 6-star master teacher. Even if her strength is greater than mine, it can’t be by much. It’s probably some special secret art…”

Having read through the books in the Master Teacher Academy, he knew that on the Master Teacher Continent, not only were there special constitutions, but also bloodlines. Many powerful families relied on the power of their bloodlines to activate secret arts, whose might far surpassed martial techniques. It was precisely for this reason that the Saint Realm clans were so feared and dared not be defied.

Puzzled, he couldn’t help but look at the girl before him: “How can you be certain that this isn’t an array, but involves space?” Wu Tianqiong and the others also looked over, confused. Indeed, involving space was simply too profound, too difficult to comprehend.

“It’s very simple; you’ll know if you look ahead…” Luo Ruoxi blinked and pointed forward.

Everyone looked up and, sure enough, after passing through the gateway, the scene before them changed. Behind the gateway was a vast expanse of rolling mountains stretching as far as the eye could see, covered in lush green vegetation. A gentle, warm aura permeated the air, giving them the feeling that they had left Fire Source City far behind and arrived in a city like spring.

“This is… a folded space? It’s so vast…” Zhang Xuan was stunned. Since first encountering the Myriad Ant Hive, he had seen several folded spaces, and even owned one himself… But he had never seen, or even heard of, one this immense. His folded space was only a few hundred meters in diameter at best. For this one to contain vast mountains and rivers, stretching endlessly… that was terrifying! One had to know that the larger a folded space, the greater the external pressure it endured, and the worse its stability… How was such a massive space even created?

“No, this isn’t a folded space; it’s… a spatial array!” While still in shock, they heard President Han’s voice from the side. Turning to look, they saw his brows furrowed and his body stiff.