The Tongtian Death Bridge and the Awakening Eye

As Xiao Chen set foot on the Shushan Immortal Island, the Stone Man within him trembled faintly. This surprised him—two tremors in a single day was an exceedingly rare event. Perhaps the island held something connected to the Stone Man. Expectation swelled in his heart.

Boundless blue ocean surged with raging waves as Xiao Chen and Qingqing flew over the island. It was shrouded in immortal mist, verdant divine trees and strange shrubs shimmering with specks of green light, as if carved from emerald jade. By flowing springs and cascading waterfalls, rare herbs and exotic flowers grew in abundance, their fragrance rushing forth and refreshing the soul.

Indeed, this was a beautiful immortal island. Peaks rose amid mist, and rays of many-colored light flashed intermittently, revealing palaces half-hidden like celestial halls fallen to the mortal world.

Qingqing had ventured deep here before. Although her harvest last time had been meager, she had already scouted the path.

“Young uncle, be careful. Ahead lies a Five Elements Formation. Even a moth would be instantly ground to dust if it strayed within.”

By a small river that flowed like a belt of azure jade, five pavilions sat symmetrically, enclosing a medicinal garden where spiritual energy swirled and radiance pulsed. Even on the outer reaches of the immortal island, they had found a garden of precious herbs; one could imagine how abundant the heavenly treasures must be at the core.

Though this was not the central medicinal garden, it still contained supreme-quality spirit plants. A dragon-tongue orchid bloomed quietly within the Five Elements Formation, its pure white, jade-like blossoms scattering a clear fragrance that made the whole body feel at ease, as if every pore had opened.

“That is an immortal herb of the highest grade. It was transplanted here to supply spiritual energy to the formation. In truth, even at the heart of the island there are not many such plants. Last time, someone was guarding it, so I couldn’t take it. Hehe, we won’t miss the chance this time.” Qingqing’s voice was sweet as she spoke, showing not the slightest hint of shame at thievery.

The dragon-tongue orchid’s emerald leaves shimmered like green agate, light flowing over them. Xiao Chen estimated that this single supreme-quality herb could divine-transform one of his acupoints—truly a top-grade treasure.

He plucked a blade of grass and flicked it toward the garden. A sharp whistling sound immediately burst forth. The five pavilions erupted with hundreds of sword beams, shredding the grass blade to nothing. Not even ash remained—a testament to the formation’s power.

“Let me.”

Qingqing raised her jade hand, and a pure white lotus bloomed at her fingertip. Its crystalline petals scattered and flew, each aimed at a different pavilion. The falling petals seemed to carry a special power, scattering pure light through the air as a soft radiance enveloped the five pavilions. It was pure spiritual energy fluctuation.

Seal!

Qingqing effortlessly suppressed the Five Elements Formation, sealing the five-element space. Then she lightly flew over, stepping across the spirit herbs like a celestial maiden treading on waves. Her long sleeves swept gently, and the dragon-tongue orchid was pulled from the earth, falling into her hand.

“Hehe, got it. Let’s go.”

The two moved like immortals, soaring over two mist-wreathed peaks. They finally entered the island’s interior, where a valley ahead swirled with flowing light and radiance rippled outward. The pulse of spiritual energy was clearly perceptible.

This was a key medicinal valley of the Shushan Immortal Island, containing various heavenly spirit essences gathered from overseas over the past year or two—their largest herb garden.

Beyond refining various artifacts, alchemy was a specialty of the cultivators. Elixirs brewed in cauldrons were among their primary means of boosting cultivation, sometimes surpassing personal training itself. Thus, celestial and earthly treasures were vital to them, a major source of advancement.

At present, the medicinal valley was very quiet. But Xiao Chen and Qingqing did not dare act rashly after sneaking in, for it was protected by terrifying formations. The slightest misstep would trigger an immortal array’s assault. Clearly, the Shushan lineage valued this garden highly; besides the fearsome formations, during the critical struggle for the Ancestral Dragon soul, ten experts remained stationed here.

“Wow… those are… Celestial Fruits! I can’t believe I’m seeing such divine objects in the mortal world.” Qingqing was amazed. “In my entire life, I’ve eaten fewer than twenty of these.”

Xiao Chen was speechless. These were the king of spirit essences—Celestial Fruits, legendary fruit born from trees formed by the spiritual essence of expired gods. Each tree produced only three fruits in its lifetime, and the number of Celestial Trees in the entire world could be counted on one’s fingers.

They were comparable to Purple-Diamond Yin Wood Ginseng Fruits.

Purple-Diamond Yin Wood, which grew in places of extreme yin, could not fruit for at least a hundred thousand years. Even the Demon Sect Founder Chiyou, whose divine power reached the heavens, had only obtained a dozen or so fruits from the underworld to repay Keke’s favor.

Celestial Fruits and Purple-Diamond Yin Wood Ginseng Fruits were both king among spirit essences, unimaginably rare. Yet here in this medicinal valley grew two Celestial Trees, each bearing two fist-sized, diamond-shaped fruits gleaming like mutton-fat jade, their radiance flowing and fragrance intoxicating.

The Shushan lineage must have gone to great lengths to transplant Celestial Trees here, indicating their ambition to remain in the mortal world for a long time.

Both were overjoyed. Such rare treasures were hard to come by, and they began plotting how to harvest them.

Finally, they slipped away quietly. Relying on Xiao Chen’s Eight Aspect Worlds ultimate speed, he set fire to a palace in the island’s central area, then quickly returned to the medicinal valley.

“The Scripture Depository is on fire!”

“Quick, put out the fire and save the scriptures!”

Shouts spread across the island.

At that moment, few experts remained on the island—most had gone to compete for the Ancestral Dragon soul. Without a leader, chaos broke out instantly.

The ten men in the medicinal valley naturally heard the cries and grew anxious. A middle-aged man pointed at his subordinates: “You few, go help at the Scripture Depository. The rest of you, go check the Alchemy Hall. I suspect someone is trying to lure us away to strike the Alchemy Hall.”

Qingqing muttered under her breath, “Oh yes, the Alchemy Hall holds the best treasures. That’s where celestial essences are refined into pills. We really should go there first.”

Xiao Chen shook his head. “The defenses there will be even tighter. Now only one man remains here, but I sense he is very strong—hard to deal with.”

Qingqing smiled. “His cultivation is about the same as mine, but we don’t have to fight him to the death. I have something good here to subdue him.”

Saying this, she produced a small, exquisite crystal pagoda, no larger than a thumb, emitting waves of light. It looked exceptionally refined—a perfect work of art.

Qingqing muttered a spell and then offered the crystal pagoda. With a flash, the pagoda vanished, then abruptly appeared above the middle-aged cultivator’s head, rapidly expanding and dropping down to trap him.

“Heaven-Overturning Tower… how can this be?!” The middle-aged man’s face turned ashen with disbelief. Though he struggled with all his might, in an instant he was taken into the tower.

Flash.

Light flickered, and the crystal pagoda shrank to the size of a thumb, flying back into Qingqing’s hand.

Xiao Chen was astonished. He hadn’t expected the crystal pagoda to be so powerful, instantly sealing a formidable cultivator. But the pagoda looked exactly like a cultivating sect’s artifact.

“Hehe, don’t doubt it—this is indeed a treasure from the cultivating world, given to me by a strange old man.” Qingqing said half-jokingly. “A few months ago, I met a peculiar elder at sea who insisted on taking me as his disciple, saying I had the perfect bones for cultivation and would become the strongest cultivator in history. I couldn’t escape him. Finally, he had to leave in a hurry, but before he left, he gave me this crystal pagoda.”

“A cultivator wanted to take you as his disciple?”

“Yes. But the old man seemed kind, unlike the cultivators I met later. His cultivation was absurdly high—I felt like an ant looking up at an elephant before him.”

“Qingqing, what realm have you reached now?”

“Well… a bit stronger than you, young uncle. But don’t be discouraged—your potential is limitless, with great room for improvement.” Qingqing’s answer was vague, and she changed the subject. “Let’s hurry and pick the Celestial Fruits. The opportunity won’t last.”

Far from just “a bit stronger.” Xiao Chen recalled that when he was recovering in the Pure Land, Qingqing’s cultivation had seemed unstable, resembling the Nirvana realm’s fluctuating high and low. Several years had passed, and since she dared venture out to train, her realm must have stabilized. By that reasoning, she had likely already entered the Deathless Longevity realm.

A formidable little girl! A peerless genius comparable to Lan Nuo. Clearly, Qingqing had a crystal-clear heart and had deliberately phrased her realm vaguely so as not to shake Xiao Chen’s confidence.

No wonder a mysterious and powerful cultivator had wanted to take her as a disciple at first sight, vowing to make her the strongest cultivator ever. Xiao Chen was somewhat moved, but his confidence was not affected.

The two carefully entered the medicinal garden. Although both were proficient in formations, they triggered the immortal array once they stepped inside.

A terrifying forbidden formation! Thousands of sword beams swept the sky, weaving into a dense, deadly sword net. Only by pushing Xiao Chen’s Eight Aspect Worlds to its limit was he able to carry Qingqing and escape that patch of sky; a single step slower would have meant being struck by the sword beams.

That stretch of space was nearly impassable. Thousands of sword beams, each as thick as a bucket, completely sealed off the sky, cutting the valley off from the outside world.

This frustrated them. They had finally managed to lure away the guards, only to be thwarted now.

“Let’s see how it works now.” Qingqing again offered the crystal pagoda. It shot into the sky, flying into the immortal formation.

The destructive formation activated once more. Not only did thousands of bucket-thick sword beams appear, but also countless streaks of lightning and hellfire—a truly terrifying array, many times more powerful than the Five Elements Formation on the island’s outskirts.

A dim, chaotic light radiated from the crystal pagoda, rippling out in halos. The sweeping sword beams were all shattered, the lightning scattered, and the flames extinguished.

“It’s even more powerful than I expected,” Xiao Chen said, impressed.

Qingqing controlled the crystal pagoda as it rapidly expanded, covering this space. It descended from the sky, swallowing and neutralizing all the destructive sword beams, lightning, and flames.

They did not delay. Using the crystal pagoda to lead the way, they rushed into the valley, heading straight for the Celestial Trees. Four milky-white fruits emanated fragrance, shining with intoxicating light as they swayed gently on the verdant branches, exceptionally alluring.

Xiao Chen and Qingqing each took two, quickly plucking the four Celestial Fruits. If the legend that these were the condensed spiritual energy of expired gods was true, they seemed almost alive, wisps of life-force radiance flowing from them.

But they did not stop. The valley glittered with rays of many-colored light; there were many other rare spirit essences, all treasures rarely seen—Purple Cloud Spirit Herbs, Emerald Immortal Blossoms, Nine-Leaf Jade Mushrooms, and more.

Seeing so many celestial treasures, Xiao Chen involuntarily thought of Keke. If that little creature were here, it would surely narrow its big eyes in happiness, then launch a massive raid, even begging Xiao Chen to help pack everything up.

To escape the grief of losing its family, Keke had returned alone to Dragon Island, as if sealing itself off. Since that day when Xiao Chen had torn open space at Lushan and seen Keke lonely on the broken root of the World Tree, crying mournfully into the distance—that image had been forever frozen in his heart, making him feel terrible. He wished he could bring that pitiful little creature to the mortal world right now.

Now, he was rampaging through the medicinal valley, leaving even Qingqing stunned. There was only one reason: he wanted to collect enough spirit essences to help the little one.

“Young uncle, don’t be excessive! We need to leave some for the owners.”

An absolute “bumper harvest”!

The two left the valley satisfied. Before leaving, Qingqing offered the crystal pagoda and dropped the unconscious cultivator inside into the valley.

All this had happened in a short time—their operation had been clean and swift. Xiao Chen and Qingqing did not leave immediately but chose to observe from hiding. The fire at the Scripture Depository was soon extinguished, and soon screams came from the medicinal valley as the returning experts discovered the theft.

Quickly, over a dozen experts flew toward the valley.

Xiao Chen and Qingqing exchanged a glance and agreed that they should go to the most important Alchemy Hall to have a look.

They approached swiftly, but retreated just as fast, because inside were at least twenty experts. This was the most critical location, even more important than the medicinal garden, with even fiercer and more terrifying immortal arrays protecting it. Only thanks to Xiao Chen’s extreme Eight Aspect Worlds speed did they escape, fading away before anyone in the Alchemy Hall could react.

At that moment, a slight tremor came from Xiao Chen’s body. The Stone Man had moved.

Flash.

Xiao Chen and Qingqing stopped, standing on the back peak of the island. They both sensed something unusual.

“That is…”

Atop the peak was a spatial gate, its interior shimmering with light, leading who knew where. Could this be the passage connecting the cultivating world to the mortal world? Had the cultivators entered the mortal world through here?

But why was it unguarded, the gate left open? It seemed they did not mind outsiders discovering this secret.

The Stone Man’s earlier quake had clearly been caused by this spatial gate. Xiao Chen decided to go in and take a look.

Qingqing tried to dissuade him: “Young uncle, don’t take the risk. The Shushan lineage once tried to get their hands on me. That fellow Deng Yu was no friend to you either. But we’ve already taken back our due interest; there’s no need to risk further.”

“Wait for me here. With my speed, I can retreat at the first sign of trouble.” Xiao Chen did not want to give up. The Stone Man within him was too mysterious; whatever made it react was sure to be extraordinary.

Flash.

Xiao Chen vanished into the spatial tunnel.

He soon found himself in a strange space. The blue sky held faint ripples of energy; there was no sun, but the light was very soft. The space was not large, only about ten li in radius—what seemed to be a sealed void. Green vegetation flourished, and aside from its cramped size, it looked no different from the real world outside.

Flash.

Qingqing rushed in as well.

“Qingqing, why did you follow?”

“I don’t trust you, young uncle—you’re always courting danger. I was preparing for a critical moment of “beauty saving the uncle.””

Together, they walked forward. Soon they stopped by a clear little lake.

In the lake, light rippled in specks. Endless green lotus leaves stretched to the sky; the lotus blossoms reflected the sun with a distinct beauty. Amid the emerald leaves, a giant lotus stood like a towering tree, unimaginably large.

Half-hidden by green leaves, a twelve-grade lotus platform floated quietly on the water. Many spiritual fish swam around it, some even spitting out demonic pearls—they had already gained a bit of cultivation.

Xiao Chen was greatly surprised. This crystalline lotus platform was so spiritually rich that it could allow fish to transform into demons! How abundant its spiritual energy must be.

Back then, Keke had stolen a nine-grade lotus platform from the Spirit Essence Hall in Heavenly Emperor City of the Southern Wastes. That one had been only the size of a washbasin, yet it had been considered the highest-grade treasure in the city. But this one here was a twelve-grade lotus platform, half as big as a room! One could imagine its grade. It had long surpassed the category of spirit essence; it was a supreme treasure.

This lotus platform looked exactly like the Buddha’s twelve-grade lotus throne. It, too, shimmered with radiance, as if carved from crystalline jade, flowing with hazy immortal qi. Whether in size or in the ripples of spiritual energy, it was in no way inferior to the Buddha’s supreme treasure.

“I dare say this twelve-grade lotus platform is no worse than the Buddha’s,” Xiao Chen said. He was the most qualified to judge, having controlled the Buddha’s lotus for a long time. But he could not understand why such an identical, unimaginable lotus platform existed here—and was still growing.

At that moment, the Stone Man within him moved again. But it was not the twelve-grade lotus platform that caused the tremor—it was an extremely ordinary-looking stone bridge over the small lake.

Inside Xiao Chen’s body, the broken Stone Man slowly raised its intact left hand, pointing forward at the stone bridge.

Qingqing saw Xiao Chen abandon the twelve-grade lotus platform and fly toward the ancient, crude stone bridge. She, too, came over to examine it carefully.

On the stone bridge were four ancient characters, blurred by untold ages of weathering.

“Eh… those seem to be the most primordial divine script,” Qingqing said in surprise.

“You recognize them?” Xiao Chen was even more startled.

“I’ve studied some. The four characters should be… Tongtian Death Bridge.”

“What? The Tongtian Death Bridge?” Xiao Chen was shocked. The cultivators had once ordered the construction of a Tongtian Death Bridge by the Yellow River—so there had actually been a real “prototype”!

“Young uncle, look… the bridge arch seems strange, as if… connected to another world.” Qingqing pointed at the darkly glowing bridge arch.

This space had soft light, but under the bridge arch it was pitch black. Even with clairvoyance, one could not see clearly.

Just then, the twelve-grade lotus platform in the lake suddenly trembled, emitting powerful waves of energy that instantly made both Qingqing and Xiao Chen feel a chill in their hearts—a soul-deep shudder.

“Not good! I sense that the twelve-grade lotus platform is nurturing a life!” Qingqing cried out in alarm. “Young uncle, let’s retreat!”

Xiao Chen understood in an instant. No wonder the spatial gate was unguarded, and they were not worried about someone discovering such a divine object as the Tongtian Death Bridge. Another supreme treasure, the twelve-grade lotus platform, was guarding everything.

Qingqing’s powerful spiritual sense blazed. “Within the twelve-grade lotus platform is a woman of unimaginable power… she… is awakening!”

Xiao Chen grabbed Qingqing without hesitation, using the Eight Aspect Worlds to flee headlong toward the spatial tunnel. With ultimate speed, they crossed space, covering miles with each step. They burst out of the spatial gate and fled the island in an instant, not stopping until they were twenty li away from the Shushan island.

But at that moment, two beams of overwhelming, fearsome light swept toward them, forcing them to flee another several dozen li.

“That woman! It is she… who has opened her eyes!”

Since meeting Qingqing, Xiao Chen had never seen her so grave.

“Is she chasing us?”

“No. She is still in that void, still being nurtured in the lotus platform. But I have a feeling she opened her eyes and is watching us.”

“The light of her gaze?!” Xiao Chen was stunned. The radiance of her eyes was fiercer than sword beams, and from such distance! Suddenly, he recalled the words of Tong Hu from Lushan:

“There is a pair of eyes watching from far away. They seem to be a woman’s eyes. I’ve never seen anyone’s gaze so sharp—a hundred times fiercer than sword energy. I estimate she is a hundred li from here, yet I can still sense it… Though I never saw the face, if I were to reconstruct it from that fierce gaze, the eyes are very similar to those of the woman in the painting you showed me.”

These thoughts shook Xiao Chen to the core. How could this be?

“Qingqing, did your spiritual sense catch that woman’s face?”

“Vaguely, I saw it. Very beautiful—an almost demonic beauty.”

Hearing this, Xiao Chen took a scroll from his sleeve and unrolled it. “Was it this woman in the painting?”

Qingqing was surprised. “It looks very similar! Almost exactly alike!”

Flash!

At that moment, two cold beams swept across the distant sky, a hundred times more piercing than sword beams, shaking the soul.

Tong Hu’s words were confirmed!

Xiao Chen shouted in alarm, grabbed Qingqing, and fled far away.

Who was that?

Why?

Xiao Chen’s heart was full of confusion. Could it really be… Ruoshui?

But how could it be? How?!