novelraw Chapter 489: Get to the Point!
Chapter 489: Get to the Point!
The flower carriage rolled on midway through the procession. As if finally hearing the most devout prayers of her faithful, the goddess raised the jade staff in her hand and gave it a light sweep: a gentle radiance spread from the spirit core set at the staff’s tip, rippling outward to fall over the surrounding cultivators.
Bathed in that glow, the cultivators’ faces blossomed with rapture; some even broke through on the spot, their auras surging sharply. Cries erupted from the crowd: “The goddess grants her blessing, the goddess grants her blessing!”
Yu Zhao and the others stood at a slight remove and did not feel the power of that light, but when they saw the crowd’s reaction they were all the more astonished. Ancestor Sui Bian muttered under his breath: “It doesn’t look fake. Someone really did break through.”
“It’s nothing but hocus-pocus,” Old Black Daoist said with disdain, “the strongest among those ‘breakthroughs’ is only at the Nascent Soul Stage. With a few tricks, I could manage the same.”
Senior Xiu Yu shook her head: “They did not break through by relying on their own cultivation, but on external force. That jade staff is no simple trinket.”
Listening to their discussion, Yu Zhao watched the goddess pass before her, eyes unblinking, a faint unease stirring in her heart. These eyes… why do they feel so familiar to me?
The goddess’s flower carriage glided into the city. The cultivators following her surged forward like the tide and poured through the gate; the outside of the walls emptied in an instant, leaving only the four of them standing where they were.
Only when the goddess’s figure had fully disappeared within the gate did Ancestor Sui Bian slap his thigh, excitement flashing across his face: “Did you see it? The tip of that jade staff—wasn’t spirit jade at all, it was a jade core!”
Yu Zhao blinked and then recovered, a spark of delight in her gaze: “A jade core? The heart of a spirit jade ore vein?”
“Exactly,” Ancestor Sui Bian clicked his tongue in wonder, “to strut around with the core of an entire spirit jade mine as an ornament… her background is anything but ordinary.”Recalling the staff, Yu Zhao felt heat rise in her chest. If a jade core were planted in the cultivation world, would it not ease the spiritual depletion there, at least somewhat? Of course, a single jade core would never be enough. But if that goddess could treat a jade core as decoration, perhaps she had more to spare.
Yu Zhao tugged Ancestor Sui Bian and Old Black Daoist close and whispered a few words in their ears. Both men jolted, exchanged a glance, and saw in each other the same gleam of excitement and the look of people set on a course.
“Go, into the city.”
Senior Xiu Yu did not know what had their trio so suddenly aflame, but seeing the light in their eyes she had a fair guess they were not planning anything wholesome: “You three, do not go too far. This is someone else’s domain.”
“Rest easy, Xiu Yu,” Ancestor Sui Bian chuckled, “we know our limits.”
Old Black Daoist, rare for him, chimed in: “That’s right. We’re only going to take a look; we won’t stir up trouble.”
Yu Zhao kept silent and wore a perfectly well-behaved expression.
Senior Xiu Yu gave them a look. Doubt lingered in her heart, but she said nothing more; her tone was cool: “Come, let’s see what the city holds.”
They flowed with the crowd through the gates. Broad streets unspooled between rows of lantern-hung shops, festive and bright; yet as far as one could see down any avenue, there were scarcely any people. Everyone had converged on the altar at the very heart of the city.
The four of them made for the altar at a quick pace. Having arrived late, they could only stand at the outermost ring; from there they watched the goddess’s flower carriage come to a halt at the foot of the steps. Staff in hand, she stepped down and began to climb, each tread unhurried.
Around the altar, countless cultivators knelt with their foreheads to the ground, lips moving with whispered prayer. At the summit the goddess halted, raised the jade staff in both hands toward the sky, and began to intone an ancient litany. Yu Zhao could not make sense of the words, but the goddess’s voice was ethereal and clear; even Yu Zhao’s restless heart grew calm.
As the chant went on, the sigils beneath the goddess’s feet lit one by one. Soon they knit into a vast formation array, and a strange wave spread quietly outward. After a short while, a melodious strain drifted down from the firmament. Then a dazzling column of gold descended like a waterfall and poured over the goddess.
In an instant her figure was wrapped in light; her white gauze robes fluttered without wind, and holiness seemed to clothe her. The clamor of prayer ceased at once. All eyes stared, struck dumb by the vision of the goddess bathing in radiance.
Just then the goddess’s voice rose, bright and ringing; the light that drenched her seemed to turn solid and billow out, swiftly covering the whole altar. From afar it looked like a pillar of brilliance linking earth and sky.
A thunderous boom followed. Spiritual power surged violently; the goddess’s aura swelled at a speed visible to the naked eye. The rest of the crowd, driven back by the sudden release, stumbled a dozen paces; ripples shivered through the surrounding space.
“Glory of divine descent!” The kneeling cultivators grew flush with ecstasy, their devotion burning even hotter.
The four were shaken beyond belief. “Other things might be staged,” Ancestor Sui Bian said, wavering, “but this divine light is too convincing. Even I would struggle to imitate it so well.”
“Her cultivation is rising, too,” Old Black Daoist added, incredulity cracking his certainty, “she is about to step into the Void Refinement Stage.”
His earlier hard words curdled on his tongue. He had sworn this was all chicanery; now the other party had produced an answer he could not deny. Could there truly be gods in this world? Old Black Daoist found his faith in his own worldview wavering.
By the time an incense stick had burned down, the divine glow had thinned and faded. The goddess’s aura steadied, stopping at late-stage Divine Transformation, great perfection—just a hairsbreadth from Void Refinement. The rite was concluded. Surrounded by throngs of cultivators, the goddess descended the steps and went toward the palace behind the altar. Only when she disappeared through its great doors did the sea of people begin to ebb.
“Her methods defy easy guesses,” someone murmured, “who on earth is she?”
“Whoever she is, we should first figure out where we are.”
“Agreed. Let’s find a local and ask, then plan our next move.”
Yu Zhao looked about and spotted a cultivator who seemed born to chatter just as he was about to leave. She called out: “Fellow Daoist, might we trouble you a moment?”
Startled, the man glanced left and right, then, seeing she meant him, scurried over and bowed with bubbling enthusiasm: “Greetings to the four seniors.”
Yu Zhao smiled faintly: “We are from elsewhere and do not yet understand the lay of things. What we have just seen—the goddess bestowing blessings—was deeply striking. Might we ask, where is this place, and what is the goddess’s origin?”
“Oh, so esteemed seniors are from outside. You could not have chosen better than to ask me. There is nothing in the Little River Realm I do not know. Why, from my great-grandfather’s time our family has lived here, and then—”
“Get to the point,” Yu Zhao said.