I Was Forced To Marry The Phoenix Empress

Chapter 207: Unknown Characters

=== Godly Cultivator System ===

Name: Yi Chen

Age: 18 years

Strength: 180

Spiritual Sea: 28.67 -> 48.67 / 48.67 [Recovery: 8 hrs of Sleep]

Qi Pool: 280 / 350 [Recovery: 24 days]

Cultivation: Fifth Level of [Meridian Refinement Stage]

Qi Nature: Fire

Innate Ability: Eye of Truth Lv2 (Active) [Progress: 0 / 1,000,000,000 EXP]

EXP: 44,245

[Cultivation Arsenal]

=========== End ===========

"44,000 EXP!" he exclaimed while smiling gleefully.

The next instant, his eyes went back to his spiritual sea stat. Although he felt happy about it, when compared to his feelings with regard to Experience points, his happiness was relatively less.

’Despite having this much spiritual energy, the only changes I can feel are the increased clarity of my mind along with the ease in using the Crimson Fire Arts for a longer duration and with more dexterity...’

He thought with a bitter smile on his face.

’I still can’t use it to sense others’ cultivation levels, like Madam Gao did that day...even my Qi Pool has not expanded beyond spatial limits and still stores the same amount of Qi...

...There isn’t something wrong because of my early rise in spiritual energy, right?’

A trace of worry welled up in his eyes, but he soon shook it away and muttered to himself.

’I’m just thinking too much now that I have some free time. It’s most probably just because I still have not entered the Ninth Meridian Refinement Stage and refined my head meridians.’

He let out a deep exhale, and the next instant, immersed himself in his cultivation until late at night.

The next morning, everyone woke up early.

"You’re all healed," Yi Chen said with a smile as he glanced towards Zhou Lan. A healthy glow had returned to her face.

"Yes, it’s all thanks to Brother Chen and Madam Gao’s help." Zhou Lan answered with a smile.

"What about me? I looked after you the whole night, you know? You dare forget me!" Xie Rou tightly wrapped her arm around Zhou Lan’s neck and squeezed while feigning an angry expression.

"Ahhh!" Zhou Lan struggled under her arms and said while tapping, "Let go...I already thanked you in the morning! Why do I have to do it again!"

"Hmph!" Xie Rou snorted and, after releasing her neck, said, "Once is not enough! Do you have any idea how left out I just felt?"

’It seems that the Bone Setting Pill successfully did its work,’ Yi Chen thought in amusement while witnessing the two’s playfulness.

"Alright, you two love birds, stop quarrelling. We still have a long distance to cover today." Gao Zhen chuckled, seeing their antics, which she had grown used to by now.

"Yes, Madam Gao." The two answered with embarrassed smiles on their faces.

With that said, Gao Zhen glanced towards Yi Chen, who nodded and a few moments later, they wrapped up everything and left towards the black tower.

Because they were in a group, Yi Chen didn’t use the Bursting Fire Steps lest he should leave them behind. As a result, their pace was comparatively slow.

Thanks to Yi Chen, Gao Zhen and others weren’t as tense as before while making their way through the forest.

All the ghostly beasts they encountered were easily taken care of by Yi Chen.

’It feels as if it is us who are at the Fifth Meridian Refinement Stage and not him...’ Gao Zhen thought with mixed emotions while following behind him.

A month ago, she was at the Ninth Qi Absorption Stage and was among the top experts in the entire White Jade Kingdom, and now she had no choice but to rely on Yi Chen.

Although slow, the four of them kept making steady progress towards the black tower, and by early afternoon, the enormous black tower was just a few meters away from them.

"So big..."

Yi Chen muttered when his eyes fell on the giant structure from up close.

Its four sides stretched almost five kilometres, while its towering height remained unfathomable because of the dense clouds that prevented one’s sight.

Gao Zhen and others shared a similar feeling on their faces.

’I knew that it was huge from the records...but seeing it myself is truly an astonishing feeling,’ Gao Zhen thought as her gaze moved over the enormous black tower, particularly focusing on the grey lines of characters covering the entire black surface.

"What are those grey characters on it? They look like words, but I’m unable to understand any of it..." Zhou Lan muttered.

"Yes...it’s all over the structure..." Xie Rou nodded and took a step forward to observe them closely.

It was only then that Yi Chen’s attention was attracted by these characters.

He had been too engrossed in its size to notice these small lines of characters that went from one side to the other.

"It’s the lost language of the ancient cultivators..." Gao Zhen answered their doubts in the next second, taking a few steps forward towards it and observing the grey equally spaced lines of characters.

Raising her hand, she tried to trace them, but instead of resting on the tower’s black surface, her hand went subtly through the black surface.

’So, we can pass through it...’ Yi Chen nodded in understanding.

Meanwhile, Gao Zhen subtly pulled back her hand and carefully traced each of the characters.

"Madam Gao...by any chance...do you understand this language?" Zhou Lan asked curiously.

"No...only a few scholars on the entire continent are able to do that, and even then, not completely." Gao Zhen shook her head with a chuckle at that question and added, "However, I did go through its set of characters out of curiosity once, so I know how they sound..."

As she said that, she traced her finger over a certain set of characters and said, "Like if you observe carefully...you’ll notice that all the lines of text here are just a repeat of these seven characters..."

"A repeat?" Xie Rou asked inquisitively while carefully observing the tower’s surface. Her eyes widened in realisation the next second as she nodded, "Madam Gao’s right! It’s exactly as you’ve said."

"Then..." Yi Chen suddenly asked after listening to their exchange, "What do these characters sound like together?"

At this question, Gao Zhen smiled and pointed at the first character and traced her finger across the next set of characters.

"It’s like this," She said and started reading, "Lagir Dericia Fahir...Lagir Dericia Fahir...that’s how it goes."

’Lagir Dericia Fahir...’

The moment Yi Chen repeated the words, the innate Qi resting inside his Qi pool grew chaotic and started hammering his Qi Pool’s boundary.

ARGH!

Yi Chen grabbed his abdomen and curled up on the ground the next instant.

"Young Master Chen!"

"Brother Chen!"

Everyone’s expression turned worried as they rushed towards Yi Chen, whose entire body was drenched in sweat by now.

Tightly gritting his teeth from the pain, he was curled up on the ground.

’W-What.... Just what was that....’ Yi Chen thought in confusion while breathing heavily as the piercing pain in his abdomen ceased all of a sudden.

GASP!

Gasping heavily, he pushed his upper body up and gestured towards Gao Zhen and others that he was fine.

’Was it because of those words?’ he thought while glancing at the lines of text fearfully.

A part of him wanted to confirm it by repeating the words in his mind...however, his rational side didn’t dare to. The pain was unimaginable, and he worried that he might lose his consciousness this time.

Seeing that Yi Chen was trying to stand up, the three of them helped and asked him a few moments later.

"Just what happened, Brother Chen? Why did you suddenly fall?"

"I...I don’t know...I just suddenly felt an intense pain in my Qi pool, which caused me to collapse..."

A deep frown formed on Gao Zhen’s forehead when she heard this and asked the next second, "...Can you try circulating the Qi in your body?"

Hearing this, Yi Chen nodded and attempted to circulate his Qi with a concerned expression.

However, his worries were needless. He immediately found that he was still able to circulate his Qi.

"There’s no problem with my circulation," Yi Chen answered.

"That’s a relief..." Gao Zhen sighed in relief when she heard this and added, "As the symptom you just described matched the experience cultivators go through when their Qi pool is crippled..."

"Crippled my Qi pool...That surely isn’t the case, haha..." Yi Chen laughed forcefully while pulling out his status panel the next second.

’Phew...everything looks normal.’

He sighed in relief, but at the same time couldn’t help but think, ’Wait...could I have been on the brink of having my Qi pool crippled back then...’

He glanced towards the lines of characters on the black tower as his expression stiffened the next second.

’I don’t want to have anything to do with those words from now on...’ he forced himself to forget the words and said while pointing towards the black tower.

"So, when are we going in then?" Yi Chen asked.

"Let’s rest here first." Gao Zhen said with a serious expression, "We’ll be surrounded by skeleton-like beasts the moment we enter inside, so we should be in our best state when that happens."