# 1693
Chapter 1686: Wooden God Gou Mang
Kunlun Mountains.
Between the vast expanse of white snow, two frost-white carriages descended rapidly from above the clouds and finally came to a stop somewhere on the snowfield.
"This is it." Lin Qiye stepped down from the carriage, located the entrance to Kunlun Ruins from memory, and gave a slight nod.
Just as he was about to turn back to say something, face after face flushed green rushed out of the carriages, scattering in all directions to retch violently. No one paid any attention to Lin Qiye's movements.
Seeing this, Lin Qiye sighed helplessly. He reached down himself to push away the snow below, revealing an ancient and mysterious bronze pattern etched into the wind and snow.
"Have you been to Jade Pool before?"
Jialan walked to his side, face still ashen, and asked.
The entrance to Jade Pool was known only to a handful of people—the mortal realm should never have set foot here. Yet Lin Qiye had found it right away, which made her somewhat puzzled.
"Never before, but I have since." Lin Qiye shrugged. "If I opened it, I'd have to break it by force... Want to give it a try?"
Jialan nodded, placing her palm on the pattern. A faint light gleamed in her eyes, and immediately the entire pattern blazed brilliantly!
The transmission power rippled outward from the pattern, instantly sweeping everyone up. The group felt they hadn't even finished vomiting when their vision blurred, and another wave of dizziness washed over them!
"Urrgh—!!!"
Zhan Yuwu had only vomited halfway when the scene before him suddenly cleared.
He looked down to see a corpse clad in armor lying in a pool of blood amidst the ruins, staring straight at him. A fierce aura of凶煞 rushed into Zhan Yuwu's nostrils. His pupils contracted sharply. Fighting through the dizziness, he stumbled backward several steps.
A severed leg caught his heel, and he lurched, tumbling backward.
At that moment, a hand steadied his shoulder.
Zhan Yuwu's face was deathly pale. He turned to look back and saw Lin Qiye scanning the surroundings with a grave expression, as if lost in thought.
"Thank you..."
Zhan Yuwu exhaled in relief. When he calmed himself and looked again at the blood pool, he saw dozens of corpses scattered haphazardly on the ground, how long dead he couldn't say. The one who had been having a deep "eye contact" with him was apparently a general among them.
Interspersed among the bodies were numerous willow branches—much like what Lin Qiye and the others had encountered in Chang'an. Judging from the scattered arrangement of corpses and branches, they had likely been locked in combat with each other.
The thick scent of blood instantly dispersed everyone's carsickness aftereffects. They scanned their surroundings warily. Besides the broken, collapsed palaces around them, there was nothing but densely packed corpses... Not a trace of life in sight.
"This is supposedly where the immortals lived?" Hu Jia couldn't help but ask.
"Probably after the Kusan入侵, things fell into complete chaos. It wasn't like this before." Lin Qiye walked to one of the corpses and crouched down to examine it closely. "One fatal blow each... Everyone died from a single strike. The one who killed them was a deity, though whether a true god or a counterfeit, I can't say."
Seeing this scene, Jialan couldn't help covering her mouth... Many of the dead were faces she recognized.
"By the way, it seems the colorful smoke is gone... Could the monster's main body already be dead?" Chloe asked curiously.
"Hard to say. When Chang'an was struck, the smoke was still several miles away. After the replication was complete, Kusan's main body could move freely."
Lin Qiye stood up, locked onto the direction where Jade Pool should be based on his memory, and walked straight toward it.
"In any case, we can't let our guard down. Let's first see if there are any other survivors."
The group followed Lin Qiye, moving inch by inch toward Jade Pool. But everywhere they looked was either corpses or willow branches, even fragments of magical artifacts shattered beyond recognition.
The Kunlun Ruins had been completely reduced to rubble, with none of the ethereal, otherworldly beauty Lin Qiye had witnessed before.
"So this is what Yang Jian meant by the 'bloodbath of Jade Pool'..." Lin Qiye recalled what the remnant of Yang Jian had told him in Jade Pool about its past, murmuring to himself.
"What's that place over there?" Yan Zhong pointed to a cluster of palaces nearby. "Why is that area still intact when everything else is nearly destroyed?"
"That's the Three Great Halls. Besides the Peach Garden, it's the most important place in Jade Pool... The Alchemy Hall houses the spiritual pills of Jade Pool, the Law Hall records the thousand methods of Heavenly Court, and the Armory Hall displays the divine weapons forged personally by the Queen Mother." Jialan glanced at it and answered.
"Before the Queen Mother sent me away, she set up a barrier around the Three Great Halls. Unless a Chief God intervenes personally, others can barely enter."
"The Alchemy Hall..."
In Lin Qiye's mind, the countless pill jars floating within that suspended hall appeared. The Elixir of Immortality and the Pill of Immortality had originally been stored in this Alchemy Hall.
He gazed at the three halls and gave a slight sniff, as if detecting something. His brow furrowed slightly.
"Let's go take a look."
Lin Qiye approached the Three Great Halls. As he was about to step through, an invisible ripple rippled outward before him. His eyes narrowed slightly, and he slowly drew back his foot.
"Didn't you say there's a barrier there? Can we get in?" Chloe asked.
"Yes."
Lin Qiye flipped his palm, and a strand of karma thread drifted from his palm, intertwining with the barrier before him.
Through the power of Causeless Cause, a brand-new thread of karma was born between the barrier and Lin Qiye. Just as Lin Qiye controlled Ame-no-Murakumo, in this instant, he gained partial control over the barrier.
With a wave of Lin Qiye's hand, a portal opened in the barrier before everyone. Astonishment appeared in Jialan's eyes.
"Not breaking it by force... How did you do that?"
Lin Qiye didn't answer. His brow creased, one hand stopping the people behind him as his own footsteps slowly stepped through the barrier.
The next moment, the earth beneath his feet suddenly tore apart. A stout wooden dragon coiled within the soil roared as it burst from the ground, instantly swallowing Lin Qiye's figure and racing toward the sky!
The sudden turn of events startled the people behind him.
Huo Qubing's eyes narrowed. A surge of lightning struck down from the sky, locking onto the tip of his spear. As the power of domination enveloped the lightning-wrapped spear, it transformed into a roaring dragon of thunder, lunging to tear at the wooden dragon!
The twin dragons charged into the clouds. Before they could clash with each other, the wooden dragon's head exploded. A figure in blue clothing, gripping a broken sword, split the wooden dragon open from within. Like lightning piercing through heaven and earth, they crashed down into the center of the barrier around the Three Great Halls!
Billowing dust shrouded Lin Qiye's form. His gaze locked onto the front of the Alchemy Hall.
There, on the stone steps, a herdboy with twin hairpins sat astride a blue ox, coldly regarding Lin Qiye before him. A Chief God-level aura radiated outward.
"By order of the Queen Mother of the West, this deity guards this place... Who dares trespass the forbidden grounds of Jade Pool?"