Chapter 121: Breaking the Code

"Has Senior Sister Qu not returned yet?" Zhou Chen rushed over from the foot of the mountain, breathless.

Mu Yunjin’s delicate, youthful face was clouded with worry. She gazed into the distance and shook her head.

Zhou Chen’s brows knit tightly together, his heart burning with anxiety. "Where on earth could Senior Sister Qu have gone? How has there been no news for months?"

"I don't know. But she should be fine. It’s just that the Five Sects Grand Tournament is about to begin," Mu Yunjin said, her lovely brows furrowed.

Zhou Chen exhaled slightly and sighed, "As long as Senior Sister Qu is safe, that’s what matters. As for the tournament, we will have to see what Sect Master Luo decides."

Mu Yunjin withdrew her gaze and lowered her lashes. She pressed a hand against the scorching dragon scale hidden beneath her collar and said in a firm voice, "I will participate in the Five Sects Grand Tournament on her behalf."

Zhou Chen’s sigh caught in his throat. He looked up in astonishment. "Senior Brother Mu, what did you say?"

...

"The door here is open as well. Let’s go up!" Qu Aiqiu emerged from the secret dungeon passage and spoke to Little Yan, who was perched on her shoulder.

Little Yan curiously tilted his small head to peer upward, though an invisible barrier still obstructed his vision. He rolled his round eyes and chirped, "Then I’m heading back in!"

"Alright." Qu Aiqiu nodded, and Little Yan returned to sit cross-legged within her sea of consciousness.

Gazing at the mysterious entrance to the third level, Qu Aiqiu cautiously cast several defensive shields upon herself.

Initially, she had only been mildly interested in the *Great Extension Reincarnation* technique, but after her journey through the Red Pagoda, she had become increasingly fascinated by its contents. Whenever her eyes turned to the manual, she could feel a powerful magnetism radiating from it. It was as if a voice in her mind were telling her that this technique had been tailor-made specifically for her. She did not know if it was a dream or an illusion; she only knew that practicing this technique brought her joy.

Deep within her sea of consciousness, Little Yan, who had been observing her, was even more astonished. As Qu Aiqiu sat in meditation for longer periods, the aura emanating from her grew increasingly chaotic. At first, Little Yan feared she had suffered a cultivation deviation and called out to her frantically, hoping to snap her out of it, only to find she was completely unresponsive. Helpless, he could only watch her transformation with bated breath.

Within this single day, Qu Aiqiu’s aura had surged from the Qi Refining stage to the late Nascent Soul stage, with subtle signs of climbing even higher.

Little Yan’s mouth hung open. In all his long life, this was the first time he had witnessed such a strange cultivation technique—one capable of causing a late Foundation Establishment cultivator to emit the pressure of a late Nascent Soul master! If his master could truly master this technique, there was no telling what kind of earth-shaking figure she would become in the future. His eyes were filled with immense anticipation.

Qu Aiqiu scanned her surroundings and frowned. "Still no sign of Su Xichen. Did he really just run off on his own?"

"Master, did you find the secret passage to the third-level dungeon?" Compared to Su Xichen’s whereabouts, Little Yan was far more concerned about the cultivation manual.

Qu Aiqiu shook her head. "There don't seem to be any signs of the secret passage on this level being forced open."

Little Yan’s delicate brows furrowed as his large eyes swept the room. "Master, let’s hurry and find the dungeon passage!"

"Right!" Qu Aiqiu didn’t waste any more time, immediately beginning a carpet-style search. Better to rely on herself than others; who cared where Su Xichen had gone!

With a dignified posture, eyes like cold stars, and brows like swords, Su Xichen gently stroked the red jade altar before him. The carvings on the stone were uneven, and as his cold fingertips touched the characters, an ancient painting twisted and manifested in the air before him, lifelike and vivid.

As the painting fully unfurled, the weariness between Su Xichen’s brows deepened. He coughed softly in discomfort and transformed into a streak of purple light, vanishing into the painting.

Seven days later.

Qu Aiqiu discovered a clue beneath a golden pillar carved with dragons and phoenixes. She successfully twisted the pillar, revealing the entrance to the dungeon passage.

"So it was here! Master, you’re amazing!" Little Yan said with genuine admiration. As time passed, his curiosity and respect for Qu Aiqiu only continued to grow.

"It was just a bit of luck. If Ao Qian were here, she probably would have spotted it at a single glance," Qu Aiqiu replied, not daring to be arrogant. She knew her own limitations. Little Yan merely took this as modesty.

A spacious and bright staircase came into view, and Qu Aiqiu stepped down in surprise. "Is this the grandeur of the top level?"

The stone walls on both sides were constructed entirely of ten-thousand-year-old black jade. The ancient beasts carved into them seemed to pace through the black mist, baring fangs and growling, as if she were standing right beside living, ancient monsters. Qu Aiqiu swept a wary gaze over the walls and slowly descended with a grave expression.

The hall opened up—magnificent, opulent, and decadent. Treasures and rare stones, each worth tens of thousands of spirit stones outside, were casually embedded into the floor tiles, serving only to decorate the three red jade altars at the very center.

She paused, startled. "There are three red jade altars here!"

Little Yan’s focus rested on the central altar, his expression puzzled. "Master, why does the indentation on the second altar look so familiar?"

Qu Aiqiu walked over quickly. "An indentation? Is the second altar not the remainder of the technique?"

Little Yan shook his head. "Not entirely."

Qu Aiqiu stood at the center of the three altars, her lips parting in disbelief. "It’s the shape of a key!"

"Indeed... doesn't Master have a key as well?" Little Yan suddenly remembered the item Qu Aiqiu had obtained some time ago.

As he spoke, Qu Aiqiu took out the silver key. "It’s... exactly the same!" She was both shocked and stunned.

"Does Master want to try it?" Little Yan was equally intrigued.

Qu Aiqiu glanced at the other two altars, her expression skeptical. "I’ll try, but since there are three altars, I suspect all three must be activated."

She pressed the silver key into the indentation; it fit perfectly. Suddenly, the silver key shimmered with white light, and the entire hall trembled for a few moments. However, it passed in an instant, and the hall returned to silence.

Qu Aiqiu looked at the key with a 'just as I thought' expression and reached out to retrieve it. However, the key seemed fused to the stone; no matter how much spiritual energy she exerted, it wouldn't budge an inch.

Little Yan noted, "Master, it seems you were right. Once we crack the other two altars, we should be able to open the passage and escape!"

Qu Aiqiu gave up on pulling the key. "Fine. I’ll go study the other two altars."

Before she could even turn away, she thought of Su Xichen and couldn't help but curse in frustration: "That man, Su Xichen, definitely left! All the formations and secret passages in the Red Pagoda have been broken; there’s no way he didn't come up here. If he didn't want to take me with him, why bother with such a pathetic excuse to trick me out of my storage bag? For a peak master of Nine Swords Peak, he certainly lacks character!"