Chapter 464: Chapter 353 Nun Detox Night_2
"An array... runes?"
On the walls of the corridor, there were array runes, faintly glowing with a ghostly blue light. The lines twisted and coiled like serpents, converging into the shape of a Taiji Yin-Yang fish.
This must be the "Fake to Real" array.
Dong Guifei initially wanted to say this aloud, but upon closer inspection, she noticed something strange—the Yin-Yang fish was inverted, with the Yin and Yang reversed. What should have been straight array runes were drawn into a series of eerie, distorted curves.
"It’s reversed..."
Dong Guifei muttered in shock and suspicion,
"This ’Fake to Real’ array is upside down..."
The "Fake to Real" array is upside down?
Chen Yi’s mind buzzed, and the earlier clues began to piece together bit by bit.
If the "Fake to Real" array is reversed,
then it means... using falsehood to create truth?!
Could the master of this secret realm... have turned everything within it real?
Dong Guifei appeared to have thought of the same possibility, her tone becoming hurried:
"I suspect... the Empress Dowager isn’t the master of this secret realm, but merely borrowed it."
Chen Yi turned his head and asked in confusion:
"Why?"
"Because she doesn’t know there’s a Yin-Yang Gate here!" Dong Guifei spoke with firm conviction.
If the Empress Dowager knew there was a gate here, given her highly cautious nature, she would never have allowed this Korean concubine to reside here unscathed.
Let alone granting her the title of Guifei—a title that, even if it was merely symbolic, historically made the Imperial Noble Consort second only to the Empress Dowager in the palace hierarchy.
"And how do you know..."
"This humble nun..."
At this moment, Dong Guifei gritted her teeth and had no choice but to reveal the truth:
"This humble nun is the concubine of the Cold Palace. My surname is Dong, and I come from the royal lineage of the former Korean dynasty..."
Chen Yi was momentarily stunned, but then he remembered her Korean origins. In the capital city, Koreans were exceptionally rare, and they were most abundant within the palace.
If what she said was true, that the Empress Dowager didn’t know of this gate and wasn’t the true master of the secret realm but had only borrowed it...
Then the true master of the secret realm must be...
The Emperor of Great Yu?!
Was his aim... using falsehood to create truth?!
A terrifying realization crashed into his mind, causing a tumultuous storm. Countless speculations surged within Chen Yi, yet only one aligned perfectly with all the evidence and reasoning.
No wonder the Emperor of Great Yu sought to ascend to immortality through the "Three Bodies Severance" method. And yet, even after slaying his own mother, he failed to become immortal...
How could a paper man become an immortal?!
Even if he was a paper man endowed with a soul!
While Chen Yi’s thoughts raced, a sudden sound broke through the silence outside the Cold Palace:
"Screech!"
Chen Yi listened closely to the wind and his expression changed dramatically.
A master had arrived, tearing through the air!
The eagle-like screech reverberated across the palace city at dusk. Commoners in the streets, when watching martial artists clash, could usually judge the strength of a punch or the grace of a sword. Yet, the further one advanced in martial arts, the more they could discern subtle intricacies. At his current Fourth Rank state, Chen Yi could detect the martial prowess of the approaching figure merely from the sound of the wind.
The Martial Arts Third Rank.
Without hesitation, Chen Yi grabbed Dong Guifei and immediately leapt out of the window.
With a sudden jerk, Dong Guifei’s body trembled briefly, her cheeks flushed like peach blossoms in early spring, but she quickly reacted and followed Chen Yi as they fled.
Glancing cautiously back, she saw a figure flying toward them—a paper man carrying a Sword Box. Its energy surged, nearly allowing it to walk on air, and the three-foot sword in its hand gleamed coldly as it pursued them relentlessly.
Under the setting sun, Dong Guifei didn’t keep watching for long before seeing the cold gleam of the sword flash. The blade shot through the air, piercing the sky and ripping apart shingles on the rooftops along its path!
Whoosh!
Just as the sword was about to strike both of them simultaneously, Chen Yi and Dong Guifei separated at the last moment. The long sword narrowly missed them, tearing through the space between them, and shattered the distant rooftop with a deafening screech.
Their reflexes were both astonishing—had the sword struck them, even if they survived, they would have been gravely injured.
"Qi Yangjian, the Thousand-Sword Master?!"
Dong Guifei exclaimed in shock.
"Is he strong?"
"The Chief Eunuch of the Secretariat during the reign of the late Emperor... the Capital City’s foremost Grandmaster in his day. When the Empress Dowager usurped power and took the regency, he was her greatest obstacle. He once fought the Xique Pavilion Master at the Hidden Truth Temple, and ultimately perished from exhaustion."
Dong Guifei’s voice trembled slightly,
"I never expected his paper man to appear here. Just what is this secret realm’s palace guarding?"
As Dong Guifei expressed her disbelief, Qi Yangjian’s paper figure moved, its form flickering instantly before sending another sword strike through the air!
Now unable to keep running, fleeing on foot was no longer an option—they had to fight while retreating. Chen Yi drew his blade from its sheath, stepped back on one foot, and smashed the ground beneath him into rubble.
Chen Yi vaulted forward, unleashing a "Wind-Shattering Rain-Cleaving Strike" mid-air.
Boom!
An explosive roar echoed between the palace walls.
What had always been an unstoppable technique, the "Wind-Shattering Rain-Cleaving Strike," now collided evenly with the incoming sword. The flying sword shattered on the spot, but Chen Yi’s hand was bloodied, and he was sent reeling backward from the tremendous recoil.
Chen Yi steadied himself and looked down toward the palace. In that moment, he saw more paper figures appearing—numerous warriors, one after another. The palace within this secret realm was teeming with paper martial artists!
A dense multitude—hundreds upon hundreds!
Qi Yangjian’s expression remained blank. As a paper figure, he only followed orders and was unaffected by Chen Yi’s retreat. He flicked his finger lightly, and the sword light flashed forward once more, aiming to strike Dong Guifei, who had attempted to sidestep and launch a counterattack.
The cold gleam tore through the dusk, naturally slicing through Dong Guifei’s loose, flowing hair. Strands of black fell like rain, but she barely managed to redirect the sword’s trajectory.
The blade plunged into a pavilion where members of the Heavenly Family often drank tea and admired the view. The sword’s energy was so sharp that the entire roof rippled like fish scales before it exploded, sending shards of tiles and debris scattering into the air.
The devastating force left both Chen Yi and Dong Guifei stunned.
Even though Qi Yangjian had long been dead, with his current form being nothing more than a soul-infused paper figure, his combat power far exceeded anything the two of them combined could hope to counter.