Starting My Cultivation With Time Management-Chapter 903 - 43 Wandering Heavenly Sphere, Right?
Chapter 903 -43 Wandering Heavenly Sphere, Right?
The Golden Cicada Temple was built halfway up the mountain, about a hundred zhang below the summit.
Above lies the mountain peak, where a spring pools; each day, the monks of the temple dispatch someone to retrieve water.
Below stretches a winding mountain path, piercing through a sea of clouds, destination unknown.
It seems exploration is warranted.
The monks have both a morning and evening lesson each day. After the morning session, everyone disperses and moves freely within the temple, making it difficult to cover one’s tracks. Hence, the decision was made to depart during the evening session, with Ah Jing casting an Illusion Technique as usual to obscure sight and sound.
Following the mountain path downward, the surrounding fog thickened, giving the impression of being submerged in a deep ocean.
No one could tell how long they had been walking when the fog finally began to dissipate.
Ming Zhi looked around and found himself amidst a field of ruins—the original site of the small town Jianxing had mentioned, he presumed.
It had been utterly destroyed.
Expressionless, Ming Zhi surveyed the scene, seeing only rubble and fragments of bricks. The ground was uneven, not even offering a stable place to step.
Among the debris and stones, faint traces of wooden furniture shards, remnants of stoves, iron cauldrons, and the like could still be discerned. They too were all broken beyond recognition, mixed with the rubble of collapsed buildings.
Suddenly, he crouched down and stared intently at the rubble beneath him.
“What is it?” the Summoning Sword asked curiously.
“It’s shattered too finely,” Ming Zhi replied. “This doesn’t look like the result of an earthquake.”
“If it were caused by an earthquake, most structures would break horizontally. It’s unlikely they’d be ground into such fine debris. To use an analogy, if an earthquake were like a cook shaking a pan, then the destruction here feels more like the result of violent flipping and tossing.”
“Well said,” the Kunlun Mirror added. “Let me explain. This is actually caused by spatial disturbance.”
“Spatial disturbance?” Ming Zhi asked with curiosity. “What is that?”
“It’s similar to your analogy,” the Kunlun Mirror explained. “The pan tossing… only here, it’s space itself being tossed.”
“Under what circumstances does spatial disturbance occur?” Ming Zhi frowned, feeling as though he was on the cusp of uncovering the truth.
“Very rarely,” the Kunlun Mirror answered. “Let’s put it like this: if this pocket dimension were a rubber ball, what would cause a disturbance within the ball itself?”
“Naturally, someone striking the ball from the outside,” Ming Zhi mused. “Are you saying someone used a spell from outside to attack this pocket dimension?”
“Not quite,” the Kunlun Mirror denied. “Think: even the most formidable spells you’ve seen—those capable of moving mountains and overturning seas—would be insignificant compared to the size of an entire world, like dust particles within a rubber ball. How could such a spell shake the ball itself?”
“You’re right, but this is a pocket dimension,” Ming Zhi said, stroking his chin. “The scale of a pocket dimension is far smaller than the Cultivation Realm, which means it *can* be shaken. And then there’s that Formation spanning the entirety of this pocket dimension, with the Golden Cicada Temple at its center… I think I understand now.”
“Someone activated that Formation, causing spatial disturbance throughout the entire pocket dimension, which in turn killed both the villagers and the monks.”
But as he said this, Ming Zhi felt something off about this theory.
What was the motive?
Activating a Formation to incite spatial disturbance and kill everyone within the pocket dimension—what could the spellcaster gain from such an act?
No, wait… Think again. First of all, a Formation pervasive enough to encompass the entire pocket dimension couldn’t have been secretly laid by someone. It was most likely the handiwork of the Golden Cicada Temple itself.
So here’s the real question: why would the temple establish such a massive, self-destructive Formation capable of causing spatial disturbance?
“If I were to guess, this Formation must have a different purpose,” Ming Zhi muttered after a long pause. “Spatial disturbance is merely a side effect.”
“We still need to start by investigating the Golden Cicada Temple Formation more closely,” he added.
“Agreed,” the Kunlun Mirror said. “I’ll help you scan it as well.”
Ming Zhi reactivated his scanning mode, observing as the Formation’s patterns wound down along the mountainside, intertwining with nearly every stone.
At the mountain’s base, the patterns spread outward in all directions, indeed covering the entire pocket dimension. The complexity of the Formation was astonishing… Wait.
Suddenly, a flash of insight struck Ming Zhi, and he cried out internally:
“I know where I’ve seen a Formation like this before!”
“Oh?” The Kunlun Mirror and the Summoning Sword both prompted simultaneously.
“The Heaven-Mending Formation!” Ming Zhi declared confidently. “It was mentioned on the Bamboo Slip Wan Xiang Immortal gave me. Back in ancient times, Nuwa designed such a Formation to mend the heavens!”
The mirror and sword were momentarily struck speechless. Meanwhile, Ming Zhi’s thoughts erupted, his mind racing with sharp precision as he studied the Formation around him and spoke rapidly:
“It’s exactly as I thought! This is neither some surveillance array over the temple nor a Formation designed for causing spatial disturbance. It’s a Heavenly Dome Formation! It encases the entire pocket dimension within an artificial dome, ensuring that even if the Cultivation Realm outside were utterly destroyed, this pocket dimension would remain unharmed!”
“This is precisely what Wan Xiang Immortal envisioned—a Heavenly Dome Formation capable of protecting an entire sect from an extinction event!”
………
A long silence followed.
“Why aren’t you saying anything?” Ming Zhi asked, frowning with confusion.
“We didn’t want to disrupt Sword Master’s excitement after uncovering the truth,” the Summoning Sword quipped with a laugh.
“If you have something to say, just say it!” Ming Zhi snapped impatiently. “Was there any flaw in my analysis just now?”
“No major issues,” the Kunlun Mirror said, puzzled. “But if that’s the case… why would activating the Heavenly Dome Formation cause spatial disturbance and kill every living being within?”
“Sword Master already explained,” the Summoning Sword replied calmly. “This Formation wasn’t designed to incite spatial disturbance. More accurately, the disturbance is merely a cost.”
“What cost?” the Kunlun Mirror asked.
“Think about bouncing a ball,” the Summoning Sword said with a smile. “If you knew an extinction event was imminent and built a Heavenly Dome Formation to protect your sect, what would you want to do after finishing such a Formation?”
What to do next…? Both the mirror and sword fell into contemplation.
A dome reinforced with the Heaven-Mending Stone couldn’t possibly sustain itself for long during an extinction event.
In a small pocket dimension like this, surviving the catastrophe would be a struggle. The next step would certainly involve finding a way to escape entirely…
“Could it be?” Another flash of brilliance lit up Ming Zhi’s mind, reminding him of a movie he had seen in the past. “The Golden Cicada Temple was preparing to launch the entire dome, taking the sect and ascending to the nearest Immortal Realm?!”
The Kunlun Mirror froze at his words.
An entire sect ascending… It sounded like an absurd fantasy, but upon closer consideration, it didn’t seem impossible.
The Cultivation Realm was already reaching the end of its lifespan, whereas the nearest Immortal Realm remained wholly unaffected.
Rather than clinging to life in a broken world, escaping to the Immortal Realm would be the ultimate survival strategy.
Ordinary cultivators hoping to reach the Immortal Realm could only rely on the Ascension Force of Feather Transformation; forcing their way through the heavenly dome otherwise would leave them defenseless against the chaotic void beyond.
But with the Heavenly Dome Formation, the Golden Cicada Temple’s pocket dimension could wrap itself in an indestructible sphere, shielding it from the chaos void’s assault.
Then, using some colossal move, the entire pocket dimension would be shot like a ball propelled into the Immortal Realm… and the spatial disturbance was the clearest evidence of its launch!
