After everyone entered the black door, the massive face began to warp. Three misty figures dissolved out of the face, which then transformed into three wizened old Cultivators. They looked as if they had just crawled out of the grave.
Without hesitation, they head back toward the statue from which they had come. As they moved toward it, massive amounts of black aura emanated off of them, as if they were corroding.
“What happened?” said the face. “Oh well. Anyway, without the authentication item, you cannot enter!” It looked confused for a moment, but then its eyes grew clear and it began to howl.
Currently, there were only eleven people left within the fissure. In addition to Patriarch Violet Sieve and the beautiful middle-aged woman, there were nine others, all of them Core Formation Cultivators. They ignored the howls of the face in the door, sitting down cross-legged and closing their eyes. At the same time, their hands flickered with incantation gestures. In the middle of the group of nine appeared a Ginseng fruit, floating in the air.
The fruit was glittering and translucent. Its interior roiled as if it contained good fortune from the Heavens inside.
The Spirit fruit writhed along with the rotation of the nine Cultivation bases, and it looked as if it were beginning to grow a head and four limbs.
Patriarch Violet Sieve and the beautiful middle-aged woman stood off to the side, their gazes fixed onto the Spirit fruit.
“I went in once,” said the middle-aged woman with a frown. “But after the space of about thirty breaths, the expelling force within became very intense. Even with my Divine Sense, I was unable to locate the object. I can only hope that the Hundred Spirits Tower will be effective. It’s still not quite complete. Hopefully this time there will be enough.”
Patriarch Violet Sieve was silent for a moment before coolly replying, “I personally prepared this Spirit Ginseng. With the Ginseng form, we can stay inside for the time it takes an incense stick to burn. Everything is prepared. If we cannot succeed this time, then in accord with the words of the Sect Leader and the Patriarchs, we will open the Blessed Land to the public. We will borrow the might of the entire Southern Domain to refine the object of legends. After all, to Cultivators like us, that object is the only hope we have other than the Rebirth Cave!”
The beautiful woman hesitated for a moment and then said, “If that happens, though, we will be forced to share. Even if the Black Sieve Sect does the refining, the more people who are involved, the less of a chance we will get our turn…. I might have it a bit better off, but you and the others will be much more limited.”
“True. Even if we have to sacrifice some of our own Sect’s disciples this time, we will not fail!” A dark violet color appeared within the birthmark on his face, giving him a very fierce appearance.
**