I Can Deduce Arts by Slaying Demons

Chapter 261 - 231: Holy Mother Leader! Void Cave True Lord?

In a place of utmost mystery, the misty vapors drifted wantonly between heaven and earth, like a thin veil of gauze.

A pristine white palace stood silently within, occupying about a hundred zhang in width, grand in scale, with flying eaves and interlocking beams, exquisitely detailed in every aspect.

It seemed as if it were a work of nature itself, exuding an inviolable sanctity, devoid of any flaws.

And surrounding the grand palace was a vast, boundless lake.

The lake’s surface was as smooth as a mirror, reflecting the majestic stature of the palace and the indistinct, ethereal clouds and mist.

A gentle breeze, origin unknown, rippled across the lake’s surface.

The rippling, shimmering lake water revealed the scene outside the palace gates, crowded with innumerable, stirring figures.

Without exception, they were all dressed in peculiar pure white robes.

The long hoods of the white robes thoroughly concealed their faces, leaving only shadows deep and dark.

Yet now, their movements were uniformly synchronized, exuding a mechanical rigidity, as if they were puppets manipulated by invisible strings.

Outside the palace, they began to kneel slowly in unison, then, at the same rhythm, prostrated themselves.

Foreheads thudded heavily against the white jade bricks on the ground, producing a dull, rhythmic sound.

In front of the expansive palace, this scene appeared particularly abrupt, with no extraneous noises beyond the clear sound of kowtowing.

This indescribable eerie sensation grew stronger, sending chills down one’s spine, making one’s hair stand on end.

However, this strange and terrifying scene was shattered in the next instant.

A shout, wrapped in overwhelming fury, echoed like ten thousand thunderclaps from the depths of the palace,

"Damn Profound Bird Guard!"

"You brat!"

"I will dismember you into pieces!"

This roar, filled with intense hatred and reluctance, shook the white jade glazed tiles of the palace into a humming resonance.

Waves of visible sound, bearing an imposing momentum, wrought havoc outside the palace, unleashing a terrifying storm.

Amid the howling wind, the white-robed crowd that had been kowtowing outside the palace.

At this moment, they were wantonly swept up by the raging power, their forms swaying precariously in the gale.

White garments flapped and rustled, seeming as if in the next breath they would be wholly consumed by this irresistible storm.

Just as the white-robed crowd outside was battered by the storm, teetering on the brink of collapsing.

Within the palace, an elderly, calm voice resounded once more, not piercing, yet seemingly possessing an intangible power.

This voice pierced straight through the roaring wind and rampaging sound waves.

Like an invisible celestial hand, it slowly smoothed the raging and wild storm outside the palace.

"Bai Gu!"

A simple two-word command, spoken with an exceedingly calm and unhurried tone, yet revealing an undeniable authority, echoed leisurely in the air.

The chaos that had engulfed the scene outside the palace was immediately quelled, leaving only the heavy breaths of the crowd and the gradually dissipating echoes of the storm.

In the depths of the palace, a vast and bright hall suddenly emerged.

The hall was so silent it felt oppressive, the cold white jade walls glimmering with a sinister white light.

At the very center of the hall, there was a colossal, serene white Lotus Platform.

The layers of lotus petals unfurled, carved with lifelike detail, with each petal etched with bizarre patterns.

Yet upon this sacred white Lotus Platform was placed a faceless female sculpture.

No eyes, no nose, no mouth, the smooth, delicate face was a blank slate, yet inexplicably gave the illusion that she was gazing at all before her.

The white jade woman’s sculpture was elegant in posture, its lines flowing, a white robe cascading naturally.

What should have been a dignified and beautiful stance was rendered subtly eerie and mysterious by the absence of facial features.

Standing beneath the platform, one couldn’t help but feel a chill run down their spine, an endless surge of dread and unease rising in their hearts.

And at the base of this woman sculpture, a circle of white candle stands was neatly arrayed, numbering twenty in total.

Each candle stand bore an ancient design, its shaft long and slender.

At the top danced a cold, white flame, burning quietly like an eerie ghost fire, emitting a dazzling, piercing glare.

The chilling white candlelight flickered in the vast hall, its projections on the walls twisting and shifting.

At this moment, among them, seven candle stands had, unbeknownst when, conspicuously extinguished, leaving only wisps of blue smoke curling upward, slowly dissipating in the dim light.

Without the flame, the seven extinguished candle stands turned into lifeless, cold objects, silently arranged there.

Suddenly!

The seven silent white candle stands, as if seized by an invisible giant hand, abruptly broke free from the confines of the Lotus Platform, swiftly soaring forward.

They carved arcs of pale afterimages through the air, coming directly before an elder, hovering steadily in mid-air.

This elderly person, at a glance, was the old woman whom Lu Xuan had encountered repeatedly before.

The old woman’s face was etched with dense wrinkles, deep and meandering like the skin of a desiccated, shriveled orange.

Every wrinkle was laden with the aura of decay and rot, as if it had weathered countless ages of decline.

Yet the old woman’s sunken eyes, deep and boundless as endless white mist, seemingly ethereal and elusive, nevertheless radiated a sense of endless strangeness.