Standing at the foot of the Eight Trigrams Platform, one couldn't help but feel a strong sense of awe, a subconscious illusion of one's own insignificance.
"This Eight Trigrams Platform is definitely extraordinary. Otherwise, the stele wouldn't have specifically pointed it out," Yi Tianxing said slowly as he gazed at the platform before him. "It's likely a masterpiece of the King of Huainan. Even knowing that artisans had escaped and erected the stele, they didn't destroy it, but left the words instead. Whether it's the Nine Dragon Path or this platform, both might be among the King's proudest creations. And if not his handiwork, then it must belong to an even more unfathomable existence."
No matter who left it, one thing was certain: the Eight Trigrams Platform was anything but simple. It was at least as formidable as the Nine Dragon Path—perhaps even more strange and terrifying.
"There are eight ancient doors on the second tier of the platform, each marked with a character: Qián, Zhèn, Kǎn, Gèn, Kūn, Xùn, Lí, and Duì. These are the Eight Gates of the Eight Trigrams—Qián represents Heaven, Kūn Earth, Zhèn Thunder, Xùn Wind, Kǎn Water, Lí Fire, Gèn Mountain, and Duì Marsh. Each door likely leads to a different realm, and the characters on the doors are constantly shifting. The positions of the trigrams themselves are in constant flux," Ye Zhiqiu said, deeply intrigued.
As a practitioner of the mystical arts, Ye Zhiqiu's knowledge of the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams was profound, and he immediately began probing the secrets of the platform, hoping to uncover some hidden truth.
"This Eight Trigrams stuff belongs to the Daoists. As a monk, I've heard of it, but I don't know the intricacies," the Flower Monk shook his head. "If it were Buddhist formations, I might know a thing or two, but Daoist mechanisms are beyond me."
"There are no other exits on this platform. Either we go back or we choose a gate and enter. What dangers lie within, no one can say. It might be a trap—or a deadly formation," Ye Zhiqiu said after a moment of thought.
The Eight Trigrams Platform was seamless, leaving no flaws to exploit. With no way forward except through the gates—and with the characters on the doors shifting randomly—it was impossible to predict which gate was which. Even if they entered simultaneously, they might be separated, sent to entirely different realms.
Where there is a door, there must be another space beyond it.
"Either way, we can't just stand around. Let's go inside and see. We can't turn back now," Yi Tianxing said with a nod.
"Exactly. We've come this far—we're not leaving empty-handed," Ye Zhiqiu agreed. They hadn't found any real treasures yet, and the legendary Ascension Pills were still nowhere to be seen. Retreating now would be like entering a treasure mountain only to leave empty-handed.
"Let's break through and see what secrets the Eight Trigrams Platform holds!" the Flower Monk declared loudly.
"Let's move," Yi Tianxing said.
He led the way toward the platform.The first tier offered no resistance—they quickly ascended to the second tier.
Circling the platform, they could clearly see the eight ancient gates, each standing solemnly at different positions, exuding a primitive, mysterious aura that made one's heart tremble slightly.
Swoosh!
Yi Tianxing approached one of the gates. Without hesitation, as the ancient characters on it fluctuated, he reached out and pressed his hand against it.
In that instant, an overwhelming force pulled him inward, as if the door itself were illusory. He was instantly swallowed into the gate, disappearing without a trace.
"He's gone!"
"Vanished!"
Ye Zhiqiu and the Flower Monk watched as Yi Tianxing disappeared in a flash of divine light, leaving no sign behind. It was bizarre to the extreme.
Yet they hesitated not, following his example and pressing their hands to the gate. A burst of light enveloped them, and they too vanished.
Upon touching the ancient gate, Yi Tianxing felt a powerful force drag him inside. A flash of light later, he found himself in a completely different world.
Behind the gate was no secret chamber, no palace hall—but a whole new realm.An endless secret realm stretching beyond sight.
He had arrived at a world of marshes.
The ground was entirely swampy mire, black miasma continuously rising from the fetid ground—a poisonous, deadly mist. The sky was thick with it, obscuring vision. In such conditions, even cultivators might struggle to see far ahead, and what fearsome monsters might lurk within the mist was impossible to tell.
"Eight trigrams, eight phenomena—Heaven, Earth, Water, Wind, Thunder, Marsh, Mountain, Fire... Could it be that the Eight Trigrams Platform contains eight different realms within it?" Yi Tianxing quickly deduced.
A gut feeling told him it was connected to the Eight Trigrams.
Legend had it that the Eight Trigrams, when cultivated to the extreme, could create entire worlds. And now, that legend appeared to be true: not just one, but eight worlds, coalescing into Eightfold Heaven and Earth.
Almost the moment he arrived, the poisonous miasma began assailing his body, attempting to seep into his skin.
Even with Yi Tianxing's incredibly resilient Black Cauldron-tier flesh, he could feel the poison creeping into his blood and muscles.
He was already being poisoned.
"What vicious miasma," Yi Tianxing muttered grimly.
To make matters worse, his body was sinking into the swamp.Here, he couldn't fly—he had plunged directly onto the marsh surface, and the more he moved, the faster he sank.
The swamp's true terror lay in its power to devour.
Here, struggling only hastened one's doom. The more force exerted, the more the swamp devoured, accelerating the pull downward. Even Yi Tianxing's terrifying physical strength—normally enough to crush mountains—was useless here. Struggling would only hasten his demise.
If he unleashed his full strength, the swamp would only react like a flame to oil, pulling him down even faster.
He had to find another way.
"Freeze it!"
With a flick of his mind, an Ice Sealing Talisman appeared in his hand.He hurled it into the swamp.
Whoosh!
Frost burst forth, rapidly freezing the surrounding swamp. For a moment, it seemed effective—the swamp solidified underfoot.
But only for a moment.The ice cracked, shattered by the overwhelming mass of mire, crumbling into glittering shards before vanishing into the muck.
The Ice Sealing Talisman might work against an ordinary puddle of marsh, but this entire world was one giant swamp—it was hopelessly insufficient.
"Freezing won't work unless I can freeze an area spanning thousands of miles..." Yi Tianxing realized. "And unless the swamp is frozen completely, surface ice is meaningless. If only I could drain the swamp itself..."
Suddenly, inspiration struck him.
"Drain the swamp... Maybe it's possible! Others might not be able to, but I have the Hongmeng Heavenly Emperor Tower!"
Inside the tower were already five developed internal worlds—and one chaotic world housed within a precious orb.
Legend had it that chaos could devour and refine everything back into primal chaos.If he sent the swamp into the chaotic world, it would be devoured and assimilated.
Once the idea took root, he couldn't shake it off.
Without hesitation, Yi Tianxing summoned the Hongmeng Heavenly Emperor Tower into his hand. It radiated a heavy, ancient aura, the weight alone enough to make his arm sink slightly.
The tower's body glowed faintly, wisps of divine light trailing from its apex.
"Devour it!"
Holding the tower aloft, Yi Tianxing pressed it into the swamp.At his command, streams of noxious mud and marsh were sucked into the tower—transferred directly into the chaotic world inside.
There, the filth was instantly swallowed by roiling primal chaos.