Chapter 121: Grave

So close yet worlds apart, a widely whispered spatial sorcery that none could ever truly master. It touched upon the very core of spatial truth, a divine secret forbidden to all save those blessed with peerless comprehension and immense fortune.

Once mastered, one could roam unbound and unhindered; wide as the world was, any corner of it could be reached at a whim.

"So the place you envisioned just now was the edge of a precipice? What a peculiar taste you have." The Immortal Fairy clicked her tongue in sheer wonder, silently marvelling that the junior whose body she currently inhabited was indeed extraordinary, managing to grasp a sorcery as profoundly difficult as *So Close Yet Worlds Apart* in a single instant.

"Peculiar my foot! I was thinking of Tianmen Peak just now, so what on earth is this place!" Lu Yang cried out in panic. No one in their right mind could remain calm after suddenly materializing in the empty air above a gaping canyon.

Worst of all, he was currently free-falling!

If he were to slam solidly against the ground below, being reduced to a shapeless heap of smashed flesh would be the absolute best-case scenario.

Upon hearing his words, the Immortal Fairy’s expression shifted dramatically. Should any fatal mishap befall Lu Yang, that ferocious little girl would undoubtedly beat her until her very soul scattered into nothingness!

"Quick, quick, quick! Hurry up and give me control over your body, I will pull you back up!"

In such a desperate crisis, there was no way Lu Yang would ever stake his life on the perennially unreliable Immortal Fairy. His descent was growing faster by the breath; he had to find a way to secure a stable landing on his own.

Lu Yang took two deep breaths, fighting to force himself into a state of calm. Beneath his feet lay a void of absolute blackness where nothing could be seen, which at least spared him the terror of heights.

"*So Close Yet Worlds Apart*!"

Lu Yang prayed fervently that this newly acquired sorcery would warp him back to where he belonged, which would be the finest resolution.

The falling Lu Yang vanished in a flash, only to reappear in the empty air right back above the precipice.

Lu Yang: "..."

It appeared there was no going back for the time being. No matter, he still possessed a secondary stratagem.

"*Shrink to an Inch*!"

Lu Yang shrunk only his physical body while his clothes remained their original size. He scrambled to clutch the four corners of his garments, fashioning a crude makeshift parachute that finally slowed his plummeting speed.

"Phew—" Lu Yang let out a long breath of relief.

Steep, forbidding cliff faces loomed on either side. Lu Yang drifted unpredictably in the space between them, his heart hammering with apprehension, utterly blind to what fate awaited him at the bottom.

"Look quick! There is a protrusion on the cliff face over there, it looks like a ledge. Land yourself right there!" the Immortal Fairy shouted.

"Where? Why can't I see it?" Lu Yang asked, knitting his brows.

"To the left, right on the left! The range of your divine sense is nowhere near as vast as mine, I spotted it long before you!"

Steering himself according to the Immortal Fairy’s frantic directions, Lu Yang drifted over and managed to touch down securely upon a rocky platform.

The moment his feet planted against solid ground, Lu Yang finally allowed himself to relax completely. He had truly been scared out of his wits just moments ago.

"Was that truly *So Close Yet Worlds Apart* that you cast just now?" The Immortal Fairy peered at Lu Yang with deep suspicion. She had executed that spell countless times herself, yet never once had she encountered a mishap like this.

"It should be... I suppose." Lu Yang himself was far from certain. By now, he harbored a realistic grasp of his own magical talents, well aware that he could not place the entire blame for his warped spellcraft on his Eldest Senior Sister.

He bore a portion of the responsibility himself.

"At the very least, it is a proper, bona fide spatial spell, and it did indeed warp me away," Lu Yang comforted himself.

Furthermore, the distorted version of *So Close Yet Worlds Apart* that Lu Yang practiced possessed a singular advantage.

Cultivators of spatial magic dreaded nothing more than crossing paths with enemies who practiced the same discipline, for the foe could mathematically deduce the destination of one's warp and give relentless, suffocating chase.

Lu Yang had absolutely no need to trouble himself with such worries. After all, even he had no earthly idea where his own spell would dump him.

"Speaking of which, where exactly are we?" Lu Yang raised his head to peer upward. The canyon walls were so steep that he could discern only a thin, silver thread of blue sky, making it utterly impossible to determine his location.

He had no inkling of how far they were from the Ask the Dao Sect, or if they were even still within the boundaries of the Central Continent.

"No matter where we are, there is nothing to fear," the Immortal Fairy chimed in to bolster Lu Yang's courage. "With this Celestial Ancestor here to shield and guide you, no harm shall ever come to you!"

Lu Yang privately concluded that relying on a deity was far inferior to relying on oneself. At the very least, he knew exactly how much he was worth, whereas this particular deity seemed entirely oblivious to her own limitations.

"Let us head inside and take a look. This place appears to be some sort of immortal estate," the Immortal Fairy urged eagerly.

"Fair enough."

The moment Lu Yang stepped into the cavernous estate, a resounding thud echoed from directly behind him as two massive stone doors slammed shut.

The stone doors were forged from some incomprehensible material. Lu Yang gritted his teeth and exerted every ounce of his Herculean strength, yet failed to budge them by even a hair's breadth.

The Immortal Fairy’s countenance turned grave. "Do not waste your breath. This door was refined by a mighty cultivator of supreme power; it is not something a mere Foundation Establishment youngster like you can ever hope to shake."

With the sealing of the stone doors, the originally dim cavern plunged into a darkness so absolute that one could not see their own hand before their face.

Just as Lu Yang prepared to summon his True Samadhi Fire to illuminate their surroundings, a pair of faint, shimmering glows suddenly sparked alive along the flanking walls.

"Night-luminescent pearls?" The long, winding corridor of the estate was lined on both sides with glowing stones.

Lu Yang felt a nagging sense of familiarity, as though someone had once described this exact method of arranging night-luminescent pearls to him.

Where had he heard it before?

"Our only choice is to press deeper."

Within the hollow, vacant corridor, only the echo of Lu Yang's lonely footsteps resounded, lending the atmosphere a sinister and uncanny air.

When Lu Yang reached the very end of the passage, he found two rows of majestic pottery soldiers standing tall, clutching various magical treasures in their hands as though guarding something sacred. The sentinel statues flanked a solitary stone monument, upon which were carved four distinct characters: *Eternal Life to the Deceased*.

Lu Yang finally realized where that sudden wave of familiarity had originated. Was this not a grand sepulcher!

*Eternal Life to the Deceased* was one of the most common epitaphs found within the tombs of the human race.

Lu Yang's skin crawled with horror. Never in his wildest dreams did he anticipate stumbling straight into a burial mound.

"Th-this place is a tomb?!" The Immortal Fairy put on a brave front to maintain her composure, yet Lu Yang could still detect a subtle tremor of unease vibrating through her voice.

"It ought to be." Lu Yang nodded with utmost gravity, feeling more and more as though he had unwittingly dragged himself into some grand, perilous conspiracy.

"Gulp." The Immortal Fairy nervously swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

Beholding her reaction, a rather ludicrous suspicion dawned in Lu Yang's mind. "Fairy, surely you aren't afraid of ghosts, are you?"

"W-who could possibly fear such trivial things? I am a grand and majestic Immortal, after all." The Immortal Fairy’s voice was visibly shaking now.

"But you are trembling."

"I am cold."

"Do you still recall your own title?"

"The Immortal Fairy, of course."

"With a title like yours, if you were placed in the realm of grave-robbers, you would be revered as a grand patriarch of ancestral jiangshi and the undead. What on earth do you have to fear?"

Recalling how confidently this same fairy had vowed just moments ago to shield him from all harm, Lu Yang felt that refusing to buy into her celestial nonsense was the wisest decision he had made all day.

"There is no need to panic just yet. It so happens that I have a text concerning tombs right here with me."

From his identity jade token, Lu Yang produced a book titled *Insights on Grave-Robbing*. This was the very token of gratitude gifted to him by Patriarch Shang of the Shang Clan after Lu Yang had slain the Painted-Skin Ghost.

"To think it would actually come in handy here."

"Oh? To think you possessed such a treasure." The Immortal Fairy's eyes lit up instantly. The terror inspired by tombs and specters naturally stemmed from the dread of the unknown.

With this text in hand, their sense of fear would be drastically diminished.

"Open it up and see what is written inside. Does it detail what classification of tomb this belongs to?" the Immortal Fairy urged impatiently.

Lu Yang had not found the time to peruse the book since acquiring it, but it was not too late to check now.

He flipped open the very first page and softly read the contents aloud:

"Article 532 of the 'Great Xia Penal Code' stipulates that any mortal or Qi Refinement cultivator who illicitly excavates ancient tombs of historical, artistic, or cultivation value shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years, and shall also be fined; if the circumstances are relatively minor, the sentence shall be fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, and a fine shall also be imposed."

"For Foundation Establishment cultivators who commit this crime, the sentencing shall be doubled in comparison to Qi Refinement cultivators."

Lu Yang felt that this book was not entirely reliable.

(End of this chapter)