90: Death is imminent, a hundred days to go?

However, it was only that. In the eyes of the crowd who were accustomed to seeing rare treasures, although this was a rare and precious ancient painting, if it was said to be a congratulatory gift from the mysterious and unpredictable Goddess Palace, it seemed... a bit lacking in weight?

Doubt appeared in the eyes of many.

But for Chu Ye, seated high above, his pupils suddenly contracted the moment the scroll was fully unfurled!

Within the lake of his heart, monstrous waves were stirred!

This painting... the composition, Concept, and even the faint fluctuations coming from the scroll's Materials... actually had at least a seventy to eighty percent similarity to his greatest reliance, his life-bound treasure that had never been shown to others—the hundred phoenix diagram!

No, it wasn't just similarity; the charm of the Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix in the picture, the trajectory of the flowing clouds and mist, and even the extremely subtle spatial fold patterns at the edge of the scroll that seemed naturally formed... all faintly resonated with the feeling the internal world of the hundred phoenix diagram gave him!

This was definitely no coincidence!

The Goddess Palace... how could they possess a scroll so closely related to the hundred phoenix diagram?

They knew of the existence of the hundred phoenix diagram?

What connection did they have with the Origin of the hundred phoenix diagram?

Countless questions instantly filled Chu Ye's mind, making his spine feel a faint chill, yet also carrying an unspeakable excitement.

This touched upon a secret deeper than his Transmigration and the System.

He forcibly suppressed the shock in his heart, his face remaining calm as his sharp gaze turned toward the Goddess Palace Elder below who called herself Shui Yue.

Shui Yue did not seem surprised by Chu Ye's reaction, nor did she intend to explain.

After delivering the painting, she nodded slightly again, her voice still peaceful: "The congratulatory gift has been delivered; my mission is accomplished. Shui Yue takes her leave."

Having said that, she actually turned around without hesitation and, just as she had come, walked out of the hall with a composed pace.

Regarding the countless shocked, inquiring, or reverent gazes in the hall, and regarding this grand feast that gathered the world's influential figures, she did not show the slightest lingering attachment or curiosity, as if she had truly only come to complete a trivial errand.

Not until her moon-white figure disappeared into the halo outside the hall doors did that ancient and ethereal aura lingering in the hall slowly dissipate.

Inside the hall, a deathly silence lasted for several breaths, followed by a "boom" as a more intense low-voiced discussion and speculation than at any previous moment erupted!

"The Goddess Palace! It really is the Goddess Palace!"

"They actually sent someone to offer birthday congratulations? And it was by the order of the Palace Revered Master!"

"That painting... what exactly is the mystery behind it?"

"Could Your Highness Chu Ye have a long-standing connection with the Goddess Palace?"

"Now, the situation has become even more unpredictable..."

Everyone's gaze focused once more on Chu Ye, as well as the seemingly "ordinary" ancient painting before him.

This gift from the Goddess Palace seemed understated, but it had undoubtedly dropped a depth charge into the calm lake; its implied meaning and the associations it might trigger were far more soul-shaking than any Sharp Weapon, peerless beauty, or even a Tianji prophecy!

Chu Ye took a slow breath and signaled for the attendants to carefully put away the scroll.

He picked up his wine cup, his fingertips applying a barely perceptible amount of force.

At this moment, the birthday banquet was truly pushed to a height no one had anticipated, and it was also cast under an even more mysterious and unpredictable shadow.

The sudden appearance of the Goddess Palace and this eerie "congratulatory gift" was like a chess piece from a higher dimension being gently placed on Chu Ye's grand chessboard; the outcome was uncertain, and the path ahead... became increasingly blurred.

Although the banquet was nearing its end, the real waves might have only just begun.

But everyone knew that beneath the undercurrents, the real contest and reckoning might have only just begun.

Chu Ye raised his wine cup, signaling to those below, a faint, almost invisible, and meaningful curve curling at the corner of his mouth.

The banquet continues. The accounts will be settled slowly.

The clamor of the birthday banquet finally came to a close, and the Wanshou Hall returned to silence.

Chu Ye did not bother with those "special gifts" that filled the side halls, which were dazzling and even somewhat absurd, nor did he temporarily set aside his speculations about the intentions of the various factions.

He returned alone to the quiet room in the deepest part of his sleeping quarters, isolating himself from all external interference.

The first thing he took out was the scroll sent by Shui Yue of the Goddess Palace.

The pearls in the quiet room were soft; Chu Ye spread the scroll flat on the jade desk, his gaze like a torch, scanning every inch.

The more he looked, the heavier the shock and doubt in his heart became. The forms and brushwork of the mountains, rivers, birds, and beasts in the painting could be said to be sixty to seventy percent similar to the hundred phoenix diagram, perhaps a Legacy of some ancient school.

But when he held his breath and concentrated, faintly linking his own Divine Sense with the Origin of the hundred phoenix diagram world to perceive this painting—

Buzz!

Upon the scroll, that seemingly ordinary pale silver silk, those warm jade rollers, and even within the ink and colors, there actually came a faint but incomparably pure fluctuation of world Origin power that shared the same root and source as the hundred phoenix diagram Origin within him, yet seemed even more ancient and vast!

This fluctuation was extremely obscure; if he were not the Revered Master of the hundred phoenix diagram world and thus extremely sensitive to such power, he would absolutely have been unable to detect it.

"World Origin... it is not the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi refined by Cultivators, nor is it the spatial power of ordinary Small Worlds, but the most fundamental and core rules and energy manifestations that constitute a world..."

Chu Ye's fingertips gently brushed over the Phoenix phantom leading the hundred birds in the painting, his eyes as deep as the night. "The Goddess Palace... as expected, it is not just a legend."

"For them to be able to produce a scroll containing such power, even if only a minute amount, is enough to prove that they have an extraordinary connection with the 'foundation' of this world."

"Representatives of the Heavenly Dao?"

"World guardians?"

"Or... even more ancient existences?"

This congratulatory gift, a light painting, made Chu Ye feel more wary and curious than any Sharp Weapon.

It was like a riddle, and also like a silent declaration.

Carefully putting away the scroll, Chu Ye's gaze fell upon that black sealed box from the Heavenly Secret Pavilion.

The box felt icy in his hand; its material was neither metal nor jade, and its surface was as smooth as a mirror, reflecting his calm face.

He circulated a trace of the hundred phoenix diagram world power to wrap his fingers and gently lifted the seamless lid.

There was no brilliance, no strange phenomena.

At the bottom of the box lay a palm-sized, yellowed ancient talisman paper that seemed to have gone through endless years.

On the talisman paper, written in some dark red pigment that looked like cinnabar but wasn't, were two lines of characters that were bold and powerful, yet carried a strange aura of decay:

"Death Tribulation approaches, a Hundred-Day Deadline."

"Succeed and become a Dragon; fail and turn to ash."

The handwriting was concise, yet every word weighed a thousand catties, carrying a coldness and certainty that pointed directly at the core of fate.

Chu Ye held the talisman paper and read it several times, the rough texture of the paper transmitting to his fingertips.

Death Tribulation?

A hundred days?

He had Transmigrated here, possessed a System, subdued various women, and his power had expanded; it all seemed smooth sailing, but he had long anticipated that a tall tree attracts the wind and that crises lurked everywhere.

This prophecy from the Heavenly Secret Pavilion was less a prediction and more a materialization of the vigilance in his subconscious, with a clear deadline added.

"Old Man of Tianji..."

Chu Ye murmured the name, a cold light flashing in his eyes.

He did not believe in fate, but the prophecy of a leader of a power that could accurately calculate and make even the giants of the Central Region wary could not be treated lightly.

After a moment of pondering, his mind stirred slightly.

Before long, the door to the quiet room was silently pushed open, and two slender figures, bathed in the hazy light of the night pearls, quietly entered.

They were the current Palace Revered Master of the Guanghan Immortal Palace, Li Yue, and her Revered Master, the previous generation's Palace Revered Master, Cold Moon.

The two women had clearly already prepared meticulously.