318: Chapter 318 Breaking the Forbidden Plate!

Approaching the Miaodan Pavilion up close, the building felt even more grand and magnificent, like an immortal palace floating in the Void Realm, radiating a dreamlike glow.

The entire pavilion floated in the Void Realm, with a bottomless abyss of clouds and mist below, and a brilliant starry dome above, giving people a wonderful sensation of being outside heaven and earth, transcending the mortal world.

The soft and warm light radiating from every piece of jade in the pavilion was not harsh, yet it brought a refreshing sense of comfort, as if one were bathing in the warm spring sun, causing people to relax involuntarily.

Every piece of jade in the pavilion was meticulously carved, with a faint spiritual light flowing over the surface, clearly making them no ordinary items.

Various exquisite patterns were also carved upon the jade.

There were cranes spreading their wings, Qilins treading on clouds, fairies scattering flowers, and Laojun performing Alchemy, each image lifelike, as if they would fly out of the jade at any moment.

The golden bells hanging from the upturned eaves chimed on their own in the Void Realm without any wind, producing crisp and pleasant sounds like celestial music, calming the mind and dispelling all worries.

At the entrance of the pavilion, there was a pale white light barrier, gently rippling like water waves, enveloping the entire entrance.

Though the light barrier seemed fragile, as if it would break at a single touch, it emitted a powerful wave of Restriction, like a slumbering giant beast, releasing a heart-palpitating aura; it was clearly not so easy to pass through.

Occasionally, golden runes would flash across the surface of the light barrier, traces of the Restriction in operation.

Lu Qiu stood before the light barrier, calmly observing it for a moment.

Instead of rushing into action, he first carefully observed the flow of the runes on the light barrier, confirming the type and strength of this Restriction.

Then, he extended his finger, condensing a wisp of scarlet gold spiritual light at his fingertip. The spiritual light was like a dancing flame, emitting a hot and pure aura.

He gently touched his fingertip to the light barrier.

"Buzz—"

The light barrier let out a soft buzz, like a pebble dropped into water, sending ripples outward in all directions.

Immediately after, the light barrier parted as if pried open by an invisible hand, slowly splitting to both sides to reveal an entrance just wide enough for one person to pass through.

At the edge of the entrance, the golden runes flickered a few times, seemingly wanting to close again, but under the suppression of the scarlet gold spiritual light from Lu Qiu's fingertip, they finally gave up resisting.

A slight smile appeared on the corner of Lu Qiu's mouth. He withdrew his finger and stepped inside.

The light barrier slowly closed behind him, returning to its original state as if nothing had happened.

The moment he stepped into the Miaodan Pavilion, a medicinal fragrance so rich it was almost tangible rushed over him!

The medicinal fragrance was a blend of countless Spirit Medicines; some were as crisp as spring water, some as mellow as aged wine, some as pungent as chili, some as sweet as honey, some carried the fragrance of flowers and plants, and some had the heaviness of soil. Interweaving, they formed a unique, refreshing, and strange scent.

Just by smelling this medicinal fragrance, Lu Qiu felt the magic power within his body become slightly more active, and even his Divine Sense became clearer.

Looking up, he saw that the pavilion's main hall was extremely spacious, over ten Zhang high and several hundred Zhang in area, much larger than it appeared from the outside. Clearly, some sort of space-expanding Formation was used inside.

The floor of the hall was paved with large slabs of white marble, smooth as a mirror, clearly reflecting one's shadow.

The four walls were embedded with fist-sized night-luminescent pearls, emitting a soft light that illuminated the entire hall like broad daylight.

In the hall, dozens of thick white jade pillars were neatly arranged. Each pillar was as thick as two people hugging, entirely translucent white, with exquisite cloud patterns and Auspicious Beast designs carved on the surface.

There were Azure Dragons riding on clouds and mist, Phoenixes spreading their wings to fly high, majestic Qilins, and fierce, domineering Pixius. The patterns on each pillar were different and lifelike.

At the top of each white jade pillar, a palm-sized jade bottle of various colors was placed, emitting a faint halo, dotting the top of the pillars like stars.

Some of these jade bottles were entirely crimson, like burning flames, emitting a scorching aura.

Some were jade-green, as if containing infinite vitality, emitting a fresh herbal scent.

Some were pitch-black like ink, emitting a cold aura as if from the Nine Underworlds.

Some were as white as snow, warm as jade, emitting a soft light...

Each jade bottle represented a different Medicinal Pill, and judging by the medicinal fragrance and spiritual light radiating from them, they were clearly no ordinary items, enough to cause a struggle in the outside world.

However, these jade bottles were all enveloped by a thin shield of light.

The light shield was translucent, as thin as a soap bubble, but complex runes flowed upon it, emitting strong waves of Restriction, clearly set up to prevent anyone from easily taking the Medicinal Pills.

Lu Qiu could feel that these light shields were connected to the Restriction of the entire Miaodan Pavilion. Once someone forcibly broke them, it would trigger an alarm and might even face a counterattack from the Restriction.

Lu Qiu's gaze swept across the jade pillars and noticed that the light shields on several of them had already disappeared, and the jade bottles were nowhere to be seen, leaving only empty pillar tops with circular indentations.

Clearly, those were Cultivators who had entered the Void Heaven Palace in the past and had already taken the Medicinal Pills from them.

He roughly counted and found that about a dozen jade pillars were already empty, indicating that this Miaodan Pavilion had hosted many lucky visitors in the past.

“Although the Medicinal Pills on this first floor are decent, most of them are only useful to Core Formation Cultivators. For me, they aren't of much use, so there's no need to waste an opportunity,” Lu Qiu thought to himself.

He did not linger long on the first floor, nor did he even carefully inspect the names of the Medicinal Pills labeled on those jade bottles.

His target was the second floor.

According to the rules of the Void Heaven Palace, each person could only choose one kind of Medicinal Pill, and once obtained, they would be immediately teleported out.

He didn't want to waste this single, precious opportunity on the first-floor Medicinal Pills that were optional to him.

His gaze quickly swept across the hall, and he soon discovered a small teleportation Formation in a corner of the hall.

The teleportation Formation was also enveloped in a faint light barrier, but there weren't very strong waves of Restriction on it. Clearly, it was just a simple protection set up to prevent accidental entry, incomparable to the Restrictions on those jade bottles.

Lu Qiu walked up to the teleportation Formation and extended his finger once more. With a flash of scarlet gold spiritual light from his fingertip, he easily broke through the protective light barrier as if tearing a thin sheet of paper.

Then, he stepped into the teleportation Formation. The Formation beneath his feet immediately sensed him and began to glow with a soft white light.

The teleportation Formation lit up with a soft white light, and his figure disappeared from the spot, as if swallowed by the light.

The next moment, Lu Qiu appeared on the second floor of the Miaodan Pavilion.

The space on the second floor was quite a bit smaller than the first floor, only about one-third of its size, but it was higher, reaching over twenty Zhang, giving a more open feeling.

However, the decorations here were even more exquisite and ancient than the first floor.

Embedded in the walls were not night-luminescent pearls, but a rarer kind of Moonlight Stone, emitting a soft silvery-white light as cool as moonlight.

The floor was also not paved with white marble, but with a deep purple jade that had natural starlight patterns, resembling stars in the night sky.

The medicinal fragrance permeating the air also became richer and purer, as if condensing into a physical form. Inhaling a single breath made one feel refreshed, and the circulation of magic power accelerated slightly.

Clearly, the quality of the Medicinal Pills here was much higher than on the first floor, likely precious treasures useful even to Nascent Soul Cultivators.

In the hall of the second floor, there also stood some white jade pillars, but the number was visibly much smaller, with only a dozen or so scattered throughout the hall, far apart from each other.

The material of these pillars was also different from the first floor; they were no longer ordinary white jade, but a kind of spiritual jade with faint golden veins, clearly much more precious.

The halo emitted by the jade bottles on each pillar was also more reserved and deep, like a dormant volcano—calm on the outside, but containing astonishing energy within. They were clearly extremely high-grade, precious Medicinal Pills.

Lu Qiu's gaze slowly swept across these jade bottles, like a connoisseur examining treasures.

He could feel that each jade bottle contained extremely majestic and pure medicinal power, which held a significant attraction even for a Cultivator of his level.

He even could identify the scent of several of the Medicinal Pills.

One bottle emitted dense fire-attribute spiritual power, seemingly a Spirit Pill for tempering fire-attribute Cultivation Techniques; one bottle released a chilly coldness, seemingly an ice-attribute pill; and another bottle exuded a majestic life aura, as if it were some kind of sacred healing medicine.

“According to the rules, as long as I take any one of the jade bottles, I will be immediately teleported out. If I want to take more, I must find another way,” Lu Qiu thought to himself. He was naturally unwilling to leave with just one bottle of Medicinal Pills.

Each bottle of Medicinal Pills in this Miaodan Pavilion was priceless. If he could take a few more bottles, whether for personal use or to bring back to his Sect, it would be a massive harvest, enough to elevate his foundation to another level.

Generally speaking, there were two ways to take more Medicinal Pills without being teleported away.

One was to find the main hub of the entire Miaodan Pavilion's Restriction and forcibly crack it. That way, all the Restrictions would fail, and he could naturally take as many as he pleased.

However, this method required extremely profound attainment in Formations and Restrictions, as well as a vast amount of time and energy to deduce and crack. Any slight mistake could trigger a backlash from the Restriction, which would outweigh the gains, or even set off a self-destruct Restriction, destroying all the Medicinal Pills.

The other method was more direct and brutal—using brute force to destroy the Restrictions of the entire Miaodan Pavilion space!

This way, all limitations would naturally cease to exist.

However, this method had extremely high requirements for the caster's cultivation, needing at least a cultivation level at the Soul Transformation Stage to be possible.

With Lu Qiu's current cultivation, he could not accomplish this.

However, Lu Qiu had long been prepared for this.

With a slight smile, he flipped his wrist and retrieved a palm-sized Formation Plate from his Storage Pouch. It was cast entirely from some sort of silver metal and engraved with countless fine runes on its surface.

The Formation Plate felt cool and heavy in his hand, its surface flowing with a silvery luster, and the runes were layered and incredibly complex, as if containing some fundamental truth of heaven and earth.

This Formation Plate was precisely a special kind of Formation Plate—the Restriction-Breaking Plate—that Xin Ruyin had spent a massive amount of effort to research, combining the knowledge she had realized from ancient Formation texts.

The effect of this Formation Plate was to temporarily disable other Restrictions within a certain range for a short period, like opening a gap in a network of Restrictions.

Although the effective duration of this Formation Plate was very short, lasting only a brief half-cup of tea's time, and it required a long time to recharge after a single use, making Lu Qiu reluctant to use it lightly in ordinary times.

But for Lu Qiu, this half-cup of tea's time was already enough!

He only needed to collect as many Medicinal Pills as possible within this time.

Taking a deep breath, he slowly channeled the majestic magic power within his body into the silver Formation Plate in his hand, like rivers flowing into the sea.

The magic power circulated within the Formation Plate, activating the runes inside.

"Buzz—"

The silver Formation Plate instantly lit up with a dazzling silver light, like a miniature silver sun, illuminating the entire second-floor hall slightly more.

The runes on the surface seemed to come alive, rapidly flowing and combining, emitting a strange wave that seemed capable of interfering with and dissolving the power of other Restrictions, spreading outward like water ripples.

Seizing the right moment, Lu Qiu tossed the silver Formation Plate in his hand into the air!

The silver Formation Plate floated in mid-air and began to spin rapidly, faster and faster, emitting rings of silver ripples that spread in all directions like water waves!

Wherever the silver ripples passed, the air seemed to become viscous, and space itself warped slightly.

Wherever those silver ripples passed, the light shields enveloping the jade bottles actually began to flicker and distort violently as if they had met their nemesis, the runes on them turning into a chaotic mess, seemingly losing control.

Immediately after, with a soft 'pop', those light shields shattered and dissipated one after another like bubbles, turning into specks of spiritual light that vanished into the air!

At the same time, Lu Qiu also felt a powerful repulsive force spreading from the entire space of the Miaodan Pavilion, attempting to teleport him out! The Miaodan Pavilion's self-protection mechanism had been triggered, and it was expelling him, the 'violator'.

But the ripples emitted by the silver Formation Plate seemed to simultaneously combat that repulsive force, buying him precious time!

The two forces clashed fiercely in the air, making 'sizzling' sounds as if invisible electric currents were colliding.

"Now is the time!"

A sharp light flashed in Lu Qiu's eyes, and his figure darted like a ghost, weaving rapidly among the jade pillars that had lost their light shield protection!

His movements were as fast as lightning. With each move, he precisely drew a jade bottle into his hand, and without even looking, swept it directly into his Storage Pouch!

His figure left behind a series of afterimages among the jade pillars, as if he were appearing in multiple places at once.

One!

Two!

Three!

Four!

Five!

In just a few breaths' time, Lu Qiu had already pocketed five jade bottles that had the best appearance, the richest medicinal fragrance, and were clearly precious treasures at a glance!

He could feel that each of these five bottles of Medicinal Pills contained incredibly astonishing medicinal power, absolutely treasures of great use even to Nascent Soul Cultivators.

Just as he was about to reach out for the sixth jade bottle—

The silver ripples emitted by the silver Formation Plate suddenly dimmed, flickering a few times like a candle in the wind!

Immediately after, an even more powerful and irresistible repulsive force surged over like a bursting flood, instantly engulfing Lu Qiu!

The silver Formation Plate had finally exhausted its energy, no longer able to resist the Miaodan Pavilion's Restriction.

Lu Qiu only felt his vision blur as the surrounding scenery shattered and reorganized like a mirage! The world spun, and time and space were turned upside down.

The next moment, he had already left that Miaodan Pavilion floating in the air, appearing in a brand-new space.