Chapter 389 - Chapter 389: Chapter 358: Ascending to the Heavenly Palace_1

Chapter 389: Chapter 358: Ascending to the Heavenly Palace_1

Xu Mu stood in place, furrowing his brow as he thought. All of a sudden, a thought flashed through his mind.

“Could it be that I also need to recite a name?”

Thinking back carefully, it seemed like during their worship, the patients would always use titles such as saint or holy mother.

Only Xu Tiantian was closing her eyes and meditating, not doing anything, which made Xu Mu forget about that detail.

“Maybe she didn’t recite out loud, but was saying it silently in her heart.”

With a bit of reluctance to give up, Xu Mu prepared two more incense sticks, sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, cleared his distracting thoughts, and began to chant.

“Bless us holy maiden! Bless us holy maiden…”

With the continuous incantations, Xu Mu found that his spirit had fallen into a deep state of calm without him even realizing it.

He was startled, but suppressed the urge to pull away, continuing to silently chant.

He didn’t know how much time had passed before he found that his consciousness seemed to be breaking free from his body.

It wasn’t the spirit, nor the mind, and not the vital energy, but consciousness itself.

After a moment of hesitation, Xu Mu let this feeling be. Then an illusory version of him seemed to step out of his own body.

Was this an out-of-body experience?

No, it wasn’t the spirit, nor the consciousness, it should be referred to as a thought.

Just a simple thought!

Because when this illusory body came out of the physical one, he could still feel his physical existence and his nascent soul, as if he were split into two in an instant.

This sensation was somewhat like that of the parasitism skill’s cloning, but not exactly, which made it feel very strange, like having an extra pair of hands, an extra set of eyes.

“Being able to separate a thought, that’s really strange! The methods of the people behind this are not ordinary, I have to be careful!” Xu Mu thought.

Although the current situation seemed strange, Xu Mu did not stop it.

His purpose today was to investigate the people behind this. Now that he had discovered an anomaly, he naturally could not give up halfway.

Even though the opponent’s methods were strange, Xu Mu was confident that he could handle them with his current cultivation level.

After the thought separated from his body, Xu Mu found that it didn’t have much power, like a powerless child.

At the same time, a chilling wind seemed to blow from nowhere. His thought-formed body felt icy cold, as if he had fallen into an ice cave.

Ever since his cultivation advanced to Foundation Establishment, he hadn’t felt like this in many years.

“Interesting!” Xu Mu said, his heart filled with excitement.

No matter what the other party’s purpose was, he decided to seize this method of separating thoughts.

This separation of thoughts gave him a sense of being an ordinary person again, which was of great help to his cultivation of mentality.

The reason why high-tier cultivators had a hard time cultivating their mentality was that they were too powerful, and ordinary hardships had no effect on them.

But this separated thought made him feel like an ordinary person again.

If he could cultivate his mentality as an ordinary person, he would undoubtedly grow faster than a high-tier cultivator.

While he was in thought, a beam of light suddenly shone from the sky, like a heavenly holy light, illuminating his thought-formed body.

The freezing sensation was immediately dispelled, and his body started to feel stronger, as if it were filling up with air.

Xu Mu looked up and saw that the roof had disappeared. In his sight was a palace floating in the sky, splendid and filled with immortal energy. It appeared just like the heavenly palaces of legends.

Was this an illusion?

Xu Mu did not have time to analyze. His thought-formed body started to fly towards the heavenly palace uncontrollably. He did not resist and allowed the invisible force to drag his thought into the palace.

Not until he flew to the front gate of the fairy palace did the invisible force disappear.

Xu Mu looked up and saw a sign hanging on the splendid gate. On it were three golden characters: Southern Heavenly Gate.

“…”

Xu Mu had a weird expression on his face.

Although this world was indeed a world of cultivation, it didn’t have anything to do with the myths and legends of his past life. Naturally, there were no such things as the Southern Heavenly Gate, Jade Emperor, and so on.

Creak creak!

The gates that were a hundred feet high slowly opened, and four giants wearing divine armor, their heads reaching into the clouds, holding artifacts like pipa and umbrellas, glared at him angrily.

“Where did this little thief come from, daring to breach the Southern Heavenly Gate?”

The four giants shouted in unison, their voices earth-shattering, creating a huge tremor as if the earth and mountains were shaking.

Xu Mu steadied himself, his face growing even stranger.

The appearances of these four resembled the four heavenly kings who guarded the Southern Heavenly Gate in the myths and legends of his past life.

Just as the four were releasing thunder and repressing aura, acting as if they would tear Xu Mu to pieces, a voice that sounded like a huge bell came from the distant palace.

“The Jade Emperor decrees! Bring the mortal outside the Southern Heavenly Gate to the palace!”

“The Jade Emperor decrees! Bring the mortal outside the Southern Heavenly Gate to the palace!”

…

The voice resounded three times, powerful and majestic, just like heavenly might.

“Move! Move! Move! Move!”

The four heavenly kings stopped their execution-like posturing, released immense might, surrounded him in the center, and roared loudly.

In such a scenario, if it were an ordinary person, they would probably have been scared stiff.

Even average cultivators might not be able to withstand this tangible heavenly might.

Yet Xu Mu couldn’t help but rub his nose awkwardly, and under the gaze of the four heavenly kings, he walked towards the entrance.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The four heavenly kings guarded him left and right, following him as he walked. Each of their footsteps seemed to shake the sky and earth, like the movement of four great mountains.

Meanwhile, four pairs of eyes as big as large bells, looked down at him condescendingly, filled with surveillance and intimidation.

Xu Mu ignored them, taking in the scenery as he went along, just like Liu Laolao entering the Grand View Garden.

Inside the heavenly palace, there were countless golden lights, thousands of auspicious air, purple mist, cloisonne lapis lazuli, clear curtains and treasures.

From time to time, there were armored gods carrying halberds and whips, holding knives and swords, standing guard at the entrances. They all avoided looking at Xu Mu when he passed by.

The further in he went, the more grand and impressive the scene became. Wall compartments and big pillars, wrapped in golden scales shining in the sun, were adorned with draught dragons; on the long bridge, the dancing colorful feathered roc soared in the sky.

Golden boys and jade girls wore star-studded red gauze clothes, and immortals were crowned with lotus blossoms, wearing pearl shoes and purple ribbons with gold medals.

The gold bell rang, and the sky drum thundered.

While he was wandering around, a majestic palace appeared before Xu Mu’s eyes. Compared to the many palaces he had seen earlier, the one in front of him was a hundred times more majestic. The entire palace was made of flawless jade, the four sides filled with immortal air, and golden dragons were entwined around the palace, with colorful phoenixes hovering above, all showing the upper immortals scenery.

On the jade wall of the main hall’s front door, three dazzling golden characters were written – Lingxiao Palace!

“Indeed it’s the Lingxiao Palace! That’s quite an eye-opener!” Xu Mu thought to himself.

When he looked up into the palace, he saw a divine man sitting in the palace, with a jade face and a divine robe, looking noble and extraordinary, and there was a large golden gourd on the top; beside him, there were heavenly concubines hanging fans, jade girls holding towels, and evil-looking heaven warriors and celestial officials escorting him. In the middle, there were Taiyi pills in Liuli plates; agate vases and coral trees.

While Xu Mu was observing the immortals in the palace, some of the immortals naturally noticed him.

“Kneel! You’re in the presence of the Jade Emperor!” a voice shouted.