A peculiar little mountain over sixty zhang tall stood ahead, its entire body a dull grey, utterly devoid of a single blade of grass or a solitary tree, as though it were composed entirely of ashen rock.
The little mountain sat nestled within a valley, encircled by several far taller peaks. At first glance, it seemed unremarkable — but when Yang Kai swept his divine sense toward it, he was horrified to discover that it vanished without a trace, like an ox of mud sinking into the sea. The mountain on the other side seemed not to exist at all, utterly undetectable by any spiritual probing.
Worse still, some indescribably bizarre force emanated from within it, as though it sought to latch onto his divine soul and drag it in, filling him with a terrifying sensation of being devoured.
So the moment he released a sliver of his divine sense, Yang Kai immediately pulled it back.
Now the three of them stood several thousand zhang from the little mountain, gazing upon this most precious treasure of the Glazed Glass Gate.
"Is this your sect's Thousand Illusion Glazed Glass Mountain?" Yang Kai asked, a strange light flickering in his eyes.
"Yes, this is the Thousand Illusion Glazed Glass Mountain. Hehe, I'm afraid it falls short of its reputation. The Thousand Illusion Glazed Glass Mountain is indeed famous, but most of the time it looks like this — very unremarkable, nothing like the legends describe. So many guests who visit end up feeling that the reality doesn't match the name." Dai Yuan smiled faintly and explained in a soft voice.
"Most of the time?" Yang Kai narrowed his eyes slightly.
"The Thousand Illusion Glazed Glass inherently possesses the wondrous ability to shift and change unpredictably. What we're seeing now is probably just one of this Glazed Glass Mountain's many forms." Yang Yan, who hadn't spoken until now, suddenly interjected from the side.
Dai Yuan glanced at her in surprise, then nodded. "It seems Miss Yang Yan knows quite a lot about our Glazed Glass Mountain. That's right — this unremarkable state is indeed just one of its forms. Sometimes it will spontaneously release ten thousand rays of radiant light, making the mountain look like something that could never exist in the mortal world, breathtakingly beautiful. Other times it will change its own size. It's quite uncanny."
"Something like that!" Yang Kai's interest was immediately piqued.
Yang Yan tilted the corner of her lips in a casual arc, offering no further explanation, but remarking nonchalantly, "The array you've set up here is rather impressive. It has a suppressing effect, doesn't it?"
Dai Yuan nodded gently upon hearing this. "Yes, it does have a suppressing effect. Although the Glazed Glass Mountain is situated within our Glazed Glass Sect, there's nothing we can do about it. So we can only keep it suppressed here — otherwise, with its bizarre shape-shifting abilities, it might transform into something and vanish on us."
With that, Dai Yuan smiled and said, "All right, we can't stay here any longer. The Uncle-Masters guarding the Glazed Glass Mountain have already noticed us. If we linger, they might come up to question us. Let's go."
Yang Kai had sensed it too — ever since the three of them arrived, several streams of divine sense belonging to Return to Void Realm experts had swept toward them from various directions. However, they had merely probed briefly and taken no further action.
So he wasn't surprised.
Dai Yuan turned and flew off in one direction, with Yang Kai and Yang Yan following close behind. The two exchanged a glance — Yang Yan gave an almost imperceptible nod, and Yang Kai returned a look of understanding.
It seemed the arrays here wouldn't be able to block the Stone Puppet's infiltration. As long as they reached Dai Yuan's Thousand Illusion Peak, they could find an opportunity to release the Stone Puppet, and then simply wait for the harvest.
Although Yang Kai didn't understand what Yang Yan intended to refine with the Thousand Illusion Glazed Glass, or what was so formidable about it, seeing how the Glazed Glass Gate treated this bizarre little mountain with such solemn gravity, he knew it must be extraordinarily valuable.
Along the way, they encountered quite a few more disciples of the Glazed Glass Gate. But Yang Kai noticed something peculiar — every time these disciples caught sight of Dai Yuan, the expressions they wore were remarkably complex.
Some looked wary, some terrified, some sympathetic — it was quite the mixed bag.
And practically every group of Glazed Glass Gate disciples had someone who recognized Dai Yuan.
This piqued Yang Kai's curiosity. After all, judging by Dai Yuan's personality, she was the type who rarely interacted with others — yet her reputation within the Glazed Glass Gate was so widely known and recognizable. Judging from those people's expressions, Yang Kai privately suspected that this woman Dai Yuan must have quite the history within the Glazed Glass Gate.
Following Dai Yuan, they flew through the Taiqing Mountain Range for roughly half an hour before finally arriving at a distant mountain peak.
Catching sight of this mountain peak rising over a hundred zhang high from a distance, the tension in Dai Yuan's expression finally eased, replaced by a look of relief — as though she had returned home. She pointed enthusiastically toward the peak and introduced it to Yang Kai: "That is my Thousand Illusion Peak. It's a humble dwelling, so I hope Junior Brother Yang and Miss Yang Yan won't mind."
"You're too kind, Miss Dai Yuan," Yang Kai laughed it off, and the two of them flew toward the peak together.
Before they even reached the peak, Yang Kai had already swept his divine sense over it, only to discover with some surprise that the mountain was completely empty — it seemed that only Dai Yuan herself lived on this Thousand Illusion Peak. There wasn't even a single maid in attendance.