"……"
Everyone watched as the fire-type soul cultivator disappeared beyond the airspace of the mountain with shock.
A brief moment went by without anyone saying a thing. Not even the Soul Kings were commenting on the situation. Everyone was far too shocked to do so as they looked at one another with rising joy.
There was a blur as a Soul King from the nearby group of the Hengyang School appeared in front of the area. Reaching a hand out, the Soul King touched at the ripples in front of him with a finger.
Everyone's eyes were on this Soul King, watching as he in turn looked at his right hand as if wanting to know what he was doing.
Everyone was waiting. Watching. Thinking about what would happen when this Soul King's hand would touch onto the ripples!
There was a flash of light from the Soul King's eyes before he decided to try and step into it!
A wave of change flowed across the Soul King's expression the moment his foot drew across. So furious that several nearby people could feel his killing intent, the Soul King unleashed an aura that dropped the temperature of the surrounding area by several degrees. Some of the other Soul Kings who were prepared to move in as well ceased their movements to watch as his foot slowly drew back down to its original spot.
Everyone then watched as the elder slowly drew back from the invisible 'door in front of him and retreat as if he had been shocked!
A series of ripples reverberated through the air at the same time he moved back, trembling as if reacting badly to something.
Realizing what this meant, every single Soul King blanched and shot the Soul King from the Hengyang School a displeased warning glare.
Having felt a little unwell already from what he had just done, the Soul King frowned when he felt the gazes of everyone else. He knew that what he did had earned him the ire of everyone there, but as only an Early-stage Soul King, he hadn't the right to be so 'brash' in front of them all. As if trying to make up for his loss of composure and foolish action, he drew back away from the area. "Everybody! This old man has verified that the entrance to the pocket has...already been opened!"
"Bzzzz….."
Everyone was sent into a flurry at what he said. All of the Soul Exalts there gave surprised looks at one another and then at the rippling area in front of them. Chatting to one another, they all looked excited for what that meant.
"Haha!! At last the pocket's open! Move aside, I'm going to be the one to go in first!!"
A loud voice cried out from a group from the left. A single person came shooting out then to fly straight for the mountain where the pocket was.
It was Lin Dongxiao from the Beast Taming School!
Everyone looked a little pensive when someone from the Beast Taming School came. While it wasn't accurate to say they were afraid of them, most of the people there were still slightly peevish at the idea of going against the powerhouse that was their school. Several of the prodigies stayed behind with their group to allow Lin Dongxiao to go in first, and even those from the Ten Schools stayed behind, but only due to their less competitive streak and silent agreement with one another to see what would happen. Wang Kunpeng and Li Yuchun from the Wang and Li both just gave Lin Dongxiao a sneer when he passed by.
The elder from the Beast Taming School didn't seem to look inclined in stopping Lin Dongxiao from acting as arrogant as he was. He merely just stared at the entrance of the pocket with a faint trembling of the lip as if speaking to his other students about something.
Soon, the other groups started to set out. Lin Dongxiao was at the front of the group with his three other students to head into the pocket.
"Haha! I'll be going in first!"
Laughing merrily, Lin Dongxiao and his three fellow beast tamers disappeared from sight while the elder from the Beast Taming School came to a stop half a kilometer away from the pocket to stare at it.
Now that the students from the Beast Taming School was gone, everyone was now free to do as they pleased. The nearest group—the Hengyang School—took the initiative to have their two students go charging in after getting the approval from their elder.
"Bzz…."
But before they could go in, yet another development happened and caused everyone to look on in shock!
As if something had prompted its activation, the surrounding hundred meters of the pocket started to show a series of rippling waves!
It was as if the entire pocket was starting to grow agitated by something. The space inside the pocket was twisting in on itself and misting over as if being blocked by a fog of some kind. The scenery was starting to look nearly like a mirage with how unreal it looked, but everyone could still see a scenery of some kind!
A mountain, a forest, and some sort of river of water with crushed stones all around it were mixing together to form one whole piece of scenery. No one knew what was going on, but there was something about this scenery that immediately caught the attention of everyone there….
Within the foggy and illusion-like scenery and just five hundred meters above the mountain, there was a small grove of stone forests. In one of the stone trees was a single large furnace!
This furnace looked especially old and red in color. It had a dark glow to its surface and looked a little ordinary even. At a glance, this looked just like any other furnace or stove with several decorative markings running all over it. No one knew if it was just the distortion in the air or not, but a few 'wisps' of something was rising out from the furnace.
An indescribable 'smell' started to disseminate through the air, penetrating the seemingly illusionary scenery right in front of everyone's eyes. From the smell, everyone could immediately sense a fantastical 'aroma'....
The moment when the furnace appeared, everyone could instantaneously place their finger onto what this 'aroma' was. The eyes of all the Soul Kings were all shining bright with shock and joy, and the elder of the Beast Taming School couldn't help but exclaim out loud, "The Extreme King Pill!"
This was….the Extreme King Pill!
Aside from the Beast Taming School, no one else had really seen what this 'furnace' full of Extreme King Pills meant. Most of the factions there didn't even believe in the rumors of how many there were, but now that they were greeted with this sight, every single Soul King were already telling their Soul Exalts to head into the pocket to fight for the Extreme King Pills.
The illusionary landscaped started to change shape a second later. Everyone looked at it again, curious on what it would show next.
There was a single person running quickly through the area. A closer look would reveal this person to be Lin Dongxiao!
He was by himself. Though he had gone into the pocket with three others, none of the three were to be seen at this moment.
But the most important thing was that he was running in the complete opposite direction of the Extreme King Pills' location!
Everyone had a strange look on their faces at that, though most of them were quite pleased to see it. The elder of the Beast Taming School on the other hand, looked as though he had swallowed something rotten….
"The pocket has opened, this must be showing what's going on inside the pocket being shown over the fabric of reality outside of it! We should be able to see what's going on for now, but who knows for how much longer? Peng'er, hurry on in and remember where the Extreme King Pills' are located! And be sure to be careful, don't let your greed overshadow everything else!"
The head of the Wang was already instructing his son on how to deal with this situation.
Wang Kunpeng's eyes flashed with readiness. "Worry not father, I know what to do!"
And with that, he charged off into the pocket.
Several other soul cultivators were already running off towards the pocket with him.
"There's another entrance over there!"
A person cried out from the other side. Looking over towards the source, they saw another ripple from when two people entered into the pocket from another side.
The pocket had more than one entrance!
Soon after, everyone was looking for the closest entrance to them. There was no hesitation behind everyone's actions. Those who were previously hidden were now flying out from their hiding spots to charge for the closest entrance to them.
In a matter of moments, only just a few ten people were left. Every single Soul Exalt was gone from the area, leaving behind the Soul Kings that were there to accompany them and stand guard on the outside.
……
"The pocket's open! Ol'Bai, let's hurry on in!"
The illusion created by the pocket had covered almost the entirety of Crushed Stone River. Bai Yunfei and Jing Mingfeng had both been standing at their original place when they saw multiple disappearing into the pocket. A little panicked now, Jing Mingfeng slapped Bai Yunfei on the shoulder as a way to urge his friend into motion.
Wrinkling his eyebrows, Bai Yunfei turned his head. Xiao Qi and the others weren't here yet…..
"There's no time to wait for your friend, it's going to be too late if we do! Crap!! The illusion's already starting to disappear! Does that mean the entrance will close up too?! Ol'Bai, we have to go!!"
Bai Yunfei's head snapped back to the pocket at Jing Mingfeng's words. True to his word, Bai Yunfei could see the illusion start to fade into obscurity!
If it was true that the complete disappearance of the illusion meant the entrance would disappear, then that meant the chance to get the Extreme King Pills would be gone as well!
"Tch, let's go!!"
With no time to lose, Bai Yunfei gave up on the idea of waiting to charge with Jing Mingfeng towards the pocket entrance.
The entrance closest to them was the one that first opened up. Running quickly, they were able to give one last glance behind them before both entering beyond the ripples denoting the boundary of the pocket.
Not long after they headed in, the illusion that had been reflecting over the surface of the barrier disappeared, returning the scenery within the pocket back to normal.
But after the illusion disappeared, all of the entrances to the pocket was still rippling slightly, meaning they were still open….