Wait, How Did My Digital Girlfriend Become a Sword Immortal? Chapter 856.12: The Escape Route Cut Off

"Why has he been staring at that bronze door for so long?"

Bi Yue Wu finally whispered to himself once Chen Huaian and his group had vanished entirely into the door's shadowy depths, giving voice at last to the doubt gnawing at him for ages.

"You mean there might be something on that bronze door that only he can see?" Tu Fu Xing squinted his eyes, his face growing somber.

Should that really be the situation, matters had suddenly turned fascinating.

Besides, this Ascender wielded a terrifyingly powerful Sword Intent. Never had he witnessed an Ascender achieving such proficiency on the Sword Path, and the man's power even outstripped that of Hua Jin the True One herself. He couldn't shake the notion that Chen Huaian might have sliced through the Demon Sealing Pagoda with just one sword swing.

"I suspect as much, though I might be reading too much into it."

Bi Yue Wu sneered coldly. "A puny mortal like him— what qualification does he have to perceive what even we Immortals miss? No matter his genius, the chasm between him and us remains as vast as heaven from earth."

"Indeed," Tu Fu Xing agreed with a solemn nod.

Having endured endless reincarnations, how could they fail to grasp the true caliber of these mortal Ascenders? Even their fiercest foe across cycles—the inheritor of the Dragon Soul—amounted to little more than an insect easily squashed by the Celestial God Clan's overlords.

As Immortals, their duty lay in fulfilling their roles perfectly as pawns on the chessboard. Should those overlords command them eastward, heading westward was utterly forbidden.

Neither Bi Yue Wu nor Tu Fu Xing realized that behind them, Hua Jin the True One—who had shown such deference earlier—now concealed a flicker of icy, piercing hatred in her depths.

In days gone by, Hua Jin the True One revered the Upper Realm's Immortals without question.

Even if they commanded her death, she would deem it an honorable end.

That faith lingered when Tu Fu Xing and Bi Yue Wu first arrived.

Until...

Bi Yue Wu and Tu Fu Xing demanded Wang Shouyi's entry into the perilous Nine Heavens Refining Profound Array.

All changed in that instant.

The terror of losing her cherished one nearly overwhelmed Hua Jin the True One, a void in her heart pulsing with agony that ignited a blazing hatred, embedding itself fiercely in her stare.

She couldn't comprehend it.

Wang Shouyi had barely stepped into Unity Realm. His presence inside would merely hinder Chen Huaian and the rest. Bi Yue Wu and Tu Fu Xing knew this full well. Why force him then? Merely because his existence meant nothing to them?

Yet that very life they dismissed as worthless outweighed every deity and buddha in the skies for her.

Right then, Hua Jin the True One ground her teeth, sinking them into her lip.

The divide between mortal and Immortal struck her with crushing clarity.

Lacking Immortal status, she lacked even the privilege to voice dissent.

Were she an Immortal too, might Bi Yue Wu and Tu Fu Xing at least show her some regard?

"Hua Jin the True One, that Chen Huaian says he's an elder in your Kunlun Immortal Palace. What do you know about him? Speak."

Bi Yue Wu's abrupt query made the murderous glint in Hua Jin the True One's eyes fade a touch.

After a brief silence, she responded coolly, "To the Immortals: Elder Chen has served Kunlun Immortal Palace for years as one of my most reliable aides. His aptitude stands exceptionally high. Absent from prior cycles, the Ascension Pillar accelerated his Cultivation dramatically. He now serves as my key fighter."

At Hua Jin the True One's mention of the Ascension Pillar, the wariness in Bi Yue Wu and Tu Fu Xing's gazes dissolved, giving way to intensified disdain and derision.

Any Ascender touching the Ascension Pillar fell wholly under the Celestial God Clan lords' dominion.

Talented as Chen Huaian might be, what threat could he pose?

Even ascending to Immortality someday, he'd remain a mere lackey like them.

Moments ticked by slowly.

Bi Yue Wu, who had gazed wordlessly at the Array Disk, suddenly declared, "Time to move—follow them inside. The route's been probed sufficiently. Entering now holds no peril."

A gleam of avarice flashed in his eyes. "The Nine Heavens Refining Profound Array...

Legend holds it a supreme array laid by the Celestial God Clan lords, drawing on heaven and earth, anchored by nine Wells of Heaven as cores, to forge the cosmos and quell all foes!

Not even the Great Emperor may have ventured within.

Should Immortal fortune await inside, it would bless us greatly!"

Tu Fu Xing, persuaded by Bi Yue Wu's words, eyed the bronze door's gloom with eager anticipation.

"Hua Jin the True One, stay out here and watch the entrance."

Bi Yue Wu glanced back coldly at Hua Jin before continuing, "Also, the Great Emperor demands you surrender the four premium Celestial Jade Marrow pieces at once.

This cycle, representing Lingxiao Palace in the Lower Realm, you secured just four high-grade Celestial Essence pieces. Lingxiao's Immortals are deeply displeased!

Prepare... for your chastisement soon!"

"The anomaly threw everything into chaos!" Hua Jin the True One protested desperately. "Despite it all, I obtained four pieces. Didn't the demon domain and Buddhist Kingdom gain zero?"

"That's on you," Bi Yue Wu sidestepped. "Complaining to me changes nothing. The anomaly's nature and countermeasures—the Great Emperor will decree in time!"

With that, he ignored Hua Jin the True One's fluctuating pallor.

Taking only Tu Fu Xing, he strode through the bronze door.

...

Meanwhile.

Beyond the bronze door.

Chen Huaian and his companions stood stunned on an immense vacant square, mouths agape in awe.

An unseen power had whisked them here.

At first, past the door lay boundless pitch black, stretching endlessly every way. To prevent mishaps, Chen Huaian urged staying close while advancing, also shielding their frailest member, Wang Shouyi.

Yet trouble struck anyway.

After a whirling vertigo, they arrived on this square.

Fortune smiled: all remained together, the inky void banished.

Ill fortune loomed: no return path existed.

"Hiss—! This... what sort of realm is this?"

Even seasoned Zhang Yibai gasped in shock.

No familiar sky arched overhead—day or night—but a murky, roiling canopy, like the primordial haze before creation's full bloom.

Sunless, moonly, starless, grayish-yellow torrents boiled like viscous broth, akin to genesis's veil, bearing down with oppressive ancient stillness and suffocating menace.

This White Jade square marked merely the domain's threshold.

Beyond stretched myriad enormous levitating mountains, defying gravity in a coiling ascent like a divine stairway to celestial halls, hovering grandly in emptiness.

Each peak bore a palace.

Lowermost ones hosted weathered, crumbling edifices scarred by eons. Higher up, splendor grew ever more radiant.

Midway, they shone as opulent Jade Palaces and Towers, glazed roofs shimmering coldly in the turbid glow. Faint visions of Immortal Cranes wheeling and propitious vapors spilling in cascades flickered into view.

Gazes traced the spiraling peaks to the summit—

There towered a majestic godly palace, dominating half their vista, shrouded hazily by enormous funnel-like black tribulation clouds blotting the firmament.

At the clouds' heart gaped a ravenous heavenly eye, glaring fixedly below.

Myriad violet-gold lightning serpents, mad as rampaging dragons, thrashed wildly through that "funnel." Distant thunderclaps, spanning myriad zhang, still rattled their veins, surging blood and qi.

"This... could this be the Upper Realm? Lingxiao Palace?!" Wang Shouyi gulped, paling.

Beneath this colossal world's weight, he dwindled to ant-like irrelevance.

From his knowledge, only Upper Realm Immortals' abodes matched such grandeur.

Chen Huaian stayed mute. His eyes shifted from the distant thunderheads to the sole route ahead.

A chain bridge of iron spanned the gulf, linking square to initial floating peak.

Deckless, it comprised nine vat-thick black chains, screeching harshly against howling gales.

Beneath yawned an endless chaotic pit. One peek threatened to drag the Divine Soul down.

Guarding each bridge end loomed twin titanic bronze statues, ten zhang high.

Clad in ponderous armor, they gripped lengthy, corroded, ornate axes. Etched runes, arcane and baffling, marred their verdigrised bronze hides.

Far from inert, their bowed heads exuded domineering oversight.

Empty sockets eyeless, yet they projected palpable, frigid Killing Intent.

As if ancient Door Gods, dormant for ages, icily judged every intruder braving this taboo domain.

Retreat barred, advance alone beckoned.

Still...

Chen Huaian's hand settled on his waist-hilt, eyes sharpening.

Though the statues stirred not, his acute Sword Heart detected a colossal, peak-like suppression pinning them all.

"Ascending the mountain... won't come easy, I fear..."

...