Chapter 1044: Choose Your Path Without Regret

"There's no time to lose. Let's enter the tower!"

Lei Yuce let out a low shout, and with a flicker of his form, he arrived before the massive stone door at the base of the giant tower.

The others followed closely behind.

With the True Immortal realm cultivators gone, the crowd now numbered fewer than five hundred. Han Li naturally blended into the crowd without drawing attention, trailing along at a relatively rear position.

At the same time, his gaze occasionally swept, seemingly casually, toward another part of the crowd, where two unremarkable-looking cultivators stood—a man with a square face and thick brows, and a woman with a round face and cherry-like mouth.

These were the two he had suspected to be the "Lan siblings."

Although he still couldn't confirm their true identities, in his view, even if they weren't the Lan siblings, they were still worth watching.

This time, with the opening of the Tai Sui Mansion secret realm, even if the Gold Origin Immortal Palace still lacked a steward, he didn't believe the Heavenly Court would truly stand idly by. Since no one from the Heavenly Court had appeared yet, that itself warranted attention.

Lei Yuce stood before the tower, swept his gaze around to confirm everything was in order, then raised his palm and pressed it against the stone door.

Before he could even exert force to push it, the stone door let out a low, rumbling sound and automatically opened to both sides, revealing a dim entrance. The light inside was faint, but flickering flames could be seen.

Though somewhat surprised, Lei Yuce quickly recovered. Instead of charging straight in, he stood at the entrance and surveyed the interior.

Seeing this, the others also held their breath and peered inside, while trying to extend their spiritual sense to probe—only to find it futile.

Clearly, some invisible restrictive force within the tower blocked all spiritual sense.

"This place is indeed a bit strange. Everyone, stay sharp. If anyone doesn't want to go in now, it's not too late," Wen Zhong said with a chuckle.

He said this, but since everyone present had come this far and endured so many hardships, who would be willing to give up? Naturally, no one stepped back or left. All eyes once again fixed on Lei Yuce.

"Let's go."

Lei Yuce said, and stepped into the tower.

The rest, led by the Heaven-Piercing Sword Sect and the Heavenly Water Sect, followed closely behind.

Once inside the tower, they saw fire basins hanging on all four walls, burning some kind of oil. There was no smoke, but a faint fishy smell permeated the air.

There were no furnishings to the left or right. Straight ahead stood a double-headed statue over ten zhang tall, erected directly in front.

The statue was bizarre: the left head was a smiling celestial official, the right head a ferocious demon. It wore a carved golden scale armor, had two golden wings on its back, and held a golden ruyi in one hand and a mountain-cleaving axe in the other, pointing left and right respectively.

Beneath the golden ruyi and the mountain-cleaving axe, two deep passages led into the depths of the giant tower. Even with all the light shining in, one couldn't see what lay inside.

"There are words on the golden ruyi and the mountain-cleaving axe!" someone suddenly called out.

Han Li focused his gaze and saw a vertical line of small characters on each item. He murmured, "Choose your path without regret; different roads lead to the same end."

On the other side, Lei Yuce also recited the same words, then turned and asked, "What does this mean? What does 'choose your path without regret' mean?"

"It seems that choosing different paths will lead to different encounters. One path is likely dangerous, the other... even more so," Jin Liu said after a pause, thoughtfully.

"Splitting up is just fine. Our Heavenly Water Sect and your Heaven-Piercing Sword Sect can each lead a team and take one path," Su Qianxi said, her gaze fixed on the statue, her eyes shifting.

"Fairy Su, after all, this is the core of the immortal mansion, and it must be fraught with danger. I think it's better not to separate," Lei Yuce said, his eyes flickering.

Jin Liu hesitated upon hearing this and transmitted a message to persuade:

"I know you don't want to go with him, but what he says makes sense. Since the statue says 'different roads lead to the same end,' isn't it the same no matter which path we take?"

"When did Senior Brother Jin become so naive? Is what the statue says necessarily true? Couldn't that Lord Tai Sui have set up a deceptive trap, making one path a dead end for intruders?" Su Qianxi replied with a cold laugh.

"What you say is reasonable,师妹. I was being obtuse. But how should we choose between these two paths? Have you seen any clues?" Jin Liu, taken aback, smiled bitterly and transmitted.

"Both passages have restrictions; spiritual sense can't probe them. We'll only know what's inside once we enter," Su Qianxi replied.

"Fairy Su, what do you think of my suggestion?" Lei Yuce asked again, seeing no response from Su Qianxi for a while.

"Not much. Since your Heaven-Piercing Sword Sect and our Heavenly Water Sect are the leaders of this alliance, if we all stick together, what are the other fellow cultivators supposed to do? Let them explore a passage on their own?" Su Qianxi said coldly.

"This..." Lei Yuce hesitated.

"Brother Lei, I appreciate your goodwill on behalf of my师妹. But what she says is also reasonable. Since we have been honored as leaders by our peers, we should take on the responsibility of guiding," Jin Liu said with a smile.

"In that case, please, Fairy Su, choose a path first," Lei Yuce said.

"The celestial official is on the left, the demon on the right... Then I'll take the right path," Su Qianxi said without much hesitation.

"Good! Then our Heaven-Piercing Sword Sect will take the left path. Fellow cultivators from the Spirit Void Gate, Green Bamboo Valley, Blazing Light City, Ink Fragrance Pavilion, and Carefree Pavilion, please follow Fairy Su and explore. The rest will come with me," Lei Yuce announced loudly.

The crowd behind him had been pondering the meaning of the statue and were hesitant about the two paths. But since the alliance leader had spoken, and whichever path they took would be led by one of the two major sects, naturally there were no objections.

Before long, the several hundred people split into two teams and set off along the two different paths indicated by the statue.

At parting, Lei Yuce still urged Su Qianxi to be careful, but she did not respond and simply led her team away first.

Among the Carefree Pavilion group, the Lan siblings mingled in the crowd, their faces calm, but they were secretly communicating via voice transmission.

"Little sister, this Lei Yuce does have a certain imposing presence, and his cultivation is on par with Su Qianxi's. Why does she always act so cold and distant? Strange," Lan Yuanzi transmitted, greatly puzzled.

"What's so strange about that? Whether mortal or immortal, aren't all men the same? The harder something is to get, the more they're willing to devote themselves. The colder Fairy Su acts, the more Lei Yuce will yearn for what he can't have and be utterly devoted," Lan Yan transmitted back, covering her mouth with a smile.

"So that's the reasoning... That could be considered a tactic of playing hard to get," Lan Yuanzi said, seeming to understand, nodding.

"Oh? Brother, are you getting some insight from this? Feeling enlightened?" Lan Yan suddenly changed her tone and asked.

"Ahem... Enough, let's focus on business. What lies ahead is uncertain. Stay close," Lan Yuanzi, caught off guard, changed the subject.

At the tail of the team, as Han Li passed under the mountain-cleaving axe, he looked up and saw a few more small characters on the handle where it was gripped: "Dropping the axe severs longevity." His brow furrowed slightly.

Almost at the same time, on the other path, a young girl in a black robe also looked up as she passed under the golden ruyi and saw a few small characters on it: "Ruyi, not as one wishes."

After both teams had advanced several hundred zhang into the passages, a rumbling sound suddenly came from behind.

It was the giant axe and golden ruyi in the hands of the double-headed statue falling simultaneously, sealing off both passages and blocking the way back.

Both teams stopped at the sound. Wen Zhong and Jin Liu each went back to check, then returned to the team, saying only that the retreat was cut off and they had to press forward with all their strength.

The crowd had come for treasure. After a brief commotion, they quieted down and continued forward.

At the rear of the team, Han Li listened to the sound behind him, a thoughtful expression flickering across his face.

In the time that followed, the team led by the Heavenly Water Sect advanced more than ten li along the passage. The stone walls on both sides were covered with various carved runes, so chaotic and disorderly that even Han Li couldn't tell what they were for.

But the further they went, the narrower the passage became, shrinking from several hundred zhang wide at the start to just a few dozen zhang wide.

At first, everyone remained vigilant, ready for any sudden incidents or mechanisms. Yet, aside from growing narrower, the passage seemed to have no other changes—not even a hint of restrictions.

The more this was the case, the more uneasy people became, and the atmosphere grew tense.

At the end of the passage, a golden gate dozens of zhang high appeared ahead. On both sides of the gate were carved statues of divine beings holding halberds, all with angry, vajra-like expressions, looking majestic and imposing.

Most eyes were drawn to the statues, but only a few people focused on the door studs on the giant gate.

"Yin and yang, ten returns nine out... It looks like a Yin-Yang Locking Array," Jin Liu, standing at the front, said, pointing at the stone gate.

Han Li heard this and couldn't help but sneer inwardly.

The stone studs on the gate did indeed have yin and yang distinctions—some protruding outward, some recessed inward—forming a pattern of interlocking yin and yang. But they did not represent yin and yang; rather, they referred to the star palaces.

Among them, the protruding ones were the Sun Palace, and the recessed ones were the Moon Palace. Hence, the true name of this restrictive formation should be the Star Palace Confrontation Array. The so-called Yin-Yang Locking Array was merely superficial and inaccurate.

"Since Senior Brother recognizes it, can you solve this array?" Su Qianxi asked.

"I can give it a try," Jin Liu said after a brief hesitation, nodding.

With that, he turned to the crowd and announced loudly, "Everyone, please be quiet. I have something to declare."

As his voice fell, the passage fell silent, and all eyes turned to him.