Chapter 738 154: Advice from a Romantic and the Second Round Begins

No normal young man would ever decorate a room like this. Using such a place as a Cultivation Room, spending at least half of every day inside—over time, even an elderly person would become gloomy, let alone a youth whose mind had not yet fully matured.

However, for someone with an unshakeable goal of revenge, this setup could serve as a constant reminder.

Tong Hou entered the Cultivation Room and walked over to the memorial tablets. He silently lit a stick of incense, let it burn for a moment, and then meticulously performed nine full kowtows. Afterward, he stared at the two tablets, lost in thought for a long time.

He seemed to be lost in distant memories, his world-weary expression shifting with subtle flickers of emotion.

After a long while, he finally returned to his senses. Looking at the two tablets, he whispered, "Mother, Sister, I thought it would take at least another hundred years before I could go back and start preparing, but..."

He trailed off and paused, then opened his hands. A Yin Yang Fish Chessboard materialized in his left palm, while an octagonal, blood-red altar appeared in his right.

He looked at the two artifacts in his hands. "But it seems I've gotten lucky. Not only did I break the Dao Sealing Power and unlock the Yin-Yang Dao, I also have a chance to go back and start laying my plans early..."

"Mother, Sister, do you think I should take the risk and go back now? Or should I just be patient, wait out the hundred years until the Sacrificial Dao reawakens?"

As he whispered, he watched the two artifacts in his hands. The Yin Yang Fish Chessboard in his left palm spun slowly, while the octagonal, blood-red altar in his right remained unnervingly still, without the slightest ripple of power.

After another moment, he looked up at the two tablets and said, "Since you're not answering, I'll take that to mean you agree I should go back early!"

With that, he stood up and moved to the altar table. From underneath, he pulled out a small, exquisite box. He opened it. There wasn't much inside.

Two tattered, dark red books lay inside. One of them radiated an incredibly dense Dao Essence. The cover read: *Sacrificial Secret Scripture*. The other book was underneath it, its details obscured.

Besides the two books, there was a brooch broken in two and a bracelet of which only half remained. The two broken items showed no trace of Spiritual Power and were dotted with specks of blood. They didn't look like collected antiques, but more like personal mementos.

Aside from these, there were a few other odds and ends. Tong Hou first picked up the two broken artifacts, which seemed to be mementos, and gently stroked them a few times before carefully placing them back.

He then fished a Command Token and a palm-sized circular disk out of a corner of the box. The two items appeared to be a set.

Holding the Command Token, he closed the box and checked the time. The second agenda item of the conference was still a day away. That should be enough time.

After a moment of thought, he used his Spiritual Power to etch a Circular Array he recalled from memory onto the floor of the Cultivation Room. As part of the ritual, he began to silently chant the Alliance Spell Order.

As he silently recited the Spell Order, he fell into a trance. Within it, he saw a great ring of light. A sphere of light shot out a beam that responded to his ritual.

Immediately after, he saw Qin Shizhong, but he only had enough time to send him a single thought: 'One year's quota of the shop's Spirit Beads!'

Then, his vision cleared.

Snapping out of his trance, Tong Hou stood stunned for a moment, then began to wait quietly. A moment later, the Space before him suddenly rippled with a silver sheen, and a silvery-white, mirror-like surface materialized.

As he watched in astonishment, a small cloth pouch dropped out of the mirror. Inside were the Spirit Nurturing Beads he had requested.

'This isn't an Ancient Transmission Method? It's a Grotto Heaven Transmission? How is that possible? Does the Alliance establish a temporary spatial anchor for every single ritual? How do they even create them? Wouldn't that consume a massive amount of precious resources?'

The moment the thought occurred to him, Tong Hou froze. His gaze fell upon the Circular Array he had etched with his Spiritual Power, his face a mask of astonishment.

'Don't tell me this thing is enough to establish a temporary spatial anchor?

'Impossible. If establishing spatial anchors were this easy, transmission wouldn't be so rare in Hongmeng. It wouldn't be exclusive to the Holy Lands of Blessing. Grotto Heavens are difficult to create, but are Personal Cave Mansions supposed to be difficult too?'

Tong Hou's mind reeled for a long time before he fell silent. In that moment, he once again glimpsed the true power of the Alliance.

He flipped his hand over, revealing the disk that came with the Command Token. He placed the disk on the ground, and Spiritual Light began to flicker from his hand.

The palm-sized disk began to reveal a dense network of Runes. The Runes were extraordinarily complex, and it seemed as if the entire disk was constructed from them.

As the Runes flashed, the disk transformed into an incredibly complex Array Platform, roughly two meters in diameter and covered in a dense web of Runes.

This was actually a portable Array Plate, the kind used for creating spatial anchors, painstakingly crafted over many years by at least a Four-Star Array Cultivator.

Tong Hou gazed at the Array Platform, then paused. He pressed the Command Token in his hand into a recess at the platform's core. The Array Platform flared with Spiritual Light, and he vanished completely.

...

More than half a day passed. Just as the conference was about to resume, he reappeared on the Array Platform. He hastily put it away, restoring everything to how it was before.

After a moment's hesitation, he put the Array Platform's disk form into his storage pouch instead of back into the box. He looked up at the two memorial tablets and whispered, "Mother, Sister, just watch. It will be soon. Very soon! Our family will have its revenge!"

He then carefully changed his clothes before leaving the Cultivation Room. Looking up at the sky, he began to wait for the second session of the conference to begin.