Chapter 309: Probing The Haoran Realm’s Will
White Crane Immortal Sect cultivators chanted incantations from their mouths, pinching hand seals with their hands. Heavenly materials and earthly treasures were continuously processed, then flew forward according to a specific structure, constructing the altar.
Ning Qi hid in the void, already ten meters away from the altar.
He glanced below, where more than twenty Integration Realm cultivators stood at this core location.
At this moment, the altar these people were building had reached the final step.
Among them, the auras of two were clearly stronger than the other Integration Realm cultivators. Ning Qi immediately knew they were Peak Venerables, only one step away from the Dao Integration Realm.
Ning Qi heard one of them say, “Senior Brother Su, we’re just missing the final Crystal Spirit Jade to place.”
Su Haoran glanced at Wu Feiyu and said, “I don’t know when the enemy will come. Junior Brother Wu, we must be extremely cautious for this final step!”
Wu Feiyu nodded, then suddenly soared into the air.
The Xuanzhen Domain Army saw someone fly out from the White Crane Immortal Sect formation, hovering in the air and surveying the surroundings.
Everyone understood why the other side had flown out—it must be that the White Crane Immortal Sect people had reached the most critical step in building the altar.
They weren’t worried about being discovered, after all, the Concealment Grand Array set by the Alliance Leader had already passed the test of two White Crane Immortal Sect teams.
If not for the fact that the White Crane Immortal Sect had seized the Node Bead and transformed it into a Heavenly Star, attracting the Vast Radiance Realm Will, the Alliance Leader would have worried about it seeing through and long ago led them in to kill.
What the Xuanzhen Domain crowd worried about was Alliance Leader Ning Qi.
Now, even they didn’t know where Ning Qi was, but since they had reached the most critical step in building the altar, the Alliance Leader must be near the altar.
Unfortunately, no matter how they searched, they couldn’t discover Ning Qi’s location, nor did they dare to release spiritual sense to probe.
If they ruined the big event, that would be trouble.
Sword Ancestor Jian Jingjue hovered on the other side.
Seeing the other side fly out one person, he immediately held his breath and concentrated.
His right hand tightly gripped the spiritual sword Ning Qi had given him back then, his left hand looking at the jade token Ning Qi had given him before, silently preparing.
The critical moment had arrived. He didn’t know where Ning Qi was, only that with Ning Qi’s personality, he was surely about to start causing trouble.
Ning Qi glanced at Wu Feiyu, who was only one meter away from him.
He could even feel the other’s breathing. Ning Qi temporarily stayed still to avoid any mishap.
Even if he was really discovered, he actually wasn’t afraid, but Ning Qi still wanted to test how strong the Spirit Realm Will’s perception was—this related to the future war between True Martial Realm and Mountain Sea Realm.
However, though he wasn’t afraid, the Wei Wu Ya residing in the ring on his hand was tense to the extreme.
As Fu Chen’s master, after making Fu Chen defect to Ning Qi, Wei Wu Ya had nothing left to teach Fu Chen.
He had also handed over a strand of his primordial spirit power to Ning Qi, his life and death in Ning Qi’s hands.
Thus, Wei Wu Ya could be considered to have acknowledged Ning Qi as master.
But Ning Qi disliked him being too old and didn’t make him call him master, instead letting him continue calling him Domain Lord.
Wei Wu Ya also didn’t know if Ning Qi really minded being called master or was taking care of his feelings.
Wei Wu Ya was worldly-wise and leaned toward the latter in his heart, so he felt a trace of gratitude toward Ning Qi.
Later, Ning Qi directly helped restore this lingering soul of his from Void Dao Realm to Early Integration Realm. Wei Wu Ya simply followed by Ning Qi’s side.
Ning Qi didn’t refuse. After all, Wei Wu Ya had been Dao Integration Realm cultivation in life and was the one with the most knowledge among his current subordinates, always able to provide him some intelligence.
Since following Ning Qi, due to the master-servant relationship, Ning Qi hardly hid anything from him when doing things.
Only then did Wei Wu Ya truly know how terrifying Ning Qi’s strength was.
The strength Ning Qi usually showed to the Xuanzhen Domain crowd was just the tip of the iceberg.
Wei Wu Ya suddenly felt that bending the knee as a servant wasn’t humiliating to him.
Instead, he saw hope of recovery on Ning Qi, and even going further in the future wasn’t impossible.
If he had kept following Fu Chen, recovery would have been a distant prospect.
But following Ning Qi let him see hope.
This time, after entering the War Domain, Ning Qi naturally brought him along.
Wei Wu Ya’s existence was known to only a few in the entire Xuanzhen Domain.
Besides Fu Chen, Niu Man who had brought Fu Chen to see Ning Qi back then knew, and then only Jian Jingjue knew; others were completely unaware of him.
Wei Wu Ya followed Ning Qi all the way, seeing Ning Qi easily suppress the medium node, and he was also delighted.
He was convinced this War Domain could let Ning Qi grow stronger faster.
But after arriving here, Wei Wu Ya couldn’t figure it out.
Why did his little master feel like he was constantly testing something?
Venturing out alone into the range of the Vast Radiance Realm’s hazy will, from ten thousand meters away to the current ten-meter range.
At every key distance, Ning Qi would extend a finger to probe, which Wei Wu Ya didn’t quite understand.
If he wanted to destroy the altar, with Ning Qi’s strength, he could do it from a hundred meters away, so why risk getting closer to the center?
In short, Wei Wu Ya had doubts in his heart but didn’t dare ask or say anything.
Ning Qi doing this must have his reasons!
But now Ning Qi was only ten meters from the altar center, and Wei Wu Ya was instantly extremely nervous.
One meter away from Ning Qi, White Crane Immortal Sect’s Peak Venerable Wu Feiyu seriously searched for a good while.
Whether in his field of vision or spiritual sense perception, he detected no enemy aura at all.
So, Wu Feiyu looked down at Su Haoran below and said, “Senior Brother Su, everything is fine!”
Su Haoran heard this and immediately took out a head-sized Crystal Spirit Jade, saying, “Junior Brother Wu, come down. We’ll activate the altar together. Once the altar is truly activated and the Vast Radiance Realm Will descends, we’ll have nothing to fear.”
Wu Feiyu then flew down, landing in his original position, and nodded to Su Haoran.
Su Haoran tossed the Crystal Spirit Jade in his hand, which landed perfectly on the altar’s peak.
This was the Earth Star corresponding to the Heavenly Star. As the Earth Star fell into place, the altar was instantly activated.
Above the sky, the Heavenly Star formed from the realm node immediately shot down a vertical star beam.
The starlight was like an arrow, striking the Crystal Spirit Jade at the altar’s peak.
Immediately, the Crystal Spirit Jade began continuously absorbing the starlight from above.
The altar below and the White Crane Immortal Sect crowd also exerted force together, continuously drawing energy from the ground and injecting it into the Crystal Spirit Jade.
The misty spiritual energy within the Crystal Spirit Jade began to rise, like the white mist swirling in the mountains at dawn after prolonged rain.
The pure rose, the turbid sank!
The ground shook, and every White Crane Immortal Sect cultivator’s feet were like tree roots, firmly rooted to the ground, immovable as mountains.
Seeing the White Crane Immortal Sect cultivators activate the altar, the Xuanzhen Domain cultivators’ nerves immediately tightened.
When would the Alliance Leader strike?
At this moment, Ning Qi took advantage of the White Crane Immortal Sect crowd below focusing their attention on the altar to directly charge into the ten-meter range of the starlight.
Wei Wu Ya on his body had his heart in his throat, if he had one.
The Heavenly Star dropped that dazzling starlight like a laser, condensed as if substantial.
The previous starlight had spread out, radiating a large area, but the Vast Radiance Realm consciousness within was hazy and not truly descended here.
But with this beam of starlight condensed as substance appearing, it meant a strand of the Vast Radiance Realm Will had truly condensed over.
It was urging the Earth Star, wanting to fully control this territory.
Ning Qi was now only nine meters from that brilliant starlight beam. He stared at the Crystal Spirit Jade on the altar and licked his lips.
“Very good, the Vast Radiance Realm Will still hasn’t discovered my existence!”
Ning Qi continued approaching: eight meters, six meters, four meters…
The closer he got to the Vast Radiance Realm Will, the more he felt a vast power like a mountain pressing on him, constantly increasing in weight.
The previous scorching heat had also risen a level.
Wei Wu Ya also indirectly felt the pressure Ning Qi bore; even hiding in the ring, he felt a trace of heart palpitations.
He silently calculated: if it were someone else, what would happen?
A Nascent Soul Realm cultivator would be completely pinned immobile at ten meters.
A Void Dao Great Expert could at most enter eight meters.
An ordinary Integration Realm Magnate could at most step into five meters.
Wei Wu Ya had just finished calculating when he suddenly felt Ning Qi move forward again.
Wei Wu Ya nearly cried. What exactly was his little master doing?
Even if he wanted to destroy the altar, wasn’t five meters enough? Moreover, with the Vast Radiance Realm Will so close, he feared that if Ning Qi approached further, this strand of lingering soul might be completely shattered.
Ning Qi didn’t care what Wei Wu Ya thought and continued teleporting forward.
Three meters, two meters, one meter…
He was now only one meter from the star beam condensed by the Vast Radiance Realm Will!
Ning Qi’s breathing was slightly heavy now, but he could still endure. But Wei Wu Ya felt dizzy and swollen-headed, like having a severe illness.
Perhaps sensing his existence from the ring’s fluctuations, Ning Qi directly passed over a strand of spiritual energy, making Wei Wu Ya instantly feel like going from heatstroke to a cool place, biting into a watermelon.
Ning Qi glanced below. The White Crane Immortal Sect cultivators weren’t faring well either at this moment.
Everyone was desperately cooperating with the descending Vast Radiance Realm Will, making the Crystal Spirit Jade continuously absorb the Boundary Sea Energy and Mountain Sea Realm Energy in this territory.
Sweat beads rolled down their faces, shattering on the ground, but no one had time to wipe them.
Ning Qi looked again at the Crystal Spirit Jade.
Fortunately, he had experience. The pure and turbid qi within the Crystal Spirit Jade began to separate, gradually moving toward the upper and lower ends.
The pure and turbid qi represented the Boundary Sea Energy and Mountain Sea Realm Energy.
The pure was Mountain Sea Realm Energy, the turbid was Boundary Sea Energy.
The Crystal Spirit Jade was the container sealing both.
It wasn’t enough just to absorb both energies into it; they still had to be separated.
Otherwise, mixed together, there was a risk of explosion, and all their efforts would be wasted.
Only by separating them, letting them form a Tai Chi state like the Yin Yang Fish, mutually restraining each other, could it truly be considered suppressing both.
Ning Qi had already decided on the timing to strike: when the pure and turbid qi fully separated!
At that time, whether the strand of clear will condensed by the Vast Radiance Realm or the two White Crane Immortal Sect teams, they would all be maximally constrained at that juncture to achieve Yin-Yang balance for the two energies in the Crystal Spirit Jade.
Ning Qi extended one finger into the one-meter range of the starlight.
His finger felt like it had plunged into scalding molten iron—viscous, sticky, like stepping into a swamp, with a dragging sensation.
But fortunately, he could still pull it out.
After thinking, Ning Qi slowly moved his body, directly into the half-meter range.
The Vast Radiance Realm Will still hadn’t discovered his existence, which made Ning Qi breathe a sigh of relief.
Wei Wu Ya, seeing his probing actions, couldn’t find words to describe his shock.
He didn’t understand what Ning Qi was doing, knowing Ning Qi was bold to the extreme. Just this courage alone made Ning Qi the person he admired most in his life.
The star beam transformed by the Vast Radiance Realm Will was scorching like a laser. Ning Qi could touch it by stretching out his arm.
But he had no intention of striking to test it, and more questions arose in his mind instead.
If the Vast Radiance Realm Will hadn’t condensed into the star beam, with attention not on the Earth Star below, would he be discovered?
Undoubtedly, if the White Crane Immortal Sect completed the ritual fully and the Vast Radiance Realm Will descended, he would definitely be discovered.
But the gap between these two was vast.
The current Vast Radiance Realm Will was just a beam of starlight; when it truly descended here, the range wouldn’t be comparable to a single beam.
Ning Qi had another doubt: this node was just a small node, different from the medium node he had occupied before.
After all, at the Mountain Sea Realm Will, fully occupying a medium node rewarded ten medium Rule Fragments.
A small node would definitely only reward ten small Rule Fragments upon full occupation.
Small Rule Fragments were only apricot-sized; even added up, they were at most two medium Rule Fragments.
So, though a small node was still a node, the Spirit Realm Will clearly wouldn’t pay as much attention to it.
This was also the part Ning Qi couldn’t fathom; he still couldn’t gauge how strong the Spirit Realm Will’s perception was.
Ning Qi wanted to find a few answers: at what level of the Spirit Realm Will would it fail to discover him, and what level was the critical point of discovery?
And would his ability improvements affect this judgment? This was also a factor to consider!
Storing these three doubts in his heart, Ning Qi watched the Crystal Spirit Jade below, where the pure and turbid qi had fully separated.
He knew it was time to strike!
This node’s power was obviously several times weaker than the medium node Ning Qi had suppressed before, so for the two White Crane Immortal Sect teams, their strength was sufficient to suppress it.
But they still poured in all their power, wanting to suppress the two energies within as quickly as possible.
Ning Qi waited no longer and directly took out a jade token, “crack” crushing it!
He looked toward Sword Ancestor’s position.
Jian Jingjue hovered ten thousand meters outside the altar perimeter.
As Ning Qi crushed the jade token, the one in his hand, paired with it, also shattered. His sword eyes instantly sharpened.
The power accumulated in his right hand for so long was unleashed in a fierce slash.
Whoosh!
Heaven and earth changed color, the void like white paper instantly slashed with a pitch-black rift.
A sword light three zhang wide and four hundred zhang long slashed unimpeded toward the altar.
Where the sword light passed, all White Crane Immortal Sect cultivators along the way—whether Nascent Soul, Void Dao, or Integration—didn’t even have time to react and were utterly annihilated beneath the sword light.
The altar was also split with a broken corner, only the Earth Star Crystal Spirit Jade at the peak still hovering, not yet slashed through by him.
But the separated pure and turbid qi within instantly began to become turbid again, seeming to have the possibility of returning to chaos.
The White Crane Immortal Sect cultivators finally reacted.
Su Haoran’s face was pale, then surged with an unnatural flush.
He glared hatefully at the Sword Ancestor who had revealed his figure, flying toward him like he had lost his reason.
“Senior Brother Su, don’t!”
Wu Feiyu’s face was ashen, blood madly surging from his mouth, but he didn’t dare leave on his own. The Earth Star on the altar had reached the critical node of metamorphosis—how could he just walk away.
He also swept his spiritual sense over Jian Jingjue, never expecting that after his personal patrol, an enemy had still broken through nearby and struck them with this stunning sword at the critical moment.
With one sword, their White Crane Immortal Sect had hundreds directly annihilated, including two Integration Realm Magnates.
Su Haoran disregarded everything and left the formation to kill the enemy, which harmed him badly.
Among them, quite a few followed Su Haoran to kill.
But the vast majority of White Crane Immortal Sect cultivators understood the situation and didn’t move, wanting the ritual to continue.
Even if the altar was damaged by the enemy, it was nothing. The most important thing now was the Crystal Spirit Jade, which contained all the Boundary Sea and Mountain Sea Realm Energy of this territory.
Just one final step, and the Vast Radiance Realm Will could fully descend here. At that time, what enemy couldn’t be taken?
Jian Jingjue had unleashed his full-power sword and now felt emptied, beginning to withdraw.
In short, he had completed Ning Qi’s instructions. Next, it was up to Ning Qi.
Ning Qi saw Su Haoran and others, wounded, soaring up to kill toward Sword Ancestor, yet he remained utterly calm.
This left Wei Wu Ya in the ring speechless. Still not striking?
Ning Qi looked at the starlight beam right within reach.
At this moment, a perceptible trace of anxious will seemed to come from within the starlight, the beam’s flow becoming even more turbulent.
Ning Qi finally couldn’t hold back and reached out to touch the beam, touching the Vast Radiance Realm Will.
The instant they touched, Ning Qi was like struck by lightning, nearly unable to maintain his floating body in the air, almost smashed straight down.
In the contact instant, he seemed to sense an incomparably grand will: “Who is it?”
Ning Qi steadied his figure and glanced at his withdrawn hand. His palm had a large hole blasted through, edges with flesh and blood flipped up.
After so many years, since reincarnating to Mountain Sea Realm, he had finally been injured for the first time, wounded by the Spirit Realm Will!
Ning Qi mobilized all the power in his body to repair the hand injury.
But all his power surging to the wound was like snow meeting charcoal fire, completely melting and having no effect at all.
Wei Wu Ya in the ring was stunned!
He never expected Ning Qi to touch the Vast Radiance Realm Will.
Now seeing Ning Qi injured and unable to recover, he grew anxious too.
“Domain Lord, are you alright?”
“I’m fine.”
Ning Qi had no time to continue repairing, because the Vast Radiance Realm Will had discovered his existence.
Above the star beam in front of him, several strands of hair-thin micro-lights actually separated out, writhing and dancing in the void, binding toward Ning Qi’s position.
Ning Qi still hadn’t revealed his figure.
Just then, a terrifying power, shadowless and formless, vast beyond measure, squeezed toward him from all directions, like it wanted to force Ning Qi’s figure out and completely suppress him in place.
Ning Qi’s figure finally couldn’t hide and emerged.
His emergence naturally startled the White Crane Immortal Sect cultivators below again. Another enemy? And so close, right above their heads.
As they were thinking how to respond, they also noticed the Vast Radiance Realm Will’s movement, so they couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.
Since the Vast Radiance Realm Will was striking, there was no problem!
Ning Qi emerged and his first action wasn’t to attack the White Crane Immortal Sect cultivators below, but to swing down his arm.
The Xuanzhen Domain Army had been waiting for the Alliance Leader’s order since Sword Ancestor struck, but they hadn’t seen Ning Qi’s figure.
Now, the Alliance Leader finally emerged and swung his arm.
The Xuanzhen Domain cultivators’ accumulated power immediately poured out in an organized manner.
Countless attacks like a rain of arrows shot toward the White Crane Immortal Sect cultivators attracted by Ning Qi’s emergence.
Boom rumble!
The void seemed burned red, half the void completely covered by various radiant attacks.
Facing the attacks crashing like sea tides and giant waves, despair appeared in the eyes of the White Crane Immortal Sect cultivators one by one.
And Su Haoran, who had flown out to kill Sword Ancestor, also sensed the commotion behind.
He roared: “Which vile thief!”
Then he immediately led the flown-out cultivators to desperately rush back.
They hadn’t flown far, but saving the rest of the White Crane Immortal Sect cultivators under the Xuanzhen Domain Army’s attacks was already impossible.
So, they directly locked onto the nearest Ning Qi.
“Even in death, kill this person!”
Su Haoran erupted with massive blood qi all over, and the cultivators behind him also burst with blood qi one by one.
“Xuanyuan Blood Sword!”
Several figures bathed in blood light slashed toward Ning Qi at lightning speed.
The void was dyed in blood, the terrifying momentum shaking the sky. This spell of theirs seemed to also affect the Vast Radiance Realm Will.
The starlight condensed by the Vast Radiance Realm Will became even more violent!
Those hair-thin starlights grabbing toward Ning Qi instantly became chopstick-thick, their power enough to crush a expert who had just stepped into Dao Integration Realm.
Ning Qi’s left hand still hadn’t recovered. Facing the Vast Radiance Realm Will’s double attack and Su Haoran and others’ Xuanyuan Blood Sword.
Ning Qi’s figure actually vanished from everyone’s sight again.
Space Travel!
This scene caught everyone off guard, including the descending Vast Radiance Realm Will.
Only Wei Wu Ya on Ning Qi seemed to sense in that instant a similarly terrifying power erupting from Ning Qi.
Allowing Ning Qi to escape the current predicament.
He didn’t understand what it was, only feeling Ning Qi’s terror had exceeded his imagination.
The Xuanyuan Blood Sword pierced Ning Qi’s previous position but felt no hit on a solid entity.
Su Haoran and the other cultivators, covered in blood with broken figures, stood in place, seeming about to go mad.
Without a target, what use was burning their life force?
Meanwhile, the Vast Radiance Realm Will continued probing Ning Qi’s position. For Ning Qi to escape its lock and suppression, it also found it inconceivable.
For such an enemy, it must find his whereabouts.
Only to see countless hair-thin starlight tentacles explode from that starlight beam, spreading toward the surrounding void.
It continued urging the Earth Star to complete the ritual on one hand, while searching for Ning Qi’s figure on the other.
As for the Xuanzhen Domain Army’s attacks, it completely ignored them.
