Chapter 156: Second Realm Of The Five Seas
“She wants to recruit you, actually.” Yin Shisan said.
“This shows she has good eyesight and a strong ability to recognize and employ talent.”
Li Weiyi changed the subject, saying: “But she is merely a Luan Tai Angel, not the Luan Tai Second Palace Master. For her to recruit a Hidden Person from my Jiu Li Hidden Sect to work for her is already giving her plenty of face. To use a God Hidden Person, she is not qualified enough.”
Yin Shisan smiled, then said prudently: “Ahead is the territory under Imperial Court jurisdiction. After passing Hu Ju City, we basically enter the Central Plains region. The Ju Ze Plain ahead is ten thousand li wide, the largest fertile land granary under heaven, connecting the northern half-prefecture of Zhizhou to the lands of Qiu Prefecture, Fu Zhou, and three prefectures.”
“By the way, this northern half-prefecture of Zhizhou is said to be under Imperial Court jurisdiction, but it has long fallen into the hands of Zuo Qiu Gatehouse. This is the fundamental reason Jiang Ning dares not enter the city as a Luan Tai Angel.”
“Then how does she dare go to Qiu Prefecture?” Li Weiyi said.
Yin Shisan said: “It’s different! If a Luan Tai Angel dies in Qiu Prefecture, it is Zuo Qiu Gatehouse’s responsibility. But if a Luan Tai Angel dies in Hu Ju City, Zuo Qiu Gatehouse can completely claim to the outside world that it was done by Night City barbarian thieves, by the Li Tribe rebels.”
“The enemies capable of pursuing Jiang Ning must be extremely powerful. Does Thirteenth Senior Brother really want to take this risk?” Li Weiyi said.
Yin Shisan laughed: “Only by taking this risk can Jiang Ning possibly bring me into her core circle. The Jiang Clan branch in Lingxiao Life Realm is a colossal existence. Borrowing the power of the Imperial Court, it can rival the four great ten million gateways. The energy behind this is no small matter.”
“As long as you know what you’re doing! As a future God Hidden Person, I give you three stalks of Dyeing Cloud Exotic Medicine.” Li Weiyi took out the exotic medicine and handed it to him.
“What future God Hidden Person? It’s just God Hidden Person!”
Yin Shisan was overjoyed, not standing on ceremony with Li Weiyi at all. He quickly put away the three stalks of Dyeing Cloud Exotic Medicine and laughed heartily: “I’ve been stuck at the Fourth Realm of Five Seas Realm for two years. With these, I can break through to the Fifth Realm of Five Seas Realm soon. My chances of survival will be much greater! God Hidden Person, farewell!”
Yin Shisan pursued Jiang Ning and Zhuang Yue, stepping onto the path of his own struggle.
Li Weiyi watched the fifty fire crows flying toward Hu Ju City, let out a long sigh, and ultimately did not follow Wu Zhaonan into the city. Instead, he quickly slipped into the night with Li Ling, disappearing onto the Ju Ze Plain.
He did not want to attract this attention.
If the outside world learned he was mixed up with Jiang Ning on this trip, they would definitely see him as an Imperial Court person, and the trouble would be enormous!
Although up to now, few people under heaven had heard the name Li Weiyi, the commotion he caused in Li Zhou at Spring Gushing Realm could almost be ignored.
But on this trip to Qiu Prefecture, Li Weiyi was set on seizing a Longevity Pill. Without shaking the world with his name, how could he have a chance to seize the pill?
……
Night City Young City Lord Yuwen Tuozhen stood tall and outstanding on the back of a black Night Scale Giant Beast, gazing far at Hu Ju City thirty li away.
The sun was just rising on the horizon.
The giant beast flew in mid-air, with thick clouds above Yuwen Tuozhen’s head. His entire person bathed in brilliant rosy clouds.
His heroic figure in his twenties had a crescent moon mark at his brow, unique to Night Clan imperial members. With his purple long hair, he exuded extremely heavy Yin Energy, and paired with his current hawk-like cold glare, it made Yuwen Chao, standing beside him, involuntarily shiver.
Yuwen Chao’s right arm was nearly crippled, but fortunately he escaped from underwater, preserving his life.
At Fifth Realm of Five Seas Realm cultivation, his vitality was already sufficiently strong.
Three Night City Fifth Realm of Five Seas Realm deformed humanoid race experts skilled in tracking probed around the shore, then successively rode fire crows into the air to report to Yuwen Tuozhen.
Among the three, a Fifth Realm Fourth Realm dog-like deformed humanoid race old woman said: “That group did not enter Hu Ju City. They came ashore here, then split into two routes and left.”
Yuwen Chao said: “Young City Lord, let me pursue the other route. This general will surely make up for my failure. In last night’s battle, the fire crow cavalry suffered too heavy losses!”
Yuwen Tuozhen looked toward Dharma Truth and Nirvana Truth on the golden eagle’s back: “After Hu Ju City, we enter Zuo Qiu Gatehouse territory, not easy to pursue! The Night Emperor Toad Poison on Jiang Ning is surely not resolved yet—a perfect capturing opportunity. One of the Three Immortals with such beauty, yet I failed to glimpse her immortal face. Truly regrettable.”
Dharma Truth wore a green Buddhist robe, his face fair and clean as jade, and said warmly: “As long as she has not entered Qiu Prefecture Prefectural City, there is still a chance.”
Nirvana Truth said: “Her trip to Qiu Prefecture Prefectural City will surely make her a disruptor at the Hidden Dragon Lantern Festival. Zuo Qiu Gatehouse will not welcome her. As long as we are not too ostentatious, they will certainly turn a blind eye.”
Yuwen Tuozhen laughed: “You Coffin Mountain people have truly extraordinary courage.”
Nirvana Truth laughed wildly: “Capturing Yu Xianzi and destroying her will let us steal the show before all the righteous army heavenly prodigies. For this Hidden Dragon Lantern Festival, this monk seeks fame.”
Dharma Truth said: “Dragon Gate Successor has gone to Hu Ju City. There is one of Sui Sect’s six great branch halls, Sui Zhi Hall. Sui Sect’s young generation experts, after leaving Li Zhou, are gathering there. With their help, our chances of hunting Jiang Ning will greatly increase.”
“Then mobilize the Three Chen Palace forces as well. I will handle this.”
Yuwen Tuozhen’s gaze finally fell on Yuwen Chao: “I’ll give you one more chance. Pursue the other route. This young master is very interested in those seven strange insects you mentioned.”
“Thank you, Young Master, for your trust! This general will not fail, and will surely bring back the seven strange insects to present to Young Master.”
Yuwen Chao let out a long breath of relief. The pressure Yuwen Tuozhen gave him was greater than a Dao Seed Realm martial cultivator, because he knew all too well what a volatile and ruthless character this Night City Young City Lord was.
……
In the Blood Mud Space.
Li Weiyi sat cross-legged in meditation, circles of spatial fluctuations surging around his body, bright magic energy rosy clouds inhaling and exhaling from his pores.
With every inhalation and exhalation, the magic energy tier rose accordingly.
This process lasted a full six hundred seventy-one times, until the magic energy finally calmed, its tier no longer growing.
“Finally broken through successfully, officially stepping into the Second Realm of Five Seas Realm.”
“Second sea of qi, sixty-three squares.”
These days, Li Weiyi had been recuperating his lung leaves while also strengthening them. On the third day after parting with Jiang Ning, after swallowing two stalks of Dyeing Cloud Exotic Medicine, he finally broke open the second sea of qi.
In the breakthrough process, the magic energy was repeatedly condensed and transformed into third-tier qi.
“I wonder what this battle intent cultivated with Heaven-Overturning Palm Seal will look like after shapeshifting.”
After standing up, Li Weiyi stepped into a foot technique, hands forming palms, assuming the starting pose of Heaven-Overturning Palm Seal.
“Whoosh—”
Battle intent manifested around his body, like something rotating around him, stirring up strands of wind force. But it was invisible, intangible— it still needed to incorporate spirit and magic energy to take concrete form.
Normally, battle intent took the form of the martial cultivator themselves, a mystical manifestation of the spirit battle technique.
Only a few inherited battle intents, or those from cultivating special codices and special martial arts, would be variant battle intents.
Battle intents of Five Seas Realm Third Realm martial cultivators were almost all one zhang tall.
Fourth Realm martial cultivators’ battle intents were about two zhang tall.
Fifth Realm martial cultivators, about three zhang tall.
Of course, for Fifth Realm experts who cultivated the sixth sea at the back of the head Feng Fu, the battle intent would grow another zhang.
In Li Weiyi’s view, battle intent was very much like the ancient Huaxia mythological legends’ Law of Heaven Earth Phenomenon— the higher the cultivation, the larger the figure.
Li Weiyi practiced the palm technique over and over, gradually merging his essence, qi, spirit, and battle intent into one.
“Boom!”
In the Blood Mud Space, centered on Li Weiyi’s body, a powerful vortex wind force erupted out of thin air, scattering in all directions.
A soul-shaking aura was born with it.
Inside the vortex wind force, rosy clouds swirled. A majestic figure in a Daoist robe manifested, ethereal and otherworldly, yet with an overpowering presence. The white mustache on his chin was like a bright, burning waterfall.
The battle intent was one zhang tall, very faint, making the Daoist robe figure’s face unclear. He held a seal in one hand and a bell in the other, just like a deity enshrined in a temple, enough to make mortals prostrate in worship.
“This couldn’t be that ancestor from Chan Sect history, could it?”
Li Weiyi’s heart trembled, suddenly thinking of many things. Did Earth really have a lost mythological history?
Or perhaps, the mythological history did not occur on Earth, but was transmitted to Earth. Just like the Fusang Divine Tree and Yingzhou, which also were not on Earth?
“The battle intent is too faint. The magic energy is still not thick enough. It can only be said to be stronger than same realm and one realm higher martial cultivators.”
“The second sea of qi is sixty-three squares in size. If accumulating qi in secluded cultivation step by step, it would take at least half a year. Going to the prefectural giant city and borrowing Heaven Earth Spring, the speed can be much faster.”
Li Weiyi’s gaze fell on Zen Sea Observing Mist, who sat on the Magic Tool Jade Boat. Perhaps refining Qi Ascending Pills was the fastest method.
Impacting the Third Realm of Five Seas Realm was still distant. Li Weiyi secretly calculated that to continue raising strength in the near term, there were only two paths: Golden Spring bone tempering and nurturing the seven Phoenix Wing Moth Emperors.
If using Golden Spring to refine the bones to minor accomplishment golden bone with gold sheen on the surface, just the physical body power alone could compare to an ordinary Fifth Realm of Five Seas Realm martial cultivator. Combined with magic energy cultivation and magic tools, the combat power would be very impressive.
More crucially, with minor accomplishment golden bone, physical body defense would greatly increase. Even if encountering a powerful figure he couldn’t beat, survival would be no problem.
From the over a month since leaving Zangxian Town, after massively swallowing Golden Spring, of the two hundred six bones in his body, one hundred thirty-seven had reached gold sheen on the surface.
Li Weiyi inquired about the seven Phoenix Wing Moth Emperors’ situation. They reported that after venting by killing enemies on the ship, the fire in their abdomens had eased somewhat, but it still felt like flames were burning, so they temporarily could not consume Xihe Flower.
Li Weiyi gave each one stalk of two-hundred-year precious medicine, all “earned” in Zangxian Town.
No choice—these seven little ones had too great value in large-scale battles, but they were always cozying up to Jiang Ning, giving Li Weiyi a sense of crisis. Anyway, now he was wealthy, so he was naturally generous to them.
If he could quickly feed them to a level where their combat power rivaled Fifth Realm of Five Seas Realm, then as an insect tamer, he could strut around Qiu Prefecture Prefectural City.
“With my current wealth, as long as I convert some resources on hand to cash, buying thousand-year elixir is no problem. Best if ice attribute, to both rapidly grow the seven little ones and neutralize the fierceness of Xihe Flower.”
Li Weiyi settled on this in his mind, then glanced again at Zen Sea Observing Mist, who was meditating in cultivation. Forget it, whatever trial romance—she probably did not take it to heart at all, purely a cultivation maniac.
No matter how much she wanted to return to Yang Realm, the Ancient Heavenly Emperor’s aloof and indifferent heart was her essence.
How could a person resist their own heart?
“Whoosh!”
Circles of spatial fluctuations rippled out.
Li Weiyi left the Blood Mud Space and returned to the carriage interior.
This was a luxurious exotic beast carriage with a compartment over a zhang long and wide, which Li Weiyi had bought at great expense. Together with a group of Zhizhou talents also heading to Qiu Prefecture Prefectural City for the Hidden Dragon Lantern Festival, they formed a luxury convoy, traveling on the wide and smooth official road.
After Hu Ju City, the atmosphere under heaven changed accordingly—chaos vanished, replaced by prosperity and flourishing.
They no longer encountered righteous army or barbarian thieves; it seemed they all knew they had entered Zuo Qiu Gatehouse territory and gave great face.
In the middle of the carriage compartment was a sandalwood desk. White fox fur covered the floor and seats, with luxurious decorations on the four walls.
Li Weiyi folded and stored the ghost flag used to isolate the outside world, then turned his gaze to Li Ling, who had been guarding in the carriage: “Have we entered Qiu Prefecture territory?”
“Qi Wangshu says we can reach Ju Ze City before nightfall. Reaching Bing Zu Marsh counts as entering Qiu Prefecture,” Li Ling said.
Qi Wangshu had the highest prestige among all the talents in this convoy, was forthright, and served as a leader-like figure. He said his Qi Clan was a million-strong clan in Zhizhou, with the clan old ancestor holding high status in Zuo Qiu Gatehouse. Upon reaching Qiu Prefecture Prefectural City, he would arrange everything properly.
The sun hung slant at dusk.
The eight luxurious exotic beast carriages finally arrived at the renowned Bing Zu Marsh of Lingxiao Life Realm.
The giant marsh before them was said to stretch sixteen hundred li north-south and two thousand li east-west, a freshwater inland sea. It was the legendary soldier ancestor’s internal magic energy spring eye that fell to earth, forming this divine water area.
Qiu Prefecture Prefectural City was built on the north shore of Bing Zu Marsh, still a long way from Ju Ze City, where they arrived today.
