Chapter 202: The Fourth Realm
“Hidden Person, come with us. The Hidden Lord Faction sent us to pick you up.”
Yin Fifteen and Yin Sixteen appeared on the sea embankment, transmitting sound with magic energy.
“Wait a moment.”
Li Weiyi put away the two cloth banners, knowing that the arena could not continue at this stage, and looked toward Yin Eleven and Zhu Yu Zhao who were fiercely battling on the sea: “How about we join forces and fight back?”
Yin Fifteen said: “There are still many masters under Young Esteemed One who have not appeared. It is not suitable to stay here long. Your safety is more important than anything else. Yin Nine and Yin Eleven have their own missions. The battle to establish their name must be fought. The Jiu Li want to use the Hidden Dragon Lantern Festival to reestablish the prestige of the ten-million-year ancient clan.”
Li Weiyi knew the situation had spiraled out of control, and staying here was indeed dangerous. He boarded the sea embankment with Yin Fifteen and Yin Sixteen, heading toward Zhuo Garden.
The injured Qi Wangshu and Zuo Qiu Bai Yuan had already been taken back to the city by martial cultivators from Zuo Qiu Gatehouse.
Just as they were about to enter the inner city, Li Weiyi stopped and gazed into the distance.
Amid deafening tiger roars, a massive white tiger leaped onto the city wall, landing at the top of the three-story city tower.
At the same time, a drawn-out voice came from afar: “Zuo Qiu Ting brings eleven people from Zuo Qiu Gatehouse to pay respects to Young Esteemed One and requests Young Esteemed One’s guidance.”
Yin Nine, who had repelled Coffin Mountain Four Truths, carried world-shaking demonic might, strode down the long street, shouldered an axe, and rushed toward the city wall. Finally, he stopped instantly on the ground below the city wall, forming a combined attack stance with Cang Li, one in heaven and one on earth.
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Zhuo Garden, located in the southeast corner of the South Inner City, was another secret stronghold of the Jiu Li Hidden Sect.
After Qin Garden was exposed, all the young hidden people lived here.
When Li Weiyi, Yin Fifteen, and Yin Sixteen returned, Hidden Lord had already returned from Taoli Mountain and was instructing Yao Yin on controlling the battle intent of the Jiu Li God and the power contained within that intent.
It could be said that, aside from Li Weiyi, Yao Yin was the apple of Hidden Lord’s eye.
“You came back alive?”
Hidden Lord asked with a hint of teasing laughter.
Yin Fifteen and Yin Sixteen tactfully left to contemplate that Silver Skeleton Heavenly Clan bone.
Li Weiyi naturally knew that Hidden Lord would use this opportunity to persuade him to leave Qiu Prefecture City, so: “Everything is within expectations, still safe. Aren’t you worried about them over there?”
No matter how out of control, he could not show weakness now, and steered the topic elsewhere.
From Zhuo Garden, one could gaze far at the clusters of magic energy mist clouds on the city wall.
Hidden Lord walked to his side, glanced faintly at the city wall direction, and withdrew his gaze: “They won’t fight! The battle between Luan Sheng Lin You and Ge Xian Tong ended with both sides suffering heavy losses; they probably haven’t recovered yet. It’s only about ten days until New Year’s Eve. If they start a war with Jiu Li and Zuo Qiu Gatehouse at this time, won’t the other parties be delighted to death?”
“Then why did they make a move?” Li Weiyi asked.
Hidden Lord said: “You’re so clever, take a guess.”
“Could it be to force out the trump cards of Jiu Li and Zuo Qiu Gatehouse?”
As soon as he said it, Li Weiyi shook his head: “No, even if they make a move, it should be the Imperial Court’s forces probing. With Luan Sheng Lin You injured, it’s impossible for them to go make a wedding dress for Ge Xian Tong again.”
“Could they be coming for me?”
Li Weiyi saw the amusement in Hidden Lord’s eyes and shook his head again: “That’s even more impossible! Cang Jin’s target might be me, but the others’ targets definitely aren’t. Otherwise, I couldn’t have walked out of Bing Zu Marsh.”
Li Weiyi always believed that a group of people impacting top scholar positions wouldn’t, at this critical moment, treat an excellent middle school exam student like him as a threat or opponent. They could eliminate him conveniently, but such a large-scale conflict was too unreasonable.
Hidden Lord said: “Do you know how many people have fallen into your arena gambling game these past few days, not only losing all their possessions but also going to Thousand Mile Mountain to borrow money?”
“Everything was voluntary. I advised them, but they wouldn’t listen,” Li Weiyi said.
Hidden Lord said: “Because they are in the game, they’ve lost their reason. Those who lose money are like that, and those who win money… aren’t they the same?”
Li Weiyi’s eyes widened, then he was struck like thunder, his face instantly turning deathly pale. He awoke as if enlightened by a dharma talk, finally understanding the root of today’s events.
Losing gamblers are driven by gambling addiction, of course.
Winning gamblers, constantly tasting sweetness, aren’t they driven by greed and wealth?
Everyone finds it hard to stop.
The former end up ruined and homeless, the latter can’t escape decapitation. Because this money comes too easily, white and gleaming right before their eyes, it will surely provoke envy and disaster.
“They came for those Spring Coins, blood crystals, thousand year elixirs, and magic tools.”
Li Weiyi muttered to himself, then smiled bitterly, reflecting on the imbalance in his mentality these past few days.
He thought he had always been rational and made many arrangements, but…
He truly hadn’t realized what kind of danger massive wealth would bring, nor restrained himself in time, letting the wealth grow wildly, ultimately brewing disaster and nearly killing Qi Wangshu and Zuo Qiu Bai Yuan.
If it had really started as a martial arts gathering from the beginning, even defeating all under heaven’s enemies in five moves in the same realm, it wouldn’t have caused such a stir.
“Contentment avoids disgrace, knowing when to stop avoids peril. This saying is indeed true. Failing to control one’s greed and possessing wealth beyond one’s control is very dangerous,” Li Weiyi said.
Seeing that he knew where he went wrong and had the ability for self-reflection, Hidden Lord smiled satisfiedly: “The wealth you’ve accumulated these past few days, not to mention them, even I am a bit tempted. You know, those young masters in the Five Seas Realm are willing to take risks for a single thousand year elixir.”
“Unfortunately, it was all robbed!” Li Weiyi sighed.
Hidden Lord directly pointed it out, laughing: “Really all robbed?”
Of course not.
The precious items won in the first four days, like thousand year elixirs and rare high-grade magic tools, Li Weiyi had long stored in his boundary bag.
But that didn’t mean he didn’t care about the five chests of wealth that were robbed.
Now he could only pray, hoping Zuo Qiu Gatehouse could catch that female thief, or at least that she escaped alive. If she was killed midway due to greed, Li Weiyi wouldn’t even know who to chase for repayment.
Seeing his low spirits, Hidden Lord thought he was still reflecting, so he said: “Experience isn’t scary; what’s scary is not experiencing. Only through constant experiences can one find the weaknesses of human nature in the seven emotions and six desires, constantly correcting and compensating. Repeated hammering forges true knowledge!”
In the following days, Li Weiyi healed and accumulated Qi cultivation in Zhuo Garden.
During this time, he met Qi Xiao once and learned about the female thief. Though they hadn’t captured her, the other party’s people also seemed unable to take her down.
It was a fortunate turn in misfortune.
“Help me investigate Sui Sect people, keep them under tight watch,” Li Weiyi said.
“It’s Sui Sect people who robbed our money?”
Qi Xiao was furious, as if what was robbed wasn’t money, but his wife and children.
“Don’t alert them, wait for my news,” Li Weiyi said.
“Got it. Those Sui Sect bastards robbed me! Don’t worry, South City is full of Qi Family informants; they can’t escape,” Qi Xiao, who considered himself even-tempered, was truly enraged this time after losing face and money!
As New Year’s Eve drew nearer, the festive atmosphere in Qiu Prefecture City grew thicker.
Almost all who lived in the prefectural city were martial cultivators or mind masters. Many hadn’t left due to the upcoming Hidden Dragon Lantern Festival; instead, they looked forward to it eagerly.
After all, the massive influx of young martial cultivators from various prefectures let them earn pots full of gold.
The night before New Year’s Eve, Li Weiyi finally perfected his third sea of Qi.
After consuming the Dyeing Cloud Exotic Medicine, he successfully broke through to the fourth stage of the Five Seas Realm.
The fourth sea was the main sea, and the process of opening it was extremely long. Even with the spatial power of Buddha’s Sarira assisting, the expansion took several hours.
Li Weiyi used mind power to look inward, and sure enough, as everyone said, the fourth sea was more than ten times larger than the first three combined.
The first sea of Qi: ten units.
The second sea of Qi: sixty-three units.
The third sea of Qi: around three hundred eighty units.
The fourth sea of Qi, he roughly estimated, about eight thousand units—unbelievably vast, an inner world within a tiny lung leaf.
Like a great hall twenty meters long, wide, and high, the magic energy it could store was like a lake or sea.
“No wonder everyone says the fourth stage of the Five Seas Realm is worlds apart from the third. Opening the main sea is indeed different; no need to skimp on magic energy like before.”
“And my magic energy seems to have reached the level of fourth-tier Qi.”
Li Weiyi felt a refreshing ease like parting the clouds to see the sun. If he could fill the fourth sea of Qi to perfection, even without joining forces with those seven little ones, he could fully compete with top experts cultivating the seventh sea in the Five Seas Realm.
After testing, post-breakthrough, absorbing Dao Fruit through the spring eyes in his palms doubled the accumulation speed.
If accumulating Qi steadily like this, it would take two or three years to perfect the fourth sea of Qi.
He couldn’t wait, of course. Recalling the prior discussion with Jar Master, he directly infused the Dao Fruit into the fourth sea of Qi, then activated Dao Ancestor Tai Chi Fish to enter the blood mud space in the microscopic world.
In the blood mud space, the seven Phoenix Wing Moth Emperors had grown to six inches, equivalent to normal cultivation in the fifth realm of the Five Seas Realm. But their combat power could dominate even sixth sea martial cultivators.
As their realms rose higher, they needed more medicinal herbs to grow each inch.
From five to six inches, they consumed two thousand year elixirs and three Xihe Flowers from Li Weiyi.
He dared not imagine how many thousand year elixirs it would take to raise them to seven inches.
However, as their realms rose, their special abilities became more prominent.
One little one, which Li Weiyi called “San Feng,” could release Golden Crow Flame, which even his protective magic energy couldn’t block—it would be burned through.
Li Weiyi tested with a mid-grade magic tool war sword.
The war sword was directly severed by its wings, with melting signs at the break.
Sitting beside Jar Master’s coffin, Li Weiyi stated his purpose.
Jar Master said: “Is today the end of the year?”
“When I came in, the sky was bright; it’s already the last day of the old year,” Li Weiyi said.
Jar Master said: “Eight thousand units is barely large enough to risk directly infusing the Dao Fruit. At the speed the Dao Fruit naturally releases magic energy, like a storm vortex, it can fill the sea of Qi in a few breaths. If not extracted in time, it risks bursting the sea of Qi. That’s risk one!”
“Second, the magic energy in the Dao Fruit isn’t cultivated by you. Once it enters your body on a large scale, there will be strong rejection. It could even lead to magic energy going out of control during battle.”
“So, martial cultivators using this move for rapid accumulation must spend a long time in secluded cultivation quenching and integrating it.”
“Now the problem: The last batch of invitations and rules for the Hidden Dragon Lantern Festival will be distributed and announced tonight below Taoli Mountain.”
“First, uncertain if you can get one of the last batch of invitations. Second, uncertain what the rules are—will battle erupt tonight?”
“You need at least several days of secluded cultivation for initial quenching and temporary integration. I suggest returning from Taoli Mountain tonight before deciding whether to infuse the Dao Fruit into the fourth sea of Qi; that’s safer.”
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（Every time the update schedule gets disrupted, it takes days to adjust. Everyone, please understand.）
