Spirit Realm

As Qin Lie talked to Song Tingyu, Xie Jingxuan, and Xue Moyan in the cultivation room, Xing Yao pressed against the other side of the wall between their rooms, trying to eavesdrop.

She was only in the middle stage of the Netherpassage Realm, a level weaker than Song Tingyu and the others. She didn’t dare to release her soul consciousness to investigate and risk being found out. She definitely didn’t want to make a fool of herself in front of people more skilled than her.

Instead, she focused her senses and tried to listen in on them.

She quickly discovered that she couldn’t hear anything and realized that Qin Lie and the three women were hiding in the cultivation room. This meant that they were clearly wary of her and took necessary precautions.

“They’re being so secretive… they’re definitely up to no good! I wonder what their goal is.” Xing Yao became even more certain that Qin Lie’s group had ulterior motives.

After trying eavesdrop for a while and realizing she couldn’t hear anything, Xing Yao helplessly left her room to investigate.

She eventually arrived at a training area on the second level of the ship. This training field was meant for people of important status and Fulfillment Realm martial practitioners. Here, they would spar with their spirit arts and discuss bottlenecks they encountered during cultivation. Xing Wu normally trained here, and Xing Yao soon found him.

“Little Wu, find out how many ships carrying people are listed as traveling to the Heavenly Slaughter Continent from the Heavenly Calamity Continent,” she said.

“Sister Yao?” Xing Wu approached her. “Are you suspicious of Xing Lie?”

“Yes,” she said in a straightforward manner, not bothering to hide it from him. “A disaster descended upon our Xing Family a thousand years ago and almost all of our clansmen were killed. Few branch families managed to escape it. In recent years, my father arranged for some of our people to travel through the Heavenly Calamity Continent in hopes of finding surviving members of the Xing Family. Anyone connected to the Xing Family was already found and sent to Gold Sun Island in groups. No other news of Xing Family clansmen has been discovered in the past few years. I don’t believe that Xing Lie is actually seventh grandfather’s descendant.”

“That seems strange to me as well.” Xing Wu thought to himself, then said, “Don’t worry, Sister Yao. I’ll go investigate this for you.”

“Ah, right. Do you know what’s going on with the Pan Family?” Xing Yao asked. “Why haven’t we heard anything from the spies that infiltrated them?”

“Actually, something strange happened.” Xing Wu frowned. “A while ago, the spies sent a message saying that they had made an important discovery and wanted us to wait. They said that the Pan Family had mobilized and that they would try to learn why as soon as possible. Yet we haven’t received any messages since then.”

“Has something happened to them?” Xing Yao asked worriedly.

“The chances of that are extremely high!” Xing Wu said with a sigh. “I sent a few messages to them, but there hasn’t been any response.”

“Send word to Blue Moon Valley and ask if they know of any ships being destroyed in the area,” Xing Yao ordered. “We don’t know the origins of these people, and I’m worried that they may harbor ill intentions.”

“Understood,” Xing Wu replied.

……

Two days later, in the secure cultivation room, Qin Lie suddenly opened his eyes. Bright electrical light shone from them.

“Whoosh!”

The Demon Sealing Tombstone emerged from his spatial ring and released rays of prismatic light.

Small sparks of electricity shot from Qin Lie’s eyes as they eagerly focused on the Demon Sealing Tombstone.

Three droplets of golden liquid filled with a sharp aura bled from the surface of the tombstone.

Qin Lie wordlessly stood there waiting, his hand turned palm-up.

“Drip… drip… drip…!”

Three glittering droplets of golden liquid splashed against the center of his palm, the sharp power they contained almost breaking through his skin.

Qin Lie’s eyes lit up. He silently channeled the Blood Refinement Art and a suction force emanated from his hand, absorbing the three drops of golden liquid into his blood vessels.

A sharp, burning sensation flared within his blood vessels. It felt as if the three drops of golden liquid were thorns that kept on stabbing him, making his entire body uncomfortable.

These three droplets were the essences of the metal spirit. They hadn’t been refined yet, so the sharp power of metal still wasn’t under control.

Before Qin Lie could channel the Blood Refinement Art to refine the three drops of golden essence, three droplets of dark yellow liquid appeared on the surface of the Demon Sealing Tombstone.

Qin Lie hurriedly held out his hand once more.

Soon enough, three drops of the earth spirit’s essence soaked into his blood vessels.

A thick, robust aura of earth energy radiated from his body. He glittered as if he were wearing a golden robe.

This sensation occurred because he cultivated the power of earth.

As the essence of the earth spirit entered his body, Qin Lie felt a familiar power that caused the essence to become gentle on its own. He didn’t even need to immediately refine it using the Blood Refinement Art.

Qin Lie made sure to stay alert this time.

In the next moment, three clear, colorless drops of liquid formed on the surface of the tombstone. They resembled beads of early morning dew.

These were essences of the water spirit.

Qin Lie gathered these three clear drops of liquid in his hand and sucked them into his blood vessels as well.

The three drops of the water spirit’s essence seemed extremely gentle. They did not cause any trouble within his body, nor did they solicit any other responses.

Once the Demon Sealing Tombstone produced these nine droplets of liquid essence—three from the metal spirit, three from the earth spirit, and three from the water spirit—it calmed down. Its rays of prismatic light faded, and the tombstone returned to normal.

Qin Lie stored it in his spatial ring, then focused all of his strength on refining the nine drops of liquid essence.

In a cultivation room not far from Qin Lie’s, a man wearing gold that appeared to be about fifty years old suddenly opened his eyes.

He gasped in surprise, then murmured, “Why do I feel the aura of a metal beast?”

This person’s name was Guo Yanzheng. As a peak Fulfillment Realm martial practitioner, he was one of the six enforcers of Gold Sun Island. He cultivated the power of metal and was very sensitive to it. His bones and muscles even had different types of metal mixed into them.

As one of the six enforcers of Gold Sun Island, he enjoyed extraordinary status. Even though he wasn’t a part of the Xing Family, he qualified for his own set of rooms in the top level of the ship.

Guo Yanzheng rarely went out as of late. He spent all his time in the cultivation room provided for him, trying to find a chance to break through to the Fragmentation Realm. He completely ignored the outside world.

Xing Shengnan knew that he had reached a critical point in his cultivation. As long as nothing important happened, she tried not to trouble him and gave him the space and time he needed. She hoped that he would be able to reach the Fragmentation Realm as soon as possible.

“An unrefined metal beast is an ultimate treasure for someone cultivating the power of metal. This kind of beast, one that is purely metal, is normally born as a Rank Six Beast and has the capacity to grow endlessly.” Guo Yanzheng stopped cultivating, and the golden light that surrounded him gradually disappeared. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “If it’s a spirit material related to an unrefined metal beast… even if it’s just a bone, it’ll be of great help to my breakthrough.”

Having been in secluded cultivation for many days, Guo Yanzheng slowly got to his feet. He opened the door and left the cultivation room, then exited the main room and entered the hallway. Sensing the aura of the unrefined metal beast, he headed straight for Qin Lie’s room.

Quickly arriving at the door to Qin Lie’s room, he narrowed his eyes and used his soul consciousness to examine the inside of the room.

Song Tingyu and Xie Jingxuan were cultivating in one bedroom while Xue Moyan took the other. Qin Lie had taken the cultivation room for himself.

Guo Yanzheng’s soul consciousness floated into the room like ethereal smoke and silently moved around. He wanted to know the realms of the people inside of this set of rooms.

Song Tingyu, Xie Jingxuan, and Xue Moyan immediately felt his soul consciousness. They opened their eyes and withdrew their auras.

Qin Lie frowned and stopped refining the nine droplets of essence within his body. He focused on what was happening outside of the cultivation room, his expression grim.

Peering into a private room with one’s soul consciousness was an impolite thing to do.

This was common knowledge.

Relying on his status as one of Gold Sun Island’s six enforcers and the fact that he knew most of the members of the Xing Family, Guo Yanzheng used his soul consciousness to assess the realms of Qin Lie and the others. Doing this clearly demonstrated that he looked down on Qin Lie and the others.

“Bang bang bang!”

Guo Yanzheng struck the door multiple times, a calm expression on his face as he said, “I’m Guo Yanzheng!”

He had discovered that all four of the people in this set of rooms were in the Netherpassage Realm. Even if they were Xing Family clansmen, they were juniors and needed to treat him with respect.

As a result, he didn’t feel the need to give them any face.

In one of the bedrooms, Song Tingyu and Xie Jingxuan looked at each other, took their masks out of their spatial rings, and put them on.

Xue Moyan’s eyes were cold. She couldn’t help but snort disdainfully as she changed her appearance.

Guo Yanzheng hadn’t knocked first, and instead led with using his soul consciousness to learn what realms they were at. This clearly disregarded proper etiquette.

This person shamelessly wanted them to open the door. He even stated his name, clearly trying to use his identity to pressure them into doing so.

This annoyed Xue Moyan even more.

Xue Moyan was the disciple of and eventual successor to the sect master of Illusory Demon Sect. Even the island master of Gold Sun Island, Xing Yumiao, would usually have to be respectful when he saw her. She wouldn’t have even looked at an enforcer of Guo Yanzheng’s level in the past.

Yet now, on one of Gold Sun Island’s ships, a mere enforcer dared to offend her.

This displeased her.

Suppressing her anger, Xue Moyan remained silent. She wanted to see what Qin Lie would do.

In the next moment, Qin Lie’s voice rang out. “Guo Yanzheng? Who’s Guo Yanzheng?”

Out in the hallway, Guo Yanzheng’s face turned grim.

“You don’t even know who I am?” he shouted. “Who are you?”

“Why should I care who you are? If you have something to say, say it or leave!” Qin Lie yelled impatiently. He wanted to refine the nine drops of liquid essence in his body as soon as possible. That last thing he wanted to do was waste time with this stranger, Guo Yanzheng.

“Enforcer Gu, you came out of secluded cultivation?” Xing Yao’s voice could be heard. She gently opened the door to her room and stood in the hallway to look at Guo Yanzheng in shock.

“Greetings, Eldest Miss.” Seeing Xing Yao emerge from her room, Guo Yanzheng immediately became more respectful. He smiled and explained, “While I was cultivating just now, I sensed the aura of an unrefined metal beast, so I came out to investigate. I don’t know who the four juniors in this room are, but they apparently dare to disrespect me.”

He reported the situation to Xing Yao, partially accusing Qin Lie’s group of slighting him at the same time.

“The aura of an unrefined metal beast?” Xing Yao exclaimed, clearly confused. “I felt a wondrous aura appear just now, but my realm is too low and I couldn’t tell what it was or where it came from. Are you sure that the aura of an unrefined metal beast came from this room, Enforcer Guo?”

“Absolutely.” Guo Yanzheng nodded. “If not for the aura of an unrefined metal beast, why else would I cause trouble by coming here to investigate?”

He paused for a moment, then asked, “Eldest Miss, are the four juniors in this room members of the Xing Family? I seem to recall this room being empty all this time. When did they move in?”

“In the past few days,” Xing Yao said loudly, glancing at the tightly shut door. “They said that they’re from the Heavenly Calamity Continent, but their ship was destroyed in a storm. One guy called Xing Lie is pretending to be a Xing Family clansman, but sister-in-law believes him and made me arrange for him to live here.”

“Eldest Miss! Enemy spies have been operating quite a lot recently, searching for the remains of ancient elites. Didn’t we capture three of them recently?” Guo Yanzheng asked gravely. “Could these four also be spies?”

“I suspect the same,” Xing Yao replied. “However, I haven’t managed to find any information to use against them.”

“How about I search them?” Guo Yanzheng said wickedly, his eyes narrowing. “Your sister-in-law should be gathering spirit energy in her cultivation room. She definitely won’t be paying attention to us over here.”

“If Enforcer Guo feels that it’ll work, I don’t have any objections.” Xing Yao wanted to quickly expose Qin Lie’s true identity while Xing Shengnan was too busy to interfere.

“Allow me!” Guo Yanzheng exclaimed.

……