Spirit Realm

At the Heavenly Fissure Continent.

A stalwart figure abruptly appeared from the blossoming light of a large-scale, altar-shaped teleportation formation.

“Are you here to participate in the Trial, sir?” At a corner of the teleportation formation, a Fragmentation Realm martial practitioner with the burning furnace emblem of Celestial Artifact Sect sewn into the chest area of his clothing asked loudly.

Qin Lie lowered his head, looked at him, and said, “Yes.”

“Which force do you represent?”

“Heavenly Sword Mountain.”

“Please produce your token and allow me to have a look.”

Qin Lie raised his sword token.

After glancing at it and probing it with his soul consciousness, the practitioner nodded slightly and said, “Stand there and don’t move. I will send you to the Trial’s location.”

Qin Lie stood in silence.

He realized that he did not need to pay a single spirit stone to teleport from the Heavenly Wither Continent to the Heavenly Calamity Continent.

This was because the sword token he held represented Heavenly Sword Mountain, and the large-scale teleportation formation in the Heavenly Wither Continent was under Heavenly Sword Mountain’s control. Therefore, a Heavenly Sword Mountain participant could use the teleportation formation without paying.

The teleportation formation in Black Jade City was controlled by the Xiahou Family. Since Qin Lie wasn’t a member of the Xiahou Family, he had to pay one thousand Earth Grade spirit stones to use it.

The teleportation formation in the Heavenly Fissure Continent belonged to Celestial Artifact Sect.

Since Celestial Artifact Sect was the main organizer of the current Trial, the teleportation of participants became their duty. As a result of this, he was not required to pay any spirit stones.

As he pondered, Qin Lie was flooded by a strong light. Amidst dizziness and the colorful bursts of light, he was teleported away yet again.

When he appeared once more, he discovered that he was on a giant island. The island was noisy, filled with crowds of martial practitioners from all kinds of forces.

“Come out!” a Celestial Artifact Sect martial practitioner yelled.

Qin Lie stepped out of the teleportation formation and examined his surroundings with narrowed eyes. He looked at the martial practitioners of the nine great Silver rank forces who were here to participate in the Trial.

Qin Lie wanted to seek out Song Tingyu and Xie Jingxuan to confirm their circumstances. He wished to know if Gao Yu and the others were safe and sound.

“Qin Lie!”

Candid laughter suddenly rang in his ears, causing his body to abruptly shake.

He turned around and saw a lazy figure behind him. A large wolf that was white as snow crouched beside the man—it was the Icestone Snow Wolf King.

“Uncle Li!” Qin Lie yelled.

Li Mu nodded with a smile and beckoned to him, “Come with me.”

Qin Lie excitedly followed.

The large wolf’s snow white fur glowed with a translucent, gentle light. Its eyes were filled with intelligence. It also appeared to be much more majestic than before.

The Icestone Snow Wolf King had become even stronger.

Qin Lie was currently in a giant plaza on the island. There were all sorts of martial practitioners gathered in the plaza, and all of them were looking at a jade platform several hundred meters tall with excitement.

All of the people were in heated discussion.

“Each of the nine great forces produced three Earth Grade spirit artifacts, three spirit pills, and three spirit armors as rewards for this Trial! That’s a total of twenty seven treasures. Any participants who manage to survive the Graveyard of Gods will be eligible to receive some of these twenty seven treasures!”

“That’s right! As long as they are able to hold out for a year, not only will anyone who exits the Graveyard of Gods a year later be able to claim anything from the Graveyard of Gods as their own, they will also be able to acquire some of the twenty seven treasures!”

“As the main organizer of this event, Celestial Artifact Sect has produced three Earth Grade Five spirit artifacts! This includes a Specter Jadeflame Shuttle, a Lunar Fulfillment Ring, and a Demon Slaying Blade. These are things that many Fragmentation Realm martial practitioners desire!”

“Ten Thousand Beast Mountain also wasn’t stingy. They offered three Rank Six spirit beasts, all tamed. The first beast is a Rank Six Golden Winged Luan that can travel fifty thousand miles a day. The second beast is a Blue Blooded Qilin that has extraordinary combat abilities. The third beast is a Fire Crow King that can command thousands of Fire Crows. Even in Ten Thousand Beast Mountain, these three Rank Six spirit beasts are rare creatures. They truly aren’t afraid to splurge!”

“Heavenly Sword Mountain has also taken out three precious Earth Grade swords. The sword will of each sword is said to be able to communicate with spirits. These are also incredibly precious treasures!”

“The Terminator Sect has produced three ‘Seven Apertures Mind Nurturing Pills.’ It is said that they are capable of nurturing one’s True Soul and have an amazing effect on the growth and recovery of one’s True Soul!”

“The three rare sets of armor from the Illusory Demon Sect are also incredibly precious.”

“……”

The martial practitioners were deep in discussion as they excitedly stared at the tall jade platform.

Qin Lie looked up and realized that the jade platform was wrapped in layers of rainbow light. Many shiny spirit artifacts, sets of spirit armor, and spirit pills kept in jade vases were atop of the platform.

Since the three spirit beasts from Ten Thousand Beast Mountain were living things, they were kept somewhere else and looked after by specialists.

Hearing the discussions, Qin Lie was similarly moved and shocked by the generosity of the nine great Silver rank forces.

Normally speaking, a Profound Grade spirit artifact and spirit armor was enough for martial practitioners in the Manifestation or Netherpassage Realms.

Earth Grade spirit artifacts were meant solely for Fulfillment Realm and Fragmentation Realm martial practitioners. Netherpassage Realm martial practitioners weren’t able to unleash the essence and power of an Earth Grade spirit artifact.

For example, even though Qin Lie had acquired the twelve spirit pattern pillars, he wasn’t able to use all of them. To this day, he still couldn’t unleash the magics of the Universal Celestial Sealing Formation.

However, a Netherpassage Realm martial practitioner would eventually step into the Fulfillment Realm and the Fragmentation Realm one day. They would have to purchase Earth Grade spirit artifacts when that happened.

It was very common for a normal Earth Grade spirit artifact to cost around several tens of thousands of Earth Grade spirit stones. Only martial practitioners of powerful families could possibly own an Earth Grade spirit artifact.

Many disciples of the nine great forces would not be able to obtain a suitable Earth Grade spirit artifact without the accumulated wealth of their fathers and ancestors.

For this Trial, the nine great Silver rank forces had produced three Earth Grade spirit artifacts, three Earth Grade spirit pills, three Rank Six spirit beasts, and three sets of rare Earth Grade armor. It could be considered a most generous offer.

All the youths of the nine great forces who were confident in their own strength still decided to participate in the Trial in spite of knowing about its risks and extremely high mortality rate.

—They had all been blinded by the twenty seven treasures.

“Alright, that’s enough. If you survive a year in the Graveyard of Gods, at least one of these twenty seven treasures will belong to you,” Li Mu turned around and yelled with a smile. He said, “Come on, your friends are waiting for you.”

“My friends…” Qin Lie’s eyes suddenly lit up.

After that, Qin Lie’s footsteps sped up. The two of them quickly left the central plaza of the island and arrived in a secluded place.

“Let’s go!”

Holding Qin Lie’s arm, Li Mu instantly vanished into the air above the island like a soaring blade.

Deep within the clouds.

An island that was several tens of thousands of acres wide quietly floated within a sea of clouds.

On it there were bejeweled jade palaces, white jade palaces, celestial cranes, spirit turtles, and clear streams. It resembled a paradise or a dreamland.

“This is my flying spirit artifact, Floating Island. I personally prefer silence, so there are very few people here.” Li Mu smiled and landed on the island.

Qin Lie jumped down from the clouds and landed on the island. His eyes were filled with amazement that he was not afraid to voice, “Uncle Li, just what is the grade of your flying spirit artifact? This is infinitely better than Profound Heaven Alliance’s Flowing Gold Firecloud Tent or Joyful Union Sect’s crystalline war chariot!”

“Compared to this Floating Island, our Profound Heaven Alliance’s Flowing Gold Firecloud Tent is practically out of fashion.” Song Tingyu’s figure appeared from inside of a white jade palace.

“Senior Li.”

“Senior Li.”

Gao Yu and Xie Jingxuan both emerged from two luxurious palaces beside Song Tingyu’s.

When they saw Li Mu, their expressions were respectful, and their eyes contained sincerity.

They had suddenly been found by Li Mu when they were being hunted down by the Xiahou Family in the Heavenly Fissure Continent.

There had been a Fragmentation Realm expert among the people who came after them at the time. They couldn’t see any hope for survival.

The floating island had appeared amidst thick clumps of clouds and white fog during a critical moment.

Li Mu took them up onto the island and sneakily slipped away while the Fragmentation Realm martial practitioner from the Xiahou Family was disoriented.

“Where are Mo Hai and the others?” Qin Lie asked.

“They were not qualified to participate in the Trial, so I did not bring them here. Don’t worry, they’re somewhere safe,” Li Mu explained with a smile.

“Thank you, Uncle Li.” Qin Lie bowed and thanked him sincerely.

Li Mu waved his hands to indicate that Qin Lie did not need to be so polite, then led the group to the palace at the center of the island.

“Come, sit down.” Li Mu smiled.

The group sat on a warm white jade futon inside of the white jade palace and looked at him.

“Gao Yu, you got a participation token?” Qin Lie asked in surprise.

“Mm. I got a token from a pursuer from the Xiahou family. It has ‘Xiahou’ inscribed on it.” Gao Yu nodded slightly.

“Kid, you seem to have caused quite the commotion on the Scarlet Tide Continent, haven’t you?” Li Mu said, taking out a wine jug with a smile and serving himself. Not only did he not look angry, he even appeared to admire Qin Lie.

“The only reason I accepted you at Li’s Shop at that time was because I thought the spirit diagrams you inscribed were quite interesting. I never would have thought that your courage would rival the heavens, and that your luck would be just as extraordinary. You were actually able to come to an understanding with a clan of the Horned Demon Race in the Nether Realm and even forcefully teleported them to the Nether Continent.”

Li Mu smiled and said, “I gave you the Eye of Frost in hopes that you would one day unseal the Giant Spirit Race. I thought that it would take you at least a dozen years or so to achieve that, but who would’ve thought you would do it in just five or six. Haha, I really owe you one.”

“You owe me one?” Qin Lie was surprised.

“Haha.” Li Mu smiled and did not answer.

Without Qin Lie, Li Mu would not have been able to earn the trust of the Horned Demon Race and establish a trade route with them.

This alone greatly enhanced Heavenly Sword Mountain’s strength. It allowed Heavenly Sword Mountain to acquire a stable trading partner, and also allowed them to trade for a lot of extraordinary items that were unique to the Nether Realm.

Nether Hell Demonic Fruit, Profound Yin Nine Leaf Lotus, and Black Jade Soul Essence weren’t things that could be bought with spirit stones. It was exactly because they had acquired the Horned Demon Race’s trust that Heavenly Sword Mountain had managed to acquire some of them through trading.

Of course, Li Mu did not tell Qin Lie about such sensitive details.

“Return the Eye of Frost to me, and I will give you a jade token. This jade token belongs to a friend of mine who asked me to unseal the Giant Spirit Race. By helping me achieve this, he now owes you a favor. If you encounter danger in the future, you can use this jade token to seek him out.”

Li Mu handed Qin Lie a jade token and said, “Unlike me, this fellow is a free man. I belong to Heavenly Sword Mountain. As a result, I cannot act without considering many things beforehand. He isn’t afraid to offend others. As long as you are in the Land of Chaos, no matter how much trouble you encounter, none will dare to kill you as long as he is by your side.”

Li Mu paused and grinned, saying, “Even if the fact that you cultivate the Blood Spirit Art were exposed, as long as you are able to seek him out with the jade token, not even the nine great Silver rank forces would dare to harm you.”