Spirit Realm

Before Qin Lie could answer, Song Tingyu and the other two were the first to cry out with surprised looks on their faces.

After experiencing the huge change at Black Jade City, they understood the situation and knew that any martial practitioners who cultivated the Blood Spirit Art would be met with deadly force if they dared to operate in the Land of Chaos.

The elites of the Xiahou Family, the Su Family, and the Lin Family had chased them all the way from the Heavenly Calamity Continent to the Heavenly Fissure Continent after they discovered that Feng Rong used the Blood Spirit Art. They pursued and bit at them like rabid dogs.

Those who cultivated the Blood Spirit Art were every continent’s common enemy. All of them needed to be exterminated.

And Li Mu had just given Qin Lie a jade token and said that, even if the fact that he was cultivating the Blood Spirit Art were exposed, the nine great Silver rank forces would not dare to harm him as long as he could find that person and make use of the token.

Was this person so powerful that even the nine great Silver rank forces had to give him face?

Qin Lie was secretly shocked on the inside.

He looked downward and carefully examined the palm-sized jade token. A hornless dragon was inscribed into the front of it, clawing and biting. A violent, overbearing aura radiated from it, making people regard it with fearful respect.

The back of the token was inscribed with just a single ancient word—”Duan.”

However, this word alone was capable of causing pain to one’s eyes. It could make them feel uncomfortable, as if needles were piercing their entire body.

—It had an edge to it that was as sharp as a blade.

In Qin Lie’s senses, several bolts of light abruptly exploded from the word “Duan” and spread in every direction.

When he closed his eyes and used only his True Soul to look at it, he discovered that the word on the jade token resembled a blazing sun through the lens of his soul perception. It shone with rays of harsh, dazzling, divine light.

Qin Lie hastily stored the jade token into his spatial ring, and with a look of lingering fear, he softly said, “What a powerful mind consciousness!”

“Hehe, that person is even harder to locate than I am. If he hadn’t left a powerful soul intent on the jade token, it would be impossible for you to find him,” Li Mu said with a smile.

“How am I going to find him then?” Qin Lie was surprised.

“It’s pretty simple.” Li Mu sipped a mouthful of wine and smiled. “If you find yourself at a dead end one day, take out the jade token. Use a wisp of refined soul consciousness to enter it, then speak your name and explain your predicament.”

“And then?” Qin Lie was very interested.

“Then he will help you solve your predicament,” Li Mu instructed. After that he smiled and said, “But you must remember that this jade token can only save you once.”

Qin Lie nodded, pondering for a moment. Then he changed the subject and asked, “Blood Fiend Sect’s Jiang Zhuzhe and his son Jiang Tianxing have close ties with Celestial Artifact Sect. Furthermore, Jiang Tianxing is a disciple of Celestial Artifact Sect. They are the true masterminds behind the Blood Spirit Art incident. Is their involvement really unknown to everyone?’

Song Tingyu and the other two were surprised, growing curious.

Li Mu frowned and thought for a moment before answering, “This is a complicated matter that also involves quite a few parties. It’s not that nobody cultivates the Blood Spirit Art in the Land of Chaos. They are just very careful and would not recklessly reveal it. As for you... well, just be careful and try your best not to use it in front of someone. If you do, make sure you leave no trace of it…”

Qin Lie was shocked.

“Alright, that’s enough thinking. Just prepare for the Trial,” Li Mu said with a lazy expression.

“Uncle Li, my grandfather…” Qin Lie started saying once more.

“Hoho.” Li Mu smiled again. “I arranged for you to participate in the Trial specifically because of this matter.”

Qin Lie immediately became attentive.

“The martial practitioner who entered the Graveyard of Gods went insane, and his soul quickly diminished afterwards. The people of Celestial Artifact Sect isolated his memories and sealed them inside of a Memory Fragment Crystal so that they could be viewed by all parties…” Li Mu’s expression turned serious. “I was one of the lucky ones who were allowed to examine that Memory Fragment Crystal, but I didn’t find anything extraordinary in it. Little Ice, however, discovered something.”

Qin Lie looked around but did not see the Icestone Snow Wolf King. It was probably still at the island on the ground below.

“Where is your wooden sculpture?” Li Mu suddenly changed the subject.

Slightly confused, Qin Lie took out his wooden sculpture.

Li Mu did not ask to see it. Instead, he just glanced at it from afar before saying, “Is your grandfather the one who carved that wooden sculpture?”

Qin Lie nodded.

Li Mu went silent.

“What’s going on, Uncle Li?” Qin Lie quickly asked.

“In the Memory Fragment Crystal, I saw a corpse that was covered in dense fog. The corpse’s face was indiscernible, but beside the corpse was that same exact wooden sculpture. It was the same size as the one in your hands and looked just like it, so it should have also been carved by your grandfather.” Li Mu frowned. “I do not recognize the wooden sculpture, but Little Ice does…”

Qin Lie went pale as fear promptly appeared from deep within his eyes. “That’s impossible. That couldn’t possibly be my grandfather. That can’t be…”

“As I said, the corpse’s face was indiscernible and it might not actually be your grandfather,” Li Mu pointed out, sighing softly. “However, it did have a wooden sculpture that was identical to yours. If he isn’t your grandfather, then in my opinion, he must be related to him in some way. In light of this, I summoned you to the Land of Chaos to participate in the Trial to get to the bottom of this.”

“It can’t be him! It definitely isn’t him!” Qin Lie shook his head repeatedly. “Anyone above the Fulfillment Realm cannot enter that Graveyard of Gods. All of you have tried! My grandfather is definitely stronger than the Fulfillment Realm. If he can’t even enter, how could he possibly be inside?”

“That corpse definitely isn’t new. It has definitely been there for many years already.” Li Mu nodded.

“Qin Lie, it hasn’t been more than ten years since your grandfather left, has it?” Song Tingyu once carefully investigated Ling Town and Herb Mountain. She knew that it hadn’t been long since Qin Shan left Qin Lie, which was why she interrupted the conversation.

Qin Lie, who had suddenly become anxious and worried, gradually calmed down. After sorting out his thoughts, he relaxed once more and nodded. “It is not my grandfather.”

“Mn. It is probably just related to your grandfather.” Li Mu looked at him seriously. Then, with narrowed eyes, he gently said, “The corpse is not your grandfather, yet whoever it is had your grandfather’s wooden sculpture and has been dead for many years. In that case, your grandfather… has definitely lived for a very long time. He might be older than Heavenly Sword Mountain.”

“I will go and find out!” Qin Lie exclaimed solemnly.

“The Trial will begin in five days. Once it does, you guys can go in together,” Li Mu said with a smile. “You can still stay on my floating island for five days. Once the time is up, I will send you to the entrance. The rewards for this Trial are pretty impressive, so work hard, everyone.”

“If we survive for a year, will we obtain the rewards?” Song Tingyu asked.

Li Mu nodded. “Those who come out alive can take some of the twenty seven treasures. The less people there are, the more they get.”

“They are encouraging the participants to slaughter each other,” Xie Jingxuan said calmly.

“It has always been like this.” Li Mu frowned. “Say your prayers and watch your backs. Since you’ve decided to participate, you must be prepared to be killed. Less than ten percent of the participants survived the previous Trial.”

Everyone’s expressions changed slightly.

“Rest well and prepare yourselves for the bloody feast in five days. If you come out alive, you may become a core disciple of Heavenly Sword Mountain if you want.” Li Mu smiled. “Even if you do not join Heavenly Sword Mountain, proving yourself in the Trial means that you will be known throughout the Land of Chaos and be able to choose to join any great Silver rank forces you like.”

Once he said this, Li Mu leisurely stood up and left the four of them to converse amongst themselves.

“What have all of you learned about this Trial?” Qin Lie asked.

“How did you fare at Blood Fiend Sect?” Song Tingyu asked.

“Oh, it was nothing.” Qin Lie gave an ambiguous answer and asked, “Did you guys figure out who the important participants from the nine great Silver rank forces are?”

“Of course.” Song Tingyu smiled beautifully.

“The genius ringer of Heavenly Sword Mountain is that Luo Chen guy we met on Sea Moon Island. He seems to be the grandson of one of the five Heavenly Swords, Luo Nan. This guy is a sword arts genius, and it is rumored that his body contained a harsh sword intent from the moment he was born. A person like him who was born with natural sword intent is practically a monster, and at the peak of the Netherpassage Realm, Luo Chen will be a character that’s extremely difficult to deal with.

“On the side of Black Magus Cult, the leader of their participants is called Ye Yihao. This person is skilled in the mysterious, eerie voodoo arts of the Black Magus Cult. It is rumored that, when he was just in the middle stage of the Netherpassage Realm, he once used a bizarre voodoo art to make three Fulfillment Realm experts bleed from their seven orifices all at once and die! What’s scary is that the three were five hundred kilometers away from him at the time. They never realized who killed them, not even at the moment of their deaths.

“The leader of Illusory Demon Sect’s participants is called Xue Moyan. This woman is skilled in the illusory arts of Illusory Demon Sect, and it is rumored that she can transform herself into a dozen different appearances. This woman is the scariest out of all of them. Not only can she transform whenever she wants, she can even transform her soul aura, her mind intent, and even her smell to be exactly the same as that of the person she chooses to impersonate. If we meet her after getting scattered, she would be able to transform into anyone of us and assassinate us when our guard is down. She could kill us, and we would never know that she was the one who attacked us.

“The proud son of the Terminator Sect is called Chu Li. This person has a terrible temper, and he always carries a large number of Terminator Profound Bombs with him. It is said that the Terminator Profound Bombs he uses can kill even Fragmentation Realm martial practitioners. He is extremely dangerous. If he gets angry, everyone within a radius of a few kilometers could be blasted to smithereens.

“The Xiahou Family’s Xiahou Yuan, the Su Family’s Su Yan, and the Lin Family’s Lin Dongxing might be weaker than those people. The period in which the three great families ascended to become Silver rank forces was too short after all, and their accumulated wealth is lacking compared to that of the others. However, these three great families are similar to Profound Heaven Alliance in that they are quite united. In fact, Xiahou Yuan, Su Yan, and Lin Dongxing grew up together, and the three of them have a solid alliance. If they are together, then they truly won’t be afraid of anyone.

“The participant of Celestial Artifact Sect is called Feng Yiyou. He has a boatload of artifacts on him at all times, and it is said that all ten of his fingers are decked out in spatial rings. His father, Feng Yi, is Celestial Artifact Sect’s sect master, and he loves his son to death. It is said that Feng Yiyou is literally armed to the teeth. Anyone who encounters him will probably be turned into dust by his spirit artifacts.

“Ten Thousand Beast Mountain’s participant is called Yu Men. Since he was young, he has been capable of communicating with spirit beasts using his soul and commanding them to do his bidding. The spirit art he cultivates is extremely special, allowing him to transform into a beast with an extremely tough body. Furthermore, he can summon a spirit animal from his body to fight with him. He is famous for being a difficult character to deal with.”

The more Song Tingyu explained to Qin Lie, the worse her expression became. She had a feeling that the light at the end of the tunnel had disappeared.

“These are the elite ringers that are the hopes of the nine great Silver rank forces. They are all at the peak of the Netherpassage Realm!” Xie Jingxuan added. “It is rumored that any one of them, even the weaker Xiahou Yuan, Su Yan, and Lin Dongxing possess the strength to battle those beyond their realm!”

“They don’t just ‘possess’ the strength to battle those beyond their realm. They really can!” Song Tingyu smiled bitterly. “I’ve checked with people. Before these nine participants were chosen, they had to go through many stages of selection. Furthermore, these nine participants battled early and middle stage Fulfillment Realm martial practitioners within their sect. Apparently those freaks were actually victorious! That is how they managed to secure their core positions!”