Chapter 718 |
In a sea of stars filled with chaotic spatial currents and a chilling aura of annihilation, everything appeared silent and lifeless.
Tiny black spatial whirlwinds scattered throughout the void seemed ordinary, yet each contained terrifying power. Even Nascent Soul cultivators who had survived five tribulations and comprehended spatial laws would find it difficult to escape unscathed if caught within them.
Moreover, some mysterious and unfathomable law enshrouded this entire starry sea, obscuring all perception. Even mighty beings adept at divination beyond the Nascent Soul Realm could not peer into its depths.
Though dazzlingly beautiful, this Starry Sea of Annihilation was, in truth, a death trap feared by cultivators across nearby Immortal Domains.
But on this day, the long-dead stillness was broken. From the heart of the Starry Sea came a strange fluctuation—vast, profound, and mighty. Each pulse of this wave rippled across countless miles, spreading through multiple Immortal Domains.
Yet, despite its grandeur, only cultivators of the Nascent Soul Realm or higher could sense it.
Before long, over a dozen powerful figures appeared at the periphery of the Starry Sea. Every one of them emanated the aura of a Nascent Soul cultivator, and each wore an expression of alarm.
“This wave… could it be that the Gui Xu Secret Realm is about to emerge?”
“Not yet—but soon. According to the ancient records, once the Starry Sea of Annihilation begins to fluctuate, the Gui Xu Secret Realm will manifest within ten years at most!”
Those dozen experts, hailing from different factions, had been assigned to monitor this perilous place. Some time ago, the keepsakes stored by certain powers had reacted abnormally, alerting them that the legendary Gui Xu Secret Realm was nearing its reappearance.
Now that the Sea of Annihilation itself stirred, they knew it for certain—Gui Xu was about to resurface.
And when it did, the Immortal Domains around would be thrown into a storm of upheaval. The balance between sects and clans might be utterly rewritten.
After all, legend held that Gui Xu was the legacy site of a Dao-Transforming Immortal. Within lay unimaginable opportunities—treasures beyond count, and even, some said, a true Dao Artifact.
Such fortune would utterly transform whichever power seized it, strengthening its foundation beyond compare. No one could say what would happen to the current balance of the realms thereafter.
Realizing this, the Nascent Soul cultivators departed in haste, each racing to report back to their sects.
The mysterious fluctuation from the Sea of Annihilation spread rapidly, sweeping across starfields and even penetrating the chaotic void to reach the dark, forgotten edge of space—where Lu Qing’s homeworld resided.
“Hmm?”
Lu Qing abruptly opened his eyes from meditation.
“What is this fluctuation?”
He sensed the grand pulse descending from beyond the heavens and was startled. It was not something born of his world but had come from the outer void. Beyond his world’s darkness, there were only dead asteroids—nothing else. Clearly, this wave originated from beyond the chaotic spatial barrier.
His expression turned solemn.
To reach this far, spanning endless space… what magnitude of disturbance must be occurring in the Great Yuan Immortal Domain?
“What could have caused this?”
While still pondering, Lu Qing’s divine sense entered the Heaven and Earth One Qi Bag. Inside, the Void Flying Boat trembled slightly, emitting a similar resonance—responding to that mysterious outer fluctuation.
“The Void Flying Boat is reacting to it?” Lu Qing was taken aback.
Afraid of any mishap, he refrained from taking it out, entering the Heaven and Earth One Qi Bag with his true body instead. There he saw the Flying Boat floating quietly, its surface faintly quivering.
“What on earth is going on?”
He did not act rashly, only watching silently.
Of all his artifacts, the Void Flying Boat was by far the most mysterious. Even his divine sense could not penetrate its core. He only knew it was a fragment of a Dao Artifact—but which Dao Artifact, he had never discovered.
Though fully refined and under his control, he could still sense hidden secrets within.
Now, seeing its unusual reaction, he decided not to interfere. His intuition told him this might be connected to the Flying Boat’s true origin.
Fortunately, despite its resonance, he could feel that the artifact was still under his control.
A while later, a message suddenly emanated from the Flying Boat, imprinting itself into his mind.
When Lu Qing decoded the information, his eyes widened slightly.
“Ten years later, the Gui Xu Secret Realm will open… Sea of Annihilation… Dao-Transforming Immortal… the Flying Immortal Vessel? So that’s how it is…”
Realization dawned, shocking him deeply.
The vast fluctuation he’d sensed came from the Sea of Annihilation, heralding the awakening of the Gui Xu Secret Realm—a place left behind by a Dao-Transforming Immortal hundreds of thousands of years ago, reappearing once every hundred millennia. Ten years from now would mark its next emergence.
And the reason his Void Flying Boat resonated was simple—it was a component of a Dao Artifact known as the Flying Immortal Vessel, once the prized treasure of that very Dao-Transforming Immortal.
The aura carried within the Secret Realm’s emergence was that of the Flying Immortal Vessel itself. The Void Flying Boat had merely responded to its source.
“Dao-Transforming Immortal… a realm beyond the Nascent Soul, perhaps? I wonder how it compares to the Grand Witch or even the Ancestral Witch level of the Wu Clan…”
Lu Qing’s mind churned. The realm of a Dao-Transforming Immortal—what height was that? Even his most advanced cultivation methods only reached the Nascent Soul level. The Heavenly Witch Body of Ten Thousand Tribulations itself only covered the True Witch Realm at best.
But any existence titled ‘Immortal’ must surely transcend the Nascent Soul Realm by far.
He exhaled slowly, calming his thoughts.
The Gui Xu Secret Realm might contain Dao Artifacts and infinite opportunities—but they were beyond his current reach. The wave he felt had crossed countless voids; in the Great Yuan Immortal Domain itself, the commotion must be earth-shattering.
When the Secret Realm finally opened, every major Immortal Domain would send forth their strongest. Though only Nascent Soul cultivators could enter, such experts numbered in the thousands—many having survived multiple tribulations, their divine abilities immeasurable.
He, a mere early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, could not possibly compete.
With that, Lu Qing’s mind grew tranquil again.
No matter how wondrous the chance, it required strength to seize. For now, it was better to focus on cultivation.
Glancing once more at the now-calm Void Flying Boat, he left the Heaven and Earth One Qi Bag and resumed meditation.
These days, his comprehension of the Divine Ability: Great Strength had reached a critical point. He believed it would soon evolve into a true Major Divine Ability.
Time passed quietly. Though that grand fluctuation still lingered faintly in the void, only Lu Qing could sense it. Even his master remained unaware.
A year later, as his insights deepened, Lu Qing felt the breakthrough approaching. Without hesitation, he informed Xiao Yan through a sound transmission, then took out a Teleportation Talisman and activated it.
In the next instant, his figure vanished from his secluded chamber—reappearing deep within the Hundred Thousand Mountains, inside the Jade Transformation Chamber.
This was a technique he had recently developed through the use of Teleportation Talismans.
In his homeworld, where spatial stability was far weaker than in the Great World of Tianyuan, his mastery of such talismans allowed him to traverse distances a hundredfold greater.
In a single breath, he could appear thousands of miles away—an extraordinary ability, though still far inferior to the Void Flying Boat.
Normally, he avoided using it casually, but since a breakthrough might cause great disturbance, he teleported directly to the remote chamber.
There, after calming his startled puppet avatar, Lu Qing seated himself cross-legged. Following the glimmer of enlightenment in his heart, he began his full-force attempt—to evolve Great Strength into a Major Divine Ability.
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