Questioning Heaven, Desiring the Way

A few moments later, the three seniors were done with setting up everything. They exchanged glances, then moved away from the formation cautiously.

“Heaven and Earth, Sky and Ground, Akasha Location Marking!”

After the three of them chanted these words loudly, a thick layer of Qi appeared above the valley. The slightly damaged formation compass on the ground made an ear-deafening buzzing noise as countless mysterious Dao runes began to spin above it. The Spiritual Stones that the three seniors placed in the middle made screeching noises as the wooden figurine right in the middle of the valley sucked all the Qi out of them and forced the Qi to flow rapidly along with the runes.

A silent pressure began to weigh down on everyone in the valley. As time ticked by, the power that the wooden figurine gave off became stronger and stronger, so the three senior disciples had to join hands to protect the juniors behind them. But even so, the protective barrier they formed kept shaking violently and looked like it might break anytime.

The wooden figurine began to look warped as it was engulfed by so much Qi.

Pop! There was a quiet popping sound as if a bubble had just been burst.

A thin and faint beam of purple light suddenly shot out from the eyes of the wooden figurine. Everyone watched in fear as the beam broke through the voluminous Qi around it and lit up the sky brilliantly.

BAM! As the crowd watched silently, an ear-deafening thud boomed loudly, as if the beam of light had collided with something.

After that, the beam of light shone even more brilliantly. So brilliant, that everyone had no choice but to shut their eyes.

Gu Suihan silently made a few hand seals that helped to clear his slightly dazed state of mind and enabled him to see normally even though the beam of light was so bright. His expression was grim as he looked at the thing in the sky that the beam of light was forcibly pulling at.

He could vaguely see that the secret realm that the beam of light was tugging at seemed to be sentient and was struggling to break free. The two opposing forces were at a standstill.

“They’re trying to forcibly drag a secret realm out from a different space into this valley? What an ambitious move. Too bad that there isn’t a cultivator at a higher level performing this ritual. This ritual seems really powerful, but it’s not as powerful as it looks. Once it consumes all the Qi inside the Spiritual Stones and the wooden figurine…something bad’s going to happen.” Gu Suihan narrowed his eyes as he threw the three serious-faced seniors a glance that had a tinge of mockery in it.

This ritual was so bright and loud, that anyone within a few hundred kilometers would be able to see it clearly. So much Qi was flowing about rapidly and glowing so brightly, plus there was now a mysterious beam of light that reached the sky. This scene definitely looked like the sort of chance encounter that any cultivator would dream of having in order to move to the next stage in their cultivation journey.

What could be considered a chance encounter? You might come across some treasures from nature, come across a legendary weapon, learn a formidable technique from ancient times, or get your hands on some rare pills or herbs. Any of these could possibly help you to break through to the next stage and increase your fighting prowess significantly.

If you were lucky, you might get the support of some ancient master or learn some long-forgotten technique. If you diligently cultivated for a hundred years, you might even shatter space. Nothing was impossible.

“It looks like it’s stuck,” murmured Yan Wuheng with a solemn look on his face.

Pak! A crisp sound echoed in the valley. Yan Wuheng looked towards where the sound had come from and had a look of slight horror.

That first crack was a sign of many more to come. After one Spiritual Stone exploded, the dozens surrounding it exploded one after another, quickly turning into nothing but tiny transparent pieces.

The Spiritual Stones that had been placed in the middle of the formation had failed to hold up after its’ Qi had been sucked out so violently, so they turned transparent and fell apart.

Mu Tian flew into a rage. “Who did that? The higher ups already said that we must use mid grade Spiritual Stones! Why did someone not use those?!”

Yan Wuheng rotated his neck and his joints cracked loudly. He bared his sharp demon-like teeth at the slightly pale-faced Hang Chulong and shouted, “Hang Chulong, you’re a really bold one! How dare you do something like that? If we take too long to open up this secret realm, we’ll end up drawing the attention of those wandering cultivators or worse, fail to open it up altogether. If that happens, you’d better come up with a good reason for Fang Suyu.”

“300 Spiritual Stones each plus one favor.” A look of hatred flashed in Hang Chulong’s eyes, but there was nothing he could do except extort the other two. Two bags appeared in his hands and he threw them at Mu Tian and Yan Wuheng.

Now they all had the same number of mid-grade Spiritual Stones, including the ones they had tried to siphon for themselves.

Mu Tian glared hatefully at Hang Chulong like a venomous snake, then nodded slightly at Yan Wuheng. The three of them kept away their magic weapons at the same time, disregarding all the juniors behind them who had stumbled backward from the explosion of the Spiritual Stones.

There was a loud swoosh as Qi gathered around Mu Tian. He flew towards the area that suffered a lack in Qi like an arrow.

His sudden intrusion made the already dense Qi move even more rapidly and violently, like water hitting a pan full of oil. The extreme change made Mu Tian pale as he vomited a mouthful of blood. He gritted his teeth as the Qi within the mid-grade Spiritual Stones in his hands surged towards the area that was deficient in Qi.

This took place only over a few seconds, but the Qi seemed to be on steroids as it blasted Mu Tian to one side.

The corners of Yan Wuheng’s eyes split open and the Qi made many cuts on his body as if they were knives. He was covered in blood from head to toe in the blink of an eye.

“Dominance of the Stars!” The spiritual energy within his body quickly turned into a translucent golden battle armor and the Qi scraped noisily against the armor. He quickly took this chance to stomp fiercely against the ground to move forward by several meters. But the beautiful armor on himself started to fade and tiny cracks began appearing all over its surface.

“Now!” Yan Wuheng’s fingers switched directions to throw the Spiritual Stones where they needed to be. But before he could breathe a sigh of relief, the armor around him suddenly shattered. He couldn’t hold up any more, so he stomped hard on the ground, used his arms to protect the front of his body, and leaped backward even as he bled all over.

Hang Chulong was in a slightly better state than the other two. His feet moved in a peculiar rhythm as he accurately dodged the area where the Qi was the most violent as if he knew it was coming.

Once he was done topping up the area with Spiritual Stones, he quickly turned to run for it. But before he could start running, a tremendous amount of Qi flooded the area behind him, hitting him from the side and sending him flying as if he was nothing but a tiny stone as the sound of bones breaking echoed in the air.

“I hope we’re still in time,” said Mu Tian with a pale face as he slowly wiped away the blood on his lips and looked rather nervously at the tug-of-war that was still happening in the sky.

“We’re too late.” Yan Wuheng suddenly turned around and looked beyond the valley with a nasty expression on his face.

“Damn it!” Mu Tian coughed twice and there was a frosty glint in his eyes now. “Let’s work together then. The aim of this expedition was to gain more experience anyway. So, instead of trying to kill each other, we’re better off working together to fight our enemies.”

Hang Chulong’s face was pale as he swallowed a pill. After some color returned to his face, everyone watched on in horror as he suddenly stretched his arm out, grabbed hold of a disciple from the Four Directions Court, and dug the disciple’s heart out on the spot before swallowing it in a few mouthfuls without even batting an eyelid.

His cheeks were pink again and the gaping wound in his side was healed almost instantly. If not for the huge hole in his clothes, nobody would have known that he was so badly injured before.

Unlike all their horrified juniors, Yan Wuheng and Mu Tian weren’t bothered by what just happened at all. Mu Tian scoffed and said, “Hang Chulong, it seems like your Blood Demon Technique has improved by quite a bit, eh? You managed to gather the essence of that boy’s blood and Qi in such a short time. I suppose you must have reached Level 3?”

“Why don’t you try and guess?” Hang Chulong licked his lips and wiped away any remaining flesh and blood on his face to reveal a sinister expression.

All the juniors took at least two steps back in fear as they looked at their seniors in terror.

When they were within the sect, there were sect rules to govern and protect the disciples. They might fight and argue or even challenge one another and some died as a result, but at least they had the chance to defend themselves.

And now, Hang Chulong had just killed a fellow disciple without hesitation, as if their lives were worth nothing to him.

At the same time, the juniors had to rely on the seniors for protection, so even though they were angered by Hang Chulong’s actions, nobody dared to say anything.

“It’s happening.” Yan Wuheng stared at the shadow that was coming closer and closer to them from above.

The pressure above the valley increased and made shattering sounds like glass breaking. Some of these disciples hadn’t even activated their Qi yet, so they quickly sat down in a lotus position to recalibrate their internal energies so that they could hold up against this invisible attack.

“Someone’s here.” Mu Tian suddenly spun around and shot a thin wisp of pink air out with the flick of his fingers.

Yan Wuheng pursed his lips, then shouted loudly, “The Seven Kill Sect is on a mission, so anybody who’s not involved had better stay away, or we’ll kill you.” A heavy sword the size of a door appeared in his hand and clanged loudly onto the ground after he spoke, causing several cracks to appear in the ground.

“Tsk! The Seven Kill Sect is powerful, but you’re being too unreasonable now, aren’t you? Chance encounters are provided by the heavens, so it’s not exclusive to any group. Is the Seven Kill Sect going to fight every single cultivator in the world?”

A blurry figure shrieked and yelled these words as he leaped out from the shadows pathetically after Mu Tian attacked him.