Y's speed helped us reach the stratosphere extremely fast.
I was a bit hesitant about this because the higher I get the less oxygen I'll be getting. But all my worries were unfounded. Apparently, the moment you become a cultivator, you transcend physic laws.
Something like suffocating from being in outer space is not a possibility as long as you have Qi in you. Breathing is nothing but a habitual motion I was doing right now because I realized that I could easily not breathe and still remain fully functional.
"Y, how far can your detection range get to?" I asked.
"I can reach a few hundred miles," Y replied.
"Can you be reverse detected?" I asked.
"I'm meant to use Saint Qi, not regular Qi, so it is not guaranteed, that I won't be detected if I'm trying to spy on an ascendant cultivator, anything below it however will hardly be able to notice me, especially in the chaos of war."
"Good, can you spread your detection range forward, find any stragglers, or cultivators that are alone and close to the barrier," I asked Y.
"Yes," Y replied and stopped, then he released his own divine sense and managed to locate a few cultivators that were too close to the planet's formation for their own good.
"One is here," Y said as he pointed.
"take us to him," I replied…
***
Su Xiao Long was a man that grew up in a powerful family, he enjoyed life as he grew, with all the riches his household could afford him. He managed to climb in cultivation rank rapidly yet was never a fan of battle.
Su Xiao Long always wanted to take the easy path in life and decided that inscription study, formations and restrictions were the best way to make use of his family wealth. Not only can he be hired for a pretty big sum of money to create these formations, but he can also live an easy life.
This was Su Xiao Long's dream, the ability to forever live without any burdens. Once he becomes a well-known inscriber.
However, to do so, he needed Merit. Like anyone here, they all come for Merit, merit they can only get if they make themselves known in this war.
And since formation was his fort, if he was able to break the formation surrounding this planet, then his name will be known all over the Fire King's dominion.
This was a godsent opportunity for him, not only was he going to prove his worth, he would do it in the most flamboyant way ever.
For him, this planet is nothing but a lesser world, where they didn't even understand the basics of true formation and inscription. So, how hard could it be?
For him, a man who had the ungodly luck of finding a note left by master Rain where he learned several inscription techniques. This planet's inscription isn't even worth a tenth of a percent of his mental power to break.
"Seems like you're struggling a bit," spoke a man behind Su Xiao.
"I'm not!" Su Xiao shouted back, "It's just that these barbarians' inscription is so crud it's hard to read. It's like trying to understand a monkey's handwriting!" Su Xiao said.
"Well, seems like it's taking you damn long enough," replied the cultivator behind him.
"You wouldn't understand!" Su Xiao said "Let me work in peace!" he added.
Though the words spoken by Su Xiao meant he had everything in control, he actually was sweating inwardly.
'How in god's name can a formation be this complicated! Wasn't this just a lower-tier planet? I studied formations made using Saint Qi and they were far damn complex than this one! I could even swear I can see Master Rain's method here…but…dare I say, it's even better? No that's not possible, no one can outclass Master Rain in inscriptions. I must be missing something that's why this is looking so difficult! Yes, this is just a crude attempt at formation, there I no way a planet in this forsaken area would have such a protective layer, there has to be a trick to it."
Su Xiao continued to try to understand the formation, doing all he could to try and break it. But before he could even start to understand the basics of the formation a person came into his view.
The face was that of an old man, full of pustules and disgusting-looking tumors.
"You're a thousand years too young to try and break this," the man spoke, then two massive arms came clutching down on Su Xiao, and dragged him into the formation, causing his whole body to disintegrate on contact and turn to dust.
This happened so fast that the cultivator who came to mock Su Xiao didn't even notice him disappearing. And when he came back to check up on his progress, he didn't find him there.
"Huh, he must have gotten embarrassed since he couldn't break the formation of a backwater planet and went away. I'll probably leave him be. It's no fun mocking him anymore," the cultivator said and left the area.
Soon, many, many cultivators who attempted to break through, decipher and overwrite the formation were all killed.
Shen Bao moved like a deadly snake moving about under the vestige of the barrier, hiding his presence and using it to ambush his prey. He just needed to be fast enough to pull them into their deaths before they could try and escape or notify someone else.
This would slow the enemy's progress in trying to break the barrier greatly.
***
Every Black Tower on Si Xue planet has its own administrator, and every one of them is different and takes matters in their hands differently. But their ultimate goal is always the prosperity of the black tower.
In a distant city a jade came flying into the hands of a cultivator.
He didn't know if this jade was meant to him, but when he read its content, he was stunned, he then replayed the content of the jade for everyone to see.
It clearly stated a location where the forces of Si Xue can converge, and kill the enemy without actually suffering any deaths or any danger to themselves.
This was too good to be true. But once everyone saw the name signed under the jade… they all had a different reaction.
"Do you believe this?" asked a cultivator addressing one of the people of the Black Tower.
"This is information sent to us, by the One-Eyed Snake. We might as well check it out." Said one of the Black Tower Administrators.
And since the One-Eyed Snake was the only one who was on the board of rankers and hoarding the only contribution it was damn worth investigating.
"Does the black tower know of the origin of the One-Eyed Snake?" asked another cultivator.
The administrator shook his head, "No, apparently no sect had come over claiming that he is a part of them. It seems that he is an elusive cultivator of this planet. And seeing that he is the only one who is able to kill enemy cultivators means that he has a method to bypass the barrier, or is probably already among the enemy lines." The administrator said.
The cultivators discussed among themselves the possibility of this being a trap, and how unbelievable this all sounded.
But the sterner of minds made had already agreed to charge forth and head to the location in the jade. Even if it was some sort of trap, the possibility of being able to take revenge on the invaders without suffering consequences was too good to be squandered and not take advantage of it.
Hoards and numerous cultivators flew over from all over heading towards the area where Shen Bao had pinpointed.
The first flames of war were lit, and now the real battle was about to begin.
