A year and six months, that was how long Tianyi had been cultivating within his room. Tapping his forehead, Tianyi sighed at how much time had passed without him knowing, but he quickly focused on more important matters.
According to Jian Wuyan, since the expedition force has almost already reached the core of the Golden Crow Clan’s territory, proceeding any further would be too dangerous as that would invite Golden Crow Ancestor’s retaliation. Instead, they created this fortress town as a base of operation, from where they would continuously use guerilla tactics to assault the borders of the Golden Crow Clan’s core.
In this style, there was no more large-scale battle. Instead, small squads of disciples—about four to eight cultivators at most—engaged in guerilla warfare attacks against the demons. Because of this, most disciples segregated themselves from the disciples of other sects. The only exception was the squad led by Xia Yushan, which had Hun Jusang, Daoist Moneybag, and two others.
As for Bing Huoyuan, he was grouped with Bai Weiwei, Bai Ningwei, and Ji Wutong, the latter one to his extreme displeasure.
Daoyi and Xi Ri had also joined some squads. Unlike the other cultivators, they had already received massive wealth from Dragon Palace, so they focused more on tempering themselves through battle.
Tianyi nodded. He can’t expect them to patiently wait a year for him. After all, the Demon Slaying Expedition was something that occurred once every hundred years.
“How are they?” Tianyi asked.
“Senior Sister Jiang and Brother Xi are doing well. They have joined multiple squads and always come back without much injuries. It feels like Senior Sister Jiang is already stronger than me even though she’s thirty years younger than me!” Jian Wuyan sighed in admiration, as expected of Grand Elder Xi’s personal disciple! She blinked as if realizing something, “Oh, Prince Xi is the best, though!”
“That’s good,” Tianyi said as he looked around the surroundings and then at the town in the distance. The town only consisted of about five kilometers, tiny for a town of cultivators.
“Do you want to join a squad too?” Jian Wuyan asked, her eyes shining. With a single glance, Tianyi could already tell what medicine she was selling, aka what she was scheming.
“Hm? No,” Tianyi said, his attention directed away from the town and now looking at a distant mountain range.
“Oh…” Jian Wuyan said with her head down, disappointed. She had wanted to join Tianyi’s squad. “Oh!!!”
Tianyi glanced at her, wondering what craziness she had cooked up again.
Jian Wuyan started to nod to herself as if she had solved everything. “The other disciples must be too weak for your greatness, Prince Xi! That’s why you must be planning on not forming any squad and attacking by yourself!”
What the hell is this fanatic talking about? And don’t say such hate-attracting words, okay?
“Wrong,” Tianyi said, barely keeping his voice from cracking. “There is simply no meaning for me to fight anymore. I’ve already fought at least two Unity Realm level demons and killed one.”
Not to mention that I doubt the Golden Crow Clan has any treasure that can catch my eye. Dragon Palace was too huge of a disappointment to me. Right now, what I should do is focus on entering the Unity Realm.
“Although, if that stupid fried chicken showed up again, I don’t mind finishing the job,” Tianyi said as he recalled Ragingflame Crow. He had heard from Jian Wuyan that Xia Yushan and the other disciples who went to pursue the fleeing demon elder had returned empty-handed.
Jian Wuyan clasped her hands as her eyes shined even brighter as she gazed at Tianyi. It was almost as if stars were literally shining around her. In fact, this was all Tianyi’s imagination, but he couldn’t help but shiver.
Don’t look at me like that. You’re making me cringe. And I called him a fried chicken bastard, and that word isn’t even cool! So why are you looking at me like I said the coolest thing ever?! Tianyi took a deep breath and tried his best to ignore the Mengfei fanatic next to him.
Tianyi’s foot began to lift off the ground as his body floated into the air. A nascent soul grandmaster’s ability grants them the control necessary to make a platform for them to step on air. It does not grant the ability to fly in the air naturally.
“Prince Xi! T-this, have you communed with heaven and earth!?” Jian Wuyan was sure Tianyi was still a nascent soul grandmaster. Although his qi was completely different from other nascent soul grandmasters, she was a hundred percent positive that Tianyi had not entered the Unity Realm. Not to mention that there was no Unity Heavenly Tribulation when Tianyi was still in the immortal boat, but that didn’t mean he could not grasp the harmonization with the world that was required to enter the Unity Realm.
Unity venerables could fly without creating platforms precisely because they could harmonize with the world and grasp partial control of their surroundings. The greater their harmonization, the stronger their command over the world. Flying was one of the first abilities a unity venerable would awaken.
If Prince Xi were to truly started harmonization, then he’ll be the youngest unity venerable in the history of the Buzhou Immortal Sect! Jian Wuyan thought with none of her fanaticism, the shock temporarily overriding any other thoughts.
Tianyi and paused and revealed a helpless smile. “How can harmonizing with heaven and earth be so easy? This is just a small trick accomplishing by using my qi and spacetime concept.”
“Oh,” Jian Wuyan patted her chest. Tianyi was right. How could harmonization be so easy, but she immediately froze after processing Tianyi’s last sentence.
Spacetime concept? That’s even harder to attain than harmonization with heaven and earth! Among the immortals I know, only a few have attained the Dao of Space, and only one loose immortal emperor has attained the Dao of Time. If Prince Xi were to evolve that spacetime concept into the Dao of Spacetime…
Jian Wuyan felt her brain began to heat up as she thought of the possibilities. If Tianyi were to attain the Dao of Spacetime, he would be unique. His value might even become equal to an immortal monarch while as a true immortal, or as valuable as an immortal emperor as an immortal monarch! It was at this time that Jian Wuyan’s fangirl mind took over.
Prince Xi is the best! As expected of Grand Elder Xi’s son!
Ignoring the fervent gaze behind him, Tianyi soon stood high above the nameless mountain range. He tapped the jade pendant on his waist, and the Mountains and Seas Formation instantly descended and overlapped with the nameless mountain range.
Throughout the surrounding area, the ground began to quake. Even the disciples in the fortress town felt the land shaking. Not just them, but the demons who were closer to the border between the two forces also felt the astonishing tremors.
Ashflame Crow’s avian face frowned as he felt something blot his senses. As a Unity Realm level demon, his detection range was astonishing. By harmonizing with the world, he could detect everything within fifty thousand kilometers.
The only exception was the fortress town constructed by the cultivators. Using a formation, they were able to ward off Ashflame Crow’s and the other Golden Crow Clan elder’s spiritual senses from penetrating. And now, there was another location that his senses were blocked.
Although Ashflame Crow’s spiritual sense wasn’t completely obstructed, it became incredibly hazy and indistinct. Without a doubt, the cultivators were making large movements again, so he focused his attention on the surrounding area. Ashflame Crow didn’t dare to personally arrive, fearing that what happened to Ragingflame Crow would occur to him.
Ashflame Crow’s eyes narrowed when he spotted a lone human flying in the air. From his appearance, Ashflame Crow quickly recognized Tianyi as the one who grievously injured Ragingflame Crow. Now, he placed even more importance on Tianyi’s actions.
Under Ashflame Crow’s shocked eyes, nine of the tallest mountains began to rise high into the air and left gaping holes in the land. Once all nine mountains were high in the air, eight mountains began circling the tallest one of the nine. At this point, Tianyi flew and landed atop the mountain peak of the tallest mountain.
Tianyi’s body began releasing his black true qi of chaos en masse, shrouding the surrounding sky as if that portion of the sky was nighttime. In truth, Tianyi had only recovered about sixty to seventy percent of his qi reservoirs, but the more qi he had, the faster he generated. It was much like the half-life of radioactive isotopes broke down, only the principle was reversed.
The black qi began to spread and spread until it engulfed all nine mountains. Slowly, Tianyi’s true qi of chaos began to seep into all nine mountains. Half of the qi was absorbed by the central mountain, while the other half was split evenly between the remaining mountains.
By the time this had finished, a week had already passed, and Tianyi was still standing atop the mountain peak of the central mountain without moving. Tianyi remained still like a statue for the next few months while tremendous changes began to occur to the nine mountains and the surrounding area.
It wasn’t apparent at first, but black liquid began to pool at the bottom of each mountain until it formed a lake that the mountain floated on. The lake was pitch black and exuded a terrifying aura of destruction, which was only natural as it was formed from Tianyi’s true qi of chaos.
Once the black lakes had finished forming, each mountain began to orbit around the central mountain on a different layer. At first, it was only at a snail’s pace, but soon the orbiting speed increased, and the difference between the mountains began to emerge.
The ones closest to the central mountains were generally smaller than the four furthest away from the center. Similarly, the ones closest to the central mountain completed a full circle in the shortest time, while the eighth mountain completed it the slowest.
Once all eight mountains had reached their top orbiting speed, the rest of the mountain range began to break down into giant chunks of dirt and rocks. Those chunks of dirt and rocks then broke down even further and formed a ring around the system formed by the nine mountains.
It was at this moment that Ashflame Crow gasped. For the past six months, he had been closely monitoring the changes occurring around Tianyi. His spiritual sense grew murkier and murkier with each passing day until it finally could no longer penetrate into the anomalous domain.
Tianyi’s domain formed from the nine mountains wasn’t like the barrier around the fortress town founded by Xia Yushan. In Ashflame Crow’s eyes, the barrier formed a hole in his vision, a blind spot, but Tianyi’s domain was even stranger. Whenever he tried to sense the nine mountains, it felt like the whole area didn’t exist.
To make an analogy, it was like someone cut a circle out of a piece of fabric and then sown the hole together. Ashflame Crow could only sense the fixed fabric, but not the circle that was cut away.
After realizing this point, Tianyi became the most dangerous figure in Ashflame Crow’s mind, and he quickly reported his findings to Golden Crow Ancestor. If possible, Ashflame Crow didn’t want to face off against Tianyi, who had the ability to eliminate a Unity Realm level expert’s greatest strength.
Atop the central mountain, Tianyi tapped the jade pendant tied to his waist. Immediately, the Mountains and Seas Formation disappeared and returned to the pendant. He had used the Mountains and Seas Formation to aid in the creation of his new domain. Without it, he could not have accomplished such an act, but now, since everything had aligned, the nine mountains no longer needed external forces to keep it from collapsing onto itself.
Tianyi grasped his chin and observed his newly created domain. It utilized the concept of spacetime, so it could be said to be a miniature realm separated from the Demon Cage Realm. The spiritual qi was formed from Tianyi’s true qi of chaos, but he had diluted it so that it was gentle as spiritual qi, and the density of spiritual qi was even higher than Tianyi’s Jade Lotus Clear Pond.
Overall, with the exception of the stars, the domain was a crude reflection of his inner cosmos and can be considered an extension of it. However, Tianyi wasn’t satisfied. Compared to his inner cosmos, there were still too many deficiencies.
“Well, I can slowly ponder on this matter. The Demon Slaying Expedition still at least has about six to seven years left.” Tianyi said. Overall, he was still quite satisfied. “Let’s see, let’s call it the Vast Heaven Islands.”
Tianyi’s head quirked up and looked at the base of the mountain. At the foot sat a girl in a lotus position. Who else could it be except Jian Wuyan?
He had already noticed when Jian Wuyan had foolishly flown onto the mountain. Had it not been for Tianyi’s deliberate care, there was no doubt the core formation master would have dissolved into ashes from the massive amounts of true qi of chaos.
Still, it seemed that watching Tianyi create the Vast Heavens was highly beneficial for Jian Wuyan as she had started to under the Minor Fire Tribulation. If she succeeded, then she would become enter the late Core Formation Realm.
Tianyi sighed and held his forehead as he descended the mountain and landed in front of Jian Wuyan. If she wasn’t careful, someone might interrupt her and divert her attention, leading to her failing her Minor Lightning Tribulation.
Although minor tribulations of the Core Formation Realm could not compare to the dangers of the heavenly tribulation, it was still a tribulation in the end, so danger existed. At the very least, they were acquaintances, so Tianyi decided to guard Jian Wuyan until her minor tribulation ended.
Within the core room of the Descending Immortal Embassy stood two figures. Both of them were observing the sphere situated in the center of the control room, which reflected the whole Demon Cage Realm. It was as if the whole Demon Cage Realm existed within the sphere.
“Unbelievable, what a monster.” The speaker was an elderly man that resembled a dried-up prune. He turned around to face his fellow immortal. “Jadeflame, that Xi Tianyi is worthy of being Grand Elder Xi’s son.”
Jadeflame stroked his beard that reached his waist and said in admiration. “I did not expect Tianyi to have such accomplishments. He practically ripped out a portion of the Demon Cage Realm and formed a miniature realm. Although calling it a miniature realm might be an overstatement.”
“Still, he is too impulsive. Had I not been the realmlord of the Demon Cage Realm, then his actions would have torn a hole in the dimensional boundaries and sucked him out.” The unnamed elder said while slowly shaking his head.
“Haha,” Elder Jadeflame chuckled. “Stop lying to yourself, Demonseal. Both you and I can discern that the lad mastered a spacetime concept or is close to mastering one. If you didn’t secretly help, he still would have been able to accomplish forming his miniature realm. The only difference would be the time it took. Unless you want to say that you are growing senile in your old age?”
“Who are you calling old!” Realmlord Demonseal, the true master of the Demon Cage Realm, roared. He was also an elder of the Buzhou Immortal Sect, just that his duties were slightly different than most. As such, he rarely appeared within the sect. “I’ll tell you. I’m still at my prime!”
“How long have we known each other?” Jadeflame chuckled, amused by Realmlord Demonseal’s anger. “I might have only lived a tenth of your age, but my eyes aren’t blind. It’s true that realmlords have their lifespan drastically extended due to controlling a realm, but your willpower is weakening too fast. So unless you can enter the Extremity Immortal Realm, you will die in thousand years.” Elder Jadeflame said, his voice becoming solemnly as he stared intensely at Realmlord Demonseal.
Realmlord Demonseal didn’t answer and instead gazed at the Demon Cage Realm. His eyes saw everything, from the numerous disciples attacking the territories that did not belong to the three great clans, to the disciples attacking the Jade Rabbit Clan’s territories, to Xia Yushan leading his group and assaulting crow demons of the yang attribute, to Leviathan Ancestor amassing his forces in preparation, his eyes even pierced the mountains where the true demons were sealed. His eyes saw all.
Then he focused on the groups of monks who were communicating with the demons sealed within the mountains and snorted derisively. The one place he could not fully peer into with his authority as the ruler of the Demon Cage Realm was Tianyi’s Vast Heaven Islands.
Finally, Realmlord Demonseal sighed and spoke once more, his voice visibly fatigued. “Don’t worry. I can at least manage to live for another five thousand years if I slumber. I won’t die until I see the Buzhou Immortal Sect unite the Huang Realm!”