Library of Heaven’s Path

“Are you sure that the Monarch Spirit Grass is here?” Zhang Xuan frowned.

The dimension rift before his eyes was more frightening than anything he had seen before. Under the frightening spatial turbulence everything, everything that entered it was broken down into a seven-colored aurora.

Even Conferred God Kings would not be able to enter such an area easily. Given that the Monarch Spirit Grass was just another medicinal herb, was it really possible for it to survive in such conditions?

“I am certain of it!” Ao Feng nodded. “This is the fourth time that the Flood of Spiritual Energy has occurred, and this is the fourth time I have come here. I have been exploring the area all this while, so I am still quite familiar with the terrain here. That is also why I was able to bring people straight to the Condensed Earth Essence.”

Zhang Xuan nodded.

He had been wondering how Ao Feng was able to figure out the location of the Condensed Earth Essence so quickly even though there were so many phantasmagoric spirits guarding the area. It turned out that he had been there a few times, just that he had not been strong enough to claim it the last few times.

“The dimension rift wasn’t that terrifying the last few times I was here. Back then, I was still able to see through the shattered space to see what is within, but it seems like the space has further destabilized over time,” Ao Feng remarked with a frown.

“Destabilized over time?”

“Yes. The dimension rift wasn’t this big or violent back then, and I was able to enter it the last few times I was here, but I couldn’t obtain the Monarch Spirit Grass. I didn’t think that it would become like this in the last decade,” Ao Feng explained.

Zhang Xuan nodded as he examined the dimension rift contemplatively.

He had not been there ten years ago, so he could not tell what the situation was. However, with the current state of the dimension rift, it would not be too easy for him to enter it even with his current cultivation.

He turned his gaze over to Luo Qiqi and asked, “Is it possible for you to stabilize the space in there?”

As a manifestation of the Dimension Silencer, Luo Qiqi’s ability to manipulate space far surpassed that of any Conferred God King. If anyone could do it, it would probably be her.

“I think so, but I won’t be able to sustain it for too long,” Luo Qiqi replied.

“How long?”

“Probably… around twenty breaths at the very most!”

“That’s enough,” Zhang Xuan replied with a smile. “I’ll try to get the Monarch Spirit Grass within twenty breaths.”

“Alright then,” Luo Qiqi replied.

She walked up to the dimension rift, and her body morphed into a round orb.

Weng!

A light buzzing echoed from the orb, and the spatial turbulence within the dimension rift immediately calmed down. Even the seven-colored aurora froze in space, not moving in the least.

“This…” Ao Feng blinked in bewilderment.

All this while, he had thought that the young lady was an ordinary God King serving the Conferred God King of the Nine Skies, but who could have known that she was a powerhouse herself!

Despite being a Conferred God King himself, Ao Feng himself was unable to achieve such a feat!

In other words, if he battled the young lady, even with the disparity in their cultivation, he still would not be a match for her.

As expected of the Conferred God King of the Nine Skies, even the people around him could not be underestimated!

Hu!

As soon as Luo Qiqi stabilized the space inside the dimension rift, Zhang Xuan leaped right into it.

Flitting through the still seven-colored aurora, Zhang Xuan quickly observed his surroundings.

Initially, he had thought that the dimension rift was just yet another hazard of nature that occurred on this piece of land, but after entering it, he realized that he was underestimating the nature of the dimension rift. If left alone, it would eventually swallow this land whole.

“It’s that same energy from before…” Zhang Xuan frowned as he ventured deeper in.

He could sense terrifyingly powerful energy flowing in the depths of the dimension rift, hastening its growth, and this energy was identical to the gray currents he had seen in the depths of the mountain stream and in the abyss beneath Spirit Origin Royal City.

Zhang Xuan quickly wrapped his Pathos of Heaven zhenqi around his body before proceeding further.

Soon, amid the cracks of darkness, he saw three stalks of Monarch Spirit Grass floating in midair, seemingly on the verge of being devoured by the darkness.

Fragments of broken space that flowed close to the Monarch Spirit Grass would be devoured by it, and the leaves would grow even lusher.

Legend has it that the Monarch Spirit Grass thrives through absorbing the fragments of space, resulting in it harnessing powerful spatial powers. It seems like the rumors are true, Zhang Xuan thought grimly.

Unlike other medicinal herbs, the Monarch Spirit Grass did not grow on spiritual energy but fragments of space, making it quite a unique existence.

I feel like someone intentionally planted the Monarch Spirit Grass here in order to stabilize this dimension rift.

This dimension rift was caused by the gray energy that could neutralize even the Heaven’s Path zhenqi, so it was inevitable that it would continue to expand exponentially as it devoured the energy in the surroundings.

Based on what he had heard from Ao Feng, this dimension rift had existed for forty years, but if that was really the case, it should have long swallowed the entire Flooding Sea. It should not have been as small as it appeared.

It was the Monarch Spirit Grass that had prevented that tragedy from happening.

Its roots were tying the dimension rift together, limiting its expansion. On top of that, through absorbing the fragmented space, it was preventing the fragmented space from destabilizing the surrounding space. This had caused the expansion of the dimension rift to slow considerably.

It seemed too much of a coincidence that the Monarch Spirit Grass would appear where it was needed.

But if he said that someone had intentionally planted it here, who could it be? God Monarchs could not enter the Flooding Sea, and Conferred God Kings were unable to pull it off.

Geji! Geji!

While Zhang Xuan was still in thought, he could feel the frozen space around him beginning to crack. It seemed like Luo Qiqi was reaching her limits.

I can’t waste any more time here…

Luo Qiqi could only last twenty breaths in total, and half of the time had already passed. He needed to make his decision quick.

His main goal there was to take the three stalks of Monarch Spirit Grass away, but if he did that, he would risk destabilizing this dimension rift, which had barely been kept under control.

There could be adverse consequences if he did so. It might devour the whole Flooding Sea whole, and it might even result in the dimension fissure above the Flooding Sea expanding further, hastening the doom of the Firmament!

But if he left it there…

He could tell that the Monarch Spirit Grass could no longer hinder the dimension rift anymore. This was also why Ao Feng was surprised by how much it had grown over the past decade.

Most likely, it would only continue working for one or two months more before all hell broke loose.

This might very well be the last Flood of Spiritual Energy…

When he heard that the Flood of Spiritual Energy occurred once every decade, he had assumed that it would continue that way and provide the Firmament with resources every now and then.

But he was clearly underestimating the severity of the problem.

The Flood of Spiritual Energy was an aberrant event, and this was proven by the instability of the Flooding Sea. It was only a matter of time before this temporary stopgap measure fell apart.

By then, not only would the Flood of Spiritual Energy come to a halt, the collapse of the Flooding Sea might even hasten the destruction!

That would explain Ruoxin and Kong shi’s anxiety in completing the War of the Heavens…

It was only after coming into contact with all of this himself that he realized just how urgent the situation was. His previous thoughts had really been too shallow.

The heavens were far more complex than he had thought. The crisis would not disappear just because he kept delaying the inevitable. Eventually, when the Firmament fell to ruin, he would be affected as well.

In other words, regardless of whether he decided to join the War of the Heavens or not, he was destined not to be able to live a peaceful life. If all the fragments of the heavens were put together, at the very least, there would still be a sliver of hope for everyone.