Spirit Realm

Li Mu’s soul projection did not last long. Once he explained everything that he believed needed to be made clear and told Qin Lie to come to Heavenly Wither Continent, his figure slowly blurred and faded, before finally dissipating like a thin cloud scattered by the wind.

Several tens of thousands of miles away.

In the sky above a wide blue sea, an island was suspended in the middle of a vast cloud, floating through the air.

The island was several thousand meters in the air, braving the billowing winds like a massive black cloud.

Constructed on the island were beautiful palaces with white jade stone pillars, spirit cranes, spirit turtles, scarlet birds, and all kinds of other domesticated spirit beasts. Precious spirit herbs also grew on the island.

On the eastern side of the island, Li Mu calmly stood atop one of the palace’s round tables. The Icestone Snow Wolf King was crouched beside him.

Through a huge mirror in front of him that resembled a screen, one could vaguely see Herb Mountain, ferocious beasts, Qin Lie, Song Yu, Li Yi, and the others.

It was at this moment that Li Mu waved his hand, and the glowing mirror suddenly went dim. The miraculous scenes within the mirror vanished without a trace.

“Ta Te, I have dealt with the situation. Are you satisfied now?” Li Mu turned around, smiled calmly as he spoke to somebody.

If Qin Lie and Ku Luo were here, they would definitely be surprised by this person.

He was a tall and wide Horned Demon clansman. He had a gigantic lizard tail that dragged behind him, which was covered with tiny thorns. These thorns were like needles and gleamed with a cold, metallic luster that looked incredibly sharp at first glance.

On the back of the neck of this Horned Demon named “Ta Te,” there were eight incredibly noticeable curved horns that looked sinister. These eight horns represented Ta Te’s strength and exalted status within the Horned Demon Race!

This man was the eight horned warrior of the Horned Demon Race. He was a powerful existence comparable to the Imperishable Realm of the Human Race!

“Hmm. The Horned Demon Race shall establish a secret trade route with Heavenly Sword Mountain. In a hundred days, eighteen Profound Yin Nine Leaf Lotuses, six Nether Hell Demonic Fruits, and half a kilogram of Black Jade Soul Essence will be ready for the first trade,” Ta Te said in the human language.

While he spoke, his nasal tone was incredibly heavy. He sounded like he was sighing in a low voice.

“Very well.” Seeing that Ta Te had finally agreed, Li Mu couldn’t help but chuckle.

After a moment of thought, Li Mu changed the subject and asked, “Qin Shan… Just what kind of agreement did he have with the Horned Demon Race?”

“Our business with the Venerable One is not related to our trade. Please suppress your curiosity, sir.” Ta Te snorted.

“Hehe. If I may burden you with another question… where is Qin Shan right now?” Li Mu smiled and asked with narrowed eyes.

“That is also not related to you.” Ta Te’s expression was stiff.

“Qin Shan’s grandson is my friend. This friend of mine has been searching for his grandfather all this time. All I wanted was to help him,” Li Mu said seriously.

“It is not related to you.” Ta Te frowned, then suddenly leaped.

A flying spirit artifact with a bizarre design flew over from the distant clouds, firmly catching Ta Te.

If Qin Lie were here, he would realize that this flying spirit artifact was a White Bone Nether Spirit Altar that had been made several hundred times larger.

The white bones were piled in the shape of an octagon. There were eight giant skulls in the eight corners of the octagon. These skulls clearly weren’t human, but from some sort of a giant beast.

The center of the octagon was a soul pond formed from phantoms, ghouls, and tormented spirits. The souls inside of the soul pond struggled as wisps of murky energy were extracted from them and transported to the center of the bone altar.

“The first batch of goods will arrive in a hundred days. I hope that you will prepare as soon as possible.” Ta Te threw down these words before commanding the White Bone Nether Spirit Altar and charging straight into the void, completely disappearing.

Watching Ta Te’s departure, Li Mu rubbed his chin with a pensive look. “So… it seems that Qin Lie has quite the background.”

“Master, the next Trial is going to start in half a year.” A man clad in green, whose aura resembled that of a sharp sword, suddenly appeared behind Li Mu before bowing respectfully.

“Mn.” Li Mu nodded and thought for a moment before saying, “Profound Heaven Alliance, Eight Extreme Temple, and Joyful Union Sect lost quite a few men to the ferocious beasts this time. Profound Heaven City and Skypiercing Mountain were heavily damaged as well. We will need to make amends. Let’s do it this way—you will take five sword tokens on my behalf and pass them along to Profound Heaven Alliance’s Song Tingyu and Xie Jingxuan, Eight Extreme Temple’s Zhang Chengdong, and Joyful Union Sect’s Zhao Xuan. Have them give the last token to Qin Lie.”

“Qin Lie?” The green clad man was surprised.

Li Mu smiled and nodded. “Yes, him.”

“Right away.” The green clad man slowly retreated.

……

At Herb Mountain.

After Li Mu’s soul projection slowly faded, the silver token remained suspended in midair.

Joyful Union Sect’s Sect Master, Ruan Zhantian, waited for a moment, and seeing that there were more movements, he finally extended a hand and took the silver token.

“This matter ends here.” Ruan Zhantian swept his gaze across Song Yu, Li Yi, and Zhao Changsheng before shaking his head helplessly. “Regardless of how severe the losses of Profound Heaven Alliance and Eight Extreme Temple are, since our superiors have given their orders, you have no choice but to accept it as fate.”

Song Yu and Xie Yaoyang’s expressions were dark. They both sighed.

Meanwhile, after his secret conversation with Li Mu, Li Yi appeared to be excited to the point that he even seemed to have temporarily forgotten about Eight Extreme Temple’s losses.

“Qin Lie, tell the Horned Demon Race and the giant beasts to leave the Scarlet Tide Continent as soon as possible,” Ruan Zhantian said after a moment of consideration, smiling at Qin Lie.

“Mn,” Qin Lie answered casually.

“Then that will be all.” Ruan Zhantian prepared to board the blue crystalline war chariot and leave.

It was at this moment that the silver token in his hand flashed.

A faint spatial energy suddenly emanated from the token. A moment later, five sword-shaped spirit tokens that were each the size of a palm flew out of the token.

The five sword tokens were like mini flying swords. They glittered with a crystalline light and softly emanated spirit energy.

At the same time, a thought that resembled a sharp sword emerged from the silver token and directly entered Ruan Zhantian’s mind.

Ruan Zhantian’s pupils shrank. After carefully contemplating his thoughts, he smiled brightly.

“Brother Ruan, these sword tokens from Heavenly Sword Mountain… are they vouchers for the Trial? ” Song Yu said excitedly.

Xie Yaoyang’s eyes lit up.

Li Yi, who was about to leave, stopped walking and looked at the five mini flying swords with excitement.

“The five sword tokens will be granted to Song Tingyu, Xie Jingxuan, Zhang Chengdong, Zhao Xuan… and Qin Lie!” Ruan Zhantian subconsciously glanced at Qin Lie with a strange expression, but it only lasted for an instant before he smiled once more. “Each sword token is a voucher for participation in the Trial. This means that, from the three forces, four of us will be able to head to the Heavenly Wither Continent and represent Heavenly Sword Mountain in the legendary Trial!”

Song Tingyu and Xie Jingxuan’s eyes shone with surprise. They did not seem to know about the details of the Trial, and they were looking at Ruan Zhantian with doubt.

“Father, what is this Trial?” Joyful Union Sect’s Zhao Xuan frowned and asked.

“I seriously do not understand what you’re so happy about.” Xue Li’s blood colored soul flew out of Qin Lie’s forehead once more. He seemed to have been startled by talk of the Trial. “The Trial is conducted by all five continents and nine great Silver forces in the Land of Chaos, but do you know exactly how cruel the Trial will be? Do you know what kind of price you have to pay to participate in the Trial?”

The moment that Xue Li appeared, Song Yu, Ruan Zhantian, Xie Yaoyang, and Li Yi were astonished by his words.

Profound Heaven Alliance, Joyful Union Sect, and Eight Extreme Temple were vassal forces under Heavenly Sword Mountain of the Heavenly Wither Continent. They were far from the Heavenly Wither Continent, and even Song Yu, Ruan Zhantian, Li Yi, and the others rarely frequented Heavenly Wither Continent.

They had only heard of the Trial being an extremely precious opportunity for young martial practitioners to temper themselves.

It was rumored that the participants who survived the Trial would not only have a vastly increased martial realm, but would also be granted all sorts of precious spirit artifacts, spirit pills, and the recognition of all forces.

Yet, upon hearing Xue Li’s words, they noticed that the Trial might not be as simple as they thought. As a result, they all paid attention to Xue Li’s explanation.

“I hail from the Heavenly Slaughter Continent of the Land of Chaos.” Xue Li revealed his identity for the first time. “My true body is currently in the Land of Chaos.”

The crowd immediately felt respect for him.

“The Land of Chaos consists of five continents and many islands. Its territory is vast, and all sorts of forces and foreign races have appeared, mingled with, and interacted with each other. In the five great continents of the Land of Chaos, there are currently nine Silver rank forces, hundreds of Copper rank forces, thousands of Black Iron rank forces, and tens of thousands of Limestone rank forces. These forces are complex and chaotic, constantly warring against each other without pause.

“The nine great Silver rank forces have explored and revealed many forbidden lands and secret domains, discovering secret passages that are connected to sub worlds such as the Nether Realm.

“At the edge of this vast, boundless Spirit Realm, there are many secret realms and sub worlds. Some existed during and even before ancient times, and they were opened by the martial practitioners to become independent worlds. Some of the spaces were dependent on Spirit Realm in their formation, and they shared a subtle connection with us. Some even greater martial practitioners themselves would become a world after they perished, their minds becoming secret realms in which their inheritances were left for those fated to receive them. It is all incredibly miraculous.

“Every so often, secret passages in which sub worlds can be found would be discovered in the Land of Chaos. We call them secret realms.

“Sometimes those secret realms contained living creatures, and sometimes they were empty. Sometimes they were filled with spirit energy, all sorts of rare spirit herbs, precious spirit animals, and objects. Some secret realms also contained ancient secrets of the past, hiding either profound legacies or powerful spirit artifacts.

“A certain number of secret realms, however, are unable to endure powerful shockwaves of energy despite containing many wonders within them. There are many reasons for this. These secret realms forbid powerful martial practitioners from fighting each other, or else the secret realm itself would entirely collapse and explode.

“Some secret realms were purposely formed by powerful practitioners with perfect inheritances of power and magical spirit artifacts left inside of them. They exist to choose successors, so they impose certain restrictions onto anyone who enters. They only allow martial practitioners with low realms, such as Manifestation Realm or Netherpassage Realm martial practitioners, to enter and receive their legacy.

“This was also the reason why many of these secret realms can only be explored by lower realm martial practitioners. Higher level experts are barred from entering them, or incapable of doing so due to the instability that their combat power brings to the realm, basically restricting them from entering.

“When the nine great Silver rank forces discover this type of secret realm, they are only able to send lower realm elites of their clans to explore them in detail since their elites cannot enter.

“In the Land of Chaos, the nine Silver rank forces are constantly engaged in bloody warfare. All sides have accumulated grudges of their own. There have been many instances where, after discovering a secret realm, they would organize a Trial and arrange for their people to explore them. They would take a great risk, giving out spirit artifacts and spirit pills and using their disciples to fight bloody battles for honor and fame.

“This so-called ‘Trial’ is just a bloody banquet organized by the nine great forces. Although it is filled with opportunities, enabling someone to acquire spirit artifacts, spirit herbs, and forgotten legacies, all of this is based on the assumption that you to survive to the very end!

“The people who participate in the Trial are all elites of the nine great Silver forces. These are cruel, hardened, relentless people who have grown up in the Land of Chaos. Human lives are nothing more than grass to them.

“Even if you lot are qualified to participate in the Trial, you are nothing but cannon fodder.

“Furthermore, from what I have heard, this incoming Trial has an extra one realm restriction, and only those below the Fulfillment Realm will be able to enter.

“I am currently in the Land of Chaos, and I heard that there are several people who clearly could’ve broken through to the Fulfillment Realm, but purposely remained at the peak of the Netherpassage Realm in order to participate in this Trial.

“These people are the elite of the elite. Once the Trial ends, they might be the only ones to survive!”

……