Spirit Realm

Just fifteen minutes after the departure of Qin Lie’s group, blinding arcs of lightning and intense, thunderous rumbles erupted from the depths of the thunder lagoon.

“Boom!”

The thunder lagoon became a bright flash of light, a brilliant explosion of sparks bursting from its center. All the remaining traces of thunder and lightning energy dispersed in the commotion.

This reduced the thunder lagoon to an enormous, smoldering pit hundreds of meters deep. The wondrous scene from earlier was gone. There were no soul crystals or Pure Soul Springs to marvel at.

An hour later, the martial practitioners of Black Voodoo Cult, the three great families, Celestial Artifact Sect, and Ten Thousand Beast Mountain finally arrived at the smoldering pit. All of them took in the ruined land, stunned.

“Where’s the thunder lagoon? Why is there a huge pit where it used to be?”

“What happened? Where are the eastern barbarians?”

“There are intense fluctuations of thunder and lightning here! The thunder lagoon must have exploded. But… where are the soul crystals and Pure Soul Springs?”

“Did they get destroyed in the explosion? Did Qin Lie or the eastern barbarians take them? Damn it!”

Huang Zhuli, Ye Yihao, and the others gathered next to the enormous pit, ordering their subordinates to venture into it and search for clues about what happened.

Soon after, their people returned, but all they could do was shake their heads in the face of their leaders’ expectant gazes.

“I don’t know what happened here. The thunder lagoon is in ruin, and the soul crystals and Pure Soul Springs were nowhere to be found,” someone said, head bowed.

Everyone present started to curse and smoke came out of their ears. Hatred boiled within each and every one of them.

All except for Chu Li, who stood among them.

After observing the pit that used to be the thunder lagoon, he silently left.

As a member of Terminator Sect, Chu Li could easily recognize the power of thunder and lightning. He was also aware of Qin Lie’s abilities.

After examining the area with his mind consciousness, he had faintly detected Qin Lie’s presence. He was certain that Qin Lie had something to do with the decimation of the thunder lagoon.

Gripping a Heavenly Sword Mountain token, Chu Li left without a word and tried to sense Qin Lie’s location.

A few minutes after Chu Li left, the tokens at the waist of every martial practitioner began to ring furiously.

“The eastern barbarians are returning!”

Everyone looked amongst each other, their faces grim with realization.

“The eastern barbarians outnumber us, and once Yan Min and Sen Ye join forces, their offensive potential will multiply.” Huang Zhuli’s eyes flashed with malice. “Our Black Voodoo Cult has fought against the eastern barbarians for years. We know what they’re capable of. Since thunder lagoon has been destroyed, we no longer have a reason to fight them to the death.”

Feng Yiyou and Yu Men nodded.

After exchanging looks with each other, all of them beat a decisive retreat in a direction opposite from the eastern barbarians.

All three groups joined together to form one larger group as a precaution. They were afraid of being attacked by the eastern barbarians, so they didn’t dare to split up.

They wanted to be prepared for any unforeseen circumstances.

……

Qin Lie’s group sped through a remote corner of the Forbidden Land of Thunder, moving away from the destroyed thunder lagoon as fast as lightning. The eyes of every person in the group flashed with irrepressible joy..

The sky above them, which used to be a thunderstorm that occasionally flashed with lightning, was now a dull gray. Lightning no longer rampaged through the air.

The Forbidden Land of Thunder hadn’t experienced this kind of calm in tens of thousands of years.

“Follow me.”

At some point, Xue Moyan had moved in front of everyone to lead them.

“We shall take a detour to the Forbidden Land of Ice. The Land of Buried Gods lies within the Forbidden Land of Ice, so it is unique in and of itself,” she explained as she sped along.

It could be said that, to a certain degree, Xue Moyan and Chu Li were familiar with the Graveyard of Gods. She could more or less tell which way to go because the thunder spirit had been sealed. As a result, the Forbidden Land of Thunder became normal and no longer inhibited other types of spirit energy.

Qin Lie and the others weren’t familiar with the area, so they didn’t have a problem with following her.

After a few days of travel, all of them had used up pretty much all of their spirit power. They found a random place to stop and used spirit stones to recover.

Once their spirit energy had been replenished, they continued to journey according to Xue Moyan’s guidance, almost never stopping to rest.

A few days later, they arrived at the border of an icy mountain range.

“Over there!” Xue Moyan came to a sudden stop and pointed into the distance.

Everyone’s gazes traced her finger to the location she was pointing at.

Distant, snow-capped mountains stretched as far as the eye could see.. Trees covered in ice accentuated their enormous, jagged shapes, composing a silver-tinged world of ice and snow.

A small wind blew across the group, bone-chilling cold piercing into them like icy knives.

And this was just the outer edge of the Forbidden Land of Ice.

All of them looked at each other. Aside from Qin Lie, everyone else was trembling from the cold.

Instinctively, they formed their individual shields of light.

“It’s so cold… this frigid air soaks all the way down to the marrow of my bones. If I don’t wrap my body in spirit energy, I’d quickly go numb. Even my tendons would freeze and become ice!” Du Xiangyang exclaimed, his chin pressed against his chest.

Crimson flames covered his body, and he exhaled hot air. It was clear that he couldn’t tolerate the cold.

The Forbidden Land of Ice truly didn’t suit him at all.

Du Xiangyang was only skilled in fire spirit arts. Most of his life had been spent in hot places, using the heat to cultivate, and intense flames to refine his body.

Luo Chen and the others shrouded themselves in their shields of light. All of them stood at the border of the Forbidden Land of Ice. They flashed with light, almost as if they were wearing glittering armor.

Once again, Qin Lie was an exception.

Just like in the Forbidden Land of Thunder, Qin Lie didn’t shield himself from the elements, instead completely exposing himself to the snow and ice. He allowed the bone-chilling cold and the frigid winds to engulf him.

Yet he smiled happily. He was relaxed, clearly comfortable with his situation.

“Big Brother Qin, a-are you not afraid of the cold?” Pan Qianqian looked at him in shock. The cold had made her face as red as an apple. “If too much cold energy enters your body, it will interfere with the circulation of your spirit energy. If we encounter any enemies, you won’t be able to launch attacks effectively.”

“Don’t worry about him.” Song Tingyu smiled brightly. “He has thick skin. Cold energy of this level will only be beneficial for him.”

Xie Jingxuan nodded slightly.

Their nonchalant attitudes shocked Pan Qianqian.

“He’s fine,” Xue Moyan said in a small voice. “Qin Lie is also skilled in Frost Spirit Arts...”

After secretly examining him with her mind consciousness, she smiled calmly and explained, “Qin Lie has three frost natal palaces.”

Pan Qianqian’s eyes flashed with surprise. “Huh?! Why do you cultivate so many different spirit arts? Aren’t you afraid that they’ll clash?”

“It doesn’t seem to be a problem for now,” Qin Lie said reassuringly and smiled.

Then, in the next moment, he went silent, clearly contemplating something.

Luo Chen’s brow furrowed.

Everyone was able to guess what Qin Lie was thinking about and instinctively became quiet.

However, just as Qin Lie was about to tell them what he was thinking, Luo Chen spoke up.

“Don’t bother,” he growled. “None of us were any help when it came to acquiring the Pure Soul Springs. Even taking the eastern barbarians or the three forces into account, we weren’t helpful enough for our efforts to be considered important.”

Luo Chen was cold and proud, but he wasn’t unreasonable. He had a lot of time to go over things while they were traveling.

During their journey to the Forbidden Land of Ice, he had gone over everything in his mind and came to a realization. He, Du Xiangyang, Xue Moyan, and the others had almost no effect on the struggle for the Pure Soul Springs in the Forbidden Land of Thunder.

In other words, even if they hadn’t done anything, Qin Lie would have done everything the same way.

Rather than providing coal during a snowstorm, what they had done was the same as gilding a flower.

At most, their help entitled each of them to large amounts of soul crystals. It did not earn them a portion of the Pure Soul Springs.

Luo Chen had his own code, his own perspective on how rewards should be distributed.

Now that he had finally thought everything through, he was relieved. He believed that Qin Lie taking all of the Pure Soul Springs was a logical outcome.

—Luo Chen thought that they were rightfully his.

“Ugh...” Du Xiangyang groaned, a weird expression on his face. He scratched his head in embarrassment, suddenly making the situation somewhat awkward.

After pausing for a moment, he shook his head and said, “I hadn’t expected you to be so wise, Luo Chen. Compared to you, I… I was so fixated on those Pure Soul Springs.”

Before Luo Chen had spoken up, Du Xiangyang actually felt upset too. He thought that Qin Lie shouldn’t have taken all of the Pure Soul Springs.

Ever since Qin Lie parted ways with Terminator Sect in the Forbidden Land of Wood, Du Xiangyang had staunchly stood by his side.

He had thought that following Qin Lie would definitely be better than following Terminator Sect.

Reality soon proved his choice to be the correct one. Qin Lie had found the thunder lagoon and discovered the Pure Soul Springs inside of it.

Du Xiangyang had thought that maybe, just maybe, he’d be able to get one of them...

Yet, when Qin Lie admitted to taking all of the Pure Soul Springs, Du Xiangyang had been angry.

—He thought that he deserved to have one.

However, once Luo Chen expressed such a logical view of the situation, Du Xiangyang realized that he hadn’t actually been much help to Qin Lie.

Luo Chen was right.

From Qin Lie’s perspective, the efforts of everyone else in the group did not equate to coal during a snowstorm. They had simply gilded a flower.

Taking that into consideration, the soul crystals were more than enough compensation.