No, this can’t do, I have to find a way to gather more information!
Jiang Yi’s eyes shone as he looked all around. There were many martial artists on this altar. However, most of them should have ascended just like him; their auras were not exceptionally strong and were comparable to his. Only the dozen-odd black-armored martial artists sitting around the altar had very strong auras. They should be the native formidable martial artists of this Earth Emanations Domain.
Earth Emanations Domain? The Mystic Thearch is in the Ten Thousand Saints Domain while Mother is in the Saint Spirit Domain! How am I supposed to go to these places?
Jiang Yi’s head hurt from thinking about this. He shook his head and forced himself not to think about the duo for now. The most pressing matter was to ascertain if Jiang Xiaonu had ascended to the Higher Domain, and—if so—where she was now.
His gaze looked towards the black-armored martial artist that had attacked the Black Deity just now, wanting to send forth a voice transmission to ask him some questions. However, he found out something shocking: he was not able to send voice transmissions here. The spatial zone here was frighteningly stable. It was a thousand, ten thousand times more stable than that of the Death God’s Dense Sea.
Jiang Yi’s eyes shifted as he finally gritted his teeth, stood up, and cupped his hands towards the black-armored martial artist, saying, “My Lord, could I ask a few things?”
“Shut up!”
The black-armored formidable martial artist looked at Jiang Yi without emotion as he coldly said, “You do not have the right. If you want to know more about the Earth Emanations Domain, you will have the chance in the future. For now… no.”
The more people there were, the more complicated things were. Furthermore, with the current situation in this domain unclear—if Jiang Yi acted rashly, he could end up suffering. He decided not to do anything for the time being and continued to wait in silence.
Buzz!
One hour later, the formation on the altar lit up as a strong-built figure suddenly appeared. He similarly fainted and fell on the cold altar ground. The formation on the altar also dimmed and became dark again as silence returned to the surroundings.
“Hahaha!”
Five minutes later, the strong martial artist that had just ascended opened his eyes and started to laugh. He seemed proud and overbearing as he scanned his surroundings, raised both his hands, and shouted, “Ascended, I have finally ascended! Divine Domain, I have come to conquer you!”
Tsk! Tsk!
As expected, that black-armored martial artist’s eyes opened as his whip lashed out once again. The strong-built martial artist did not have the chance to react, and he was sent flying. He almost fell off the altar and into the sea.
“You dare to hit me? You are courting your death!”
Jiang Yi initially thought that that martial artist would wise up. Instead, after being injured, he actually armed himself with a spear as his body transformed into a sharp sword and shot towards the black-armored martial artist. The spear also became a shadow as it ferociously stabbed at the black-armored martial artist.
“Since you dug this hole yourself, you shall not live.”
Next to the black-armored martial artist sat a more senior formidable martial artist with ash-gray hair. He opened his eyes as he said coldly. The black-armored martial artist also did not show any more mercy as he furiously lashed his whip again. This time, the attack was not as soft as before; it brought an ear-piercing screech. Even the extremely stable spatial zone here actually rippled slightly. An aura that made Jiang Yi and everyone else’s soul spirits tremble was sent forth from the whip.
Bang!
As expected, the martial artist that had just ascended was hit heavily. He immediately exploded and became a blood mist; not even his remains were left. The spear he was holding was snatched by the black-armored martial artist, who kept it in a ring on his hand. He glanced coldly at Jiang Yi and company, saying, “In this place, whoever doesn’t follow the rules will die.”
Jiang Yi and everyone else watched with fear and astonishment as they kept mum. The Higher Domain was indeed filled with formidable martial artists; True Gods that had ascended were extremely common here. Whoever dared to cause trouble here would indeed not be able to live another day.
Why does the Higher Domain not feel as good as the legends have said? Instead, it is filled with so much danger and killing?
A question floated in Jiang Yi’s mind. He had always thought that the Higher Domain was the Immortal Domain, the Divine Domain. He thought that the Higher Domain meant paradise where there was an unlimited source of immortal medicine and divine artifacts; a place without killing, without strife and struggle… without ugliness…
This current place did not feel like heaven to Jiang Yi; it felt like hell. Killing here seemed even more normal. That martial artist had merely wanted to attack the troops stationed here, and they had killed him without giving him a chance.
How hard was it for one to ascend? In the million years of the Stellarsky Domain’s existence, only two had managed to. Yet, to have painstakingly ascended to this place… to be killed in an instant. Although that martial artist had been a little overbearing, he should have been given a chance, right?
Buzz! Buzz!
While he was deep in thought, more people were ascending and reaching this place. The next twenty-or-so hours that Jiang Yi sat here cross-legged, a few dozen more people ascended as well. Almost all of them were humans, though there were some from the Special Races as well. Take one person who had recently ascended for example. He had six fingers and looked very strange.
Eh? After more than twenty hours, the blood moons here had barely moved? In that case, wouldn’t it take a few years for them to set?
Jiang Yi realized something. The two blood moons in the sky were moving. However, as the Earth Emanations Domain was too big, even after more than twenty hours, they had only moved a little. If Jiang Yi had not looked closely enough, he would not have even realized that they were moving.
In the past twenty hours or so, the dozen-odd black-armored soldiers did not even get up once. Jiang Yi could only continue to wait as he counted the hours.
One day, three days… five days!
Five Stellarsky Domain days’ worth of time had passed. Yet, another hundred-odd people had ascended and appeared from the altar. Three of them had instigated a fight with the Earth Emanations Domain soldiers, and two had been injured and another severely.
On the seventh day, that more-senior elder among the black-armored soldiers finally opened his eyes, rose up, and said, “Alright! Time is up! This round of awaiting those who had ascended ends here. An Tian, An Hun, the two of you are to remain here. The rest of you, bring all of these people back with me.”
“Yes, Lord An Ying!”
The dozen-odd black-armored soldiers stood up and received their orders. The man who used the whip produced a dragon boat from his ring. The small dragon boat shone and swiftly became bigger and bigger, finally becoming ten thousand feet long. This dragon boat was entirely sealed shut; it looked just like a real dragon. At its stomach was a huge door that opened slowly now.
The elder that had been called Lord An Ying swept a glance at Jiang Yi and everyone else. He said, “My name is An Ying. I am the commander of the Blue Eagle Prefecture in the Earth Emanations Domain. I will now escort all of you to the Blue Eagle Prefecture. All of you are to get on the Divine Boat. Using abilities or martial arts in the Divine Boat is prohibited. Anyone who dares to try anything foolish will be killed.
“Of course, you guys can choose not to enter and traverse the Earth Emanations Domain on your own. However… based on your current strengths, you all will not even be able to get out of the Earth Emanations Sea. If you are not content, you are free to leave.”
After speaking, An Ying brought his dozen-odd men and flew into the dragon boat. The Black Deity felt much better now after recuperating for a few days. Jiang Yi had also injected two wisps of heavenly powers into him to aid in his recovery. The Black Deity looked at the dragon boat and looked at the Earth Emanation soldiers entering it in a single file. His eyes flashed with hatred as he said in a low voice, “Jiang Thearch, what should we do? Why not we try to head out ourselves, to look for Lady Xiaonu?”
“Don’t call me Jiang Thearch. This is not the Stellarsky Domain. Call me Jiang Yi or Young Master.”
Jiang Yi waved his hand as he stood up resolutely and said, “Let’s go and board the Divine Boat. What we have to do now is familiarize ourselves with this Earth Emanations Domain and then plan our next step. If we cannot stay alive, we cannot do anything. Our deaths might be inconsequential; however, the billions in the Stellarsky Domain would die with us. We have to find Xiaonu, but now is not the time!”
“Yes, Young Master!”
The Black Deity rose and followed Jiang Yi towards the Divine Boat. It was suspended in mid-air, and it was a thousand feet away. With the spatial zone here being so stable, Jiang Yi found that even if he used his heavenly powers, he could not fly at all. The Black Deity was even worse; even his running speed was being affected.
“Go!”
Jiang Yi grabbed the Black Deity as he bent down and leaped up into the sky. He managed to jump that thousand-feet distance just barely. One of his hands grabbed onto the Divine Boat’s door as he pushed himself up and into the boat.
