“It increased! It has absolutely increased! I can feel the Spiritual Qi of many, many beings.” The master of the Blood Clan closed his eyes in enjoyment then abruptly opened his eyes again, excitement and glee flowing out of them. ‘Is someone trying to stabilize the fifth dimension, or maybe that someone’s laying down a plan? No matter what it is, I’ll benefit from it for soon, the entire fifth dimension will be mine!’
He smiled and said to his underling, “Send out all the Blood Clan members to look for the source of the increase of Spiritual Qi.”
He was born as an ordinary blood bat. He had survived all the catastrophes in the fifth dimension even when the Heavenly Realm fighters and Wisdom Elites were all eliminated. The catastrophe did not discriminate when it came to slaughtering. To the Eldritchs, each of them was akin to an ant.
Therefore, it was a miracle for him to survive. As a blood bat, he relied on consuming the blood of others as his cultivation. The environment created by the catastrophe meant that he could enjoy the endless essence of blood. It was during the time of chaos that he advanced through the levels, step by step. There was even this one time a Heavenly Realm fighter dropped right in front of him, ready for him to consume.
Now, he was even more unstoppable than ever. His cultivation had advanced at a lightning-fast speed. He was sure he would be able to survive another catastrophe at his current cultivation. Another reason was also that he liked to stay in dark places. He was not worried about the fact that the Eldritchs had pillaged much of the fifth dimension’s Spiritual Qi for the condition created by them was the perfect environment for him alone to thrive in.
“Oh, Eldritchs, do you think you’re the only clan capable of what you’re planning?” muttered the master of the Blood Clan to himself. His red eyes were glinting sinisterly. “I already caught a glimpse of why your clan continuously pillages the other dimensions. Two can play at your game!” His evil laughter then floated out of the pit.
There were two ways people would deal with a catastrophe—group number one would take up arms and fight off the Eldritchs and return home with glory while group number two would find a place and wait out the catastrophe. No prize for correctly guessing which group the master of the Blood Clan belonged to.
However, the master of the Blood Clan was not the only one doing so. Countless other beings took the opportunity to get what they could while laying low somewhere dark, gradually strengthening themselves. That was how the Zombie World in the Chaos came to operate, too.
The third dimension was a place of mist, fog, and haze. There were ruins as far as the eye could see, and apart from a meteorite floating through the void, there were no other planets. This dimension had been completely destroyed by the Eldritchs. A black hole would even appear out of nowhere from time to time. It was as if this dimension had returned to its original form at the beginning of time.
The state of the dimension belied the fact that this dimension contained the most skilled fighters. Thousands of figures were traversing across the void with most of them being cultivators of the Heavenly Realm. There were many Wisdom Elites from the Eldritch clan, human race, demon race, and cyclops race, too! It seemed the sole purpose of this dimension was a place of exile for the Wisdom Elites.
“What’s that aura? Is it Spiritual Qi? Or the spirits of those fallen in battle?”
“Where did it come from? Ah, how I wish I could get out of this godforsaken world.”
“Finally, some new aura! This dimension might be salvageable after all. I think I’m about to go crazy.”
“I regret coming here. After countless years, there’s still no sign of the Origins of Life in this dimension!”
They all put in their two cents worth.
The ex-resentful spirits previously contained in Guhe’s Extermination Demon Sword was just too much after spanning across so many catastrophes. It had killed indiscriminately, not caring whether it was a life of mortals or warriors. Now that the spirits were sent back to their dimensions, it more or less made up for the losses caused by the catastrophe. Their return had certainly caught the attention of the other beings in the dimension.
The black gas continued to cause quite a stir in the Chaos. After following the black gas around, they discovered that the black gas not only crossed the Chaos Ocean to get to other places, but the portals to other dimensions had also appeared. One of the portals led them to a place where there were so many stars in the sky, it was more like an ocean of stars. However, each star seemed to be dead, floating in the Chaos without an energy ripple at all.
However, in the middle of the galaxy were seven stars arranged in a line, and their auras were covered by mana, creating a barrier that isolated the area from the outside world. They would have never discovered this place if it was not for the black gas. Everyone gathered at the star in the middle and stared at the black hole with a grim face.
“Someone used their mana to arrange the stars in this formation to seal up the hole in the middle,” said Cultivator Junjun with surprise.
Goddess Nuwa nodded. “This hole must be the entrance to the other dimension, though it’s hard to tell which one. However, I really want to know what happened in the past here.” She scanned her surroundings with furrowed brows. All around the hole were corpses imbued with the scent of death. Not only that, the seven stars’ surfaces were blanketed with bones, too. There were at least a million beings who had died there.
“Isn’t it obvious that this was some kind of ritual?” said Xing Ya. “They need to sacrifice a million beings to open the portal to another dimension.”
Everyone was filled with shock.
“That means someone tried to open a portal to another dimension here.”
“A million beings. Who could’ve done such a thing and when? Why did that person want to go to another dimension?”
“I wonder if the beings in the other dimension discovered the portal on their side, too. If they did, would they have caused another catastrophe here?”
A million beings sacrificed proved that some Wisdom Elites could be cruel, viewing all beings as numbers or tools.
“Yang Jing, bring some Heavenly Soldiers here to guard the portal,” said the Jade Emperor.
“Yes, sir!” said Yang Jing.
“Daylight’s breaking. We should head back now,” said Daji.
Fire Phoenix nodded and said, “Yes, let’s go, Sister Daji. The Master will worry about us if he can’t find us after waking up.”
They quickly left the area and headed back to the four-part architecture with the Extermination Demon Sword in hand. When they reached home, they saw a white fluffy figure waiting for them. Little Fox’s eyes shone brightly and she quickly ran over to them when she saw Daji.
“Sister Daji, Sister Daji!” she cried happily.
Daji embraced her, stroked her fur, and asked, “What are you doing here?”
Little Fox batted her eyelids and in a worried tone, she said, “Sister Daji, I heard that a very powerful bad man traveled to our dimension to kill us all and that you were injured in the fight. Are you okay? I was so worried about you.”
“There’s no need to worry about me. Nothing bad will ever happen to me, okay? The bad man’s gone now,” said Daji with a smile. However, she suddenly felt a lurch in her heart as her mana trembled in her body. Blood began to trickle out of the corner of her lips.
Little Fox had just heaved a sigh of relief and was about to behave in a coquettish manner when the sight of Daji spewing blood stopped her from doing so. She went into a state of shock and her fur was standing on end. Tears trailed down her face as she said, “Sister Daji, how can you say you’re okay when there’s blood coming out of your mouth? What should I do? What should I do?”
“It’s only a minor injury. It’ll heal soon enough. I should really count myself lucky that I’m still alive,” said Daji with a pained smile on her face. Then, as if she could not control herself anymore, she puked out more blood.
“Ah! Sister Daji, you’re puking blood!” Little Fox’s panic shot through the roof. She did not know what to do and started to sob loudly.
Daji smiled and stroked her fur. “There, there. I’m okay. Don’t worry. I’ll protect you no matter what,” she said in a gentle tone.
“I want to protect you, too, Sister Daji, but I’m too weak!” said the Little Fox while sobbing. Her two ears drooped down as she held onto Daji tightly, afraid that Daji would leave her alone. As someone who worshipped her sister, Little Fox wished she could avenge Daji, especially after seeing her like this, but alas she was too weak.
“Sister Daji, I’ve decided to go through the Cross Tribulation so that I can transform!” said Little Fox.
“Are you sure you want to transform? I mean… I won’t force you to transform if you’re not ready for it,” said Daji.
“Yes, I’m sure. I’ll transform so I won’t be a burden to you anymore,” said Little Fox in a determined tone.
Qin Manyun and the others were looking at Little Fox with pity in their eyes. They thought that Little Fox was very naive to have fallen for Daji’s trick. Not to mention, they never expected Daji to have such a mischievous side to her.
Daji smiled secretly and said, “I won’t stop you then, since you’re so determined. I’m sure you’ll transform in no time if you stay by the Master’s side.”
“Yes, I can attest to that, Little Fox. I went through my Cross Tribulation here. With Brother Li by your side, the natural tribulation won’t be too harsh on you. In fact, dare I say it was a very comfortable experience,” said Nanan with a smile.
They entered the four-part architecture while continuing the conversation. At that time, the sky was beginning to lighten when Li Nianfan walked out of his room. He was startled when he saw Daji and the rest of the group gathered in the yard. “You’re all very early. I guess that makes me the latest, then.”
Nanan pointed to Little Fox who was being carried by Daji and said, “Brother Li, look who came for a visit.”
“Hey, Little Fox,” said Li Nianfan, his eyes shining brightly with happiness. It had been a long time since he saw this sister-in-law of his. “Come and give me a hug.” He walked over to her, picked her up from Daji, and kept stroking her. ‘This is so nice’ he thought. The feeling was just as he remembered.
“Huh? Did you slim down? The food over there mustn’t have been as good as the food here,” said Li Nianfan.
Little Fox started to drool and in a voice filled with anticipation said, “Yes! I missed you so much that I couldn’t eat nor sleep.”
“As if I’d believe you. You would’ve come to visit me sooner if that was really the case,” said Li Nianfan with a laugh. “There are many new dishes since the last time you’ve been here. We have dragonfruit, Dragon Blood Wine, sunflower seeds, and the walnuts should be ripe now. You can eat to your heart’s content!”
Little Fox kept nodding at him as he listed out the food, which was all she could think about right now.
“Let’s do some morning exercise together before having our breakfast,” said Li Nianfan. It had become a habit of theirs to do the morning exercise with him every day. “The rest of you join in, too. The morning exercise is especially good for cultivating your sentiments. Xiao Bai, music, please!”
After finishing a set of tai chi moves, Li Nianfan instructed Xiao Bai to prepare a rich breakfast spread for them while he went to the backyard to pick some fruits for Little Fox. Due to Little Fox’s visit, their breakfast was richer than normal. There was honey milk cake, soy milk, fruit platters, and many other snacks. Little Fox dug in happily and had her cravings satisfied.
After breakfast, she laid down on the table and gently rubbed her bulging tummy with her eyes closed. As for Li Nianfan, he was eating the recently ripened walnut. He peeled the walnut shell and said, “Walnut’s really good for the body but they’re so hard to peel. Wouldn’t it be great if there’s some kind of specialized tool for peeling walnuts?”
“I can go look for a tool if you want, Master,” said Daji.
“That’ll be great! Look for something that can easily crack open the walnut,” said Li Nianfan.
Daji and the others nodded their heads and reminded themselves to look for a tool like that as soon as possible. Being the ultimate existence in all of the dimensions meant that one was always following the trajectory set up by Wisdom and that one could even decide the fate of all others. Therefore, Daji and the others concluded that Li Nianfan must be looking for a very unique tool to use on the walnut. Moreover, their search for the tool was made more difficult by the fact that the walnut had come from a Spiritual Root, meaning to say that only a handful of items would be worthy enough to be used on the walnut. They would need to alert the people of the Heavenly Palace of this special mission since Li Nianfan had personally requested for the tool.
“Master, my sister wants to go through the Cross Tribulation and transform,” said Daji.
“Cross Tribulation and transform?” repeated Li Nianfan with surprise.
Suddenly, Little Fox jumped up, all the colors drained from her face. Her eyes were filled with anxiety, making her seem pitiful and weak. She had totally forgotten about her previous determination to go through the Cross Tribulation. For a demon to transform, they would need to go through the Cross Tribulation which had the added benefit of increasing their cultivation. The power of the natural tribulation correlated with the demon’s cultivation level and Little Fox, being a Chaos Daluo Golden Immortal, would need to face a natural tribulation that was more powerful than the average.
Li Nianfan picked up Little Fox. “Why do you suddenly want to transform?” he asked with curiosity. He was stroking her non-stop as he spoke to her for he would not be able to do this again once Little Fox had transformed. He had to enjoy it while he could before she transformed into a human.
