Chapter 1339: Starting Point
There was no immense danger or difficulties. Everything was no different from when he stood on the altar.
Li Qingshan could not help but ease up slightly. The spirit turtle had already recovered its ability to warn him, but fate became even more unpredictable under the restraint of the laws of the world. It was no longer as sharp and clear as it was in the lower world.
However, he was sure he would still sense it if he faced any life-threatening danger.
After all, he was not currently facing a living opponent—even without any special methods, the complicated and highly-variable human nature naturally obscured the heavenly secrets, particularly with those that possessed a higher cultivation—but a formation without any self-awareness.
Everything that came next was much more successful than he imagined.
Li Qingshan relaxed very soon, idling around the dwelling like he was touring the place.
Two words hung from the arch over the main entrance, Dragon’s Pool, which should have corresponded to the dwelling’s name. If Si Long were still around, then the place might have been worthy of its name, but as for now, hehe, it could only be changed to Tiger’s Den.
TL: This is a pun. In Chinese, a place of great danger can be expressed as an idiom that directly translates to dragon’s pool and tiger’s den. If Si Long were still around, this place truly would be a “dragon’s pool” and an extremely dangerous place. Unfortunately, he’s not, and as Li Qingshan is a tiger, he’s making a pun off that idiom.
The entire Dragon’s Pool dwelling was located in a hollowed-out cave. Unlike the impression that the palace-like hall had left on him, its scale was not as large as he imagined. At the very least, it came nowhere close to Dragonshead mountain.
However, every inch of the space there was delicately carved and filled with a sense of elegance and magnificence. There was a main hall, side halls, a study, a tea room, side rooms, a garden, and so on…
The most valuable structure among them all was actually the garden. Not only were there many exotic herbs and orchids growing in there, but there was a spiritual spring as well. After he leaned over and took a few sips, he found that the spiritual qi was so dense that it left him feeling drunk. The strange, refreshing fragrances from the plants made the qilin restless too. The Qilin’s Conventions of Longevity circulated a little faster, about to break through to the first layer.
However, apart from the Son of Heaven’s Sword of the True Dragon, he did not find any other proper arcane treasures, which made Li Qingshan curse Si Long as a broke-ass.
However, he did find a box of bookmarks on the desk in the study. Some were carved from jade, some were crafted from silver, some were forged from bronze, and some were sculpted from wood. They were all of an elegant, antique design, giving off a strange spiritual qi, but they did not seem like arcane treasures for fending off or killing enemies. As such, he simply tossed them into his sumeru ring casually.
Oh right, ever since he entered the Human realm, even the space within the sumeru ring had shrunken, such that less than a tenth of the original space remained. Fortunately, he did not have much in there in the first place, or his sumeru ring might have been in danger of bursting.
Let alone everything else, just treating this place as his cultivation dwelling brought countless benefits. He could even try to push his cultivation to the level of the fifth heavenly tribulation step by step.
However, there was something he dared not forget. After entering the Human realm, his promise of five centuries with Qiongqi had drastically shortened as well. If he could not find a deal with it, then it would be pointless even if he underwent the fifth heavenly tribulation. He had to find a way to enter Ruin’s End.
But after wandering around for a while, he did not find the thing he wanted to find the most—the core to the entire formation. Without the core, he could not control the entire formation, and the Dragon’s Pool dwelling would not belong to him. He could not even cross through the formation and leave this place.
Once he resorted to breaking out of the formation through force, it was very likely to lead to counterattacks from the formation, or it might attract the attention of others. After all, it was very likely for the Dragon’s Pool dwelling to be located within the Myriad sect.
As a result, he scoured the place carefully again, but he still found nothing.
It was impossible for a formation to exist without a core. However, the formations of the Human realm were clearly far more ingenious than the ones from the lower world. It had hidden the formation core away.
Li Qingshan had never studied formations before. In order to get through them, he always either used force or the calculations of the spirit turtle.
But now, he could not use force, and there was nowhere for him to begin his calculations, which left him troubled. However, when he thought of what Si Long said back then, he had a flash of inspiration, realising something.
Si Long had once said he wanted to refine the World of the Nine Provinces into his dwelling. That could not be as simple as connecting the World of the Nine Provinces with the Dragon’s Pool dwelling through the Heaven Climbing Vine. He must have been trying to merge the two together somehow, making the World of the Nine Provinces become a part of the Dragon’s Pool dwelling.
As a result, Li Qingshan returned to where he had first arrived and studied the tall altar carefully. It was grey, like it had been carved from regular rock, yet it was strangely hard and smooth upon contact. It seemed like some kind of jade.
Originally, he thought the altar only served as an anchor for the Heaven Climbing Vine, but it did not seem to be so simple anymore. Then he looked at the column that spanned the entire hall. Without the golden dragon that turned into the Son of Heaven’s Sword of the True Dragon, it seemed even more ordinary than before, but it stood in the centre of the altar, so how could it be as simple as a decoration?
The golden dragon coiled above it. Perhaps it was not just to kill any stowaways but to protect it too.
Thinking up to that point, Li Qingshan climbed up the altar again and arrived before the column. He tried extending his hand to touch it, but the spirit turtle suddenly gave off an intense warning, warning him that this might very well cost him his life.
Li Qingshan beamed with joy instead. The column must have been the core to the entire formation. If anyone tried to destroy or refine it, it would immediately lead to attacks from the entire formation, so of course, there would be life-threatening danger.
As a result, he brought his hand back and waited for the other three to arrive. If he wanted to refine the formation, he needed people watching over him.
In that short period of time, the sun fell and rose again in the World of the Five Continents. Time moved at an extremely fast pace, which gave him a sense of urgency. Time waited for no one.
Very soon, the three of them arrived. Sensing the pure spiritual qi, they all responded differently.
Xiao An shut her eyes and sensed it. She did not rely on spiritual qi to cultivate, but if she wanted to reach the higher realms of the Path of White Bone and Great Beauty, she would have to cultivate in this world.
Gu Yanying smiled widely without hiding the joy she felt at all.
Rāhu Xiaoming became rather sentimental. In such a short amount of time, he had actually gone from the small world with sparse spiritual qi to the six realms of saṃsāra again. This place could not match the Asura realm, but it was still a world of the same level after all. He could recover much faster here, and this was all thanks to Li Qingshan.
Li Qingshan waited for the three of them to adjust to the laws of the Human realm.
Xiao An planted down the Blood Sea Banner, which surged forth with a river of blood that enveloped the altar. Then she assembled the Skeleton Demon Formation inside, creating a powerful defence.
Rāhu Xiaoming stood behind Li Qingshan, ready to cover any holes left by Xiao An.
Gu Yanying spread her wings and served as the final safeguard. She was ready to take them back to the World of the Five Continents if the refinement process failed.
With everything prepared, Li Qingshan’s eyes became deep-blue, tranquil and silent like the deep sea. He pressed a hand against the column gently.
At that instant, fierce winds began to surge, kicking up turbulent waves of blood. Dark clouds gathered from all directions, filled with flashing lightning and deafening thunder.
Li Qingshan ignored it, powering the Spirit Turtle Transformation to deduce the formation as quickly as possible.
With a thrum, rain poured down from the clouds like arrows. Bolts of lightning slammed down like hammers.
The surging river of blood blocked the rain, but the lightning managed to tear open a series of openings, allowing the rain to whistle in.
Suddenly, Rāhu Xiaoming let out a furious bellow and began to move. He turned into a blurry figure, circling around the column. Every single part of his body, his fists, his feet, his elbows, his knees, and his head became a weapon, dispersing the rain and shattering the lightning.
However, in just a split second, the Blood Sea Banner became riddled with holes and over a dozen Skull Prayer Beads had shattered. The entire Skeleton Demon Formation dropped by an entire level in strength.
Blood oozed out from the corner of Rāhu Xiaoming’s lips. He called out, “We can’t last for much longer! Get ready, Yanying!”
Even when they possessed extraordinary bloodlines and legacies, they stood absolutely no chance against the protective formation of a Human Sovereign’s dwelling. At most, they could only buy some time for Li Qingshan. If he could not refine the formation in that time, then all they could do was retreat.
“Yes!” Gu Yanying abruptly noticed that some indents had appeared on the altar when the rain landed on it. “If we retreat this time, the altar will probably be destroyed!”
Rāhu Xiaoming frowned. “It’s not just the altar. The formation core will be destroyed as well, and it won’t be possible to refine the formation anymore. The Heaven Climbing Vine can’t directly reach this dwelling either. This is probably the safeguard that Si Long has left behind!”
Actually, Si Long had never thought this far. It was already unimaginable enough that a third heavenly tribulation cultivator could survive an ambush from the Son of Heaven’s Sword of the True Dragon, let alone fend off this Formation of Passing Clouds and Rain. Just a single gust of wind from the formation should have been enough to obliterate them.
And once the protective formation was set off, it would not take anything else into consideration anymore. It would simply destroy the intruders regardless of the price, even destroying the formation core, giving the enemy no opportunity to refine it. This was a self-defence mechanism that the formation had been equipped with in the first place.
Xiao An said calmly, “You still have ten breaths of time left!”
Seven! The rain poured down violently, smashing through the river of blood.
Four! The lightning roared furiously, tearing apart the bones.
One! The torrential rain and the circling lightning lunged towards the four of them from all directions.
Gu Yanying grabbed Li Qingshan’s shoulder, about to retreat back to the Heaven Climbing Vine.
Li Qingshan yelled out, “Disperse!”
At that instant, the dark clouds, the torrential rain, the lightning, and the thunder all vanished. It was like it had never existed in the first place.
Gu Yanying was taken aback. A smile appeared on her face, and she gave Li Qingshan the thumbs up. He would always be so reliable.
Li Qingshan spread his arms. “Welcome to our new home. I’ve already thought of a new name for it…”
Rāhu Xiaoming interrupted him. “We can’t stay here for too long, so just forget about the new name.”
Gu Yanying also said, “Yeah, names aren’t actually that important.”
Xiao An nodded silently.
Li Qingshan said, “Hey, do you really think I don’t know what you’re thinking? You just don’t want to hear the name I came up with.”
Rāhu Xiaoming feigned surprise. “I didn’t expect you to be so self-aware! I sure have underestimated you!”
“Whatever, sucks to be you then. You don’t want to hear it? More like I don’t want to tell you!”
“Thank the heavens! We need someone to set out immediately to gather news and understand the situation in the area so that we can plan our next step.” Rāhu Xiaoming said they needed someone, but he was only looking at Li Qingshan.
Li Qingshan pointed at himself. “Me again?”
Rāhu Xiaoming nodded. “Yep, you again.”
“What’s this all about, having a professional warrior like you hiding at the back, acting like an advisor instead?”
Gu Yanying said, “Why don’t I go instead? If I encounter any trouble, I can get away faster too.”
Rāhu Xiaoming said, “It’s a little jarring when you have an asura in the Human realm, while beautiful women attract attention no matter where they go. It’s even easier to lead to problems if you hide your appearance, so…”
“Alright, I’ll go. But before I leave, I want to tell you that this dwelling will now be called Starting Point.”
Rāhu Xiaoming was taken aback. Suddenly, he said, “Sorry!” Gu Yanying also looked apologetic.
Xiao An nodded. “Good name.”
