When the new party saw Long Kui and Gui, they respectfully greeted the two in a way that was respectful towards a powerhouse.
“Stop,” Long Kui ordered.
The group all froze, and the thick man at the front looked at Long Kui in a suspicious manner before saluting the Envoy again. “What is Senior’s order?”
Long Kui stared at the man. “Stay here.”
The man was stunned. “Has this junior done anything wrong?”
Long Kui indifferently replied, “If I want you to say, then you stay. The rest can do as they wish.”
The man’s face grew ugly. “Senior, my expedition team accepted a task and we need to travel to the third region in order to complete it. Without this junior, they won’t be able to succeed.”
“That has nothing to do with me. Quit the nonsense,” Long Kui said.
The man felt helpless. He was only an Enlighter that was approaching the threshold of becoming an Envoy, but there was still a vast power gap between him and a true Envoy, especially one like Long Kui. Long Kui could instantly destroy the man.
“Can this junior ask after Senior’s identity in order to give an explanation to our employer?” the man reluctantly asked.
Long Kui closed his eyes. “White Dragon Clan.”
The man was shocked, and the group behind him actually began to tremble and their eyes filled with fear.
“So Senior is from one of the four ruling powers. I apologize for this junior’s ineptitude, as I did not recognize Senior’s identity. Since Senior had given an order, this junior does not dare disobey.” He then turned to speak to the group behind him. “I must stay here, so go into the third region to search. If you are not able to find it, I will explain the situation to our employer.”
The group discussed the matter and eventually decided to continue on into the third region. It was not easy to get to the Lower Realm, and not everyone was able to make the journey. It was not easy to travel on the Rainbow Bridge. Also, there was a generous reward for the task they had been given, so they were not willing to simply give up. It did not take long for the group to start making their way into the third region.
Long Kui did not stop the group. The only reason he had stopped the one man was because he was almost at the level of an Envoy, which would certainly make things difficult for Long Xi, or even threaten her.
Long Kui was not afraid that Long Xi would be attacked, but that Lu Yin would be attacked and would be killed. It would be very difficult for them to find a replacement for Lu Yin.
The Celestial Frost Sect is not a righteous power, and this was something that Long Kui could do. He had stayed in this place in order to stop people. It did not actually matter if they were intending to attack Lu Yin or not, Long Kui intended to stop the threats.
However, there was more than one way to enter the third region, and Long Kui was only able to stop the stronger people who tried to enter from this direction. There was nothing he could do about the other entrances.
From ancient times to the present, the White Dragon Clan had built itself up to become one of the four ruling powers. They had not reached this level through protecting their members, but instead by allowing all of their people to experience life-and-death crises. If Lu Yin actually did die, there was simply nothing that Long Kui could do about it.
There were countless bones from the dead buried across the Lower Realm. It was possible for anyone to die in this place without knowing how or why. It was one of the cruelest places in the Perennial World.
At the same time, up in the Middle Realm, there was a city that was kept aloft by an unknown force. It floated high in the sky, swaying slowly. There was a chain made out of strange looking links that surrounded the city. This place was a flying prison named the Nest. It was a place that imprisoned only the worst criminals.
The Nest was a place that was threatened with death at all times. Some unknown force kept the entire place from plummeting to the ground, but it did not stop attacks from living beings. Thus, from time to time, huge creatures would rush into the prison and eat some prisoners. It was both a prison and a buffet for many creatures.
This was the cruelest prison.
No one kept a register of prisoners in this place, because people died every day, and every day, more people would be brought in.
At this moment, the void twisted in a certain corner of the Nest before tearing open. If anyone saw this, they would be terrified, as the only beings who could tear through the void in the Middle Realm were Envoys or stronger powerhouses. In order for someone to be able to tear the void without being discovered by others, they would need to be much stronger than an Envoy. It was not that there were no powerhouses in the Nest, but that all use of force was prohibited in this place.
A figure fell from the void and landed on the floor. Due to the wind from the storm that struck this place all year round, the earth had become desiccated long ago. The figure supported themselves with one hand on the ground and stood up. Where was this place?
At this time, a man approached, trembling from terror. The figure looked over at the man, and the man looked back at the figure. The man’s pupils instantly shrank and he pointed behind the figure.
The figure turned his head to see a huge bird-shaped beast shooting towards them with its talons open to grab at the two people.
There were three streams of qi that swirled about the figure, and they shot out in a violent manner and forced the bird-shaped monster back.
The bird-shaped monster only had a strength roughly equal to an Enlighter with a power level of 300,000, which was not enough to present any sort of threat to the figure, so the beast had no choice but to retreat. A short distance away, the man let out a sigh of relief as he stared at the figure, and took particular notice of the three streams of qi swirling about the figure and giving them an otherworldly look.
This figure was Shang Qing.
As he tried to remember everything that Arch-Elder Zen had said, Shang Qing stared off into the distance. Was this the legendary place that lay beyond the Upper Three Gates? The place where Origin Matter was found? Origin Matter was crucial to having a chance at becoming a Progenitor, and the only way to obtain it was to join one of the Junior Progenitor’s teams after the Yuanlun Festival and follow them to a place known as the Dominion Realm. That place was supposed to have countless vestiges that had been laid waste.
This was the reward that was given to the top finalists of ZENITH. This was the opportunity that they had fought for. In this place, Shang Qing was a trespasser and the enemy of everyone. If he was discovered, he would instantly become a target.
Throughout the history of the Fifth Mainland, many peerless talents had been sneaked into this place, but very few had successfully returned.
Was he close to a Junior Progenitor? Shang Qing began thinking about how to proceed.
An unknown distance away, there was a dazzlingly beautiful field of wheat. If looked at from high above, a person would be able to see that there were various patterns in the field, and it looked like a child’s painting. Qiu Shi fell into this field, but caught herself at the last moment. She looked up and saw the vague impression of the Higher Realm high overhead. She also saw the stars above the sky. This was the place beyond the Upper Three Gates. She needed to find a certain Junior Progenitor.
There was the Zhongping Sea in the Middle Realm, and there was a strange underwater city beneath the Middle Sea. Xia Luo fell into this underwater city.
Each of ZENITH’s top ten fell into the Middle Realm. This was the only place they could be sent, as the Lower Realm was too dangerous, and it would be too easy for them to be discovered if they were sent to the Higher Realm.
Liu Tianmu stood quietly within some ruins. Her head was down and she was looking at the broken ground. She was looking at damage that had been made with a sword. She squatted down and touched her fingers to the sword mark. Her fingertips trembled the slightest bit from excitement as she sensed the terrifying sword intent. It was possible that the sword behind this mark actually surpassed the Thirteen Swords.
Far up above, a long ways away, there was a massive stone tablet.
Yuhua Mavis appeared in a river. It was not a normal river, but a strange river that was in the shape of a ring. It circled around stars and seemed to actually connect with a specific star. This was the river where Yuhua Mavis appeared, and it was filled with nations, ships, and cities.
Yao Xuan appeared on the Rainbow Bridge itself and looked down at the yellow light beneath his feet. He was a bit confused. What the hell was this? Color? He was not standing on the ground, nor out in space. He was standing on yellow, and yet he saw an unimpressive city nearby.
While the Middle Realm had various powerful families, there were not very many Envoys in the Realm. Some of the powerful families were subordinate to the four ruling clans, while others had attached themselves to the Nong or Liu families, and a few remained independent.
The Bei family was one such family. They did not rely on anyone. They were a huge family that occupied a vast region and were able to survive on their own because of their Envoy.
Similar to the cultures that existed on White Mountain, the Bei family also had ponds. There was a civilization in each pond. Some of these civilizations had developed a system of cultivation, and occasionally some people would arise from those ponds after achieving a certain level of strength, and they would discover that they were just ants living in a pond of the Bei family.1
In some ponds, scientific and technological civilizations would develop, and some of the technological cultures would develop so quickly that they designed spacecraft and would break out of their pond.
Wu Taibai appeared within one such pond where the civilization had been built around science and technology.
Zhi Yi appeared on a magical island. This island was not one of earth or stone, but of food. Despite the time that Zhi Yi had spent cultivating and the countless bizarre sights she had seen throughout the universe, she had never thought that she would one day appear on an island made of food.
Liquor Hero arrived on a barren land. She did not appear in the Middle Realm, because she was able to look up and see the Middle Realm. She had arrived on a planet in the space between the Lower Realm and the Middle Realm. This planet was empty because the civilization had been destroyed by war.
The last person to be given a position among ZENITH’s top ten was Unseen Light. The Hall of Honor had initially wanted to give the final slot to Starsibyl, but she had refused the opportunity, and so they had needed to find a replacement for her as well.
Unseen Light arrived in a dark part of the Middle Realm that was completely uninhabited. He fully unleashed his domain, but was not able to find a single person. He had appeared in the middle of a no-man’s land.
At this same time, Lu Yin had no idea that ZENITH’s top ten had arrived in the same universe as him. He had arrived one step ahead of the others, but he was feeling terribly depressed and offended at this moment.
“Stay away and don’t get out of that circle!” He heard Long Xi’s voice from a distance. She was currently fighting a frog-like beast that had eight legs, but Lu Yin had been ordered to stay within a small ring.
The ring was a power vessel that isolated the void to protect Lu Yin.
In the Perennial World, only Envoys or stronger powerhouses were capable of isolating space. This power vessel had been given to Long Xi to protect her, but instead it protected Lu Yin while Long Xi fought off monsters on her own.
The beast that looked like an eight-legged frog was not easy for her to deal with. Its body was colorful, and a glance was enough to tell that it was very poisonous. Also, it released strange screams that affected even Lu Yin, and his spiritual force was strong enough that he had been able to fight against Yao Xuan. These screams also disturbed Long Xi. She raised a hand and tried to use White Dragon Surveying the Sky to trap the creature, but its venom was so potent that it was able to overwhelm the battle technique and it struck Long Xi.
She moved about and avoided the monster’s attack, but the beast did not try to attack her again. Instead, it stared at Lu Yin and opened its mouth before spitting out colorful venom.
Lu Yin felt a chill run down his back, and he was tempted to put on his universal armor.
“Don’t get out of the ring!” Long Xi was terrified that Lu Yin would be scared of the attack and would try to escape, so she again reminded him to stay put.
Lu Yin did not move, and the venom slammed into the ring. The void warped, but nothing touched Lu Yin.
He heaved a sigh of relief. Luckily, this creature’s most powerful attacks did not exceed a power level of 400,000, and that was not enough to break through the ring.
However, the beast was quite strange. It took a long time for Long Xi to kill it. The beast was soft, but also tough. Not even Long Xi’s spear was able to stab into the creature, but finally she was able to stab it inside the mouth and kill it.
She was breathing heavily as she put away her spear, and the ring automatically returned to her cosmic ring.
Lu Yin approached and offered her a bottle of water.
Long Xi indifferently said, “No.”
[1] This is not particularly clear, so OMA provided a bit of an explanation. Many Chinese authors treat a “pond” as a representation of the known world/universe. In this case it’s literal. The Bei family is essentially rearing isolated civilizations in a sort of laboratory setting. ☜
