Chapter 763: Arrogant Soul Form

Xing Jia didn't hide it: "There is indeed a supreme treasure here, and its rank may be even stronger than I estimated."

I can only sense that this treasure isn't within the boundaries you've sealed off—the Blue Star Academy. I'll give you a directional disc; go find it. If you can find it, it means you're worthy to claim it.

If you can't find it, there's no need to keep searching. Such top-tier treasures recognize their masters—if they deem you unsuitable, they'll vanish, and even I won't be able to sense them.

As Xing Jia spoke, he pulled out a directional disc and handed it to Ding Huan.

Ding Huan understood the implication: if the treasure rejected him, no amount of searching would matter.

Ding Huan took the disc and casually scanned it with his divine sense: "Old Jia, impressive. Even the directional disc you casually pull out is beyond an ultimate-grade divine artifact."

You still tell me your world only opened its outermost layer?"

Xing Jia sighed: "Whether you believe me or not, these directional discs are the worst junk I own—I left them in the outermost world."

"Fine, let you show off," Ding Huan said helplessly. This old bastard always showed off without even trying.

Leaving Xing Jia's cave, Ding Huan immediately pulled out the directional disc.

Xing Jia had marked the direction on the disc.

All he needed to do was follow that direction.

According to Xing Jia, if the treasure took a liking to him, it would appear on its own. If it didn't, it would stay hidden.

Ding Huan believed part of what Xing Jia said.

People choose treasures, and treasures choose people.

But he would never, as Xing Jia suggested, blindly wander around hoping the treasure would magically appear.

How arrogant would one have to be to walk past a treasure and expect it to leap forward and pledge itself to him?

So all he needed was a general direction—now that Xing Jia had given it to him, that was enough.

Since Xing Jia said the treasure wasn't within his sealed boundaries, Ding Huan simply followed the direction given and left the Blue Star Academy's territory.

Outside the Blue Star Academy lay a desolate thorn jungle.

Ding Huan had originally planned to turn this area into a protective river once the sect stabilized.

Because it was entirely barren thorn jungle, he'd never bothered to include it in the Blue Star Academy's domain.

If the Eternal Life Talisman truly hid here, it would indeed be impossible to guess.

Ding Huan wasn't in a hurry—he planned to spend several years searching for the Eternal Life Talisman.

So after confirming the direction, he centered himself and constructed a hundred-li-radius Great Zhou Tian.

It wasn't that he couldn't expand the range further—he feared he'd miss subtle spatial laws if the area grew too large.

Within a hundred-li radius, he could detect any minute change in spatial laws within his Zhou Tian.

Ding Huan reasoned that even if the Eternal Life Talisman hid within the void, the surrounding cosmic laws would shift in response to its presence.

…

The founding ceremony of the Blue Star Academy ended, but its reputation across the Dunyi Divine Realm grew even greater.

Rumors spread that the Blue Star Academy had a Seventh-Transformation Saint.

This wasn't false gossip—nearly everyone who attended the founding ceremony firmly believed a Seventh-Transformation Saint resided within the Blue Star Academy.

Worse, they said this Saint was now pushing toward Eighth-Transformation.

In other words, soon the Blue Star Academy might have an Eighth-Transformation Saint.

The most terrified and uneasy was surely the Great True Divine Dao.

Because the Blue Star Academy's Shao Sect, Ding Huan, had specifically asked whether the Great True Divine Dao had sent representatives to congratulate them.

Upon hearing no one had been sent, the Shao Sect's face darkened—clearly, he was deeply displeased.

This left the Great True Divine Dao confused and unnerved, unsure of the Blue Star Academy's intentions.

Originally, this was the time for the Great True Divine Dao and the Nirvana Saint Dao Palace to join forces and destroy Jia Baihe Sword Dao. Now, the Nirvana Saint Dao Palace was ambiguous, leaving the Great True Divine Dao anxious.

As a result, Jia Baihe Sword Dao had calmed down.

Though Jia Baihe Sword Dao had stabilized, Fang Wuqiong wasn't at peace.

He received news from Chang Chang Tingxi: Elder Yi Shang had gone alone to congratulate the Blue Star Academy—and left immediately after Ding Zongzhu departed.

Fang Wuqiong saw this message several days later.

He himself was severely injured and still recovering.

Even without seeing Chang Chang Tingxi's message in time, Fang Wuqiong immediately recalled Elder Yi Shang.

But no matter how many thoughts he sent, Elder Yi Shang gave no response whatsoever.

Fang Wuqiong was nearly certain: Elder Yi Shang had joined the Blue Star Academy.

Only a Seventh-Transformation Saint of the Blue Star Academy could remove the soul imprint from Elder Yi Shang.

The thought that the Blue Star Academy's Seventh-Transformation Saint might come to Jia Baihe Sword Dao seeking trouble made Fang Wuqiong utterly unable to rest.

No matter how Fang Wuqiong and the Great True Divine Dao thought,

countless cultivators across the entire Dunyi world surged toward the Blue Star Academy.

Because they wanted to join the Blue Star Academy.

In addition, numerous sects arrived to present gifts, trying to make up for not attending the founding ceremony.

How many sects were there in the Dunyi Divine Realm? Tens of millions. Yet the total number that attended the founding ceremony barely reached a hundred.

Less than one in ten thousand.

And since the Blue Star Academy's teleportation arrays weren't yet complete, the journey to the academy became crowded and bustling.

Zhuo Hong had barely seen off the sect representatives when the flood of visitors began.

Fortunately, she stood behind the Blue Star Academy, which had a Seventh-Transformation Saint—she faced no obstacles, and no one dared cause trouble in Blue Star Divine City.

As crowds poured into Blue Star Divine City, shops, inns, and merchant stalls sprang up everywhere.

Blue Star Divine City filled out visibly, almost in real time.

……

This was already the seventh month Ding Huan had been searching; he stopped.

He sensed that the spatial laws of this area were strange.

If he hadn't used the Great Universe Art Zhou Tian, he would never have noticed the strangeness.

The spatial laws here appeared identical to those elsewhere, yet Ding Huan felt an extra layer had been added.

There was only one explanation: the spatial laws his Great Universe Art Zhou Tian perceived were merely the outer layer.

Within this outer layer of spatial law, there must be another space constructed from the same laws.

This situation was 100% impossible to form naturally—it was deliberately engineered by someone.

That meant someone was hiding here, and this person was extremely familiar with the cosmic rules of Dunyi Divine Realm; the space he concealed himself in was built entirely from Dunyi Divine Realm's own spatial laws.

Under these circumstances, even if he used divine sense to scan, or even if his spiritual eye reached the Holy Eye level, it would still be hard to detect.

Ding Huan immediately set up Void Array Patterns.

Containment and Annihilation Array Pattern, Crushing Array Pattern, Soul-Sealing Array Pattern, Divine-Sealing Array Pattern…

Everything Ding Huan could think of, he set up.

After completing all the array patterns, Ding Huan drew his Broken Tribulation Blade and slashed down with one strike.

Whoever could arrange such a space here without leaving a trace was no ordinary being.

But neither was he an overwhelmingly strong one—if the opponent were truly powerful, there would be no need to hide so thoroughly.

"Crack!" Though the law-space had been arranged flawlessly, it offered no resistance; Ding Huan shattered the spatial array pattern with a single slash.

A black streak shot toward Ding Huan's third eye at a speed that ignored space itself.

Ding Huan's figure split apart under the black streak—but at that moment, he stood in another position, coldly staring at the being before him.

His domain had sealed off all escape routes for this being.

He called it a "being" because Ding Huan had never seen a spirit so solidified.

This fellow's cultivation level was still at the early stage of the Soul-Union Realm.

Though a spirit-body, it had nearly the solidity of flesh, with emotions visible even on its face and in its eyes.

Ding Huan suddenly thought of another method to condense a physical body.

Not relying on heavenly treasures or possession, but using the cosmic laws of an entire realm to condense a body.

This was the highest-grade method of physical condensation; once formed, such a body was nearly a perfect Dao Body.

"A mere Soul-Union Realm insect dares disturb my seclusion and cultivation…" The spirit-body stared at Ding Huan with disdain.

Ding Huan replied coldly: "I'm at least a mid-stage Soul-Union Realm insect, while you're a Soul-Union early-stage gas—you don't even qualify as an insect. If that's the case, then take another slash from me."

Ding Huan's Broken Tribulation Blade whirled again, transforming into a sky-filling storm of blade energy as it came crashing down.

The spirit-body snorted, weaving countless intricate hand seals, then summoned wave after wave of illusory escape talismans.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Dao rhythms exploded.

Though the escape talismans were illusory, when Ding Huan's Broken Tribulation Blade struck them, they erupted with bursts of cracking Dao rhythms.

Space trembled continuously.

Ding Huan was almost amused by this fool.

They were both Soul-Union Realm cultivators—he was at the fourth layer, while this fellow was only at the first layer, and without a physical body.

This Soul-Union first-layer spirit-body clearly looked down on his cultivation, and in the opponent's eyes, Ding Huan, the Soul-Union fourth-layer, was the insect.

So today, he'd see just how impressive this fellow really was.

The spirit-body's eyes flickered with disbelief—he had intended to block Ding Huan's blade, then reach out with his hand seal and crush Ding Huan's neck.

In reality, Ding Huan's Broken Tribulation Blade effortlessly tore through his Dao-rhythm shield, and then…

"Crack!"

Though the spirit-body had no physical form, when Ding Huan's blade struck him, a crisp cracking sound rang out.

The spirit-body was split cleanly in two by Ding Huan's slash.

But the next instant, the two halves merged back into one.

Yet the once-solid spirit-body had rapidly weakened, its cultivation plummeting from early Soul-Union Realm to half-step Soul-Union Realm.

"You were so mighty, weren't you? How come you couldn't block my one slash, you insect?"

Ding Huan's Broken Tribulation Blade's blade energy sealed off every possible escape route for the spirit-body, even as he mocked it.

"How is this possible?"

The spirit-body muttered in shock, still stunned—this was Dunyi Divine Realm, his own territory; why was the opponent completely unaffected by his Great Dao domain?

(Friend, good night!)