Chapter 194: The Starry Sky of the Cultivation World is Fake!

Su Ping returned to Jiuye Mountain Market.

As soon as he returned, he immediately replaced the mid-grade Spirit Stones in the Array core with High-grade Spirit Stones.

Afterward, Su Ping stood at the center of the Array; with a thought, he fully activated the entire Jiuye Mountain Array.

In the blink of an eye, a massive amount of clouds and mist emerged from thin air, enveloping the area for several dozen miles around Jiuye Mountain.

Looking from afar, it seemed as if a large mass of clouds and mist covered this region, obscuring the view both inside and out.

This turn of events actually caused the wealthy families within Jiuye Mountain Market to breathe a sigh of relief one after another.

They had previously heard the scolding voice of the Demon Heart Sect Old Ancestor coming from the sky and were currently gripped by anxiety.

Now, seeing the changes in the sky and the surroundings, they immediately knew that this was the Market Master, Baihe Zhenren, activating the Jiuye Mountain Array.

These people all clapped and cheered, and hurriedly spread the word to those around them to soothe the public's hearts.

The stewards also calmed down and began to command the patrol teams, composed mainly of Loose Cultivators, to pilot their Dharma Artifacts into the air above the various districts and begin strictly checking for those trying to fish in troubled waters.

"What were you all panicking about just now! Even if it's chaotic, that's the Artifact Heart Sect's business; it's far away from our Jiuye Mountain!"

"Old San also sent word that Baihe Zhenren has shown his face; there wasn't a hint of panic, and all his trusted aides are waiting at the mountaintop!"

"In my opinion, as long as our Baihe Zhenren is still in Jiuye Mountain Market, this place of ours won't fall into chaos!"

At secret meetings within some of the influential families that had sought refuge there, the heads of each family also came forward to unify their stance and warned those less stable members of their clans not to have any wild ideas.

The momentum of the battle in the outside world grew increasingly intense.

From time to time, a shockwave would tear through the sky, leaving the ten-thousand-mile clear sky filled with swirling Demonic Qi that emitted an unsettling aura.

Fortunately, Su Ping had activated the Array in advance; those shrouded by the clouds and mist were effectively isolated from the outside world and were no longer disturbed by these auras.

It was only that the tremors of the earth could not be completely mitigated, causing Jiuye Mountain to experience anomalies such as slight ground shaking in accordance with the intensity of the battle.

"This is the power of a Golden Core... no, I'm afraid it's the power of a Nascent Soul Old Ancestor!"

Su Ping resisted the temptation to peek at the battle.

At this very moment, he was unwilling to do anything.

He only hoped to minimize the presence of his Jiuye Mountain Market as much as possible.

At the same time, he gripped a Teleportation Talisman tightly in his hand.

As soon as something went wrong, he would leave this place for Xuangui Island, and from there, enter the Pot Heaven or flee directly to Water Blue Star to take refuge.

Boom!

Su Ping saw that another loud noise had come from the direction of Yunshan Market.

The sky over there suddenly became covered with dark clouds.

Then, it turned completely dark, becoming pitch black.

But before one could blink, this pitch-black darkness was occupied by white light in many places.

Looking from afar, one would find that the region seemed to have turned into a world of black and white.

Following that, this strange sight froze in place.

When a night had passed.

As the sky began to brighten.

Su Ping discovered that the sky in the distance had returned to normal.

It was just that... that region had also turned into a lifeless land of death.

Su Ping waited for a period of time and saw an Immortal Boat fly past that region.

He knew the great battle must have ended.

Only then did he deactivate the Jiuye Mountain Array.

Another day passed, and an Immortal Boat flew to Jiuye Mountain Market.

It was Xiao Mu Zhenren who had come to visit Su Ping, and he brought the Bloodline Slate.

After offering an apology, this Xiao Mu Zhenren made a request: he actually hoped to conduct a bloodline test on all mortals in Jiuye Mountain Market to search for a Space Spirit Body.

Su Ping was slightly stunned; in his mind, the proud face and blood-red eyes of Valkyrie Kong naturally appeared at the first moment.

Afterward, Su Ping hesitated on the surface, then nodded and agreed.

Immediately, Su Ping began to chat with Xiao Mu Zhenren.

Xiao Mu Zhenren instructed his subordinates to handle the matter.

He then told Su Ping, whom he viewed as a future Guest Minister of the Artifact Heart Sect, what could be said.

It was much as Su Ping had guessed at the beginning.

The Artifact Heart Sect's Immortal Boat had encountered an ambush by the Demon Heart Sect.

This caused the Cultivators of Yunshan Market to rush to the rescue, and then they encountered Demonic Path Cultivators who were attempting to surround the point to strike the reinforcements.

It was just that the opponent's plan was also within the Artifact Heart Sect's predictions.

The result was that the Demonic Path powerhouses, led by the Demon Heart Sect, faced off against the righteous path powerhouses, led by the Artifact Heart Sect.

The combat strength of the Artifact Heart Sect's Cultivators was slightly weaker.

But they could not be stopped because they had strong reinforcements.

Besides the Sky Sword Sect, which was also a major sect, having sent an Elder.

There was also a High Monk from the Great Golden Light Temple.

Added to that were the Artifact Heart Sect's own Sect Master, Vice Sect Master, and Great Elder.

The Demonic Path's plan this time failed to gain any advantage, and then, for certain reasons, both sides fought a great battle.

In the words of Xiao Mu Zhenren, it was naturally their Artifact Heart Sect's top brass who displayed great divine power, using the might of a Spirit Treasure to severely injure the Demonic Path powerhouses, winning a great victory in this battle!

As for this operation, it was because after the great battle, their Artifact Heart Sect had used a Spirit Treasure to perform a divination and discovered that a Space Spirit Body might have been born in this region.

Space Spirit Bodies are rare and precious; as long as one possesses such a Spirit Body, they are at least a True Disciple. For the sake of the sect's future, they had no choice but to lower their pride and search in various mortal gathering places.

Su Ping just listened to it like that.

Yet his heart stirred, realizing that the importance of the Space Spirit Body might be even greater than he had imagined!

This search for the Space Spirit Body was also highly likely related to the appearance of Valkyrie Kong!

And in fact, that was indeed the case.

The giants of both the righteous and demonic paths, who had been enraged and engaged in battle after noticing Valkyrie Kong self-destruct and vanish, were involved.

After the righteous Cultivators fought for a night and paid a heavy price to repel the Demon Cultivators.

The five unwilling righteous leaders gathered together to carefully ponder the entire process once more.

And then they noticed a trace of something wrong.

Valkyrie Kong's self-destruction was simply too decisive.

No matter how one looked at it, it was more likely that this female Cultivator possessed a Secret Technique to save her life and escape after self-destructing!

Thus, among them, a High Monk performed divine abilities, and a Sect Master took out a Spirit Treasure to calculate.

Yet they could not calculate the whereabouts of that female Cultivator who possessed the Space Spirit Body no matter what.

It was as if that female Cultivator had truly self-destructed and died, her Divine Soul destroyed.

Completely non-existent in this world!

This made them even more unwilling to accept it.

Fortunately, at this time, a High Monk recalled certain peculiarities of the Space Spirit Body.

At the moment of the host's death, there was a tiny possibility that it would appear in a mortal in the nearby region.

Although this possibility was extremely low, and it required the premise that the female Cultivator had truly self-destructed.

Holding the mindset of treating a dead horse as a living one.

The people of the Artifact Heart Sect still received this order that left them somewhat confused, and they began to take action with the Bloodline Slate.

"Take care!"

After Xiao Mu Zhenren stayed at the Jiuye Mountain Market for a morning, ensuring that every mortal had been blood-tested.

He then bid farewell and steered his Immortal Boat toward the next destination.

This change of events left the residents of Nine Leaves Mountain quite disappointed.

Among them, there was no lack of those who hoped to be favored by an Immortal and rise to the top in one go.

It was just that a Spirit Body was not so easily discovered.

Let alone the target Space Spirit Body.

Not even a single most ordinary Spirit Body was discovered among these hundreds of thousands of people.

There were, however, a few precocious children who appeared to have at least a Lower Grade Spiritual Root.

After being reported by his subordinates, Xiao Mu Zhenren also informed Su Ping as a favor.

He also knew that Su Ping, this Loose Cultivator, intended to establish his own small sect.

Watching the other party leave, Su Ping instructed the steward to bring those precocious children up the mountain.

And after distributing the relevant cultivation methods for Water Moon Formless to these curious and timid children.

Su Ping left them to fend for themselves.

Given the Spirit Vein concentration of the Jiuye Mountain Market, plus the lack of Pill assistance.

At most, they could share a bit of fragrant Spirit Rice porridge with the stewards during their three meals a day.

In such a state, if they could reach Qi Refining Entry within a year, it would mean they could have a Lower Grade Spiritual Root.

They could barely be considered a Registered Disciple of Baihe Zhenren of Nine Leaves Mountain!

In the days that followed.

Su Ping discovered that the Artifact Heart Sect had clearly accelerated the development of those Secret Realms containing Ancient Relics.

More and more outside Cultivators were lured by heavy profits to become cannon fodder for developing the relics.

Even the Artifact Heart Sect's own Inner Sect Disciples were not lacking in those who went in.

Xiao Mu Zhenren also went to provide emergency aid twice within a week.

Once, he even suffered a not-insignificant injury, forcing him to temporarily cancel the exchange meeting.

Su Ping turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to those heavy profit lures.

After discovering that the outside world was becoming increasingly chaotic, he simply sealed the mountain directly.

Even if there were outside Cultivators who wanted to come and rest and cursed upon seeing this, he ignored them.

Although he earned much less in Spirit Stones.

He also had much less trouble.

There were also stewards who worried that cutting off from the outside world would lead to a shortage of supplies.

But after Su Ping filled the warehouse on the mountainside with rice, flour, cloth, and oil one day, they all shouted that the Market Master was wise and martial.

…………

Xuangui Island.

【Obtained Fishing Experience +1】

【Current Fishing Level: 5 (1850/5000)】

【Obtained Flowing Pattern Golden Dragon Fish +1】

He had once again caught a Second Tier rare fish that increased Divine Sense.

Su Ping placed it into the Spirit Light Fish Pond in the Pot Heaven to raise it first.

Then, looking at his fishing level after this period of hard work, he sighed lightly.

After level five, only Second-tier Fishing Spots could provide experience; it was impossible to level up in a short time, so he could only rely on time to slowly grind it out.

Fortunately, the Fishing Point Compass will be usable again soon.

I wonder if it will allow me to add another Second Tier or even Third Tier fishing point?

He put away his fishing gear.

He looked at the sky; it was deep night, and the night sky was filled with bright stars and a sparse moon.

Su Ping was in no rush to return to Nine Leaves Mountain or Pot Heaven.

Instead, he took the High-Altitude Reconnaissance Balloon out from his Storage Spirit Tool.

After activating it, he boarded this reconnaissance balloon and ascended to an altitude of over twenty thousand meters.

At such a high altitude, Su Ping felt something and gazed at the starry sky under the night.

Yet he vaguely felt that this starry sky... seemed to be merely some kind of projection?

The night sky behind those stars gave him an uncomfortable illusion!

It seemed as if an unknowable existence behind the night sky was filled with malice toward him and even the entire world beneath his feet!

"The starry sky of the Cultivation World is fake!"

Looking at the night sky, such a thought flashed fiercely through Su Ping's mind.

This thought startled even him.

He simply closed his eyes and pondered.

Su Ping discovered that this intuition came from his North Star Immortal Body!

He could not help but fall into a brief silence.

The intuition of an Immortal Body was still worth trusting!

Then!

The starry sky of the Cultivation World is fake!

Su Ping kept recalling this sentence, and a bold conjecture formed in his heart.

He had previously always felt that the Cultivation World was being invaded by the world of Evil Qi, and everyone was thinking of various ways while resisting the invasion of Evil Qi.

Looking at the methods of the Artifact Heart Sect, the Space Spirit Body was so highly valued; it was highly probable that they were preparing to hide inside a Secret Realm, and if they saw that things were impossible, they would directly migrate the entire Secret Realm to leave this world...

But... what if the Cultivation World had actually long since been dragged into the world where the Evil Qi resided, becoming its captive?

The current Evil Qi and the descent of Evil Gods were merely the digestive system of the Evil Qi world slowly devouring and decomposing its food.

If this were true!

Wouldn't the current retreat paths of major sects like the Artifact Heart Sect be a joke?

Once they left the Cultivation World and lost its protection, wouldn't they be digested in an instant?

Yet they still did it.

Either their previous talk of migrating the Secret Realm was a lie to those below, just to survive a little longer in the Secret Realm.

Or, major sects like the Artifact Heart Sect actually did not know that the starry sky was fake.

They truly felt that although this retreat path was full of difficulties, there was still Hope!

However, judging from the attitudes of top Immortal Sects like the Chiyuan Immortal Sect and the Great Golden Light Temple.

It was a bit strange; it felt like these top Immortal Sects might already know the truth.

So they chose other methods, attempting to do something with them.

Then the behavior of the high-level figures in this world being so strange, even tacitly approving of various ways of draining the pond to catch the fish below, seemed somewhat understandable.

"This is just my own bold guess; the real situation shouldn't be that bad, right?"

The more Su Ping thought, the more he felt the future of the Cultivation World was bleak.

Immediately feeling that these thoughts were useless no matter how deep they went, he shook his head to dispel these notions and input Dharma Power into several small Arrays on the base of the balloon.

Soon, these attached small Arrays provided more power and reduced air resistance.

This made the speed of this High-Altitude Balloon far exceed the one Su Ping had ridden before.

By the time Su Ping took a Pill and cultivated for two cycles.

The sky had not yet brightened.

Su Ping looked far away at the sea surface from high altitude.

He could already see that North Dipper Seven Stars Island.

Just as the intelligence had mentioned.

The Artifact Heart Sect fleet near North Dipper Seven Stars Island had all left.

On the sea surface, only scattered Tall Ships from different forces remained, patrolling far away from the target.

This was also the reason why Su Ping had come here.

On the way to Xuangui Island for Fishing.

Su Ping had made a trip to Yunshan Market.

He discovered that because of that great battle before, the region around Yunshan Market had turned into a barren desert where not a blade of grass grew!

Making Yunshan Market seem like an oasis in a desert.

Then, before Su Ping could leave the Market.

A shocking piece of news spread out!

It was none other than that Supreme Elder of the Artifact Heart Sect who had been exploring the North Dipper Seven Stars Island Secret Realm, who had come out from the Secret Realm!

He announced that the Secret Realm of this North Dipper Seven Stars Island had been completely polluted by Evil Qi and was worthless.

Then he hurriedly led the fleet to leave that Secret Realm.

And not long after, Evil Qi erupted on North Dipper Seven Stars Island, and it had already turned into an Evil Domain!

Causing all the Cultivators who wanted to pick up scraps to flee that sea area.

In the past, the appearance of such a thing would have been able to attract the attention of all the major forces.

But now... after learning that the Secret Realm had turned into an Evil Domain.

The major sects, which did not even have enough manpower to explore ruins, naturally had no interest in this.

Except... Su Ping was an exception.

In a sense, Su Ping was the only living Cultivator besides the high-level members of the Artifact Heart Sect who knew the situation inside that Secret Realm!

Su Ping knew clearly that inside that Secret Realm... lay a higher-level cultivation technique of the Big Dipper Death-Marking Scripture!

Possessing the Memory Illusion, he should go and investigate it once more!