Chapter 156: Second Realm of the Five Seas

"The one she wants to recruit is actually you." Yin Shisan said.

"This shows that her eye for talent is good, and she has a great ability to recognize and use people."

Li Youyi changed the subject and said: "But she is only a Luan Terrace Angel, not that Second Palace Master of the Luan Terrace. Being able to recruit a hidden person from my Nine Li Hidden Sect to be used by her is already giving her enough face. If she wants to use a Divine Hidden Person, she is not qualified enough."

After Yin Shisan laughed, he said cautiously: "Ahead is the territory under the jurisdiction of the imperial court. After passing Tiger-Crouch City, you basically enter the Central Plains region. The Giant Marsh Plain ahead is ten thousand li wide and is the world's largest fertile granary, connecting the three prefectures of Qiu Prefecture and Fu Prefecture from the north of Zhi Prefecture."

"By the way, this northern half of Zhi Prefecture is said to be under the jurisdiction of the imperial court, but in reality, it has long fallen into the pocket of the Zuoqiu Sect. This is the fundamental reason why Jiang Ning dares not enter the city as a Luan Terrace Angel."

"Then how does she dare to go to Qiu Prefecture?" Li Youyi said.

Yin Shisan said: "It's different! If a Luan Terrace Angel dies in Qiu Prefecture, it must be the responsibility of the Zuoqiu Sect. But if a Luan Terrace Angel dies in Tiger-Crouch City, the Zuoqiu Sect can completely claim to the outside world that it was the work of the Night City barbarian thieves, that it was done by the Li clan rebels."

"The enemy who can hunt down Jiang Ning must be very powerful. Is Brother Thirteen sure he wants to take this risk?" Li Youyi said.

Yin Shisan smiled: "Only by taking this risk can Jiang Ning possibly bring me into her core circle. The branch of the Jiang clan in the Lingxiao Life Realm is a behemoth-like existence. Borrowing the power of the imperial court is enough to compete with the four major ten-million-strong sects, and the energy behind this is no small matter."

"As long as you know what you're doing! As a future Divine Hidden Person, I will give you three Dyeing Clouds exotic medicines." Li Youyi took out the exotic medicines and handed them to him.

"What future Divine Hidden Person, isn't it just a Divine Hidden Person!"

Yin Shisan treated them like treasures and didn't stand on ceremony with Li Youyi at all. He hurriedly put away the three Dyeing Clouds exotic medicines and laughed heartily: "I have been stuck at the Fourth Realm of the Five Seas for two years. With these, I can break through to the Fifth Realm of the Five Seas in the near future, and my confidence in saving my life will be much greater! Divine Hidden Person, farewell!"

Yin Shisan chased after Jiang Ning and Zhuang Yue, stepping onto his own path of struggle.

Li Youyi looked at the fifty Fire Crows flying toward Tiger-Crouch City and sighed longly. In the end, he did not follow Wu Zhaonan into the city but quickly dived into the night with Li Ling, disappearing onto the Giant Marsh Plain.

He didn't want to be in the limelight.

If the outside world knew that he and Jiang Ning were mixed up in this trip, they would definitely regard him as a person of the imperial court, and that would be a huge trouble!

Although to this day, not many people in the world had heard the name Li Youyi, the commotion he caused in Lizhou at the Gushing Spring Realm could be ignored.

But on this trip to Qiu Prefecture, Li Youyi had the heart to seize the Longevity Pill. If he didn't become famous throughout the world, where would he get the chance to seize the pill?

……

The Young City Lord of Night City, Yuwen Tuozhen, stood tall and outstanding on the back of a black Night Scale Giant Beast, looking out at Tiger-Crouch City thirty li away.

The sun was just rising on the horizon.

The giant beast flew in mid-air, and above Yuwen Tuozhen's head was a thick layer of clouds, his whole person bathed in bright rosy light.

His twenty-something heroic posture, the crescent mark on his forehead that only members of the Night clan royal family had, and his purple long hair made him look extremely yin-heavy. Coupled with his cold, hawk-like eyes at this moment, it made Yuwen Chao, who was standing beside him, shiver uncontrollably.

Yuwen Chao's right arm was almost crippled, but fortunately, he escaped from the bottom of the water and saved his life.

With the cultivation of the Fifth Realm of the Five Seas, his vitality was already strong enough.

After three Five Seas Realm freak-species experts from Night City who were good at tracking investigated on the shore, they took Fire Crows one after another and flew into mid-air to report to Yuwen Tuozhen.

Among the three, an old woman of the dog-like freak species at the Fourth Realm of the Five Seas said: "That group of people didn't enter Tiger-Crouch City; they came ashore here and then left in two directions."

Yuwen Chao said: "Young City Lord, let me chase the other group of people. This subordinate will definitely make up for his mistakes. In last night's battle, the Fire Crow cavalry suffered too heavy losses!"

Yuwen Tuozhen looked at Dao Di and Mie Di on the back of the golden eagle: "After passing Tiger-Crouch City, we enter the territory of the Zuoqiu Sect, and it's not easy to chase! The Night Emperor Toad poison on Jiang Ning must not be solved yet; what a good opportunity to capture her. It's a pity that I couldn't see the fairy-like face of one of the three fairies."

Dao Di wore green Buddhist robes, his face as white as jade, and he said warmly: "As long as she hasn't entered Qiu Prefecture City, there is still a chance."

Mie Di said: "She is going to Qiu Prefecture City to be a spoiler for the Hidden Dragon Lantern Festival, and the Zuoqiu Sect will not welcome her. As long as we are not too ostentatious, they will definitely turn a blind eye."

Yuwen Tuozhen smiled: "You people from Coffin Mountain really have guts that are not ordinary."

Mie Di laughed wildly: "Capturing the Feather Fairy and destroying her will surely allow me to show off in front of all the righteous army geniuses. Going to the Hidden Dragon Lantern Festival, what this monk seeks is fame."

Dao Di said: "The inheritor of the Dragon Gate has already gone to Tiger-Crouch City, where there is the Sui-Branch Hall, one of the six major branch halls of the Sui Sect. After the young generation experts of the Sui Sect left Lizhou, they are gathering there. If we have their help to hunt down Jiang Ning, the chances of success will greatly increase."

"Then mobilize the men of the Three Chen Palaces as well; I will handle this matter."

Yuwen Tuozhen's gaze finally fell on Yuwen Chao: "I will give you one more chance; you go chase the other group of people. I am very interested in the seven exotic insects you mentioned."

"Thank you, Young Lord, for your trust! This subordinate will definitely not fail the mission and will definitely bring the seven exotic insects back to offer to the Young Lord."

Yuwen Chao let out a long sigh of relief. The pressure Yuwen Tuozhen brought him was even greater than that of a Dao Seed Realm martial cultivator, because he knew too well what kind of fickle and ruthless person this Night City Young Lord was.

……

In the blood-mud space.

Li Youyi sat cross-legged in meditation, circles of spatial fluctuations surging on his body, and bright magic power rosy light spitting out from his pores.

After each breath, the grade of his magic power improved accordingly.

This process lasted for a full 671 times, and the magic power finally returned to calm, its grade no longer increasing.

"Finally succeeded in breaking through, officially stepping into the Second Realm of the Five Seas."

"The second sea of Qi, sixty-three square."

During these days, Li Youyi had been recuperating his lungs and also strengthening them. On the third day after parting with Jiang Ning, after taking two Dyeing Clouds exotic medicines, he finally broke through the second sea of Qi.

During the process of breaking through, the magic power was repeatedly refined and transformed into third-order Qi.

"I want to see what the battle intent cultivated using the Heaven-Turning Palm Seal looks like after taking shape."

After Li Youyi stood up, he stepped on his footwork, pinched his hands into palms, and set up the starting stance of the Heaven-Turning Palm Seal.

"Whoosh——"

The battle intent manifested around his body, as if something was rotating around him, bringing up wisps of wind force. But it was invisible and intangible; it had to be integrated with spirit and magic power to be concretely manifested.

Normally, battle intent is the martial cultivator's own figure, a profound manifestation of mental battle techniques.

Only a few martial cultivators who inherit battle intent or practice special law codes and special martial arts will have exotic battle intent.

The battle intent of a Third Realm Five Seas martial cultivator is almost one zhang high.

The battle intent of a Fourth Realm martial cultivator is about two zhang high.

A Fifth Realm martial cultivator is about three zhang high.

Of course, if a Fifth Realm expert cultivates the Wind Mansion at the back of the head into a Sixth Sea, the battle intent will grow by another zhang.

In Li Youyi's view, battle intent is very much like the "Law of Heaven and Earth" in ancient Chinese mythology; the higher the cultivation, the larger the figure.

Li Youyi practiced the palm technique over and over again, and his essence, energy, spirit, and battle intent gradually merged into one.

"Boom!"

In the blood-mud space, with Li Youyi's body as the center, a strong vortex of wind force erupted out of thin air and scattered.

A soul-stirring momentum was born.

Inside the vortex of wind force, rosy light swirled, and a high-spirited figure in Taoist robes appeared, elegant and detached, yet with a powerful aura. The white beard on his chin was like a bright and scorching waterfall.

The battle intent was one zhang high, very faint, and the face of the figure in Taoist robes could not be seen clearly. One could only see him holding a seal in one hand and a bell in the other, just like the gods worshipped in temples, enough to make mortals prostrate themselves in worship.

"Could this be that ancestor in the history of the Chan Sect?"

Li Youyi's heart trembled, thinking of many things at once. Was there really a lost mythological history on Earth?

Or perhaps, the mythological history didn't happen on Earth, but just spread to Earth. Just like the Fusang Divine Tree and Yingzhou, didn't they also not exist on Earth?

"The battle intent is too faint; the magic power is still not thick enough. It can only be said to be stronger than martial cultivators of the same realm and one realm higher."

"The second sea of Qi, sixty-three square in size. If I accumulate Qi in seclusion step by step, it will take at least half a year. Going to the giant city of the prefecture, with the help of the Heavenly Law Earth Spring, the speed can be much faster."

Li Youyi's gaze fell on Chan Hai Guan Wu, who was sitting on the magic jade boat. Perhaps refining the Qi-Raising Pill was the fastest way.

Breaking through to the Third Realm of the Five Seas was a long way off. Li Youyi calculated secretly, believing that the only two ways to continue improving his strength in the near future were Golden Spring Bone-Forging and cultivating the seven Phoenix-Winged Moth Emperors.

If he used the Golden Spring to refine his bones to the "small success golden bone" stage where the gold is on the surface, his physical strength alone would be comparable to an ordinary Fifth Realm Five Seas martial cultivator. Coupled with his magic power cultivation and magic tools, his combat power would be very considerable.

More importantly, with the small success golden bone, his physical defense would greatly increase. Even if he encountered a powerful person he couldn't beat, saving his life would definitely be no problem.

In the more than a month since leaving Burial Xianzhen, he had swallowed a large amount of Golden Spring, and among the 206 bones in his body, 137 had already reached the stage of gold on the surface.

Li Youyi asked about the situation of the seven Phoenix-Winged Moth Emperors. They told him that after venting by killing enemies on the ship, the fire in their bellies had eased, but it still felt like flames were burning, and they couldn't take the Xihe Flower for the time being.

Li Youyi gave each of them a two-hundred-year-old precious medicine, all "earned" in Burial Xianzhen.

There was no way around it; these seven little guys were truly too valuable in large-scale battles, but they were always flirting with Jiang Ning, which gave Li Youyi a sense of crisis. Anyway, he was rich and powerful now, so naturally, he was very generous to them.

If he could feed them to the level where their combat power was comparable to the Fifth Realm of the Five Seas as soon as possible, then, with the identity of an insect tamer, he could walk sideways in Qiu Prefecture City.

"With my current financial resources, as long as I sell some of the resources on me, buying thousand-year-old essence medicine shouldn't be a big problem. It's best if it's ice-attribute, so it can both push the seven little ones to grow rapidly and neutralize the fierceness of the Xihe Flower."

Li Youyi decided this in his heart, then glanced at Chan Hai Guan Wu, who was meditating and cultivating. Forget it, whatever trial of love, she probably didn't take it to heart at all; she was purely a cultivation fanatic.

No matter how much she wanted to return to the Yang Realm, the high and indifferent heart of the ancient Son of Heaven was the essence.

How can a person fight against their own heart?

"Whoosh!"

Space surged in circles.

Li Youyi left the blood-mud space and returned to the carriage.

This was a gorgeous exotic beast carriage with a cabin a zhang long and wide, which Li Youyi had spent a lot of money to buy. He had formed a luxury carriage team with a group of Zhi Prefecture talents who were also going to Qiu Prefecture City to participate in the Hidden Dragon Lantern Festival, and they were driving on a wide and stable official road.

After passing Tiger-Crouch City, the atmosphere of the world changed; the chaos was gone, and it was prosperous and flourishing.

They never encountered any righteous armies or barbarian thieves again, as if they all knew they had entered the territory of the Zuoqiu Sect and were very respectful.

In the middle of the carriage, a sandalwood table was placed, the floor and seats were covered with white fox fur, and the four walls were decorated luxuriously.

Li Youyi folded and packed away the ghost flag used to isolate the outside world and cast his gaze toward Li Ling, who had been guarding the carriage: "Have we entered the territory of Qiu Prefecture?"

"Qi Wangshu said that we can reach Giant Marsh City before dark, and once we reach the Soldier Ancestor Marsh, we have entered Qiu Prefecture." Li Ling said.

Qi Wangshu had a very high reputation among all the talents in this carriage team. He was generous and could be considered the leader. According to him, the Qi clan he belonged to was a million-strong power clan in Zhi Prefecture, and the ancestor of the clan had a high status in the Zuoqiu Sect. Once they reached Qiu Prefecture City, he would arrange everything properly.

The setting sun hung obliquely at dusk.

Eight gorgeous exotic beast carriages finally arrived at the Soldier Ancestor Marsh, which was famous in the Lingxiao Life Realm.

The giant marsh in front of them was said to be 1,600 li from north to south and 2,000 li from east to west, and it was a freshwater inland sea. It was a miraculous water area formed when a magic power spring eye in the body of the legendary Soldier Ancestor fell to the earth.

Qiu Prefecture City was built on the north bank of the Soldier Ancestor Marsh, and it was still a long way from Giant Marsh City, where they arrived today.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 157 =====