Chapter 538

"The conditions for entering the Nine Nether Soul Realm are not open for negotiation!"

Looking at the reply from Lingguang Hall, the power-holders of the major sects and families were furious.

"This Hall Master of Lingguang Hall is too domineering!"

"Exactly, there's no one who does things like her, not even leaving room for discussion; it's simply arbitrary!"

Dharma Saint Palace, Spirit Realm Pavilion.

Meng Qingyao sat in the main seat, her gaze sweeping over the secret realm masters and heads of various departments present, and said in a deep voice: "Since Lingguang Hall is unwilling to lower the conditions, if we want to fight for the opportunity to enter the Soul Realm, I'm afraid we can only accept the price she set."

As her voice fell, the hall fell into a brief dead silence, and everyone's eyes drifted toward Yu Fu and Jia Lu.

Xia Ziyang couldn't help but probe: "Hall Master Yu, Hall Master Jia, I wonder how you view this matter?"

Yu Fu and Jia Lu looked at each other, then looked at Meng Qingyao respectfully, and answered in unison: "We will follow Pavilion Master Meng's instructions."

Seeing the two kick the ball back, Shen Qianfan suddenly spoke: "I heard that Peak Master Hua came out of seclusion yesterday; some disciples saw Peak Master Hua on Danyu Peak."

Hearing this, the expressions of everyone present immediately straightened.

Yu Fu glanced at Shen Qianfan and smiled faintly: "Pavilion Master Shen's news is quite well-informed."

Shen Qianfan pursued relentlessly: "I wonder how Peak Master Hua views the Nine Nether Soul Realm matter?"

Yu Fu remained as watertight as ever: "The Master has instructed that the affairs of the Dharma Saint Palace should all be arranged by Pavilion Master Meng."

Knowing that he couldn't get any extra news from Yu Fu and Jia Lu, Shen Qianfan had to helplessly change the subject.

"Lingguang Hall's conditions are really too high."

"If we really do as she says, it's equivalent to paying one billion low-grade spirit stones for one spot. One hundred spots would be one hundred billion low-grade spirit stones, which is enough to be worth a medium-sized spirit mine."

A medium-sized spirit mine, even for a profound guardian family, would feel very painful if they really had to cut it off.

Xia Ziyang looked at Meng Qingyao and suggested: "Pavilion Master, I think we should slow down our decision, wait and see, and see the reactions of other holy lands and sects and families first."

Hearing this, others nodded in agreement.

At the same time, the Elder Hall of the Artifact Saint Palace.

Hua Liulang followed behind Tong Yao and walked in somewhat cautiously. Looking at the elders sitting in the hall, he unconsciously slowed his breathing.

Great Elder Yi Ming looked heavy and spoke first: "Lingguang Hall is dead set against lowering the price; one billion low-grade spirit stones for one spot is truly an exorbitant demand."

"Other holy lands have sent messages proposing that we protest together to the Hall Master of Lingguang Hall and put pressure on her to lower the conditions. What do you think of this move?"

The elders responded one after another, obviously unwilling to pay such a high price for the Artifact Saint Palace.

Great Elder Yi Ming saw that everyone had the same opinion, so he turned his gaze to Tong Yao and Hua Liulang: "What do you two think?"

Tong Yao pondered for a moment and answered honestly: "The disciple thinks... it's better not to."

In his view, one billion low-grade spirit stones for one spot sounds like an astronomical figure, but cultivating a Nascent Soul realm cultivator also requires about that much resources.

If entering the Soul Realm to cultivate can really allow Spirit Platform realm cultivators to gain significant improvement, then this asking price is not actually an exorbitant one.

Hua Liulang didn't expect the Great Elder to ask for his opinion and scratched his head nervously: "I... I have no opinion."

Great Elder Yi Ming saw Hua Liulang's honest and ignorant look and had to make it clear: "Liulang, nowadays it is rumored outside that Hua Changxi is actually the Hall Master of Lingguang Hall..."

"Great Elder, that's a rumor!" Hua Liulang interrupted without thinking.

Great Elder Yi Ming choked and said helplessly: "... Fine, let's assume it's a rumor. I'm saying if, if the Hall Master of Lingguang Hall is really Hua Changxi, if we unite other forces to force her, do you think she will yield?"

Hua Liulang shook his head like a rattle, his tone firm: "Definitely not, not a chance!"

Thinking of his Ninth Aunt's temperament, Hua Liulang couldn't help but complain: "My Ninth Aunt has a hard temper; the more she is suppressed, the more fiercely she resists."

"I remember when I was a child, Grandmother asked her to admit a mistake, but she wouldn't, and as a result, she was locked up for three days and three nights; even though she was so hungry she had no strength, she didn't make a sound."

"If my Ninth Aunt is really the Hall Master of Lingguang Hall, the more you force her, heh heh..."

Looking at Hua Liulang who was chuckling, the hesitation in Great Elder Yi Ming's eyes became more intense, and his original intention to unite and put pressure to lower the price was shaken.

And in the Array Saint Sect and the Talisman Saint Pavilion, Yan Zhenzhen and Jing Le were also asked for their opinions by their respective sect high-level officials.

Yan Zhenzhen said: "If the Nine Nether Soul Realm can really significantly improve the divine sense of Spirit Platform realm cultivators, then I think Lingguang Hall's conditions can be agreed to."

Jing Le: "Business is a matter of heart; if Lingguang Hall's asking price is not to our liking, we just don't trade with them; uniting other forces to force them is not a good deed."

The four great holy lands each had their own background and were still weighing the pros and cons, hesitant, not to mention the other sects and families.

Everyone had their own little calculations and tacitly chose a delaying tactic, all thinking of cooling Lingguang Hall down first, using this to observe the situation, hoping to force the other side to lower the price.

As for the Xuanyuan Prefecture and the Central Holy Land, as the balancing hub and coordinating party among the major human forces, it was not easy to express their stance rashly in this situation.

In order not to go against the majority of forces, they also chose to remain still and did not immediately reply to Lingguang Hall's message.

At the same time, Lingguang Hall.

Facing the various parties that had no movement for a long time, Yun You was not surprised at all and reported the matter to Hua Changxi with a calm expression.

After all, having to cut off such huge resources, no matter who it was, it would be difficult to make a painful decision in a short time.

The managers and heads of various departments of Lingguang Hall were almost all Spirit Platform realm cultivators, and many of them had slow cultivation improvement because of the difficulty in cultivating divine sense.

Therefore, they all wanted to open the Nine Nether Soul Realm early.

But now, in order to pay less, all forces were watching each other and dawdling. With such endless delay, the Nine Nether Soul Realm didn't know when it would truly open.

A month later, in the main hall of Lingguang Hall, Hua Changxi put away the fourth-grade pill she had refined and took out the One-Thought-Connection to look at it.

No news!

That is to say, a month had passed, and all parties were still dawdling.

"Humph!"

Going deep into the Nine Nether hinterland, although she didn't encounter a life-and-death crisis, she still paid a considerable price.

The Nether Firewood was obtained by her; how to set the rules for entering the Soul Realm should be up to her.

All parties just wanted to rely on their numbers to coerce her into changing the conditions and use their will to decide the conditions for entering the Soul Realm.

She hated being threatened and forced, and even more hated all parties gathering together to bully her with their power!

After pondering for a moment, Hua Changxi sent a message to the hall master of the Task Hall.

"Have the patrols and garrison soldiers at the borders of Nanxiang County been arranged?"

Hall Master of the Task Hall: "Already arranged."

Hua Changxi: "Notify the previously selected Spirit Platform and Nascent Soul realm cultivators and have them gather at the mountain gate square tomorrow morning."

The ten thousand Zhu Que Army had nearly one hundred Spirit Platform realm cultivators and over twenty thousand Nascent Soul realm cultivators.

Because of the responsibility of guarding Nanxiang County, a month ago, she had the Task Hall randomly select fifty percent of the Spirit Platform and Nascent Soul realm cultivators to enter the Soul Realm.

Afterwards, Hua Changxi sent a message to the hall master of the Discipline Hall: "The Zhu Que Army is about to enter the Soul Realm to cultivate; because the time spent in the Soul Realm is uncertain, for the next period, the remaining Zhu Que Army must strictly patrol, fully maintain the order of Nanxiang County and its surroundings, and ensure nothing goes wrong."

After receiving the message, the Task Hall and the Discipline Hall immediately deployed.

Early the next morning, on the mountain gate square of Lingguang Hall, three groups of people arrived early.

The first group was led by Jing Sheng, and behind him stood over a hundred jailers of the Ghost Fire Well, all of them at the Nascent Soul realm, with ghost energy swirling around them, and an aura of killing coming toward them.

Another group, the team led by An Ze, was equally impressive. Besides three powerful Spirit Platform realm demon beasts, there were more than ten Spirit Platform cultivators and dozens of Nascent Soul realm cultivators lined up.

And the last group had only one lonely person—the Spirit Platform realm Die Wu. She stood alone in a corner of the square, and although she was alone, she had a calm aura that could not be ignored.

When the selected Spirit Platform and Nascent Soul realm Zhu Que Army were notified to gather at the mountain gate square, from a distance, everyone noticed these three groups of people.

"Who are those people...?"

Yun You and other hall masters and managers all came to the mountain gate square, looking at the three groups of people, their eyes flickering slightly.

"It's Die Wu who guards the Wutong Forest!"

"And the jailers of the Ghost Fire Well!"

"That other batch of people... besides the leader who is from the Zhu Que Army, the rest don't seem to be our people."

When the hall master of the Task Hall notified them to gather today, he didn't clearly state the reason, but now seeing these three groups of people, everyone had a guess—the Hall Master was going to take them into the Soul Realm today.

Thinking of this, a small number of people immediately secretly took out their One-Thought-Connection and sent their guesses out.

Because they didn't recognize An Ze's group, the Zhu Que Army gathered in the square began to discuss.

An Ze didn't pay attention to the probing gazes from all around, but looked straight up at the main hall at the top of the stone stairs—there, at some point, a brilliant red figure had appeared.

Soon, others in the square also noticed the figure.

In an instant, the noisy square became completely quiet.

Hua Changxi stood at the highest point of Lingguang Hall, looking down at the Zhu Que Army in the square.

Because the Soul River runs through the three domains of Heaven, Human, and Earth, the opening point of the Soul Realm can be anywhere; it is called the "Nine Nether Soul Realm" only because the Soul River manifests in the Nine Nether more often.

She prepared to open the Nine Nether Soul Realm right on the mountain gate square of Lingguang Hall.

Confirming that everyone had arrived, Hua Changxi flipped her right hand, and a ball of ghostly blue light emitting a cold aura appeared out of thin air.

Nether Firewood!

When she first got the Nether Firewood, although Hua Changxi knew it was the key to opening the Nine Nether Soul Realm, she didn't know how to use it specifically.

However, seeing the unique structure of the Nether Firewood that looked like a match, a flash of inspiration appeared in her mind, and she instantly understood how to open the Soul Realm.

"Chah~"

Hua Changxi gently struck the Nether Firewood in her hand as if striking an ordinary match.

Immediately, the surrounding space fluctuated violently.

The next moment, the center of the fluctuation seemed to be cut by an invisible blade, the crack spread and expanded rapidly, and finally turned into a hole as tall as a person.

As soon as the hole appeared, rich soul power leaked out, making everyone in the square feel refreshed.

Everyone looked eagerly at the hole, thinking this was the entrance to the Soul Realm.

Who would have thought that the next moment, an invisible, majestic, and solid soul power would cover the whole scene without warning.

Soul Domain!

After covering the people on the main mountain gate square with the Soul Domain, Hua Changxi stepped into the crack in front of her.

And everyone in the Soul Domain felt their eyes go black, and their consciousness was instantly pulled away. When they regained consciousness, they were already standing in the vast Soul Realm full of soul power.

Just after the figures in the square disappeared, two magnificent flying ships roared and landed outside the mountain gate of Lingguang Hall.

One hung the flag of the Demon-Suppressing Army, and the other fluttered the flag of the Xuanyuan Army.

Yun You, who had been waiting at the mountain gate and was specifically left behind to deal with all parties, looked at the Minister of the Heavenly Department and the five martial generals of the Xuanyuan Prefecture who jumped off the flying ship, and the slight gloom accumulated in her heart dissipated a little.

Wei Zhenjie rushed to Yun You in three steps.

Before he could speak, Yun You took the lead and said with a smile: "Minister Wei, five generals, it's a coincidence, you are a step late. The Hall Master has already taken the Zhu Que Army into the Soul Realm."

When Wei Zhenjie heard this, he raised his hand and slapped his forehead with a "pop," sighing: "I rushed and rushed, but still didn't make it."

"Why are you in such a hurry?"

"One piece of Nether Firewood can only open the Soul Realm nine times; it's one less each time it's used. Naturally, every time it's opened, the number of people entering must reach the limit so as not to be a loss!"

Yun You looked at his appearance and spread her hands helplessly: "The Hall Master gave you time long ago; it's you who didn't cherish it."