Chapter 874: Side Story 4: 111

Xiao Jiu stared blankly at the egg, quickly realizing that this egg was not the same concept as ordinary oviparous reproduction.

It was not nurtured from a mother's body.

Or more accurately, it was formed and nurtured by a strand of qi between heaven and earth.

This greenish qi, according to Xiao Jiu's experience, should be a kind of pure qi, purified from the pure qi between mountain ranges, and it is a good thing.

In this world there are some extremely rare spiritual objects that come into being this way; Xiao Jiu thought, if she could determine the egg's exact location, when it manifests she could have Shan Shan collect it.

As her thoughts shifted, the scene before her changed.

The egg vanished.

At the same time, Xiao Jiu discovered her divine sense was no longer endlessly sinking as before, but was shifting and moving.

Soon after, another strand of qi appeared to her left front.

This mass of qi was black, replete with heavy killing qi, and a crimson haze swirled around it.

Xiao Jiu instantly clenched her fists—such dense blood‑kill qi, something wicked is about to happen!

But she could only watch from afar, unable to approach.

Even she felt that, although the qi seemed only a hundred meters away, it was like a mirage—something she could not touch at all.

Fortunately, that mass of blood‑kill qi was still slowly condensing, and forming it would take a considerable amount of time.

Unless a cultivator seeking a shortcut suddenly appeared nearby, using some evil art to draw in this blood‑kill qi, or someone buried a corpse here to nurture it, then it would be another matter.

In the blink of an eye, that blood‑kill qi also disappeared.

Xiao Jiu's divine sense continued to drift.

After a while, a pale‑gold mass of gas spread across the space ahead of her; faintly, Xiao Jiu saw a figure sitting cross‑legged in the midst of that golden gas, cultivating.

Xiao Jiu had never before observed such a vast expanse of protective gangqi up close; she thought that area ahead must be some blessed cavern, where an immortal‑style cultivator was in secluded practice…

Xiao Jiu's divine sense just floated on and on, as if an invisible hand in the darkness were pushing it to wander endlessly.

During this process, Xiao Jiu saw many kinds of qi.

Greenish pure qi.

Black, blood‑colored yin‑kill and blood‑kill qi.

Golden protective gangqi and merit qi.

Gray death qi.

White dao qi.

The most magnificent time, Xiao Jiu saw a mass of multicolored qi.

That qi's colors were tangled together tightly, like an inseparable skein of yarn, yet upon close inspection each hue moved in its own orderly pattern.

At that moment Xiao Jiu's divine sense hovered twenty or thirty meters from that qi mass; after studying it for a while, she barely managed to determine that the mass should be the Five Elements qi.

However, the aura field of that Five Elements qi had not yet fully formed or stabilized, so the overall aura field appeared somewhat chaotic.

If a grand master of array formation with deep cultivation encountered this Five Elements qi, they would likely be overjoyed—this is a great opportunity!

Xiao Jiu did not know how long her divine sense had been drifting.

Moreover, her divine sense was not constantly drifting; it alternated between active and dormant periods.

Rising and sinking, Xiao Jiu felt that a very long time had passed.

When her consciousness first began to sink, she also wondered whether a new round of the dream trial had started.

Perhaps the previous round of the dream trial had not succeeded as she imagined? So a second round had come?

But she quickly realized that this was probably not the situation she had imagined.

Her divine sense was swept along, continually observing the various qi between heaven and earth, allowing her to intuitively sense these qi and involuntarily analyze what consequences would arise after they condensed.

This was a process of discerning qi.

Days passed like this… Xiao Jiu thought it must have been several days before her divine sense began to sink again.

This time, even with only a trace of divine sense, she still felt a chilling, awe‑inspiring cold rising from below.

It was a yin cold that penetrated deep into the soul!

It felt as if she had fallen into the eighteen levels of hell.

Of course, Xiao Jiu saw no hell; she only saw an endless expanse of black.

Her divine sense was compressed and shaken by the darkness, cold enough to make her tremble, so miserable she wanted to howl… then suddenly color appeared around her—rolling black qi and un dispersible blood qi, nearly engulfing Xiao Jiu's divine sense.

Xiao Jiu had never seen such heavy resentment and killing qi, let alone the unavoidable slaughter qi.

Where exactly was she?

Could she really be inside the eighteen levels of hell?

Xiao Jiu felt terrible; for a period she sensed her divine sense being struck, and it began to scatter a little.

Fortunately she endured it; as her divine sense swiftly regrouped, her surroundings began to change again.

This time, the surrounding space was no longer a sheet of black but a blinding white.

That white was nearly transparent, carrying an ethereal feeling that gave hope.

Xiao Jiu's divine sense pierced straight through it and continued onward.

She couldn't help but look back, wanting to identify just what that place had been.

This place inexplicably felt somewhat familiar to her, as if she had been here before.

As her divine sense kept drifting forward, that blinding white gradually grew fuzzy, the scene receding farther and farther; just before it vanished, Xiao Jiu suddenly realized it was the Reincarnation Tower!

The place she had just passed through was actually the Reincarnation Tower!

That blinding, translucent white—could it be the qi of reincarnation?

She could now basically confirm that her divine sense had indeed been pulled into the Nether Realm.

On the contrary, during those previous days she had not been in the Nether Realm; it had been more like wandering underground among mountains, rivers, and streams.

Few people could possess such great energy, dragging her spiritual sense to so freely 'probe' between heaven and earth.

The first thing Xiao Jiu thought of was actually the Earth Mother Goddess!

After realizing this, Xiao Jiu immediately withdrew her divine sense, relaxed herself, and stopped thinking further.

Whoever in the Nether Realm is leading her to 'discern qi' certainly has a purpose.

She only needs to observe and discern with her heart; the rest can be left to time.

But this time seems a bit long; Li Qingying and the others must be worried sick.

But there's nothing she can do; Xiao Jiu cannot foretell the future and cannot give them a hint.

However, she believes that, given their many years of mutual understanding, everyone should be able to guess her current situation, so they won't fall into panic.

At that time, Xiao Jiu had no idea that the events happening outside were far more than just this one.

What everyone was most worried about was not her.

Liu Junyan captured two spiritual beasts in a mountain range to the north; Shan Shan led people over to confirm, and they were exactly the two that had fled from the Feng Clan.

Unfortunately, when they were captured, the two spiritual beasts had already had their spiritual power drained, and were on the brink of death……