Chapter 194

Boom—

Jiang Yu barely avoided the ice‑fire impact of two binding cores; only her swift footwork and the continuously active purple jade talisman shield let her retreat safely.

Naturally, the purple jade shield blocked most of the remaining force.

When Jiang Tu sprang from the Dragon Pearl to protect her, Jiang Bai was also searching for a way to open the stone gate; unfortunately the gate was sealed tight, and he could not open it at that moment.

From the view, Jiang Yu had already taken a bamboo fan as a shield, dashed back to the Great Hall, and just barely evaded a second wave of cross‑attacks from the two binding cores.

"Jiang Yu?" Qian Shiqi only then recalled that, by coincidence, she and another would be whisked straight into Tai Ji Dian by that special fish card.

Just as she was about to meet Jiang Tu, Jia Wen Lan heard Qian Shiqi's whisper and casually tossed a white rope, which in a blink curled toward Jiang Yu.

Luckily the purple jade shield remained, so Wen Lan's white rope struck and fell at once, not catching Jiang Yu.

"You're dragging the innocent into this again!" Qian Shiqi hastened his fireball strike, intent on knocking her down and, if possible, blasting her soul from her flesh.

Wen Lan's attempt to block the sword card fell through, but as she countered the fireball she still fired a white rope at Jiang Yu.

"How bold!" Jiang Tu fumed; his innate spiritual fire burst from his mouth, scorching the sword‑like white rope, and the clash reduced it to ash.

Wen Lan didn't spare a glance, flashed her sword, and hurled it at Qian Shiqi: "I'll imprison you for ten thousand years, junior brother, but you care nothing for sect camaraderie."

"Hmph! Your threats won't kill me." Qian Shiqi dismissed her ghostly words.

Jiang Yu also sprang behind Jiang Tu, turned to hurl a thunder sphere, and once more seized a Nascent Soul Sword Talisman.

But Jiang Tu had already incinerated the white rope and was directing spiritual fire at Wen Lan, when she tossed an ice talisman that shattered the fire.

"Jiang Tu, don't be overconfident." Jiang Yu grabbed the hot‑headed comrade about to rush forward and sent his voice: "We'll go into the Dragon Pearl."

Let it cloak itself and strike from stealth; isn't that better than a head‑on attack? Their past cultivation is surely deep, far beyond ordinary binding cores.

"As you say." Jiang Tu withdrew the spiritual fire and fell back with her beneath the incense table.

Jiang Bai let out a sigh underground, ceased monitoring the various screens, and concentrated on finding an exit.

Meanwhile, out of his sight, Jiang Tu commanded the Dragon Pearl to launch from Tai Ji Dian and, at maximum speed, close in on Wen Lan.

Jiang Yu seized a Nascent Soul Sword Talisman in each hand; a moment later, as Wen Lan's summoned strike descended, she slipped from the Dragon Pearl and hurled the talismans.

A huge sword aura ripped the heavens, still intersecting in two streams; Wen Lan's dodge was already sluggish, and using an evasion talisman was even slower.

Moreover, Qian Shiqi's life‑born Bagua Pill crashed down, and under the barrage she, in desperation, ignited her spirit and escaped.

Qian Shiqi tried to chase but was unable; he blamed it on Jiang Du's low cultivation, which capped his own power after he forced his own level up.

After the duel, while depleting spiritual energy, there was even a bit of fatigue.

Jiang Yu hurried over and handed him the pill, letting him pick: "Senior, I'm in a profoundly hidden spot of the Celestial Realm, where I met a Nascent Soul ghost cultivator; he asked to see you before releasing my sect brothers and teammates."

After speaking, she continued to sketch the ghost cultivator's form in the air using spiritual energy.

"Captain, he's still alive." Qian Shiqi, upon seeing the person, the hesitation disappeared at once.

He instantly demanded: "Give me all the soul‑enhancing pills."

Jiang Yu, of course, handed over most, keeping some for herself, and asked, "Senior said, what does returning the Celestial Realm mean?"

"The Great Luo Celestial Realm was originally a secret realm of the Spirit Realm, but later the Demon Race seized it during transport; we failed to intercept and thus fell into this mortal world." Qian Shiqi summed up in a few words.

Jiang Yu pondered, "Will everyone who entered this time go to the Spirit Realm?"

…

Later edit

180,000 years ago, when dragons were still eggs, their mother led them to view the world.

178 million years ago, alien invaders from the Immortal Realm broke the demon‑suppressing monument, and several lower realms also suffered countless deaths.

And many humans, demons, and monsters were taken away by the alien realm.

Simultaneously, the Seven‑Star Heaven faced a great disaster, creating the Abyssal Deep; those barely surviving under unstable spiritual pressure suffered explosive cultivation, causing many years of refusing to take disciples.

59,000 years ago the realm's pressure steadied, and the Demon Race along with demonic cultivators from the Hall of Stars moved to seize power.

59,000 years ago, while a junior cultivator was diligently searching for relics, the invading realm's core escaped to the Hall realm, aligning the Demon Race and the three human clans to reclaim the Southern Heavens.

The three factions sought to make the Southern Heavens their own garden; after years of infighting they realized the locals had grown powerful, and the Cultivation Alliance united cultivators' strength to expel the three factions from the Spirit Realm.

This led to the great war 58,000 years before the summer, after which the Hundred‑Flower Alliance was founded and later built the Jian Sect.

(At that time, Cang Er existed as an independent spatial shield, claiming a 120,000‑year passage could be opened, yet only Nascent Souls without a thunder tribulation.)

The cultivators who emerged 58,000 years ago were only at the Foundation Establishment stage, just in time for the great war; later they lived to construct the Water Palace, seeking a passage to retrieve Cang Er.

However, twenty thousand years ago—more precisely 19,809 years ago (the heroine was 24)—the inter‑realm transmission array sank with the Water Island not far from the sea; why has the sunken island not resurfaced after all this time?

Twenty thousand years ago, the annihilation of the Water Palace was the result of a three‑faction conspiracy involving a silk‑butterfly scheme.

Tai Yi Sect's support was damaged

☆☆ Timeline

① 170,000 years ago in the Immortal Realm, the repelled alien guests assembled another phantom butterfly from another universe and re‑invaded the Immortal Realm after several ten‑thousands of years.

The Rotating King's mother gave an early warning, allowing the Immortal Realm to barely win the great war.

Later, when the phantom butterfly clan clashed with the Immortal Realm, they consulted alien peoples to leverage innate talent, preparing to copy the Immortal Realm's rear path and occupy the lower realms.

Long ago they dispatched agents to each realm,

50,000 years ago, Lan Luo eradicated the Flow‑Year in a remote hometown of the Immortal Realm; 23,000 years ago a battlefield disappearance occurred while undertaking a mission to the lower realm, which was blocked by an immortal; her subordinates died, she narrowly survived and fell into the Seven‑Star Heaven to recuperate.

30,000 years ago the Immortal Realm drove them out, yet they lingered nearby, stirring trouble and returning.

Gradually it was learned that 59,000 years ago, the Demon Race, the Hall of Stars, and someone incited the three clans to seize the Southern Heavens, then infiltrated the Demon Race.

More than twenty thousand years ago, in the Flow‑Year battlefield, a body perished and a residual soul descended.

The jade immortal's ultra‑black ancient turtle, on the Immortal Realm battlefield, sensed danger, was wounded while fleeing, and fell back to the lower realm.

The still‑injured Lan Luo discovered and roused the ancient turtle, coaxing it to become a deity, allying with the Hall of Stars to further damage the Southern Heavens' foundation, intending to refine the realm's core for healing.

She tricked the ancient turtle, claiming an immortal grass could heal its hidden wound.

Thus the ancient turtle entered the Abyssal Deep to hunt for treasure, inadvertently harming the realm's core.

At that time, many Void Reversal experts were dispatched,

① Only seek the Dao

② Enter the Extreme Abyss to seek treasure

③ No entry allowed, for fear of stirring the ancient demons beneath the Extreme Abyss.

The two sides disagreed and were further confused by the Merfolk King controlled by Lan Luo, leading to a melee among demon cultivators, human cultivators, and monster cultivators.

Amid the great chaos, beast tides increased; when the Divine Water Hall defended, the Supreme Unity Sect came to aid,

Miao Xie Pavilion took advantage of this to occupy many islands and launch a sneak attack on the Divine Water Hall.

While the water was defending, the people of the Hall of Radiance Demon Race, under Lan Luo's leadership, sneaked in and slaughtered various cities.

Surrounded on three sides, all sides responded with support; to trap and kill the demon, Lan Luo, the entire sect's power activated the Sea-Sinking Trap Formation; Lan Luo fled, and while pursuing, the transmission formation was destroyed.

Ancient Secluded King was sealed,

World Heart left half behind; the other half entered the future via fragmented mystic stones.

World Heart Stargrass, at the critical moment of merging with the Dao, when injured split into two; one half remained in the Extreme Abyss, the other half reached another spacetime.