When Tianyi opened his eyes, it seemed as if his room was bathed in darkness. If one squinted, they could see tiny motes of light within that darkness. However, that was all just a feeling, and the darkness soon receded from the room, returning everything to normal.
Tianyi got off the bed and looked at his reflection. He had already changed out of his torn purple robe into a clean set of clothing, black in color, but Tianyi didn't focus on that. Instead, he focused on his eyes.
His eyes seemed to have no change, still resembling endless darkness filled with countless little star-like lights, but now, Tianyi could vaguely discern his nine spiritual cores within them.
Clenching his hands, he felt that his understanding had increased. Although there was no increase in his realm, Tianyi understood now that he had a better grasp of his powers. If before, he could utilize fifty percent of his power perfectly, Tianyi felt that he could use seventy percent perfectly now.
Tianyi hadn't minded the consumption of his true qi of chaos and never fretted over how much he wasted his qi, but he realized how wrong that is now. Perhaps it wouldn't matter if he entered the Unity Realm, but Tianyi had a vague instinct that if he attempted to undergo the Immortal Ascension Heavenly Tribulation without being able to utilize all his strength, he would be destined to fail.
Tianyi had thought that he had understood his inner cosmos enough, especially after he integrated the Thirty-Six Heavenly Constellation Art into his Nine-Five Scripture, but he was obviously wrong. It was a sensation he had already detected, but Tianyi once again confirmed that his inner cosmos was functioning on a higher concept that he had yet to understand.
Perhaps it was a combination of the fusion of Heavenly Scriptures that Tianyi had merged, but Tianyi couldn't discern the attribute of his inner cosmos. Most spiritual core or martial bodies had an attribute that resulted from the unique cultivation method. If Tianyi had to attach an attribute to his inner cosmos, it would be everything.
Fire, water, wood, earth, metal, yin, yang, spacetime, and so much more. Tianyi could detect every single one of those elements within his inner cosmos as if it was a reflection of heaven and earth. If there were one difference, it would be that his inner cosmos was dead.
Tianyi's inner cosmos was filled with energy, and that's it. Everything was formed from his true qi of chaos, the stars were qi, and his nine spiritual cores were also formed from qi. The inner cosmos could be said to be an imitation of the Vast Void and planets, and everything was stationary. His eight spiritual cores revolved around his Dragon Pearl Yin Core due to his qi as well. The only thing his inner cosmos didn't have was anything like the realms that made up the Three Thousand Immortal Realms System.
If Tianyi could turn this illusionary cosmos into something substantial as a real cosmos, he had a feeling that it would be far beyond most immortal's powers and limits. At least in terms of energy.
What he needed to do was to understand his cosmos completely before his Immortal Ascension Heavenly Tribulation. The more he understood it, the higher his chances would be. I'm getting ahead of myself. Not speaking of the Immortal Ascension Heavenly Tribulation, I haven't even entered the next realm yet.
Right now, Tianyi planned to focus on the dao of spacetime.
When Tianyi unleashed the move against Ragingflame Crow, the untested attack had moved by itself as if the concept had touched upon a natural law. After ruminating on the concept behind what happened, Tianyi had gained some insight. Without a doubt, the key to enter the Unity Realm or equivalent lay in spacetime.
And now, Tianyi planned to verify his numerous guesses. He didn't know how long he had been meditating, but he knew the time was not short. Tianyi planned to settle down for a bit and earnestly cultivate until the Demon Slaying Expedition ended. Or at least he couldn't stand it anymore.
Stepping out of his room, Tianyi looked around the boat and saw that Daoyi and Xi Ri were nowhere on it. With a shrug, Tianyi disembarked on the boat, planning on asking his fellow disciples if they knew the whereabouts of his companions.
His spiritual sense had already detected that there were disciples near him and even new housing. His eyes lit up as he recognized Jian Wuyan, a fanatic of his mother's, speaking with a girl from another sect. The girl was a core formation master, but she had two nascent soul grandmasters as attendants.
Just as Tianyi planned to walk over and ask, the sky suddenly darkened.
Tianyi immediately raised his guard. Ever since he had entered the Soul Nourishing Realm, tribulation lightning no longer struck him. He wondered why it had stopped, but now it seemed the Heavenly Dao was simply biding its time.
BOOM!
Tianyi furrowed his brows. Why was the tribulation lightning so weak? At most, its strength was only at the early Nascent Soul Realm.
His question was soon answered when the tribulation lightning struck towards the girl Jian Wuyan was speaking to. Luckily, Jian Wuyan reacted swiftly and retreated.
Just as it seemed that the tribulation lightning would strike the girl, the lightning suddenly swerved and struck Tianyi.
"..." Tianyi.
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"Must I explain to you again why it is imperative that I speak to Vast Heaven Young Master?" A female said, her voice full of exasperation. Her face was delicate and pretty with large doe-like eyes, but her sickly white skin made her attractive features mute. Instead, it gave people an eerie vibe. Her name was Duwa, and she wore the standard disciple uniform of the Nihility Sect.
"And must I explain to you why you can't meet Prince Xi!?" Jian Wuyan said, full of anger. Her two pigtailed puns bobbled back and forth with Jian Wuyan's shaking head. "Senior Sister Daoyi clearly said that no one is allowed to disturb Prince Xi!"
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With the heavy casualties sustained from the previous battle, Xia Yushan and the other leaders decided to build a town at one of the conquered bases of the Golden Crow Clan. It would serve as their base of operations until they decided to leave the Golden Crow Clan's territory.
It wasn't far from the battle, and under Daoyi's control, the immortal boat had descended into the nameless town. That was a year ago.
Just as the two were about to begin arguing again, the sky suddenly darkened, and Duwa's skin turned even paler.
Having interacted with An Wu for a year, Jian Wuyan was clear that tribulation lightning would occasionally strike the Nihility Sect disciple, so she retreated with practiced ease. However, against Jian Wuyan's expectations, just as the bolt of tribulation lightning was about to connect with Duwa, it suddenly swerved.
Turning her head, Jian Wuyan saw who the lightning had hit and shouted in fright, "Prince Xi!"
Unlike when the tribulation lightning usually attacked Tianyi, this time, only one bolt was sent. Plus, it was far too weak even to tickle the current Tianyi.
Jian Wuyan ran towards Tianyi, wanting to make sure he was alright, but someone was faster. By the time Jian Wuyan had realized it, Duwa was already in front of Tianyi and holding his hands in hers.
"Please be mine!" Duwa said with her eyes practically shining as she stared at Tianyi's face.
"Haah?" was Tianyi's logical response.
Did it finally happen? Did my status and handsomeness finally make the girls chase after me? I had expected it from the girls in my own sect, but I never expected it to be confessed by someone from another sect first. Of course, it could be a ploy. Tianyi thought as he slowly came out of his shock. He couldn't be blamed for suspecting Duwa. The Nihility Sect's reputation was the worst among the first-rate powers. Well, it's not like I'm happy I'm being confessed. Totally not.
Unfortunately for Tianyi, both his guesses were wrong.
As it turned out, Duwa was a seer. Seers possessed incredibly heaven-defying abilities that allowed them to divine the secrets from the Heavenly Dao. Powerful seers could even predict the future with fifty percent accuracy. However, such power came at a price.
The Heavenly Dao loathed seers. Whenever a seer peeked too much into the secrets of heaven and earth, their luck would diminish until, eventually, any random act might become fatal to them. For example, a seer might randomly trip and impale his neck on a rock, or a tree might suddenly fall and snap their neck. Despite the absurdity of the death, especially for a cultivator, such cases have been recorded.
Talented seers like Duwa were even rarer. Her situation had reached the point where tribulation clouds would spontaneously appear above her and send tribulation lightning to end her. For a while, Duwa would conceal her presence from the Heavenly Dao using secret techniques, but that was only a short-term solution.
Duwa had divined that her chance at survival would appear within the Demon Slaying Expedition, hence why she attended. Her combat prowess was weak, but she had special treatment from the Nihility Sect as a seer.
In the entire Huang Realm, only the Nihility Sect had a seer at the Immortal Realm, which allowed them to survive for numerous years despite the other forces' antagonism. So the Nihility Sect paid special attention to seers such as Duwa and protected them viciously. They even hoped to have a second Immortal Realm seer in their sect.
When Duwa had entered the Demon Slaying Expedition, she had divined where her chance of survival lay, hence why she convinced Hun Jusang to follow Xia Yushan. After many twists and turns, Duwu finally zeroed in that Tianyi was her greatest hope. This thought became even firmer when she realized that tribulation lightning would automatically be transferred to Tianyi.
Naturally, Tianyi's answer after finding out was, "Hell no!" He totally wasn't disappointed that Duwa's previous words weren't a confession or a honey trap. Not at all.
Duwa showed an expression of genuine surprise as if she truly couldn't conceive why Tianyi didn't want to be her lightning rod, twenty-four seven. "But why?"
Tianyi felt a vein pulsating on his forehead. "Why do I need to take the lightning strikes for you? How would it benefit me?"
"I'm a seer," Duwa said as if that explained everything in the world.
It didn't.
Tianyi shook Duwa's hand away or at least tried to. To Tianyi's ire, it was as if the Nihility Sect disciple had superglued her hands to his. To combat this, Tianyi began to use more strength. He just never expected Duwa to cling onto his hand so persistently and with so much strength despite her sickly appearance. There were literal afterimages of Duwa as her body moved up and down in the air from the centrifugal force of Tianyi trying to shake her off.
Finally, it seemed that Duwa couldn't hold on anymore and let go, causing her to fly off.
"Ah," Tianyi lightly exclaimed. He was annoyed by Duwa's action, but he didn't want to launch her into the air. Tianyi was a nascent soul grandmaster, and she was a mere core formation master. He had no habit of bullying those weaker than him unless he was targeted first...well, not usually.
Luckily for Duwa, her two nascent soul grandmaster attendants easily caught her, but it seemed that Tianyi's actions annoyed them. The two glared and showed open hostility at Tianyi.
Obviously, it was she who refused to let go, yet you're blaming me? Tianyi felt innocent in the matter and thus, was even more annoyed by the two nascent soul grandmaster attendant's displeasure. Should I teach them a lesson? Wait, I shouldn't beat people up because they looked at me with hostility...athough...this does fit the young master stereotype.
Focusing his attention on the two attendants, Tianyi unleashed the pressure of his cultivation. Instantly, the two nascent soul grandmasters felt as if space was crushing them from all sides, wanting to smash their flesh into their bones and make them literal stickmen.
They felt a seeping horror creep out of their heart by the difference in strength. Tianyi was obviously a nascent soul grandmaster like them, but why was the difference so vast?
Tianyi wanted to punish them a bit longer for having double standards, but when he saw Duwa getting up from the two attendant's frozen arms, creases appeared on his forehead.
He glanced at Jian Wuyan and moved in front of her. Tianyi's movements were so quick that it seemed like teleportation. Furthermore, there were no fluctuations in the air that would have been caused by brute speed, shocking the two nascent soul grandmaster attendants.
Tianyi had incorporated the concept of spacetime into his movements, so each action contained the power of spacetime.
Waving his arm, Tianyi stored the immortal boat into his spatial ring and placed a hand on Jian Wuyan's shoulder. In the next instant, both Tianyi and Jian Wuyan's figures disappeared from Duwa and her attendant's sight.
"Ah!" Duwa cried out in regret. She quickly whirled her body around and glared at her two attendants. "Hurry up and search for Vast Heaven Young Master!"
"Lady Seer, I don't think it's a good idea. He is too rude towards you." One of the attendants said.
Duwa's glared deepened. "What do you understand? If I can't have him, then I'll die. I already broke the concealment technique when I looked into the future. I can't place the technique again without Master's aid. If I don't have Vast Heaven Young Master, then I'll definitely die within ten years!"
The two attendants never expected the situation to be so serious. Seers had revered status within the Nihility Sect, so although the two disliked Tianyi, they quickly followed Duwa's ordered to look for Tianyi for her survival. Of course, only one of them looked for Tianyi. The other stayed behind to protect her.
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When Jian Wuyan looked around, she saw that her surrounding had completely changed. No longer was she within the town but atop a cliff overlooking the town.
"Prince Xi, you should ignore that shameless girl in the future!" Jian Wuyan immediately said after regaining her bearings, making Tianyi speechless.
Tianyi rubbed his temples and ignored her advice. Did she think that he didn't want to ignore Duwa?
Focusing on the main point, Tianyi asked Jian Wuyan what happened while he was in secluded cultivation within his room.