The Nine Nether Elder paused and added, "For this cross-dinsional travel, soone needs to guard the array node here, to prevent the unexpected and to receive us when we return."
"Hongyi will remain in the Wind Origin Realm to take on this responsibility."
"Hongyi remains in the Wind Origin Realm?"
Upon hearing this, Xu Ping’s eyebrows furrowed almost imperceptibly, but quickly relaxed thereafter.
His gaze turned to Hongyi, wearing an appropriately thankful expression, "In that case, it will be a laborious task for Fellow Daoist Hong to guard. The stability of the rear is crucial to the success of this venture."
Hongyi gave a refined smile, waving his hand, his tone sincere: "Brother Xu, you are too polite. We have been friends for years, there is no need for such words."
"Besides, leveling the Heaven-Suppressing Sect is a grand affair."
Xu Ping looked deeply at Hongyi and nodded.
Since the arrangents were settled, he did not add more words.
It was finally decided that the ones returning across dinsions to the Nanchuan Realm would be Xu Ping, Duan Shuang, and the Nine Nether Elder.
As for the Water Lake Rat, due to its size and aura potentially causing unnecessary trouble in the space passage, Xu Ping waved it into the Ten Thousand Souls Banner.
"Do not waste ti."
The Nine Nether Elder’s expression returned to a composed serenity.
With a flip of his withered palm, an unusual stone emitting gentle spatial fluctuations appeared in his palm, it was the Boundary Breaking Stone used to stabilize the passage and guide direction.
No longer speaking, the Nine Nether Elder grasped the Boundary Breaking Stone and stepped forward.
His figure silently lded into the black space passage, disappearing instantly.
At the entrance of the passage, spatial ripples gently undulated.
Xu Ping and Duan Shuang exchanged a glance, no longer hesitating, their bodies glimring briefly, transforming into two streaks of light, following the Nine Nether Elder into the space passage.
Light flashed and vanished.
The cross-dinsional array continued to operate slowly, maintaining that unstable passage.
Hongyi sat cross-legged atop the node, his expression solemn, eyes tightly focused on the entrance of the passage.
The secluded sea area returned to dead silence, only the faint glow of the array and the slight distortion of space indicated that a cross-dinsional journey had just occurred here, potentially impacting the configuration of two realms.
...
In the Nanchuan Realm, Yue Country, deep within the Yellow Dragon Mountain Range.
The mountains stretched endlessly, ancient trees reached the sky.
The spiritual qi here, although scarce compared to major cultivation towns, had its own primitive, wild aura perating.
In a rarely visited deep gorge, miasma swirled and venomous insects lurked, a Fourth Rank Lower Grade demon beast, the Three-Eyed Poison Toad, resided here.
It had ruled this territory for a hundred years, ordinary demon beasts and human cultivators dared not trespass into its domain.
This day.
The Three-Eyed Poison Toad was in its nest, feigning sleep, its swollen belly rising and falling with breaths, third vertical eye tightly shut, exuding an unsettling dark glow.
Suddenly—
An extre fear from life instinct, of unknown danger, like icy water poured over it instantly.
Its massive body shivered, all three eyes abruptly opened, warily gazing upwards at that seemingly ordinary sky above the gorge.
Buzz...
That sky, like fragile silk, was torn open with imnse invisible force, revealing a massive, unstable, dark rift at the edges.
The Three-Eyed Poison Toad stared at this terrifying sight stemming from space’s origin, felt a catastrophic sense of threat and... a hint of coveting?
Just as it stirred—
A dry, seemingly weightless figure first fell out from the space rift, its aura sowhat chaotic, it was the Nine Nether Elder.
Cross-dinsional transmission, even with the Boundary Breaking Stone and array protection, was still quite burdenso for non-Body Refining Cultivators.
"Die!"
The Three-Eyed Poison Toad revealed its ferocious glow upon seeing this.
Its hind legs forcefully exerted, the body, vast as a hill, soared into the air, its stinking, tumor-covered tongue shot out like lightning, carrying corrosive poison, aiming directly at the just-stabilized Nine Nether Elder.
"Humph."
The Nine Nether Elder did not even lift his head, rely let out a cold low hum. In his sunken eye sockets, two deep black glows suddenly lit up, like miniature black holes.
Without any visible action, endless pure ghostly qi surged out around him, instantly binding and wrapping the incoming poisonous tongue along with the Three-Eyed Poison Toad’s massive body.
The Three-Eyed Poison Toad could not even utter a cry before being completely enveloped and devoured by the dense ghostly qi.
At this mont, the space rift fluctuated again.
Xu Ping and Duan Shuang’s figures, one after the other, stumbled out.
Xu Ping reacted extrely quickly, his blood slightly stirred, an invisible force field supported him and Duan Shuang, allowing them to land stably, their clothes fluttering, not appearing too embarrassed.
Just as they landed.
Xu Ping hardly had ti to survey the surroundings, and his Divine Sense, vast as the sea, silently spread out, instantly covering hundreds of miles.
Topography, spiritual qi flow, demon beast distribution, even traces of activities from so lower-grade cultivators... a flood of information poured into his sea of consciousness, swiftly analyzed and processed.
A mont later, a genuine astonishnt appeared on Xu Ping’s face.
"We... actually landed in the Yellow Dragon Mountain Range?"
Yellow Dragon Mountain Range!
This na instantly recalled to him mories long sealed.
Back then, when he was rely a struggling Qi Refining Cultivator vying for Foundation Establishnt opportunities, he made several adventurous trips into this Yellow Dragon Mountain Range, hunting demon beasts, gathering spirit dicine.
Here, it could almost be considered one of the starting points of his long cultivation journey.
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