Chapter 154: Journey to the Inner Province - III
"How long will the journey take?" Rhain asked.
The tall disciple nad Grover was excited that Rhain asked him directly, and hastily answered, "With the speed of the Crimson Bird Skiff, we will cross the boundary and officially enter the Inner Province within a day. However, it will take another two full days of flying to reach Stormveil City, where the Academy is located."
"Three days total?" Rhain raised an eyebrow. "I was told this ship flies faster than a peak Core Formation beast. If the speed is truly that great, the distance between the Outer Frontier and Stormveil City must be incredibly vast."
Grover nodded solemnly, his expression turning serious.
He walked over to the silver railing and pointed down toward the sprawling, endless expanse of wilderness far below.
"Between the Outer Frontier and the Inner Province lie natural death zones. The Sunless Umbral Basin and the Desolate Starfall Crater... just to na a few. They form an absolute death zone."
"For ordinary cultivators, crossing those regions is tantamount to suicide." Grover explained, his eyes flashing with lingering dread. "Even peak Spirit Manifestation Realm cultivators would not survive a day in those cursed lands. That is why the only people who travel between the Outer Frontier and the Inner Province are either high-level Core Formation experts, or those wealthy enough to hitch a ride on a Mystic-Grade Skiff like this one."
He looked back at the gathered disciples.
"It absolutely is not that the Inner Province forbids Essence Condensation or Spirit Manifestation cultivators from entering. It is simply that the geography that itself is an inescapable death trap. That is why the only people who travel between the two domains are mostly high-level Core Formation experts."
"If not for the Crimson Bird Skiff, bridging the gap between the Outer Frontier and the Inner Province is practically a suicidal trip."
’So the world naturally quarantines the weak.’
Rhain silently processed the information in his mind.
As the conversation flowed, Grover and the other Inner Palace disciples excitedly began feeding Rhain the structural layout of their destination.
The area surrounding the Academy was known as Stormveil City.
It wasn’t just a city; it was an unfathomably colossal sovereign state.
And within that city, the power dynamics were split.
Apart from the Stormveil Academy itself, authority was shared among three extrely powerful, ancient noble families that had existed for over a thousand years: the Valere Noble Family, the Emberford Noble Family, and the Thunderwood Noble Family.
"Grover’s eyes flashed with a hint of deep reverence.
"Among them, the Emberford Noble Family is considered the strongest."
At the ntion of the Emberford Family, the other Inner Palace disciples couldn’t help but also voice their thoughts.
"Speaking of the Emberfords... does that an we will see Lady Lyra soon?"
Lyra Emberford.
The na instantly sparked a heated discussion among the Stormveil disciples.
"The greatest prodigy of Stormveil City. She is only nineteen, yet she has already reached the ninth level of the Spirit Manifestation Realm!"
"It’s basically guaranteed she will break through to the Core Formation Realm before she turns twenty!"
A female disciple shook her head in sheer admiration. "That level of talent hasn’t been seen in the entire history of Stormveil City. Even in the vast Solathane Dynasty, it is as rare as phoenix feathers."
"I heard even the Crown Prince himself proposed to make her his royal consort... and she actually refused!"
As the disciples gossiped, their eyes subconsciously sneaked glances toward the beautiful, silver-haired girl standing quietly beside Rhain.
An unavoidable debate hastily broke out among them in hushed whispers.
"Now that our Stormveil Academy has Lady Seris... do you think Lady Lyra is still the undisputed greatest prodigy of our city?" one disciple murmured. "Our city has never seen a True Heavenly Physique before!"
"I still believe Lady Lyra is better," an older disciple retorted, shaking his head. "Lady Seris indeed possesses a peerless physique, but her cultivation right now is only at the Essence Condensation Realm. Lady Lyra will reach the Core Formation Realm any day now. The gap in raw power is simply too vast."
Another instantly scoffed and countered, "Idiot! A True Heavenly Physique defies all logic. It is only a matter of ti before lady Seris will surpasses lady Lyra!"
Rhain and Seris listened to the heated whispers without interrupting.
Valere Noble Family, Emberford Noble Family, Thunderwood Noble Family, and lady Lyra Emberford...
These nas and powers represented an entirely new, and massive stage.
Seris’s pale purple eyes flickered.
A nineteen-year-old at the peak of the Spirit Manifestation Realm.
The Inner Province was truly a place where crouching tigers and hidden dragons resided.
She gently tightened her grip on Rhain’s hand, feeling a mixture of profound hope for her new future and an insuppressible caution.
Rhain simply smiled, gently rubbing his thumb across the back of her snow-white hand to reassure her. In his eyes, no matter how great this Lyra Emberford was, she was completely irrelevant compared to his wife.
And then, without any warning.
The sky above them visibly darkened.
The bright afternoon sunlight was swallowed whole in an instant, plunging the entire skiff into a chilling twilight.
"W-What is happening?" Liana gasped, shivering as she looked up.
Rhain walked toward the railing and looked down.
Below them stretched a gargantuan, pitch-black forest.
Thick, swirling dark mist blanketed the expanse.
An ominous, suffocating aura rose from the depths, easily piercing through the high altitude and washing over the deck of the skiff like a wave of chilling frost wind.
The newly selected geniuses from the Outer Frontier imdiately panicked.
"What is that?"
"The essence in my body is completely frozen just from looking at it!"
Sylvan and Elian both took a heavy step backward, their faces completely drained of color.
"Calm down!"
Grover’s voice rang out, suppressing the rising panic.
"This is the Sunless Umbral Basin, first of the great hazards I ntioned."
He looked at the terrified Outer Frontier youths, his expression turning grave.
"While we are relatively safe behind the protective arrays of the Crimson Bird Skiff, I strongly suggest that everyone imdiately return to your designated cabins."
Grover pointed a trembling finger toward the pitch-black mist. "Occasionally, terrifying Core Formation Realm flying beasts roam the upper currents of this basin. If one decides to attack the Skiff, the resulting shockwaves from the array’s retaliation alone would be enough to instantly pulverize anyone below the Spirit Manifestation Realm. If you stay on deck, you won’t even know how you died."
The warning acted like a bucket of ice water poured over their heads.
The newly selected geniuses didn’t need to be told twice.
They did not dare to linger on the deck for even a second longer.
Rhain looked at Seris, "Let us go inside as well."
Seris nodded, and together they walked away from the chilling winds of the deck.
They soon found an unoccupied private cabin.
The interior of the cabin wasn’t particularly spacious, but it was exceptionally refined.
The walls were carved from the sa crimson wood, embedded with array formations that completely isolated the room from the violent winds outside.
A large, plush ditation bed occupied the center of the room, leaving just enough space for a small tea table.
It was cozy, perfectly sized for two people to rest and cultivate comfortably without feeling cramped.
As soon as the door clicked shut, the arrays activated, sealing the room in pin-drop silence.
"The essence density in here is astonishing," Seris murmured in surprise.
"It’s the arrays drawing directly from the ship’s core," Rhain noted with his Eyes of Truth.
He walked over to the bed and sat down comfortably. "Not bad! We will stay here until we arrive."
Seris walked over and sat gracefully beside him, "Let us cultivate until we arrive at Stormveil City!"
Seris was feeling a bit nervous after hearing about the prodigies of the Stormveil City, and she felt that she was not good enough yet.
Rhain nodded, and didn’t press further.
For the next three days, Rhain, and Seris remained entirely secluded in cultivation.
As Rhain’s Abyssal Sovereign Physique activated, a dark void materialized around him, greedily swallowing the rich, and highly dense essence within the cabin.
For any ordinary cultivator at the peak of the ninth level of the Essence Condensation Realm, stepping into the Spirit Manifestation Realm was a monuntal, often insurmountable hurdle.
It required the cultivator to awaken a wisp of Spiritual Sense—a threshold that stopped countless cultivators dead in their tracks for decades.
But for Rhain?
He had already achieved that back in Greymist Town.
After devouring batches of flawless Epic-Grade soul pills, his Spiritual Sense was not rely a wisp—it was a vast ocean that outshined even Core Formation Realm experts.
If he wanted to, he could shatter the barrier to the Spirit Manifestation Realm with a single thought.
But Rhain deliberately held back.
In his mind, true invincibility did not co from rely rushing through the realms. He chose to delay his breakthrough, using this quiet ti to further temper and refine his Spiritual Sense.
He wanted to forge an absolutely flawless, unshakable foundation before making his next major leap.
Therefore, instead of rushing the breakthrough, Rhain spent the three days ticulously refining and compressing his massive Spiritual Sense, folding it over and over, and then expanding it again.
Inside the sealed, array-protected cabin, isolated from the sun and the moon, they could not understand the flow of ti at all.
It felt as if only a few hours had passed when a sudden, polite knocking resounded against the wooden door.
"Brother Rhain! Lady Seris!" Grover’s voice ca from outside. "We have arrived! Please, co out to the deck!"
Rhain’s dark grey eyes slowly opened, "It seems the three days are up."
Across from him, Seris also opened her pale purple eyes, letting out a long, refreshing exhale.
Her aura had stabilized visibly over the three days.
Seris stood up with a graceful smile, "Husband, let us go, and see the Inner Province!"
When Rhain and Seris pushed open their cabin door and stepped back out onto the sprawling crimson deck, the chilling darkness of the Sunless Umbral Basin was nowhere to be seen.
The sky was a brilliant, endless azure, and the air itself felt incredibly light, carrying a fragrance that instantly invigorated the mind.
Fabian stood at the very front of the helm, his hands clasped behind his back.
Gathered along the railings were the rest of the Inner Palace disciples, as well as the newly selected geniuses from Mirravele City.
But Liana, Sylvan, Elian, and the other Outer Frontier prodigies weren’t talking.
They were unblinkingly staring ahead in the horizon.
Rhain and Seris walked up to the railing, their gazes following the direction all were looking at.
The mont they looked ahead, a look of marvel appeared on Rhain’s face.
Mirravele City had been a colossal behemoth, a tropolis that stretched beyond the horizon.
But compared to the sight before them, Mirravele City looked like a crude, mortal village.
Stormveil City wasn’t just built on the ground.
There were multiple massive, floating landmasses hovered in the sky, suspended by incomprehensibly vast, glowing arrays that spanned hundreds of miles.
Towering palaces crafted from luminescent white jade and polished spiritual gold touched the clouds.
Colossal waterfalls flowed downward from the floating islands, plunging thousands of feet into crystal-clear lakes below, creating perpetual rainbows that arched across the city.
The essence in the air was so ridiculously dense that it literally condensed into shimring, colorful clouds that drifted lazily through the grand avenues.
In the sky, imnse flying beasts—so easily rivaling or surpassing Kiki in size and aura—soared gracefully, pulling extravagant, floating carriages adorned with the crests of noble families.
"This... this is Stormveil City?" Liana whispered, her voice trembling. "It’s... it’s like the realm of gods..."
Sylvan gripped the railing, his knuckles turning white.
The pride of the Silvercrest Clan was completely eradicated in the face of this overwhelming majesty.
Here, he truly felt like a speck of dust.
Seris was equally captivated, her pale purple eyes reflecting the dazzling, floating palaces. "It’s so beautiful..."
Rhain looked at the sprawling, magnificent empire of the Inner Province.
A hint of ambition, and desire to conquer rose in his heart.
This was the true stage.
But before he could say a word, a crisp, chanical voice suddenly exploded within his mind.
[Ding!]
[Host has successfully stepped into the territory of Stormveil City — Inner Province. ]
[Special Spatial Anomaly Detected.]
[Hidden Sign-In Node Activated: The Heart of Stormveil.]
[Would you like to sign in?]
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