World Barrier
One of the guardian’s evaporated a part of the ocean not long ago despite the three peacefully conversing at the rocks on the island that fiend beasts in the ocean were too fearful to approach.
“Really? What is the alternative route?” Mu Yu energetically inquired.
Ol’ Turtle bobbed his head. “Aren’t you curious why Second and Third Heaven are connected?”
Mu Yu shook his head. He didn’t even have an inkling to make a guess.
“Have you heard of spiritual qi cores?”
Mu Yu nodded.
Ol’ Turtle stroked his beard. “They are the passage that connects the two worlds.”
Mu Yu’s eyes widened. He knew they released qi outside, but he had never seen the other side of them. His assumption was they released spiritual qi into the world. Ol’ Turtle’s statement was newfound knowledge.
“Your teleportation formation is the same as ours. Essentially, it’s designed to transform spiritual qi into a passageway one can enter. Spiritual qi core formations have just vanished over the course of history. We can’t decipher how to construct them even if we try in this day and age.”
“Put simply, we travel via spiritual qi cores?”
“There’s a wall between two different worlds. It’s supposed to be woefully difficult to create a passageway that bypasses the wall. In this context, there’s a discrepancy between two heavens’ spiritual qi potency. As such, the realm with more potent spiritual qi figuratively pushes down the wall, thereby creating a pathway for the potent spiritual qi to pour into the other heaven. Second Heaven’s spiritual qi is more potent than Third Heavens. By that account, there are lots of spiritual qi cores in places you can’t see at Second Heaven.
“You can think of Second Heaven as a developed desolate world. The spiritual qi present in Third Heaven comes from here. Third Heaven’s spiritual qi core leaks spiritual qi out, while Second Heaven’s spiritual qi core absorbs it. See how they can be used? Now, when you cross over, you have to deal with the pressure of both worlds. The purpose of the teleportation formations is to ensure the pressure doesn’t crush us in limbo.”
It took a while for Mu Yu to put the pieces together in his head. “If I may be presumptuous, you are saying the other way to go home is t-“
“To find a spiritual qi core. I would say the blue ribbon will be able to get you across. Since its nature’s source of water, nature’s pressure won’t destroy it. Our formation only accounts for our race’s body type. For that reason, Qiao Xue uses that blue ribbon as armour when travelling.”
So that’s why she gave me this ribbon. Informative. I need to respect these items more.
“Let me use one of your spiritual qi cores,” Mu Yu requested.
“Can’t. They’re protected.”
“Tell me the location of them, and I will search for them.”
Ol’ Turtle blinked twice. “Since when were we friends?”
“Since we sat down to chat?”
“What’s my name, then?”
“Ol’ Turtle… Sea Turtle? Big Turtle?”
Splash! Water in the ocean flung splashed up and down again.
In the end, Ol’ Turtle did point Mu Yu toward one location he knew of. If there was one place a spiritual qi core was bound to exist, it was where the fiend king was sealed. Seals were formations set atop a spiritual qi core, after all. When he was sealed away, humanity cut off the spiritual qi around him to wear him down. Additionally, they drained the spiritual qi inside the formation so that he couldn’t breathe. Without spiritual qi, he would die even if he was immortal. Paradoxically, the formation fell apart once the spiritual qi ran out for spiritual qi sustained the sealing formation.
Considering it took thousands of years to deplete the spiritual qi, the sealer had to possess serious skill to control spiritual qi that potent.
It took another day of flying to fiend the mountain the fiend king broke out from. The location reminded Mu Yu of Qiao Xue. He was certain that he was lambasted back at Third Heaven. Despite that, he didn’t feel he was in the wrong.
Checking out the devastated landscape, Xiaoshuai sniffed. “Did I tell you I smelt a familiar scent ever since coming here?”
“Yeah, you mentioned fried yellow beans.”
Mu Yu flew toward the peak, which was where the fiend king was sealed. He went over to the place the fierce battle took place and tried to sense the spiritual qi core. He couldn’t pick up anything, but Xiaoshuai expressed, “I smell it again. It’s this way.”
Xiaoshuai squeezed into a gap, and Mu Yu tagged along. The gaps were eventually too narrow for him to physically walk through. Therefore, he entered Spirit Wood. Eventually blocked again, he wished the wood spirit could transform into a strand of grass. To his surprise, it really did transform into a strand of grass, allowing him to continue forward.
“Should’ve told me you could transform earlier.”
“It’s over here!” Xiaoshuai effused, wagging his tail and pointing to a dark place.
The area ahead was more spacious again. Mu Yu could sense a force drawing him in the same way the jade pieces did when crushed. This particular force drew spiritual qi into a void, which, based off what Ol’ Turtle, taught, was going to be transferred to someplace at Third Heaven.
Xiaoshuai sniffed the air and then smacked his head. “I know where this spiritual qi core connects to now!”
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