AZI Volume 3 Chapter 6

"…"

Tightening his grip on Bai Zhe, Long Hua rotates his cultivation base, along with the Heaven Creation Mantra.

Amidst all this, time seems to grind to a halt.

Close to 30 minutes have passed since this tribulation had started, and the spirit Qi—that was absorbed into his body, has been thoroughly assimilated into his bones. Following this—

"Uh!"

Pain abruptly begins to emanate from every bone in Long Hua's body, as if there is a hand of great strength attempting to crush them.

However, the worst pain of all stems from his head. This pain is probably the sort that one would be subjected to—when there is a giant insect inside of the brain, attempting to pry the organ apart to escape.

Under this torment, Long Hua's vision distorts.

Momentarily, it feels as if someone had grabbed him by the head, and was pushing him forward at an astonishing rate of speed.

As the pain subsides, and the sensation of being pushed along settles, Long Hua abruptly finds himself standing in the middle of a landmass—one that is devoid of greenery.

The sky of this world is completely white—in fact, calling it a sky may not even be appropriate. If one looks more closely at the white space, they will realize that it's nothing more than an endless void.

"…This should be the world within my spiritual sea."

The spiritual sea of a practitioner refers to the deepest part of their mind.

Under normal circumstances, it would be difficult to come here, and even if an individual is able to get here, they wouldn't be able to find much, unless they are in the Foundation Establishment realm—where the spirit Qi collected during the Qi Condensation realm are gathered, to form a foundation pillar.

However, in Long Hua's case, there was no pillar to be found.

Instead, this vast landmass serves as a replacement to the pillar—that an ordinary Foundation Establishment realm practitioner would have.

"Bones manifest into vast lands."

Through the cultivation of the Heaven Creation Mantra, one is able to create a world inside of their spiritual sea.

And the existence of this world—is what allows a practitioner of this cultivation method, to raise their cultivation base by absorbing other forms of energy, outside of spirit Qi.

"Success then."

A faint smile appears on Long Hua's face, and upon him closing his eyes, his consciousness returns to his physical body.

In the real world, not even a second had passed—since he had temporarily entered his own spiritual sea.

...…

"…"

Halting the rotation of the Heaven Creation Mantra, but maintaining the rotation of his cultivation base, Long Hua leaps into the air, and closes in on the lightning sphere—while ignoring the rain of lightning that approaches.

As soon as the lightning sphere is within his striking range—

"Flowers within the Mist."

Long Hua swings Bai Zhe.

(Flowers within the Mist, is it?)

Looking at the sight from a distance, the Tian Cheng—inside of the dreamscape, raises a sigh.

As if the sword in Long Hua's hand had become a paint brush, every swing he performed would cause sword Qi—in the form of flower petals, to manifest around him.

"…"

With a final swing, Long Hua sends the flower petals forward, and—

*…! …! …! …! …!* upon contact with the sword Qi flower petals, the colossal sphere of lightning is readily shredded apart!

"Tai Xuan."

Muttering this upon landing, Long Hua repairs the damage Bai Zhe had sustained—causing the dark spots on its blade to vanish.

...…

"…"

As the lightning prison, and the lightning orb dissipates, Yao Ying blinks her eyes in surprise, as she peeks at the scene—from behind the cover of a large rubble.

(How beautiful those flower petals are...… Ah…)

Snapping her attention back to reality, Yao Ying sees the masked figure descending from the air.

As the white glow, that is emanating from their soft sword—dissipates, all traces of dark spots, that were on its blade, had vanished.

"…"

Manifesting flower petals on their left hand, the figure shakes his head—with what seems to be a bitter smile, before causing the petals to fade.

(No, they aren't genuine flower petals—but sword Qi in the form of them, I think? Hm?)

Seeing a young lady—dressed in a set of attires, that she is unfamiliar with, approach the masked figure, Yao Ying tilts her head.

(Would he be willing to help me?)

Just as this thought crosses Yao Ying's mind, two more figures appear.

The first is a man with white hair, and the second is a young girl—who looks to be of a similar age to herself.

"Lao Bai, this world's tribulation seems off."

Ignoring the young girl after a glance, the masked figure turns his attention to the white-haired man.

"Oh? You noticed? Let's hear your impressions first."

"It doesn't seem like it was designed with practitioners in mind."

Saying this, the masked figure turns to his female companion, who says—

"It seemed similar to a blacksmith hammering away at an anvil."

Towards the two's impressions, the white-haired man smiles, and explains—

"Tribulations in the Leng Bing Realm are uncommon, unusual even. No, maybe it's better for me to say—that they tend to occur far out of sight? If a clansman of mine sees one, then they should report it under normal circumstances."

"The guy I nabbed Kun from—didn't seem surprised, when he saw it."

"You mean Huang Wu? That was his first time here; he wouldn't know this—unless, he bothered to read the introduction guide to this world."

Raising a frown, the masked figure remarks—

"I get the feeling, you're not willing to tell me the full story."

"It's much more fun to discover stuff on your own."

Shrugging a shoulder, the masked figure replies—

"Same excuse as usual. So, what did you come here for? Not just to see me undergo that tribulation, I assume?"