Ji Yuan had a hunch and looked down from the mountain peak. The other two groups had already shaken off countless monsters and were now ascending at the fastest speed.
Before long, the nine people who had entered the cave dwelling gathered at the summit once again.
Upon reaching the top, after looking around, they all raised the same question.
“If my guess is correct, it should require the Night Pearls in our hands to make the spiritual treasures here appear.”
Before Li Buwei could speak, Nan Xi said first.
The others looked at him with surprise. In their impression, he had always been rather quiet and rarely spoke.
They hadn't expected him to speak up proactively. It seemed that in the face of opportunity, he was no different from others.
“How do we do it?”
Lü Xian looked at the Night Pearl in his palm, a thoughtful expression flashing in his eyes.
After pondering for a while, he suddenly injected a stream of spiritual energy into it. Instantly, its radiance brightened by several degrees.
In the next breath, the Night Pearl rose from his palm into the air, slowly flying towards the center of the mountain peak. As it settled in mid-air, a faint halo descended, and a complex formation pattern quietly appeared on the ground.
Seeing this, everyone felt inspired and each injected a stream of spiritual energy into the Night Pearl in their hands.
In just a moment, five Night Pearls gathered at the center of the mountain peak, each emitting a faint white glow, which then flowed into the formation pattern that had appeared on the ground.
As more and more light was injected, the formation pattern became increasingly bright, and an aura as if from ancient times slowly spread across the mountain peak.
Everyone’s expressions turned serious. They saw the five Night Pearls merge into a single, fist-sized sphere.
This sphere absorbed all the radiance, and under the illumination of the formation pattern on the ground, dense and profound patterns suddenly appeared on its surface.
With just a glance, the hearts of the few people were greatly moved. They suddenly had many insights, and they knew that if they could study it for a long time, their own cultivation realms would undoubtedly reach a higher level.
“He who obtains this pearl shall receive my inheritance and can inherit everything within the cave dwelling.”
A voice suddenly rang out, appearing abruptly in everyone’s minds.
The atmosphere here immediately tensed. Glances were exchanged, and beneath the calm surface, undercurrents were surging.
The spiritual treasure on the mountain peak alone had already brought them great gains. Everyone could imagine that the opportunities hidden within the cave dwelling would only be richer than what was displayed outside.
Thus, it was natural that no one would back down and give up the resources that were within their grasp.
“From my perspective, why don’t we let one person inherit the legacy here, and then we can all share the opportunities within the cave dwelling equally?”
Lü Xian clapped his hands together and looked at everyone with a rather sincere gaze.
However, most of them scoffed inwardly at his proposal. No one would seriously consider such a plan.
The restless Fire Monkey directly retorted, “Then who will receive the inheritance? And how can we guarantee that this person will be willing to share the opportunities within the cave dwelling?”
Even without thinking, they knew that once someone accepted the inheritance, they would inevitably gain control of the formations inside and outside the cave dwelling. If the chosen person were to go back on their word, the others would be at their mercy.
The people present were not novices. How could they entrust their own safety to a stranger whose background and temperament were unknown?
Not to mention that among cultivators, deceit and intrigue were the norm. For some rogue cultivators, breaking promises and spewing lies was as common as drinking water or breathing, as simple as everyday life.
Hearing this, Lü Xian seemed to want to say something, but before he could open his mouth, Nan Xi, the middle-aged swordsman, had already stepped forward.
“Let’s rely on our own abilities!”
He said in a deep voice and reached out to grab the sphere in the center of the mountain peak.
However, after Nan Xi had taken only three or four steps, covering a distance of seven or eight zhang, a whistling sound immediately reverberated across the mountain peak.
Lü Xian’s face turned cold as he let out a low shout. With a hand seal, more than a dozen small banners flew out from his sleeve, instantly releasing brilliant spiritual light that intertwined to form a long sword emitting a radiant glow.
The sword tore through the air and descended with immense force, carrying with it the dazzling spiritual light of the heavens.
Regardless of the sword’s power, its momentum was undeniably strong and visually striking.
Nan Xi shifted his body, frowning as he looked at the sword formed by spiritual light descending from mid-air. A hint of anger suddenly appeared in his eyes.
He formed his fingers into a sword gesture and lightly pointed at the empty space in front of him. Immediately, a sword qi shot out from his fingertip, striking the sword formed by spiritual light directly without any flourish.
In the next moment, a strange sound was heard, followed by an eruption of sword intent. The sword formed by spiritual light was instantly cut in half at the waist by a stream of sword qi and immediately disintegrated into countless specks of falling spiritual light.
Nan Xi snorted coldly. The sword qi that had cut the sword in mid-air immediately spun around and shot towards Lü Xian.
Seeing this, Lü Xian quickly formed hand seals. Under the manipulation of his spiritual energy, the more than a dozen small banners merged into one. The banner cloth gently swayed, sweeping away a large area of spiritual light.
However, this stream of sword qi seemed to be unstoppable, cutting through the sweeping spiritual light and finally landing on the surface of the banner.
*Pfft!*
The sword qi finally dissipated, but Lü Xian spat out a large mouthful of blood as a result. His face turned grim as he looked and saw a tear on the surface of the banner in front of him, which had been ripped open by the sword qi!
“If you don’t know how to use a sword, don’t use it. It’s just a joke!”
Nan Xi said coldly, a look of anger flashing across his face.
It was evident that Lü Xian’s attempt to form a sword with spiritual light had offended a certain boundary in his heart, and he was willing to expose his sword intent to teach him a lesson.
Of course, by not concealing his sword intent, Nan Xi also intended to deter the others. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be so impatient and act on impulse, being someone who was not a mere child?
As expected, as he emanated his sword intent, the others instinctively took a step back, and their expressions became even more solemn.
If the cultivation of the Spirit Infusion realm was to continuously dispel the illusions within the flesh and blood, integrating the essence, energy, and spirit into one, building the foundation of the Dao with the body as the medium.
Then, the cultivation of the third realm—the Dao Enlightenment realm—was to awaken a Dao heart and, with it, comprehend one’s own unique artistic conception.
The artistic conceptions were myriad and varied. Some comprehended supreme sword intent, and even if they did not walk the path of a sword cultivator, they could still become peerless Sword Immortals.
Others comprehended a fist intent as heavy as a mountain, and even if they were Qi Refiners, they could still punch like a warrior, shattering mountains and rivers with a single blow.
To comprehend the artistic conception of the third realm with the body of the second realm, if given enough time, this person would not necessarily reach the Dao Enlightenment realm, but their chances would undoubtedly be infinitely higher than other cultivators.
The most important point was that comprehending the artistic conception of the third realm in advance, even without any spiritual energy augmentation, would still exert great suppression on cultivators of the second realm.
If combined with spiritual energy and artifacts, even if the realms were the same, their threat level would increase by several times, or even by one or two times!
Not to mention that this person’s killing power was already extremely strong, and combined with the sword intent they had comprehended, they were already a formidable opponent within the same realm!
Even fighting across realms with this would not be difficult!
“Please enlighten me!”
Just as their minds were shaken, Shi Shan suddenly shouted from the side.
Then, he was seen channeling his spiritual energy fiercely. Within a halo of yellow light, a dense surge of blood and Qi rose, attaching itself to his body like a suit of armor.
He took a step forward, and suddenly a fierce wind erupted. In an instant, he appeared before Nan Xi, raising his fists and striking out directly!
As the strong wind howled, illusory dragon heads appeared on his fists, formed by the fusion of spiritual energy and blood and Qi, as if dragon roars were heard by everyone.
Seeing this, Nan Xi took half a step back, and a soft hum resonated through the mountain peak. Amidst the bright light, the long sword at his waist was drawn with a fierce clang!
*Boom!!!*
In an instant, surging waves of air immediately swept out in all directions. The two, one holding a sword and the other delivering double fists, were locked in a stalemate, with rolling spiritual energy constantly spreading out.
“Dual Cultivation of Dharma and Body!”
Ji Yuan exclaimed subconsciously, his voice filled with shock.
The others here were similarly astonished. No one had expected Shi Shan to be practicing dual cultivation of Dharma and body!
Initially, based on their conjectures, this person should have been proficient in earth magic, but they had not expected his achievements in body refinement to be equally formidable.
“Stop!”
Just then, Lü Xian suddenly shouted, and then anxiously threw out the small banners in front of him.
The woman beside him also moved her sleeves, and various objects of different shapes flew out, landing in the surroundings in a specific arrangement.
These specially made formation bases immediately spewed out streams of spiritual light, which intertwined and flowed into the torn banner.
In a short while, the small banner grew in the wind, from a few inches to half a zhang in length. As the banner cloth flapped, it spewed out one brilliant ray of light after another.
And as the more than a dozen rays of light descended, the Fire Monkey, who had intended to sneakily seize the inheritance pearl, immediately let out a strange cry and retreated backward repeatedly.
However, these rays of light sharply turned and chased after him, following him closely.
Seeing this, a sharp glint flashed in the Fire Monkey’s eyes. In an instant, a ball of flame erupted, enveloping him in a fierce blaze.
He let out a roar, and the flames on his body flowed like water, instantly flowing to his hands. Then, he unleashed palm strike after palm strike, and a sky full of fiery palm shadows surged out.
In just a moment, more than ten brilliant rays of light were dispersed by the palm shadows enveloped in flames, unable to harm him in the slightest.
The few people gasped, not expecting that this person also practiced dual cultivation of Dharma and body, and when he unleashed it, his aura was even more fierce and violent than Shi Shan’s.
“Attack!”
Ji Yuan growled, no longer intending to watch from the sidelines.
He and Li Buwei had already agreed that while outsiders were still competing, they would remain united, and only when only the two of them remained would they compete based on their own abilities or divide the spoils equally.
Although the binding force of verbal agreements was weak and depended entirely on personal integrity, at least as long as the situation was not clear, or if they had more than seven or eight tenths confidence, neither Ji Yuan nor Li Buwei would easily change their strategy.
As his words fell, Li Buwei, standing beside him, moved even faster, directly throwing out the crimson cauldron in his hand!
In an instant, a raging inferno swept out, indiscriminately engulfing Lü Xian and the other two, as well as the incomparably violent Fire Monkey!