Spirit Realm Chapter 519-520

Chapter 519: We Will Be Enemies When We Meet Again!

Luo Chen, Du Xiangyang, Song Tingyu, Xie Jingxuan, Pang Qianqian, and Xue Moyan used their mind consciousnesses to examine the tokens at their waists.

“All of the eastern barbarians have come to a halt!”

Pan Qianqian exclaimed as she turned to look behind them, astonishment clear on her face.

The rest of Qin Lie’s group looked at Gao Yu, with strange expressions on their faces.

It was obvious to everyone present that the eastern barbarians stopped approaching because the girl named Jia Yue had blown the horn. They were obeying her command.

That same Jia Yue had listened to Gao Yu and given up on threatening them.

“What exactly is going on here, Gao Yu?” Song Tingyu sighed softly, some of the tension flowing out of her.

However, Gao Yu ignored her and only looked at Qin Lie.

Qin Lie frowned at him in return.

After a long period of silence, Gao Yu’s sinister expression gradually softened.

“You were actually going to give the Demon Sealing Tombstone up to save me…” he said softly, his tone deep and low.

It was then that everyone realized… that this whole charade had been Gao Yu testing Qin Lie.

“Why?” The expression on Qin Lie’s face was so heavy that one could wring water from it.

“After everything that happened in Icestone City and the Nether Realm… we parted ways. When we met again at Sea Moon Island, you seemed to have changed a lot.” Gao Yu paused for a moment, contemplating something, then continued, “I wanted to know if you were the same Qin Lie I knew many years ago.

“I wanted to know if… deep in your heart… you still considered me your friend.”

Qin Lie stayed silent.

He understood that merging with a part of who he used to be had slightly changed his demeanor. He was, indeed, different.

Gao Yu did all of this just to confirm how different Qin Lie had become.

“What would have happened to us if Qin Lie hadn’t taken the Demon Sealing Tombstone out to save you?” Du Xiangyang asked cheerfully, his anxiety forgotten.

“All of you would’ve died!” Gao Yu exclaimed harshly, sweeping a glance over him.

And immediately after they thought they could relax, everyone froze up again.

“Jia Yue leads the white barbarians. A dozen or so of them were pursuing you from behind, all of which are in the late stage of the Netherpassage Realm,” Gao Yu said apathetically. “In addition to that, dozens of white barbarian elites lay in wait a kilometer and a half ahead of here. You had no chance of surviving this.”

Upon hearing this, each of them felt a chill well up from the bottom of their hearts. Palpable fear leaked from their eyes.

Assuming Gao Yu wasn’t lying to them, then dozens of white barbarian elites were both right behind them as well as blocking the road ahead. Adding them to Jia Yue, who was clearly quite powerful, and Gao Yu, whose current strength was unknown… Qin Lie’s group might have really died then and there.

“The eastern barbarians have already slaughtered every single martial practitioner from the Land of Chaos who wandered into the Forbidden Lands of Earth, Water, and Metal,” Gao Yu said in a low tone. He paused, eyeing Qin Lie’s group one by one, then continued, “Several hundred black, scarlet, and white barbarians are in the Forbidden Land of Ice right now. They possess tokens from each of the nine great Silver rank forces. They are the hunters, and all of you are just… prey.”

This news made Qin Lie’s group go pale.

They had guessed that there would be a lot of eastern barbarians in the area, but they didn’t think that several hundred of them would enter the Graveyard of Gods. Furthermore, the barbarians swept through the other three forbidden lands and killed every Land of Chaos martial practitioner they came across.

Seeing their expressions, Gao Yu sighed deeply.

“I suggest that you get rid of your tokens as soon as possible. If you do, you might be able to keep the eastern barbarians from tracking you down and killing you.”

“What is your relationship with Jia Yue?” Qin Lie asked, frowning.

After a moment of hesitation, Gao Yu answered.

“When I fell into the Forbidden Land of Metal, martial practitioners of Black Voodoo Cult and the Xiahou Family hunted me relentlessly. Jia Yue was also being hunted. She had strayed from her fellow tribesmen and gotten lost. The two of us had no choice but to work together to survive. When I suffered a grave injury, she was the one who carried me on her back and helped me escape Black Voodoo Cult and the Xiahou Family’s encirclement. She’s the only reason I survived. I owe her…”

“You say you owe her…” Song Tingyu interrupted. “Yet it seems like she values your opinion quite a bit.”

“She values my opinion because, once I recovered, I’ve helped her lead the white barbarians in killing Black Voodoo Cult and Xiahou Family martial practitioners,” Gao Yu retorted coldly.

A chill ran through everyone’s bodies yet again.

“Will you be staying with the white barbarians?” Qin Lie asked solemnly.

“I made a promise to Jia Yue.” Gao Yu’s face slowly turned grim. “I will help her keep her promise to her tribesmen, hunt her enemies in the Graveyard of Gods, and seize the remains of the elites in the Land of Buried Gods. This means that we’ll be enemies the moment we part ways!”

This declaration startled Qin Lie.

“I will become your enemy!” Gao Yu yelled, looking at Luo Chen, Xue Moyan, and the others. “Back in the Forbidden Land of Metal, I didn’t kill just Black Voodoo Cult and Xiahou Family martial practitioners. I killed every martial practitioner I came across, including those of other forces!”

Luo Chen and Xue Moyan’s eyes went cold.

“One more thing…” Gao Yu shook his head and laughed coldly. “Ye Yihao was the one who told Jia Yue where you were and that you had the Pure Soul Springs.

“The black, scarlet, and white barbarians may clash from time to time, but they are incredibly united when it comes to battling foreign enemies. Killing the martial practitioners of the Land of Chaos is the top priority of every eastern barbarian. The martial practitioners of the Land of Chaos, on the other hand, continue to fight each other. It is their destiny to be buried in the Graveyard of Gods.

“Qin Lie! Next time we meet, you and I will be enemies!”

After making this declaration, Gao Yu resolutely moved in the direction that Jia Yue had gone. His figure disappeared into the distance, ghastly shadows following in his wake.

A dense, unfathomably dark aura radiated from his body, making it look as if he had been possessed by thousands of ghosts.

A moment after Gao Yu left, Xie Jingxuan spoke up.

“Gao Yu must have had a fortuitous encounter here in the Graveyard of Gods. His biomagnetic field is incredibly strong… actually, it’s slightly stronger than Yu Men’s. At the very least, he must’ve reached the middle stage of the Netherpassage Realm.”

“How can he possess such a terrifying aura at just the middle stage of the Netherpassage Realm?” Du Xiangyang asked grimly..

“Sometimes… strength isn’t related to one’s realm.” Luo Chen subconsciously glanced at Qin Lie.

In Luo Chen’s eyes, Qin Lie’s realm was average at best. However, he was capable of accomplishing astonishing things over and over.

“This Gao Yu is incredibly strong,” Xue Moyan said in a low voice.

“What’ll you do if we meet him again?” Du Xiangyang looked at Qin Lie.

“…that depends on the situation!”

……

“Gao Yu has returned!”

Sixteen white barbarians were positioned behind Qin Lie’s group. Shields of light covered their bodies, and they carried giant bows on their backs. Their eyes resembled lightning against their pale white faces.

These white barbarians consisted of men and women between twenty and forty years old.

Yet all of them were in the late stage of the Netherpassage Realm.

Jia Yue stood right in the middle of them.

When they saw Gao Yu return, relief showed on their faces as they collectively sighed.

They had been worried that Gao Yu wouldn’t return after meeting Qin Lie.

Before this, the white barbarians hadn’t trusted Gao Yu. They had looked down on him and scorned him. However, through his violent, ruthless slaughtering of Land of Chaos martial practitioners, he had slowly won their trust and respect.

And all of them had noticed the love that had secretly developed between him and their tribe’s beloved daughter, Jia Yue.

Gao Yu’s cultivation of the Nine Hell Wandering Soul Record, the Evil God inheritance he received from the Nether Realm, and his dark, ruthless personality won the recognition of all the white barbarians. All of that even helped them approve of his relationship with Jia Yue.

They all thought that the future of the White Barbarian Tribe would be bright if Gao Yu became Jia Yue’s husband.

Gao Yu clearly possessed limitless potential, his heart was as firm as steel, and his methods were extremely effective. He would definitely become a firm pillar of support for Jia Yue in the future.

At the same time, Jia Yue would eventually become a tribe elder. She was, quite literally, the White Barbarian Tribe’s future.

“We shall leave Qin Lie to others,” Gao Yu said indifferently. “Let us head to the Land of Buried Gods first.”

“Whatever you say.” Jia Yue smiled faintly.

“Gao Yu!” a big barbarian yelled in a low voice. “What shall we do if we meet that group in the Land of Buried Gods?”

This question weighed upon the hearts of many of them.

“When we meet again, we will be enemies!” Gao Yu exclaimed in a low tone.

“Good!” The barbarian laughed loudly. “We trust you, Gao Yu! We can truly relax now that we have your word!”

……

“Should we do what Gao Yu suggested and throw away all of our tokens?”

Song Tingyu suddenly spoke up.

Qin Lie’s group was currently using the Demon Sealing tombstone to determine their course again and start heading toward the ice spirit.

“There are several hundred eastern barbarians, and all of them have tokens they can use to track us. It is obviously disadvantageous for us to continue carrying them,” Xie Jingxuan added.

“The tokens aren’t only used to communicate between forces. They can also be used to determine where the passageways out of the Graveyard of Gods are once the Trial ends.” Du Xiangyang smiled bitterly.

This information surprised Qin Lie, Song Tingyu, and Xie Jingxuan.

“You guys weren’t aware of that?” Du Xiangyang asked, stunned.

The three of them shook their heads.

“The spatial passageways we used to enter the Graveyard of Gods were sealed from the outside, which is why we are currently unable to use the tokens to sense them,” Du Xiangyang explained. “However, once the Trial ends, the people outside will reopen the passageways. When that time comes, every token in our possession will be able to tell us where those passageways are. There are no other ways for us to leave the Graveyard of Gods to return to the Land of Chaos!”

“We’ve been in here for half a year. The Trial will end once another six months passes,” Pan Qianqian said. “As long as we’re still alive by then, we’ll be able to return to the Land of Chaos even if we don’t manage to get anything from the Graveyard of Gods. We’d be able to collect the rewards that all of the forces put up for grabs!”

“Does that mean we can’t just discard our tokens then?” Song Tingyu asked, her expression bitter. “They literally paint a target on our backs! We could be discovered by the eastern barbarians at any moment in the Forbidden Land of Ice!”

“We’ll only need one token if we just stay together,” Du Xiangyang said after some careful consideration. “With just one token, the probability of the eastern barbarians finding us will drop significantly. Then we’ll be able to figure out where the passageways are in half a year and leave this place.”

As the group spoke amongst each other, Qin Lie quietly examined the interior of a sword token with a wisp of mind consciousness.

He was carefully analyzing the spirit diagram inside of it.

A while later, he said, “We don’t need to throw the tokens away. I can alter the spirit diagrams inside of them and render them temporarily useless. Once we need them, I can readjust the spirit diagrams and reactivate them.”

Chapter 520: Finally Free!

“Big Brother Qin, you even know how to forge artifacts?”

Tiny stars shone in Pan Qianqian’s eyes, her face filled with admiration. She became increasingly convinced of how amazing Qin Lie really was.

Aside from Song Tingyu and Xie Jingxuan, the rest of the group wore expressions of amazement. They looked as if they had discovered a new continent.

“Seriously?” Du Xiangyang exclaimed in surprise. “You know how to forge artifacts too?”

“He’s the most talented artificer that our Scarlet Tide Continent has seen in a thousand years!” Song Tingyu declared proudly. “He forged all of his Terminator Profound Bombs with his own hands!”

The Land of Chaos martial practitioners of the group grew more and more astonished.

“Master Meng, who personally forged all of the sword tokens, is Heavenly Sword Mountain’s most prolific artificer. He can forge artifacts up to Earth Grade Five or Six!” Luo Chen snorted in disdain. “Qin Lie, are you saying that you can alter a spirit diagram that Master Meng himself constructed?”

Luo Chen’s words suddenly caused Du Xiangyang to doubt Qin Lie as well.

Du Xiangyang also came from Heavenly Sword Mountain, and he was well aware of how impressive Master Meng was.

How could the spirit diagram of such a master artificer be so easily tampered with?

“A master artificer capable of forging Earth Grade Five or Six spirit artifacts!”

This information shocked Song Tingyu. The pride on her face swiftly faded, worry clearly starting to replace it.

The number of master artificers in all of the Scarlet Tide Continent could be counted on one hand. Even Armament Sect’s Mo Hai, a publicly acknowledged master, could only forge spirit artifacts up to Profound Grade Seven.

Qin Lie may have displayed extraordinary talent at Armament Sect and triggered reactions in all twelve spirit pattern pillars, but he had started forging artifacts a bit late. He couldn’t be more skilled at artificing than Mo Hai… could he?

Song Tingyu suddenly felt that it had been kind of ridiculous for her to be proud of Qin Lie.

All of them stared at Qin Lie with doubt in their eyes.

“I can neither forge a sword token nor inscribe the spirit diagram inside of it,” Qin Lie said, a calm, confident smile on his face. “However… I don’t believe that altering a few spirit strands to adjust the spirit diagram will prove to be much of a problem.”

“Every single spirit strand in a spirit diagram is essential!” Luo Chen exclaimed in a low tone. “Tinkering with even one of them could cause the entire spirit diagram to collapse!”

The others were on the fence, half believing in Qin Lie and half doubting him.

Qin Lie just smiled and shook his head, staying silent. Under their anxious gazes, he pressed a finger to the sword token in his hand.

The moment he touched the sword token, his fingertip sparked with dazzling spirit light that resembled the tip of an otherworldly pen.

In the same instant, a wisp of his mind consciousness pierced into the sword token and entered the world of the spirit diagram.

All compound spirit diagrams, which were made by combining other spirits diagrams into one, normally consisted of the basic four: Spirit Storage, Spirit Gathering, Amplification, and Strengthening.

Two of the basic spirit diagrams, Spirit Storage and Amplification, could be seen in the sword token’s compound spirit diagram. At the center of the two, however, was a rather complicated spiral-shaped spirit diagram.

At first glance, the spirit diagram resembled a spiral funnel that constantly radiated strange spirit energy.

The mouth of the funnel diagram generated a suction force that seemed to be drawing something into it.

The basic Spirit Storage diagram contained sword spirit energy, which was the power source for the sword token. It had been sealed into that diagram to provide energy for all of the compound diagrams.

Traces of the sword spirit energy flowed from the Spirit Storage diagram. After being enhanced by the Amplification diagram, that energy then moved to power the funnel-shaped spirit diagram, allowing it to release fluctuations as it absorbed waves of energy from outside of the token. Whenever it did, a low, droning sound would resonate from that diagram, transmitting information to and from its owner…

With just glance, Qin Lie quickly saw through the secrets of the three spirit diagrams in the sword token, then turned his attention to the Spirit Storage diagram.

This diagram was still much simpler than the one he had learned and mastered. It paled in comparison.

Concentrating his wisp of mind consciousness, Qin Lie gathered it around three threads of the Spirit Storage diagram. With a thought, he twisted the threads with spirit energy, forcing them to become oddly tangled..

This led to an abrupt change in the entirety of the Spirit Storage diagram. The tangled knot of spirit threads instantly blocked the passage through which energy had constantly flowed.

This kept the sword spirit energy within the Spirit Storage diagram from reaching the rest of the compound spirit diagram.

All spirit diagrams needed energy to function. Without energy, the funnel-shaped spirit diagram immediately stopped transmitting and receiving information. This resulted in the most important function of the sword token forcefully shutting down.

Qin Lie’s mind consciousness exited the sword token.

The sword token he held in one hand, which had originally been shining brightly, suddenly went dim.

“Give it a try,” Qin Lie said to Luo Chen. “See if you can sense this with the sword token you possess.”

Confused, Luo Chen grabbed the sword token at his waist, staring at Qin Lie with cold eyes. He used his soul consciousness to activate it.

“Eeeeeeeen…”

The sword tokens that hung from the waists of everyone else in the group began to ring. However, Qin Lie’s sword token didn’t respond at all.

This development left everyone stunned.

“Did you really render it useless?” Song Tingyu asked uncertainly.

Qin Lie wore a casual expression and didn’t bother trying to explain. Instead, he grabbed the other tokens at his waist and examined them just like he did with the sword token.

He discovered that the compound diagrams of all the tokens were essentially the same. Although the core diagrams differed greatly, all of them used the Spirit Storage and Amplification diagrams as a basis. In addition to that, the core diagrams did the same thing: receive and transmit information.

After giving each token a once-over, Qin Lie confidently said, “Other than the main diagram, the rest of the compound spirit diagram is mostly the same from token to token. I can alter the spirit diagram of any token and make them stop functioning for the time being.”

This time no one else doubted him. Everyone’s eyes gushed with joy.

“You’re so amazing, Big Brother Qin!” Pan Qianqian cried in admiration.

Wonder filled Xue Moyan’s eyes. She continuously found Qin Lie increasingly difficult to understand. Too many things about him couldn’t be explained in a normal way.

Luo Chen and Du Xiangyang were also inwardly surprised. Every time they looked at Qin Lie, they underestimated him less and less.

This guy possessed power in the martial way that everyone acknowledged, yet he was also amazingly skilled in forging artifacts. How in Spirit Realm did he cultivate?

An ugly expression covered Luo Chen’s face as he recalled Li Mu’s humiliating evaluation of him.

The Sixth Heavenly Sword had told Luo Chen he wasn’t qualified to become his disciple, yet the man had a great relationship with Qin Lie and wanted to take him on as his true disciple.

For the longest time, Luo Chen thought that Li Mu didn’t mean what he said, that his words were meant to purposefully humiliate him and wound his pride.

Upon learning of Qin Lie’s existence, Luo Chen had targeted him time and time again, just so that he could prove Li Mu wrong.

He also did this to prove his superiority.

However, as he continued to learn more about Qin Lie, and as Qin Lie displayed more miraculous feats, he couldn’t help but think that Li Mu had been right all along!

Qin Lie seemed to be… more talented than him in every way. He was definitely more qualified than Luo Chen to become Li Mu’s true disciple.

This realization struck Luo Chen across the head like the flat of a sword, putting him into a daze. A myriad of complicated feelings welled inside of his heart.

As Luo Chen stood there, stunned, Qin Lie took everybody’s tokens and altered the spirit diagrams inside of them.

A few minutes later, every token that their group possessed temporarily stopped functioning.

Since the tokens could no longer transmit or receive information, this meant that, from this point onward, no one could use them to track their position!

……

“They disappeared!”

“They were just twenty five kilometers from us. Why has their energy suddenly disappeared?”

“How strange!”

At the foot of a snow-covered mountain, the group of martial practitioners from Black Voodoo Sect, the three great families, Celestial Artifact Sect, and Ten Thousand Beast Mountain muttered amongst themselves, odd expressions on their faces.

“The white barbarians must have caught up to them and slaughtered them.” Ye Yihao laughed coldly. “Their tokens must have been destroyed along with them, preventing us from detecting their location.”

“That should be the case.” Xiahou Yuan smiled sinisterly.

“It’s such a shame, though!” Huang Zhuli cried, gritting her teeth. “Qin Lie had the Demon Sealing Tombstone and the Pure Soul Springs! They even had the Spring of Life!”

“Perhaps we should move in that direction?” Feng Yiyou suggested. “Maybe the white barbarians suffered huge losses in the process?”

Everyone’s eyes lit up at the prospect. After a moment of discussion, they decided on that as their next plan.

All of them moved in the direction that Qin Lie’s group had initially been. Soon enough, they detected several dozen eastern barbarians that were supposedly blocking the path to Qin Lie’s group and swiftly charged toward them.

……

While the three forces were committing suicide, Qin Lie’s group, having disappeared from everyone’s radar, continued to follow the Demon Sealing Tombstone and hurry on their way.

They were completely unaware of the terrible lesson that the white barbarians were teaching the three forces as a result of Qin Lie altering the tokens.

So they continued to approach the ice spirit.

As of this moment, Qin Lie borrowed soul crystals from the others and gripped the Demon Sealing Tombstone, preparing to replenish his soul energy and his blood once the Soul Suppressing Orb drained them from him.

He sat on the snowy ground, inhaled deeply, and inwardly shouted, “Come!”

He waited for the Soul Suppressing Orb’s never-ending demand for his soul energy and blood.

His companions watched him helplessly. They knew that the soul energy and the blood he had accumulated to this point would probably be completely drained from him again.

“Eh?” Qin Lie exclaimed a few minutes later, confusion filling his face.

“What is it?” Song Tingyu asked softly.

“Nothing’s been drained! Nothing’s happening!” Qin Lie said, eyes wide with surprise. “Previously, every time I managed to replenish my soul energy and blood, they would immediately be extracted. This time, however, nothing has happened.”

“Are you saying that… it’s stopped?” The notion came as a pleasant surprise to her.

“That seems to be the case.” Qin Lie nodded.

“I think that the amount of soul energy and blood that the thing inside you extracted from your body has probably become enough to trigger some sort of extraordinary change,” Du Xiangyang said while rubbing his chin. “In order words, after allowing it to drain you for so long, you’ve finally fulfilled its requirements.”

“So you think I’m finally free?” Qin Lie asked, joy filling his heart.

The entire time he had been subdued by the Soul Suppressing Orb, Qin Lie experienced intense fear and hopelessness.

He hadn’t the slightest clue when this cycle of constant draining and replenishing would come to an end.

He actually hadn’t expected it to ever end…

But the instant it did, he relaxed.