Around the edge of the ring-shaped continental debris belt, a vast, milky-white aura stretched limitlessly, like a torrent spanning the firmament, filling the heavens. Nie Kong, Tai Yan, and Yu Longyue sped along this spatial barrier.
Whoosh!
Yu Longyue shot forward like a meteor, countless shadowy fragments flashing past her. Suddenly, she halted, stopping on a debris fragment several meters square, and bent down to pry a black, egg-sized stone from the ground.
“This is it.”
Quickly scanning her surroundings, Yu Longyue looked at Nie Kong and Tai Yan, who had just floated down beside her, a relaxed smile blooming on her face.
“We’ve finally arrived.”
Tai Yan’s face instantly lit up with joy.
Nie Kong also felt a sense of profound relief. He glanced at the black stone and understood immediately. “Aunt Yue, your spirit imprint is inside this stone.”
“Of course,” Yu Longyue said with a gentle smile. “Otherwise, even with my immense abilities, finding this precise location within the debris belt would be nearly impossible.”
Saying this, she pointed to the right. “Look, that’s the passage.”
Nie Kong and Tai Yan followed Yu Longyue’s gaze almost simultaneously. About ten meters away, within the white spatial barrier, a dark shadow, several feet square, flickered in and out of existence—it looked like a spatial rift just about to reveal itself, with no other noticeable anomaly drawing the eye.
Shadows like this were everywhere in the debris belt, and even more common near the edge.
“It doesn’t seem particularly special?” Tai Yan muttered.
Nie Kong was also somewhat surprised. He immediately activated the Chaos Divine Art, sending a wisp of spiritual thought to probe the shadow carefully. After a moment, he detected a faint, almost imperceptible suction force. This pull was incredibly subtle; were it not for the profound mystery of Nie Kong’s Chaos Divine Power, it would have been impossible to notice.
“It really is a passage.”
Nie Kong’s spirits soared. This passage was indeed hidden to the extreme; had Yu Longyue not told him about it beforehand, he would likely have passed right by it without discerning the anomaly within. The author of the ancient text Records of the Divine Void Anomalies must have stumbled upon some incredible luck to locate it.
Yu Longyue couldn't help but caution him, “Nie Kong, remember what you promised—just look from the outside, don’t actually venture inside.”
“Aunt Yue, don't worry,” Nie Kong smiled, yet his spiritual sense continued to advance into the passage. Several hundred meters in, the suction force seeping from the passage slowly intensified. After several thousand meters, the surrounding milky-white aura vanished entirely. Ahead was nothing but endless darkness, save for a thick beam of white light extending from the passage, reaching far out into the unknown, like a bridge.
The white beam in the boundless darkness was condensed from the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, yet the elemental structure within was extremely chaotic. When Nie Kong’s spiritual sense advanced another six or seven hundred meters, spatial rifts began to manifest within the energy stream, becoming denser the further it went.
Even Nie Kong’s spiritual sense seemed to trigger a response; the surrounding spatial rifts expanded further as it passed. If the spiritual sense was affected this much, the physical body would fare even worse.
It seemed Yu Longyue was right: this highly unstable passage could collapse completely with even the slightest provocation.
Nie Kong finally gave up entirely. Withdrawing his spiritual sense, he sighed helplessly, “If we want to return, the only path is through the Grand Sovereign Spirit Realm. However, that path won't be easy either.”
If he possessed the strength of a Ninth-Grade Spirit God, like Dark Night Divine Sovereign or Sea Dragon Divine Sovereign, he could use the spirit imprints he left on the Heavenly Spirit Continent as a guide to cross the barrier between the two continents directly. But he was currently only a Sixth-Grade Spirit God.
With the passage useless and the Realm Gate about to open, there was no alternative but the Grand Sovereign Spirit Realm.
“Nie Kong, don't worry too much. Once we reach the Grand Sovereign Spirit Realm, we'll figure out a way,” Yu Longyue sighed softly, trying to comfort him.
“…”
Nie Kong composed himself and nodded. Being sad or dejected now was utterly useless. He had to use the time before the Realm Gate opened to seriously contemplate how to deal with the crises they might face upon arriving in the Grand Sovereign Spirit Realm. To return to the Heavenly Spirit Continent, he first needed to survive in that realm.
In the Grand Sovereign Spirit Realm, Nie Kong had offended four of the five Great Divine Sovereigns.
Of course, Purple Star Divine Sovereign of the Grandmist Heavenly Mansion and Pill Heaven Divine Sovereign of the Pill Immortal Sect might not personally act against him, but Dark Night Divine Sovereign and Sea Dragon Divine Sovereign were another matter—especially Dark Night Divine Sovereign, who probably wished to eliminate Nie Kong immediately for ruining his plans.
According to information Nie Kong gleaned from the memories of those Spirit Gods, when the Grandmist Heavenly Mansion and the Pill Immortal Sect reported the deaths of the three newly ascended Spirit Gods—Yuan Ru, Wu Hou, and Zhuang Yu—the Purple Star and Pill Heaven Divine Sovereigns were not in their respective factions. The Spirit God avatars sent down were instead Eighth-Grade Spirit Gods from each sect.
It seemed that several months ago, Dark Night Divine Sovereign had made separate moves against the Grandmist Heavenly Mansion and the Pill Immortal Sect, after which Purple Star Divine Sovereign and Pill Heaven Divine Sovereign had not shown themselves again.
Nie Kong speculated they were likely occupied attacking the Realm Gate of the Heavenly Spirit Continent and probably hadn't learned what happened in the Divine Void Realm yet. However, he had acquired this information at the edge of the Divine Void Realm; they had been in the debris belt for quite some time now, and the situation might have changed.
The opening of the Divine Void Realm Gate was on a countdown. It was unlikely that Spirit Gods from the Grand Sovereign Spirit Realm would continue sending down avatars to the Divine Void Realm to hunt Nie Kong, Tai Yan, and Yu Longyue. This, ironically, made their situation even more dangerous, as those Spirit Gods might already be setting a trap.
Newly ascended Spirit Gods were randomly teleported to one of eight fixed zones upon passing through the Realm Gate. These eight zones had been static since the gate first appeared. According to the rules established ten thousand years prior by the Grand Sovereign, no killing was permitted within these eight zones. However, one couldn't stay in these areas indefinitely. If the Grandmist Heavenly Mansion, the Pill Immortal Sect, and the Sea Clan each stationed forces outside those zones, they could certainly corner Nie Kong and his companions. Nie Kong didn't believe they would overlook such a perfect opportunity.
“It’s a good thing I have that thing.”
Thinking of the item Wood Ancestor had prepared for him in his pet inventory, Nie Kong felt fully confident. He suddenly wondered if the venerable Wood Ancestor had already guessed that upon reaching the Divine Void Realm, he wouldn't be able to return directly to the Heavenly Spirit Continent, but would instead have to go to the “Grand Sovereign Spirit Realm” first, thus providing him with that item for contingencies.
Shaking his head, Nie Kong banished the strange thought and began to speak with a smile, “Aunt Yue…”
“Boom!”
Just then, a violent, jarring sound abruptly cut off Nie Kong’s words. A dark-black vortex, hundreds of meters in diameter, suddenly flashed into existence high above them. In that instant, the entire void dimmed, as if the light in the world was being sucked into the vortex.
“The Realm Gate?” Tai Yan and Yu Longyue instinctively looked toward the sound.
“Be careful, that’s not the Realm Gate!” Nie Kong looked up, his expression instantly changing, and he shot toward the black vortex like an arrow loosed from a bowstring.