Cube-like Supernatural Powers: Longevity Begins with Qi Refining

Chapter 16 In a Dilemma

The hoarse roars that rose and fell sent shivers down Xiong Zhou's spine.

The hysteria buried deep within the desire caused the dreamlike ocean of the Bear Boat's interior world to explode continuously, and all sorts of ferocious and bloodthirsty illusions rushed straight into the mind.

"Snapped!"

Duanmu Ning reached into the wooden box behind him and threw out a handful of fragrant pills, which exploded in the air.

Countless medicinal powders scattered with the foul wind, giving rise to tiny white flower phantoms that took root in the void, condensing into crimson and white light, dispelling most of the negative effects.

"boom!"

Wu Kang soared into the air, his feet treading on the void, and swung his crimson dragon spear, its sharp light sweeping across the land.

The deafening roar of the dragon, carrying solemnity and majesty, echoed for a radius of a hundred meters, continuously shattering the approaching armored, dried-up corpses.

Zi Xuan mobilized her inner energy, formed hand seals, and warned, "Junior Brother Xiong Zhou, be careful at all times. Those old guys in the sect are getting inhuman."

Xiong Zhou's gaze narrowed slightly as he summoned the gauntlet components, placed them together with his hands, clenched his fists, and swung them straight, sending flying the armored, dried-up corpses that were rushing towards him, tearing apart the shells shrouded in death energy and corpse energy.

He asked, "Senior Sister Zixuan, what did you mean?"

As Zi Xuan cast the array seals and imprinted them into the ground beneath her feet, she explained, "The ranking of true disciples at the first level of Qi Refining is held once every ten years. In most cases, it is a ranking in the arena, where each true disciple can face their opponent alone."

"However, in certain special eras, or when certain geniuses are born, those guys in the sect who are in charge of ranking the true disciples of the mortal realm will arrange some so-called 'tasks' and make us follow the 'plot' they have written in advance."

"They call it 'sharpening'."

Li Tianqing was surrounded by water-based Qi, and she took out the ink painting landscape fan in her hand.

In an instant, an ink dragon, drawn with ink, burst forth from the painting on the fan, summoning a rain of ink that splashed up a sea of ​​ink, sweeping away the armored, dried corpses that had gathered there.

"Thump!"

The black dragon plunged straight into the depths of the earth, tearing the ground within a radius of a hundred meters with streaks of black ink, as if pulling the world into an impressionistic ink painting, leaving only white and black.

Li Tianqing narrowed her eyes, took a slight breath, and continued, "Senior Sister Zixuan is right."

"Although the four of us participated in the ranking of the first level of Qi Refining disciples once, which was the ranking competition held in the previous arena."

"After that ranking ended, we spent the next ten years collecting a lot of information about the ranking competition of the first level of Qi Refining through various channels.

"The first six tournaments were held in a timeline created by an elder, and there were so-called 'missions' and 'plots' involved. The trials that the disciples underwent were incredibly difficult."

"In that year, a senior brother surnamed Li emerged with extraordinary comprehension, sweeping aside many true disciples at the first level of Qi Refining and winning first place with overwhelming advantage."

Xiong Zhou's mouth gaped slightly. Were those guys in the sect who arranged the ranking of the second-level mortal disciples script lovers?

Is it too much to cramm "missions" and "scripts" into a tournament?

and......

Xiong Zhou swallowed hard. "So, the reason this competition is being held in the Outer World is because there's a godlike figure with overwhelming power?"

Li Tianqing glanced at Xiong Zhou and said quietly, "That should be part of the reason."

"Furthermore, there is more than one of these overwhelmingly powerful and heaven-defying beings."

"That immortal holy body, that newly promoted junior disciple carrying the black ruler..."

Li Tianqing teased Xiong Zhou, "And the very powerful Junior Brother Xiong Zhou."

"There are three in this year's competition."

Xiong Zhou complained, "How come I didn't know I was this good?"

"If I really encountered those two, I'm afraid they could beat me senseless in a single move."

Of course, all they did was beat him until he was completely disoriented.

With the protection of the earth and wood heavy armor of the peak fourth level of Qi Refining, it would be impossible for a Qi Refining first level cultivator to put him in any danger.

A Qi Refining cultivator at the first level, breaking through the heavy armor protection of a Qi Refining cultivator at the peak of the fourth level, is a feat that has never existed in the long history of the Tai Li Immortal Sect.

Xiong Zhou looked at the cleaned, armored, desiccated corpse beside him, stopped throwing a punch, and asked, "Didn't the mission say to 'fight your way out'?"

"Are we just going to stay here and not move?"

Wu Kang sheathed his Leaping Dragon Spear, took up the Soaring Dragon Bow, and fired arrows blazing with flames, annihilating the armored, dried-up corpses that were constantly gathering from afar.

While maintaining the pace of the offensive, he said, "No, the goal of 'breaking out of the encirclement' must be achieved, but it cannot be accomplished in the usual way."

"To achieve a higher rating, we must not follow this 'plot' completely. The information presented in the 'mission' is like a divine deduction; it can only be used as a reference. We should neither completely disregard it nor believe it entirely."

At this moment, Zixuan slowed down the speed at which she made hand seals.

She summoned the Earth Array Flag, slammed it into the ground, and roared in a low voice, "Earth Veins, rise!"

In an instant, the earth shook violently within a radius of 500 meters. Strands of earth vein energy rose from the depths of the earth, and clods of earth rapidly rose up, evolving into a small city gate with a circular area of ​​about 785,000 square meters. It was covered with hundreds of thousands of different array runes, arrayed in the void.

The invisible gravity underwent a drastic change. All the armored corpses inside the city were forcibly suppressed and rendered unable to move. The armored corpses outside the city were resisted by the earth vein array and could no longer get close.

Wu Kang put away his companion artifact, took out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from Zi Xuan's forehead, and used the special power generated by his own special physique to send into her body to relieve the fatigue caused by the consumption of a huge amount of heaven and earth energy.

Zixuan leaned against Wu Kang's chest, then clenched her fist at Xiong Zhou, Duanmu Ning, and Li Tianqing, saying, "As long as the earth's energy remains strong, this formation can resist any attack from those at the third level of Qi Refining."

"We have time to calmly gather information and slowly plan our breakout route."

Duanmu Ning stuffed a pill to replenish her energy into Zixuan's mouth and said with a smile, "Then I'll ask Senior Sister Zixuan to calculate the secrets of heaven, gather information about this world, and deduce the most suitable route for our breakthrough."

Duanmu Ning looked at Xiong Zhou and explained, "We are not as gifted as our junior brother; the amount of Qi in our inner realm is quite limited."

"Even with the Azure Sky Realm subtly restricting our innate supernatural abilities and special physiques, we could still choose any direction and carve a bloody path through this ancient battlefield that stretches as far as the eye can see... We couldn't do that even if we were completely drained."

Duanmu Ning gently tapped the air, causing the illusory image of the white flower blooming throughout the entire city to condense into a blood-red pill, which floated in his palm.

Her expression turned serious. "Moreover, the Qi of heaven and earth in this ancient battlefield contains an unknown activating poison. Every time you inhale or exhale the Qi of heaven and earth from the outside world, it will be an act of actively taking poison."

"Reckless action is absolutely unacceptable."

-----------------

"boom!"

A breathtakingly beautiful, fiery lotus slowly blooms on the other side of the ancient battlefield.

The graceful lotus leaves and the deep blue lotus petals are so moving, like a song, and even more so, like a poem.

Anything that stood in his way, whether it was a barely perceptible activated poison or an armored, dried-up corpse relentlessly closing in, was reduced to an invisible phantom in the intense flames, swept away by the expressionless youth with a flick of his sleeve.

"roar!"

A tall, heavily armored, muscular, and bluish-gray corpse charged out, brandishing a weapon and roaring loudly.

"Splash..."

The heavily armored troops, dressed in uniform, crawled out of the ground and formed a ten-thousand-strong army. Corpse energy shot straight into the sky, projecting a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood, with the power to change the world.

Bloodshed, brutality, hunger, and madness amplified under the absolute command.

"roar!"

The iron-blue corpse brandished its weapons, unleashing bronze arrows imbued with deathly and corpse energy. Skeletal warhorses, armed with spears and armor, charged forward, while massive, stitched-up corpses lunged straight ahead...

An overwhelming wave of killing intent swept towards us, its icy chill causing the earth to freeze and frost over.

The boy's expression remained unchanged, his demeanor unwavering, as if the collapse of the heavens did not even register with him.

He muttered to himself, "It seems that only you are left standing in my way."

He drew the black ruler from behind his back, raised it high with one hand, and thrust it straight into the sky.

Suddenly, the celestial phenomena changed.

A fiery vortex unfolds high in the sky, and flames that resemble shooting stars fall like raindrops, splashing up beautiful maple leaves, dazzling and brilliant!

Thirty breaths later, the fire rain dissipated.

The area within a thousand miles was completely turned into white.

The boy walked slowly forward, leaving footprints on the crystal-clear ground.

-----------------

"Crack...crack..."

"Bang!"

Chen Fan crushed a silver-colored corpse blocking his way, then circulated his golden blood energy, spreading it outwards to evaporate tens of thousands of armored, dried corpses that had surrounded him, easily eradicating the activated toxins he had ingested.

However, after easily dealing with the mutilated corpse in front of him, his expression became even more surprised and suspicious.

Chen Fan muttered to himself, "Why do I feel a strange sense of closeness, as if these corpses contain blood from the same source as mine?"

"It's so strange. I was born in an ordinary little mountain village, and my deceased parents were just ordinary people. Why does everything here feel inexplicably familiar to me?"

"There is an even deeper sorrow that makes me feel deeply saddened."

At this moment, a giant corpse with dark gold skin and covered in stitches roared and charged toward Chen Fan.

His sharp fingernails gleamed with golden light, seemingly capable of piercing anything. His entire body was enveloped in a dark golden aura, mixed with the qi of death and corpse, possessing the power to sweep across the myriad phenomena.

Chen Fan's pupils contracted slightly, his lips trembled slightly, and the feeling of intimacy intensified.

"Bang!"

Chen Fan raised his hand, parrying the giant corpse's charge, and casually swung his hand, crushing it to the ground.

"boom!"

A punch pierced straight into the corpse's chest, leaving a terrifying golden mark that shook the earth within a hundred meters, causing clods of earth and rocks to stand up like fish bones before crumbling into handfuls of sand.

The giant corpse turned into powder; flesh, bone fragments, hair, and everything else were burned to ash by the golden blood and energy.

Only one drop of blood, mixed with golden light, remained.

Chen Fan held it between his fingers, his face trembling.

"I feel it... something is calling to me..."

Chen Fan gazed into the distance.

That was a place far from this ancient battlefield, where living beings still roamed and multiplied.

-----------------

Looking at Zixuan, who seemed to have completely exhausted the Qi of the inner world after coming down from the deduction platform that had been built not long ago, and who needed Wu Kang's help to relieve her fatigue.

Xiong Zhou asked curiously, "How is the current celestial information displayed?"

"Has Senior Sister Zixuan already calculated our breakout direction, timing, and method?"

Not only Xiong Zhou, but also Li Tianqing, Duanmu Ning, and Wu Kang all looked at Zi Xuan with questioning eyes.

Zi Xuan shook her head, her pale face turning ashen, and she burst into a tirade: "Those bastards, they've lost all humanity!"

"All the true disciples at the first level of Qi Refining have been deployed to a location near the center of this ancient battlefield."

"This ancient battlefield spans tens of thousands of miles in circumference!"

Xiong Zhou was stunned for a moment.

A radius of ten thousand miles?!

One li (里) is equal to 500 meters (米), which translates to a radius of 5,000 kilometers, approximately 7854 million square kilometers (四分一分), about one-sixth of the Earth's surface area, or about 8.2 times the size of China...

Xiong Zhou's lips twitched. "Then, can the flying boat be used?"

"In my storage bag, there is also a small flying boat that can traverse the entire ancient battlefield. It shouldn't be long before it's ready."

Zixuan took a deep breath and waved her hand.

"It's unusable; this ancient battlefield is under a no-fly zone!"

"Anything flying at an altitude exceeding ten zhang will be affected and forcibly pulled down to the ground!"

"The anti-flight level is at the peak of the fourth level of Qi Refining, reaching the upper limit of the 'Azure Sky Realm'!"

Xiong Zhou fell silent. His small flying boat was not equipped with any offensive array diagrams, nor was it equipped with any offensive flying boat magic artifacts. It was used purely as a convenient means of transportation.

Flying at such a low altitude is feasible in other normal areas, at most it consumes a little more energy, and it cannot take advantage of the strong winds at high altitudes.

However, on this ancient battlefield, the formations specifically designed to resist and defend against the gale-force winds will definitely be shattered by the attacks of those dried corpses, and the flying boats will be destroyed, perhaps in an instant.

Li Tianqing closed her paper fan and asked, "Is there any possibility for us to break through and fight our way out of this ancient battlefield?"

Zi Xuan closed her eyes and sighed softly: "It's difficult. Countless lives have been lost on this ancient battlefield. Breaking through from any position requires facing hundreds of millions of armored, dried-up corpses. The Qi of Heaven and Earth in our inner realm is simply not enough."

"Within this ancient battlefield, the Qi of heaven and earth contains activating poison, which limits our recovery speed. If we choose to break out, we will face exhaustion before we can even fight our way out."

"Furthermore, the closer we go to the edge of the battlefield, the thinner the ley lines become, until we can no longer use them to set up formations. Therefore, it is completely impossible to establish positions step by step and slowly advance outwards."

The situation was extremely difficult, with almost no hope of breaking the deadlock.

Just as Zixuan said, the guy who arranged this ranking task for the true disciples is no longer human.

Xiong Zhou watched the members of the Shanhe Squad, who looked worried and offered suggestions from time to time, only to have their breakout plans rejected by Zi Xuan after she used divination to verify them. He was secretly astonished.

He thought to himself, "This is the difficulty of the ranking competition of the Tai Li True Disciples. The true disciples' abilities in all aspects will be tested."

Xiong Zhou also fell into deep thought. He began to recall what he had learned and cultivated over the past fifteen years, searching for the abilities he possessed, and pondering a way to break the deadlock.

Suddenly, he looked at Duanmu Ning and asked, "Senior Sister Duanmu, you once said that your medical body is naturally close to the Way of Wood and the Way of Herbs."

"Is it possible to cultivate a plant that can control these corpses, and even use them as nutrients?"

Duanmu Ning nodded, but then shook his head.

She said, "If I had enough time, I could cultivate the targeted herbs that you, Junior Brother Xiong Zhou, have hypothesized. But herbs have a growth process, cultivation also has a process, and guiding them to evolve and mutate all require time as a foundation."

"Even under the most ideal circumstances, it would take at least ten generations of offspring to achieve a reasonably good result. With that much time, this year's True Inheritance Competition would have long since ended."

Xiong Zhou nodded thoughtfully.

Then, he looked at Zixuan and asked, "Senior Sister Zixuan, in this world called 'Azure Sky Realm,' are there any Saints at the fourth level of the Refinement of Spirit Realm who have embarked on the path of Sainthood, wielding power and governing the laws of heaven and earth?"

Zi Xuan looked slightly surprised and stepped onto the divination platform again to perform divination of heavenly secrets.

After a few breaths, she opened her eyes and said, "No, although this world has traces of the principles of collecting the power of human vows and the energy of incense for cultivation, it has not truly stepped onto the path of sainthood, wielding power and manipulating the principles of heaven and earth."

Xiong Zhou continued, "Then, is it forbidden for divine saints who wield the Dao of Heaven and Earth to appear within this world?"

This time, Zixuan didn't do any calculations and directly stated the result: "There are no prohibitions. Both the path of sainthood and the path of Qi cultivation are unobstructed."

"This is true at least until one reaches the fourth level of Qi Refining."

"Could it be that Junior Brother Xiong Zhou has come up with a way to break this deadlock?"

Xiong Zhou nodded.

Since there are no GMs in this world who can grant titles, he'll have to resort to cheating.