Chapter 385: The Giant Hand That Stretched Out of the Sea
Qin Lie could clearly see that Xue Li looked somewhat dejected after suffering this terrible injury. Even his spirit seemed to have shriveled up.
He had twice suffered defeat at the hands of Jiang Zhuzhe. The first time, he was wrongfully accused of being a blood sucking demon and instantly fell from grace, going from Blood Fiend Sect’s newly appointed sect master to the sect’s disgrace. He was sealed within the twelve spirit pattern pillars.
This lasted for a thousand years.
Then he finally escaped from the spirit pattern pillars with Qin Lie’s assistance and stealthily returned to the Land of Chaos in an attempt to exact revenge.
However, before the matter could be fully investigated, he was caught by Jiang Zhuzhe yet again.
This time, the outcome was even worse than before. His physical body and half of his soul were completely destroyed, refined by Jiang Zhuzhe.
He currently only had half a soul left, barely surviving within the Soul Suppressing Orb…
After suffering two devastating blows in a row, Xue Li found all of it difficult to process. He had already been restraining it in the first place, and now he was about to go insane with hatred.
Qin Lie watched the surface of the bright red sea from inside the small room with a deep frown on his face. He wasn’t sure how to console Xue Li.
“I’m tired. I need some time to think.” A long time later, Xue Li released a deep sigh from within the Soul Suppressing Orb and went silent.
Qin Lie closed the window and quietly sat on his bed. He felt a little unsettled by everything.
Floating corpses were appearing more and more frequently on the sea’s surface. This meant that the path ahead was fraught with danger. This, along with Xue Li’s disastrous experience, had spawned sorrow inside of his heart. His mind was obviously agitated.
After thinking for a moment, he took out a few spirit boards from the spatial ring and began inscribing the spirit diagrams he knew, with his finger as the brush and his spirit energy as the ink.
He quickly became fully absorbed in the task of inscribing spirit diagrams and calmed down.
Spirit Storage, Spirit Gathering, Amplification, and Strengthening—these were the four ancient diagrams stored within the Soul Suppressing Orb. Their were meant for cleansing his spirit, washing away the violent instincts in his heart, and calming his soul.
The four spirit diagrams were miraculous and incomparably powerful when it came to calming one’s soul. When Qin Lie was inscribing the spirit diagrams, not only did he feel calm and peaceful, even his soul seemed to have entered a magical state.
The spirit boards that were inscribed with the spirit diagrams were casually tossed aside.
Qin Lie suddenly stopped inscribing the spirit diagrams and entered his own mind.
Formed from soul consciousness, the transparent Soul Lake in his mind was like a window into his own heart. It could reflect everything from recent memory.
It was like a mirror of the self.
Inside the Soul Lake, there seemed to be a blurry shadow as thin as a cloud.
“A Soul Shadow!” Qin Lie trembled.
Breaking through from the Manifestation Realm to the Netherpassage Realm depended on the formation of one’s True Soul inside the Soul Lake. A martial practitioner would gather the soul imprints scattered in their mind and absorb them bit by bit, forming them into their True Soul within the Soul Lake.
Everyone had a soul in their minds when they were born. These souls were scattered, invisible and formless.
However, there was no doubt that souls existed.
As a martial practitioner’s realm grew, their physical body would be strengthened, and their spirit energy would be tempered. They would gradually be able to sense the existence of their own soul and detect its traces and movements.
The soul imprints scattered throughout one’s mind were the origin of one’s soul. Once a Soul Lake became translucent, they would be slowly absorbed into the Soul Lake.
A transparent Soul Lake was capable of forming an extraordinary attraction field that slowly but surely drew all of the soul origins scattered to every corner of a martial practitioner’s mind.
The sign of a blur inside of the Soul Lake meant that the gathering had already begun.
A Soul Shadow would form after the soul origins and soul imprints poured into a Soul Lake.
As more and more soul imprints, origin, and flames gathered inside of the Soul Lake, the Soul Shadow would gradually become clearer and more defined!
When all of the scattered soul imprints were gathered into the Soul Lake, the Soul Shadow would then become a True Soul!
Once a True Soul was formed, this would mean that the martial practitioner had officially entered the Netherpassage Realm. They would be able to utilize their True Soul and unleash all sorts of mysterious techniques. The soul’s perception and sensitivity would be greatly increased as well!
When a True Soul was completely formed, a martial practitioner’s soul would change from a formless, invisible entity to a tangible existence.
As a martial practitioner continued to temper and explore further knowledge about their True Soul, their physical body, muscles, veins, and dantian’s spirit sea would connect to their True Soul. They would undergo an overarching metamorphosis as if being reborn.
“A Soul Shadow! This is a Soul Shadow!”
Qin Lie was overcome with emotion as he observed the extremely blurry shadow inside of his Soul Lake.
He had not taken a step outside his room for so long, cultivating day and night without allowing the slightest bit of laziness. He was finally able to see a bit of result of his hard work.
The formation of the Soul Shadow meant that he was breaking through the Manifestation Realm to the Netherpassage Realm.
Once a Soul Shadow could be clearly seen, and all of the soul origins had been gathered and condensed into a True Soul, he could then be considered to have successfully broken through to the Netherpassage Realm.
He could not wait for that day to come.
“Stop!” an icy cold voice rang out from far in front of the boat.
On a boat shaped like a willow leaf, three young martial practitioners dressed in blue clothing with gold trim appeared, arrogant expressions on their faces.
The willow leaf boat they were riding was not made from wood, but a bluish kind of metal.
In the rear of the boat was a noticeable card slot that was fitted with several shiny spirit stones.
The boat was like a sharp blade that moved at an incredible speed, instantly moving in front of the large ship Qin Lie was in and blocking the way. A young martial practitioner who stood below them and loudly yelled, “Who are you? Where are you headed?”
“They’re people from Blue Star Association!” People on the ship were whispering to one another.
“We departed from the Scarlet Tide Continent and are headed to Spirit Eagle Island. We have regularly paid the requisite amount of spirit stones to Blue Star Association. Why are you blocking our path?” someone yelled from aboard the ship.
“Are you blind? Haven’t you seen corpses along the way and guessed that something was wrong?” the man scolded rudely.
“We have Blue Star Association, don’t we? Aren’t you responsible for the pirates in the surrounding regions of the sea?”
“Cut the bullshit! You will turn back immediately and return to the Heavenly Fate Continent. You will not depart for Spirit Eagle Island until Blue Star Association notifies you!”
“Why?”
“Enough questions! If you do not wish to die, then turn back this instant. If not, don’t blame us for doing as we please when something happens!”
Many people had stepped out of their rooms and onto the deck of the ship.
Qin Lie was among them.
He had long ago heard of Blue Star Association from Xue Li. He knew that Blue Star Association wielded great power in the nearby regions of the sea.
Blue Star Association was a Copper rank force beneath Heavenly Sword Mountain, just like Profound Heaven Alliance, Eight Extreme Temple, and Joyful Union Sect. This force was permanently stationed at Sea Moon Island and was responsible for the management of the island on Heavenly Sword Mountain’s behalf. They were also responsible for clearing the surrounding area of pirates and maintaining seagoing traffic around Sea Moon Island.
Although they were all Copper rank forces, Blue Star Association had been developing themselves at Sea Moon Island, and thus shared a close relationship with Heavenly Sword Mountain. They wielded considerable strength, and it was said that Blue Star Association’s president was personally acquainted with many Heavenly Sword Mountain elites. He was at the peak of the Fragmentation Realm and already had one foot in the Nirvana Realm.
Because of this, no Copper rank force in the surrounding continents dared to offend Blue Star Association.
Even Profound Heaven Alliance, Eight Extreme Temple, and Joyful Union Sect were quite wary of Blue Star Association. They would not dare to carelessly cause trouble on Sea Moon Island, and every time they traveled between Spirit Eagle Island and Sea Moon Island, they would even pay spirit stones to Blue Star Association.
“Kong Xiang, can’t you talk a little more politely?” the other youth on the willow leaf boat exclaimed in a low voice. Then he raised his head to watch the people on the boat, saying, “We are not purposefully causing trouble by asking you to turn back. Quite the opposite, actually. We of Blue Star Association are doing this is for your own good. I believe that you saw the corpses floating in the sea when you came here… right?”
Many people on the boat nodded in acknowledgment.
“Something has happened ahead. Something terrible. If you insist on passing through, you may find yourself subjected to great danger.” The person’s expression was very serious as he said, “It is not convenient for us to tell you what exactly is going on, but what I can definitely tell you is that most of you will perish if you insist on passing through!”
This person’s attitude was better and more sincere. The expressions of many people changed when he finished speaking.
Everyone had been feeling anxious when they saw the numerous floating corpses along the way. Now that it was confirmed that something terrible had happened ahead, the cowards among the passengers were all having second thoughts.
“Alright, then. We shall turn back!”
“We will return to the Heavenly Fate Continent first!”
“We believe Blue Star Association!”
Plenty of people began to express their opinions.
“Mm, return quickly. We have something else to do, so we will not bother you any longer.” The soft spoken Blue Star Association youth smiled and nodded to the person beside him. The willow leaf boat instantly turned around and, like a loosed arrow, sailed in the direction it had come from.
Plenty of people were swearing and complaining underneath their breath. None of them were willing to take risks and were getting ready to turn around.
It was at this moment that shocking activity suddenly occurred in the sea ahead. Gigantic whirlpools crazily spiraled on the surface of the sea, and sea water rose into the sky like gigantic mountains.
“It’s moving! It’s moving again!”
“F*ck! Get out of the way!”
“Run!”
The screams of the Blue Star Association martial practitioners rang from ahead. When Qin Lie concentrated and looked, he noticed that there were at least six willow leaf boats near the gigantic whirlpools that were scattering in every direction.
Suddenly, a giant copper hand reached out of a giant whirlpool!
Only half of the arm had been revealed on the sea’s surface, but it was still a surprising thirty meters long. It was covered in thick hair that looked like seaweed, which actually shone with a cold luster under the sunlight.
The giant copper hand began to sway, creating shockingly huge waves in the sea. Many Blue Star Association willow leaf boats were overwhelmed by the giant waves.
The bloodcurdling screams of the Blue Star Association martial practitioners began to ring madly in the sea before them.
“Turn around! Turn around immediately! Run!”
“F*ck, what are you standing there for! Turn around and run!”
“Run!”
The martial practitioners who were watching the commotion immediately paled when they saw the giant copper hand stretching out of a giant whirlpool. They began to cry out madly.
If half an arm was already thirty meters long, then just what kind of monster was hiding beneath the sea and causing such a huge commotion?
Qin Lie was also dumbfounded.