Chapter 118 – Foreign Battlefield
The giant revealed a greedy expression and laughed. “Good, good! The credit for this will be mine! Today’s harvest is quite good. First, I saw the hostile aura, and then I saw that bead. Lin Yi, if you dare to fight me, I will kill you!” With that, the giant stepped out of the clouds. Its body was over 100 feet tall. It exuded a suppressive aura.
Cracking sounds could be heard from his body as he shrank to normal size. A hammer mark appeared on his forehead.
Lin Yi shouted, “Tch! What do you mean!?”
The giant stared at Lin Yi and walked into the circle. After entering, he waved his hand, and the circle transformed back into two dragons. The portal disappeared without a trace. The sky immediately lit up again, and the clouds disappeared.
Lin Yi’s expression was grim as he stared coldly at the still-dumbfounded Teng Huayuan. He let out a cold laugh and then disappeared into the horizon.
Every cultivator outside Jue Ming Valley remembered the young man who dared to fight a Nascent Soul cultivator. The Foundation Establishment cultivator named Wang Lin was engraved in everyone’s hearts.
Zhao’s right to enter the foreign battlefield was cruelly taken away. It didn’t matter if there were any tokens left, as the lord’s envoy who came to open the tunnel had already left to pursue something. Why would he still remember something as small as this?
Lin Yi was filled with rage as he watched the item the cultivation union was seeking being taken from him. This feeling made him want to vomit blood.
Especially when he thought about how the bead had always been on Zhao’s body and how he was Zhao’s watchdog. If this were to get out, it would be incredibly embarrassing.
Teng Huayuan’s face was gloomy because he didn’t know whether Wang Lin was dead or not. He was certain Wang Lin was dead, but he couldn’t shake the feeling of fear in his heart.
The people outside Jue Ming Valley gradually left, and Wang Lin’s story spread with them. Eventually, every cultivator in Zhao knew about Wang Lin.
Punnan Zi led the disciples back to the Xuan Dao Sect. A female disciple followed him. It was Liu Mei. She witnessed everything and felt bitterness in her heart.
He didn’t know why, but he had a little affection for Wang Lin. This affection not only did not disappear over time, but would reappear in his heart in the middle of the night.
Wang Zhuo and Wang Hao also learned of what had happened outside Jue Ming Valley. Their hatred for Wang Lin for the destruction he had caused gradually faded.
Both of them knew they didn’t have the guts to fight against Nascent Soul cultivators. However, this didn’t mean they had given up on revenge. Wang Zhuo and Wang Hao were determined to kill Teng Huayuan. It was their life’s goal.
After Punnan Zi returned, he learned of the Wang family tragedy. At Liu Mei’s request, he accepted Wang Hao as his disciple.
Liu Mei knew that this was the only thing she could do to help Wang Lin, even though he would never know it.
Teng Huayuan returned to Teng Family City with that feeling of dread and entered closed-door cultivation. He vowed that he would not come out until he reached the late Nascent Soul stage.
The entire country of Zhao seemed to suddenly become calm.
The outer space battlefield was filled with cracks in space and steel winds. At this moment, thousands of people from dozens of Tier 3 cultivation nations were here to clean up the battlefield.
The highest-level cultivators here were at the late Foundation Establishment stage. With this level of cultivation, they could barely take a step without being in danger, so how could they complete the task of clearing the battlefield?
In fact, when they entered the foreign battlefield, the main envoy who opened the tunnel gave them each a piece of jade. This jade protected them from the steel winds and would transport them back to their own country after 50 years.
But against the mysterious spatial rifts that could appear anywhere, this jade was powerless.
The battlefield in a foreign land was still extremely dangerous for these Foundation Establishment cultivators, but if they were careful and lucky, they could still make it out alive.
In general, the survival rate on a foreign battlefield is 30%.
While not particularly high, considering all the magical materials and treasures they could find while clearing, it wasn’t too bad. After all, cultivation was a heaven-defying endeavor, so the higher the risk, the better the reward.
And anyone who returns safely from the overseas battlefield will have a higher status within the sect. Their cultivation level will also be higher, as cultivation on the overseas battlefield is much faster than in their own sect.
After all, the battlefields overseas possessed extremely dense spiritual energy. This, combined with the constant danger over the years, forced their cultivation levels to increase rapidly.
Essentially, every time the cleansing is completed, someone will successfully form their core. This is why so many Foundation Establishment cultivators risk their lives to come here.
At this moment, on the foreign battlefield, in the northeast corner of the 67th floor, a young man dressed in white was slashing at a body with a knife. If one looked closely, this person was tearing open a gap in the body armor. He clearly wanted to obtain the armor.
His body armor was badly damaged and covered in burns. His chest was completely destroyed, revealing a fist-sized wound.
Furthermore, on the giant’s body, there was a faint shadow of a hammer. If one didn’t look closely, one wouldn’t have noticed it at all.
This young man’s name is Mai Liang. He was a cultivator of the War God Temple in the Hou Fen country. He had been on foreign battlefields for more than 30 years, so he was very experienced.
A little explanation is needed here. On a foreign battlefield, one doesn’t age, but once they leave, they age rapidly, just like the years they’ve passed inside.
As he was digging, his expression suddenly changed and he immediately lay down. Just then, a black beam of light shot past him.
The young man was stunned. He thought he saw beads in the black light, so he removed his armor and chased after the light.
He had been here for 30 years, but aside from his friends, he had never seen anyone else in person; however, he had seen some magical treasures that could fly on their own.
Although no one has successfully obtained it, Mai Liang has heard of it. This magical treasure possesses a powerful consciousness of its own.
Mai Liang used his fastest speed to chase after the bead. The more he chased, the more excited he became, especially since this area was rather deserted. During the past year he had been here, he hadn’t encountered any other companions. Thinking about that, his heart began to beat faster, and he secretly thought, “My luck has finally arrived. If I can obtain this treasure and return to the sect, then junior apprentice sister will admire me. Then, I’ll give this treasure to the sect head and have him make junior apprentice sister form a cultivation pair with me. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?”
Mai Liang put all his strength into chasing the beads, with that fantasy in his mind.
But the bead was too far away. Mai Liang hadn’t chased it very far before the gap widened. Mai Liang gritted his teeth and pulled an object from his bag. It was a space shuttle. It was red and emitting hot flakes.
This was the greatest harvest he had ever obtained while clearing the foreign battlefield. Normally, he wouldn’t have dared to take it out for fear of it being stolen. However, now, the treasure was about to be lost. He couldn’t be bothered to keep it a secret, so he took out a shuttle and threw it forward.
The shuttle instantly expanded several times its normal size and, with a buzzing sound, shot forward at an extremely fast speed. Mai Liang held on tightly to the shuttle as it expanded. He could only feel the wind hitting his body like a punch. It took a long time before he finally opened his eyes and saw that he had closed quite a bit of the distance between himself and the bead.
Overjoyed, Mai Liang clung to the shuttle and chased after the bead. Time passed quickly. Although Mai Liang was no longer lagging behind the bead, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t overtake or catch up with the bead. He could only maintain a distance between himself and the bead.
Three days later, Mai Liang realized he had entered a strange part of the foreign battlefield. He became nervous. It had to be said that besides the steel winds and spatial cracks, the most dangerous thing in the foreign battlefield was the unfamiliar place.
The foreign land held many dangers. Numerous spatial cracks could suddenly appear and devour everything. Mai Liang had heard from the elders that the foreign battlefield was vast, and they had only cleared a small portion of it. And within that small portion, there were places containing numerous spatial cracks.
Just as he was hesitating, he suddenly saw a row of extremely dense white lines appear before him. Seeing those lines, Mai Liang’s expression changed as he forced the shuttle to a stop and immediately retreated.
He was all too familiar with these white lines. When spatial cracks appeared, they first appeared as these white lines. Soon, the white lines would coalesce into a massive spatial crack that would devour everything.
Mai Liang’s face was pale as he looked around. After realizing that there was only a spatial crack in front of him, he relaxed slightly. He smiled wryly and said, “Forget it. There’s no point in dying for a treasure whose effects I don’t even know. I haven’t been able to cultivate in pairs with my junior apprentice sister. I don’t want to die here in vain.”
Just then, a small white line appeared in front of the black light beam. Without hesitation, the black light beam entered the spatial crack.
Mai Liang sighed and cursed. “Spatial rift, you’ve swallowed another treasure. In the 30 years I’ve been here, you’ve swallowed so many. If not 10,000, maybe 8,000. Why can’t you leave one for me?”
He had just finished cursing when he felt a chill as someone patted his shoulder.
Cold sweat immediately drenched his entire body as he slowly turned around and saw a middle-aged man. The middle-aged man’s expression was extremely grim as he asked Mai Liang, “Little one, did you see that black light?”
Mai Liang immediately saw the hammer pattern on the middle-aged man’s forehead. He took a deep breath, as he had seen this pattern countless times in his 30 years here. He had only seen it a few days ago.
He had heard from some elders that this pattern was the symbol of the Giant Demon Clan of a Tier 5 cultivation nation. Members of the Giant Demon Clan were born with spiritual energy, so they possessed the best bodies for cultivation. They were also the only Tier 5 cultivation nation with only one sect in the entire country.
Those of the Giant Demon Clan could only freely transform their bodies after they reached the Soul Transformation stage. Since this person looked like a normal person, he must be a Soul Transformation expert from the Giant Demon Sect.
Mai Liang’s throat was dry. He was too afraid to lie, so he quickly said, “Senior, I saw that black light beam. It went there and was swallowed by the spatial crack.”
The middle-aged man was the one who had been chasing Wang Lin from Zhao. He had chased him all the way as fast as he could, but the more he chased, the more shocked he became. The bead’s speed matched his own. It was even able to evade all of his interceptions. Not only that, the bead’s speed gradually grew faster until it lost track of him.
Besides all that, there was still the spatial crack. Although he wasn’t afraid of the spatial crack, it would be incredibly frustrating if he were to get trapped inside. With his early stage Soul Transformation cultivation, he could only barely prevent himself from being sucked into it. He couldn’t move around as he pleased.
With the spatial gap obstructing him, his speed slowed. Even with teleportation, he could only barely keep himself from being left behind.
On the way, he meets Mai Liang. He is surprised to find that Mai Liang can travel faster than him thanks to the shuttle.
After hearing Mai Liang’s story, his face was sullen and he was furious. Although the foreign battlefield was vast, there were still boundaries, but there were no boundaries within the spatial rift. Even if he returned home and found a late-stage Soul Transformation cultivator to help him, it would still be like searching for a needle in the ocean. There wasn’t much hope.
While thinking about that, he looked at Mai Liang. He reached out, took the shuttlecock from Mai Liang, and shouted, “This thing is mine now!”
With that, he moved and flew back to where he came from without looking at Mai Liang.
After the person left, Mai Liang wiped the sweat off his forehead, sighed, and quickly left the place.
Mai Liang didn’t know that the person was so famous in his rank 5 cultivation country. However, he was famous because he always had to take something or it would be wasted, like the time he took Lin Yi’s light tower.