Chapter 1098: Mountain and Seas Zone
Another five days passed, and if Mu Ziying and the others could see Lu Yin’s state within the Skystar Jade Wall, then their chins would definitely hit the floor as Lu Yin had already simulated 120 stars.
Over this period of half a month, Lu Yin had carefully observed the revolving stars within the Skystar Jade Wall. As he cultivated, one star after another had appeared from his body, and the number that he was simulating had gradually increased to 120 stars. However, he was not done yet, and he was still comprehending more of the Cosmic Art.
In the past, Lu Yin had only managed to see the first and second layers of the Cosmic Art a single time. After that, he could only rely on his memory to simulate the stars. He had never had an opportunity like this, where he could constantly look at and refer to stars revolving in the distance. This was the best way to learn the cultivation method, especially for the Cosmic Art, and it was akin to stepping on an accelerator.
It was no wonder why all the disciples would queue up to enter this place.
In the Neoverse, the Hall of Honor’s spacecraft traveled for half a month before finally arriving extremely close to the Mountain and Seas Zone.
The stutterer had been staring out the vessel for this entire half month, and it was as though this was his first time seeing the universe.
The others all rested silently.
The Virtue of Righteousness, Mu En, was rather excited; the youths of this generation were too outstanding, and even the Neoverse’s elites might not be able to reach this level.
The great changes that the universe had recently gone through had also brought forth new opportunities. When the Sixth Mainland’s false sky vanished, the opportunity to ascend to even greater heights had appeared, though it remained unknown if anyone among these juniors would be able to become a Progenitor.
Only a Progenitor could lead the Fifth Mainland out.
Suddenly, Mu En’s bosom trembled, and his expression changed. He stepped out into outer space and stood atop the spacecraft while staring off into the distance.
On the Honor Zone’s massive landmass was a silent figure. It looked as if it had been standing there for countless years, and the person was a great distance away from the spacecraft. This distance would be difficult for even the Ten Arbiters to travel across.
However, such a distance could be instantaneously crossed by Mu En.
Mu En carefully stared at this figure, which suddenly looked up. Scarlet eyes looked straight into Mu En’s eyes.
Mu En was shocked—the Neohuman Alliance! The Judicial Commission did not hesitate in the slightest, and he immediately took out a blood-red bell from his breast pocket and rang it.
When the bell rang out, the void calmed down; no matter if it was space, the spacecraft, or the various astral phenomena nearby, everything paused for a moment. The Ten Arbiters and everyone aboard the vessel all forgot about their own existences while the only thing they were aware of was a large hand appearing above them and suppressing everything.
In the distance, the Neohuman Alliance corpse king with scarlet eyes growled, causing a sound wave to tear through space. As it rippled out, many planets burst apart, and drifting lines of soil fell apart.
This terrifying sound wave swept towards the spacecraft.
Mu En rang the blood-red bell once again.
The sound wave was overpowered by the bell’s ringing, and it gradually vanished.
When Mu En looked back again, the corpse king had already vanished.
He heaved a sigh of relief. Every time the contest at the Astral Tower was about to begin, the Neohuman Alliance would attempt to kill the talented youths headed for the Astral Tower, and they had succeeded more than once. No matter if the youths were from the Hall of Honor, the Cosmic Sect, or even the Seven Courts, losing disciples at this time was very normal.
Mu En had been prepared, and he simply had not wanted to exchange blows with the corpse king. No matter what his opponent’s strength might have been, Mu En would rather use the blood-red bell.
The outcome ended up supporting his decision. That corpse king was actually able to withstand the first ring of the blood-red bell, and it had even retaliated. Its power level definitely surpassed 800,000, which meant that it was not something that Mu En could deal with.
After the corpse king vanished, Mu En returned inside the spacecraft.
The Ten Arbiters and the others were all confused, and they looked at each other without any understanding of what had just happened.
Ignorance is bliss, and those who remained ignorant were fearless. They would never know that they had just walked upon the border of life and death.
If not for Mu En’s decisiveness, they would have already died.
One day later, the spacecraft stopped, and Mu En’s voice rang out, “Children, we’ve arrived at the Mountain and Seas Zone.”
Everyone in the spacecraft exited at the same time, and they stared at the sky. Eh? There seemed to be nothing before them—only another dark expanse.
The stutterer spoke, “Mou- mou- mou- mou-”
“Shut up!” Tai Yuanjun found the stutterer irritating.
Mu En smiled and moved out. The void in front of him warped as he vanished.
“It’s a superimposed space.” Wen Sansi smiled.
“The Mountain and Seas Zone holds the Progenitors’ inheritances. Each inheritance consists of one mountain and one sea. Thus, this should be a superimposed space that contains five mountains and five seas.” Jin He smiled and stepped forward, similarly vanishing.
Soon, the rest of the crowd also stepped forward, and they vanished one after another.
When they reappeared, they had arrived on a continent floating in the sky. Above their heads was a blue sky filled with white clouds, and they were surrounded by a vast sea. Some distance away, in five directions, they could see five mountains. Each one had a different shape, but all of them towered into the clouds.
The stutterer was astonished. “Mou- mou- mou-”
“Get lost!” Tai Yuanjun firmly shoved the stutterer a few meters away and then looked around to take in the view. He exclaimed, “So this is the Mountain and Seas Zone’s inheritance?”
This was the first time the crowd had ever seen the Mountain and Seas Zone, as each person only had a single opportunity to do so in their lifetime unless they were someone like Mu En who could escort members of the younger generation to the Mountain and Seas Zone.
Mu En stared off into the distance, his expression complex. In his younger years, he had also participated in the contest at the Astral Tower, but nobody from his generation had succeeded. And thus, the position of the Cosmic Five had remained empty during his generation. After so many years, he had returned.
“The ancient legends of my Fifth Mainland speak of nine mountains and eight seas. During the ancient battle, our Daosource Sect collapsed, and at that time, our ancestors moved the inheritances in five mountains and five seas from the Daosource Sect into the Neoverse. That is the origin of this Astral Tower, as this place is the confluence of those five mountains and five seas. This continent floating through space is simply the combination of those five mountains seas. You guys may leave this place once the contest begins, but for the moment, you cannot,” Mu En explained.
Mu En looked at the crowd before continuing, “Even if it’s impossible to know if anyone among your group is capable of becoming one of the Cosmic Five, I hope that you all will remember one thing: everyone participating in this contest at the Astral Tower is a child of the Fifth Mainland, so if possible, don’t be too extreme in your behavior. There are only a few people who will ultimately stand at the peak, and although some of you may be enemies now, you may also become allies in the future.”
“Thank you for the lesson, Lord Commissioner, Virtue of Righteousness.” the crowd bowed.
Mu En nodded, satisfied. “You are free to roam about this area, and in principle, interactions and duels are not prohibited. However, massacres are forbidden. As for us older folk, we will leave for now.” He paused for a moment before continuing, saying, “Right, according to previous experiences, not everyone who comes to participate in the contest in the Astral Tower necessarily hopes to become one of the Cosmic Five. Aside from battle techniques and cultivation arts, the inheritances here also include all sorts of resources, which is what many participants target. Some come only for this, so if possible, find someone to team up with.
“The Mountain and Seas Zone rejects all outside items, so hand over all of your cosmic rings.”
All of the youths had clearly heard of this rule before, so they all gave up their cosmic rings without any hesitation.
Although they were all peerless within the younger generation, when they were compared to the powerhouses from the Hall of Honor, anything that they possessed quickly lost almost all value, so none of them were afraid of having their possessions stolen. Besides, without their blood, their cosmic rings would not even open.
Mu En waved a hand, and everyone was given a set of clothing. “These clothes are made from materials found in the Mountain and Seas Zone, so wear these. Otherwise, you’ll be buck naked the moment you enter the inheritance regions, haha.”
He then waved a hand towards Xing Kai and Serati Phoenix. “You two come with me. According to the rules, you cannot remain here.”
Xing Kai felt depressed at hearing this, and he hung his head as he moved over next to Mu En.
Serati Phoenix did the same.
Mu En took Xing Kai and Serati Phoenix away while the others all put on their new clothes, not really interacting with each other. Liu Tianmu turned to leave.
Unseen Light, Lan Si, Jin He, Little Leaf King, Qing Longlong, and the others all followed suit.
Xia Tian was about to leave as well, but he was stopped by Ling Gong. “You, help me out during the contest here at the Astral Tower.”
Xia Tian felt puzzled, and he pointed at himself. “Me?”
Ling Gong coldly said, “There’s no hope for you guys, so helping me out is your best choice.”
Xia Tian felt helpless. “Can I refuse?”
“No. This is an order,” Ling Gong said.
Xia Tian was left speechless, and he thought back to the time when he had dueled with Ling Gong. His rhythm had been disrupted by her favorite phrase: ‘This is an order.’
“Alright.”
When Tai Yuanjun saw this, he was slightly startled, as he had not expected people to start cooperating so soon, and he chased after Qing Longlong. “You help me.”
Qing Longlong did not even glance over and simply left.
Tai Yuanjun was irritated. “Woman, helping me is helping yourself!”
Qing Longlong moved even further away.
Tai Yuanjun snorted, as Qing Longlong clearly did not know how to appreciate his kindness. Thus, he shifted his eyes and ended up exchanging glances with another person: the stutterer.
The stutterer stared at Tai Yuanjun and swallowed.
Tai Yuanjun became upset. “Scram!”
He moved away first.
The stutterer turned to look at Ling Gong and Xia Tian, his eyes filled with envy. “Bri- bri- bring me along!”
Ling Gong coldly responded, “Go and find Lu Yin.”
The stutterer felt insulted. “Me- meat’s gone.”
Xia Tian simply smiled at the stutterer as he left with Ling Gong.
This group of Innerverse cultivators who were competing at the Astral Tower had drawn a great deal of attention to themselves.
In fact, there were more than a hundred people who had already arrived on the continent.
There was no limit to how many people could participate in this contest at the Astral Tower, and anyone from the Neoverse who knew the Astral Tower’s location was able to compete.
This floating continent was enormous, and it was large enough to hold several cities.
A market had already started to form some distance away.
This so-called market was a place to trade materials that had been obtained from the Mountain and Seas Zone.
The Mountain and Seas Zone prevented any foreign items from entering it, and even clothes could not be brought in. In fact, only items made from materials originating from this place could be taken in.
After countless years of contests in the Astral Tower, a considerable amount of resources had started circulating outside, and they were controlled by all sorts of people. Whenever a new contest was about to begin, these people would appear on the continent containing the Mountain and Seas Zone in order to barter and trade for items that they needed.
For example, there was something called a Mountain Sea Pouch that was quite popular.
Since it was impossible to bring cosmic rings into the Mountain and Seas Zone, whenever someone found a precious item during the contest, they would have to either strut around with it or end up getting robbed.
Hence, these Mountain Sea Pouches were specially made pouches that could be taken into the Mountain and Seas Zone and store the items found within it. These pouches were very sturdy, and they could store a great number of items. Although they were just ordinary bags, using them was still better than carrying everything by hand, which would tempt people into stealing.
These pouches were the only items that could store objects within the Mountain and Seas Zone.
Aside from the Mountain Sea Pouch, people were also trading weapons made from materials gathered in the inheritance zone. Among the wares were swords, halberds, and even hidden weapons.
Within the Mountain and Seas Zone, there were quite a few such markets, and they had naturally and spontaneously formed. The largest market was quite near where the Ten Arbiters and the others had arrived since everyone who had entered the Mountain and Seas Zone would appear in the same place.