Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

The doppelganger of Jiang Yi in the Summer Rain City had been discovered very quickly.

The Great Xia Kingdom was experiencing a great change. During the period where Su Ruoxue had ascended the throne, all the officials saw no hope in the kingdom revival. They felt that a million-soldier-strong army might come and raze their Great Xia Kingdom at any point of time.

Therefore, all the factions had sent their spies to infiltrate the kingdom. Even the incident involving Su Yu and Su Heng was all assisted and pushed by the influential factions behind the scenes. A third of the officials in the Summer Rain City had been bribed as well as more eunuchs and palace maids in the royal palace.

The human skin mask that Su Ruoxue made was pretty decent, and the person she picked to wear it had very similar physique as Jiang Yi. However, Jiang Yi’s vigor was too strong; and his temperament was too hard to imitate. As long as someone was to observe him carefully, that person would be able to easily tell if it was the real Jiang Yi.

Jiang Yi was no longer in the Summer Rain City, and the Yazi Beast was not in the eastern forest. It was needless to say that he had gone to the Witch God forbidden ground. Therefore, everyone was able to conclude the person who caused the heaven-and-earth anomaly was definitely Jiang Yi.

“Saint Lady Ji!”

Two doyens rushed into the Martial Arts Hall of the Hades Abyss. They had these grave expressions and spoke heavily, “We have obtained news, someone had caused a heaven-and-earth anomaly in the Netherworld Forest, and the Nine Heaven Stars had bestowed the power of the stars to him. This person is very likely to be Jiang Yi. Furthermore, we have deduced that the previous two heaven-and-earth anomalies should be caused by Jiang Yi as well. There are too many unknown factors in this. Therefore, we have decided to carry out your plan. We shall wait for the Chief Hall Master to be back, and if his orders are to eliminate Jiang Yi, we can do it immediately.”

“Heaven-and-earth anomaly?”

Ji Tingyu’s beautiful eyes flickered before standing up in shock and spoke, “Since it’s so, let’s start the preparations immediately. Chief Hall Master would be back in half a year time. When the time comes, we should be more or less done with the preparation.”

…

“Eh? The second star sphere didn’t turn red?”

Jiang Yi who was in the Universal Palace had discovered something very strange. After the second star sphere had absorbed all the remaining seven star sphere’s black essence force, it quickly transformed. This time, it had transformed into an orange star sphere. On top of it, there was a layer of orange light circulating around it. After comparing it to the first red star sphere beside it, the two totally complimented each other.

“The essence force is actually orange in color? I now have three kinds of essence force in me. What exactly is going on?”

Jiang Yi grew apprehensive. An ordinary person would only have one type of essence force. Ever since he cultivated the Nameless Divine Art, he had been cultivating black essence force. Red essence force appeared after the first star sphere transformation. At this moment, the orange essence force had appeared.

“Who left behind this Nameless Divine Art for me? Mother mentioned that the seal in my dantian was not done by her. That also meant that the divine art wasn’t left behind by her as well. Such divine art was simply unheard of. If these nine star spheres continue to develop, what would it transform into?”

Jiang Yi grew expectant and worried while feeling at a loss. This Nameless Divine Art had helped him in breaking the seal, helping him to turn from trash to a generational prodigy. At the same time, it caused his body to go through great changes, becoming different from any normal human.

“This essence force is so violent. I wonder how powerful it is.”

After inspecting what had changed in him, Jiang Yi stood back up and circulated the orange essence force in him. He punched at the wall which caused a loud rumble, the restriction on the stone wall started sparkling in radiance; but nothing happened to it. Jiang Yi had no idea how much strength was contained within that punch. However, he could sense that it was at least two folds stronger.

“Not bad! I will continue refining the celestial stones. From what the Demon Empress said, once the third star sphere transforms, my strength should be comparable to the Vajra Realm martial experts. When that time comes, the might of the Wind Myriad would certainly increase by several folds!”

Jiang Yi had this burning passion in his heart. He had already comprehended mid-grade dao patterns, which was the hardest and final step. As long as his essence force could keep up, his attacking power would surely be on par to the Vajra Realm. This was also the reason why he did not hesitate to refine the celestial stones even at the cost of destroying his future.

After eating some rations and a night of good sleep, he then continued to refine the celestial stones. Just after he had refined another celestial stone, he opened his eyes. His eyes were filled with agony and shock.

After he had refined one of the celestial stones… the third star sphere didn’t have any response. Originally, he thought that for the third star sphere to transform, it would need twice or thrice the essence force needed as compared to the second star sphere. After a rough estimate from what just happened, he discovered that the essence force needed for the third star was at least 20 folds of what the second star sphere needed!

In other words—if he wished to transform the third star sphere, he would need at least 200 celestial stones!

“Two hundred celestial stones… it should be able to create at least ten peak-stage Soul Travel Realm experts, right?”

Jiang Yi clicked his tongue. Celestial stones were simply too rare. If it wasn’t because the Great Xia Kingdom possessing a divine vein, where could he possibly get so many celestial stones? This star sphere of his needed such a large amount of essence force. If he was to rely just on cultivation, how many months or years would he have to cultivate before it transformed? Ten years? Twenty years?

“Why is an ordinary martial artist be able to reach the peak stage of the Soul Travel Realm after refining 10 to 20 celestial stones? Yet, I needed 10 times the amount? Could it be a misjudgment from the Demon Empress? Or perhaps, is my cultivation technique too special? Ruining my future? Haha!”

Jiang Yi laughed bitterly. At this moment, he realized that the Demon Empress, Shui Youlan, and the others were wrong. Even if he didn’t refine the celestial stones, his future wouldn’t be any better.

If the third star sphere already required so much essence force, what about the fourth and fifth one? What about the ones after the fifth star sphere? Jiang Yi wouldn’t even dare to imagine it any further. If he were to rely on just cultivation, would he be able to transform the fourth star sphere before he died of old age?

“I should just continue refining the celestial stones and worry about the future later.”

Jiang Yi shook his head and dispelled all the distracting thoughts. He continued refining the celestial stones, and this time, he refined them a lot faster. It was practically one stone every day.

After refining five celestial stones, he would rest for a day before continuing. He had only brought along about 120 celestial stones with him, and this miser amount of celestial stones wouldn’t be able to let him transform his third star sphere. He didn’t bother about it and continued to refine them till he finished using all the celestial stones.

After cultivating for a long period of time…

Jiang Yi had stayed in the Universal Palace for four whole months and had refined all the celestial stones on him. Meanwhile, half of the third star sphere had been filled with essence force. If he wished to continue cultivating, he would have to return to the Summer Rain City to get the celestial stones. He estimated that he would still need close to a hundred of them.

“It had been four months. Time to return!”

Jiang Yi packed up and went up to the second floor’s sea to shower. After changing into a new set of gown, he controlled the restriction and exited, appearing on top of the cliff.

“Withdraw!”

He stood above the cliff and shouted out. The Universal Palace below him started radiating with white rays and rapidly shrank. Ultimately, it turned into a stream of light before flying into his hand. This Universal Palace was a piece of saint artifact; hence, he was naturally able to control its size as he desired.

“Come forth, Yazi Beast!”

The Universal Palace flashed in white light before an enormous giant creature appeared in the sky. Jiang Yi leaped up onto the Yazi Beast and flew towards the direction of the Great Xia Kingdom.

In just one day, Jiang Yi had reached the borders of the Great Xia Kingdom. He instructed the Yazi Beast to head over to the small village—which the Qian Clan had control of—to scout some information. The Qian Clan had disseminated all of their clansmen around the continent. The information that their clan gathered was a lot faster and accurate compared to Su Ruoxue.

“Lord Regent! The continent had been very quiet for the past few months. Basically, nothing major has happened.”

Jiang Yi went into the small village and a deacon from the Qian Clan in charge of this foothold came forward to welcome him. Just when Jiang Yi was about to leave, the deacon suddenly recalled something. He cupped his fist and spoke, “Lord Regent. Recently, something had happened. However, because of my limited authority, I don’t know the full details of it.”

“Speak!” Jiang Yi had just stood up, but he sat back down.

The deacon took out a piece of the map and pointed at a city located on the northwest of Heaven Mystics Kingdom, “Recently, all the kingdoms, the Azure Dragon Empire, the Water Moon Observatory, the Great Zen Monastery, and the three major colleges had sent people out to infiltrate Xining City. Judging from the situation, it seems like they are preparing to head out to the sea. En… Young Master Wushuang and my clan’s Young Patriarch had gone over as well. I have no authority to know why they are going there for. If the Lord Regent wishes to know, I can send a messenger out to the Young Patriarch.”

“So many people had gone there? Wanguan and Wushuang had gone over as well?”

Jiang Yi’s brows lifted as his eyes revealed a trace of curiosity. Since Summer Rain City was in safe, it wouldn’t matter if he was to return later by a few days. He immediately waved his hand and said, “Immediately send the message to Wanguan. Ask them what tricks are they up to?”