Chapter 1128: The Evolution of Jiuzhou

A Stir in the Nine Provinces

The Blood Refining Realm is approaching the Nine Provinces, and a cataclysmic collision between the two realms is inevitable. This will lead to a racial conflict between humans and the Blood Race.

The Insect Race is merely an appetizer before the main conflict.

The battlefield cannot be within the Nine Provinces; it must be in the Blood Refining Realm. In other words, the cultivators of the Nine Provinces must launch a proactive attack!

This is reminiscent of their past endeavor to save the fragmented Peerless Continent.

On that occasion, Lu Ye, Ying Wuji, and others formed the vanguard of the Nine Provinces. The establishment of four Heavenly Mystery Pillars allowed the Nine Provinces' Heavenly Mystery to connect with the Peerless Continent, which then facilitated the subsequent arrival of the Cloud River Realm army.

History always repeats itself in astonishing ways. However, this time, the opponents they face cannot be compared to the Corpse Race of the Peerless Continent, neither in quality nor in scale. The Corpse Race threat was confined to the Cloud River Realm, but this conflict involves the Divine Sea Realm.

The challenge will undoubtedly be far more severe.

Realizing this, Lu Ye knew there was much to be done. At the very least, he needed to inform the Nine Provinces about the nature of the impending crisis.

"Let's go," Lu Ye called out, taking the lead and flying towards the portal that led to the Nine Provinces' mainland. Nian Yuexian tilted her head, observing him. She could sense Lu Ye was preoccupied, but since he didn't volunteer any information, she refrained from asking.

They continued their journey.

Their previous location was deep within the Insect Race Great Secret Realm. To reach the portal, they would need to traverse half of the realm. However, both were extremely fast, so it wouldn't take them long to arrive.

After flying for a short while, Nian Yuexian suddenly exclaimed in surprise, "What is that?"

Lu Ye was engrossed in strategizing how to inform the Divine Sea Realm cultivators of the Nine Provinces about the Blood Refining Realm. His mind elsewhere, he subconsciously asked, "What?"

"Over there!" Nian Yuexian exclaimed, pointing.

Lu Ye turned to look and saw a swirling mass of ethereal mist. It was dense and rotated slowly, resembling a large vortex.

This surprised him, as there had been no prior intelligence indicating the presence of such a mist vortex in this location.

It was important to remember that during the third phase, the entire military might of the Nine Provinces was deployed throughout the Insect Race Great Secret Realm. They had thoroughly scoured this world from its edges to its core in a complete sweep. If any strange discovery had been made, it would certainly have been reported, and the cultivators of the Ninth Layer wouldn't have stood by idly.

Since it wasn't discovered before, it implied it hadn't existed then. The sudden appearance of such a phenomenon now naturally struck them as strange.

Lu Ye's figure flickered as he flew towards the anomaly, with Nian Yuexian close beside him. Before long, they arrived above the mist vortex, looking down and extending their divine senses.

Soon, Nian Yuexian's expression shifted to one of surprise and doubt. "Is this... a portal?" she murmured.

From a distance, nothing was discernible, but upon closer observation, it became clear that an aura from a distinct environment was emanating from the center of the vortex.

Such a phenomenon typically indicates the existence of another world. Much like the nine portals connecting the Insect Race Great Secret Realm to the Nine Provinces, standing before them allows one to sense the aura of the Nine Provinces.

The principle was the same; only the form of the portal differed. Lu Ye's expression turned peculiar because the emanating aura gave him a strong sense of familiarity. Moreover, the mist that formed the vortex was also remarkably recognizable.

If this were true, he would be very familiar with the destination of this mist vortex portal.

"Surely not," he thought, but upon closer consideration, it didn't seem impossible; in fact, it seemed highly probable.

That particular place indeed experienced Insect Race invasions periodically. When he was in the Cloud River Realm, he had the good fortune to participate in one such event. That battle earned him a significant amount of merit, which he used to exchange for a substantial quantity of Soul Cleansing Water, a resource he had been utilizing ever since.

He had never known the origin of those invading Insect Race members, but if they came from the Insect Race Great Secret Realm, it would certainly make sense.

As far as he knew, everyone in that place typically fell into a deep slumber, only awakening when the Insect Race invaded. Utilizing a unique form of immortality, they would fiercely battle the Insect Race.

Therefore, this portal was not permanently present; it appeared only at specific times. It was no wonder the Nine Provinces' cultivator army hadn't discovered it.

The situation had become quite coincidental, so much so that Lu Ye detected a familiar pattern...

This was clearly an invitation!

Since that was the case, there was no reason not to accept the invitation.

"I'll go check. Senior Sister, you stay here," Lu Ye said, stepping forward. He figured one glance would reveal whether things were as he suspected.

Nian Yuexian didn't speak, but her actions conveyed her intent as she stayed close beside Lu Ye.

Seeing this, Lu Ye didn't stop her. Instead, he plunged directly into the mist vortex.

Indeed, he felt the sensation of passing through a portal.

However, he didn't enter the world Lu Ye had surmised. In a flash, his consciousness began to ascend rapidly.

Lu Ye had experienced this feeling several times before, so he wasn't flustered. He simply guarded his consciousness and observed silently.

At this moment, he found himself in a peculiar state. He couldn't feel his own existence; instead, his entire consciousness seemed to have transformed into a unique and vast perspective, from which he observed everything.

The first thing that caught his eye was a colossal, grayish-brown celestial body.

On that celestial body, fierce winds, torrential rains, tsunamis, and earthquakes raged. The environment was extremely harsh; in such conditions, not to mention sentient beings, even plants would struggle to survive.

This was clearly an extremely unfamiliar celestial body, yet Lu Ye had a sudden realization: this celestial body was the Nine Provinces!

When he returned from the Blood Refining Realm, he had once observed the Nine Provinces from space. However, a comparison revealed that the Nine Provinces he had seen previously was far less massive than this celestial body.

"What era of the Nine Provinces is this?" Lu Ye wondered, puzzled. The environment was surprisingly harsh; if the Nine Provinces had always been like this, it would be difficult for even ordinary mortals, let alone cultivators, to emerge.

As he pondered, time flowed rapidly. Visibly, the environment of the Nine Provinces began to undergo noticeable changes.

The frequency of natural disasters decreased, and the land gained more vitality.

First, green hues began to cover the grayish-brown landscape, transforming it into a vibrant expanse, and then simple life forms started to emerge.

During this process, time flowed incredibly fast. Lu Ye clearly sensed this, immediately realizing that the Nine Provinces he was observing belonged to an extremely ancient era, not the one he currently inhabited.

An invisible force was demonstrating the evolution of the Nine Provinces to him.

Lu Ye's mind was greatly shaken, and he observed with increasing concentration. Such a unique experience was not something everyone could encounter. While it might not offer him any substantial benefits, the sheer broadening of his horizons was incomparable.

In the blink of an eye, in an immeasurably ancient era, humanity had already emerged in the Nine Provinces. They lived primitively, consuming raw meat and blood, and struggled to survive. The environment of the Nine Provinces during this period remained unstable; humans not only had to contend with numerous ferocious beasts but also many natural disasters.

Yet, they tenaciously reproduced and survived.

After an unknown number of years, the group of cultivators began to appear in the Nine Provinces. As time passed, their numbers grew, and their cultivation levels became increasingly higher.

Lu Ye watched them traverse the land of the Nine Provinces, fighting ceaselessly. He watched them continuously grow, then... they broke out of the Nine Provinces and entered the vast starry sky!

The moment the first cultivator broke out of the Nine Provinces and entered the starry sky, Lu Ye was profoundly shaken.

Because currently, not a single cultivator within the Nine Provinces could achieve such a feat; it was a power beyond the Divine Sea Realm.

In other words, those humans who broke out of the Nine Provinces were cultivators who had surpassed the Divine Sea Realm, reaching a level that the current Divine Sea Realm cultivators of the Nine Provinces were desperately seeking but unable to attain!

If the Divine Sea Realm cultivators were to witness such a scene, they would likely go mad!

They had been exploring the path forward in cultivation, unaware that in an extremely ancient era, humanity's ancestors had already taken this step.

But... if humanity had already taken this step long ago, why was the Divine Sea Realm considered the pinnacle in the current Nine Provinces? Why had even the subsequent cultivation methods been cut off?

What significant change had occurred in the history of the Nine Provinces that a cultivation world once capable of producing cultivators who could venture into space was now confined within its own realm?

Lu Ye suddenly remembered something.

He remembered that the current cultivation world of the Nine Provinces generally believed that long ago, the Nine Provinces had experienced an extremely glorious era. This belief stemmed from the many undiscovered opportunities and inheritances found today, both in the Nine Provinces' mainland and in the Spirit Stream and Cloud River Battlefields.

Where did these opportunities and inheritances originate? They couldn't have simply appeared out of nowhere. Yet, the current historical records of the Nine Provinces only spanned a mere two to three thousand years. Events from much earlier were completely unknown, and no ancient texts existed for reference.

Therefore, the cultivation world universally believed that before the current cultivation era, the Nine Provinces had experienced other eras, and that these opportunities and inheritances were remnants from those much earlier times.

This was a bold conjecture that no one could prove, but Lu Ye now knew it was true.

The Nine Provinces indeed had an incredibly glorious past, but due to some unknown changes, it had become what it was today. As for the exact nature of these changes, he would find out by continuing to observe.

More and more cultivators broke out of the Nine Provinces and entered the starry sky. The cultivation world of ancient Nine Provinces seemed to have suddenly entered an era of explosive growth.

Those cultivators who broke out of the Nine Provinces began exploring the mysteries of the starry sky, growing even stronger in the process.

But disaster followed closely behind...

If the grayish-brown Nine Provinces that Lu Ye observed was a rough stone, then after countless years of accumulation and development, the Nine Provinces he now saw was a fragrant and appealing prize.