Chapter 1188: 停航

The Sect Master nodded upon hearing this. He had also considered this matter and knew Lu Ye was right, which was precisely his concern.

"Furthermore, there's another point. Although the Bixue Holy Land is named 'Bixue' and is led by Senior Brother, in reality, he is not the only one contributing; there are also powerful veteran elders. Therefore, the strength of the Bixue Holy Land should not become the private property of our sect; it should belong to all of Kyushu. With the two major factions having now cast aside old grievances and cooperating sincerely, it would be truly inappropriate for our sect to make a move that might cause resentment. If we were to absorb the power of the Bixue Holy Land, people might not say anything openly, but no one would know what they truly think in their hearts."

He nodded for the second time, his expression filled with satisfaction. The disciple he had unintentionally taken in at Evil Moon Valley had grown up and now considered matters very comprehensively.

Recently, whenever he recalled the events of that day, he only felt fortunate that Lu Ye had chosen the Bixue Sect. Otherwise, if such an excellent disciple had been missed, he truly wouldn't know which sect would have benefited.

"Thirdly, the benefits our sect has gained from this expedition are already substantial enough. Not to mention, the vast territory I've demarcated doesn't even align with our sect's current rank; it even surpasses that of all first-grade sects. Even with this, others won't say anything because our expedition disciples have rendered great service and earned this; it's what our Bixue Sect deserves."

He spoke with a frank expression, because it was true.

"However, if we were to further accept the power of the Bixue Holy Land, that would mean accepting the mortals from that area. Although the Bixue Holy Land isn't large, it's densely populated, with an enormous base population. This would be like seizing yet another piece of land, and that would appear rather greedy."

The Sect Master said with delight, "It's rare for you to consider things so thoroughly. In fact, your Senior Brother also said he doesn't recommend that I absorb the power of the Bixue Holy Land. His concerns are basically similar to yours."

Lu Ye smiled and said, "Coming from the same sect, our thoughts are naturally aligned."

The matter was thus settled. The Bixue Sect would remain the Bixue Sect, and the Bixue Holy Land would remain the Bixue Holy Land; the two would not merge. There was no need to deliberately publicize this. Once the affairs of the Blood Refining Realm had settled, the Bixue Holy Land would choose a territory in Kyushu and establish a new sect. At that time, all cultivators within the Holy Land would transfer to their new settlement in Kyushu.

The Blood Refining Realm is not suitable for cultivators to continue staying in. Perhaps there would be no problem for a short period, but over a longer period, the realm's essence would deplete, and its world-level quality would gradually decrease. If cultivators continued to live in this realm, their cultivation would become difficult, and advancing to higher realms would be impossible. This is a situation no cultivator could tolerate.

The Kyushu cultivators, who had been dispersed, began to gather again. The gathering point was the same location where they had originally entered the Blood Refining Realm, next to the Heavenly Secret Pillar.

At the location of the Heavenly Secret Pillar, many cultivators were bustling about with great enthusiasm. On the side of Jiaoli Dongtian, led by Lu Ye, a large group of people were busy setting up a formation.

The formation being set up was very simple: a Spirit Convergence Array. The mechanism of this grand array was very simple; it was used to gather spiritual energy. It was an auxiliary grand array, generally functioning as an internal component within other formations to assist their operation.

The locations of other Heavenly Secret Pillars were basically the same; the purpose of the grand arrays was to gather spiritual energy, preparing for the impending halt of the Blood Refining Realm's trajectory.

Unlike Kyushu, the Blood Refining Realm had always been in motion. This was why Kyushu cultivators initially observed the starlight belonging to the Blood Refining Realm becoming increasingly bright: because the Blood Refining Realm was constantly approaching Kyushu, getting closer and closer, it naturally became easier to see.

If the entire Blood Refining Realm were likened to a large ship sailing through the starry sky, its trajectory, by an unfortunate coincidence, was aimed directly at the location of the Kyushu World. If left unchecked, this massive realm would directly collide with Kyushu, inevitably leading to a disaster of realm destruction.

The Blood Race had already been wiped out; the only living member was Lan Qiyue. After three months of hard-fought battles, victory had finally been achieved, and Kyushu cultivators certainly didn't wish to see their home destroyed in such a tragic manner.

Fortunately, Xiao Jiu had long prepared a contingency plan for this situation. However, it required Kyushu cultivators to exert some effort, and this matter was publicized through Lu Ye.

Because the formation was simple, Lu Ye found its setup not difficult. The challenge lay in its vast scope, as a massive number of cultivators would be needed next to each Heavenly Secret Pillar.

After more than ten days of such busy work, Spirit Convergence Arrays had been set up next to over a hundred Heavenly Secret Pillars.

Within the range covered by the formations, cultivators, regardless of their cultivation realm, all sat cross-legged, concentrating their minds and working together.

The cultivators gathered at Jiaoli Dongtian now were not only from the Bixue Sect and Sustained Star Sect. Because the number of cultivators from these two sects was too small, cultivators from many other sects had also come to assist.

Lu Ye sat directly in front of the Heavenly Secret Pillar. Since Xiao Jiu could not appear before people, everything would be specifically guided by him.

All he had to do was wait for Xiao Jiu to give a signal at the appropriate time.

While waiting, his battle imprint suddenly stirred. Lu Ye checked: Xiao Jiu's signal had arrived. He immediately gave a low shout, "Begin!" At the same time, he injected spiritual energy into the Spirit Convergence Array beneath him. Following his lead, all cultivators activated their spiritual energy and injected it into the grand array beneath them.

Simultaneously, above the Heavenly Secret Pillar, winds and clouds converged. Massive amounts of world spiritual energy, drawn by an invisible force, swarmed towards the Heavenly Secret Pillar. The entire Heavenly Secret Pillar seemed to become a black hole, devouring everything; no matter how much spiritual energy was injected into it, it was absorbed completely.

Beside Lu Ye, Yiyi and Liu Po were also working desperately, contributing their share of power.

The Heavenly Secret Pillar vibrated ceaselessly, and intricate, complex patterns emerged on its surface. It seemed as if something was about to burst forth from the pillar.

This situation continued for a long time...

Indeed, something burst forth from the pillar: a soaring pillar of light. It pierced through the clouds and continued uninterrupted, its brightness such that it could be seen clearly even from a million miles away.

Immediately after the Heavenly Secret Pillar here emitted its beam of light, from various locations across the Blood Refining Realm, pillars of light shot forth from Heavenly Secret Pillars.

In an instant, the heavens and earth trembled.

If viewed from space, the Blood Refining Realm at this moment seemed to have been pierced by hundreds of giant swords of light.

The power of all cultivators flowed out like gushing water, forcing everyone to quickly swallow spirit pills or hold spirit stones to recover as much as possible.

Above the hundreds of light swords plunged into various parts of the Blood Refining Realm, wisps of spiritual energy light bands drifted down. As time passed, the trembling of the heavens and earth became increasingly distinct and violent.

All living beings within the Blood Refining Realm couldn't help but feel as if they were in a rapidly moving carriage that was now swiftly decelerating.

In Kyushu, for the past few months, people's hearts had been filled with dread.

Even ordinary mortals who had never cultivated had noticed some anomalies in the starry sky. Initially, the situation wasn't obvious; they only knew that a star in the night sky was growing brighter. But as time passed, the true appearance of that star gradually revealed itself.

By today, even in broad daylight, one could see a massive outline in the void from different directions by simply looking up. This outline was becoming increasingly clear and enormous.

Some news inevitably spread, and mortals learned that it was an existence similar to Kyushu—another realm from the starry sky.

This realm was now approaching Kyushu; it probably wouldn't be long before it collided head-on. Even the most ignorant mortals knew this would trigger a catastrophe of extinction, and naturally, they felt terrified and uneasy.

Even with the cultivators who remained in Kyushu coming forward to reassure people, the situation didn't improve significantly. It could only be said that it was kept from spiraling out of control, but no one could guarantee how long this situation would last.

If it truly came to the point where people's morale collapsed due to the pressure of despair, even without a collision between realms, it would likely be a disaster for the people of Kyushu.

In fact, the cultivators guarding Kyushu were equally unsure. Because they couldn't establish contact with the Blood Refining Realm, they had no idea how the expedition was progressing.

They also didn't know how to make such a massive realm deviate from its current trajectory and avoid Kyushu's location.

Everyone waited anxiously, doing their best to fulfill their duty as cultivators and comfort the easily panicked mortals.

Every moment, across Kyushu, people looked up to observe. But each observation only brought deeper despair, because compared to the previous one, the massive outline seemed larger and clearer. This meant that the other side was even closer to Kyushu.

Even cultivators of the Spirit Manifestation Realm were affected, leading to the entire Spirit Manifestation Battlefield becoming chaotic.

Until this moment, exclamations of surprise echoed from all over Kyushu.

Because on that massive outline, a visible pillar of light suddenly appeared, followed immediately by a second, a third... and then hundreds!

No one knew what exactly had happened. These pillars of light appeared so suddenly; there was no prior sign whatsoever.

But soon, high-level cultivators noticed something that thrilled them. Mortals and those with insufficient cultivation might not have discovered it yet, but they clearly judged that when those hundreds of pillars of light appeared, the speed at which the Blood Refining Realm was approaching Kyushu was rapidly decreasing.

It seemed as if an invisible force had suppressed the Blood Refining Realm's advance.

Time passed. The Blood Refining Realm's approach to Kyushu slowed further until it completely stopped. It would no longer approach Kyushu by even an inch.

The Divine Sea Realm grand cultivators who witnessed this were all exhilarated. Although they didn't know exactly what had happened on the Blood Refining Realm, from the results alone, it was clear that the Kyushu cultivators' expedition had achieved unprecedented success. The Blood Refining Realm must now be under the control of the Kyushu cultivators; otherwise, such a situation would not have occurred.

They immediately relayed the news to the outside, and it quickly reached the ears of mortals through various transmissions.

At this point, the atmosphere of unease that had persisted for months was swept away. For a time, throughout Kyushu, the entire world celebrated. Everyone felt as if they had narrowly escaped death.