Chapter 1570: Returned

Feng Wujiang was the first to be struck by the crimson lightning. Though badly injured, his divine sense continuously tracked the lightning, watching as it, weakened by various methods, vanished along with Lu Ye's figure.

This meant their combined efforts to resist hadn't fully succeeded. Although the crimson lightning's power had significantly decreased, now less than 20% of its original strength, Feng Wujiang wasn't sure if Lu Ye could withstand it.

Feeling a premonition, Feng Wujiang turned his head and frowned even deeper.

The reason was simple: Dao Thirteen had been left behind!

He had somewhat anticipated this, as the Heaven's Mystery's teleportation in Kyushu required immense energy. While Lu Ye had a chance to return to Kyushu, Dao Thirteen might not.

It now seemed that Kyushu's Heaven's Mystery indeed had no intention of sending Dao Thirteen back; otherwise, it wouldn't have left him behind.

This made Lu Ye's situation even more precarious. With Dao Thirteen by his side, he would at least have someone to help him, but now everything was up to him.

At this moment, within the indescribable passage, Lu Ye felt a dizzying sensation. Even though he had advanced to the Divine Sea realm and his strength had greatly increased, he couldn't escape the unpleasant experience of long-distance teleportation.

What made him feel worse was the clear sense of an immense crisis rapidly approaching from behind.

By the Heaven's Mystery Pillar, the moment his figure vanished, Lu Ye also saw the crimson lightning descending from the sky, realizing it was the Heaven's Fury of the Blood Refinement Realm.

He saw his Senior Brother and others using various methods to resist, but they hadn't fully succeeded.

The crisis he now felt was clearly that same crimson lightning, weakened by various means.

He understood clearly: if he could block it, he would live; if not, he would surely die.

He forced himself to calm down. After briefly sensing the intensity of the crimson lightning behind him, he immediately abandoned the idea of turning back to block it. Even though it had been weakened by his Senior Brother and others, its current power was still something he couldn't withstand.

Attempting to block it recklessly would likely lead to disaster.

Since he couldn't block it, he could only keep running. This was a teleportation passage, and even if the crimson lightning behind him was the power of Heaven's Fury, once it left the Blood Refinement Realm, it would be like a tree without roots or water without a source. As long as he delayed long enough, its power would gradually weaken until he could finally withstand it.

Normally, his speed would be no match for such a Heaven's Fury.

But at this moment, he was in the midst of teleportation, and the speed he exhibited wasn't his own. He could barely delay it, though the distance between him and the crimson lightning was clearly closing rapidly.

For some reason, this teleportation felt exceptionally long, unlike previous times when it seemed to finish almost instantly.

Having made up his mind, Lu Ye immediately activated one of his three drops of vital essence blood. With a thought, the essence blood erupted, enveloping his body in a layer of bloody mist. His speed sharply increased, almost turning him into a streak of crimson light.

Blood Escape.

This was Lu Ye's first time using this secret technique, and by employing his essence blood, its effect was surprisingly good, exceeding his expectations.

Originally, the distance between him and the crimson lightning was rapidly shrinking, but after he used the Blood Escape technique, although he still couldn't completely shake it off, the distance stopped closing.

He ignored everything else, rushing forward stubbornly, occasionally using his divine sense to check the situation behind him.

Just as he expected, without the support of the Blood Refinement Realm, the crimson lightning's power was indeed rapidly weakening.

As its power diminished, its speed also decreased in sync, posing less and less threat to Lu Ye.

After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the bloody mist enveloping Lu Ye suddenly dispersed. His speed returned to its original level, and a sense of fatigue washed over him, though it was nothing serious.

This was the most exquisite aspect of the Blood Refinement Art.

Normally, members of the Blood Race could refine their own essence blood, storing it as backup energy to use for killing enemies or escaping in critical moments. Because it was backup energy, the damage to their own bodies wasn't significant, as long as their bodies could withstand it.

If he had used a normal method to activate the Blood Escape technique, Lu Ye would undoubtedly have suffered a loss of vitality at this moment.

By now, Lu Ye had abandoned the idea of turning back to block it. Since the crimson lightning's power was continuously weakening, as long as he kept running, it would eventually disappear. There was no need to risk blocking it.

No matter how weak its power became, it was still Heaven's Fury. Who knew what hidden dangers it might contain?

The slowed crimson lightning could no longer catch Lu Ye and was still weakening. It was safe to say the crisis had passed.

Another incense stick's time passed. In Lu Ye's perception, the crimson lightning behind him suddenly disintegrated, vanishing without a trace.

Only then did he finally relax.

Immediately afterward, he felt as if he had passed through something, and his vision sharply changed. It was no longer the bizarre teleportation passage.

What met his gaze left Lu Ye deeply shaken, unable to recover for a long time.

Because what appeared before his eyes was a colossal aquamarine star, suspended in the void of the universe, like a dormant beast.

An inexplicable sense of familiarity emanated from the giant star, making Lu Ye feel as if a wanderer had returned home.

He immediately understood: this giant star was Kyushu!

He had returned.

Lu Ye had never imagined that he would one day be able to view Kyushu from this perspective. Was this a reward for his journey to the Blood Refinement Realm?

Living within Kyushu and standing here to observe the entire world of Kyushu were completely different experiences. In the presence of such a star, he felt increasingly insignificant, and he could more profoundly sense the vastness and immensity of Kyushu.

When he had traveled to the Blood Refinement Realm, his spiritual consciousness had once ascended, allowing him to see the overall appearance of the Blood Refinement Realm. However, that experience was different from this one. That was merely a spiritual observation, while this was a tangible sight with his own eyes, making the visual impact much more profound.

Gazing intently, Lu Ye felt as if his divine sense was elevating.

However, his attention was soon drawn to some objects beside Kyushu. Surrounding the enormous star of Kyushu were numerous irregular floating lands. These floating lands varied in size, most appearing as small as dust motes. But Lu Ye knew that these floating lands weren't actually so tiny; it was merely a visual illusion caused by the immense size of Kyushu in comparison.

Two of these floating lands were the largest, hovering on either side of the Kyushu world, like two great guardians!

Lu Ye looked at one of the floating lands, faintly sensing two peculiar connections emanating from a certain part of it.

He frowned deeply, unsure what these two connections were.

As he pondered, he was already rushing toward the Kyushu world at an extremely high speed. His body was enveloped in a layer of unknown power, just as it had been when he first arrived in the Blood Refinement Realm.

This must be the protective power bestowed by Heaven's Mystery.

Although he didn't know what cultivation level was required to survive in such an environment, it was certainly not something someone who had just advanced to the Divine Sea realm could achieve.

Without this layer of protective power granted by Heaven's Mystery, even a cultivator at the ninth level of the Divine Sea realm would quickly perish here.

From this perspective, Kyushu's Heaven's Mystery was still quite trustworthy; at least it knew to provide him with safe protection.

As the distance grew shorter, the connections Lu Ye felt from one of the large floating lands became increasingly clear.

Lu Ye finally understood what those connections were.

They were his connections to the Heaven's Mystery Pillars.

There were countless Heaven's Mystery Pillars in Kyushu, and Lu Ye naturally had no connection to ordinary ones. However, in a certain place, there were two Heaven's Mystery Pillars that he had acquired using his merit points.

Nominally, those two Heaven's Mystery Pillars were his property, and naturally, there was an unbreakable connection to them.

That massive floating land was the Cloud River Battlefield.

The other large floating land was the Spirit Creek Battlefield.

If that were the case, then the other floating lands surrounding the Kyushu world must be the locations connected to various mystic realms.

This discovery astonished Lu Ye.

Within Kyushu, whether it was the Spirit Creek Battlefield, the Cloud River Battlefield, or Kyushu proper, there were countless mystic realms. Lu Ye had often wondered where these mystic realm spaces actually were.

Only today did he realize that the spaces of these mystic realms revolved outside the world of Kyushu.

He didn't know if anyone else had discovered this, but he was probably the only one throughout history who had seen it so directly.

As he drew closer to the Kyushu world, anyone would feel awe when such a vast and majestic star rushed toward them.

On his way, he passed by a floating land. Lu Ye turned his head to examine it, straining his vision.

In this environment, judging distances had become extremely difficult. Perhaps someone with a higher cultivation level could make accurate judgments, but Lu Ye couldn't yet.

The floating land seemed very close to him, but in reality, it was still very far away.

Even with his full visual power, Lu Ye couldn't clearly see the situation on the floating land.

He hastily constructed an Insight spiritual pattern to take a quick look.

But the next instant, he frowned.

He vaguely saw some monstrous, clawing things on that floating land, some of them extremely massive.

Those were... the Insect Race.

He couldn't see them clearly enough, and there was no way to verify it further because the distance from that floating land had already greatly increased.

Lu Ye's brows were tightly furrowed. The Insect Race was not unfamiliar to Kyushu cultivators; almost every cultivator had to experience an insect tide in the Spirit Creek Battlefield. Occasionally, small-scale insect tides would erupt in Kyushu itself, but they would quickly be suppressed, just like the previous incident.

In his view, there was a rolling sea of clouds, as white as cotton wadding.

He could already clearly feel the powerful gravitational pull from below, and his speed was increasing.

Breaking through the sea of clouds, the familiar world rushed toward him.

It was at this moment that the protection that had enveloped Lu Ye suddenly vanished without a trace. His body plummeted straight down, like a meteor falling from the sky.

The speed was so great that his entire body's skin was aching from friction. Lu Ye quickly circulated his spiritual power to resist the force of the friction.

His body continued to fall, completely unable to stabilize itself.

A cultivator's flight was not without limits; it also had a height ceiling.

His current position had clearly exceeded his limit. To stabilize himself, he could only continue to descend.