Chapter 1605: Plan Within a Plan

Zhao Lei nodded. With a sudden flick of his wide sleeve, a streak of white light shot out, materializing into a three-foot-long white flying sword. The sword's blade was crystal clear, adorned with intricate, mysterious patterns that twisted and moved as if alive.

The white flying sword emanated a terrifying spiritual energy fluctuation and shimmered with dazzling white light. This was the Profound Light Sky-Breaking Sword, a Heaven-Reaching Spirit Treasure.

Li Shuo turned his broad palm, and with a flash of spiritual light, an egg-sized round bead appeared in his hand. The bead's surface was covered with seven mysterious spiritual patterns in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple, glittering brightly. This was the Seven-Colored Glazed Bead, a Heaven-Reaching Spirit Treasure.

Lei Yunbin opened his mouth, and a silver light flew out. It was a palm-sized silver banner, its surface alive with countless silver electrical arcs, emitting a terrifying energy fluctuation. This was the Profound Purity Heavenly Thunder Banner, a Heaven-Reaching Spirit Treasure.

"Grow!" Lei Yunbin commanded in a low voice. The Profound Purity Heavenly Thunder Banner rapidly expanded, transforming into a hundred-zhang-long silver giant banner, which he then planted on the peak.

The previously clear sky suddenly became overcast with dense clouds. A fierce wind swirled, kicking up countless flying sands and stones.

A rumbling thunder echoed as a ten-thousand-zhang-wide thundercloud appeared high in the sky. Lightning flashed and thunder roared, and the cloud churned violently. Streaks of silver lightning, like serpents, slithered erratically within the cloud. The thundercloud continuously expanded, reaching several miles in size in less than ten breaths. It loomed dark and oppressive, with lightning serpents dancing wildly, creating a suffocating feeling, as if the end of the world was nigh.

Lei Yunbin formed a hand seal, causing the thundercloud to churn violently and unleash countless silver electrical arcs.

An earth-shattering thunderclap resonated, and a three-mile-diameter silver lightning pillar shot out from the thundercloud, soaring directly towards the sky.

The surrounding thousands of miles were illuminated by the silver light, and the entire world seemed to turn silvery-white.

The silver lightning pillar struck the void, causing ripples to spread through it, and the fierce winds reversed their direction.

"Senior Brother Zhao, now!" Lei Yunbin shouted, his face pale.

Opening a passage between two realms was not easy. After all, their cultivation was at most at the Mid-Soul Transformation stage. Even with the assistance of Heaven-Reaching Spirit Treasures, creating a spatial passage connecting two realms was no simple feat.

Zhao Lei poured his immense spiritual power into the Profound Light Sky-Breaking Sword. The sword immediately burst forth with a hundred-zhang-long white sword light, and its humming sound grew louder.

"Break!" Zhao Lei lightly pointed two fingers at the void where the silver light pillar had struck. The Profound Light Sky-Breaking Sword erupted with blinding white light, transforming into a ten-thousand-zhang-long white rainbow light that shot straight into the void.

Boom! The void seemed to collapse, revealing a crack over a hundred zhang long. A powerful gale surged from the crack, which then began to slowly heal.

"Junior Brother Li, quickly use the Seven-Colored Glazed Bead to maintain the passage!" Zhao Lei shouted, panting and pale.

Li Shuo flicked his wrist, and the Seven-Colored Glazed Bead shot out as a streak of light. After a momentary blur, it vanished. The next instant, a seven-colored spiritual light brightened near the crack, revealing the Seven-Colored Glazed Bead. The bead then burst forth with myriad seven-colored spiritual lights, enveloping the crack and instantly stopping its healing.

"It's a success! Now we just wait for the reaction from the other side," Lei Yunbin said with a sigh of relief, his expression excited.

"Immediately dispatch a group of experts, especially Nascent Soul cultivators. Also, assign more people to set up restrictions and seal this area. If we can't defeat them, we can still retreat here," Long Hanji ordered, her face filled with stern determination.

Due to resource limitations, few cultivators among both humans and demons managed to reach the Late Soul Transformation stage, making ascension to the Spirit Realm impossible. Most attempts to secretly enter the Spirit Realm had failed. To compete for cultivation resources, constant conflicts erupted between the human and demon races, and major factions engaged in internal strife, leading to severe internal consumption. The Soul Transformation cultivators of both races in the Sky Amulet Realm decided to consolidate all forces, form a super-sect, and prepare fully for war to invade other realms. If successful, they could carve a path for themselves. If they failed, they would accept their fate and continue their internal conflicts.

This was their only option. Resources in a single realm were inherently limited. If they could ascend to the Spirit Realm, those old Soul Transformation monsters wouldn't want to invade other realms, given the immense risks and time involved.

In the Dongli Realm, at the Fallen Immortal Cave. Shen Haoran and the other four sat cross-legged on the ground, their expressions tense.

Suddenly, a deafening roar came from high above. The blood-red void rippled and then abruptly tore open.

"Excellent! Martial Uncle Zhao and the others are cooperating with us to open the spatial passage. Quick, let's cast our spells!" Shen Haoran said excitedly. They had been in the Dongli Realm for over three hundred years, living anonymously, fearing exposure. Only they knew the hardships they had endured. Once their fellow disciples arrived, they would no longer have to live in constant fear and could also acquire vast cultivation resources. They had waited over three hundred years for this day.

The five immediately began casting spells, each injecting a hand seal into their respective formation plates. The plates then burst forth with dazzling blood-red light. The ground shook violently. Five magic arrays gradually emerged, revealing countless dense, blood-red runes that made one's scalp tingle just looking at them. With a flash of blood light, five thick blood-red pillars of light shot skyward, merging into a single massive blood-red beam that struck the rippling void.

"Now's the time! Increase the power, quickly!" Shen Haoran shouted, pouring his immense spiritual power frantically into the formation plate.

Their formation plates each erupted with dazzling blood-red light, which rapidly expanded. The void abruptly tore open, revealing a crack from which a soft, seven-colored treasure light drifted out. Ten breaths later, a thirty-zhang-wide black hole appeared in the void, enveloped by the seven-colored treasure light.

A powerful gravitational pull emerged. Large amounts of flying sand and stones were pulled backward, soaring towards the black hole. Towering ancient trees were ripped from their roots, and demonic beasts and birds flew uncontrollably towards the black hole. As soon as they neared the black hole, they were shredded by the powerful gale force.

"Excellent! We've finally opened the spatial passage connecting the two realms! Once Martial Uncle Zhao and the others arrive, all our worries will be gone," Shen Haoran said excitedly, tightly gripping the formation plate in his hand.

In the northwest corner of Fallen Immortal Cave, on a towering, steep peak, Sun Tianhu, Bai Xin, Liu Ye, and Ye Yan gazed at the black hole in the void, their expressions varied.

"Hehe, that idiot. He actually thought his plan was flawless. If Ling'er had been killed right under my nose, I might as well have smashed my head against a tofu block," Bai Xin chuckled, sneering. Bai Ling'er wasn't dead at all. What Situ Mei and the others saw was an illusion. The Heavenly Fox Clan specialized in illusions, and the illusion he cast was certainly not something a few Nascent Soul cultivators could discern.

"To make them believe we fell for their trap, our human and demon races fought a real battle, and the losses weren't small," Liu Ye said, frowning.

"As long as it allows us to advance further, the casualties among the younger generation are unimportant. Consider it a form of tempering," Bai Xin said nonchalantly. If cultivators from the Eastern Barrens heard their conversation, they would surely be astonished. The great war between the human and demon races in the Eastern Barrens was secretly orchestrated by Soul Transformation cultivators, a performance staged for cultivators from another realm.

"A few casualties among the younger generation are nothing, but we shouldn't be careless. Few who can cultivate to the Nascent Soul stage are fools. We can set traps to lure them into our scheme and use them to open the spatial passage, but they could also turn the tables and scheme to kill us," Sun Tianhu warned, his expression solemn. None of them were fools; each had their own calculations.