Chapter 1635: Again Opening the Spatial Portal, Battle Imminent

"With our full support, Zhenhai Sect has developed quite well over the past few years. However, its disciples are of mixed quality. For Zhenhai Sect to regain its former strength, Junior Martial Sister Tian will need to put in more effort."

Wang Ruyan briefly explained Zhenhai Sect's situation over the past few years. A sect, unlike a family, faces challenges during rebuilding; newly joined disciples often lack a strong sense of belonging to Zhenhai Sect.

Wang Changsheng was not surprised. Remembering something, he continued to ask, "Is there no news of Long Hanji? They attacked Myriad Flames Palace and then just vanished?"

"No," Wang Ruyan replied. "Long Hanji's true form is a fifth-tier Flood Dragon. The environment of the South Sea Immortal Cultivation World made it easy for her to escape, and there has been no news of her since. I heard that Divine Weapon Palace refined a unique treasure, the Dragon Seeker Disk, specifically to find Long Hanji, but there's still no news of her. Over the past few years, there have also been some disturbances in the Northern Frontier and Eastern Barrens; several medium-sized forces were destroyed. It's unclear if these incidents are related to Long Hanji."

Wang Ruyan stated truthfully that the East Glazed Realm is vast, and it's extremely difficult to find a Divinity Transformation cultivator who wishes to hide.

As far as she knew, major forces like Myriad Beasts Island were actively trying to find Long Hanji and her associates. Myriad Swords Sect even visited again to ask Fairy Cai Lian to divine the whereabouts of Shen Haoran.

Fairy Cai Lian's divination indicated that Shen Haoran was in a direction abundant with fire spiritual energy. Places that fit this description were either the Myriad Flames Sea Region in the South Sea or the Northern Frontier Immortal Cultivation World.

Divination also comes at a cost. Fairy Cai Lian couldn't continuously divine a cultivator's movements as it would severely deplete her vitality. Divinations could only yield vague results, not specific locations.

"All the passages through which the Demon Race invaded the East Glazed Realm were sealed off. Did the Ten Great Sects send people to guard them?" Wang Changsheng continued to ask.

Wang Ruyan nodded and said, "High-level cultivators have always been stationed there. After the incident in the Myriad Ghosts Sea Region, the Ten Great Sects dispatched more personnel to prevent the spatial passages from being destroyed by Long Hanji. However, there are too many places to defend, making it impossible to guard against everything."

The Divinity Transformation cultivators in the South Sea not only had to protect their own strongholds but also had to prevent Long Hanji from breaking open the sealed spatial passages. Long Hanji and her group were hidden, while they were in the open, making it impossible to defend against everything.

The East Glazed Realm is vast, and Divinity Transformation cultivators cannot be everywhere.

Back then, finding just Situ Mei consumed significant manpower and resources; now, locating a Divinity Transformation cultivator is even more challenging.

"Will Long Hanji try to win over the monster race in the South Sea? If the South Sea monster race cooperates with Long Hanji, that would definitely be a huge problem," Wang Changsheng said with a frown. If the South Sea monster race betrayed them, the Eastern Barrens monster race might also follow suit.

"I estimate Senior Liu and the others have considered this and have certainly sent people to monitor the South Sea monster race," Wang Ruyan said dismissively. "I doubt the South Sea monster race would be so foolish as to cooperate with Long Hanji based on just a few words. Drawing a grand vision might work for low-level cultivators, but without tangible benefits, the monster race won't submit to Long Hanji. If Long Hanji actually went to the South Sea monster race, she might even be betrayed by them."

After chatting for a while, Wang Changsheng left Qinglian Peak and headed for Zhenhai Sect. He planned to visit Fairy Ziyue and also observe Zhenhai Sect's development.

***

Burial Immortal Sea Region, a desolate island over a hundred miles in size.

Long Hanji, Liu Jiaojiao, Song Yuzhen, and Situ Mei stood in an open area. On the ground was a silver formation array over a thousand feet in size, covered with mysterious runes and a large number of high-grade spirit stones.

Opening a spatial passage creates a significant disturbance. The Heavenly Azure Realm has hundreds of spatial nodes, too many for Divinity Transformation cultivators to monitor them all, as they are dispersed across various locations. It takes time for the Heavenly Azure Realm to gather forces. Therefore, they had to choose a secret location to open the spatial passage.

Finding a suspected spatial node leading to the Heavenly Azure Realm that was also secret and lacked significant cultivator activity was indeed difficult; there weren't many places that met both criteria.

Situ Mei was familiar with the South Sea's situation. She knew there was a spatial node in the Burial Immortal Sea Region that might lead to the Heavenly Azure Realm. She had learned this from an ancient book, which was a unique copy and had long since been destroyed due to certain special reasons.

"Uncle-Master Long, the formation array has been set up, but to open the spatial passage, we still need to rely on Uncle-Master Lei and his group," Liu Jiaojiao said respectfully, adding that as long as this spatial node led to the Heavenly Azure Realm, the Heavenly Azure Realm would receive the message.

"Let's proceed immediately; this place is too dangerous," Long Hanji ordered. She explained that if the East Glazed Realm cultivators weren't scrutinizing so strictly, she would have chosen a better location, and she wouldn't have selected the Burial Immortal Sea Region.

The Burial Immortal Sea Region is one of the South Sea's seven most dangerous places, notorious far and wide. If they had acted elsewhere, the Divinity Transformation cultivators of the East Glazed Realm would have arrived quickly.

The South Sea Immortal Cultivation World had dispatched several Nascent Soul cultivators to guard outside the Burial Immortal Sea Region and set up formations. However, Long Hanji possessed a special treasure and secretly infiltrated the Burial Immortal Sea Region, completely undetected by the Nascent Soul cultivators.

The unique environment of the Burial Immortal Sea Region severely limited cultivators' spiritual senses. The deeper one went into the sea region, the stronger the magnetic force, which prevented the few Nascent Soul cultivators outside from patrolling deep within.

Liu Jiaojiao nodded, taking out four silver, continuously flickering formation plates. Each of the four held one plate.

They each cast a spell into their respective formation plates. The formation array shook violently, and all the runes on its surface lit up brightly.

With a flash of silver light, an incredibly thick silver beam shot skyward, piercing straight into the heavens.

A moment later, ripples spread through the void, which then tore open like a piece of paper, forming a rift.

"It's a success! Now we just need to see if the other side is the Heavenly Azure Realm," Liu Jiaojiao exclaimed excitedly, adding that she had set up multiple layers of formations nearby to conceal the anomaly as much as possible.

"We just need to wait," Long Hanji said gravely. "Hopefully, Senior Martial Brother Lei and his group will send people over soon. With the Azure Dragon Boat, our sect can mobilize personnel much more conveniently."

Long Hanji explained that a major reason for their previous failure was the insufficient number of Divinity Transformation cultivators.

The Heavenly Azure Realm has hundreds of spatial nodes scattered in different locations, and Divinity Transformation cultivators are dispersed across them. Their first failure occurred because reinforcements couldn't arrive in time, leading to the annihilation of their disciples on the other side. The second time, there were too few Divinity Transformation cultivators. With the Azure Dragon Boat, they believed they wouldn't repeat the same mistakes. The only downside was the location in the Burial Immortal Sea Region; if Spirit-Depleting Qi erupted, they would likely suffer heavy casualties.

Wealth is sought in danger; everything carries risk.

***

Heavenly Azure Realm, Heavenly Azure Sect.

In the deliberation hall, Long Xiaoyao, Sun Hao, Li Shuo, and Lei Yunbin sat solemnly at the main table, while hundreds of high-level cultivators were seated on both sides.

"The Profound Origin Disk in Qingli Sea has sensed something again," Long Xiaoyao announced gravely. "Junior Martial Sister Song and her four companions have already rushed there. This time, failure is absolutely not an option. Immediately dispatch one hundred Nascent Soul cultivators and five hundred Core Formation cultivators to Qingli Sea."

"Understood, Uncle-Master Long."

"Senior Martial Brother Shangguan has already refined a Seven-Star Spirit Shattering Pearl," Lei Yunbin said, brimming with killing intent. "I can go to the East Glazed Realm. This time, I will show the East Glazed Realm our might."

Lei Yunbin, full of killing intent, explained that they had learned from their last lesson. The monster race had brought out their most prized treasures and given them to Shangguan Tianhong to refine a magical artifact. He had successfully forged a Seven-Star Origin Breaking Pearl, a one-time use artifact that could allow a mid-stage Divinity Transformation cultivator to pass through.

Lei Yunbin possessed the Qian Thunder Physique and had a mid-stage Divinity Transformation cultivation base. If he used all his trump cards, even Long Xiaoyao would not be his match.

"There's no time to lose. Immediately use the Azure Dragon Boat to head for Qingli Sea," Long Xiaoyao stated seriously. "I don't believe that with fifteen Divinity Transformation cultivators, one hundred Nascent Soul cultivators, and five hundred Core Formation cultivators, the East Glazed Realm can still stop us."

Long Xiaoyao's tone was grave. As long as they seized the bridgehead, the Heavenly Azure Realm could continuously send reinforcements and then conquer the entire East Glazed Realm.

Soon, Heavenly Azure Sect, this massive war machine, began to operate. A large number of experts, either riding flying magical artifacts, using teleportation arrays, or controlling spiritual birds, rushed from all directions to Qingli Sea.