Chapter 241: Five Seas Realm Fifth Stage Perfection

Li Weiyi took a detour and arrived at the noodle shop by the bridge.

The broken stone bridge had already been fully repaired.

The noodle shop owner refused the Yongquan coin Li Weiyi offered, smiling, "Lord Ge has already sent someone to pay!"

"He is he, and I am I," Li Weiyi replied.

Li Weiyi placed the Yongquan coin on the table and left directly.

Purple Haze Mountain, where the Evergreen Temple is located, is the highest mountain outside the East City's outer wall. Although not particularly tall, whenever the morning sun shines, purple haze rises from the hills, creating a vast and ethereal scene, resembling a blessed land of immortals.

It was noon.

After leading Shi Shishi and Bai Shu up the stone steps into the temple, Li Weiyi, with practiced ease, went to the Evergreen Temple's dining hall.

"The vegetarian meals at Evergreen Temple are absolutely exceptional. They start serving promptly at a quarter past noon; you two must try them."

Li Weiyi was quite friendly with the two young Taoist priests in the dining hall, and they greeted each other.

"You should have told me earlier! I love to eat; I've never been full before." Shi Shishi said after sitting down, then immediately ordered ten portions of vegetarian meals.

Bai Shu genuinely didn't understand why Li Weiyi had brought them to this Taoist temple at such a critical moment.

Just as she was about to ask, Li Weiyi asked first, "Bai Shu, you are a Calamity Fire Realm Grand Mind Master. Besides being proficient in talisman arts, how are you with insect control?"

Bai Shu replied, "I have studied it, but raising insects is extremely expensive and energy-consuming. Moreover, fierce insects are difficult to tame, and rare insects are hard to find, so I've only had a superficial dabble."

"Your spiritual power is much stronger than mine; it should be enough! Eat, and then follow me to a place."

After finishing their vegetarian meals, Li Weiyi and Bai Shu walked into the Stele Forest outside the dining hall.

Meanwhile, Shi Shishi was still on his fourth portion of vegetarian meal.

The Stele Forest covered several acres, and the inscriptions on some of the steles were carved by Everlasting Realm magnates. However, the area was quite desolate, with countless fallen leaves, and many steles lay on the ground, having lost their glory from a thousand years ago.

Arriving at an area where eight stone steles formed a Bagua formation, a spiritual flame appeared on Li Weiyi's finger, and he began drawing complex array patterns on the stele in the Qian (Heaven) position.

He deliberately kept Bai Shu from seeing the array patterns. This was a secret of the Zuoqiu Sect's Taoist lineage!

"Whoosh!"

The area between the eight steles suddenly collapsed, forming a bottomless Bagua well.

The two began to fall.

Terrified and flustered, Bai Shu quickly activated spiritual flames, forming spiritual wings on her back to resist the descent.

Li Weiyi grabbed her wrist, used his movement technique, glided along the stone-lined well wall, and quickly reached the bottom.

At the bottom of the well, there were surprisingly eight more steles arranged in a Bagua formation.

Li Weiyi walked to the stele in the Kun (Earth) position and began drawing.

Behind him, Bai Shu, fearing another sudden drop, quickly clutched Li Weiyi's hand, "Lord Li, can we please not do anything so thrilling? Where are we going?"

"To find some helpers."

As Li Weiyi's words fell, with a rumble, a stone door extending downwards opened on the stone wall behind the stele.

When he had previously stayed at the Evergreen Temple with Yang Qingxi, he had already gone down alone to investigate. This place was a training ground from his late master's youth. Using special array patterns, one could open a passage from the Qizhou Prefecture City's underground array, connecting to the depths of the earth. At the time, fearing that powerful enemies might find the Evergreen Temple, Li Weiyi had considered this place a hiding spot and a retreat path.

After walking for a long time, the two finally reached the depths of the underground.

Before them lay a dark and immense cavern, over a hundred zhang high, so vast that even with spiritual flames, they couldn't illuminate the opposite side. In the center of the cavern, a Bagua platform stood elevated.

Bai Shu was utterly astonished, "Did Zuoqiu Ting tell you about this place? Where are these helpers you mentioned?"

"Clap! Clap!"

Li Weiyi clapped his hands loudly and whistled. Echoes reverberated through the cavern.

Suddenly, in the darkness, a rustling of dense cries emerged, and countless eyes opened, some glowing with light, others burning with flame.

A chill ran down Bai Shu's spine to the top of her head, her vision blurred, and she nearly fainted on the spot. The entire cavern contained countless fierce insects, each emanating hostility, thick with killing intent, and incredibly savage. From some cracks and passages in the cavern, even more fierce insects surged forth.

"Don't be afraid," Li Weiyi said. "Above Qizhou Prefecture City, there's a hovering 'Dispel' character. All commander-level exotic insects from the underground world have been startled away. What you see now are just soldier-level and general-level fierce insects."

Li Weiyi released his seven Phoenix-Winged Moth Emperors. They had grown to seven inches, radiating brilliant light as they flew in various directions, emitting sharp cries that intimidated all the fierce insects. Only commander-level exotic insects, comparable to Martial Cultivators of the Dao Seed Realm, possessed the preliminary ability to rally fierce insects and form an insect army. The Phoenix-Winged Moth Emperors, having grown to seven inches, already had sufficiently formidable auras. Coupled with their noble bloodline, they were certainly not inferior to commander-level exotic insects. Especially Big Phoenix, whose aura, comparable to an Everlasting Realm Martial Cultivator, directly suppressed all the fierce insects in the entire cavern, making them tremble and whimper. Even Bai Shu, upon suddenly feeling this aura, found her legs turning to jelly, struggling hard to resist, as if facing a powerhouse of the "Grand Lord" caliber. Looking at the back of this mysterious Jiu Li tribesman before her, her heart was deeply shaken and uneasy, sensing only mystery and the unknown emanating from Li Weiyi. Bai Shu had long heard that insect controllers held extremely high status: one could rival a thousand troops, one could defend a city, and one could destroy a sect. Today, she truly experienced the tangible reality of all this.

Li Weiyi said, "My seven exotic insects can barely control them. But there are many Calamity Fire Realm Grand Mind Masters and skilled insect controllers in the city. I'm worried something might go wrong."

"I'll teach you a few insect runes. Engrave them onto those general-level fierce insects. Time is very tight, so engrave as many as you can."

After teaching her the insect runes, Li Weiyi ascended the Bagua Taoist platform in the center of the cavern, took out a cyan Yin Banner, and covered the platform, so Bai Shu wouldn't discover some important secrets about him. He then took out the Dyed Haze Exotic Medicine needed for breakthrough and the remaining Dao Fruit.

"Today, you'll have to help me control the internal Dharma energy and suppress its rejection," Li Weiyi muttered to himself. "Otherwise, if I'm done for, you're done for too. You're a 'Path Guardian,' a 'Path Guardian,' you have to guard me at critical moments, don't you?"

Strictly speaking, he shouldn't be attempting to break through to the Fifth Sea Realm, Fifth Stage, now. This was because the Dharma energy in his Fourth Sea was still unstable, and its rejection properties were very strong. Forcibly attempting a breakthrough was extremely dangerous. The reason he dared to do this was the existence of his 'Path Guardian Wife.' While she naturally couldn't appear openly, her ability to help him suppress the rejection of the newly added Dharma energy within his body was completely undetectable. The hidden dangers caused by his hasty breakthrough would have to wait until after the Hidden Dragon Lantern Festival to be addressed.

His lung lobes had long been strengthened. Li Weiyi consumed the first stalk of Dyed Haze Exotic Medicine, and the spatial power within it erupted. Immortal haze surged wildly within his body, spilling out from his pores. At the same time, he mobilized the spatial power of the Buddha's sarira, incorporating it into the creation of the inner world within his lung lobes. The opening of the fifth Qi Sea was a forced endeavor, extremely difficult. He continuously consumed five stalks of Dyed Haze Exotic Medicine, and his lung lobes vibrated violently as the inner world was born. Next came the expansion of the inner world and the construction of the Qi Sea's string-veins.

Time passed by the minute. With the assistance of the Buddha's sarira's spatial power, the fifth Qi Sea expanded at an extremely rapid pace, reaching ten thousand square units after two hours. In the third hour, it reached fifteen thousand square units. The expansion speed slowed down. In the fourth hour, it increased by two thousand square units. Ultimately, Li Weiyi's fifth Qi Sea stabilized at around eighteen thousand square units, more than twice as vast as his fourth sea's eight thousand square units. It was comparable to the Ancestral Fields of some Seventh Sea Martial Cultivators.

Time was already pressing. Li Weiyi took out the Dao Fruit and had Master Coffin help him infuse it into his fifth Qi Sea. In any case, he had to reach the perfected stage of the Fifth Sea Realm today. As for whether his internal Dharma energy became chaotic or if there was rejection, he would leave it all to his 'Path Guardian Wife.'

Shi Shishi naturally knew that tonight would be a tough battle, so he spent the entire afternoon eating in the dining hall. By evening, he was still eating. All the young and old Taoist priests responsible for preparing the vegetarian meals were startled, staring dumbfounded at the stacks of bowls on the table.

"How can his stomach hold so much? He's eaten enough for a hundred people... Is he even human?"

"Don't talk nonsense! Senior Brother Li is a good friend of the First Inheritor; anyone he brings can be trusted."

Shi Shishi finally seemed full. He looked around; it was already completely dark. He quickly wiped his lips and asked, "What time is it now?"

A young woman in a white Taoist robe sat by a window near the Stele Forest in the distance and said faintly, "It's almost Hai Shi! Only one hour remains until the bell rings and the venue opens. The Hidden Dragon Lantern Festival is about to con...clude..."

Suddenly.

The ground shook slightly.

"Boom!"

In the Stele Forest, a light from a Bagua formation emerged, overflowing with a bright white glow.

The two-zhang-diameter Bagua well opened, and accompanied by a high-pitched dragon roar, Li Weiyi, stepping on a dragon shadow, flew out from below with Bai Shu, then abruptly landed on the ground, stirring up a flurry of fallen leaves.

Shi Shishi, fearing he would miss the Hidden Dragon Lantern Festival, finally felt his anxious heart settle upon seeing their return. He stood up like lightning.

Li Weiyi shouted, "What time is it?"

"Hai Shi!" Shi Shishi replied.

"Let's go! We can still make it for this good show."

Li Weiyi, with his dense Dharma energy, suddenly shot into the sky, landing on the green tiles of the temple's roof. He looked down at the city's lights, then gazed at the full moon in the sky, letting out a long, melodious whistle.

"Whoosh!"

From the Bagua well, led by the seven Phoenix-Winged Moth Emperors, countless fierce insects surged out like a black cloud. There were all kinds of cries—flying ones, crawling ones, an endless, continuous stream.

"Swish! Swish..."

Li Weiyi took the lead, leaping down Purple Haze Mountain and swiftly bounding across rooftops. The seven Phoenix-Winged Moth Emperors flew in mid-air, leading seven black torrent-like swarms of insects that blotted out the sky. They followed closely above and behind him, flying together onto the inner city wall, then racing along it towards the South City, heading for the battlefield.

Shi Shishi, standing on a cloud of general-level fierce insects, was still processing his inner shock, "Are we... making too big a commotion? Are we going to directly take on everyone?"

"Don't those legendary insect controllers fight everyone by themselves?" Bai Shu replied.

Besides them, the Celestial Envoy from the Du'e Temple, dressed in a white Taoist robe, also followed closely behind.