Chapter Twenty-Four: Should I Go? To Go or Not to Go

He even wanted the entire Seven Qi Dynasty to worship the Tiger-faced Immortal, or else face death without mercy.

“Having lost the faith source of this world, my strength is greatly diminished. If I encounter him, I can only rely on you, senior!” Dragon One, shameless as ever, shrank into a small dragon and coiled himself around Wuyun’s shoulder.

Wuyun sighed deeply. “After all, he was once the highest existence in a medium-tier space. If we can’t find such an item in the Xuanmagnetic Domain, we’ll have no way to restrain him. We’ll have to ascend and flee!”

“That’s right! Maybe we should just undergo tribulation and leave now!” Bear Third had barely spoken when Dragon One Immortal King, looking at him as if he were a fool, snorted, “The Tiger-faced Immortal is the great calamity of the entire Qianluo Space. If we can overcome it, ascending is a trivial matter. If you don’t believe me, try unleashing your peak God-breaking cultivation and see if the Heavenly Dao interferes.”

Bear Third, unconvinced, stopped suppressing his cultivation. Even the Battle King and Liu Ruyan did the same. The space rippled, but no heavenly tribulation was triggered.

Wuyun cast a sidelong glance at Dragon One, only to find that rascal had shrunk and hidden himself in his hair. If it weren’t for that faint, wispy cloud, he’d be impossible to find.

“Enough! The Tiger-faced Immortal has locked onto our position and cut off Dragon One’s faith source!” Wuyun, displeased, led the group through a naturally-formed spatial rift, delving deeper into the Xuanmagnetic Domain.

As they approached, darkness fell upon them. Before their eyes appeared a massive, irregular chunk of xuanmagnetite, as large as a planet. Then, a soul-pulling force swept over them, nearly wrenching the weakest—Wuyun’s seven souls and six spirits—away.

And this was only the periphery. How much greater must the core’s gravity be? To enter its heart—how immense the pull?

Gazing at the jagged xuanmagnetite mountains within, Wuyun glanced at the Battle King’s severed leg and crutch, shaking his head without a word.

Sensible, the Battle King cast aside his crutch, which instantly lengthened and thickened. Distressed, he pried it open and swiftly embedded a series of formations within. In the end, tens of thousands of spirit stones poured in, transforming the crutch into a slender, long boat.

“This is forged from bronze-arc gold, extraordinary and unique. It can resist the power of suspended magnetism—a one-of-a-kind metal in Qianluo Space!” After explaining to the Battle King, Wuyun added with a smirk, “Now you know why the Saint Tyrant cut off your leg? If I could perfectly merge this metal with my body, I’d cut it off myself to study!”

“Why you—!” Infuriated at the loss of his treasure and Wuyun’s mockery, the Battle King was about to retort when Wuyun continued, “Inside, there are countless treasures, more precious than bronze-arc gold—no fewer than a hundred. Let’s go, and win you back a leg!”

The Battle King’s face lit up with delight. Dragon One snorted, “Perhaps you’ll lose the other leg as well!”

The core of the Xuanmagnetic Domain was this planet-sized chunk of xuanmagnetite, formed by spatial rifts attracting and accumulating metals over countless years. To enter, one must first discard all metal, including storage spaces and any metallic energy absorbed into one’s body.

Imagine a cultivator whose body contains not a trace of metal—impossible! Even a mortal’s blood holds iron.

But here, lacking a means of resistance, all metallic elements would be drawn out, sucked onto the planet’s surface.

Those towering, rugged mountains were entirely composed of metal. On close inspection, they were the result of tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, even millions of years of explorers’ corpses piling up.

Not only humans, but even more demon beasts, and countless space-devouring beasts, all fell here after draining their metals.

The metallic crust alone was enough to tempt countless factions.

Even now, three giant beasts exploring together were tightly bound to the mountains, unable to move, their bodies constantly emitting wisps of metallic energy downward.

The hawk-drake, sharp-eyed, pecked at the little bug hanging from his neck. The latter, benevolent, chanted a Buddhist phrase. Bear Third bellowed, “What are you thinking? At a time like this, still craving meat!”

As the words fell, the bronze-arc gold ship under the Battle King’s control was sucked tightly into a crevice less than a kilometer from the three giant beasts.

None of them could move, especially Wuyun, who muttered incantations as clouds emerged from his body to cover the metallic aura he exuded. Dragon One Immortal King’s scales shielded his body, and though there was a faint mist, it was harmless.

Even Liu Ruyan’s lacquered fingernails began to fade from bright red to ashen white. She cried out in alarm, trying to stand, but the immense gravity pinned her to the bottom of the bronze-arc gold ship.

In Qianluo Space, who among the strongest hadn’t come to appreciate the Xuanmagnetic Domain’s beauty? But always from afar—after a brief taste, they would turn away.

This place was also called the Land of Demonic Death: even a demon king would perish here.

“Hahaha!”

Lying flat, Wuyun had yet to adapt and sit up when mocking laughter echoed from afar. Three giant beasts—white-feathered, resembling the Hawk-Drake’s kin, the Snowfeather Sky Eagles, all at the God-breaking stage—grinned at them.

One, its head crowned with a fleshy comb like a rooster, swayed as it jeered, “Well, well, if it isn’t the cripple from Luozhu Star. Didn’t you claim to be indestructible? Where’s your leg now?”

“Big Brother, look! There’s that little woman from the Tathagata Sect—she tried to capture our kin!”

“Second Brother’s mistaken—the black bear who embroiders is here, too!”

After mocking for a while, they saw Wuyun struggling to rise and glared at him. Six bloodshot eagle eyes flashed with lightning, but before it could reach Wuyun, Dragon One’s scales automatically absorbed and reflected the energy.

“Eh?” The three failed assailants looked to Dragon One, but he ignored them, loath to waste even a shred of power now that his faith source was damaged.

Bear Third, seeing their aggression, wobbled to his feet, then darted into the bronze-arc gold ship.

“Hahaha! We, the Snowfeather Sky Eagles—Yu Shao, Yu Jun, and Yu Qiao—never thought we’d have such strong company in our final moments. Too bad that fiery beam missed the kid, or we could have had a bite before dying!”

Wuyun was furious, about to vent his anger, but the Hawk-Drake pleaded on their behalf—they were, after all, kin.

“Fine! Since the little hawk begs, Dragon One, the task of saving these three scoundrels falls to you. The Divine Eagle will owe you a favor in the future!”

Dragon One Immortal King was extremely reluctant. At that moment, he looked like a standing pangolin, scales glinting. As he started to refuse, the cloud at the back of his head darkened, cold winds sweeping his soul.

“Fine, I’ll go!”

Dragon One’s words were ambiguous—was it a catchphrase, or was he truly going?

Bear Third was worried, while the Hawk-Drake was overjoyed. Only Wuyun admonished Liu Ruyan not to coddle him so, but to let him roam and learn of the wider world.

When Dragon One finally struggled to where the three Snowfeather Sky Eagles lay, they suddenly sprang up. In a flash, two sharp beaks struck the mountainside with thunderous crashes.

“Boss, Yu Shao, you’re not playing fair! You promised me a leg!” Second Brother Yu Jun and Fourth Brother Yu Qiao spoke in unison, trying to snatch a morsel from Yu Shao’s beak. But a loud belch and a yawn of satisfaction issued from him: “I can last another ten years. When you two fall, your bodies are mine!”

It all happened so fast. The Hawk-Drake’s childish voice was full of reproach: “How could you eat him? You’re not supposed to eat him!”

“Hahaha!” The three giant monsters laughed heartily. They were not truly immobile, but conserving strength. To outlast a kin was to survive a bit longer. Who knew—should fate allow, and the gravity suddenly lessen, they might escape!

The Hawk-Drake, about to charge in anger, was yanked back by the silken treasure at his neck. Bear Third immediately launched into a lecture, and seeing Wuyun deep in thought, said, “Let’s go.”

“There are seventeen spatial rifts within this xuanmagnetite planet. Each one is perilous. Our Tathagata Sect has tried every means to explore them,” Liu Ruyan said, waving her hand. A gentle spiritual aura formed seventeen routes, which vanished as the group memorized them.

Wuyun shook his head with a sigh. “When I was here, there were forty-three rifts in total. Over the millennia, countless cultivators have infiltrated. Only true Dao artifacts or heavy treasures could block a rift when being swallowed.”

Bear Third’s eyes lit up. In Qianluo Space, it was impossible to forge Dao artifacts, much less heavy treasures. Only those who had smuggled themselves down from the Immortal Realm could possess such items.

Even the Tiger-faced Immortal’s immortal weapon, after being tempered by the spatial tunnel, had been reduced to the level of a Dao artifact. If an immortal weapon could descend intact, it would have long since torn Qianluo Space asunder, leaving nothing but desolation.