Chapter 991 Return to Starfish City

Ji An activated his Qi and blood power, releasing the Qi and blood armor. The golden Qi and blood power merged into his skin.

His hand seals changed, unleashing magical power that was as hard as metal and stone.

This spell has been improved and is no longer the metal element spell of the past. The incantation, driven by the power of yin and yang, forms a layer of black and white light covering the body.

The brightness of the light film decreased rapidly, eventually becoming transparent, so that others could not detect that he had an extra layer of defense.

The fifth-grade high-quality defensive spiritual treasure that Queyue Sanren had crafted for him was worn on his body. It was a bright yellow earth-elemental armor with pits and green mottles on it, and in some places there were even holes as thick as a finger.

These green patches are the blood of some kind of monster; their blood is highly corrosive, and the pits on the armor are caused by the corrosion of the blood.

The fifth-tier superior spiritual treasure was prepared for entering a certain ruin. It was not damaged by the magic array, but was destroyed by the monsters inside.

The good news is that they were well prepared and obtained many fifth-tier spiritual items upon entering the ruins, as well as more than twenty drops of sixth-tier low-grade Taiyin Water.

Ji An summoned his natal spirit treasure and the other five flags, and the power of the five elements flowed rapidly around his body, eventually transforming into a ball of black and white spiritual energy.

For him now, combining Yin and Yang with the Five Elements is easier than eating and drinking.

With triple defenses and a sturdy physical body, Ji An can practically ignore attacks from the Three Flowers Realm level.

The others also took defensive measures, and the radiance of the defensive magic treasures illuminated the seawater, adding supreme light to the dark seabed.

Ji An used his magic to push aside the seawater and took the lead in fleeing towards the sea surface, with Wuyue Sanren following closely behind.

Four columns of water surged out of the sea in succession, and then the spiritual light, maintaining a height of one hundred feet above the sea, flew towards the location of the boundary gate.

Ji An released a golden light that seemed to leap across the ground, deliberately controlling his speed to prevent others from falling behind.

The five-colored deer was his tamed beast, so the spiritual light enveloped the five-colored deer within it.

In terms of overall combat ability, he has not encountered anyone who can compare to him in his more than a thousand years of cultivation.

At this moment, the moon is bright and the stars are few. The sea, like a playful child who has been frolicking all day, has fallen into a quiet slumber, with only gentle waves slowly rising and falling.

Beneath the bright moon, four beams of light soared through the sky with overwhelming power, like four rainbows stretching across the sea.

As everyone flew past at high speed, several wavy lines appeared on the sea surface, like dragons emerging from the sea, breaking the tranquility of the moment.

Ten thousand miles is not a long distance in the eyes of a mid-stage Three Flowers Realm cultivator flying at full speed. Their flying speed is even faster than the fastest missile on Earth in their previous life.

In less than a minute, Ji An led everyone to approach the location of the boundary gate. They were like shooting stars, leaving long trails of light behind them.

The scene here is clear: enormous sea creatures have gathered here, floating on the surface of the sea, their bodies often three or four hundred feet long.

Some particularly enormous sea creatures can reach a length of over six hundred zhang (approximately 330 meters).

These sea monsters formed a dense encirclement around the boundary gate, and no matter which direction you entered from, you would be intercepted by the sea monsters.

They were heading in the direction of a giant octopus. Its appearance was quite terrifying, with its head covered with countless eyes and no other organs.

His yellowish-brown sclera resembled the dim light of an old-fashioned light bulb, while his scarlet vertical pupils appeared exceptionally eerie.

The sea monster's entire body was surrounded by a layer of red light, as if it were enveloped in a thin mist.

The octopus-like sea monster sensed the approaching commotion of Ji An and the others, and instinctively waved its tentacles. These tentacles were covered with countless mouths, which opened and closed to reveal menacing white teeth that gleamed in the moonlight.

The sea monster's teeth were jagged, but it had two rows of sharp teeth that exuded a strange chill.

At the same time, it shot out a thick red beam of light from its eyes, like an attack from a laser weapon.

A ball of water-based spiritual light spread outward from its center, causing a large amount of seawater to surge outward.

Marine mammals are generally not very intelligent, but octopus marine mammals are an exception. Their species are quite intelligent, even cunning.

This octopus-like sea monster understood perfectly well that as long as it could hold off the enemy for a moment, a large amount of reinforcements would arrive.

Unless the enemy can reach the Cave Heaven level, they will surely perish in the siege.

Several sea creatures nearby had already approached this side, all with the same intention.

The laws of the Vast Ocean Realm are highly exclusive. If a Celestial Lord were to forcibly enter this world, it would inevitably cause a violent conflict of laws.

Either the Star Lord will be suppressed by the power of the world, or the Vast Ocean Realm will form a spatial rift under the pressure of even stronger laws.

Therefore, almost no outside star lords forcefully enter the Vast Sea Realm. The sixth-tier resources available here are scarce, so those without the ability don't want to come, and those with the ability believe it's not worth forcing their way in.

The Star Lords will train agents to enter worlds similar to the Vast Ocean Realm; this is the only way to profit in the long run.

Ji An made no attempt to dodge. Although there weren't many sea beasts near the boundary gate, there were still quite a few, roughly seventy or eighty, along with more than ten humanoid creatures.

Judging from the emanating spiritual pressure, the enemies within his detection range could all reach the Three Flowers Realm level.

If the sea monsters lined up and challenged him one-on-one, he wouldn't be afraid with the stone turtle as his support, but being ganged up on by these sea monsters was a different story.

If attacked simultaneously by multiple enemies at the Three Flowers Realm level, his defensive measures would be insufficient to cope.

Before the enemy could surround them, he needed to break through the blockade as quickly as possible to ensure everything would be fine; this was his mission as the vanguard.

In terms of offensive power, he was the strongest among them, even Yunmiao Sanren had to admit defeat.

Ji An changed the hand seals, urging his magic power to surge through his immortal meridians. His nascent soul appeared above his head, with the white jade-colored essence flower and the silver-white qi flower complementing each other perfectly.

At the same time, the Nascent Soul Dharma Image was also fully activated.

Having decided to go all out to break through, he used all his abilities without holding back in the slightest.

The bright moon rises over the sea, reflecting the radiant moon in the sky, its light shimmering like water.

Immediately following the moon setting and the sun rising, the world changes, and the Dharma form completes a cycle in an instant. The powerful pressure of the Dharma form makes the incoming, lightning-fast, scarlet spiritual light crawl like a tortoise.

Ji An used the Yin-Yang spiritual light formed by the Five Directions Flags to actively meet and block the attack.

His attack did not unleash lightning magic. The Yin-Yang Divine Lightning attack is only powerful enough when it is concentrated, but the sea beast's body is too large, and it may not be able to kill the enemy instantly.

Furthermore, the octopus sea monster has multiple hearts and brains, making it quite difficult to target all its weaknesses at the same time.

The spell he activated was the Taibai Extinction Sword, released using the power of Yin and Yang. This was a spell of death, so it only contained the power of Yin, and its spiritual light appeared as a deep black.

The nascent soul and the main body cast spells simultaneously, merging two black torrents into one, like a world-destroying wave rising from the sea, surging powerfully towards the octopus sea beast.

The heavens and earth lost their color, and the turbulent sea water instantly froze into solid ice.

Wherever the black torrent went, everything froze, time seemed to freeze as well, and the moisture in the air condensed into ice crystals.

In that instant, the world fell silent.

The octopus-like sea monster, which was the first to be hit, had a round hole with a diameter of twenty feet, but not a trace of blood flowed out.

The Taibai Extinction Sword, composed of pure Yin energy, instantly extinguished the octopus's wounds, and the extreme cold froze its blood.

Ji An did not slow down, and sped through the circular hole pierced by the magic. In the blink of an eye, he flew to the water column flowing upstream where the boundary gate was located.

He paused for a moment, sensing that everyone had followed and disappeared into the water. The other three entered the column of water flowing upwards almost simultaneously, and their return was unstoppable.

An ominous atmosphere began to spread, and the frozen area of ​​the sea expanded. The frozen ice crystals fell onto the icy water, making a tinkling sound, as if a beautiful woman was playing a cheerful melody on a zither.

The sea creatures that approached the octopus were frozen in the ice. After struggling to break free of the ice, they fearfully swam into the deep sea, the scent of death too profound.

A hundred miles away from the boundary gate, the White Night Saint Lord and the Stubborn Stone Saint Lord looked at each other in bewilderment.

They witnessed the entire process of dozens of fellow cultivators disappearing as the volcanoes plunged into the ocean, and one fellow disciple was trapped inside.

There were four people when they entered the Vast Ocean Realm, but only two returned.

Given their isolated and outnumbered situation, Lord Baiye decided to return as soon as possible. They arrived here three days ago and launched an attack on the boundary gate.

However, although the White Bone Temple's techniques were evil and bizarre, they were not suitable for attacking strongholds, and were intercepted by sea beasts several times.

Thinking they would wait until enough cultivators had gathered before rushing into the boundary gate amidst the chaos, they inadvertently witnessed a scene that shocked them.

This was originally a good time to leave, but Bai Ye Shengjun and the other two dared not make any rash moves.

The cultivators of the White Bone Temple and Ji An had a grudge. If they left now and accidentally discovered that they had been teleported to a location right in front of the enemy, they might die on the spot.

After a dizzying sensation, Ji An returned to Ziwei Star, and the brief nausea quickly subsided.

He shook his head to determine the direction, then flew towards the boundary gate.

During his flight, he connected his mind to the stone turtle to check his gains.

Just like when it went to the Vast Ocean Realm, the stone tortoise absorbed a lot of Daoist energy during the process of passing through the boundary gate.

Golden characters lit up the sky above the Moon Palace. Upon learning of his success, he clapped his hands and smiled:

"Awesome! This expedition was incredibly profitable!"

[Taoist Rhyme: Yin 4365.9, Yang 4332.6]

He gained far less Daoist essence during his return from the Vast Ocean Realm than when he entered, but he was very content.

With over 8,000 points of Daoist essence gained from such an unexpected windfall, what could possibly be less satisfying!

During his flight, he began to ponder how to best utilize these Daoist principles for the best improvement.

Upon reaching the vicinity of the boundary gate, Ji An saw the Milky Way hanging high in the sky, like the Milky Way falling from the heavens, splashing white waves in the sea, and scattered leaves under the moonlight.

He hovered in the air, watching the waterfall with great interest, his flowing sleeves making him appear like an immortal descending to earth.

Things went smoothly. Five-Colored Deer and several teammates reunited one after another. The group chatted excitedly, each with a beaming smile and high spirits.

Seeing that everyone had arrived, Yunmiao Sanren spoke gently:

"Gentlemen, now that we are returning to Ziwei Star, we should not linger here any longer. In my opinion, we should set off immediately back to Haixing City and then divide the spoils."

This trip to the Vast Ocean Realm was thrilling yet safe, and everything went smoothly. She obtained a variety of sixth-tier spiritual items, which was even more than she had expected.

In her initial aspirations, she never imagined that she would obtain a sixth-tier spiritual item.

He kept repeating "don't flaunt your wealth" in his mind, but the smile on his face was so radiant.

As long as she can transform these spiritual objects into strength and resources, she can make great progress.

Ji An smiled, "That suits me perfectly."

When the harvest is distributed, he will definitely get some items that can increase his Dao essence. He has already made up his mind that he will use all of this Dao essence to upgrade the grade of the Gathering Yuan Tree.

"Haha, no one dislikes the idea of ​​sharing the spoils."

Crescent Moon Hermit smiled broadly as he mentally calculated how many high-level refining materials he could obtain.

Everyone was eager to return home, and they arrived back in Haixing City in half a month. They gathered at Yunmiao Sanren's cave and took out their harvest for everyone to inspect.

After confirming the quantity was correct, Yunmiao Sanren began to oversee the distribution of the proceeds.

Ji An chose to obtain the lotus pod of the Flaming Heart Lotus to enhance the metal and water elemental spiritual items used by the Five Directions Flag. In addition, he wanted to obtain as much sixth-grade low-grade Taiyin Water and Flaming Dragon Crystal as possible, as well as all the Three Elements Heavy Water.

The Three Elements Heavy Water comes in five grades: superior and supreme. These, along with two types of inferior sixth-grade spiritual objects, can enhance the Daoist aura of the stone turtle, which is why he is vying for them.

He and Queyue Sanren each received half of the Flame Dragon Crystal, and he received eight of the twenty-six drops of Yin Water.

Everyone got what they needed, and everyone wore a genuine smile.

Ji An handed over the spiritual items used to upgrade the Five Banners and asked:

"Fellow Daoist Queyue, when will you have time to help me upgrade the rank of the Five Directions Banner?"

He just hoped the other party would start work as soon as possible, preferably tomorrow, but he also knew that was wishful thinking.

The Recluse of the Crescent Moon maintained his smile and solemnly said:

"Fellow Daoist, could you please wait a few years? In the three years since I entered the Vast Ocean Realm, I have benefited greatly and have clearly felt that the bottleneck in my cultivation has loosened considerably."

I am thinking of going into seclusion to cultivate, and then upgrading the grade of your spiritual treasure for you once my cultivation has broken through.

"At that time, I can upgrade the Ground-Leaving Flame Banner and the Profound Origin Water Control Banner to the fifth-tier top-grade level in one fell swoop."

The battles fought in just three years have exceeded those fought in the previous thousand years.

On Ziwei Star, as long as he gave the order, cultivators would fight on his behalf. Apart from hunting sea beasts with Yunmiao Sanren, he had hardly ever fought.

The intense battles not only improved his combat skills but also greatly loosened the bottleneck in his cultivation.

Upon hearing this, Ji An showed delight and cupped his hands in greeting, saying:

"Congratulations, fellow Daoist! I wish you a speedy breakthrough in your cultivation realm. When that happens, I will present you with several jars of fine wine to celebrate."

As for raising the Five Banners, delaying it by a few years is fine.

If the other party's cultivation level hasn't broken through, they won't be able to upgrade the spiritual treasure to the fifth-grade top-quality level. Waiting a few more years to obtain two fifth-grade top-quality spiritual treasures is perfectly acceptable.

"Thank you for your kind words, fellow Daoist!"

After chatting for a while, everyone dispersed. The tension of being on edge for several years was becoming unbearable, even for cultivators at the Three Flowers Realm.

(End of this chapter)