After more than 180 years of hard work, Solesky and Badlands finally managed to break through the formation and emerge from that seemingly-ordinary forest grove.
Whoooosh. A cold wind was howling, with petals of snow drifting about. The forest had already been covered with a thick layer of snow. The Waveshift Realm had various different seasons and different types of weather, such as rain and snow. Ji Ning and the others didn’t dare to interfere with the weather-generating formations, especially since the rain and the snow did very little to them. They simply sighed at how amazing Emperor Waveshift had been in the art of formations.
In truth, those who were skilled in Numerancy were generally also quite skilled in the art of formations. Badlands himself was quite talented in this area as well.
Badlands and Solesky emerged from the snow-shrouded forest, smiles on their faces. They were in excellent moods. “We’re finally out! We were shut up in there for far too long. Now that Darknorth and brother Ninedust are alongside us, life shall be much easier,” Badlands said with a chuckle.
“In the past, the two of us were repeatedly hunted down and attacked by others. Every time we encountered a squad of Daolords, we’d end up being drawn into an ugly fight. That was absolutely horrid.” Daolord Solesky shook his head.
The Ninedust Sectlord had an icy frown on his face. “If the two of you follow us… whenever any other Daolord squads find you, a major battle will probably break out!”
“You don’t need to worry about that,” Daolord Badlands said. “Based on what I was able to see with regards to the Waveshift Realm and based on what I’ve learned regarding the Voidsea Jadeseals… I feel certain that Emperor Waveshift has already planned things out perfectly. Despite my Numerancy prowess, I’m completely unable to cause any disturbances to Emperor Waveshift’s plans. There’s no way for me to actually find these seals, and so the two of us shall temporarily hide within Darknorth’s estate-world.”
“Hide in my estate-world?” Ning nodded. Once they were hidden away, the other Daolords they ran into wouldn’t go so far as to cause trouble for them.
“Badlands.” The Ninedust Sectlord frowned. “Are you saying that you aren’t going to be of any use to us at all?”
“I might be of use at certain critical moments. As for right now? I admit that I really am of no use.” Badlands nodded and admitted it. “Emperor Waveshift’s abilities far surpassed my own. Even when I become a Daolord of the Fourth Step, I’ll still be far from being a match for him. So long as the Voidsea Jadeseals remain hidden, there’s no way I’ll be able to locate them at all! If I try to engage in any divinations, I might end up falling for some of Emperor Waveshift’s schemes.”
Ning nodded in agreement. It made sense! Juniors like them had no chance of using Numerancy to disrupt Emperor Waveshift’s intricate preparations. It was best for them to just try their luck alongside the other Daolords. That would actually be safer.
Ning took Solesky and Badlands into his estate-world, then continued to journey through the Waveshift Realm alongside Ninedust. Although they did occasionally encounter a few other Daolord squads, with Solesky and Badlands hidden away the other Daolords did not move to attack them.
……
In the blink of an eye, more than a thousand years had gone past since the Voidsea Jadeseals had made their presences known.
During this millennium, virtually all of the Verge-level Daolords of the Endless Territories had hurriedly made their way to this realm! Some simply weren’t able to come here because they were too far away, but the truly powerful Daolords were generally able to make it to the Waveshift Realm over the course of a thousand years, no matter where they were originally located within the Endless Territories. As for those ranked in the top ten, all of them arrived during the first century or two.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The vast Waveshift Realm suddenly began to tremble as an aura of incredible power began to spread out and cover it.
“What’s going on?”
A squad of Daolords who were walking through a mountain range raised their heads, puzzled.
A black-haired man dressed in an astral robe who was walking through the wilds raised his head to stare towards the skies.
A skinny old man who was seated on the lotus position atop a beautiful boat that was drifting through the oceans suddenly narrowed his eyes and raised his head.
A squad of Daolords who were carefully advancing through a deep gorge all raised their heads to stare at the skies outside the gorge.
……
Daolords throughout the entirety of the Waveshift Realm all raised their heads to stare towards the skies.
Ning and Ninedust were seated atop a boat that was 2400 meters wide that was drifting through a lake. They raised their heads to stare towards the skies as well.
“What’s that?” Ninedust was stunned.
“Something’s happening. Big brother, Daolord Badlands! Something big is happening!” Ning waved his hand, causing Badlands and Solesky to appear next to them. As soon as they appeared, they immediately raised their heads as well.
Blurry streams of rainbow light could be seen in the skies. The rainbow light gathered together in the air, slowly coming together into a humanoid shape. This was a towering male figure dressed in white robes, and he stared downwards towards Ning’s squad.
“Daolords!” His voice rang out, echoing throughout every inch of the Waveshift Realm.
In this instant, tens of thousands of white-robed figures appeared throughout the ten layers of the Waveshift Realm. They filled the skies above the various squads of Daolords, with one figure staring at each squad.
“I… am the spirit of the Grand Waveshift Formation which is comprised of all of the formations and barriers within the Waveshift Realm. You could also consider me to be the realmsoul of the entire Waveshift Realm!” The white-robed man continued to speak from his position in the skies. “You can also refer to me as Polo.”
“Realmsoul?” The tens of thousands of Daolords within the Waveshift Realm all immediately paid close attention. If a formation reached incredible heights in profundity, it was possible for a formation-spirit to be born from it. For example, the Allgod Estate of Daolord Allgod had given birth to a formation-spirit as well! As for the Grand Waveshift Formation which Emperor Waveshift had set up, it was clearly far more complicated. It only made sense that it was able to form a realmsoul as well.
“On my master’s orders, I have been waiting here for countless years.” The tens of thousands of white-robed figures all spoke at the same instant, their voices echoing continuously throughout the realm. “Finally, after countless years, Daolord Badlands has activated certain triggers which my master left behind, causing the five Voidsea Jadeseals to emerge into this realm! Now that a thousand years have gone by, all of the truly powerful Daolords should have already reached the Waveshift Realm. Thus, I can now publicize the location of the Voidsea Jadeseals.”
“A thousand years have gone by?” Instantly, the Radiant King, King Gorsch, Winesage, and the many other Daolords began to silently curse. No wonder they hadn’t been able to find any of the Voidsea Jadeseals. So Emperor Waveshift’s original intention had always been to make them wait a thousand years?
“In truth, all five of the Voidsea Jadeseals are located right here in the Waveshift Realm! Two are within the ninth layer and three are within the tenth layer. For none of you to have found it is simply a sign that your luck just wasn’t good enough,” the realmsoul continued.
“The ninth layer and the tenth layer? B-but…” Ning and Ninedust were instantly rendered speechless. All of the Daolords who had come from the Endless Territories were doing the same thing right now: they were secretly cursing Emperor Waveshift.
When everyone first arrived, they would arrive within the first layer. They’d have to slowly forge their way deeper inside, and even the fastest had only reached the ninth layer by now, because the deeper one went the harder it was to delve any further. The vast majority of powerful Daolords were in either the eighth or the ninth layer. The eighth layer alone held more danger than the first seven layers combined! Thanks to the map Solesky had given them, Ning’s group had been able to quickly reach the eighth layer shortly after they had arrived within the Waveshift Realm. However, despite the passage of a thousand years they were still within the ninth layer.
“Now that a thousand years have gone past with none of you discovering any of the Voidsea Jadeseals… I have no choice but to get involved.” Realmsoul Polo pointed off into the distance. “The first Voidsea Jadeseal is located right there!”
BOOM! A pillar of light suddenly shot into the skies off in the distance.
“The Voidsea Jadeseal!”
“Quick!”
“Right over there!”
The many Daolords who had been cursing just moments ago all turned red-eyed with desire. Realmsoul Polo had just clearly marked out the location of the very first Voidsea Jadeseal to them! If they were just one second too slow, some other Daolord would end up running away with it.
“A Voidsea Jadeseal!” A man dressed in ancient black robes which were covered in complicated runes was relaxing here. His eyes looked dazed, almost drunk, but when he saw that pillar of white light erupt nearby him his gaze instantly sharpened. He almost instantly vanished while at the same time an awe-inspiring heartworld projection descended upon the area. This was a heartworld projection filled with darkness, murder, and death.
……
“Right there!” Ning and the others felt their blood boiling eagerly as well as they turned red-eyed with desire. If they could acquire that Voidsea Jadeseal, their chances at passing the Daomerge would increase more than tenfold!
“Descend!” With but a thought, Ning instantly sent his incredibly vast heartworld projection out to descend upon him. His heartworld projection was filled with mountains, rivers, wastelands, and deserts. At its very center it had an extremely prominent sword-shaped mountain that was absolutely enormous. This heartworld projection was large enough that it covered the entire Waveshift Realm!
……
There were more than a hundred thousand Daolords clustered outside the Waveshift Realm. None of them dared to actually venture inside, and so they waited outside in the hopes of a miracle occurring.
“What’s going on?!” The countless Daolords all stared in shock towards the Waveshift Realm as an absolutely enormous heartworld projection appeared in the skies above it! This illusory world was so vast that it was actually greater than the entire Waveshift Realm in size, and it was filled with an aura of murder and darkness! But moments later a second, third, fourth, and more heartworld projections all appeared in the skies above the Waveshift Realm, each of them vaster than the entire realm.
“Why are there this many heartworld projections?!” The Daolords were all stunned. Every single heartworld projection represented a Verge-level Heartforce Cultivator!
Everyone wanted to determine the exact location of the first Voidsea Jadeseal as quickly as possible, and there was nothing faster than using a heartworld projection to do just that! Heartforce, godsense, secret arts… all of those things would take time as they had to slowly fly out in a straight line! The heartworld projection, however, was the projection of a cultivator’s heartforce. It could instantly cover an area that was as vast as the heartworld itself was.
In other words… if Ning was willing to pay the necessary cost, he could stretch his heartworld projection to cover an entire territory!