Chapter 70: Spatial Mark

“An invasion of demons from beyond the heavens, and yet it’s an opportunity?” Qingxi was the most surprised, and Lin Feng’s expression also showed astonishment.

He had practiced under the tutelage of Sect Leader Qiu Mingzi and had heard of the demons from beyond the heavens, knowing them to be terrifying invaders. Even Qiu Yingying was stunned.

How could demons from beyond be considered an opportunity? Aren’t they a group that brings nothing but great calamity?

Qiu Mingzi returned Ibustita’s eye to Qiu Yingying and explained, “Overall, the invasion of demons from beyond is a crisis, but usually, those that manage to descend to the ground aren’t especially powerful. Slaying them yields rare spirit materials—this is both a training and a precious opportunity.”

Qiu Mingzi seemed to fall into reminiscence.

He began to recount his past.

One hundred and seventy years ago, Qiu Mingzi was not yet thirty—a young man with cultivation only at the early innate stage. Though he was considered a true disciple within the Lingyuan Sect, he was insignificant in the greater Yunchuan Prefecture.

That year, a great battle broke out against the demons from beyond. While the top-tier demons were held back by the great powers of the cultivation world, many lesser ones slipped through and infiltrated all corners of Yunchuan Prefecture.

In the heart of the prefecture, within the Thunder Dragon Valley, the ancient thunder dragon with a cultivation of a hundred thousand years decreed that all cultivators at the innate stage and above should hunt the demons and quell the chaos.

Qiu Mingzi answered the call, roaming the mountains and rivers of Yunchuan, surviving brutal battles and brushes with death, ultimately prevailing and acquiring powerful ultimate techniques from the demons.

After experiencing that war, his strength grew remarkably, and in the following years, he became a top master at the peak of the innate stage.

A century ago, another invasion occurred.

It was during that campaign that Qiu Mingzi transformed again, achieving the Spirit Steel Realm and assuming the position of Sect Leader of Lingyuan.

Now, he would face his third war against the demons from beyond.

To him, it was both a crisis and an opportunity.

After hearing Qiu Mingzi’s tale, Qingxi, Qiu Yingying, Lin Feng, and even the Dragon Horse were fired up, eagerly anticipating the coming invasion.

Especially Qingxi, whose excitement surged whenever he thought of the vast primordial power of the demons from beyond.

“Whether my spiritual root can quickly advance to the Profound grade depends on this battle against the demons from beyond!”

However, the timid Dragon Horse asked at an inopportune moment, “Old man, among the demons from beyond, there must be some as fierce as you—or even fiercer. What if we run into them?”

“What… The little colt actually speaks!” Lin Feng was startled, his face twitching.

Qiu Mingzi smiled, placing his hand on Lin Feng’s shoulder. “Don’t be alarmed, disciple. This is the rare spirit beast I mentioned to you, but it has already recognized its master.”

At this, Qiu Mingzi looked at Qingxi with a hint of envy in his gaze.

The Dragon Horse was the first spirit beast in the history of Lingyuan Sect.

When Qiu Yingying introduced the encounter with Ibustita, she also mentioned Qingxi and the Dragon Horse’s assistance, as well as his performance at the Heroes’ Gathering.

Thus, Qiu Mingzi’s eyes were full of kindness when he looked at Qingxi.

He was very interested in this miracle-working youth, and hoped Qingxi would keep the Dragon Horse in Lingyuan, as the future guardian beast of the mountain.

With this thought, Qiu Mingzi even considered Qingxi as a candidate for future Grand Elder.

If Wang Miao knew, she might well burst into tears.

“So this is a spirit beast?” Lin Feng curiously stroked the Dragon Horse’s head, making it bare its teeth, as if to say, “Touch me again and I’ll bite you.”

“Heh, sorry.” Lin Feng laughed awkwardly, withdrawing his hand.

Returning to the Dragon Horse’s question, Qiu Mingzi said, “Don’t worry. If the sky falls, there’s someone tall to hold it up. If any beings stronger than the innate realm appear, those of us at the level of Sect Leader will not stand idly by… After a hundred years of leisure, it’s about time to stretch our muscles.”

Hearing that Spirit Steel Realm experts would intervene, Qingxi and the others felt reassured.

They’d long heard of the overwhelming strength of the Spirit Steel Realm—able to shatter rivers with a wave of the hand, possessing power far greater than the innate stage.

This battle against the demons from beyond would be their chance to witness such might firsthand.

…

On the way down from the back mountain.

Qiu Yingying handed Ibustita’s eye to Qingxi. “I’ve heard you possess only a defective spiritual root, and your cultivation has progressed solely thanks to the advantage of having all twelve meridians open. Take this, and strive to break through to the innate stage before the demons launch their attack.”

“This… This is too precious!” Qingxi wanted the gemstone eye, forged from treasure of the heavens, but felt he hadn’t earned it—how could he accept such a gift?

“It is precious to you, but to me, it’s dispensable. What matters more is whether you can help me obtain the ultimate technique from the forbidden zone of Guluo.” Qiu Yingying finally revealed her intent.

Her strength had reached a bottleneck. Besides raising her cultivation, the most important improvement was to learn a stronger ultimate technique.

Only then could her rank on the New Star List of Seventy-Two continue to rise.

“Guluo?” Qingxi pondered, drawing a deep breath—Qiu Yingying was indeed daring.

Guluo was one of the ten ancient relics of Yunchuan Prefecture, located in the center of the Eastern Domain, the only forbidden zone in the East.

With this realization, Qingxi understood Qiu Yingying’s true purpose.

She had sought him out to accomplish the five-star mission on the task board: “Explore Guluo and retrieve the ultimate technique!”

“The stone wall recording the ultimate techniques is within the forbidden zone of Guluo. If you decide to help me, your own strength is vital, isn’t it?” Qiu Yingying said earnestly.

“Very well, I’ll accept this, and thank you, Senior Sister. I will do my utmost to help you complete this mission!” Qingxi was not one to hesitate. He promptly took Ibustita’s eye.

“Grandfather said the ones we’ve met so far are just demon scouts. The major invasion is still some time away. If we want to survive and gain something in the coming war, we must seize this moment to increase our strength.”

“By the way, I’ve changed my mind. Meet me outside the Library Pavilion at dusk today.” Qiu Yingying added, then departed.

The Dragon Horse stared at the gemstone eye in Qingxi’s hand, almost drooling.

Qingxi shot it a look of disdain. “This is the key to my advancement to the innate stage. If I get other treasures later, I’ll give you one.”

“So stingy!” The Dragon Horse drooped its head.

At this moment, Qingxi received a prompt from the system assistant.

“Ding, spatial imprint detected and extracted. Please open your system panel to claim it!”

Qingxi, bewildered, opened the system panel, his gaze fixed on a new introduction.

[Type: Spatial Treasure]
[Name: Spatial Imprint (Low Grade)]
[Source: Core component “Gemstone Eye” of the demon from beyond, Ibustita]
[Note: Collect enough spatial imprints to synthesize a Traversal Token, which allows seamless travel between realms; each crossing is time-limited, with the duration determined by the token’s grade]

After reading the basic introduction, Qingxi leapt three feet high.

“It can be synthesized into a Traversal Token!”

“So, I can go to any world I wish… Including Huaxia?”

Clutching the gemstone eye, Qingxi trembled with excitement.

(Regarding the recent controversy: the demon invasions from beyond are small-scale and occasionally occur in each domain, but their impact is limited. As for the Traversal Token, this is a setup—a foreshadowing. When the time is ripe, cross-realm battles will appear.)