Half a month later, deep within the Cloud Wasteland Great Marsh.
The great lake suspended in mid-air had transformed from an illusion into a very real entity. Waves crashed against the shore with a fierce roar, and the spiritual energy in the air was almost tangible, forming layers of mist and rain.
On the platform of the main tower situated among the white colossal towers, hundreds of cultivators had gathered. They were clearly divided into six distinct groups, their expressions solemn, a mixture of tension and excited anticipation.
At the very front of the platform stood five powerful figures with their hands behind their backs – the five Spirit Transformation Cultivators. Besides them, only Ling Yuqing, dressed in a moon-white palace dress, was present.
She held a white treasure pearl in her hands, then spat out a mouthful of vital blood, which condensed into blood-colored runes in the air before merging into the pearl.
The pearl then pulsed with an eerie, blood-red light, vanishing in an instant into the water curtain before them.
The water curtain began to spin violently, resembling a whirlpool at the bottom of the sea. The ferocious Water Spiritual Power it emitted caused even the Spirit Transformation Cultivators to subtly change their expressions.
A full hour passed before the whirlpool finally ceased its rotation.
It had now expanded to over ten zhang in size, with a hole appearing in the center, through which glimpses of the interior could be seen.
Ling Yuqing then turned around and nodded slightly, saying, "Esteemed seniors, the Abyssal Heavenly Pool is now officially open."
The eyes of the Spirit Transformation Cultivators blazed as they stared ahead, their gazes flashing with both excitement and hesitation.
Yuan Ming, a Spirit Transformation Cultivator of the Demon Race, suddenly spoke, "Do you think this Abyssal Heavenly Pool is truly that dangerous for Spirit Transformation Cultivators like us?"
Old Ghost Star Remains chuckled, "It seems Daoist Yuan is still not giving up. You can try it if you wish; I certainly won't be going in."
Yuan Ming hesitated for a moment before shaking his head.
At this, Old Ghost Star Remains' eyes darted towards Yue Long, who stood at the center, and he said with a smile, "Daoist Yue Long, among us, your Divine Ability is the greatest. Perhaps you have a chance to enter."
Yue Long's golden eyes shone with spiritual light as he stared directly at the whirlpool, then let out a cold laugh, "This Venerable One does indeed have such intentions."
Before his words had even finished, his body erupted in a brilliant golden light, which then condensed before him. In the blink of an eye, a golden figure, similar in size to himself, appeared. Its face was indistinct, but it exuded the Spiritual Pressure of the Spirit Transformation realm.
Seeing this, the expressions of the other Spirit Transformation Cultivators changed. The golden figure then shot forward like a startled swan, plunging into the whirlpool before them.
The Spirit Transformation Cultivators ceased their conversation, watching the scene ahead with a degree of tension.
If Yue Long's method proved successful, it would undoubtedly mean that they too could enter the Abyssal Heavenly Pool.
Behind them, the Nascent Soul Cultivators from various factions remained utterly silent, not making a sound as they waited patiently.
Ning Fa was currently among the cultivators of Cangyuan.
He had been resting with his eyes closed when he suddenly noticed several gazes fixed upon him.
He looked up and saw Yuan Gang of the Three-Eyed Heavenly Ape Clan. The Yin coldness and killing intent in the demon's eyes were unconcealed. Yuan Gang gave Ning Fa a sinister smile before looking away.
Ning Fa inwardly sneered and looked towards another direction.
A beautiful young girl from the Cloud Broken Demon Race, clad in fiery red light armor, was also looking at him with great interest. She gave Ning Fa a smile with an inscrutable meaning before turning her head away.
Ning Fa's brow furrowed slightly. He now knew who this demoness was.
Her background was considerable, even more so than Yuan Gang's. This girl was the young mistress of the Fire Phoenix Clan within the Cloud Broken Demon Race, named Feng Zhao.
Before this, Ning Fa had already known that the Cloud Broken Demon Race had three major royal clans: the Fire Phoenix Clan, the Golden Peng Clan, and the Three-Eyed Heavenly Ape Clan.
Among them, the Fire Phoenix Clan was the undisputed number one clan. As the young mistress of the Fire Phoenix Clan, Feng Zhao's status was naturally extraordinary.
Although this girl appeared young, she was actually at the late Nascent Soul stage. Combined with her Fire Phoenix true form, it was clear that her actual strength was immense.
Feng Zhao seemed to be very interested in him, but it was clearly the kind of interest that harbored ill intentions.
Ning Fa had a strong premonition that this had nothing to do with Yuan Gang, which made him feel troubled.
Ning Fa then looked to a spot not far from Feng Zhao, where a tall, handsome man stood, dressed in a luxurious golden robe. However, his eyes were strange golden vertical pupils, giving him an overwhelmingly demonic aura.
Among the Cloud Broken Demon Race cultivators, this man and Feng Zhao exerted the strongest pressure on Ning Fa.
This golden-haired man also had a significant background. He was the young master of the Golden Peng Clan, another major royal clan of the Cloud Broken Demon Race, named Jin Yao.
As a Heaven and Earth Spirit Bird, the Golden Peng's rank was by no means inferior to the Fire Phoenix.
Of course, the Human Realm was a lower realm. Powerful Spirit Beasts like the Ice Phoenix, Fire Phoenix, and Golden Peng were constrained by the realm. Over many years, their bloodline concentration had significantly diminished, making them incomparable to the true Heaven and Earth Spirit Beasts of the Spirit Realm. However, within the Human Realm, they remained top-tier Spirit Beasts.
Ning Fa glanced at the Nascent Soul Cultivators from the Sea Race, the Rakshasa Immortal Realm, and the Tianwu Cultivation World, and couldn't help but sigh inwardly. There were indeed quite a few Nascent Soul powerhouses heading to the Abyssal Heavenly Pool this time.
Soon, his brow furrowed, as he did not see Ning Daozhen and the others among these people.
Furthermore, based on the information he had previously obtained, not just anyone could enter the Abyssal Heavenly Pool; the spots were controlled by the five Spirit Transformation Cultivators.
Cangyuan, as the local power, only had ten spots. How would Ning Daozhen and the others manage to get in?
Ning Fa did not believe that Tianli would give up a few precious spots for them, especially after their falling out.
However, a few days prior, when Ning Fa had contacted Ning Daozhen through secret means, the latter had told him to rest assured, stating that they had a way to enter.
As Ning Fa was contemplating this, a commotion erupted ahead.
Yue Long, the Spirit Transformation cultivator in the middle stage, suddenly had a drastic change in expression. His body erupted with dazzling golden light, like a golden sun. Even the Nascent Soul cultivators like them could not look directly at it.
The other four Spirit Transformation Cultivators also changed their expressions and flashed away, putting distance between themselves and Yue Long.
About thirty breaths later, the blinding golden light slowly faded, revealing Yue Long once more.
It was evident that Yue Long's normally pale golden face had become extremely pale. His golden eyes were dim, and a shocking trace of blood was at the corner of his mouth, indicating he was severely weakened.
He quickly flipped his right hand, took out a pill, and put it into his mouth. Then, he closed his eyes and sat cross-legged to recuperate.
The other Spirit Transformation cultivators exchanged glances, their expressions grave. They secretly rejoiced that they hadn't taken the risk to try.
After all, even Yue Long, a mid-stage Spirit Transformation cultivator, had been severely injured by such a cautious probe. They certainly wouldn't fare any better.
A long while later, Yue Long finally finished his cultivation. His eyes were filled with lingering fear and relief, and his gaze towards the sea eye vortex was now filled with immense caution.
He shook his head and sighed, "This special place is indeed not somewhere we Spirit Transformation cultivators can enter. We can only let them try."
The other Spirit Transformation cultivators nodded, and then each sent out a Nascent Soul cultivator to enter the sea eye vortex first.
After waiting for half a day and confirming that the soul lamps of the few individuals were still lit, the five Spirit Transformation cultivators finally relaxed. Then, they began to allow the main force behind them to enter.
On the massive platform, Nascent Soul cultivators activated their escape lights and charged into the sea eye vortex without hesitation. Ning Fa was among them.
Soon, amidst the roar of violent waves, Ning Fa rushed into the sea eye vortex.
His vision blurred, and Ning Fa found himself in another place.
He saw an endless expanse of water everywhere. Ning Fa looked back, but the white giant tower was nowhere to be seen.
However, spiritual lights flashed in the air, and figures began to appear from them.
Before long, nearly two hundred Nascent Soul cultivators stood in this unfamiliar body of water, all with expressions of astonishment.
Everyone unleashed their powerful spiritual senses to survey their surroundings, but even with Ning Fa's current four-hundred-mile spiritual sense range, he found nothing but water.
Moreover, the depth of the water was unfathomable. It not only contained many water beasts, but once a distance of a thousand zhang was reached, a strange force began to obstruct the spiritual sense's exploration.
Soon, many of them changed color, because this body of water contained only extremely pure Water Spiritual Power, with no other elemental spiritual power present.
This was naturally bad news for many Nascent Soul cultivators who did not have a primary Water Spiritual Root.
If the Abyssal Heavenly Pool was like this throughout, then their mana recovery would be a major problem, and they could only rely on the pills they carried to endure.
Ning Fa's expression, however, remained unchanged. Because he possessed the Five Elements Thunder Body, he could also recover by absorbing Water Spiritual Power.
At this moment, a flicker of shock flashed in Ning Fa's eyes.
Just moments ago, the Primordial Realm Pearl in his storage ring had inexplicably moved.
And it was very strong, as if something in this space was attracting it.
This naturally surprised Ning Fa greatly. He couldn't help but wonder if there were other Primordial Realm Pearls in the Abyssal Heavenly Pool?
After all, according to the information left by Yan Yuan Daoist, the Primordial Realm Pearls were divided into several. Ning Fa had obtained two of them by chance.
"Everyone, please follow me."
Just then, a clear and cold female voice rang out. It was Ling Yuqing, the Moon Lord of Tianli.
Besides the three Holy Witches of Tianli, there were also six or seven other Tianli cultivators surrounding her. After Ling Yuqing spoke, they all followed her without hesitation towards the northwest.
The Nascent Soul powerhouses from other powerful immortal cultivation worlds exchanged glances and followed suit without hesitation.
They flew for over a thousand li like this. Many Nascent Soul cultivators stopped their escape lights, all looking at the scene ahead with shock.
A colossal and majestic mountain peak appeared at the end of their sight, reaching ten thousand zhang high. The base of the mountain covered an area of over a hundred li, making it an absolute behemoth.
Even more peculiar was that this mountain peak was entirely formed by flowing water, and it was slowly surging in a specific pattern. Such a magnificent sight was unheard of by everyone present.
Ning Fa's eyes also showed a strange light. Here, he could feel the movement of the Primordial Realm Pearl becoming even stronger.
At the forefront, Ling Yuqing looked at the giant mountain of flowing water, her beautiful eyes filled with wonder. Then, she increased her speed and led the way forward.