Chapter 10: Conquest (Part 2)

Li Ran had no idea that the talismanic rope he had inadvertently left behind would haunt those four armored men for life. He and Qi Wu Zhen kept tearing through space, attempting to enter another small world using spatial ruptures.

Guo Shier felt that the path ahead became increasingly difficult, with immense resistance from space. In the world of talismans, he could freely tear apart space and move from one continent to another, but here, he couldn’t even stir it. If the space in the world of talismans was like tofu, then this space was forged from steel.

It was even harder than before. Just a few minutes in, Li Ran and Qi Wu Zhen’s expressions changed. A tense atmosphere quickly spread. In such a place, everyone in the team relied on Li Ran and Qi Wu Zhen. When the two grew anxious, the rest also became anxious. Everyone knew that even the strongest strength couldn’t withstand the power of space—power that overwhelmed everything, even preventing souls from escaping.

Li Ran and Qi Wu Zhen exchanged a glance. Li Ran said, “Let’s use a small secret realm as a transition!”
Qi Wu Zhen nodded. “Good!” In just a short while, the two had consumed a great deal of their soul energy. Despite having surpassed the ninth-tier altar and possessing extraordinary strength, they still felt overwhelmed and needed to find an alternative. The reason they had sealed off the small secret realms in the first place was precisely for this purpose—to use them as substitutes and gain a chance to recover.

However, a small secret realm could only be used once; using one meant losing one. And in other small worlds, it was impossible to replenish them. So, unless absolutely necessary, they hesitated to use them.

This time, they used two small secret realms in succession before breaking free from spatial constraints and entering another small world.

By the time Li Ran and Qi Wu Zhen tore through space to enter the new world, they were both severely exhausted, with grim expressions. They weren’t even sure if they could continue moving forward. Upon entering this world, without bothering to examine what kind of place it was, they immediately found a spot to recover.

Guo Shier and the others closely guarded the two. They all understood that the safety of Li Ran and Qi Wu Zhen was their own safety—these two couldn’t afford any mishaps.

In Guo Shier’s eyes, this small world wasn’t anything special. With its mountains, rivers, clouds, and sky, it looked similar to the world of talismans. So he didn’t pay much attention, only keeping a vigilant watch around them. Li Ran and Qi Wu Zhen kept consuming soul pearls, as their depletion this time was too severe. To recover quickly, they had to devour large numbers of them.

Since there were soul scriptures to refine them, they weren’t afraid of consuming countless soul beads, as this allowed them to restore their spiritual power at the fastest speed. In this strange small world, nothing else mattered—what was important was having great strength; otherwise, it would be extremely dangerous.

The nine of them were now like grasshoppers tied together by a rope. In the face of any danger, none of them could escape and had to work together to overcome it. As they progressed, they became more in sync and united. All of them were experts from the Spellcraft World, and in this other world, they were true companions—everyone else was just a passerby.

This time, the recovery took a long time—four days—before Li Ran and Qi Wu Zhen fully recovered, as they also had to resist the attacks of this world’s forces during the recovery process. Fortunately, both were peak-level professionals, and with two soul scriptures, they were able to recover.

Next came the process of refining the boundary-breaking technique again, which required countless materials and a large number of soul beads. It took several days before they completed it once more.

Li Ran shook his head with a bitter smile and said, “I thought I was well-prepared, but there were still so many variables.”

Qi Wu Zhen remained silent. She was also very uncertain, not knowing what dangers lay ahead. By this point, she no longer had any illusions of luck—some costs had to be paid.

Guo Shier said, “Should we keep searching for weak points in this world?” He no longer had any desire to explore and only wanted to enter the Greater World as soon as possible. Everyone felt similarly—the constraints of the small world prevented them from fully displaying their strength, and battles made them feel trapped.

What worried them the most was that they hadn’t encountered any truly powerful opponents yet. If they faced someone with a similar level of strength, it would be them who suffered, as one side could attack freely while the other was restricted in their actions. If the numbers were equal, they might suffer greatly.

Zhen Wu Ji asked, “How many more small worlds will we pass through?”

Li Ran replied, “Maybe seventeen or eighteen more. Maybe the next one is the Greater World. I can’t estimate…” He thought for a moment and added, “It depends on luck! We can only rely on luck.”

Guo Shier said, “It’s not just about luck—it’s also about character, haha.” He laughed helplessly.

Zhen Wu Ji sighed and said, “Shier, then it depends on your character. I hope your character is strong enough… to reach an invincible level!”

Halechi curled his lips and said, “Nonsense!”

Slap! Slap! Slap…

Halechi’s head was slapped several times in a row. Not only did Li Ranqi Wu Zhen take action, but even Ge Ha and Yao Zebusong slapped him. He was stunned for a moment—not because it hurt, but because he couldn’t believe everyone would hit him. Confused, he asked, “Why are you hitting me?”
Zhen Wuji sneered, “You bastard! If not you, then who?”
Ezek and Meili also came over and each slapped him once. Halechi was filled with inexplicable anger and said, “You two bastards, why are you hitting me too?”
Ezek and Meili grinned and said, “We have to watch them hit you… If we don’t hit you, it wouldn’t be right… right?”
Furious, Halechi kicked out, but Ezek and Meili laughed and scattered. Seeing that Halechi still didn’t understand, Guo Shier smiled and said, “Halechi, if I had a bad character, none of us could get out… If not you, then who?”
Halechi touched his head, a wry smile on his face. He realized he had angered everyone, and a light slap was considered mild. If he really angered them, it wouldn’t be strange to be beaten severely. He forced a smile, stepped aside, and stopped talking.
Li Ran said, “Let’s see what kind of world this is.” After looking around for a while, he smiled and said, “Good luck—we don’t seem to find anything too strange in this world. It’s quite like our hometown.” By hometown, he meant Earth, but the others thought it referred to the continents of the Spellworld. There was a difference: in the Spellworld, all plants and creatures were related to spells, while Earth had no natural runes, and so did this place.
Zhen Wuji nodded, “Mm, it’s somewhat similar.”
Guo Shier understood that Li Ran meant Earth. He said, “Let’s use the Realm Breaker. We don’t need to explore; we just need to find the weak point in this world and leave.” Everyone was a bit anxious; no one wanted to stay in a small world, especially one as different from the Spellworld as this one, which suppressed their strength too much, making them feel uncomfortable.
Li Ran nodded. “Okay!”
Now everyone understood one thing: the shorter the time spent in a foreign world, the better. Staying too long not only meant being affected by the world’s powers but also made it difficult to leave. After several space traversals, everyone had grasped this truth, and they also felt a bit scared. Even a collector like Guo Shier didn’t dare to keep collecting materials and immediately wanted to leave.

Back on the road. Everyone had grown accustomed to constantly traveling, then finding the weak points in this world, tearing through space with the power of breaking boundaries, and rushing through to enter a newworld world. This cycle repeated until they reached the greater world. They flew high in the sky, with vast clouds drifting below. Through the gaps in the clouds, they could see the undulating mountains and rivers. This time, they were determined to reach their destination quickly, stopping nowhere along the way and showing no interest in understanding this small world, for they knew there were countless such worlds, and if they tried to understand them all, they would never get anywhere. Li Ran was still at the front, with the others following closely behind, racing forward at top speed. Unfortunately, none of them dared to use the altar; flying on their own strength was much slower than using it. Guo Shier asked, “Elder brother, how far is it to the direction indicated by breaking the boundary?” Breaking the boundary could form a concept in Li Ran’s soul, especially regarding the destination. Though he couldn’t pinpoint the exact location, he could grasp the general direction. Li Ran said, “It’s far. At our flying speed, it will take a few more days to get close. Don’t worry… our speed isn’t slow.” Nine streams of talismanic light streaked across the sky like a rainbow. They raced high in the sky, and soon the sixth day passed as they entered a sea area. Under Li Ran’s leadership, the nine of them descended from the sky and flew about a few hundred meters above the sea surface. Just one day later, they noticed something was wrong—a massive force was pressing down on them. First to be overwhelmed was Halechi, who let out a scream before falling from the sky. Fortunately, Guo Shier was right beside Halechi. He too felt a powerful pulling force and quickly reached out, sending several virtual talismanic chains that instantly wrapped around Halechi, lifting him up. He asked, “What’s wrong?” Immediately afterward, a huge suction force pulled everyone downward. In an instant, except for Li Ran and Qi Wu Zhen, everyone else fell into the sea. The force was so strong that even Li Ran and Qi Wu Zhen were dragged downward, though the two of them could still control their bodies. The others couldn’t control theirs at all, plunging into the sea one after another with splashing sounds. Once in the sea, the massive force suddenly disappeared. The people poked their heads out of the water, stunned into silence—they had never encountered such a situation before. Li Ran and Qi Wu Zhen barely managed to stay suspended above the sea, their eyes fixed on the distance where a huge whirlwind was forming and moving toward them. But Guo Shier pointed at a spot not far away and asked, “What’s that?”

Not far away, a black triangular fish fin broke the surface of the sea, leaving trails of white foam as it cut through the water.
Zhen Wuji said with a bitter smile, “It seems to be heading towards us! I don’t know what it is.”
The whirlwind in the distance gradually grew larger, moving straight towards the sea where everyone was.
Everyone’s expression darkened.
Book 44: Sacrificing to the Starry Sky