Spiritual energy conjured by the two phantom silhouettes swept across the entire flying boat. Only after verifying their identities did a ring of light appear.
This was the true gateway.
The flying boat entered, and in the next second, the ring of light vanished.
It was as if they had crossed into another realm—an undersea world beneath the ocean. The surrounding seawater was kept at bay, parted into a massive dome where marine creatures could be seen swimming past.
Within the barrier stood a colossal Eight Trigrams Black-and-White City, completely devoid of people.
Only countless ripples from rings of light, large and small, pulsated across the city. Wen Li's breath caught; that was a Grand Spirit Gathering Array connected to nine Supreme Grade spirit veins beneath the seabed.
Only Supreme Grade spirit veins could produce spirit crystals, and ten thousand high-grade spirit stones could only be exchanged for a single spirit crystal. Even Xie Tinglan had only been sold for sixty thousand high-grade spirit stones, which was a mere six spirit crystals.
Ordinary teleportation arrays mostly consumed mid-grade and high-grade spirit stones, yet this Interprovincial Passage consumed strictly spirit crystals. No wonder it required the joint effort of the four sects to establish; a single sect simply couldn't afford it.
Burning money—it was burning through an absolute fortune!
Wen Li rubbed her fingers together, seized by the urge to dig some up.
Just as the flying boat touched down, the two figures who had previously manifested as phantoms appeared in the flesh.
Both wore white cloaks that concealed their features. Earlier, it had only been an extreme mental pressure, but standing face-to-face with them was a terror so overwhelming that one could scarcely breathe steadily, making it impossible to look directly at them.
Had they not revealed themselves, they would have seamlessly blended with heaven and earth, existing as specks of dust vibrating in harmony with all things. These were peak existences within the Western Province.
Wen Li could hardly breathe, forced to endure the oppressive spiritual pressure. She knew that these were Soul Formation cultivators who could crush her with a mere glance. As expected of Soul Formation experts—truly formidable.
Feng Ling showed a rare touch of deference toward the two cultivators. “Thank you both for your trouble. This is the person from my Jiuyin Island who needs to be teleported to the Northern Province.”
The two did not ask further. They merely raised their hands and swept their gazes across Wen Li at the same time.
Hum.
Two rings of light shot out instantly, enveloping her from above and below. It was not an attack, but a gentle pass that carried the tranquil serenity of breathing in unison with all of creation—a perception of spiritual energy unique to those at and above the Soul Formation realm.
Wen Li could feel two formidable divine senses probing her body. The moment any abnormality arose, death would be instantaneous.
She relaxed and allowed the search.
Fortunately, all who could come here were core members of the Western Province's four major sects, so they only checked her cultivation base and identity.
Feng Ling had already arranged her identity beforehand, claiming that Wen Li was his legacy disciple heading to the Northern Province to gain experience, thus taking Jiuyin Island's allocated spot.
“Huh?”
Suddenly, the white cloak on the left let out a faint murmur.
Even so, Feng Ling heard it. His brows twitched, though he made no rash moves. Impossible. Her identity was properly arranged, and Wen Li is neither demon nor monster—she shouldn't have given anything away.
Just then, the white cloak on the right moved as well, turning toward Feng Ling.
“She possesses useless Five Elements Spiritual Roots, yet you actually took her in as a legacy disciple?”
Feng Ling was momentarily astonished, but nothing showed on his face. He merely offered a faint smile.
“I share a karmic bond with this disciple, and I owed a favor.”
Having said enough to convey the point, the white-cloaked cultivator did not press further.
Wen Li remained still.
“Very well, go in.”
“My thanks.”
Relieved, the two sailed the flying boat directly into the Eight Trigrams Black-and-White City.
Feng Ling set up a sound-isolating barrier and turned to Wen Li.
“Master possesses the Five Elements Spiritual Roots.” He tactfully dropped the word “useless.”
“Mm. Useless or not, it's true that the Five Elements Spiritual Roots cannot advance any further upon reaching the Foundation Establishment Great Perfection,” Wen Li replied nonchalantly.
The cultivation world was predominantly composed of single spiritual roots. Those with dual spiritual roots were standouts, far more formidable than single-root cultivators; they could practice cultivation techniques of two different attributes, granting them greater combat power. However, the cultivation resources and effort required were doubled as well, and only great sects and clans could afford to nurture them. Once their talent was unlocked, they became true geniuses.
Yet beyond dual roots, triple, quadruple, and quintuple spiritual roots were all labeled useless roots.
It wasn't that impurities prevented cultivation altogether, but rather that reaching the upper realms was nearly impossible.
It was like studying five subjects in the same amount of time another person spent on just one. The other person specialized in a single field, securing top marks on the exam, while you could hardly keep up with a few of your subjects at once. When averaged out, your score wouldn't even match their single discipline.
Even dual roots required major sects to support them. While the cultivation world seemed awash in abundant spiritual energy available anywhere, actual cultivation devoured massive amounts of resources, nearly all of which were monopolized by the great sects and factions.
If a sect poured all its resources into cultivating a Five Elements root cultivator, they still wouldn't be able to defeat a single-root peer nurtured on half the resources. Furthermore, the resources spent on a Five Elements root cultivator could simultaneously raise five Supreme Grade single-root cultivators. Who would willingly take such a gamble?
Moreover, those with multiple spiritual roots had to cultivate each root simultaneously, unable to focus on just one.
Disdained by sects and unable to supply their own resources, such cultivators would inevitably exhaust their lifespans over time without ever forming a Golden Core. Thus, anything above dual roots was collectively referred to as useless roots.
Had it been anyone else, Feng Ling might have thought the same. But he had seen that person.
When spiritual energy was lacking and talent fell short, they were useless roots. But what if...
What if someone possessed the Five Elements Spiritual Roots, yet had abundant spiritual energy and extraordinary talent?
Feng Ling's pupils contracted sharply. Could such a person truly exist? In the Linggang Immortal Realm, the spiritual energy across the entire Five Provinces had long since dwindled to less than half of what it had been during the Chaotic Primordial Era. The four provinces outside the Central Province could only support cultivators up to the Soul Formation realm.
If Wen Li cultivated all five elements simultaneously, then she could only...
...come from the Central Province!
Yet if she had been born in the Central Province, why would she travel across the other provinces with only a Foundation Establishment cultivation base?
While Feng Ling was still scheming and pondering, the flying boat had already passed through ten gates of the Eight Trigrams Black-and-White City, undergoing verification at each one before entering.
Wen Li knew what he was thinking, but she didn't care. Let him guess.
Bang!
The flying boat entered a grand hall beneath a tower ceiling tens of meters high. Right in the center floated a colossal halo cloud altar, accessible only by climbing a flight of nine white stone steps.
Their identities needed to be verified once again, also by a Soul Formation cultivator.
This made it clear just how cautious and vigilant the four sects were regarding the Interprovincial Passage.
“Go up.”
From beneath the white cloak guarding the halo cloud altar came a muffled, ancient, and distant voice.
Wen Li walked up the white stone steps, each stride steady and measured. Upon entering the massive array cloud altar, she sat down cross-legged.
The white-cloaked Soul Formation cultivator began forming hand seals to cast the spell.
Looking up, Wen Li saw Feng Ling pouring a mountain of spirit crystals from inside the flying boat into the array core where she was situated.
This was truly burning money before her very eyes. Wen Li had previously wondered why Feng Ling had brought an entire flying boat just for the two of them to put on airs; turns out it had been packed full of spirit crystals. Had she known earlier, she would have pocketed a couple of them.
Boom—
Once all the spirit crystals were in place, the formation roared to life.
Wen Li closed her eyes. She could feel the surrounding space twisting and folding, yet she remained unharmed, as if sheltered within a protective dome. The formation here differed from the ones in the Teleportation Pavilion; it was ten times larger.
A blinding radiance flared before her eyelids. The wind howled around her, whipping her robes through the air. Countless layers of defensive arrays struck her body one after another, transforming into protective shields as the roaring in her ears grew louder and more distinct.
Turbulent torrents of space and time rushed past, creating the lingering illusion that she was drifting through the long river of time, unwilling to awaken.
For a low-realm cultivator like Wen Li, this was somewhat difficult to bear. Fortunately, Feng Ling had given her a bracelet beforehand. She immediately formed a seal and activated it; a gentle glow enveloped her, drastically easing the crushing pressure of space around her.
After an unknown passage of time, Wen Li, who had lost all sense of the flow of time, heard movement once more. When she opened her eyes, she had already arrived in an unfamiliar grand hall.
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