Weiling Realm
When the Mahayana Zhēnzūn of the five regions of Human, Demon, Beast, Ghost, and Buddhist sensed a massive wave of cultivators ascending from the Weiyu Realm at the same time, they immediately realized something unusual was happening. Once they confirmed that lower-realm cultivators were leveraging the ascension passages' pulling force to haul their entire realm upward, shock rippled through them.
The gathered Mahayana Zhēnzūn stood together in silence, all eyes fixed on the Weiyu Realm as it climbed.
"Tian Yun, calculate it. Is this fortune or disaster? If it proves harmful to the Weiling Realm, we must intervene."
A black-robed man with a firm, cutting profile spoke in a low voice to the white-robed female cultivator at his side.
The woman's features were clear and elegant. She focused on the lower realm rising slowly in the distance. At his words, she nodded, lifted a white jade disk into her palm, and flicked a gentle white light into it. Nineteen concentric rings carved with Heavenly Stems, Earthly Branches, and the Eight Trigrams began to rotate one after another.
After nearly half an hour, Tian Yun finally opened her eyes. Her aura was slightly disordered. She tossed a pill into her mouth, then said slowly, "This is auspicious. It is a sign of returning to its original place. The Weiling Realm has taken one step closer to wholeness."
Light flashed in the black-robed man's eyes. If that was true, the Weiling Realm might well rise to a higher tier.
Ming You Zhēnzūn, a powerhouse from the Ghost Region, had a pallid face and deep, shadowed eyes that discouraged approach. Watching the Weiyu Realm ascend, he rasped, "I did not expect mere lower-realm cultivators to possess such daring, attempting to raise an entire realm. I wonder if they can succeed."
An elderly cultivator in gray robes stroked the short gray beard at his chin and said, "Ming You, this Lord hopes they do succeed. Our struggle with the evil cultivators continues. As long as the passage from the Wuwang Ruins to the Weiling Realm remains open, we must fight without pause. Their realm ascending en masse is no bad thing. At the very least, it will add to our fighting strength.
This Lord judges that cultivators bold enough to attempt this will not be weak. They dare to fight and dare to bleed. Especially those four at the very front. Their cultivation has long reached the standard to 'minor-ascend' to our realm, yet they suppressed themselves to remain behind and uplift their small world. Their future is limitless."
A quiet white-robed man had been wordless until now. He watched the four at the head, let his divine sense sweep over the ascending cultivators, and finally paused on a man wearing a robe similar to his own. Only then did his expression ease.
"This Weiyu Realm is not bad. Quite a number of beast cultivators among the ascenders too."
This time the speaker was a beautiful female cultivator in a robe of riotous color. The upward slant of her phoenix eyes lent her a hint of allure. In her hand she held a round fan forged from red phoenix plumes. Her gaze fell on the White-Browed Old Ape, the Shi Lin, and a red-furred fox trailing behind. She was already thinking to order her subordinates to bring these three straight to the Beast Region.
A towering man built like an iron tower folded his arms beside the beast-race powerhouse and said,"Feng Ling, do not rush to recruit disciples. Wait to see if they make it up in one piece. If they fail, that is when you try fishing people out."
At last the silent white-clothed man spoke. "They should succeed. Someone powerful is aiding them."
The moment his words fell, the Weiyu Realm broke through the boundary wall of the Weiling Realm and merged fully into it. It even automatically filled the missing corner of the Human race's territory.
The iron-tower man laughed aloud, "Ha! They really did it!"
The gray-robed elder continued to stroke his beard. "Good. Come. Let us take a look."
The female cultivator Tian Yun, who had spent so much of her strength earlier, stared at the rotating white jade compass and slowly furrowed her brows. Then she said, "Honored seniors, the Weiyu Realm brought up the evil god's final fragment of body as well."
No reminder was truly needed. The great ones had already noticed. The moment they spread their divine senses across the new territory, the enormous sword radiating immortal energy within the far western sea of the Weiyu Realm drew their attention. Now that the immortal sword had completed its task, it shrank slowly and finally became a streak of violet light that vanished from sight.
The thunder sea born of the immortal sword's strike also ebbed away, revealing Yunxiao Sea's original face. Along with it came thin wisps of leaking corruption.
Ming You Zhēnzūn rasped, "So that is how it is. No wonder they staked their lives to drag the entire realm up. With that evil god's body below, the lower realm truly lacked the strength to suppress it.
"Tian Yun, why did you not divine this earlier?"
His tone carried a thread of reproach.
Tian Yun lowered her gaze and answered respectfully, "Your lesson is just, Ming You Zhēnzūn. My cultivation is limited, and the immortal sword obscured the karmic threads, so I failed to calculate this hidden danger."
The black-robed man who had earlier asked for the divination shot Ming You a glare. "Enough. You did not sense it yourself, and you are a Mahayana Zhēnzūn. Tian Yun is only at the Void Refining stage. Besides, with someone from the Immortal Realm taking action, the heavenly secrets were already in chaos. It is no small feat she divined the outcome at all. You cannot lay this at her feet."
The gray-robed elder shook his head. "Do not trade barbs. Better we hurry and seal the evil god's body. If we are late and the evil cultivators sniff it out, this returned territory will soon become their target. You all know they have been searching for this final fragment."
No one disagreed. In the next instant they vanished where they stood and appeared above Yunxiao Sea.
While the six Mahayana Zhēnzūn joined forces to seal Yunxiao Sea once more, Yunxi and the other three, along with the many ascending cultivators, appeared on a receiving platform on the eastern side of the Weiling Realm. All of them looked a little worse for wear.
When the two realms melded smoothly, Lian Yi raised a hand and recalled her Lei Yao Sword. She glanced once over the Weiling Realm, then turned and walked toward the depths of the starry sky, muttering, "Shi Jiu, do not dump this kind of thing on me again. I am busy. When I am not cultivating, I am putting out fires everywhere. I wonder whose fault that is."
"Hehe, I know. It will not happen again."
Yunxi watched the violet silhouette recede into the stars, unable to hide the envy in her eyes. That was her goal. One day she too would prop up a small world with her own strength, just like that senior powerhouse.
The cultivator on duty at the receiving platform was stunned. He had not expected the lower realm to send up a hundred ascenders at once. They all looked battered and drained of spiritual power, and several beast cultivators were mixed among them. He hurriedly pulled a jade slip from his storage ring, preparing to record them one by one.
Yunxi, Han Lian, Xun Kun, and Yun Chen were the first to appear on the platform, so the receiving cultivator moved to register their information first and, by the way, to recommend his clan to them.
He had not yet come close when the spiritual fluctuations on the four surged wildly. In the next instant, all four began breaking through on the spot, leaving his mouth hanging open in shock.