"Done?"

Silence fell upon the mountaintop.

As an ordinary person, Su Daiyi didn't understand what a Spirit Vein was, nor did she grasp the incredibly complex process and fortuitous circumstances required to establish one. That was why she had given Gao He a reminder earlier. But Gao He and Dongfang Xun were cultivators. They both knew that constructing a Spirit Gathering Great Array was never so simple.

Take Li Sanbai, for example. He had set up a 'Spirit Gathering' Formation in just half a day. It seemed like a short time, but in reality, the Array Patterns on those Spirit Stones had been carved, piece by piece, over the last several decades. And now, it had been less than a second, and Xu Lai was saying it was done?

Dongfang Xun coughed, trying to smooth things over. "Senior Xu, it's perfectly normal for Array Setting to fail."

Gao He also sighed. From their perspective, it was unbelievable that anyone could set up a formation in a mere second, so they simply assumed Xu Lai had failed.

"It did indeed fail," Xu Lai sighed softly. It wasn't a Spirit Vein he had made, but a Dragon Vein.

He looked up at a certain cloud in the sky. That little rascal is being mischievous. I clearly removed a massive amount of Spiritual Energy, but I can't believe that kid from the Heavenly Dao actually deflected it right back to me…

"It's okay that it failed," Gao He said, trying to console him. He seemed to age decades in that instant, his back stooping over. Even with his grandfather being one of the twelve Watchmen, he couldn't be protected this time.

This is for the best. I'll take this opportunity to resign from my position as the head of the East Sea Wushu Association and go to Chang'an. I'll guard it alongside my grandfather, father, and sister! Dealing with all these troublesome matters involving Martial Artists every day is absolutely maddening.

"Hahahaha." Though trapped in the candle and in agony, No-Face laughed maniacally. You can break a formation, but you can't set one up. The path of formations is not so simple!

No-Face's voice echoed from within the candle as she shrieked, "Xu Lai, I was the one who taught Li Sanbai his array-setting techniques! He can only create a Pseudo-Spiritual Vein, but the formation I lay can create a true Spirit Vein! Let me out, and I—"

Before she could finish, No-Face's voice caught in her throat. She stared dumbly through the candlelight toward the Mount Fu mountain range. In that instant, she saw it transform.

SWISH, SWISH, SWISH.

The trees grew rapidly, shooting past a hundred meters in height in the blink of an eye. The natural lake, which had dried up from the fire in her palm, suddenly filled with water. But it wasn't ordinary water—it was a Spiritual Lake, formed from spiritual energy so dense it had liquefied! The small animals in the mountains that had been lucky enough to survive were baptized by the immense Spiritual Energy, their eyes glowing with newfound intelligence.

"A Spirit… a Spirit Vein…" No-Face gasped in disbelief.

She couldn't believe it. Xu Lai had actually succeeded!

But no. It wasn't over.

From the Spiritual Lake, a hundred-zhang-long, blood-red Divine Dragon burst from the water, letting out a resounding roar before diving back into the depths. At the same time, across the 9.6 million square kilometers of Hua Country, three faint dragon roars answered in unison. It was the other three Dragon Veins of Hua Country, roaring in excitement!

WHOOSH—

Lying amongst the clouds, the Dragon Spirit of Mount Haitang cast a bored glance toward Mount Fu, then looked toward the other three directions. Its lips curled in a very human-like sneer before it closed its eyes again, its long whiskers fluttering in the wind. As for the Gold Swallowing Beast in the rear courtyard of Haitang Court, which was gnawing on bamboo and constantly beckoning with its fluffy paws for it to come down and play… Dragon Spirit Xiao Hai paid it no mind whatsoever.

Silence. The Mount Fu range was deathly silent.

As the hundred-zhang-long, fiery-red dragon soared into the air and plunged back into the water, a moment that had passed in a blink felt like a century. The Martial Ancestors on the peak trembled, their lips quivering, unable to speak.

This was not a Spirit Vein. It was a Dragon Vein!

Hua Country had only three Dragon Veins, led by the Kunlun Dragon Vein. And now, Hua Country had a fourth: the Jiangnan Dragon Vein!

Gao He stared blankly at the fiery-red figure swimming in the natural lake halfway up the mountain, his expression vacant. After a long moment, tears welled in his eyes. He dropped to his knees and sobbed, "Am I seeing things? Am I seeing things?"

One more Spirit Vein for Hua Country meant a high probability of tens of thousands of new Martial Artists. If just one Ninth Grade Martial Ancestor emerged from them, it would be a great cause for celebration for both Chang'an City and Hua Country. Because of that, if Chang'an City were ever breached and the Moon Clan arrived on Earth, many of Hua Country's ordinary citizens might be spared.

But what Hua Country had gained was a Dragon Vein. Its Spiritual Energy was countless times greater than a Spirit Vein's and could possibly nurture one or even several cultivators to the Divine Gate Realm! Even one more Divine Gate expert would provide another sliver of hope for defending Chang'an. It might even offer a chance to counterattack the Moon Clan. The importance of a Dragon Vein was paramount; it was the very foundation of a nation!

"A Dragon Vein…" The other Martial Ancestors from the East Sea Wushu Association were dumbstruck, still too shocked to speak, muttering the words 'Dragon Vein' over and over.

"Senior Xu, didn't you say it failed?" Dongfang Xun asked dazedly.

"Didn't you want a Spirit Vein?"

"…"

Dongfang Xun almost bit off his tongue. So *this* is what you meant by failure?!

Unlike the excitement and elation of the group on the mountaintop, No-Face, still enduring the dual torment of body and soul, completely broke down. "A Dragon Vein? How could it be a Dragon Vein? Only someone in the Divinity Transformation Realm can create a Dragon Vein… You can't be at the Divinity Transformation level! You can't be!"

Jing Ke had once stated clearly that for native cultivators on Earth, reaching the Golden Core was the limit. Breaking through to the Nascent Soul realm required a heaven-defying opportunity; otherwise, it was just a fool's dream. And Divinity Transformation was a realm above Nascent Soul. According to Jing Ke, cultivators at the Divinity Transformation Realm were considered powerhouses even in the Immortal Domain, commanding territories spanning dozens of star systems. Only a cultivator of such a level could condense Spiritual Energy into a Dragon Vein! How could Xu Lai, an Earthling, possibly possess such a level of cultivation…

Wait. Suddenly, No-Face realized something. She exclaimed in shock, "You—you're not an Earthling! You're a foreign cultivator? You're a cultivator from the Immortal Domain!"

Xu Lai looked at her calmly, saying nothing.

Enduring the agonizing pain of her soul being torn and burned, No-Face spoke with frantic excitement, "Xu Lai, do you know Jing Ke? I am his pawn here on Earth! He's also a cultivator from the Immortal Domain! We're on the same side! Let me go…"

Jing Ke!?

Xu Lai's eyes narrowed.

Even the Heavenly Dao, who had been eating sugar-coated haws in the clouds, sat up straight and looked down with a serious expression.

Xu Lai had once found a sinister dagger. Following the clues, he had traced it to a cave in Sakura Country, where he had then witnessed a vision of the past. In that vision, he saw Jing Ke furiously denouncing the Nine Kings' Palace, one of the most terrifying forbidden places in the Immortal Domain. Afterward, Xu Lai and Jing Ke had a brief conversation across time and space, but it was forcibly cut short by an external power.

Neither Xu Lai nor the Heavenly Dao had ever imagined that Jing Ke, who had vanished without a trace, had actually left a pawn behind on Earth.

"Where is Jing Ke?" Xu Lai asked calmly.

"I… I don't know." No-Face shook her head in a daze. Seeing Xu Lai frown, she quickly pleaded, "Since you're a cultivator from the Immortal Domain, you must know of him, right? Let me go! When he returns to Earth in the future, he will surely offer you plenty of bargaining chips!"

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