Chapter 4556 — Shared Divine Sense

As a top-tier expert of the Golden Core stage who had achieved a perfect breakthrough, with a foundation deep and solid enough to match, and aided by this peerlessly endowed cultivation environment, Wei Zhao's inhuman string of breakthroughs and rank-ups, though unexpected, was in truth well within reason—not nearly as absurd as it first appeared.

Forming a Nascent Soul, however, was a different matter. Strength, opportunity, state of mind, and elixirs—not one could be spared. Only when every last thing was in readiness could there be even a sliver of a chance at success. And Wei Zhao had only just broken through in rapid succession. Though the tempering of the five-element killing aura spared him the need to specially consolidate his strength, he was plainly still far from having all things ready.

It was not as though he could not remain here in secluded cultivation; it was simply that the returns were no longer as favorable as before. Wei Zhao knew well that unbroken seclusion was never the true path of cultivation—only with proper tension and release could one achieve twice the result with half the effort. Besides, barely two months remained before the deadline, and once the time consumed by the long road was subtracted, there was in truth very little left.

After giving the spirit bird its instructions, Wei Zhao at once wrapped both himself and the bird tightly in surging true qi. Such a thing had been beyond him when he first entered, but now, with his strength surging three ranks, it was no trouble at all.

Carrying Wei Zhao, the spirit bird plunged straight into the Five-Venom Marsh above. Though the mud offered tremendous resistance, Wei Zhao's true qi cleared the way, and the bird itself had improved no small amount over these three months, so at this moment there was not the slightest sign of strain. At this rate, flying out of the Five-Venom Marsh would be no difficult feat.

Worth noting was that from first to last, those dragon-like threads of five-element killing aura paid Wei Zhao and the spirit bird no mind, just as before—and even when they accidentally brushed directly against them, there was no reaction whatsoever. Clearly, the killing aura truly took Wei Zhao's true qi for its own kind.

Man and bird traveled through the Five-Venom Marsh for roughly the better part of an hour. Wei Zhao could distinctly feel the resistance above growing ever weaker and could not help but feel his spirits lift. It seemed the light of day was close at hand. The mysterious space below had been well lit enough, but that feeling could never compare with the surface; only by returning to the ground could one truly know again what it meant to breathe freely—an instinct born into every human being.

At last, just as they were about to burst free of the Five-Venom Marsh, the voice of the ghost thing suddenly rang out in his mind: "Stop!"

"What is it, Senior?" Though he did not understand the reason, Wei Zhao hastily reined in the spirit bird and scanned his surroundings with full vigilance, thinking some perilous creature had set its sights on them. Yet the jade pendant gave not the slightest warning. Could the Western Mountain Old Sect still be waiting above? Three whole months had passed—surely that was unlikely...

No matter how deeply the Western Mountain Old Sect hated him, as a mighty evil cultivator of the Sect-Founding stage and the number two figure of the illustrious Western Mountain evil faction, surely he could not be so idle as to keep watch over the Five-Venom Marsh all this time?

Anyone with a shred of normal thinking would inevitably assume his bones had long since dissolved to nothing. Could it be that those in the evil-cultivation trade had not only crooked methods but crooked heads as well?

"There's someone up there," the ghost thing said in a low voice.

"What? Someone really is keeping watch? Don't tell me it's that old monster of the Western Mountain Old Sect?" Wei Zhao was startled. Because the mud of the Five-Venom Marsh could block divine sense, even though he was now quite close to the surface, he still could not sense anything outside at all. Puzzled, he asked, "Senior, is your divine sense not affected by this marsh?"

"Of course it's affected, but only much weakened—not to the point where I'm as blind as you, a living, breathing man with his eyes wide open and seeing nothing," the ghost thing said with a cackling laugh.

"Uh..." This time it was Wei Zhao's turn to be envious. They both used divine sense, yet his own was cut off completely, blocked solid by the Five-Venom Marsh so that he could perceive nothing at all, while the ghost thing's was merely weakened. Truly, comparing oneself with others was enough to drive a man to despair.

"Heh heh, no need for that look, boy. To break through the mud's obstruction, your divine sense must reach an astonishingly formidable level. Only a very few high-grade spirit beasts and that small handful of human experts standing at the very peak could possibly manage it. Your level is still far too low—you haven't even gotten past the door of the most basic divine sense techniques. You're a long way from that step yet," the ghost thing explained with a laugh.

"I see. No wonder I was detected by Zhuque's divine sense back in the southern island's dense forest. For safety's sake I had smeared marsh mud on myself—I thought it was because I'd left the mud on too long, and once it dried it could no longer block divine sense perception," Wei Zhao said with a bitter smile.

"That does happen, but even if the mud hadn't dried, you could never have escaped the perception of a thing like Zhuque. I've never been able to stand that creature, but credit where it's due: though it's beneath me in every respect, in divine sense—the field I excel in most—it is every bit my equal," the ghost thing said with a sigh of emotion.

Wei Zhao nodded. This did not surprise him in the least. After all, Zhuque was a top-tier existence among the spirit beasts that now held the heavens in its grasp. If it lacked even this much strength, how could it ever have kept those proud and unruly powerful spirit beasts in check?

"Senior, so what's the situation up there now?" Wei Zhao pointed at the space overhead and changed the subject. What he most wanted to know was whether the one keeping watch above was really the Western Mountain Old Sect.

"Listen for yourself," the ghost thing said curtly.

"Uh, if I could hear it myself, would I need to ask you, Senior..." Wei Zhao was speechless.

"Heh heh, on your own you certainly couldn't hear it, but with me here, if I want you to hear, then hear you shall." The ghost thing gave a profound chuckle, and then, by some wondrous means unknown, Wei Zhao really did suddenly hear the commotion above!

"Amazing! Simply miraculous!" Wei Zhao's eyes shone as he praised again and again, then asked curiously, "Senior, how did you do that?"

"Very simple. I linked my divine sense to yours, so now you and I share divine sense," the ghost thing explained lightly. (To be continued..) R527