A flaming spear appeared in Qingyi’s hands.
Its heat dominated everything around it, causing the water beneath his feet to instantly begin boiling.
After a brief moment, he hurled it toward the horizon, keeping his gaze fixed on it as it broke the speed of sound.
In the next moment, the bright stars in his purple pupils seemed to spin, and the space in front of the spear distorted violently, swallowing it completely.
Immediately, Qingyi felt the heat surge past his face.
He raised a single hand, grabbing the spear with his open palm. A soft grunt escaped his lips as the weapon exploded in his hand.
It was simply wonderful.
With a satisfied sigh, Qingyi threw two more spears in succession.
He activated a cheap space-blocking talisman he had purchased from the system store. An invisible barrier spread out, forming around him.
Shaping his spatial Qi like a sharp blade, he attacked, moving his draconic Qi through his eyes to analyze the structure.
Like every array, that talisman was formed of lines of Qi that, together, formed something similar to an ancient programming language.
If those lines were destroyed, they would usually regenerate instantly.
However, there were exceptions, small flaws that, if struck, could cause instabilities throughout the entire array.
Of course, simply hitting them with raw Qi was not enough. In high-level spatial blocking arrays, such flaws barely existed.
And that was the use of the technique Qingyi had just discovered.
He could hit them, spread his spatial Qi inside them, and force them to collapse structurally.
Qingyi aimed at one of these Qi lines, using his spatial Qi to strike it with surgical precision.
Immediately, the world around him shattered like a broken mirror, collapsing to the ground before dissolving into fragments of light.
Qingyi had only taken a second and a half.
Even so, the two spears he had thrown were already nearly two kilometers away.
Gritting his teeth, he moved his spatial Qi with full force.
His body disappeared immediately, reappearing next to the spears flying side by side.
He grabbed both of them and teleported again, appearing a few hundred meters in the air, violently redirecting them toward the ground.
As the spears hit the ground and the explosion took over everything below, Qingyi just exhaled heavily.
He descended to the ground. The flames licked the edge of his feet before quickly dissipating into the air.
His black robes, surrounded by golden patterns, fluttered gently as a subtle smile spread across his lips.
It hadn’t been an incomparable improvement in combat power, but still, it was very important to him.
Especially the ability to break through spatial locks.
After all, what would happen to him if a superior cultivation expert decided to capture him and sealed off the space to prevent him from escaping?
With such a technique, Qingyi was practically immune to this kind of attack.
With a sigh, Qingyi simply continued to train for the equivalent of a few hours in the outside world, which meant months in there.
When he felt satisfied, he finally left the sea of consciousness.
Upon stepping out of the cultivation room, he was immediately greeted by the Shadow of the Gold King.
The Shadow wore a black mask and his entire body was covered in darkened, torn robes, clashing with the luxurious corridors that surrounded him.
"Young Master Qingyi."
The Shadow bowed his head subtly in a polite greeting.
Even though he was a powerful Ancestral Emperor and Qingyi was only a True Immortal, the Shadow simply did not care about the difference in cultivation.
After all, Qingyi was the husband of the respected Young Lady Jin Meilin and an unparalleled talent.
That alone placed him above many of the more mediocre sons of the Gold King.
"Can we talk alone for a moment?" The Shadow asked.
"Hm..."
Qingyi thought for a brief moment before nodding. Soon, the two men found themselves walking side by side.
"When do you plan to visit Master Jin?" The Shadow asked as they arrived at a secluded balcony overlooking the entire capital.
He immediately sat down, took a bottle of liquor from his robes, and poured himself and Qingyi a drink.
"I don’t know," Qingyi shook his head, taking a sip of the strong but sweet alcohol. "A few months. Not much more than a year or two."
"Hm..." Shadow scratched his chin, a soft grunt escaping from his covered lips.
Despite wearing a mask, he was still able to drink normally, as if the liquid passed directly through the steel.
"And are you sure you understand the danger of joining the heroes of the Church of Auranys? Would you like me to escort you?"
"Oh? You know about the five heroes? Do you know what we need to do, specifically?" Qingyi asked.
Even he hadn’t received the complete information and was extremely curious about what they would need to kill.
As for the escort proposal, he would refuse it, regardless of the enemy’s power.
He didn’t want any babysitters following him around.
"I know it’s an unholy ritual and that it involved the demons of this land and ours as well... they seem to be preparing something big, and whatever it is, it’s about to explode."
’Something involving the demons of both lands? Demons who used demonic Qi and demons who used demonic mana?’ Qingyi repeated in his mind.
A tremor spread through his body.
What on earth could bring the two such different demonic forces together?
Qingyi was about to ask more questions when a sweet voice echoed behind him, catching his attention.
"Husband!"
The two beauties appeared in the hallway, their beautiful faces glowing as they embraced Qingyi.
"Why did it take you so long to leave that cultivation room, huh? Someone from the Divine Church of Auranys came here looking for you," Margareth said, snuggling into Qingyi’s arms.
"What did they want?"
"I don’t know... but it seemed important. They said you should come to the cathedral immediately. It seems to have something to do with the Sacred Priestess. She’s one of the five heroines too."
"Hm..." Qingyi grunted.
He was a little dissatisfied with the idea of not being able to finish his conversation with the Shadow of the Golden King.
But that dissatisfaction only lasted until Meilin’s last sentence.
A priestess and the only one of the heroines he had not yet met.
Suddenly, the details of what the demonic cult was planning no longer interested him that much.