Cultivating with Top Enlightenment Chapter 739 - 314: Alliance? (Part 3)

"We must teach this brat a lesson!"

A touch of dejection weighed on Qi Keqing as well, yet she forced herself to rally and spoke to the group:

"Alright, failing to settle on the terms is quite common; let’s focus on finding the node first."

Sikong Lan felt a deep unease upon hearing those words.

Curse it, back when he had guided the Cyan Profound Immortal Sect forces to merge with Qi Keqing’s group, she had been utterly overbearing, demanding that he disband his troops to blend into hers.

Yet now, in Ning Qi’s presence, Qi Keqing appeared so hesitant, which made Sikong Lan think seriously about splitting off from her forces right away.

In the end, things were heading this way, and it looked like he had zero shot at leveraging Qi Keqing to strike at Ning Qi.

Sikong Lan had brought along 30% of the Fuyao Realm’s folks before; staying glued to Qi Keqing meant he’d snag far less from the upcoming node battles.

With that in mind, Sikong Lan resolved to pull his people out the moment they slipped beyond Ning Qi’s sensing reach.

For one, claiming a node on his own would let him reap bigger rewards.

For another, he remained eager to seek chances to get others to take down Ning Qi.

If opportunities didn’t arise here alongside Qi Keqing, weren’t Langya Domain cultivators still around, and failing that, Vast Realm ones too?

Sikong Lan refused to accept that no path existed to end Ning Qi.

Ning Qi’s rise was happening at an alarming pace, and should it keep going, he feared he might lose any edge against Ning Qi by the time the Ancestor showed up!

Right as Qi Keqing’s vanguard unit neared linking up with the primary force.

A faint vibration stirred in the Communication Jade Scroll that Ning Qi kept on him.

He swiftly drew it forth and checked the notes; two had come in.

The first said: "Jiu, at last, I’ve encountered you in the Mountain and Sea Realm!"

Signed by Taoist Longshan.

The second went: "Junior Brother, my master and I are in the Fuyao Realm army; when will we link up? Don’t forget that wine you promised me before!"

Signed by Ye Qinghe.

Old friends’ words lit up Ning Qi’s features with an unwitting grin.

His gaze shifted to where the Fuyao Realm army stood, while he unleashed his Spiritual Sense to sweep through their ranks, quickly spotting the pair.

Just then, they too appeared to be probing Ning Qi via their Spiritual Sense.

Where their senses met, a rush of feeling swelled in all three chests.

None of them let their faces betray a hint, not wanting to tip off anyone else.

Ning Qi sent back responses to both:

"Master, you’ve grown so dashing! I’ll have Taoist Baishan and Zhuang Chen come visit you soon."

"Senior Sister, our reunion is close at hand; it’s all set for you already."

As Taoist Longshan and Ye Qinghe got Ning Qi’s words, they shared a look, their gazes alight with thrill.

Ning Qi’s word was his bond; when he claimed it wouldn’t be long, it really wouldn’t.

They fired off more replies.

"Jiu, it looks like the Cyan Profound Immortal Sect holds grudges against you; even though I’m sure you brush them off, I’ll watch your back anyway."

"Junior Brother Ning, you’re the best—next time we cross paths, my master and I will bring the Profound Lady Sect folks straight to your side; think of it as leaving the shadows for the light."

Messages flew back and forth between the trio in a flurry, stirring up again the joy from their days in the True Martial Realm.

The Profound Truth Realm forces had drawn the Mountain and Sea Realm Will to its final stage.

With Heavenly Star clashing against Earth Star, every other force in the area got pushed down to Yin-Yang Counteract levels.

Ning Qi held back this round; the rest pulled off the rest through their own efforts.

All at once, the Mountain and Sea Realm Will came down, handing out fresh prizes.

They’d seized a medium-sized node from Vast Realm foes, on top of crushing so many of those cultivators.

Rewards from the Mountain and Sea Realm Will outdid the norm this go-around.

Thirteen medium-sized Rule Fragments and thirty-nine tiny ones.

At the same time, it quietly bestowed twenty realm powers on Ning Qi as domain master.

Tossed in with the haul from the Vermilion Bird Immortal Sect, the Profound Truth Realm army scored yet another hefty boost.

With matters wrapped up, Ning Qi pulled out the Soul-Searching Plate and guided the troops toward the following node.

That node lay ten thousand miles off to the northeast.

Ning Qi forged ahead, carefully reviewing the prior node’s details before tweaking the Soul-Searching Plate for sharper accuracy.

By now, Ning Qi held info on small nodes, medium ones, and some rival domains, all merged and fed deep into the Soul-Searching Plate.

As a result, the Soul-Searching Plate could now tell if scanned nodes were small or medium.

Spotting a large node would let Ning Qi fully refine the Soul-Searching Plate’s features.

He poured Spiritual Qi into the Soul-Searching Plate once more; its pointer twitched before settling firmly northeast.

Unlike before, last time the pointer had hesitated slightly when aiming northeast, but now it locked in without a doubt.

Ning Qi eyed the device, seeing the new node-size detection feature fail to show.

Which meant the targeted node had to be a large one, since he lacked data on those yet.

"All troops accelerate, the next node is a large node!"

Those words hit the Profound Truth Realm cultivators like a shockwave; they all trembled in awe, boosting their pace by a full thirty percent on the spot.

As luck would have it, Qi Keqing’s Fuyao Realm army headed northeast too.

Spotting Ning Qi’s group closing in, Qi Keqing and her crew came to a sudden stop.