Chapter Ninety-One: The Acquired Magnetic Force

The Blood Convergence Pearl had taken shape, and the Great Pure Blood-Refining Azure Abyss Sword was being tempered at every moment by the Blood-Refining Divine Radiance, its quality rising, its power growing ever greater.

After a tortuous journey, he had already crossed three quarters of the Northern Continent. The creatures he encountered along the way had dwindled sharply, yet almost none of them were anything less than terrifyingly strong: either at the peak of the Perfected Immortal realm or at the early Great Immortal level, and all of them possessed strangely elusive divine abilities. Even he had to tread with utmost caution, or else this hard-won external avatar might well be ruined.

A long, eerie howl rose from somewhere far ahead.

At the same time, a vast and formless force, cold and irresistible, surged toward him like a tidal wave, crushing all obstacles in its path to powder. When he lifted his gaze, the mountain range that had stood there had vanished entirely.

Flat ground.

The earth seemed to have been carefully leveled by a master craftsman, so smooth it was almost like a mirror.

A mid-stage Great Immortal?

The warning stirring in his heart told Qingxu that this enemy was no ordinary foe, but a mid-stage Great Immortal.

Fear rose in him.

He had fought no fewer than several hundred battles on this road, and had come to understand that the creatures of the Northern Continent were exceedingly skilled in combat. It was as though, from the moment of their birth, they had lived every instant on the brink of life and death. Such conditions made every one of them fierce and treacherous. At the same level of cultivation and strength, the beings of the Eastern Divine Continent were simply inferior by more than one tier.

Qingxu was indeed a disciple of a Sage, but in Mount Kunlun he had devoted himself wholly to the fundamental path of cultivation. He had not paid much attention to fighting arts, killing techniques, or the use of divine powers. In such matters, he was likely even less prepared than the wandering immortals, witches, and demon cultivators of the Eastern Divine Continent. Worse still, the enemy before him was a full minor realm above him.

“This time, I really must go all out. Fortunately I entrusted the Great Pure Blood-Refining Azure Abyss Sword and the Jade Void Palace Lamp to this avatar, or else I would only have been able to turn back and flee.”

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

In an instant, hundreds of seals were cast. Hidden in secret, he laid down the strongest formation he had presently comprehended: the Earth-Escaping Fire Formation, waiting only for the enemy to fall into the net.

This was also because the beings of the Northern Continent were almost all creatures of strong limbs and simple minds. That is not to say they were stupid; in truth, once any creature attained the immortal path, its intelligence became no different from that of ordinary people, and those with Great Immortal strength were probably comparable to a calculating machine. But when the creatures of the Northern Continent fought, they thought only of the difference in strength between themselves and their opponent. They never considered formations, talismans, spiritual treasures, or the like. Perhaps it was precisely because this was an undeveloped land and systematic cultivation had never spread here.

Bang. Crack. Bang. Crack.

Heavy footsteps reached his ears from ahead. The ground trembled, and one after another, fissures of varying size appeared before his eyes. A grim, murderous stillness seemed to weigh upon heaven and earth, and even time itself seemed to have vanished. It was as though some dreadful catastrophe were descending, and one could only feel that resistance was impossible and death certain.

A speck of black appeared in his vision, then grew larger and larger. In less than a breath, the enemy's appearance was fully clear.

It was pitch-black, formed entirely from curling smoke, without limbs, with a single eye, two mouths, and no ears. Its body was covered with countless pale blades. Within its mouths and eyes surged a muddy hurricane of roaring wrath, while around it were densely packed, dazzling ribbons of light.

“Remarkable. Earthly Fiend, Primordial Magnetism, Ice Soul, and Wind all fused into one after countless ages?”

Even Qingxu was startled upon seeing it. This was far more troublesome than he had expected.

Earthly Fiend, Ice Soul, and Wind were one thing, but Primordial Magnetism was not easy to deal with. That stuff could draw in all metal and iron objects, whether acquired or innate, and even a primordial spirit was not exempt.

“This makes no sense. Primordial magnetism is the essence of terrestrial magnetism, rare beyond measure, and it is linked to the source of terrestrial magnetism. If even a trace is extracted and the balance of the magnetism is disturbed, it could greatly damage the Northern Continent. At that point, even heavenly punishment alone would probably leave a perfected sage with no certainty of survival, let alone a mid-stage Great Immortal. Could it be that this primordial magnetism was not drawn from the terrestrial magnetism source of the Northern Continent?”

Among the four great continents and the four extremities of the primordial world, magnetism existed everywhere. The four continents possessed terrestrial magnetism, whose central source was primordial magnetism. The four extremities were called polar magnetism, and the central source there was radiant magnetism. Besides these four, there were hundreds or even thousands of other kinds, collectively called miscellaneous magnetism: metal magnetism, wood magnetism, water magnetism, fire magnetism, earth magnetism, yin magnetism, yang magnetism, and so on.

Under normal circumstances, primordial magnetism could only be extracted from the source of terrestrial magnetism, a task that required great time and refinement. But there were two other ways to obtain it. One was to compress terrestrial magnetism, consuming an inconceivable amount of time; yet even then, what emerged was only false primordial magnetism, with merely a tenth or a fifth of the true effect. The other was a congenital spiritual treasure conceived within the source of terrestrial magnetism.

“That magnetic field intensity? Sigh. Acquired primordial magnetism, false primordial magnetism, not the genuine article. Still, it is fortunate that it is only acquired in nature; otherwise, if it were innate primordial magnetism, I might not have much hope of escaping.”

Acquired primordial magnetism was not to be underestimated, but it had no effect on innate spiritual treasures. This was truly a blessing for Qingxu.

“If I can bring this fellow down, I can make a fortune as well. Acquired primordial magnetism could be used to refine a God-Slaying Gourd Flying Blade, or fused with Earthly Fiend energy to form a divine kingdom. As for Ice Soul, if I can barely condense some, it would also be able to restrain hundreds and thousands of flames in the world. One day, if I bestow it upon my disciples so they can cultivate a second primordial spirit, that would not be bad either. Wind could be refined into talismans; later, if I gather the Eight Trigrams talismans in full, setting up formations will be simpler, and the power will not be small either!”

Even before resolving the enemy, Qingxu was already making calculations in his heart.

Awoo!

Seeing the tiny lifeform that had intruded into its territory, the magnetism monster, which stood several thousand zhang tall, did not let down its guard. It could clearly sense that the other possessed terrifying strength, only a minor realm below its own, and that beneath that minuscule body lay immeasurable power, ready to burst forth and easily destroy great mountains and tear open the vault of heaven.

“Insignificant ant, do you not know that this is the territory of the great Magnetism King? Any intruder must pay with his life!”

A vast surge of divine sense spread for thousands of li, carrying the monster’s anger. It was only because Qingxu's cultivation was not low; if it had been some Perfected Immortal, he would likely have been blasted to death outright. Why waste words?

“Magnetism King? You are nothing but a miscellaneous creature formed by an ancient cultivator’s remnant soul after death, which by chance condensed Earthly Fiend, Ice Soul, and Wind into one. And you dare speak such arrogant nonsense? Truly laughable!”

With a single glance, Qingxu saw through the monster’s origins. The Jade Void Dao Arts truly deserved their reputation, worthy of being the orthodox lineage of Pangu. They were indeed no false claim.

“Wahhh! You’ve enraged this king to death! I’ll tear you apart alive!”

Hearing Qingxu's words, the magnetism monster flew into a violent rage at once. The Earthly Fiend energy that formed its body roiled fiercely; the Ice Soul blades coiled and stretched, emitting a metallic clanging as cold light flashed and chilling air swept outward. Within its eyes and mouths, Wind roared wildly, while around its body the acquired primordial magnetism beams revolved in a reverse current.

Having successfully provoked the monster, Qingxu immediately rose ten zhang into the air and rapidly withdrew. The magnetism monster, seeing this, strode off in great pursuit. Though one moved on foot and the other by flight, Qingxu's speed was plainly a notch below that of the monster.

“The gap of even a single minor realm is truly huge! This magnetism monster belongs to the sluggish type, and its speed is far from that of a normal mid-stage Great Immortal, yet even so it still surpasses me by a little.”

This time, Qingxu was at a disadvantage. The divine movement art he was currently using was too crude, not even at the beginner level, and there was quite a distance between it and the monster’s footwork. If those factors were set aside, the two of them were actually almost evenly matched in speed. Had he used the Jade Void Rainbow Light Escape, he would already have left it far behind, beyond the horizon.

But Qingxu had no intention of fleeing.

First, without resolving the magnetism monster, he would not be able to enter the North Sea. Second, even if he retreated and escaped, as long as he remained in the Northern Continent, the magnetism monster could use its acquired primordial magnetism to sense his position through resonance with terrestrial magnetism. There was no guarantee it would not continue the pursuit. If he made one careless mistake, he must remember that along this road he had sensed no shortage of early Great Immortals. If he were to rush around blindly and draw in a few of them to besiege him, he would most likely be in grave danger.

Third, there was also the matter of profit. Killing the magnetism monster would bring great benefits.