Chapter 4586 — The Ancient Battlefield

As for the pitch-black surroundings, they posed little problem for Wei Zhao either. In the Five Venoms Swamp he had been unable to deploy his divine sense with any ease, but here the constraints were nowhere near as severe. Even though seawater still put up a considerable barrier to divine sense, to Wei Zhao—long accustomed to the crushing isolation of the Five Venoms Swamp—that barrier did not amount to a fart. Since he could sense with his divine sense, whether his eyes could see or not made no difference.

Yet for some reason, now that he had unfolded his divine sense again after so long, Wei Zhao suddenly discovered that its strength—both in range and in clarity—had increased at least several times over from before!

This unexpected delight left even Wei Zhao somewhat dazed; the feeling was like a dream, and for a long while he could not collect himself.

His cultivation was no longer what it had been when he first entered the Five Venoms Swamp, but Wei Zhao had never once trained his divine sense specifically. For one thing, he had not yet reached that level; for another, under the oppression of the Five Elements Killing Qi he could not even unfurl his divine sense, let alone train it—he had the will but not the means. Who would have thought that, all unnoticed, his divine sense had surged so enormously!

After a moment of blankness, however, Wei Zhao finally arrived at a reasonably sensible explanation: "Could it be that once one's cultivation breaks through to the Nascent Soul stage, one's divine sense naturally surges along with it?"

Bullshit! The ghost thing barely swallowed the curse. Unlike physical cultivation, which could be rapidly boosted with pills, divine sense had never come free to anyone—it could only be built step by step through ceaseless training and ceaseless comprehension.

Otherwise, to say nothing of Nascent Soul cultivators, even those a tier above at the Mystic Ascension stage would have pathetically weak divine sense. This brat Wei Zhao was sitting in the lap of fortune without knowing it, and still babbling about divine sense surging the moment he advanced to Nascent Soul. Where in the world did such cheap bargains come from?!

Why Wei Zhao's divine sense had suddenly surged, Wei Zhao himself did not know. But the ghost thing, watching from the sidelines, knew perfectly well: it was entirely because of that inexplicable awakening of divine sense back when they had discovered the Dragon of Five Baleful Spirits. For this brat to have stumbled upon such a rare, unrepeatable opportunity—if his divine sense had not surged after that, there truly would be no justice in heaven.

Yet although the ghost thing knew the cause, he could not tell Wei Zhao. The process of divine-sense awakening was a wondrous thing—a state of unconscious epiphany. So long as the ghost thing kept silent, Wei Zhao might one day enter that state again. But if Wei Zhao were to learn of it himself, then having tasted the sweetness, he would inevitably steer toward it, consciously or not—and that would defeat the purpose entirely.

The ghost thing stayed silent, and Wei Zhao took that as confirmation of his guess, treating the surge in divine sense as nothing out of the ordinary and giving it no further thought, concentrating solely on sensing his surroundings with his divine sense. What concerned him most now was not the state of his divine sense, but whether there were any sea beasts about.

Yet before Wei Zhao could fully release his divine sense, an overwhelming pressure descended out of nowhere, instantly forcing it back into his body. Under the violent backlash, Wei Zhao immediately spat out a great mouthful of blood!

Wei Zhao's face changed in an instant. He had felt an ill premonition earlier, and now it had come true—there really was a terrifyingly powerful entity in this place, one whose mere pressure could make his divine sense rebound like this. Even the Dragon of Five Baleful Spirits at the Earth-Splitting stage could not have managed that!

A chilling thought flashed through Wei Zhao's mind: something stronger than the Dragon of Five Baleful Spirits—then it would have to be at least a Sea-Rending stage existence, wouldn't it?

This Endless Sea was truly unfathomable! Wei Zhao was filled with bitterness now. Had he known he would run into a top-tier Sea-Rending sea beast, he might as well have left through the Five Venoms Swamp; facing the old Western Mountain Sect, he would at least have had a slim chance of survival. But facing a Sea-Rending sea beast—flee? What a joke. He did not even dare to move!

The sudden discovery of such a dreadful presence startled not only Wei Zhao but even the ghost thing. After a moment, however, the ghost thing gave a startled "Eh?" and then let out a breath of relief, clicking his tongue in wonder. "What a powerful sea beast—even after death it can keep its primordial spirit from dissipating. It's almost on par with me..."

"Dead? This is the primordial spirit it left behind after death?" Wei Zhao was delighted at the news. No wonder it felt so similar to what he had sensed at the Five Venoms Flood Dragon's tomb earlier—the only difference being that this pressure was stronger and more aggressive.

"Indeed. And this primordial spirit is on the verge of collapse; it will scatter completely before long. Compared with it, I'm far luckier—what remains of it is only the last shred of obsession that hasn't dispersed. It has no thought or consciousness left..." The ghost thing could not help but sigh.

The sight stirred a pang of empathy in him. After all, he had been in much the same state back in the mortal realm; without meeting Wei Zhao, he might likewise be nothing but a wisp of mindless obsession by now. The mortal realm, mind you, was a far harsher environment than this place—primordial spirits there died faster and more thoroughly.

"Obsession?" Wei Zhao clicked his tongue. If it were a complete primordial spirit, then having it rebound his divine sense—he being a peak early Nascent Soul cultivator who had achieved a perfect breakthrough—would be understandable enough. But that it was merely a last shred of lingering obsession—what was that supposed to mean?

"Indeed. It is the final stubborn fixation left behind before the primordial spirit disperses. Once one's power reaches a certain level, even a stray thought can exist independently in the world; even when the body perishes and the primordial spirit is annihilated, it will persist. Just like this sea beast before us—and in fact the Five Venoms Flood Dragon was the same, except that it vested everything in the little Five Baleful one, so its obsession is nowhere near as intense as this one's," the ghost thing explained.

"The last shred of lingering obsession, and still this powerful? Truly mind-boggling!" Wei Zhao felt his eyes opened wide. He was now at the peak of the early Nascent Soul stage, yet according to the ghost thing he had not even reached the threshold of systematic divine-sense training. To attain such a fearsome state, where a single thought could persist undying—that was still a distant prospect indeed.

"It seems incomprehensible to you now, but when you reach that level and comprehend the profound rules within, you won't find it strange anymore." The ghost thing did not elaborate; Wei Zhao's cultivation was too low, and more explanation would be useless. He said at once: "It's rare to come across such an obsession. Let's go take a look—there'll be no danger." (To be continued) R655