Chapter 719 - 726: Consciousness Awakening?

Tian Li turned his head and gave Song Wanning a faint smile.

Song Wanning stared at him, her face devoid of expression.

Tian Li wasn’t embarrassed in the slightest. Instead, he stroked his own face and said teasingly, "I am a Buddhist Practitioner. Could it be you’ve taken a liking to me?"

Song Wanning: "..."

’This man is definitely not a Buddhist Practitioner.’

A chill rose in her eyes, but the corners of her lips curled up slightly.

"I don’t care if you’re a Buddhist Practitioner or not."

"But I do enjoy skinning thick-skinned people and keeping their hides for display."

"It’s quite a beautiful sight, really."

Song Wanning said with a cold smile, and her eyes showed she wasn’t joking in the least.

Tian Li rubbed his nose sheepishly. "Look at you, taking it so seriously."

He averted his gaze and looked at the island once more.

As the island drew nearer, the Evil Qi grew denser. Even from a distance, they could feel a strong sense of discomfort.

Song Wanning’s expression grew more solemn. The power of merit within her began to circulate on its own, and a faint golden light soon enveloped her body.

Tian Li couldn’t help but glance over. His gaze was complex, holding a trace of covetousness that he quickly concealed.

He then took out an Immortal Treasure—a black umbrella. When opened, it emitted its own golden glow, which blocked out the dense Evil Qi.

The two of them descended swiftly toward the island.

The Immortal Boat was put away. When Song Wanning’s feet touched the island, the ground felt soft, prompting her to stomp and then press down hard with her foot.

"This island suddenly appeared a hundred years ago and has been filled with Evil Qi ever since."

"But according to my calculations, this place is a defect in the Heavenly Dao. That’s why I specifically invited you to take a look. We might find news of other invaders."

With a wistful look on his face, Tian Li led Song Wanning deeper onto the island.

The island was covered with dense trees and patches of grass. However, all this vegetation shared a common trait: it was suffused with a thick aura of death.

They looked even more dangerous than the descendants of the plants in the Lower World whose very existence had once hung by a thread.

But strangely, they were all growing with extreme lushness.

A vibrant life force intertwined with the dense aura of death, creating an increasingly contradictory feeling.

Song Wanning’s interest was piqued. ’A defect in the Heavenly Dao?’

’Could this place be related to the Heavenly Abyss?’ she wondered, reminded of it.

Various possibilities swirled in her mind, but Song Wanning could only follow Tian Li cautiously, her guard up, as they continued deeper.

After walking for some time, Tian Li suddenly stopped.

An Array appeared before them, seemingly radiating a dense aura of death.

"Do you see? This is the place."

Tian Li pointed to the center of the Array, from which dark, inky death energy was constantly seeping out.

From time to time, torn wisps of Soul Power would struggle out, forming terrifying, soul-like faces.

Song Wanning stood there, her eyes fixed on the black hole at the center, feeling a deep sense of unease.

It was like a revulsion stemming from her very soul, affecting her from the depths of her being.

Tian Li also looked vexed, clearly affected by the Array as well.

"You should know a thing or two about Arrays, right?"

he asked Song Wanning.

According to the information he’d gathered, Song Wanning had a very deep relationship with Feng Jiuxiao.

But Song Wanning shook her head. "To be honest, I don’t know the first thing about Arrays."

The Array before them was an Immortal Array, which she had never studied.

Feng Jiuxiao’s legacy hadn’t included anything from the Immortal Realm, so she truly was clueless.

Moreover, her hairpin was no longer as invincible as it had been in the Lower World.

Here in the Immortal Realm, many of her trump cards were no longer useful.

Hearing this, Tian Li fell silent for a moment, a flash of disappointment in his eyes.

"In that case, we’ll have to force our way through."

He gave a faint smile. With a flick of his right hand, a massive, blood-red blade appeared in his grip.

A dense Evil Qi emanated from the great blade. Even someone like Song Wanning couldn’t help but give it a surprised look.

’This blade... just how many people has it killed?’

’Tian Li is definitely not a Buddhist Practitioner. But why is he pretending to be one?’

’And why does he have the aura of a Buddhist Practitioner on him?’

Song Wanning’s mind filled with more and more questions. This Tian Li... his appearance was too strange, and yet he knew her secrets...

With even more doubts swirling, she watched as Tian Li charged into the Array.

Endless death energy instantly engulfed him, but his expression remained unchanged as he calmly swung the great blade in his hand.

With every swing of the blade, the phantom of a beast would appear, each one different from the last.

These beast phantoms appeared one after another, pressing toward the death energy and causing violent collisions.

The endless death energy roiled and actually formed its own screaming shadows, which pounced on the fierce beasts, and they were soon tearing at each other.

Song Wanning stood still, just watching with cold eyes.

The Golden Small Sword and the other little guys sat on Song Wanning’s shoulder, ready for a fight.

"Big Sis, there’s definitely something wrong with this guy! We have to hold back and not make a move!"

"Right! Even if he dies, we don’t move a muscle!"

None of them had a good feeling about Tian Li. Even though he claimed to be the same as their Big Sis, he was impossible to like.

"I know. I just want to see what he’s really up to."

A shadow crossed Song Wanning’s face. Tian Li’s goal was to bring her here.

She had known it all along. Tian Li hadn’t even hidden his true intentions.

But as for *why*, Song Wanning still hadn’t figured it out. She was certain, however, that it was nothing good.

Because no matter how Tian Li tried to hide it, a faint trace of malice would occasionally surface.

She had felt it.

"Big Sis, why don’t we take advantage of the situation, knock him out, and just perform a Soul Search on him?"

The Golden Small Sword was eager to try. It had wanted to beat up this stinking man for a while now.

’Some Buddhist Practitioner. More like an Evil Cultivator.’

"I’ll go, I’ll go!"

"Me too!"

Each of the little guys volunteered, eager to help Song Wanning deal with this trouble.

Hearing this, Song Wanning chuckled and held the little guys down.

"Don’t be hasty. I want to see how long he can keep up this act."

’I’m not a fool. I’ve already prepared an escape route.’

She just wanted to understand how Tian Li knew about the invaders.

Even if he was an invader himself, he logically shouldn’t know about it.

’Or... have things changed?’

An uncontrollable suspicion arose in Song Wanning’s heart. If their consciousnesses were truly awakening, then she would be in real trouble.

She had no idea how many invaders were in the Immortal Realm.

But if the invaders’ consciousnesses were awakening, they would surely know about her...

That would be like turning herself into a completely exposed target, a thorn in the side of all the other invaders.

If this speculation proved true, her future would be fraught with danger.

The thought flashed through her Sea of Consciousness. By now, Tian Li was in a heated battle with the death energy.

Just then, Tian Li suddenly turned his head and shouted to Song Wanning, "Hurry up and help!"

His tone was composed, as if he wasn’t the least bit afraid that Song Wanning would see it was a trap.

This kind of behavior was either incredibly stupid, or there was an even deeper pit waiting for her.