The moment the Void Flying Boat entered the Astral Winds, countless bolts of thunder slammed down upon it.
Each strike of that thunder carried the might of a full-force blow from an early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator.
Under the bombardment of vast sheets of thunder, it was as if dozens, even hundreds, of Nascent Soul cultivators were furiously attacking the flying boat all at once.
“No wonder this is the Astral Winds of a great world—it’s far more terrifying than in our home world!”
Lu Qing felt the power of the thunder crashing down around him and could not help but exclaim in awe.
And this was merely the outer edge of the Astral Winds. If they delved deeper, the power would become unimaginably more dreadful.
Just as he feared, the further the Void Flying Boat pressed upward, the more terrifying the thunder grew.
By the time they reached the middle layer, Lu Qing felt as though the flying boat was being surrounded and assailed by dozens of Nascent Soul cultivators at their second or third tribulation.
Even the seemingly indestructible space of the Tianyuan Great World was blasted full of countless tiny cracks.
Fortunately, the Void Flying Boat was a Dao artifact. If it had been a weaker spiritual artifact, it would never have withstood such a relentless bombardment.
Luckily, the thunder only struck straight on. If it had coordinated like cultivators working together, even the Void Flying Boat might not have endured.
But the cost was immense.
Each breath consumed a staggering amount of energy.
The absorption speed of the Void Core could no longer keep up.
To maintain the flying boat’s defenses, Lu Qing was forced to continuously feed in spirit stones to replenish its power.
“Ah Qing, look over there!”
As the flying boat pressed through the Astral Winds, Xiaoli suddenly pointed into the storm and cried out.
Lu Qing followed her gaze. Even he dared not rashly extend his divine sense here, relying instead on the flying boat’s own abilities to perceive the surroundings.
And what he saw made his eyes narrow.
Amidst the endless thunder, a golden lotus had taken root, flourishing within the sea of lightning.
Countless bolts of thunder did not destroy it. Instead, it absorbed them ceaselessly.
“What kind of treasure is that?”
Just as Lu Qing tried to examine it further, the golden lotus seemed to sense something. In a flash, like a streak of lightning, it plunged into the thunder sea and vanished.
Its speed was so swift that even Lu Qing had no chance of capturing it.
Hampered by the Astral Winds, the Void Flying Boat’s speed was greatly reduced. He could only watch helplessly as the lightning-wreathed lotus disappeared.
“What a pity.”
Lu Qing sighed with regret.
At the same time, he felt a sharp reminder of how far he still had to go.
From the strange wonders of the endless void to that golden lotus—such things were still far beyond his reach.
The journey continued, the flying boat weaving its way through thunder and storm.
More bizarre treasures appeared in fleeting glimpses, some so powerful that even Lu Qing felt pressure bearing down on him.
Once, he glimpsed a golden loach no longer than an arm. Though small, the instant he laid eyes on it, a chill of dread swept over him.
Not even the five-tribulation Nascent Soul cultivators and great demon kings he had faced before had stirred such fear.
Fortunately, the golden loach ignored the flying boat, drifting past before vanishing into the thunder sea.
At last, after ascending unceasingly, Lu Qing piloted the Void Flying Boat through the vast Astral Winds and arrived before the World Membrane that radiated boundless might.
“At last.”
He glanced back at the Astral Winds with awe.
Crossing that final layer had nearly broken the Void Flying Boat’s defenses.
By his estimation, even a fifth- or sixth-tribulation Nascent Soul cultivator would have been torn to pieces within.
Turning forward again, he regarded the World Membrane.
As expected, the barrier of the Tianyuan Great World was unfathomable—thin to the eye, yet capable of isolating everything, even spatial fluctuations.
Which meant that his teleportation talismans were useless here.
Even the Void Flying Boat could not perform a spatial jump across the barrier.
It was not that the artifact was insufficient, but rather that his own cultivation realm was still too low to unleash its full potential.
Nonetheless, this was why he had come: to force his way through, relying on the Dao artifact’s essence.
“Xiaoli, you and the others, get inside the Li Huo Cauldron.”
Without hesitation, Xiaoli, Wuxing, and the others obediently retreated into the cauldron.
Lu Qing then turned to the World Membrane and urged the Void Flying Boat forward.
The closer they drew, the more he felt a force pushing them back.
The Membrane was “rejecting” all that approached.
He had no choice but to pour in more power, steadily forcing the flying boat onward.
Care was crucial—too much haste, and the Membrane’s backlash might prove disastrous.
Bit by bit, under his control, the flying boat pressed closer.
Finally, it touched the Membrane.
And in that instant, disaster struck.
An immense, crushing pressure slammed down on the flying boat, shaking it as though it would shatter apart.
Some of that power seeped through the hull, battering Lu Qing himself until his bones creaked and his blood and flesh strained to their limits.
Even his body, tempered to the True Witch Realm, threatened to give way.
His face paled. Realizing resistance was inevitable, he unleashed all his power.
Surging waves of mana flooded into the Void Flying Boat.
With a sweep of his hand, he hurled ten top-grade spirit stones into its core—and detonated them.
The energy contained within ten top-grade spirit stones was monstrous.
Only a Dao artifact could withstand such a violent infusion. A lesser artifact—even the Li Huo Cauldron itself—would have been destroyed.
Empowered by the explosion, the flying boat blazed with radiant light. Space rippled around it as its speed surged, driving straight into the Membrane.
The World Membrane roared in fury. The crushing force redoubled, threatening to crush everything.
But the Void Flying Boat held firm. Its Dao artifact essence endured, utterly unyielding.
Lu Qing, however, was left bloodied and broken within, his body cracking under the pressure that still seeped through.
But his will was unshaken. His gaze sharpened as he poured every ounce of mana, divine soul, and physical power into the core.
The Void Flying Boat erupted with even greater might. Spatial power detonated around it, scattering the Membrane’s pressure.
Then, with a thunderous crash, it pierced through.
From the heavens, one might have seen the vast Membrane of the Tianyuan Great World bulge, then rupture with a small opening, as a silver boat shot out into the endless void.
“We’re out!”
Lu Qing’s heart leapt with joy.
Ignoring his wounds, he urged the flying boat to accelerate, fleeing into the deep starry sky.
The eruption just now was too violent—surely experts within the Tianyuan Great World had noticed.
Better to escape as quickly as possible.
Once in the starry void, the Void Flying Boat revealed its true nature.
No longer bound by the world, it accelerated to unimaginable speed in but a breath.
Even a five-tribulation Nascent Soul cultivator would be left far behind.
Rippling waves of spatial force gathered around it, and in the next instant, it pierced the void and vanished.
Moments later, a figure appeared within the Tianyuan Great World where the rupture had occurred.
An elderly Daoist in plain robes scanned the area.
His eyes widened at the sight of the shrinking hole in the Membrane.
“The World Membrane… broken? Who could wield such strength? An eighth-tribulation Nascent Soul? A ninth?”
He was shaken to the core.
The barrier’s strength was legendary. Even as a seven-tribulation Nascent Soul cultivator, breaking through was all but impossible.
But an eighth- or ninth-tribulation powerhouse would never bother with such a pointless act.
And besides—no such experts remained within the Tianyuan Great World. At that level, most roamed the endless void, seeking further opportunities.
The Daoist lingered, searching and calculating, but found nothing.
At last, he departed, though the mystery lingered in his heart.
…
Buzz.
In a distant stretch of the void, a spatial vortex appeared.
From it, the silver flying boat emerged.
Lu Qing had no idea that a great expert had arrived in his wake.
His flying boat’s spatial leap had already carried him countless leagues away.
The Void Core still brimmed with power from those ten top-grade spirit stones, propelling him farther than he had ever imagined.
He quickly produced the Star-Fixing Disk, checking his position.
“This jump… it brought me near the Hongyuan World?”
His eyes widened in surprise.
The Hongyuan World was a medium-sized world, far from the Tianyuan Great World.
Last time, it had taken him a full year of flying to reach the Xiao Cang Realm from there.
And now, with a single leap, he had saved all that time.
“The Void Flying Boat, fused with its core, has restored itself to the grade of a top-grade spiritual artifact. Its range for spatial leaps has increased tremendously.”
He smiled with satisfaction.
Yet he knew well—this miracle owed much to the ten top-grade spirit stones he had detonated.
Without that surplus of energy, such a leap would have been impossible.
And spirit stones of that level were priceless. Each one used was one less he could ever regain.
He had only a small cache left and dared not squander them.
With a sigh, he released Xiaoli and the others from the cauldron.
“Ah Qing, did we make it out?”
Xiaoli hurriedly asked.
During the ordeal, Lu Qing had sealed the Li Huo Cauldron completely, shielding them from the crushing force.
“Safe and sound.” Lu Qing smiled, pointing behind them. “Look—over there.”
They turned to see a radiant sphere the size of a human face, glowing in the distance.
“That’s… the Tianyuan Great World?”
Xiaoli gasped. “But we just left—how can we already be so far?”
Even Wuxing was struck dumb with disbelief.
Only Bai Jiao seemed uncertain. Born within the Tianyuan Great World, it had never left before and had little sense of distance in the starry sky.
But Xiaoli and Wuxing, seasoned travelers of the void, knew all too well just how far they had come.
“After breaking through, I urged the Void Flying Boat into a spatial leap…”
Lu Qing briefly explained.
Xiaoli’s eyes lit up. “So we can go home now?”
“Yes. We can return home.” Lu Qing nodded. “Xiaobai, say your farewell to your homeland. Who knows when we will come back again.”
Bai Jiao froze, then turned to gaze at the glowing sphere in the distance. Its eyes showed complex emotions.
Lu Qing too looked back.
This journey had made the Tianyuan Great World the place he had lingered longest.
It had also yielded him his greatest harvests.
But it still held countless mysteries—the wonders of the deep void, the strange treasures of the Astral Winds.
Someday, he vowed, he would return.
After one last lingering glance, Lu Qing urged the Void Flying Boat onward.
A streak of silver light cut across the heavens, carrying him and his companions toward their home world.
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