Previously on High Martial Arts: I Awaken a Low-Tier Martial System...
Mo Wushuang and Hai Qingxin successfully located Jiang Ye and Qingmei. Mo Wushuang used his 'Anomaly of Fortune' to trap them, but Jiang Ye's 'Celestial Destiny Protective Body' protected them. Hai Qingxin also interfered, allowing Jiang Ye and Qingmei to escape. Mo Wushuang, realizing Jiang Ye's potential, gave chase.
"Hai Qingxin?" Qing Mei ground her teeth, her voice laced with frustration.
She turned abruptly and bolted in a different direction, making no sound.
Despite her incredible speed, even before she could put significant distance between herself and her pursuer, another colossal figure materialized on the horizon. This new arrival sported purple horns atop its head and exuded an aura of immense terror.
It was a prodigious talent hailing from the Cangxu Civilization!
Qing Mei's desperation intensified, forcing her to change course once more. At this point, with three directions now firmly blocked by formidable opponents, a single path remained open.
"Faster," she urged.
"Quicker!" Qing Mei sprinted, Jiang Ye in tow, a gnawing anxiety consuming her. "We have to get away."
Her current pace was arguably the fastest she had ever achieved in her entire life.
However, Qing Mei's strength had not yet fully recuperated from previous engagements, and the valuable treasures she possessed had been depleted in the preceding battle.
Even with her utmost effort, she found herself incapable of reaching the speed required for the 'Shrinking Ground into Inches' technique.
By sheer fortune, Qing Mei managed to traverse thousands of miles without any further interference, sparking a flicker of hope within her.
Just then.
With a whistling sound as Qing Mei cleared a mountain peak that towered ten thousand meters high.
"Boom!"
On the distant horizon, a magnificent figure stood resolute. Its skin was the color of the deep sea, and a smile played on its lips, as if it had anticipated her arrival.
Another genius, this one from the Haisan Civilization!
"Damn it," Qing Mei's eyes swam with a potent mixture of hatred and utter despair.
All four of the pursuing geniuses had now converged!
She was completely encircled.
There was no escape left.
"Jiang Ye."
"Are you alright?" Qing Mei inquired softly.
"...I can still fight." Jiang Ye let out a soft sigh, the residual effects of his 'Divine Transformation' state beginning to fade.
Yet, even at his full power, confronting four prodigious talents simultaneously was an insurmountable task.
"Do we really have to..." Jiang Ye mused silently.
At that precise moment.
"Boom!" The very fabric of the earth and sky seemed to shudder as a resplendent light descended from the heavens, radiating an aura of unparalleled vastness.
In the face of this overwhelming presence, even the four towering genius talents appeared utterly insignificant.
"What is this?" Jiang Ye gasped, completely dumbfounded.
The light lingered momentarily in the air before hurtling directly towards Jiang Ye and Qing Mei.
"Whoosh~".
An unseen wave of energy pulsed outwards, and the light suddenly morphed into a gaping, crack-like maw, inexorably swallowing both Jiang Ye and Qing Mei within its depths.
Whoosh~
Space itself warped and trembled for a brief instant before settling back into its usual calm.
This confounding spectacle left Mo Wushuang, Hai Qingxin, and the other four geniuses utterly stupefied, frozen in place.
"What just happened?"
"Where did they go?"
"What was that phenomenon?" Hai Qingxin and the others were completely bewildered, the sudden turn of events utterly beyond their comprehension.
"That was the aura of the Great Dao Monument."
Mo Wushuang's expression grew grave, a dawning realization coloring his features. "The Great Dao Monument took them away of its own accord."
"What?"
"The Great Dao Monument absconded with them?"
"How is that even possible? This has never occurred before, not even when the Initial Realm was first accessed."
"Didn't the Venerable declare that there were no living beings within the Initial Realm?" Hai Qingxin, the youth with the purple horns, and the others exchanged looks of profound shock.
Within the vast expanse of the Interstellar Battlefield lay numerous Secret Realms.
Some of these Secret Realms harbored life forms akin to 'Inheritance Guardian Spirits,' but the Initial Realm was definitively not among them.
If it were, they would not have dared to venture into its depths so recklessly.
After all, the Initial Realm was recognized as the ancestral domain of the Bai Race, a people whose origins traced back to the Huanglong Civilization.
"The Venerable's words cannot be mistaken."
"There must be some other explanation."
Mo Wushuang narrowed his eyes, a sudden memory surfacing, causing his visage to darken. "Where is Bai Mu?"
"Bai Mu? You mean that exceptionally gifted individual from the Bai Race?" Hai Qingxin stammered in surprise, his expression shifting rapidly as the implication dawned on him.
Indeed, Bai Mu!
As the de facto leader of the Bai Race contingent, how could they have overlooked him?
Logically, apprehending him at the earliest opportunity should have been paramount to prevent unforeseen complications, especially considering this Initial Realm belonged to his people.
Yet, the four pursuing geniuses had not given him a second thought, their focus solely on capturing Jiang Ye.
"It must be that Bai Mu possesses a Divine Object of Tier Two or higher, capable of obscuring the secrets of heaven," Mo Wushuang stated grimly. "He must have escaped during the earlier confrontation."
Upon hearing this, Hai Qingxin, the purple-horned youth, and the others promptly invoked secret techniques to initiate a deduction.
Their faces immediately registered astonishment.
Just as Mo Wushuang had posited, they found themselves utterly incapable of gleaning any information whatsoever regarding 'Bai Mu'!
Even prodigious talents, when attempting to deduce the workings of heavenly secrets, were not infallible.
Similar to certain Tier Two Divine Objects that could effectively cloak heavenly secrets, only beings of divine status, when performing deductions, could hope to pierce such obfuscation.
Previously, Mo Wushuang and the others had, on a subconscious level, simply disregarded Bai Mu's existence.
It was undeniable that Jiang Ye’s brilliance had indeed played a significant role. Had Jiang Ye not been so dazzling, the others might not have overlooked Bai Mu.
"No wonder the Bai Race didn’t dispatch their genius talents this time around," Hai Qingxin remarked with dawning comprehension. "They merely sent an extraordinary talent... what a shrewd calculation!"
If the Bai Race had fielded their true prodigies, the other factions would have spared no effort, uniting to crush them utterly.
Their ruthlessness would have surpassed even the treatment meted out to Qing Mei.
But an extraordinary talent, in their estimation?
They considered such a person crushable with a mere flick of the wrist, naturally not warranting much attention.
However, who could have foreseen that this very oversight would lead them to disregard the most critical element?
"What course of action should we take now?" the youth with purple horns inquired, his brow furrowed.
Their primary objective for this excursion was the Great Dao Monument!
Compared to that grand prize, eliminating Jiang Ye was merely a secondary concern.
Yet, at this juncture, Jiang Ye and Qing Mei had already gained an advantage.
"There is no need for concern."
"Even if they manage to secure treasures within, they might not necessarily make it out alive," Mo Wushuang stated with a frigid tone. "The Sky-Penetrating Vessel has already sealed the Initial Realm, preventing anyone from departing."
"Whatever benefits they manage to obtain inside, they will ultimately be forced to relinquish," Mo Wushuang declared icily.
...Whoosh~As Jiang Ye's senses registered the world blurring and the stars contorting, it felt as though he had plunged into a spatial vortex, a tunnel through time and space.
