Chapter 3637: Slipping Through the Fingers
On the ninth floor of the sacred land, Jian Chen sat atop the stone pillar like an old meditating monk. He did not budge, so he seemed like a statue. He was in a state of cultivation.
Only Jian Chen was present on the ninth floor. Ever since the lord of the Observance Heaven City left, he had not returned, clearly leaving all of the opportunities to Jian Chen.
The sacred land had a total of nine floors. The further up, the higher chances of Stainless Qi appearing.
However, despite arriving on the highest floor, Stainless Qi still did not appear very frequently. It required a combination of luck and fortune. If one had insufficient luck, then even waiting over ten thousand years here would not warrant a single strand of Stainless Qi.
As a result, Jian Chen remained on the ninth floor for several decades, but he did not see another strand of Stainless Qi apart from the one that Daowei Chengqing had captured.
On this day, Jian Chen slowly opened his eyes as he sat on top of the stone pillar. He scanned the empty space and could not help but sigh. “There are still twelve years before I’ve stayed in the sacred land for a full century. I wonder when a strand of Stainless Qi will appear.”
“If I can’t obtain a single strand of Stainless Qi within the next few centuries or millennium, the journey ahead for the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens will be tough.”
Jian Chen had tried absorbing the dense presence in the surroundings, but the presence emanated from the Stainless Qi was only presence after all. If he used it to cultivate, it would bring some benefits over time.
However, it was nowhere near enough for awakening the artifact spirit of the Primeval Divine Hall.
After all, to such a high level sovereign god artifact, ordinary items would not have any effect at all.
It was just like how heavenly resources below God Tier would be useless to Jian Chen who had reached Immortal Emperor.
“I can only wait for Stainless Qi to appear. Apart from that, there’s nothing I can do for the time being.” Jian Chen shut his eyes helplessly. Despite occupying the central stone pillar that gathered the spiritual qi, he was in no mood to cultivate at all. He constantly enveloped the entire floor with the senses of his soul, refusing to let a single corner out of his sight, paying close attention to the appearance of any Stainless Qi.
Time passed by silently. In the blink of an eye, Jian Chen had already spent a century on the ninth floor of the sacred land.
But at this moment, a dense, unique presence suddenly appeared. A strand of white Qi faded into existence above Jian Chen’s head like it was half-hidden in the space there. It was illusionary and hazy, swimming around freely in the space there like a lively fish.
It moved extremely quickly as if distance meant nothing to it. With just a flash, it would often appear somewhere else altogether like it had teleported.
“Stainless Qi!” Jian Chen immediately opened his eyes. Gazing at the Stainless Qi over his head, his eyes lit up with joy.
In the next moment, he appeared before the Stainless Qi and suddenly reached out, grabbing straight at it.
During this time, he wove the Laws of Space within his hand, sealing up the space there and freezing everything. As a result, everything within thirty metres of him seemed to all be within his grasp.
However, he had still ended up underestimating the Stainless Qi. The Stainless Qi was like an active fairy. It bypassed Jian Chen’s Laws of Space and appeared several thousand metres away with a flash.
Jian Chen’s eyes shone with interest. He took a step and appeared before the Stainless Qi like he had teleported, reaching out again. He moved with lightning speed.
In the end, the Stainless Qi flashed again and dodged him with ease.
The two consecutive failures immediately made Jian Chen frown slightly. Only at that moment did he finally understand what Immortal Exalt Wei Qi meant. If he wanted Stainless Qi, luck was very important. If luck was not in line, then the Stainless Qi would even slip right under the noses of Immortal Exalts.
Jian Chen pondered slightly before equipping the Divine Armour of Heavenflight decisively. He channelled his Chaotic Force into the Divine Armour of Heavenflight, activating its concealing ability immediately. He silently vanished into the space there.
He used the mask from the Illusionary Daemon race and the Divine Armour of Heavenflight simultaneously in an attempt to approach the Stainless Qi without raising its attention.
However, before he could even approach the Stainless Qi, it suddenly vanished, also going into hiding with no traces to be seen at all.
Jian Chen frowned heavily and stowed the Divine Armour of Heavenflight away helplessly. It was even more difficult that he had imagined to capture Stainless Qi. Only after experiencing it personally did he understand just how extraordinary Daowei Chengqing’s methods were.
Daowei Chengqing could actually snatch up Stainless Qi that was so difficult to capture with utter ease. Just that alone was enough for Jian Chen to look at him in awe.
At this moment, the Stainless Qi appeared silently at the entrance of the eighth floor. It seemed like a fairy with a certain level of intellect. It swam around slowly there, drifting around as if it was hesitating and pacing around.
But in the next moment, the Stainless Qi actually dove into the passageway and entered the eighth floor.
Right when it was about to vanish, a hand reached out from the space there, closing together viciously with the power to restrain the surroundings. The entire space there suddenly compressed.
Jian Chen stood there emotionlessly, staring sharply at the entrance.
In the next moment, he moved and ventured down to the eighth floor without any hesitation.
In the blink of an eye, Jian Chen had arrived on the eighth floor of the sacred land, but as soon as he arrived there, he discovered that the Stainless Qi that had fled from the ninth floor actually flew straight into the formation that Ye Qingyun had arranged.
Jian Chen was immediately taken aback. He stared straight at the formation that Ye Qingyun had set up at the top of the stone pillar.
The Stainless Qi that he could not capture even after several attempts actually ran over to the eighth floor by itself and basically offered itself up to Ye Qingyun.
He could clearly sense how bizarre this all was.
At this moment, Ye Qingyun held a jade bottle with both hands in the formation at the top of the stone pillar. He channelled his tremendous energy as a Ninth Heavenly Layer Immortal Emperor into the jade bottle, such that a ring of faint patterns appeared on it.
The patterns were simple in design but also profound. At first glance, they seemed to contain the power of ways, manifesting with the power of laws, but at a closer glance, the patterns also seemed to outline a landscape. There were mountains and rivers, birds and beasts. It seemed like the essence of time was engraved upon it.
The Stainless Qi that had fled from the ninth floor was directly sucked up by the ancient jade bottle.
However, after obtaining a strand of Stainless Qi, Ye Qingyun did not celebrate. Instead, he furrowed his brows and gazed through the formation, staring at Jian Chen outside sternly before stowing the jade bottle away.
The formation he had set up could prevent people outside from seeing inside, but it did not stop him from observing the situation outside.
Ye Qingyun sat within the formation without budging, paying close attention to Jian Chen’s actions. He understood exactly how precious his jade bottle was in the sacred land. If Jian Chen took an interest, he was not confident about maintaining possession of it.
“I’ve offered so many precious treasures to come to the eighth floor of the sacred land just because I wanted a quiet environment where I could collect Stainless Qi without any disturbances. I didn’t expect Chang Yang to go directly to the ninth floor.” When he thought up to there, Ye Qingyun smiled wryly inside.
In the end, Jian Chen remained where he was for a moment before turning around and returning to the ninth floor.
After he left, Ye Qingyun let out a sigh of relief as he sat in the formation. Then he took out the jade bottle again and channelled his energy into it.