"Oh?" Hou Yi was very astonished. "You actually managed to withstand the eighth arrow as well without reaching the limit of your array formation?"

Although he was surprised, Hou Yi still flipped his hand and produced the ninth arrow.

The continuous shooting of arrows made it so every arrow was stronger than the last. By the ninth arrow, the strength would have acc.u.mulated to a perfect state, as if all the strength was stacked together. The ninth arrow"s might was clearly much more elevated than the eighth arrow"s, and its might directly reached the Heavenly Dao realm.

"Hum." When the arrow was strung onto the bow, its might acc.u.mulated, causing the surrounding s.p.a.ce to tremble. Hou Yi cast his gaze on Qin Yun.

"Oh?"

Qin Yun sensed the acc.u.mulating might of the aura and had a hunch of its immense threat. He had a feeling that the ninth arrow threatened his life.

Without hesitation, Qin Yun instantly ignited his Essence Soul Dharmic powers.

"Boom!" The ignition of the Essence Soul caused his Dharmic powers to rise instantly.

For ordinary Skyimmortals and Skyfiends, burning their Essence Souls would damage their fundamentals. Even their souls would become incomplete and suffer loss of memory. Their perceptivity also dropped.

But if one became a mighty figure… recovery from the occasional burning of one"s Essence Souls was possible.

If one was a perfected Great Dao expert, no matter how heavy the damage to their Essence Soul was, time could be taken to slowly recover until perfection was restored.

For instance, back when Hou Yi dealt with Zhurong, he had burned his Essence Soul Dharmic powers! He had burned large amounts of Dharmic powers at once to inject them into his arrow to produce such terrifying might.

The expert from another universe, Fate, had also burned his Essence Soul to maintain thirty-two envoy avatars at the same time. His burning of his Essence Soul lasted for more than a day before he risked having to go into slumber. That was when he stopped burning his Essence Soul. On the one hand, he was able to burn his Essence Soul for only that long because he needed to control the envoys, but the expenditure of energy was very little. On the other hand, the higher the realm, the more mastery one had of their Essence Soul.

"Whoosh."

The ninth arrow flashed.

Qin Yun clearly saw it, but he found himself moving too slowly. There was no way for him to dodge, and all he could do was burn his Essence Soul Dharmic powers to augment his Misty Rain Array. In turn, the array turned vaster and deeper as though it was the boundless Chaos.

Accompanied by a loud bang, the arrow beam struck into the Misty Rain Array. The dark array distorted and depressed, and although the arrow beam was still drilling into the sword array, it had been blocked.

When the arrow came to a halt, Qin Yun immediately stopped burning his Essence Soul Dharmic powers. The expenditure wasn"t excessive if he was only burning his Essence Soul Dharmic powers to maintain the sword array; it wouldn"t be hard to maintain it for four hours. However, at the instant it withstood the arrow blow at the Heavenly Dao realm… the sharp rise in Dharmic power expenditures was staggering.

"Even if I were to burn my Essence Soul to augment my Misty Rain Array, I can probably only withstand eight to nine of such arrows before my Essence Soul buckles." Qin Yun knew this very well.

"Hahaha." Hou Yi put away his bow and walked over with a rapturous laugh. "I thought you would have to burn your Essence Soul at the seventh arrow. I never expected that I could only force you to burn your Essence Soul using the ninth arrow"s Heavenly Dao realm might. Even for me, if not for the acc.u.mulation of force from the previous eight arrows, I would only be able to produce an arrow at the Heavenly Dao realm by burning my Essence Soul.

"I did not burn my Essence Soul even when I was besieged by more than thirty other universe experts," said Qin Yun with a smile. "After cultivating for more than two thousand years since my return, I believe my strength has improved. Yet, I still was forced by you to burn my Essence Soul."

"In a real life-and-death struggle, you wouldn"t be silly enough to stand there to allow me to rain blows on you, acc.u.mulating strength one after another. You would probably have released your sword beam to attack me," said Hou Yi humbly. It was the truth. For instance, he had instantly ignited his Essence Soul to produce an arrow strike at the Heavenly Dao realm when dealing with Zhurong. This was because there was no way an enemy would allow him to slowly acc.u.mulate strength in a life-and-death struggle.

Qin Yun asked, "Then, on what we agreed prior?"

"Haha, I"ll naturally abide by my promises." Hou Yi looked at Qin Yun. "After we enter the Chaos spatial rift, my life will be in your hands, Sword Immortal Qin."

"Similarly, my life will be in your hands, Hou Yi." Qin Yun smiled as well.

When the time came, they would be partners in life and death.

"Shall we head over to invite Kong Xuan?" asked Hou Yi.

"Let"s go." Qin Yun said straightforwardly.

…

Kong Xuan was the Buddhists" Mahamayuri Wisdom King. His strength was unfathomable and his domain means were best in the Three Realms. Even the Buddhist Ancestor, Gautama, had once accidentally been taken down by him, but of course, he instantly escaped the confinement.

He was the Buddhist Ancestor after all.

If a perfected Great Dao existence were to face Kong Xuan, a weaker one would be taken down. Those with stronger means would have their strengths halved from the suppression.

"Kong Xuan"s realm is rather high, but he enjoys being a general in the human world as he leads army troops." Outside a human city"s general"s residence in the Heavenly realm, Hou Yi said to Qin Yun.

Hou Yi and Qin Yun stood on a bustling street as they looked at the General"s residence.

"Kong Xuan is here," said Qin Yun.

At the door, a white-dressed man walked over. He had extraordinary looks and bearing, and as he walked out the door leisurely, he looked at Hou Yi and Qin Yun with a smile. He cupped his hands and said, "Brother Hou Yi, Sword Immortal Qin, the both of you gave me quite a shock by visiting me at the same time. Please, come on in."

Even the someone as proud as Kong Xuan was rather humble when facing these two.

"Let"s go." Hou Yi and Qin Yun entered the general"s residence together.

Inside the manor, Kong Xuan, Hou Yi, and Qin Yun took their respective seats.

As he drank some fine wine, Kong Xuan smiled. "Let me guess. The reason why the two of you are here is to invite me to enter the Chaos spatial rift with you?"

"As expected of a gifted general and wartime strategist. Your guess is truly accurate," said Qin Yun.

"Sword Immortal Qin, you have yet to attain a Merit Cardinal treasure, so you would definitely head to the spatial tide again. Now that you are here with Brother Hou Yi, I don"t think my guess was difficult," said Kong Xuan.

"So will you join us?" Hou Yi asked directly.

Kong Xuan laughed with a radiant smile. "Of course! For Sword Immortal Qin and Brother Hou Yi to be together, such a chance is rare. I obviously have to go."

Qin Yun felt relieved. Kong Xuan was quite a straightforward guy.

"Apart from the three of us, are you inviting anyone else?" inquired Kong Xuan.

"He will be here immediately," said Qin Yun.

Kong Xuan and Hou Yi sensed something as they looked into the sky, far outside the general"s residence. High in the clouds, an azure-robed elder appeared.

"Wood G.o.d Goumang." Kong Xuan"s brows p.r.i.c.ked up.

Goumang entered the residence in one step. When he arrived beside the trio, he said with a smile, "I"ve long been waiting for Sword Immortal Qin"s news. I came the moment he informed me."

"With Hou Yi as offense, Sword Immortal Qin to defend us, me to suppress the surroundings, and Wood G.o.d Goumang responsible for restraining the enemy," Kong Xuan smiled and said, "we will probably be able to fight for dozens of rounds against a Heavenly Dao realm expert."

"If we were to encounter that Fate again, he"s doomed," said Goumang.

"When shall we set off?" Hou Yi looked towards the other three.

"Anytime," Kong Xuan said. Goumang chuckled and said, "Now is fine."

"Let"s do it in three days," said Qin Yun. "We still need to make some preparations and decide on a plan."

Hou Yi looked at Kong Xuan and Goumang before saying, "Then three days it is!"

Apart from deciding on a plan, Qin Yun also needed to restore his Essence Soul.

Having burned his Essence Soul Dharmic powers to withstand Hou Yi"s arrow, he had suffered some damage. Of course, three days was sufficient time to restore his Essence Soul to its peak since it was only a single blow. In fact, the time taken to travel in the spatial tide was very long. There was more than sufficient time to restore his Essence Soul during the journey, but Qin Yun wanted to be careful and maintain an optimal state.

…

After Qin Yun and company decided on a plan, they returned to their residences.

Three days later.

On the peak of Mt. Lightning Roar, Qin Yun and Yi Xiao watched the sun rise.

"This trip into the spatial tide, it could be as short as a hundred plus years and as long as three centuries," Qin Yun said to his wife with a smile. "After I return and successfully refine a Merit Cardinal treasure, I won"t be heading into the spatial tide again. I will be focusing on the upcoming tribulation."

"Brother Yun, you are indeed much stronger than the previous time, but the experts from other universes are unpredictable. You must not be careless," exhorted Yi Xiao.

"Okay." Qin Yun extended his hand to smoothen a lop of hair by Yi Xiao"s ear. "I"m leaving."

With that said, he tore through s.p.a.ce with a step.

Yi Xiao stood on the mountaintop for a long while before she returned home.

******

In the boundless Chaos, Qin Yun and Kong Xuan were the first to arrive outside Goumang"s cave abode. Hou Yi was the last to arrive, being slightly late.

"That"s all of us." Goumang laughed.

"Then let"s set off." Hou Yi had fighting spirit burning in his eyes. Kong Xuan and Qin Yun also looked forward to this expedition. Immediately, they tore into the void and tore through distant s.p.a.ce again and again, heading straight for one of the Chaos spatial rifts by the periphery of the Three Realms.

This Chaos spatial rift was chosen because intelligence indicated that there were the most number of other-universe experts in there.

According to the plan, they would storm through every opponent as they proceeded!

(End of Volume)