Chapter 734: Pursuit
“Don’t let them escape!”
The old Heaven Ghoul Race man with a two-level Soul Altar screamed in an odd pitch. His translucent, diamond-shaped Soul Altar actually started pulling at the spatial rifts as if they were physical objects.
Three thin and long spatial rifts were pulled from the numerous spatial rifts that were present in the area. They looked as bright as blade’s gleam, and moved as fast as a bolt of lightning. They suddenly appeared before Xu Ran.
“Riiip!”
The strange noise of s.p.a.ce being torn apart literally happened right before Qin Lie’s eyes as a pitch black hole appeared out of nowhere.
The pitch black hole looked like the gaping mouth of a giant beast, capable of devouring every living being whole. It was torn into existence by the three spatial rifts, and the rampant, distorted energy inside the hole seemed capable of tearing the consciousness and True Souls of all living beings apart.
“Protect your own soul!” Xu Ran said seriously.
Qin Lie and Lin Liang’er’s expressions changed as they hurriedly focused all of their energy and concentration onto their soul and mind.
The terrible fear that stemmed from the feeling of falling into the black hole in front of him and having his soul sucked rose from Qin Lie’s heart.
He could see very clearly that his True Soul and his Soul Lake were wobbling towards the outside world like kites in the sky.
The huge, black hole’s pull on his soul grew stronger and stronger.
“Geocentric magnetism! Gravity change!”
He circulated the power of earth with all his might, sensing a weight that was as heavy as mountains from the depths of his soul even though he was currently seated on Xu Ran’s Soul Altar.
His True Soul vaguely sensed a white, vast land of nothingness pulling it back down to Qin Lie’s body.
The power of geocentric magnetism grew tens of times stronger than it was before!
“Boom!”
His Soul Lake barely rose into the air before it landed heavily back to its original spot like an iron piece that was attracted by a huge magnet.
His Soul Lake became lodged firmly inside his brain like it was fixed in place by hundreds of millions of nails. It could not be budged even an inch away from its position now.
The powerful attraction that came from the pitch black hole was no longer effective on him. His Soul Lake and his True Soul had now firmly taken root in his brain.
It was at this moment he sensed an aura of absolute frost from his side. He subconsciously looked towards Lin Liang’er.
Lin Liang’er had turned herself into an ice sculpture. Wisps of cold air that felt like they could freeze the air itself spread continuously to her surroundings.
Lin Liang’er was obviously unaffected by the black hole’s soul-sucking power.
“Break!” Xu Ran snorted coldly.
The two giant golden axes instantly slashed at the s.p.a.ce before him like they would cut the very sky in half. A ray of golden light several kilometers long appeared before them.
The huge, black hole exploded after it was touched by the golden light.
Countless pure black particles spread out like a curtain of darkness as the shockwave spread them to the surroundings.
“Let’s go!”
Xu Ran charged out of the way on his gold-colored Soul Altar expressionlessly before the black curtain could envelop them.
“After them!”
Countless Heaven Ghoul Race clansmen flew into the air. They attempted to surround them from all directions like swarms of locusts.
The other old Heaven Ghoul Race man with eyes that looked like they were bleeding out of their twin pupils flew over on his own Soul Altar.
“Swoos.h.!.+”
His figure was wrapped by one of his Soul Altar levels and instantly disappeared.
Blurry, gray ripples appeared before their path at nearly the same time.
The howls of crying ghouls rang from all directions as the ripples slowly transformed into gray clouds. The clouds that transformed into many blurry, unnamed shadows.
The second the shadows appeared, Xu Ran’s charging Soul Altar suddenly slowed down a little.
“Swamp of Lost Souls!” Xu Ran frowned slightly.
When Qin Lie looked closely, he noticed that the golden Soul Altar was moving like it was slogging through a swamp. Not only was it moving slowly, it was slowly but surely sinking towards the ground.
It was as if the Soul Altar was about to crash.
“Don’t stop,” Tong Zhenzhen said softly.
Countless flames appeared around Xu Ran’s golden Soul Altar the second she said that.
The flames burned fiercely like red hot suns that discharged fearsome heatwaves.
The clouds, the innumerable shadows, and the gray ripples in the sky were burned completely by the terrible flames in no time at all.
The golden Soul Altar beneath them immediately glowed like a tiny sun once more as it pressed forward towards the distance.
“Don’t try to play with them. There may yet be another Great Sage among the Heaven Ghoul Race. If a three-level Soul Altar Great Sage were to appear and work together with those two Great Sages in order to stop us, things will get a little troublesome,” Tong Zhenzhen said.
“Got it.” Xu Ran smiled in a relaxed and confident manner. It didn’t look like he had been giving his all.
The glowing golden Soul Altar beneath them swiftly departed from the center of Prism Continent like a golden cloud.
Standing above the Soul Altar, Qin Lie looked down at the cultivation effort that only those who stood at the Imperishable Realm and above possessed curiously.
He was shocked the moment he did so.
Xu Ran’s golden Soul Altar had three levels in total!
This guy was actually at the late stage of the Imperishable Realm!
He couldn’t help but recall Chu Li’s description of Xu Ran.
According to Chu Li’s explanation, Xu Ran had neglected his cultivation ever since he came to be together with Tong Zhenzhen. Instead of secluding himself and cultivating hard everyday, he went on many adventures instead and slowly neglected to improve his strength over time. His transformation caused the former sect master of the Terminator Sect to be absolutely furious.
Realistically speaking, he thought that Xu Ran would possess a one-level Soul Altar or a two-level Soul Altar at best.
He never imagined that Xu Ran would possess a three-level Soul Altar!
This guy was well regarded by every one of his seniors. They all thought that his talent was unparalleled, and that he was the most likely person to reach the Void Realm in the entire Land of Chaos.
It was only now that Qin Lie realized just how acute the insight of those seniors were.
Despite neglecting his cultivation and bringing his wife everywhere on a journey, he still somehow managed to construct a three-level Soul Altar. Just how high was this guy’s talent?
Moreover, he learned from Li Mu that the amount of spirit materials needed to build up a level on the Soul Altar was astronomically high.
Even Li Mu had to rely on Heavenly Sword Mountain to gather the spirit materials necessary to improve his Soul Altar.
So how in the Spirit Realm did this Xu Ran manage to gather so much spirit materials and construct a three-level Soul Altar despite adventuring everywhere and playing around with his wife everyday?
Qin Lie’s expression slowly turned odd.
“What you see is but the rough appearance of the Soul Altar. Only the creators of the Soul Altars would know exactly what is inside his Soul Altar.” Xu Ran suddenly laughed and asked, “What do you see right now?”
“I can only see that it is a three-level Soul Altar, and that it looks like it is built from gold. That’s all,” Qin Lie said honestly.
“Hehe, it’s not as simple as you say,” Xu Ran explained while flying towards the edge of Prism Continent, “You can view every level of a cultivator’s Soul Altar as a world of its own, anything can exist inside it! You can realize almost anything inside your Soul Altar if you dare to dream!”
A pause later, he continued, “If there are things that you cannot realize inside your Soul Altar, it simply means that your realm isn’t high enough to do so.”