Chapter 919 – Assault on the Mystic Spirit Realm

The Starsea Ark completed its final jump and hovered silently in the void outside the Mystic Spirit Realm.

Nearby, the Mystic Spirit Realm’s boundary membrane, originally a grayish-blue, had already grown extremely dim, while the dark-gold luster identical to the Immortal Realm’s boundary membrane was strikingly conspicuous.

Even though the ascension channel had already been severed, the situation hadn’t improved much.

Judging by the state of the boundary membrane, no one held much hope for persuading the Mystic Spirit Realm’s world consciousness, but they still had to try.

If the objective could be achieved through negotiation, that was always the best outcome.

The six strongest members — Mo Lan, Traci, Carmela, Anita, Eliana, and Meridis — served as representatives, departing the mirror space and flying to the gap between the mirror space and the Mystic Spirit Realm’s boundary membrane.

Traci, adopting the most peaceful posture she could manage, transmitted a thought imbued with goodwill and cooperative intent to the Mystic Spirit Realm’s world consciousness.

At first, the boundary membrane rippled faintly, like a lake surface disturbed by a tossed pebble.

A vague thought, carrying a hint of exhaustion and caution, tentatively reached out and gently made contact with the mental feelers of Mo Lan and the others.

“Strange… visitors…” The thought came in fragments, like a candle guttering in the wind. “What… do you seek?”

“We seek cooperation!” Traci, serving as the primary communicator, had her voice converted through Star Language into an information stream the other party could comprehend. “We are aware of your long-standing plight — being plundered and controlled by the Immortal Realm. Although we have already severed the ascension channel, as long as you maintain your current cultivation system, the Immortal Realm can rebuild it at any time. Only by guiding intelligent beings onto other paths of cultivation can you truly free yourself from the Immortal Realm’s threat. We can bring you an entirely new system of Magic, help you restore your source, and even open the way to a broader path of advancement.”

“Free… from the Immortal Realm?” The thought seemed to fluctuate, conveying an emotion that mixed longing with fear. “Is that… truly possible?”

The exchange that followed appeared to proceed remarkably smoothly on the surface.

The Mystic Spirit Realm’s world consciousness displayed an extraordinarily high level of “interest.” It spoke of the pain of being exploited by the Immortal Realm, its yearning for freedom, and its curiosity about this new power.

Its questions grew more numerous, its attitude increasingly “eager.” It even began inquiring about the specific details of cooperation, and impatiently requested that they enter the world to help, promising that once the matter was settled, it would offer as many Source Mana crystals as possible in gratitude.

After carefully sensing its intent, Traci gave a slight nod and whispered to the others, “Though it’s weak, the resentment toward the Immortal Realm and the desire for change within it don’t seem to be feigned.”

A glimmer of hope quietly rose in everyone’s hearts.

Perhaps this Spirit Realm, the farthest from the Immortal Realm, had truly retained a trace of independent consciousness.

When the timing seemed right, Carmela produced the highest-tier contract she had personally drafted, one designed for friendly, cooperative worlds.

The contract was composed of pure golden power of contract, emanating an aura of justice, solemnity, and great strength.

“This is our sincerity, and also the guarantee of our cooperation.” Traci pushed a phantom image of the contract toward the boundary membrane. “Please review it. If there are no objections, we can sign it and begin our cooperation immediately.”

The contract touched the Mystic Spirit Realm’s boundary membrane, but the world consciousness that had been fairly active just moments ago suddenly fell silent. There was no response for a long while.

After a time, it repelled the contract with a tremor: “Can we not sign a contract? These terms are too complicated. I don’t feel entirely safe with them.”

No matter what they said afterward, the Mystic Spirit Realm’s world consciousness refused to sign the contract first, insistently trying only to get them to enter the world to help.

All the pretense crumbled instantly before a contract backed by the power of contractual law, its true nature laid bare.

No matter how convincing its earlier performance had been or how moving its pleas, the moment it refused to sign this equal contract, its true position was plain for all to see.

Clearly, it had no genuine desire for friendly cooperation. Its earlier eager and enthusiastic responses had most likely been nothing more than an attempt to lure them inside the boundary membrane.

The Mystic Spirit Realm was a genuine Eighth Rank world — fundamentally different from those cultivation worlds that were at most Fourth or Fifth Rank.

In a Fourth or Fifth Rank world, given their Mana levels and the strength of their vessels, even if the world consciousness tried to act against them, they could basically escape.

But entering an Eighth Rank world and making an enemy of its world consciousness — even Mo Lan had no certainty she could leave safely.

This was precisely why they had been willing to spend extra time and effort rather than directly entering the world to negotiate with the Mystic Spirit Realm’s world consciousness.

But now, there was no need for further discussion.

Mo Lan made a decisive call: “Let’s head back! Man the vessels and prepare for armed suppression — we’ll force it to sign the contract!”

Among their group of over a hundred, even the lowest-ranked members already commanded Mana at the tens-of-billions level.

There were also several Eighth Rank casters at the hundreds-of-billions Mana level.

Mo Lan’s own Mana rank had recently broken through to the trillions level.

With all the accumulation over such a long period, their reserves of disposable Mana were an astronomical figure.

Inside the boundary membrane was the world consciousness’s home turf — no matter how high one’s Mana reserves, without sufficient Magic rank, one could still be subdued. But outside the boundary membrane, the world consciousness could only defend passively. Their Mana reserves converted into magical attacks would absolutely be enough to completely destroy an Eighth Rank world.

As long as the Mystic Spirit Realm didn’t want to become a dead husk, signing the contract with them was its only option.

Given the Spirit Realm’s world rank, the number of spellcasters far exceeded what any cultivation world could match. No matter how much Mana they invested upfront, they could earn it all back later.

The instant the order was issued, those who had long been standing by in the mirror space rapidly teleported to their respective vessels and began loading Firework Blast Magic Cards.

“We should’ve done this from the start!” Anita’s excited voice rang out.

She didn’t even need to rely on Magic Cards. Her entire body transformed into a Fireworks Wand, suddenly expanding in the void. Terrifying Mana surged wildly together, and a maximally condensed, multicolored firework shell radiating an aura of annihilation struck the Mystic Spirit Realm’s boundary membrane before anything else!

This single Firework Blast used ninety percent of her current Mana reserves — essentially the most powerful strike she could deliver while still maintaining her ability to move through the void.

When it slammed into the Mystic Spirit Realm’s boundary membrane, while it wasn’t enough to deal a catastrophic blow to the entire realm, it did cause the whole world to shudder.

And this was only the beginning.

Anita quickly replenished her Mana with an Energy Storage Card and continued her attack.

The others’ vessels also flew out of Mo Lan’s mirror space, and together with Mo Lan’s Starsea Ark, began launching Firework Blast Magic Cards — currently the most powerful attack available — at the Mystic Spirit Realm.

The void was illuminated by countless brilliant fireworks.

Over a hundred high-rank Explorers, launching their most powerful attacks in unison — the combined force was enough to instantly obliterate some lower-ranked worlds.

Though the Mystic Spirit Realm was an Eighth Rank world, under such ferocious bombardment, its boundary membrane began to twist and shudder violently. The light on its surface dimmed at a speed visible to the naked eye, and fine cracks even began to appear.