136: Chapter 136: How many years have passed exactly?
"Hmm!?"
Ji Yebai's consciousness suddenly awakened.
He opened his eyes all at once.
He was still beneath the ice.
And he was inside the ice layer.
The thick ice layer wrapped around him, layer upon layer, like an insect trapped in amber.
"That was close!"
Ji Yebai slowly exhaled a breath.
He did not know how much time had passed, but in his hazy state, he had sensed all the changes.
Whether it was his consciousness or his body, if any part had gone wrong, he would have suffered an irreparable mistake.
The danger of this Breakthrough was far greater than what was depicted in web novels.
*Hoo!*
He took another deep breath.
Ji Yebai slowly stood up.
A wisp of extreme five-colored light appeared on his body.
Its mere appearance caused the ice layer freezing him to begin dissipating.
The original ice layer had frozen Ji Yebai completely, without even a sliver of space.
But as Ji Yebai rose,
a wisp of five-colored divine radiance appeared, and the surrounding ice seemed to have been erased by some inexplicable force.
A hollow space with a five-meter radius appeared.
Ji Yebai stood within the hollow, looking at his fist, and slowly clenched it.
"Is this the Realm after a Breakthrough!?"
Ji Yebai quietly felt the power within his body.
It was indescribable.
It was as if a star had been stuffed into his body; endless power surged within Ji Yebai's frame.
Unlike when he was an Innate, his flesh and blood had become indescribable.
It no longer solely possessed the abilities of a Treasured Body; it seemed to have acquired some miraculous characteristics as well.
Ji Yebai flicked his finger.
A crystalline drop of blood emerged.
That drop of blood slowly fell.
*Bang!*
The moment it hit the ground, it smashed a deep pit into the entire ice layer.
Cracks spread out along the deep pit.
That was not all.
An indescribable fragrance appeared in the air.
This fragrance was far more refreshing and delightful than any perfume.
"Am I still human!?"
Ji Yebai muttered to himself, though his expression was somewhat excited.
He clearly felt his own strength.
He could now faintly sense a certain Origin, a certain power.
He seemed to be able to manipulate this Origin and power, thereby achieving certain things.
"Powerful vitality surges from the depths of my cells and flesh, as if activating some kind of program, allowing the cells to live forever..."
Ji Yebai scanned himself with his Divine Sense, feeling more and more moved.
"If cells live forever, they constantly generate vitality, but at the same time, because the cells never die, the death intent of aging also constantly accumulates."
"Life and death are miraculously balanced against each other."
Ji Yebai was extremely astonished.
As long as the cells live, they are like a faucet, constantly pouring out vitality; and because they live forever, aging is a natural Law, so death intent is continuously accumulated.
Vitality and death intent are on par with each other.
And this balance allows his flesh and blood cells to remain in a Peak state.
This was truly too miraculous.
"I don't know how much time has passed; it's time to go out!"
After experiencing this, Ji Yebai collected his thoughts: "I don't know if anyone else has achieved a Breakthrough, or if scientists have managed to research this Realm!"
Although Ji Yebai did not know how much time had passed, in his hazy state, he knew that a very, very long time had passed.
Ji Yebai's gaze swept over the fragments of the five elements spirit beads, and after a brief silence, he still walked outward.
A ray of divine light surged from his flesh and blood, making him glow brilliantly.
He took a step forward.
The ice layer in front of him automatically disappeared, and a tunnel continuously appeared as he moved forward.
"Eh!?"
Ji Yebai stopped, looking slightly surprised.
He hadn't activated his Divine Sense earlier, and only after walking a few steps did he realize that the fissure he had used to come down was gone.
His vast Divine Sense swept over a one-kilometer radius, but he did not see the fissure.
However, he didn't think too much about it.
Since it wasn't there, it wasn't there.
His figure moved, and he headed upward.
If someone were here at this moment, they would likely be dumbstruck.
A person slowly rising through a ten-thousand-year-old ice layer, with a cave naturally appearing within the ice.
Once he exited the ice layer and reached the surface,
Ji Yebai's body suddenly froze.
He looked at the sky in surprise.
The bright moon in the sky was clearly visible.
Even though the sunlight was strong, it could not obscure the moon's presence.
The moon seemed to be twice as large.
Such a scene could only be possible if the distance had shortened significantly.
That was not all.
The concentration of Spiritual Qi in the air also surprised Ji Yebai.
"How could the Spiritual Qi concentration be so low!?"
Ji Yebai instantly unleashed his Divine Sense.
His vast Divine Sense directly covered several dozen kilometers.
But this alone caused Ji Yebai to fall silent.
The concentration of Spiritual Qi in the air was pitifully low.
It was merely comparable to the first year of the Spiritual Qi revival.
"How can this be!?"
Ji Yebai looked at the moon above his head, then at the Spiritual Qi in the air, unable to figure it out no matter how much he thought about it.
The concentration of Spiritual Qi in the world had actually only reached a level that could barely produce an Innate Martial Artist.
If it weren't for the fact that his own cells could lock in Spiritual Qi, the vast Spiritual Qi in his body would likely have dissipated the moment he came out.
Ji Yebai flashed and disappeared.
His figure sped through the air.
His vast Divine Sense spread out like mercury pouring onto the ground.
The Divine Sense, covering several dozen kilometers, searched continuously.
"I remember there was a Tianshan Sect there!"
Ji Yebai's Divine Sense swept toward the location in his memory.
His vast Divine Sense was overwhelming.
But unfortunately, there was no one there.
*Whoosh!*
Ji Yebai descended from the sky.
He waved his hand, and the heavy snow was blasted away by a circular shockwave, directly revealing a large stone buried underground.
His Divine Sense brushed over it, and the giant stone slowly rose into the air.
The large characters "Tianshan Sect" appeared on the giant stone.
But the giant stone was mottled and worn, and the chisel marks of the characters on it were already blurred.
Ji Yebai's expression froze.
The stone itself was incredibly hard; for the chisel marks on it to reach this extent, it could only be the effect of time.
"How much... time has actually passed!?"
Ji Yebai muttered.
It was not just here.
Within his Divine Sense, the scene on the mountaintop was already clearly reflected.
A collection of houses and buildings; clearly, many people had once been here.
But at this moment, the group of houses on the mountaintop was mostly in ruins.
The houses had collapsed, and one could only vaguely see the shadows of past architecture, with layers of thick ice covering the buildings, burying these traces.
Such a scene could by no means have formed in a short time.
Ji Yebai's eyes were dazed.
Before, he had only vaguely felt that he had experienced a long time after his closed-door cultivation, but he had no idea exactly how long.
But at this very moment,
looking at the scene in his Divine Sense, looking at the moon that was twice as large in the sky, and looking at the countless times thinner Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi,
an uncontrollable panic appeared in Ji Yebai's heart.
He took a deep breath, suppressing his agitation.
Ji Yebai's figure rose again, and he flew out toward the mountains.
And at the same time,
in a distant city, a highly sci-fi instrument was blaring.
"Warning, Life and Death Realm Martial Artist detected!"
"Warning, Life and Death Realm Martial Artist detected!"