However, it would be absurd to say that Big Yellow could pick up any smell in this bizarre space.
Having said that, Big Yellow did not listen to his advice. It uttered, “I found it—I really found it.”
Ou Yangming was stunned because Big Yellow was not a mad dog, and it would not mess around in this situation.
Feeling moved, he asked, “What did you find?”
“A spiritual item—it’s the smell of a spiritual item, and it’s similar to the Tree of Splendour… Hmm, no, it’s a higher-level spiritual item as compared to the tree!” Big Yellow answered proudly.
Ou Yangming instantly had a strange look on his face. “Did you sniff it through your nose?”
“Yes, and no.” Big Yellow tilted its head to think before it continued, “I can’t smell it through my nose, but I could sense it through my nose.”
‘What kind of answer is that?’ Ou Yangming twitched his mouth.
‘Big Yellow’s nose can’t pick up the smell but can sense it?’
If any other dog had said the same thing, Ou Yangming would have turned that dog into dog stew. On the other hand, he chose to believe Big Yellow. In actual fact, he did not have better choices at the moment, so it was better to find something to do instead of drifting around like a fool.
“Which direction?” Ou Yangming asked in a deep voice.
Big Yellow’s body began to turn in a certain direction, then it moved its paws to drift in that direction.
The only advantage of being in the endless space was one could easily change direction by exerting certain force. Despite that, Ou Yangming and Big Yellow could not find their way back anyway, thus it did not matter where they were drifting to.
Through Big Yellow’s hard work, they finally arrived at another spot in the space of nothingness.
The spot was similar to everywhere else. There was nothing else but darkness, and the intense black color seemed like it was going to devour them.
Ou Yangming scanned his surroundings and asked Big Yellow, “Were you talking about this spot?”
Big Yellow nodded without any hesitation. “Yes, I’m sure this was what I sensed.”
The young fellow sighed and thought, ‘Is Big Yellow hallucination because he had been in this environment for too long?’
That said, Big Yellow did not leave the matter at that. It kept twitching its nose around this area,d and its eyes eventually lit up.
Ou Yangming was dumbfounded. He stared at Big Yellow and was also surprised when he took a good look at its lively eyes. If the big yellow dog had gone mad, it could not have such clear and bright eyes.
He immediately understood that something was certainly weird about this place, and it was related to a spiritual item.
Numerous content related to the endless void crossed his mind. Whether it was what he read from ancient books or the things that the little red bird talked about during their free times, they flashed across his mind.
‘Node…’
At the spur of the moment, a term appeared in his mind, causing him to be highly spirited.
The boundless space seemed like a place of nothingness, but it was an incredibly important node.
It was said that one that could grasp the node could freely enter the unbounded space even if one’s cultivation base was not up to standard.
A node was a certain spot that corresponded with a particular world. Nonetheless, how it was born and why it corresponded with a specific place was beyond Ou Yangming’s understanding.
The young fellow inhaled deeply and was elated. If this was really a node, he would grasp it regardless of the costs. Perhaps this would be his only chance to enter a certain world.
Ou Yangming slowly calmed down and pressed Big Yellow’s back to ride it. The big yellow dog understood him right away, so it did not run around anymore. It stuck out its tongue and released its spiritual power, which enveloped the young fellow too.
It knew what Ou Yangming wanted to do and had to go all-out, so it needed to protect him.
While Big Yellow felt that it was a pity that it did not find the spiritual item, its priority was never spiritual items, but Ou Yangming.
A forceful spiritual power gushed and wrapped Ou Yangming’s body. With that, even if his power was exhausted, he would not die due to the environment.
Ou Yangming took a deep breath and composed himself even more.
He closed his eyes and quietly sensed his surroundings.
At last, his eyelids flickered. Once he settled down and observed, he indeed noticed something unusual.
As compared to the other areas, the space over here had some peculiar wrinkles, which seemed to be a natural phenomenon. They were arranged in a very bizarre way.
Ou Yangming’s heart skipped a beat, and he found it hard to suppress his excitement.
‘A node—this is indeed a node.’
Chapter 548 - Entering The Spiritual Realm
There were many nodes in the endless void, and those nodes were also one of the required elements for the operation of the Interspatial Formation Map.
In a way, whether it was the formation map set up by Wu Yuanwei in the lower realm, the place where the 9 Venerable Ones from the Spiritual Realm were at, as well as the light in the Ghost-clawed Venerable One’s underground lair, they were interspatial nodes in certain spots.
There were actually countless nodes, but it was not easy to find a new one in the vast and limitless void.
Firstly, the node would not be obvious at all. In order to find an unknown node, one must have fathomed the integration of Heaven and man, as well as the thoroughly meticulous state.
Ordinary Spirit Grade cultivators could achieve the integration of Heaven and man, but it would be difficult to grasp the thoroughly meticulous.
Ou Yangming had apprehended both but based on his abilities at the moment, it would be impossible for him to find nodes in the unbounded void. This was because he lacked formidable power as his backing. The fact that he could stay alive in this environment was quite impressive, but he would be courting that if he became distracted to find the illusory node.
Perhaps a Venerable One could attempt that here, but someone at Ou Yangming’s level would not be able to do it.
Having said that, Big Yellow’s treasure-hunting talent was unbelievably useful here.
There was probably another spiritual item on the other side of the node, but the item’s aura or something else had somehow penetrated the node and caught Big Yellow’s attention.
It was definitely not the spiritual item’s smell, but Ou Yangming did not know what other than its smell could let Big Yellow notice its existence…
In any case, Ou Yangming began to attempt to find it because Big Yellow confirmed the existence of the spiritual item.
His mental conception was very much pressured and restrained in this unique environment, hence he could only cover the areas within 3 meters from him. Besides, he must be fully focused if he wanted to find the node, so it was a heavy burden for him.
Without Big Yellow’s protection, Ou Yangming would not have dared to act so recklessly.
Nonetheless, his joy could not be put into words once he confirmed the existence of the node.
No matter what was on the other side of the node, at the very least, it was a hope for him to return to a certain world.
Where there was life, there would be hope. As long as he and the big yellow dog stayed alive, everything would be possible.
Ou Yangming gently patted Big Yellow’s head and inhaled deeply, causing the Military Fire in his sea of consciousness to burn fiercely. He had found the node, but it would not be easy to get through it.
He learned about the Phoenixes’ secret techniques from the little red bird’s spiritual world. Although he had not performed them, he had a sufficient understanding of nodes.
The young fellow did not want to take forcible possession of the node; he only wanted to open it. As such, his peculiar Military Fire would undoubtedly be t
he most effective tool.
When Ou Yangming opened up his hand, a flame flashed on his palm and quickly spread and burned.
“Boom…”
At last, when the flame arrived at a certain intensity, a gap was formed in the void.
As the fire’s intensity continued to increase, the slit became bigger, to the extent that Ou Yangming could get through it.
Ou Yangming controlled the Military Fire. Even though it was burning more intensely in his sea of consciousness, his heart was as calm as a piece of mysterious ice, by which he was not perturbed at all.
It was worth noting that the opening of a node required great power. While the Military Fire saved a lot of trouble, every opening meant that Ou Yangming needed to give his all. Inside the space of nothingness, where nothing could be replenished, it would be incredibly dangerous for one to go all-out. Therefore, the young fellow could not allow any mistakes to happen.
The gap continued to expand until even Big Yellow could go past it. When the time came, the big yellow dog flashed and zoomed away at the speed of light.
It carried Ou Yangming into the gap in a split second.
Once Ou Yangming disappeared, the Military Fire distinguished too. The huge slit stopped getting bigger, and it soon vanished at a faster speed.
※※※※
A bright luster suddenly appeared in mid-air, forming a beautiful arc from the point it showed up, then it crashed into the ground.
“Woof…”
Following a mournful shriek, a human and a dog crashed hard into the ground, causing an enormous hole to be formed.
Ou Yangming lay on the big yellow dog. He did not suffer much backlash because he had a big meat cushion, whereas Big Yellow lay in the hole and stuck out its tongue to look bitterly at him.
The young fellow chuckled and looked at his surroundings. “Big Yellow, we got out! It’s great news, so we should be happy about it.”
Big Yellow glared resentfully at him and thought, ‘I’m sure I’ll be overjoyed if we switched places.’
Ou Yangming leaped out of the hole and inhaled deeply, then his eyes lit up right away. He shouted at the big yellow dog, “Big Yellow, quickly come here!”
The big yellow dog forced itself to get up. The fall earlier did not cause its bones or tendons to break, but its body became completely sore, so much so that it could almost not get up. Even so, it noticed the unusual tone in Ou Yangming’s voice, thus it gathered its energy and jumped out of the hole.
Big Yellow looked at Ou Yangming in confusion because it could not understand why he was so surprised.
Ou Yangming patted its head and said, “Try and sense what’s so different about this place as compared to our world.”
The big yellow dog was stunned. It fell silent for a brief moment, but its eyes soon gleamed.
“You sensed it too! Perhaps… This is the Spiritual Realm.” Ou Yangming grinned.
The difference between this place at the lower realm was the drastic change in the amount of the universe’s spiritual power in the air.
In fact, the richness of the universe’s spiritual power here was at least 10 times more than that in the imperial family’s secret realm.
Ou Yangming and Big Yellow looked at each other. They were both surprised but elated.
Given the rich spiritual power, where else could this be if not the legendary Spiritual Realm?
When they drifted in the endless void, they only hoped that they could break free from the dark and timeless environment. Who knew, they ended up in the Spiritual Realm after they went through a node.
No matter where in the Spiritual Realm they were at, at the very least, it was better than ending up in an unknown lower realm.
Big Yellow suddenly twitched its nose, then it barked cheerfully and ran in a certain direction.
Ou Yangming was moved because he instantly thought about what Big Yellow said before. He figured that the node corresponded with a place where a spiritual item could be found.
He flashed and followed the big yellow dog without running on the ground.
Sure enough, Big Yellow had an unimaginable and distinctive sense toward spiritual items, where it could sense them as long as they were within a certain range. Furthermore, no matter if the spiritual item was in the same world the big yellow dog was in, it could sense it as long as there was a gap between them.
An averagely lush forest could be seen ahead of them. Big Yellow charged into it without any hesitation and dashed in a certain direction.
Before long, it stopped in front of a massive tree.
Ou Yangming straightened his body to look at the gigantic tree, but he was puzzled.
“Big Yellow, is this… A spiritual item?”
The big yellow dog blinked and nodded after some time.
Ou Yangming shook his head snappily and thought, ‘Do you think I haven’t seen a spiritual item before?’
Back when he saw the Tree of Splendour, while he could not recognize its origin, he could sense through his mental conception that it was unordinary. It was an extremely comfortable feeling, which was similar to drinking a bowl of iced sour plum juice during summer or soaking in a hot spring during winter; it felt so good that he wanted to moan.
On the contrary, he did not feel anything when he sensed the tree with his mental power.
The large tree was only an ordinary tree, and nothing was odd about it.
After scanning his surroundings, Ou Yangming became more certain because there were no notable auras around the tree.
According to Hong Feiyu, he encountered an irresistible and formidable spirit beast when he stole the Tree of Splendour. It was clear that a spiritual item was surely guarded by a mighty guardian. However, Ou Yangming did not sense any spirit beast’s aura here, whereas there were many half-spirit beasts nearby.
In the lower realm, a powerful half-spirit beast would indeed be considered a potent guardian.
That said, half-spirit beasts seemed to be insignificant in the Spiritual Realm.
Big Yellow blinked and shook its head as it was distressed. “No, I’m sure I sensed a spiritual item. Why is this so?”
If circled the tree anxiously as though it was bewildered.
Ou Yangming was suddenly moved. He somehow always trusted the big yellow dog no matter what.
It was a feeling that arose after they spent a lot of time together. No matter how unreasonable Big Yellow seemed, he would always trust it.
Moreover, Ou Yangming had only found the interspatial node and entered the Spiritual Realm because of Big Yellow’s unique ability.
In this case, Big Yellow must not have been mistaken at all.
Ou Yangming looked quietly at the tree, and his eyes slowly glowed.
He turned his wrist to retrieve a military saber, then he grunted and slashed the tree.
The military saber was a sharp magic tool, and it could not be resisted by ordinary giant trees—not even those in the Spiritual Realm.
As soon as a slash was made, the tree’s bark cracked, revealing a shiny trunk.
Saber-lights were continuously seen coming from Ou Yangming’s saber. Once they were released, it seemed like the whole area was enveloped by them.
After a brief moment, the tree was already cut off layer by later. It was then when Ou Yangming’s eyes gleamed because he finally found the precious spiritual item that attracted Big Yellow.
Chapter 549 - A Portable Node
A long green bamboo, which did not seem like a plant but looked like it was carved from jade, was revealed at the center of the broken big tree.
Ou Yangming and Big Yellow stared with bright eyes at the bamboo that suddenly appeared. If the young fellow did not have the sudden urge to chop the innocent tree, nobody would have thought that something like that grew inside an ordinary tree with no abnormalities.
Although they could not identify what kind of treasure the long bamboo was, they felt like they stumbled upon something precious when they saw it.
/> When the bamboo was exposed to the void, a peculiar fluctuation suddenly gushed out of the bamboo and spread in all directions.
Ou Yangming reached out without any hesitation to grab the bamboo tightly.
Nonetheless, it was then when he was startled because while he was holding on to the bamboo, he felt like it was going to slip away. It was as though he was only seizing an illusion instead of the bamboo itself.
Even so, Ou Yangming could swear that he was indeed gripping the bamboo.
“Woof…”
Big Yellow barked fiercely all of a sudden, but Ou Yangming also saw that the bamboo in his hand was slowly fading away and was going to escape just like that.
‘Does this bamboo have intelligence?’
Ou Yangming unleashed his mental power and circulated his essential Qi inside his body while his other hand continuously made strokes in the air to apply various spells to support him. Nevertheless, none of the spells could affect the bamboo as it still took its time to fade away.
At the spur of the moment, the Military Fire in his sea of consciousness flickered.
Even though Ou Yangming was very worried that the Military Fire would burn the bamboo if he released it, he could not consider that much anymore because the bamboo was about to fully disappear.
As he grunted, his Military Fire emerged from his palm to envelop the bamboo.
Needless to say, under Ou Yangming’s control, he did not refine the bamboo as though it was any other material; he only wanted to seal its flight path.
An unusual change happened at that moment. When the Military Fire lingered around the bamboo, instead of growing faint, it suddenly became firm. It was as though a mysterious power had pulled it back to the reality from the void.
At the same time, the bamboo appeared to be greener than before. In particular, its pointy tip swayed a little as if it was willingly submitting itself to Ou Yangming.
Ou Yangming was moved. He withdrew most of his Military Fire but left a tiny flame on it.
The Military Fire was unconventionally domineering as it would burn anything if Ou Yangming did not control it. On the contrary, the tiny flame did not burn the bamboo; it became assimilated into the bamboo and flowed upwards until it appeared at the pointy tip.
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