297: Chapter 297 Universal Realm

"Wait, something's not right!"

Zhang Huaiyuan cried out subconsciously, only to find that aside from the students, the mentors nearby showed no signs of nervousness.

He instinctively activated True Sight and looked toward the center of the field.

He saw that the intersection of the four longswords was a void; the Second Senior Brother, who should have been run through, was not actually there under True Sight!

"Of course, Second Senior Brother is a high-level member of the Virtual Tower, specializing in the transitions between reality and illusion..."

Zhang Huaiyuan's heart stirred as he recalled the world-within-a-world the other had set up earlier, and he immediately felt at ease.

"Tsk... Sword Emperor Mountain, you have quite the nerve."

"Sword Emperor Mountain, you have quite the nerve..."

Sure enough, in the next moment, hundreds and thousands of light-and-shadow images of Mild emerged simultaneously in the void.

Rumbling voices echoed in layers, carrying a soul-shaking pressure.

"Are they all illusions?"

The expressions of Sword Emperor Lingxi and the four Enshrined Elders turned somewhat ugly.

With their spiritual senses, they were completely unable to distinguish which one was the original body.

"Die!"

A flash of ruthlessness crossed the eyes of one Enshrined Elder. With a sweep of his sword, a sword light spanning ten million feet slashed through, cutting all the thousands of shadows in half.

But the brows of the people from Sword Emperor Mountain furrowed even tighter.

Judging by the energy feedback, they were all fake!

In fact, a second later, even more illusions appeared in the sky.

"Heh, they really are a bunch of primitives."

Seeing this, one mentor curled his lip in disdain.

"Exactly. I've heard that these brainless sword cultivators all follow the principle of 'one sword to break all laws,' yet most of them are still at the level where if they can't break a rock, they just blindly increase the kinetic energy."

The other mentors also shook their heads.

Even though attacks of this level were already extremely terrifying—with stray sword qi being enough to shatter a galaxy—

—this did not stop these Scholars from looking down on them.

"However, Scholar Hales, you're in charge of data statistics. Sword Emperor Mountain doesn't seem to have this many Space-Time Realm cultivators."

One Scholar said with a frown.

"Space-Time Realm!"

Hearing this, Zhang Huaiyuan's heart skipped a beat.

He had read relevant ancient texts before.

The cultivation systems and races in the All Heavens and Myriad Realms were countless. Therefore, besides counting by levels, the Traveler Association had constructed a relatively universal system for the outside world, divided into nine realms.

Personnel without combat power were measured by the strength of the products they could create.

The First Realm was the Gravitational Realm.

The dividing line was whether one could escape the pull of gravity and exist independently of a planet.

The Second Realm was the Strong Nuclear Realm.

Its main manifestation was mastering the strong interaction force, including strengthening physical density and compressing energy to enhance attacks.

The Third Realm was the Weak Nuclear Realm.

Further mastering the weak interaction force and inducing the power of decay, one could change the types of fundamental particles. Translated to the cultivation side, this manifested as divine abilities like turning stone into gold.

The Fourth Realm was the Protomagnetic Realm.

Controlling fundamental forces and magnetic fields; spiritual attacks and inter-galactic communication on the cultivation side were both generalized manifestations of this.

The Fifth Realm was the Quantum Realm.

The boundary between virtual and real began to blur, granting incredible power. Zhang Huaiyuan had not yet reached this level of knowledge.

The Sixth Realm was the Space-Time Realm, where one was considered a true expert in the All Heavens and Myriad Realms.

Unlike Junior Scholars who only had preliminary control over time and space, this realm allowed one to travel through the past and parallel dimensions to a certain extent, free from the constraints of time and space.

The final three realms were the String Vibration Realm, the Singularity Realm, and the legendary Eternal Realm.

Zhang Huaiyuan was unclear on the specific characteristics, only knowing that his teacher and the two Tower Masters were merely beings of the Eighth Realm.

Of course, within the Association, for the sake of scholarly rigor and uniqueness, they preferred to use precise numbers to grade themselves.

"Sword Emperor Mountain has only three registered Space-Time Realm experts, including their secluded Supreme Elder."

While Zhang Huaiyuan was lost in thought, the Scholar who had been questioned said expressionlessly:

"And these four Enshrined Elders, according to intelligence, should only be Fourth Realm practitioners. Whether it's a deliberate failure to report or they harbor ill intentions, according to Association law, they should be erased."

"That is natural, and not for us to worry about. Presumably, once this matter is settled, the Association will send people to investigate thoroughly."

One Scholar nodded slightly, squinting as he scanned the surroundings.

"What's important right now is to protect these students. If anything goes wrong, we truly won't have the face to remain in the Academy."

"As it should be."

The disdain on the other mentors' faces receded slightly. They each took out precision instruments and constructed another layer of protection behind Mild's shield.

As Scholars, they might look down on their opponents, but in the control of their professional fields, they would never allow the slightest oversight.

Soon, dozens of Quantum Shields—which appeared flawless even under True Sight—were raised one by one.

On the other side, Mild, who was fighting the five from Sword Emperor Mountain, continued to use only his illusions to entangle them.

Although he had absolute confidence, since these fellows dared to strike a stone with an egg, they might be hiding some dark trump card.

He wasn't afraid for himself, but that group of little ones from the Academy and his Junior Martial Brother were here. It was best to stall for Association reinforcements in the most secure way possible.

"We can't waste any more time!"

The five from Sword Emperor Mountain clearly realized the opponent's intent as well. After exchanging glances, they erupted in unison.

They seemed to have activated some forbidden secret technique, as their auras surged instantly.

"Lingxi, we will clear the way for you."

The eyes of the other four flashed with an eerie crimson; their hair turned white, and their flesh withered, but the sword light in their hands became increasingly brilliant and majestic.

Terrifying sword qi filled the entire space.

The illusions filling the sky shattered rapidly under the effect of the sword qi.

Meanwhile, Sword Emperor Lingxi ignored everything else, transforming into a sword light and charging straight for the protective layer.

"Another life-burning combat style."

Mild frowned. Although such methods were low-level, when combined with the powerful blood-qi of the cultivation side's lifeforms, they could indeed produce impressive effects.

The temporarily deployed Void Boundary Stones could not withstand a sustained attack of this intensity.

"It seems Sword Emperor Mountain has a major problem. Fine, I'll just leave one alive."

Mild's eyes turned cold. Three tubes of crystalline medicine appeared in his hand and were injected directly into his body.

In an instant, his entire body's flesh seemed to become active.

By universal levels, he was considered an existence that had just entered the Seventh Realm, the 'String Vibration Realm'.

As the saying goes, pull one thread and the whole body moves.

The criterion for the String Vibration Realm was the ability to observe the existence of destiny lines to a certain extent and master abilities similar to causal erasure.

A brilliant divine light radiated from the lenses over his eyes, and an endless stream of data flashed within them.

A fluctuation similar to the one that had previously erased Sword Emperor Lingxi's sword arose.

But this time, he locked directly onto their original bodies.

"Eh? Strange. The causality on these people... someone has acted to shield them!"

Mild, who was about to erase several Enshrined Elders, had his expression darken.

A million possibilities flashed through his mind in an instant.

To shield someone else's causality, one must be at least at the Seventh Realm or above. And ninety percent of such existences within the Sea of Time were concentrated in the Association, with the remainder also under the Association's observation.

"It seems the Sea of Time has been peaceful for too long, and someone is getting restless again..."

...