The Spiritual Realm was the upper realm known by countless people in the lower realm.

Spiritualists were not innumerable in this realm, but they were not rare at all. This was because the universe's spiritual power was incredibly rich in this realm, and it could not be imagined by the people from the lower realm at all.

One could certainly yield twice the result by doing half the work if one cultivated in the Spiritual Realm. Most importantly, due to the difference in the richness of the universe's spiritual power, powerhouses that enter the Spirit Grade in this realm would not be tested by the Heavenly Thunderbolts.

The Heavenly Punishment would only be a concern for the Venerable Ones.

Danzhou.

This was a plot of land in the Spiritual Realm, and the Humans and the Demons there were well-matched in strength. They had been fighting each other for years and had their fair shares of wins and losses.

Among the Humans, 9 great sects or inherited aristocratic families had been dominating Danzhou for the past century, and they were the pillar of the people. On this day, the top-notch powerhouses from the 9 sects gathered at the peak of Mount Wuzhi.

The peak had been flattened by an unknown powerhouse long ago, where big buildings and pavilions were even built. It became a luxurious place.

Inside the biggest tall building, 9 Venerable Ones sat on the ground.

The best dishes in the Spiritual Realm were laid out in front of them, by which innate spiritual Qi could be found in them. It was worth noting that the dishes were extremely rare even in this realm, but the powerhouses did not pay attention to them at all.

At the center of the group was Lingfeng the Venerable One, which was also the lord of Mount Wuzhi. He was a thin man, and faint lights could be seen in his eyes when he blinked.

Lingfeng the Venerable One sighed when he looked at the people who were either meditating or wandering in outer space in front of him. "Fellow friends, my disciple has offered the salutation, and you've all voted in favor of it. Now, let's discuss how we should treat Ou Yangming from the lower realm."

A cold voice was suddenly heard after a brief moment. "What do you think, fellow Lingfeng?"

The person that spoke was Hualing the Venerable One from the Huafeng Pavilion. He was not superb as compared to the other Venerable Ones, but he had exceptional personal connections, hence nobody dared to offend him easily.

Lingfeng the Venerable One pondered and answered, "From my perspective, since that young fella can help us from the lower realm, we don't need to be too stingy, so I think we can offer him 0.2% of our profit."

"Heh, isn't 0.2% too much?" Hualing the Venerable One smiled faintly. "How dare a mere Spirit Grade cultivator threaten us? He doesn't know his place."

He spoke casually, but he did not hide his strong killing intent at all.

Given their identities, it was difficult for ordinary Spirit Grade cultivators to meet them, so how could a fellow that advanced to Spirit Grade by luck in the lower realm have the guts to make a request? If the fellow was right beside him at the moment, he would have slapped him to death right away.

"Fellow Hualing, without their cooperation in the lower realm, we might not be able to build the passage at all." Lingfeng the Venerable One furrowed his eyebrows and added after a pause, "Anything can happen in the vast and endless space. Without absolute confidence, I'm sure you won't risk it, right?"

As mentioned by him, if they wanted to build the passage but only searched from one side, not only would it waste time and energy, but there would not be a high success rate. If both sides worked together, the situation would be entirely different.

"Fellow Lingfeng, rewards and punishments must be given where they're due—this is what we base ourselves on." Hualing the Venerable One grinned. "Since that young fellow from the lower realm can help us build the passage, it'll be fine for us to reward him, but he also needs to be punished because he offended us. How do you think he should be punished, my fellow friends?" He glanced at the others with a smile.

"Haha." An elder with a gorgeous tall crown laughed. "Since that fella's so impolite, let's just turn him into ashes."

The other people did not bat an eyelid as though they were indifferent toward the matter.

In actuality, why would they care about a Spiritualist from the lower realm?

Lingfeng the Venerable One's face darkened. "Fellow Taihe, it doesn't seem appropriate for us to act in bad faith."

Taihe the Venerable One expressed, "Who does the fella think he is? How can he negotiate with us? Since he's courting death, why don't we just fulfill his wish?"

The Venerable One was from the Sword Sect. He was one of the best powerhouses among them, so much so that even Lingfeng the Venerable One dared not say he could defeat him.

Lingfeng the Venerable One looked around and sighed. He initially wanted to keep it a secret but judging from the situation, it seemed like he could not hide it anymore.

"Fellow Lingfeng, I'm quite curious about the reason you're treating that fellow differently. Why did you suggest that we offer him such a big portion of our profit?" Hualing the Venerable One blurted. He raised his eyebrows and questioned, "Could it be that the fella has another deal with Mount Wuzhi?"

"You're going overboard, Fellow Hualing. Don't you know the kind of person fellow Lingfeng is?" A grim-looking man suddenly opened his eyes and remarked. He scoffed and added, "In my opinion, we should keep our word. Hmph, if someone isn't sincere and anyhow breaks promises, I can't be bothered to work with that person."

Everyone else including Lingfeng the Venerable One was stunned, and they looked at him in disbelief.

After some time, Hualing the Venerable One asked, "Zhiming the Venerable One, what do you mean?"

Zhiming the Venerable One did not show a weak impression at all. He responded coldly, "I made it quite clear. Did you not understand what I said?"

"Uhm, you don't have to do this. Isn't it just a Spirit Grade cultivator? He's not worth us getting angry over, but…" Another person spoke. He smiled faintly as he asked, "I think Zhiming the Venerable One has a point. If we openly break our promise, how can we gain the trust of others in the future?"

The person that spoke had a friendly face. He was Yuqi the Venerable One from the Beast King Sect.

Everyone fell silent after he supported Zhiming the Venerable Out. They seemed to be finally considering the problem seriously.

In actual fact, so-called promises had different importances to powerhouses of their level.

If both sides involved were evenly matched, the promise would be unbreakable; if there was a huge disparity between both parties, the situation would be completely different.

Hualing the Venerable One initially thought that apart from the Venerable One from Mount Wuzhi, the ones from the other sects would agree with him. Even if the Beast King Sect's inheritance in the lower realm was good friends with the young fellow, their Venerable One would not openly oppose the idea.

Who knew, before the Beast King Sect even expressed their opinion, Zhiming the Venerable One stood out and openly objected to the idea. The change truly caught Hualing the Venerable One off guard.

The other people fell silent and pondered what was at stake, and they also secretly guessed why Zhiming the Venerable One acted out of character.

Zhiming the Venerable One had always been a stubborn person and was not on good terms with Mount Wuzhi, so the others figured that there must be a special reason he turned his coat this time.

Lingfeng the Venerable One suddenly laughed after a long time. "Frankly speaking, Ou Yangming's cultivation base isn't high, but he has quite a high level of attainment in the path of space; he can refine interspatial bags."

"What?"

Everyone else was dumbfounded, and they began to look fervent.

The imperial family was the only one that knew Ou Yangming could refine interspatial bags; the Ni family was also clueless.

After hearing about the news, the Venerable Ones that disapproved of the condition earlier began to change their minds.

"I see. Okay, I agree with your condition, fellow Lingfeng." Hualing the Venerable One laughed out loud. He turned to say to Zhiming the Venerable One, "You received the news quite fast, fellow Zhiming."

Zhiming the Venerable One curled his lips as though he was smiling, but he thought, 'Given that he's with a powerhouse from the Phoenixes, it'll be impossible even if he didn't want to grasp interspatial power…'

Lingfeng the Venerable One chuckled. "Since we've decided, let's start preparing. Hehe, with the lower realm's support, our strength will definitely improve." Following that, he glanced half-intentionally at Zhiming the Venerable One and wondered, 'How was the news leaked? Is there a traitor in our sect…'

※※※※

Inside a massive cave, a black eight-legged lizard the length of several hundred meters crouched quietly. It looked like a giant statue as it had not moved an inch for a few hours.

All of a sudden, black smoke arose slowly in front of it.

The black smoke appeared quite strangely as if it appeared out of thin air. It spiraled and rose to the height of the eight-legged lizard's head.

Eventually, the black smoke agglomerated and turned into the form of a human.

"Ghost-clawed Venerable One, it has been a long time."

The humongous eight-legged lizard slowly opened its eyes. It was not surprised by the black figure, which showed up without warning.

"Hmph, Blood Devil, how dare you show up in front of me?" The eight-legged lizard uttered coldly. Its voice was filled with threat.

The black figure laughed and responded, "Honorable Ghost-clawed Venerable One, we provided you with intelligence and the Inescapable Trap, so why aren't you pleased?"

"Blood Devils like you only please that being." The eight-legged lizard moved a little, and the aura around it seemed to have been activated. "What intelligence do you have for me this time? I hope you won't disappoint me."

"Ghost-clawed Venerable One, we won't let you down for sure." The black figure bowed and continued, "We received news that the Humans from Danzhou are going to pay an enormous price to connect the lower realm. At the same time, they'll also send that person into the Spiritual Realm."

"What? That person." Ghost-clawed Venerable One's eyes gleamed. Deep inside its bright eyes, a greedy look could be seen.

"Yes, that person." The black figure smirked. "We have a way to…" He eventually spoke softer, but Ghost-clawed Venerable One's eyes shone brighter.