To prevent the cultivators of Xiaoyang City from plundering, a Nascent Soul cultivator was stationed on this island. He also set up a Transporting Formation to Yuan Province to facilitate trading with Yuan Province.
Originally, it would be safer to go to Xiaoyang via Yuan Province, but according to the Nascent Soul cultivator stationed there, Yuan Province was currently in a fierce battle with the Demon Cultivators' Continent. Demon cultivators had completely occupied Yuan Province, so going to Yuan Province wasn't a good choice.
The Nascent Soul cultivator stationed on the island was an early-stage cultivator with a lifespan of more than a thousand years. He probably had no hope of advancing and didn't want to be involved in disputes, so he left Yunzhong and lived here.
He was familiar with Ling Yunhe. Seeing that most of them were in the middle stage of the Nascent Soul realm and were in their prime, he was very envious. He also received spiritual plants from Mo Tiange, so he told them about the nearby situation and gave them a detailed sea map.
With this detailed sea map and Nie Wushang, who was familiar with the route, the seven of them set out directly to Xiaoyang City by sea.
Along the way, sea beasts were everywhere. Most of them were in the sixth or seventh rank, and there were also some in the eighth or ninth rank, but they just stayed far away when they saw them.
Mo Tiange looked at the numerous sea beasts under her feet and couldn't help but say, "If we build a beast hunting island here, it might not be inferior to One Leaf Island."
"Fellow Daoist Mo is right."
Ling Yunhe nodded in agreement. "However, building an island here is too difficult and can't be completed in a short time.
One Leaf Island had to operate for more than a hundred thousand years to reach its current scale. Moreover, it had to be backed by the continent to have something to rely on.
If there's only one island floating in the sea, it'll probably be destroyed in one go if it's surrounded by the demon cultivators. "
Mo Tiange was stunned. "Fellow Daoist Ling, you're really thoughtful. I took it for granted."
Ling Yunhe smiled. "Fellow Daoist Mo doesn't know, but the cultivators in Yunzhong have long considered this matter. It's just that time was too tight and the situation changed greatly, so it was delayed until now. It's not because of my unique vision."
* * *
After flying smoothly for several days, Nie Wushang was getting closer and closer to Xiaoyang. Many islands already had traces of cultivators' activities. All of a sudden, she stopped on a deserted island.
"Fellow Daoist Nie, is there a problem?" Qin Xi asked.
Nie Wushang shook her head and said, "There are so many Nascent Soul cultivators in our group. If we enter the range of Xiao Yang's three islands, it'll inevitably cause a commotion.
Moreover, the Qilin's aura appears at the periphery of Owl Sun, so it's best to stop here. "
Mo Tiange took out the map and compared it with the map. Their current location was very close to one of the points, so she said, "What Wushang said is reasonable. We don't need to go any further."
Since they said so, the others didn't have any objections. They all took out the maps to study.
The disciples of Gujian Sect always found three points. Each of these three points was a sea area, and they were quite far away from each other. Their range was also quite large, and they surrounded the north of Fierce Sun in a ring shape.
"My disciples reported that there are often eighth grade Demonic cultivators in these three areas, so they couldn't investigate carefully. However, they're almost certain that they're in the vicinity of these three areas."
Jing Xingzhi said, "From what I can see, these three areas are quite large, and it will take a lot of effort to search. Why don't we split into three groups?"
It was indeed too wasteful for seven Nascent Soul cultivators to search one area. Moreover, this place wasn't far from Fierce Sun Island, and there were only occasional eighth rank Demonic cultivators. Each of them was an outstanding cultivator, so why would they be afraid of this place?
Everyone immediately agreed and began to discuss how to divide the spoils.
Ling Yunhe was the first to speak. "We'll split into three groups. We have seven people. The strong ones will form a team of two, and the weak ones will form a team of three."
Lord Daoist Lingxi took the initiative to step forward. "Fellow Daoists are in the middle stage, but I'm still in the early stage, so I won't stand on ceremony."
Next was Nie Wushang. "I've just recovered from my serious injuries, so I won't force myself."
Apart from them, the other five people didn't say anything.
Mo Tiange had advanced to the middle stage more than fifty years ago, so her realm was stable and she had just refined a peerless magic weapon. Jing Xingzhi had Wanderer Ziwei's inheritance and the White Tiger's Pearl, so he was a bit stronger than Mo Tiange. Ling Yunhe had the Black Tortoise's inheritance and the Soul-Restraining Pearl. Yang Chengji had the Heavenly Devil Tower, the most powerful of the five holy objects in Yunzhong.
It really wasn't easy to tell which one of them was the weakest.
Qin Xi thought for a while then said, "Tiange, you're the one Fellow Daoist Nie trusts the most. Why don't you go with Junior Martial Brother Lingxi and Fellow Daoist Nie?"
Mo Tiange nodded in agreement.
Apart from the two of them, Lord Daoist Lingxi wasn't familiar with the others. If Qin Xi went with them, he wasn't familiar with Nie Wushang, so she was the best candidate.
Qin Xi turned to the other three people and asked with a smile, "Which Fellow Daoist wants to go with me?"
Under normal circumstances, it would naturally be Jing Xingzhi since the two of them were old partners. However, for the sake of average strength, he still asked.
Before Jing Xingzhi could speak, Ling Yunhe smiled and said, "I'd like to go with Fellow Daoist."
Qin Xi wasn't surprised and nodded. "If there's no problem, then let's do it."
Jing Xingzhi and Yang Chengji looked at each other and raised their eyebrows. "It doesn't matter."
After dividing into groups, the three groups each chose their own targets.
Mo Tiange's group was naturally taken care of and was assigned to the closest one.
"Senior Martial Brother, wait."
Before she left, Mo Tiange called out to Little Feng from her spiritual beast bracelet. "Little Feng will go with you, okay?"
Qin Xi nodded and said softly, "Junior Martial Brother Lingxi's cultivation level is a bit weak, and Fellow Daoist Nie has just recovered from her serious injuries. Your spiritual beasts are eighth rank, so it'll be safer if they go with you."
"Alright, I understand."
After saying a few simple words, they called each other and flew away.
* * *
"Tiange," Nie Wushang called out while flying.
"What's wrong?" Mo Tiange asked when she saw the doubt on her face.
"There's something I've been thinking about for several days." She frowned and said, "The way Jing Xingzhi found the Qilin Sacrificial Temple was based on the location of the other four sacrificial temples, and this location was after the world changed … Why is it like this?
Haven't these sacrificial temples been established for a million years?
Was today's world destined to become like this a million years ago? "
"We've thought about this," Mo Tiange said slowly. "The reason why the world changed is related to our experiences in the Sea of Returning Ruins. You know this."
Nie Wushang nodded.
Mo Tiange went on to say, "What did we trigger in the Sea of Returning Ruins to cause the world to change?
The opening of the Immortal Palace in the Sea of Returning Ruins was full of all kinds of coincidences. As long as one condition wasn't met, it was very likely that it would never appear in the world again. To be honest, I don't think this result was foreseeable, so I think the world becoming like this today was just an accident.
Moreover, how could the people or the Gods from millions of years ago build a temple according to the result of the world becoming like this one day? "
Nie Wushang thought for a while and said, "You mean … this world might have been like this from the beginning?"
Mo Tiange nodded gently. "We speculate that this world was originally like this, but for some reason, it changed into its previous state. For example, several destructive catastrophes."
"…" Nie Wushang thought silently for a long time and said softly, "It's said that everything in the world has karma. The world has changed back to its original state, and we only hope it's peaceful in the Distant Past era."
Mo Tiange didn't say anything. She also hoped that would be the case. She hoped they could smoothly find the Qilin Sacrificial Temple, find the truth of the big secret that Amber called, find the true face of that gambling house, and obtain the chips to win.
"Junior Martial Sister Qingwei, this is the place, right?" Lord Daoist Lingxi's voice came into her ears.
Mo Tiange turned around and compared it with the map. "It should be."
This place was a relatively calm sea area, not far from the three islands of Xiaoyang, so there weren't many sea beasts. Just now, they sensed an eighth rank beast cultivator nearby, but when it discovered them, it also fled far away.
Speaking of which, cultivators of Xiaoyang were really strange existences. Whether it was Yunzhong, the Celestial Pole, or Yuan Province, if cultivators from the three continents lived in a place like Xiaoyang, they would definitely do their best to catch beasts for their cultivation.
But cultivators of Xiaoyang didn't. They seemed to be accustomed to plundering for a living, and they would rather go to Yuan Province to rob than to catch beasts in the sea.
As a result, the environment around the three islands of Xiaoyang was still the same as before, and the number of sea beasts didn't decrease at all.
Mo Tiange pressed her spiritual beast bracelet, releasing her three spiritual beasts and Stone, who was inseparable from Feifei.
This wasn't her first time seeing this, but Nie Wushang still felt it was very spectacular. She clicked her tongue and praised, "Look at your posture. You're already very impressive even without fighting. Even cultivators of Spiritual Beast Sect don't have so many eighth rank spiritual beasts, right?"
The cultivation technique cultivated by cultivators of Spiritual Beast Sect was very special. Their natal spiritual beasts were always at the same cultivation level as their cultivators. When their cultivation level reached a high level, they could fight two against one, which was quite advantageous. However, there was only one natal spiritual beast, and it was also very difficult to raise other spiritual beasts to the eighth rank or above. Even Hua Lingyun, the head of Spiritual Beast Sect, only had two spiritual beasts above the eighth rank.
"Wow, the sea!"
Xiaofan was the first to call out. Soon after, it looked at Mo Tiange with a longing gaze. "Master, can I go down?"
Mo Tiange said, "Yes, I want you to go down.
There's a Qilin's breath leaking out of this sea area. Go down and look for it. "
Xiaofan didn't say a word of nonsense. It suddenly revealed its true form, turned into a blue Sea Dragon, and jumped into the water.
"You guys too," Mo Tiange said to the other two spiritual beasts.
Feifei curled its lips and didn't bother to ask anything. It just patted Stone's head and said, "Stone, let's go."
Xiaohuo was a bit scared. "Master, let me do something else. Can I not go down?" She was a fire attribute spiritual beast, so she had a natural fear of the sea.
"Okay." Mo Tiange pointed at her feet. "You stay here to support Xiaofan and Feifei."
"Okay!" Xiaohuo agreed without having to go down to the sea.
After arranging several spiritual beasts, Mo Tiange turned around and called out, "Senior Martial Brother Lingxi, should we go down and look for them?"
"Okay."
Lord Daoist Lingxi stretched out his finger and flicked it. A verdant lotus leaf appeared in front of him. It immediately turned into a green aura and wrapped his whole body. "I'll go first. Junior Martial Sister and Fellow Daoist Nie, be careful." After he finished speaking, he dove into the sea.
"Wushang, let's go too."
"En."
The two of them used their respective methods and dove into the sea.