After some discussion, the three of them agreed that no matter what had happened, the most important thing right now was to recover from their injuries first. Only by restoring their strength would they have any confidence.
Among them, Jing Xingzhi's injuries were the lightest. Although his Three Red Dust Swords had consumed a significant amount of his essence blood, his life-bound flying sword was not damaged. As for Qin Xi, his physical body and meridians had been tempered by the Breath of the Vermilion Bird, allowing him to recover quickly. As for Mo Tiange, her injuries were only slightly more severe than theirs. The more troublesome issue was that, apart from auxiliary-type magical treasures, almost all of her other treasures had been destroyed during the heavenly tribulation.
Fortunately, the place where they were currently taking shelter was relatively safe. There were no traces of cultivators on the surrounding small islands, allowing them to recuperate in peace.
Several months later, the three of them had basically recovered from their injuries and planned to leave the small island to see what exactly had happened.
During this period, Mo Tiange repaired the Jade Bone Puppet. This puppet had taken the Seventh Heavenly Tribulation for her and was thus damaged. However, the puppet's framework was made from the skeleton of an Ancient God Transformation Stage cultivator, and the other materials were also rare treasures of the current age. They were not destroyed; she only needed to do some minor repairs, replace the crystal jade, and it was fixed.
As for her life-bound treasure, the Heaven-Earth Fan, it was slightly more troublesome. It wasn't broken—in terms of material sturdiness, the Heaven-Earth Fan was no less impressive than the Jade Bone Puppet. However, because it had directly faced the heavenly thunder, the Heaven-Earth Fan had lost all its spiritual energy. It would require a long period of gentle nurturing to slowly restore its former spiritual nature.
Thus, she had almost no high-powered magical treasures in her hands. On ordinary days, it was fine, but if trouble arose, it would be somewhat problematic.
But this problem couldn't be solved immediately. The longer a magical treasure was refined, the greater the power it could unleash. Even if she obtained many finished treasures now, she couldn't use them right away.
Therefore, Qin Xi straightforwardly told her: since they were already broken, she should just refine new ones. After all, she had a Nascent Soul stage puppet by her side, so self-preservation shouldn't be a major issue.
From another perspective, refining new treasures now actually gave her an advantage over before. First, her cultivation was higher, so she could collect better materials and her refining techniques were more advanced. Second, they had obtained many good things in the Immortal Palace, and with treasures like the Spirit-Tempering Water, it would be a waste not to use them for refining treasures.
Thus, while gently nurturing the Heaven-Earth Fan, Mo Tiange cultivated the Heaven Thunder Great Method and simultaneously refined the Fusheng Sword. Fortunately, they had obtained this Heaven Thunder Great Method from the Immortal Palace's treasury, and the Fusheng Sword had also been cleansed of its demonic aura, restoring its former brilliance. After some refinement, the two could be used in tandem to unleash considerable combat power.
"Qin Shoujing, Mo Qingwei, come out quickly!" Jing Xingzhi's excited voice came from outside.
The two, who were each cultivating, stopped their breathing exercises and looked at each other, both feeling somewhat helpless.
"What is it now?" Qin Xi waved his hand to open the restriction at the cave entrance and asked.
"Of course it's something important!" Jing Xingzhi ducked inside, automatically dragged over a meditation cushion, and sat down in front of them.
He said, "I can finally confirm it. We really are in the Yuan Prefecture Sea."
"How so?" Mo Tiange asked. After decades of interaction, she had a good grasp of Jing Xingzhi's personality. He was someone who couldn't stay idle. Back when they were trapped in the underground palace, even though they couldn't get out, he still had to wander around inside. Now it was even more so; besides cultivating, he would always fly around the area on his sword. Therefore, he had learned more about the situation than they had.
"A few days ago, I started flying north and finally saw a large island. This large island has many residents and quite a few cultivators."
"So, what did you find out?"
"Mhm." A mysterious smile appeared on his face. "Guess what exactly happened."
Seeing him like this, it seemed the matter was quite unusual? Mo Tiange and Qin Xi exchanged a glance and spoke in unison: "If you have something to say, just say it."
"..." Wanting to build suspense but finding no one to play along, Jing Xingzhi felt rather frustrated and muttered, "Don't you have any curiosity?"
"Aren't we asking you?" Mo Tiange said casually. "If we weren't curious, we wouldn't ask."
Jing Xingzhi felt even more frustrated, but thinking about these two people's personalities—cultivating every day, each more dull than the other—he let it go. Fine, two blockheads, why bother arguing with them?
A mysterious smile reappeared on his face as he said, "You definitely won't guess how we ended up in the Yuan Prefecture Sea when we were clearly in the Guixu Sea." He paused, then said, "Actually, the place we are in could be called the Yuan Prefecture Sea, and it could also be called the Guixu Sea."
What did that mean? Both Mo Tiange and Qin Xi wore puzzled expressions. "The Guixu Sea is the Guixu Sea, and the Yuan Prefecture Sea is the Yuan Prefecture Sea. What do you mean it could be called the Yuan Prefecture Sea and also the Guixu Sea? Can two seas overlap?"
"Correct!" Mo Tiange had said it casually, but Jing Xingzhi clapped his hands and exclaimed, "Exactly! The two seas have overlapped!"
"What?" Qin Xi was stunned for a moment before suddenly seeming to understand. "That day when the sea collapsed, could it be that the Yuan Prefecture Sea and the Guixu Sea overlapped?"
"I suspect that's the case," Jing Xingzhi said. "After finding that large island, I learned from several cultivators that on the day the sea collapsed, the Yuan Prefecture Sea also experienced violent storms and rain. Many islands were nearly submerged, and countless small islands had their restrictions shattered, resulting in countless casualties. The large island they were on was relatively fine; although there were casualties, its vitality was preserved. After the storm passed, they also noticed something different about their surroundings. The Core Formation cultivators on the island went out to investigate and found that the positions of many surrounding small islands had also shifted."
"They spent several months contacting other large islands before realizing something extraordinary had happened—to the west of the archipelago, where it should have connected to the Yunzhong Inner Sea, there was now only a vast ocean, making it impossible to reach Yunzhong."
Yuan Prefecture was east of Yunzhong. Crossing the Yuan Prefecture Sea, one could reach the Yunzhong Inner Sea. This was also the main route for cultivators traveling between the two places, as the cost of long-distance teleportation arrays was very expensive, and cultivators below the Core Formation stage often couldn't afford it.
Unlike Tianji, which was isolated on one side, Yunzhong had Yuan Prefecture to the east and Xiaoyang to the west. The sea areas between them were not dangerous, and since ancient times, there had been much interaction. They were quite familiar with each other's situations. The route from Yuan Prefecture to Yunzhong was frequently traveled. When it was suddenly cut off, it was quickly discovered.
Mo Tiange and Qin Xi exchanged a glance, both feeling this matter was very bizarre. According to this, didn't it mean the entire Yuan Prefecture Sea had been moved to the Guixu Sea? This was extraordinary. Although they had heard of small islands in the sea disappearing in one place and suddenly appearing in another, those were only small islands, not an entire sea.
Just a small island disappearing and reappearing was already a strange event, let alone the entire Yuan Prefecture Sea?
"What about the Yuan Prefecture Continent?" Mo Tiange asked. "If the Yuan Prefecture Sea suddenly moved to the Guixu Sea, is the Yuan Prefecture Continent still in its original position?"
Jing Xingzhi shook his head. "That's unknown. Calling it a large island is only relative to the small island we're sheltering on. The highest cultivation on that island is only at the Core Formation stage; they can't immediately contact the Yuan Prefecture Continent. I found out that some people have already headed towards Yuan Prefecture, but no news has come back yet."
After a while, seeing that the two of them weren't speaking, Jing Xingzhi couldn't help but ask, "What do you two actually think?"
"What else can we think?" Qin Xi said calmly. "We were planning to leave anyway. We'll go see what's going on when the time comes."
After finally finding out such astonishing news, only to have these two react so indifferently, Jing Xingzhi felt somewhat deflated. "Fine, fine. Call me when you're ready. I'm going to cultivate."
With that, he got up and left.
After he left, Mo Tiange asked after a moment, "Senior Brother, is something like this really possible?"
Qin Xi shook his head. "The world is vast, full of wonders. Who knows? But..."
"But what?"
He said somewhat hesitantly, "I always feel this matter is very strange. Ever since we left the Immortal Palace, one event has followed another, all connected."
Mo Tiange was slightly taken aback. "You mean..."
"As soon as we left the Immortal Palace, the Immortal Palace collapsed. Affected by the Immortal Palace's restrictions, that independent space probably couldn't be maintained and has likely disappeared by now. After coming out, setting aside the matter of the heavenly tribulation, the sea collapse happened immediately afterward, and the Yuan Prefecture Sea suddenly moved to the Guixu Sea—all these events are connected. If they're unrelated, it's too much of a coincidence."
"You mean these several events might be related?"
Qin Xi shook his head. "It's just intuition. These things happening one after another is too coincidental."
He had a point. However, Mo Tiange tilted her head and thought for a long time but still couldn't figure out what connection there might be between them. After all, an entire sea moving to another location was too unbelievable.
"It couldn't be a spatial rift, could it?" she said whimsically. "Could a spatial rift have suddenly appeared between the Guixu Sea and the Yuan Prefecture Sea, overlapping the two seas?"
"Anything is possible." She had said it casually, but Qin Xi didn't find it absurd. "There are too many inconceivable things in this world. Even though we are already Nascent Soul cultivators, what we know is still very little."
Mo Tiange agreed with this point. The higher one's cultivation and the stronger one's power, the more one realized one's own insignificance. It was said that Nascent Soul cultivators had the ability to fly through the skies and burrow into the earth, but compared to heaven and earth, their power was merely that of a tiny ant. She truly wondered how terrifying the power possessed by those great supernatural cultivators of ancient times, who could contend with heaven and earth, must have been.
Thinking of this, she couldn't help but doubt: what level of cultivation did so-called 'attaining the Great Dao' actually require? Unknowingly, she had already become a Nascent Soul cultivator. In the eyes of the world, she could be considered to have stepped onto the Great Dao, yet she felt it was far from enough. What if she advanced to God Transformation? Would she also find herself still very insignificant? After God Transformation, was there still a path to walk?
No one could answer these questions for her. Only by reaching that step would she know the answer.
Several days later, the three of them left the small island and headed east.
If the Yuan Prefecture Continent had moved along with the Yuan Prefecture Sea, then by heading east, they could reach Yuan Prefecture. As for the north, they temporarily didn't dare go there. If this place was still the Guixu Sea, heading north would take them back to Yunzhong. In the eyes of those high-level cultivators in Yunzhong, they were now nothing more than human-shaped Qiankun Bags.
If nothing unexpected happened, after reaching Yuan Prefecture, Mo Tiange and Qin Xi planned to use the teleportation array Jing Xingzhi had come from to return to Tianji.