Some people extend a helping hand because they consider you a friend. If you're constantly thinking about repaying the favor, it can actually hurt them. Despite Jing Xingzhi's outwardly frivolous appearance, his actions clearly showed he regarded Qin Xi as a friend.
Qin Xi had spent half his life in a fanatical pursuit of cultivation. He had met many people, but few could truly be called friends. Jing Xingzhi was one of the rare individuals he was willing to trust. Mo Tiange didn't want him to lose a friend because of this.
The path of immortality was fraught with peril, but it wasn't devoid of familial affection or friendship. Recalling the events at Carefree Valley, if Tian Zhiqian hadn't been misguided, how fortunate would he have been to have a friend like Ling Yunhe? Precisely because the human heart could be treacherous, sincerity was all the more precious.
A streak of golden-tinged Escape Light appeared on the horizon, speeding towards Changling City.
Yan Feng looked up as the light vanished, secretly relieved he had been suppressing his aura all along, preventing the other party from detecting him.
"That Escape Light... it should be Fellow Daoist Jing's, right?" he muttered to himself. "Why is he alone?"
After Mo Tiange and the other two left Changling City, he had instructed the cultivators under him to keep an eye on their whereabouts.
But how could Nascent Soul cultivators be easily tailed? They soon lost track of them. Yan Feng decided to take action personally, wanting to see if the trio had another purpose. However, when he arrived here, he couldn't find a single trace either. It wasn't until now that he finally saw Jing Xingzhi's Escape Light.
Judging by the direction of the light, it seemed to be heading back to Changling City. Yan Feng hesitated for a moment but decided not to follow. If he was returning to Changling City, the Merchant Alliance had plenty of manpower; Jing Xingzhi's movements would be under their control. On the other hand, if Mo Tiange and Qin Xi were deliberately hiding, they would be very difficult to find.
Just what were these three doing? If they had fallen out, Yan Feng didn't believe it. Fellow Daoist Jing was only at the early Nascent Soul stage. Even as a sword cultivator, he probably couldn't stand against the combined might of the Qin couple. And judging by his Escape Light, he didn't seem injured.
After pondering for a moment, Yan Feng flicked his sleeve and summoned his flying treasure, deciding to scout the surrounding area. The Qin couple was nowhere to be seen, and he didn't know what they were up to. Uncertainty always made it hard to feel at ease. He sighed with some annoyance. Yuan Prefecture was facing a crisis; he could only hope these three didn't intend any harm to the Yuan Merchant Alliance.
Riding his flying treasure, he circled the surrounding sea area but found nothing unusual. Yan Feng thought to himself: although he was only at the early Nascent Soul stage, the strength of his divine sense was among the top among his fellow Nascent Soul cultivators in Changling City. It seemed these two's aura-concealing techniques were quite extraordinary for him to not sense even a hint of them.
Shaking his head, he was about to return to Changling City when he suddenly sensed something. He turned, his expression drastically changing as he stared at the distant sea surface.
The sea was calm, with no abnormalities. Yet, his divine sense detected an enormous number of sea beasts nearby. Their cultivation levels ranged from low, first or second rank, to high, sixth or seventh rank. There were even a few at the peak of the seventh rank, on the verge of undergoing Human Transformation!
Yan Feng stepped on his flying treasure and flew deeper into the sea. The further he went, the paler his face became.
Finally, he halted, changed direction, and sped back towards Changling City.
Jing Xingzhi returned only after seven days.
During these seven days, Mo Tiange spent her time either cultivating in meditation or studying the teleportation formation blueprint. Qin Xi, meanwhile, was focused on refining his Bow of the Vermilion Bird.
After obtaining the Bow of the Vermilion Bird from the Vermilion Bird shrine, he had spent many years slowly absorbing all of the Vermilion Bird's Breath before he could finally retrieve the bow from within his Yang Spirit Bead. The Vermilion Bird's Breath on the bow was extremely potent, and having merged with the Yang Spirit Bead, its power was extraordinary. However, precisely because its power was so immense, it was difficult to control. During the heavenly tribulation that day, he had only barely managed to retrieve the Bow of the Vermilion Bird from the bead. The Vermilion Bird Flames covering his body had only been enough to fire that single arrow.
The might of that single arrow had actually dispersed most of the golden lightning of the ninth heavenly tribulation. This made Qin Xi realize that if he could refine the Bow of the Vermilion Bird to the point of wielding it at will, within the Nascent Soul realm, no one would be able to withstand a full-power arrow from him.
Returning to the cave and seeing Mo Tiange and Qin Xi safe and sound within the concealment formation, Jing Xingzhi let out a sigh of relief. "Are you two alright?"
Mo Tiange found it strange. "What could have happened? What's wrong with you?"
Jing Xingzhi wiped his face, casually sat down to rest, looking somewhat weary. "Changling City is in big trouble again. Well, no, I should say Yuan Prefecture is in big trouble again."
"What happened?" Qin Xi stopped his cultivation and looked at him.
"...Where to begin?" Jing Xingzhi scratched his head. Finally, he said, "Forget it, I'll start from the beginning."
"On the day I returned to Changling City, a large number of sea beasts appeared in the surrounding waters. These sea beasts, both high and low rank, swarmed densely and rushed ashore, attacking many mortals and low-level cultivators."
Mo Tiange and Qin Xi exchanged a glance, both somewhat surprised. In Kunwu, a demon beast uprising occurred every few decades or centuries. Could it be the same in Yuan Prefecture? But judging by Jing Xingzhi's tone, this didn't seem normal.
"Yuan Prefecture doesn't have demon beast uprisings," Jing Xingzhi said, knowing what they were thinking. "The seas around Yuan Prefecture have always been peaceful; such a thing has never happened before."
"Could it be because of the Guixu Sea?" Mo Tiange guessed. "The Guixu Sea was originally the territory of high-level sea beasts. The Yuan Prefecture continent suddenly appeared here. Are these sea beasts attacking humans because their territory was invaded?"
Jing Xingzhi shook his head. "If it were just the appearance of many sea beasts, perhaps that could explain it. But a few days later, I heard shocking news from the mayor's residence in Changling City."
He looked at Mo Tiange and Qin Xi and slowly said, "To the south of Yuan Prefecture now, a new continent has appeared. A continent occupied by Demon Cultivators."
"What?!" Mo Tiange and Qin Xi exclaimed in unison. They looked at each other, finding it unbelievable.
Since Yuan Prefecture, Yunzhong, and Xiaoyang had all shifted positions, the appearance of a new continent wasn't strange in itself. But for this continent to be occupied by Demon Cultivators became a bizarre matter.
In Tianji, Kunwu was the territory of cultivators, while the forests south of Kunwu were home to a large number of demon beasts.
Demon Cultivators were the elite among demon beasts. As far as they knew, although Demon Cultivators and demon beasts shared the same origin, their status was vastly different. In the eyes of Demon Cultivators, even those of the same species, demon beasts were not their kind. Only those who had successfully undergone Human Transformation and become Demon Cultivators were considered their peers. Therefore, Demon Cultivators could be said to be a new race built upon the foundation of demon beasts undergoing Human Transformation. They shed their beast forms, gained intelligence comparable to humans, and thus formed a new society.
But for a demon beast to undergo Human Transformation was far more difficult than for a human cultivator to form a Nascent Soul. If one out of tens of thousands of cultivators succeeded in forming a Nascent Soul, then out of hundreds of thousands of demon beasts, only one might cultivate to the point of Human Transformation. And even then, they might not necessarily survive the Human Transformation heavenly tribulation.
Of course, demon beasts had much stronger reproductive abilities than humans, and the number of low-level demon beasts far exceeded that of humans. But even so, those who could become Demon Cultivators were exceedingly rare. Tianji had roughly a hundred Nascent Soul cultivators, while the number of Demon Cultivators was probably less than half of that.
For an entire continent to be occupied by Demon Cultivators, how many demon beasts must live there?
"What about the human cultivators on this continent?" Qin Xi asked. "Are there really so few who have cultivated to the Nascent Soul stage? To actually let Demon Cultivators occupy a continent!"
Jing Xingzhi shook his head. "You guessed wrong. It's not that the human cultivators on this continent are too weak; it's that there simply aren't any!"
Qin Xi was stunned. "None?"
"That's right!" Jing Xingzhi said. "A few months ago, after the continental displacement event, the Yuan Prefecture Merchant Alliance sent people to scout the routes. Those heading north discovered Xiaoyang. Those heading south discovered this Demon Cultivator Continent. They ventured into this continent and found only demon beasts, no humans at all."
"..." Qin Xi sighed. "Truly, the world is vast and full of wonders. I always thought all continents were dominated by human cultivators. It turns out there are some occupied by Demon Cultivators."
"Is this related to the sea beast matter?" Mo Tiange asked. "Could it be these sea beasts aren't from the Guixu Sea, but from this Demon Cultivator Continent?"
Jing Xingzhi still shook his head. "No, the sea beasts are definitely from the Guixu Sea. However..." He paused, then waved his hand in mid-air, using spiritual energy to draw a simple map. "Look, here is the Guixu Sea, and here is the Demon Cultivator Continent. Yunzhong used to be in this position—do you see something?"
Mo Tiange stared at it for a long while, then frowned. "The reason the Guixu Sea has so many high-level sea beasts is because it's adjacent to the Demon Cultivator Continent?"
Jing Xingzhi nodded, quite satisfied with her quick wit. "Correct. The people from the Yuan Prefecture Merchant Alliance found out that during this heaven-and-earth anomaly, the Demon Cultivator Continent only shifted slightly northward. Its position isn't much different from before; it's still adjacent to the Guixu Sea. Previously, people from Yunzhong only knew the Guixu Sea was dangerous, with many high-level sea beasts, but they didn't know that was because the Guixu Sea bordered the Demon Cultivator Continent."
"So, does that mean the Demon Cultivator Continent has also discovered Yuan Prefecture's existence?" Qin Xi asked. "Are they mobilizing so many sea beasts because they want to occupy Yuan Prefecture?"
Jing Xingzhi gave a bitter smile. "Very likely. When it rains, it pours. Yuan Prefecture is probably doomed. With Xiaoyang in front and Demon Cultivators behind, forget maintaining its current prosperity; even self-preservation has become a question."
The three fell silent for a moment. They had witnessed Yuan Prefecture's prosperity firsthand. Yet, the situation was developing increasingly unfavorably for Yuan Prefecture. They could almost imagine that in a few decades, or even a few years, with no other way out, Yuan Prefecture would descend into chaos, its talent withering away.
As fellow humans, of course they didn't wish to see Yuan Prefecture occupied by Demon Cultivators. But the fate of an entire continent was not something they could change.
"What about these past few days? How is the situation?" Qin Xi asked after a long silence.
Jing Xingzhi sighed. "It's manageable for now. No demon beasts above the eighth rank have appeared yet. With so many Nascent Soul cultivators in Changling City, it's naturally safe. However, the surrounding small islands have suffered terribly. Many mortals and cultivators have died or been injured. The survivors have all been relocated to Changling City. Changling City is now heavily guarded. If I hadn't used the opportunity of hunting sea beasts to leave, I probably wouldn't have been able to get out."
"Did you manage to get the materials?" Mo Tiange asked. With the situation in chaos, presumably most of Changling City's markets were closed. If he hadn't bought the formation materials, it would be troublesome.
"Of course." Jing Xingzhi opened his hand. Lying in his palm was a yellow, transparent object. "The trading continent truly lives up to its reputation. I showed the list and asked around, and someone told me this item is called Jade Pine Resin, an excellent material for setting up formations. I went through some trouble but finally managed to buy it."