To prevent plundering by Xiaoyang cultivators, this small island was garrisoned by a Nascent Soul cultivator and equipped with a teleportation formation to Yuan Prefecture, facilitating trade.
Originally, traveling via Yuan Prefecture to Xiaoyang would have been safer, but according to the garrisoned Nascent Soul cultivator, Yuan Prefecture was currently embroiled in fierce battles with the demon cultivator continent, which was fully invading Yuan Prefecture, making it not a good choice.
This garrisoned Nascent Soul cultivator was an early-stage cultivator over a thousand years old. Probably having no hope for further advancement and wanting to avoid entanglement in conflicts, he had distanced himself from Yunzhong to reside here. He was familiar with Ling Yunhe. Seeing that most of their party were at the mid-stage of Nascent Soul, all in their prime, he was quite envious. Having received spirit herbs from Mo Tiange, he diligently informed them of the nearby situation and even gifted them a detailed sea chart.
Armed with this detailed sea chart and guided by the experienced Nie Wushang, the seven of them set off directly by sea towards Xiaoyang.
Along the way, sea beasts were everywhere, mostly of the sixth and seventh ranks. Eighth and ninth-rank beasts were not absent, but upon detecting them, they fled far away.
Mo Tiange looked at the multitude of sea beasts beneath her feet and couldn't help but remark, "If a beast-hunting island were established here, it might not be inferior to the former Yiyi Island."
"Fellow Daoist Mo speaks truly," Ling Yunhe nodded in agreement. "However, establishing an island here is too difficult and cannot be accomplished in a short time. The former Yiyi Island was managed for over a hundred thousand years to reach that scale, and it relied on the backing of the mainland. If only a small island were isolated overseas, it could be completely wiped out in one go if surrounded by demon cultivators."
Mo Tiange was taken aback. "Fellow Daoist Ling's consideration is thorough. I was being somewhat idealistic."
Ling Yunhe smiled. "Fellow Daoist Mo may not know, but Yunzhong cultivators have long considered this matter. It's just that time was too tight, and later the situation changed drastically, leading to delays until now. It's not that Ling has unique insight."
They flew smoothly for several days, getting closer and closer to Xiaoyang. Many islands already showed signs of cultivator activity when Nie Wushang suddenly stopped on a deserted island.
"Fellow Daoist Nie, what is it? Is there a problem?" Qin Xi asked.
Nie Wushang shook her head. "Our party has so many Nascent Soul cultivators. If we enter the scope of the three Xiaoyang islands, it will inevitably cause a sensation. And the locations where the Qilin's aura appears are all on the periphery of Xiaoyang. So, it's best to stop here."
Mo Tiange took out the map for comparison. Their location was very close to one of the points. She said, "Wushang makes sense. We don't need to go further."
Since they both said so, the others had no objections and all took out their maps to study.
According to the investigations by the Ancient Sword Sect disciples, there were three points in total. Each point was a sea area, somewhat far apart from each other, with a considerable range, forming a ring around the north of Xiaoyang.
"My disciples reported that in these three areas, eighth-rank or higher demon cultivators are often active, so they couldn't investigate carefully. However, it's almost certain it's near these three points," Jing Xingzhi said. "In my opinion, these three areas are quite large, and searching them will take considerable effort. How about we split into three teams?"
Seven Nascent Soul cultivators searching one place was indeed wasteful. Moreover, this place wasn't far from Xiaoyang Island, with only occasional eighth-rank demon cultivators. Each of them was an elite among cultivators; why would they fear this?
Everyone present agreed and discussed how to allocate.
Ling Yunhe spoke first. "Splitting into three teams, we have seven people. The stronger ones can form a team of two, the slightly weaker ones a team of three."
Dao Lord Lingxi very consciously stepped forward. "All Fellow Daoists are at the mid-stage, while I am still at the initial stage. I won't stand on ceremony."
Next was Nie Wushang. "I've just recovered from serious injuries, so I won't overestimate myself."
Apart from them, the other five remained silent. Qin Xi Needless to say, he was the strongest. Mo Tiange had been at the mid-stage for over fifty years, with a stable realm and having just refined a supreme-grade magical treasure. Jing Xingzhi had received the inheritance of Perfected One Ziwei and possessed the White Tiger Pearl; in terms of strength, he was even stronger than Mo Tiange. Ling Yunhe had both the Black Tortoise inheritance and the God-Restricting Bead. Yang Chengji possessed the most powerful among Yunzhong's five sacred artifacts, the Heavenly Demon Tower. It wasn't easy to determine who among them was the weakest.
Qin Xi pondered briefly and said, "Tiange, if we're talking about whom Fellow Daoist Nie trusts most, it's still you. How about you travel with Junior Brother Lingxi and Fellow Daoist Nie?"
Mo Tiange agreed. Besides the two of them, Dao Lord Lingxi wasn't very familiar with the others, and if Qin Xi accompanied them, he wasn't familiar with Nie Wushang either, so she was the best choice.
Turning to the other three, Qin Xi asked with a smile, "Which Fellow Daoist would like to travel with me?"
Under normal circumstances, it would naturally be Jing Xingzhi; they were old partners. However, to balance strength, he still asked.
Before Jing Xingzhi could speak, Ling Yunhe said with a smile, "Ling wishes to travel with Fellow Daoist."
Qin Xi wasn't surprised and nodded lightly. "If there are no problems, let's proceed like this."
Jing Xingzhi and Yang Chengji exchanged a glance. Jing Xingzhi raised an eyebrow. " It doesn't matter."
After dividing into teams, the three groups each chose their own target. Mo Tiange's team was naturally taken care of, assigned the nearest one.
"Senior Brother, wait," Mo Tiange called out as they were about to leave. She summoned Little Phoenix from her spirit beast bracelet. "Shall Little Phoenix go with you?"
Qin Xi nodded and softly instructed, "Junior Brother Lingxi's cultivation is slightly weaker, and Fellow Daoist Nie has just recovered from serious injuries. Your spirit beasts are all at least eighth-rank. Having them accompany you will be safer."
"Alright, I understand."
After a brief exchange, they each bid farewell and flew away.
"Tiange," Nie Wushang called during their flight.
"What is it?" Seeing her look of doubt, Mo Tiange asked.
"There's something I've been thinking about for several days," she said with furrowed brows. "The method Jing Xingzhi used to find the Qilin Sacrificial Temple is based on the positions of the other four spirit sacrificial temples, and these positions are after the Great Upheaval of Heaven and Earth... Why is this so? Weren't these temples built millions of years ago? Could it be that millions of years ago, it was destined that today's world would become like this?"
"We've thought about this question," Mo Tiange said slowly. "The reason for the Great Upheaval of Heaven and Earth is not unrelated to our experiences in the Guixu Sea, as you know."
Nie Wushang nodded.
Mo Tiange continued, "What exactly did we trigger in the Guixu Sea that caused the Great Upheaval? The opening of the Guixu Sea Immortal Palace was filled with various coincidences. If even one condition wasn't met, it might never have appeared. Frankly, I don't think this outcome was foreseeable. So, I believe the world becoming as it is today was just an accident. Moreover, how could people, or gods, from millions of years ago build sacrificial temples based on this result because the world would one day become like this?"
Nie Wushang thought for a while. "Are you saying... this world might have originally been like this?"
Mo Tiange nodded gently. "We speculate that this world was originally in its current form, but later, due to some reason, it became like before—for example, several catastrophic disasters of destruction."
"..." Nie Wushang silently pondered for a long time before whispering, "It's said that all things in the world have cause and effect. The world has returned to its original form. I only hope for the peace of the Primordial era."
Mo Tiange didn't say more. She also hoped so—hoped to smoothly find Qilin Sacrificial Temple, find the truth that Amber called the great secret, uncover the true face of that wager, and obtain the means for victory.
"Junior Sister Qingwei, is this the place?" Dao Lord Lingxi's voice came from beside her.
Mo Tiange turned to look and checked against the map. "It should be."
This location was a relatively calm sea area, not far from the main Xiaoyang island, so there weren't many sea beasts. Earlier, they sensed an eighth-rank demon cultivator nearby, but upon detecting them, it had also fled far away.
Speaking of which, Xiaoyang cultivators were truly a peculiar existence. Whether from Yunzhong, Tianji, or Yuan Prefecture, if cultivators from the three continents resided in a location like Xiaoyang, they would definitely wholeheartedly hunt beasts for cultivation. Xiaoyang cultivators, however, were not like that. They seemed accustomed to living by plunder, would rather travel afar Yuan Prefecture rob Tribulation rather than going to sea to hunt beasts. This resulted in the area around the three Xiaoyang islands remaining completely primitive state, with sea beasts hardly reduced.
Mo Tiange pressed her spirit beast bracelet and summoned her three spirit beasts with a flourish, along with Stone, who was inseparable from Feifei.
Even though it wasn't the first time seeing it, Nie Wushang still found it magnificent and exclaimed in admiration, "With this display, you're imposing even without fighting. Spirit Beast Sect cultivators don't have this many eighth-rank spirit beasts, do they?"
Spirit Beast Sect cultivators practiced a special technique; their life-bound spirit beast always matched their own cultivation level. At high stages, fighting two against one gave quite an advantage. However, they only had one life-bound spirit beast. Raising other spirit beasts to eighth-rank or above was equally difficult. Even the Spirit Beast Sect's leader, Hua Lingyun, only had two spirit beasts above eighth-rank.
"Wow, the sea!" Xiaofan cried out first, then looked pleadingly at Mo Tiange. "Master, can I go down?"
Mo Tiange said, "That's exactly why I'm letting you out. This sea area has leaked Qilin aura. Go down and search."
Without another word, Xiaofan suddenly revealed its true form, transforming into a all-over blue Cang Dragon, and leaped into the water.
"You too," Mo Tiange said, turning to the other two spirit beasts.
Feifei pouted, couldn't be bothered to ask, and patted one of Stone's heads. "Stone, let's go."
Little Fire, however, shrank back timidly. "Master, let me do something else. Can I not go down?" As a fire-attributed spirit beast, she had a natural fear of the sea.
"Fine," Mo Tiange pointed below. "You stay here to support Xiaofan and Feifei."
"Okay!" Not having to enter the sea, Little Fire agreed immediately.
After arranging the spirit beasts, Mo Tiange turned and called, "Senior Brother Lingxi, shall we go down and search too?"
"Alright." Dao Lord Lingxi flicked his finger, and a lush green Lotus Leaf appeared before him, then transformed into a green aura that enveloped his entire body. "This brother will go first. Junior Sister and Fellow Daoist Nie, be careful." With that, he plunged into the sea.
"Wushang, let's go too."
"Mm."
The two each used their own methods and sank into the great sea.