Chapter 1384: Eight Thousand Li of Road Under Clouds and Moon

“First, after entering the passage, everyone will stay on a specially refined flying skiff. Before reaching the secret realm area of the ‘Great Nothingness Tree,’ no one is allowed to fly out of the skiff.”

“Outside the flying skiff is an extremely dangerous desert. The ‘Bone-Melting Wind’ appears from time to time. This wind is more than ten times fiercer than the Astral Wind. Even a Void Refining cultivator caught in it cannot resist for long with their own defenses.”

“Once someone mistakenly enters, don’t expect anyone to come to the rescue. Besides, you won’t be able to wait for long. You’ll be off to the great beyond in an instant.”

“Second, during this flight, no one is allowed to fight inside the flying skiff. Violators will have their entire team disqualified from the competition.”

After Chongyangzi finished speaking, without waiting for any feedback, he took a step from the python’s head and arrived above the emerald green lake.

Then, Chongyangzi hovered in mid-air. Under the gazes of Li Yan and the dozens of others, he waved his hand towards the sky. Five zhang in front of him, a brilliant light appeared.

When Li Yan and the others scanned it with their Divine Senses, they found that it was an irregularly shaped copper plate.

The moment the copper plate appeared, Chongyangzi raised one hand, and immediately, four rays of light—green, red, white, and green—shot out from his fingertips.

The next moment, they struck the copper plate.

“Buzz!”

The copper plate trembled violently, and then it shot out four different colored rays of light. Like four giant pillars of light, they shot straight down towards the surface of the emerald green lake below.

The moment the four-colored light pillars hit the lake, ripples spread across the entire surface. As these ripples spread, waves of water mist rose from the lake.

In just a few breaths, a large gate of circulating water appeared above the lake. This gate was about seventy to eighty zhang high and wide.

Chen Xingshan and the other three exchanged a glance, then with a flash of their bodies, they too had flown above the emerald green lake.

At the same time, Chongyangzi waved his hand again, and a two-story flying skiff instantly appeared in the sky. When the flying skiff first appeared, it was several dozen zhang long, but it was still continuously expanding.

“You Nascent Soul cultivators, quickly enter the lowest level of the flying skiff. Then find a room and enter it. After imprinting it with your Divine Sense, others will not be able to enter.”

“In the days to come, you can only move around in the lowest level area. You are not allowed to step onto the upper level!”

Chongyangzi’s voice boomed with an icy chill.

As he spoke, the bow of the giant skiff had already begun to slowly enter the circulating water passage. This made the entire body of the skiff look as if it were slowly getting shorter, as if it were sinking into an endless void.

Upon hearing this, the cultivators who had participated in the competition for the “Great Nothingness Fruit” before, without a moment’s delay, had already flown directly from the “Purple-Gold Flood Dragon Python” towards the flying skiff on the side.

Li Yan did not follow immediately but watched as streaks of brilliant light shot across the sky like meteors, one after another plunging into the flying skiff…

After more than half of the people had left, Donglin Tingyue’s voice sounded beside him.

“Fellow Daoist Li!”

Li Yan chuckled lightly, nodded slightly at her, and the two of them also transformed into two streaks of light and flew over. All of this happened in just a few short breaths.

Seeing that all the disciples had flown into the flying skiff, Chongyangzi waved his hand, and the huge “Purple-Gold Flood Dragon Python” rapidly shrank.

In the blink of an eye, it transformed into a streak of purple-gold light and flew into his Spirit-Storing Ring, disappearing from sight.

“Let’s go!”

Chongyangzi said in a low voice to Chen Xingshan and the other four.

Chen Xingshan and the other four also nodded to each other. With a flicker of their bodies, they also caught up with the flying skiff, heading straight for the second level. Amidst four flashes of brilliant light, their figures had already disappeared.

At this time, the body of the giant skiff was already halfway into the circulating water gate. Chongyangzi glanced around and found that he was the only one left. He also took a step forward.

The moment he flew into the stern of the skiff, he reached out and beckoned. The four-colored light on the copper plate immediately disappeared, and it was then swept away by a suction force and vanished.

At the same time, the entire body of the giant skiff trembled violently. The circulating water gate, which had been standing in the air, suddenly expanded several times, like the giant mouth of a beast suddenly opening, and it swallowed the entire body of the flying skiff in one gulp.

At this point, the stern of the giant skiff had completely entered the circulating water gate. The gate immediately turned into a shower of water droplets, falling from the sky like a sudden downpour on the surface of the emerald green lake.

The lake surface was pelted with a “pitter-patter” sound. Soon, the place returned to its previous state, and the surroundings were empty once more.

…

This was a space filled with yellow sand. A fierce wind howled, striking the protective shield of the giant skiff and making all sorts of strange noises.

The giant skiff was made of special materials. Although it was struck by the fierce wind and sand, causing flashes of blue light, it still broke through the layers of yellow sand and whistled away in one direction.

Li Yan flew into the giant skiff, his Divine Sense quietly spreading out. His feet soon landed on the deck.

The moment he entered, he sensed Divine Senses sweeping around randomly. Obviously, after entering the giant skiff, many cultivators were checking the surroundings, especially those who were participating in the competition for the first time.

This was a giant skiff over five hundred zhang long. It was more than spacious enough to accommodate the few dozen of them.

Li Yan saw that the body of the skiff was covered by a layer of flashing, light blue light shield, which firmly protected them within.

His Divine Sense easily passed through the light blue light shield. In his Divine Sense, he saw the yellow sand sweeping outside, covering the sky and the earth, endless. The scene outside was like the arrival of a great catastrophe.

What shocked Li Yan was that the moment his Divine Sense entered the yellow sand, it was thrown into disarray. Often, after leaving the body of the skiff by about twenty zhang, it would be shredded to pieces.

One must know that Li Yan’s Divine Sense strength was comparable to that of a Spirit Transformation cultivator. If it was like this for him, then it was even more so for the Nascent Soul cultivators.

The reason that made Li Yan quickly withdraw his Divine Sense was that after his Divine Sense entered the yellow sand wind pillars, a stinging pain was transmitted to his sea of consciousness, as if someone was following his Divine Sense and stabbing at his divine soul with a sword.

Although he could endure it, it was extremely painful.

“This… this is not just the power of the yellow sand. This is the ‘Bone-Melting Wind’ attack that was mentioned before!”

“In such a situation, the defensive formation outside this giant skiff is really too powerful. Even with the ‘Bone-Melting Wind’ blowing constantly, it still can’t invade…”

After quickly withdrawing his Divine Sense, Li Yan immediately thought of what Chongyangzi had said before.

Moreover, he also realized something. When this giant skiff was exposed outside the circulating water gate, they had flown in one by one without sensing any obstruction.

The blue protective light shield must have been activated sequentially after the body of the skiff entered the gate. Otherwise, Li Yan felt that he would not have been able to withstand something more terrifying than the Astral Wind.

But now that he was here, his Divine Sense could still easily penetrate outside. Although he hadn’t tested it personally, Li Yan felt that the defensive formation on the light shield should be one-way.

Chongyangzi had said that they were not allowed to fly out, which meant that they could fly out, but it would be difficult to get back in.

There was usually only one reason for such a practice. The Spirit Stones consumed by this kind of formation every moment were too massive. If a two-way defense was activated, even a sect like the “Pure Yang Hall” would feel the pinch.

Therefore, Chongyangzi’s warning, and the activation of only a one-way defense after entering.

At this time, Donglin Tingyue, who had landed beside him, also quickly withdrew her Divine Sense, a look of pain in her beautiful eyes.

There were many other cultivators around who showed the same painful expression. These were basically all cultivators who were participating in the competition for the first time. The moment they entered a strange environment, they would subconsciously be on guard.

In addition, Chongyangzi had deliberately not reminded them, with the aim of making these Nascent Soul cultivators suffer a little, so that they would know the danger here and behave themselves for the next ten days or so.

Although these people also showed pain, no one cried out. They could naturally endure this kind of pain.

Li Yan also saw many cultivators with playful smiles in their eyes, looking at them. Obviously, they had known all along.

Not far away, Jia Fugui was blinking his small eyes, his mouth half-open, looking at Donglin Tingyue and the others with some sympathy. His expression seemed to say that he had just wanted to remind them, but was a step too late.

Li Yan swept his gaze over and found that this was happening in the other teams as well.

‘It’s the same with us. No team is a solid block. The third-rate sects have their own competitions, and the second-rate sects look down on their subordinate sects. This means that this competition is not without opportunities…’ Li Yan observed while thinking about the information on the cultivators from the other three teams that Chen Xingshan had distributed.

Among those people, there were many powerful existences. It was said that some of them had a record of successfully escaping the pursuit of Spirit Transformation cultivators.

Although Li Yan felt that he was not afraid of these people, he still continued to observe these cultivators who would become his enemies.

At this time, on the deck of the first level, all the Nascent Soul cultivators had landed on it. The number of rooms on the first level was more than two hundred.

Compared to the five-hundred-zhang-long body of the skiff, every room here was definitely very spacious.

Li Yan felt that the cultivators of the Immortal Spirit Realm knew how to enjoy themselves. For him, as long as the room was well-sealed and the Spiritual Energy was rich, it was enough. A place for him to meditate was all he needed.

With so many rooms, it was more than enough for the thirty-odd of them to live in as they pleased.

So some cultivators, after landing on the deck, just glanced at the others before walking straight towards the row of rooms in the back.

These were all cultivators who had participated in the competition before and were not interested in the surrounding environment.

Although there were no words between the four teams, there was no need to divide the area.

As long as one person went over first, the remaining teams would definitely not go to that area. The four teams chose rooms that were far apart from each other, with at least ten rooms in between.

As long as one person went over, the other cultivators would also tacitly walk towards the rooms in the direction of their own team.

But when they chose rooms, they would still leave a gap of one, or even several rooms. Soon, the four teams were isolated from each other.

On Li Yan’s side, the youth who looked to be only fifteen or sixteen was not here for the first time. As soon as he landed on the deck, he quickly darted towards the rooms in the corner of the stern.

Under such circumstances, the others in Li Yan’s team also chose the same direction in the end.

Li Yan looked at the youth’s back. He remembered that this person’s name was Yun Feng, a powerful poison cultivator that people were unwilling to get close to. His poison skills were also top-notch among those of the same rank.

Outside the skiff was a sky full of yellow sand and fierce winds. Since even Divine Sense could be shredded, and there was no scenery to speak of, the others also quickly dispersed after retracting their Divine Senses.

The stairs leading to the second level of the skiff were at the bow, but the entrance to the stairs was blocked by a white light screen. Only a section of the handrail was exposed outside, and the scene above could not be seen clearly.

Li Yan and Donglin Tingyue also walked towards the stern. After arriving here, everyone had almost stopped communicating with each other.

Their level of familiarity was just that. What needed to be said had already been said on the way here.

The principle of not speaking deeply with strangers was something that people who had lived for many years naturally understood very well.

The choice of rooms was also very simple. Once someone entered a room, they would immediately activate the formation restrictions, and a formation light would light up outside the room. This would prevent any misunderstandings caused by choosing rooms.

And after Li Yan chose a room with no one on either side, Donglin Tingyue actually chose the room next to him. Li Yan just glanced at it and had no objection.

Three rooms away from the other side of Li Yan’s room, a light had also lit up. They had also seen the person who entered before. It was the woman whose charm had not faded with age. As a member of the same team, the distance was kept neither too far nor too close.

At this moment, there were not many cultivators left on the deck, but the fatty named Jia Fugui was actually still whispering with several cultivators from other teams, occasionally gesturing with his hands.

Li Yan was extremely impressed by this fatty’s eloquence. To be able to hit it off with opponents who were originally somewhat hostile in such a short period of time was truly a skill.

Seeing him take out one magical treasure after another and enthusiastically peddling them, Li Yan thought to himself.

He just didn’t know what kind of expression he would have if the magical treasures he sold were used against him by his opponents.

After bidding farewell to Donglin Tingyue at the door, Li Yan saw the figures of the three “Blood Lantern Sect” cultivators. As expected of disciples from the same sect, they chose rooms that were right next to each other.

And at this time, two of them actually came out again after activating the formation restrictions. They also saw Li Yan standing at the door, as well as some of the cultivators on the deck.

The two then turned their heads with indifferent expressions, and with a flash, they entered the other person’s room. Then, the light of the formation restrictions in that room also quickly lit up. Obviously, they had gathered to discuss something.

Li Yan just glanced over briefly, then also lifted his foot and entered his own room. The cultivators here were all wary. Li Yan naturally wouldn’t go and greet them.

Inside the room, it was much larger than it looked from the outside. Li Yan felt that it was a bit of a waste.

There were many furnishings in the room, and it was also divided into different areas according to their use. Li Yan even saw an alchemy furnace.

Although there was no Earth Fire ore vein here, it was still possible to refine some medicinal pills by using techniques or special fire-gathering talismans.

The rest were common items such as beds and tables. Li Yan looked towards a corner area where there was a prayer mat.

For Li Yan, that prayer mat was actually enough.

Li Yan just stood at the door and looked around for a circle, but his figure still did not move. After carefully checking several times in a row, Li Yan flipped his hand and took out some formation equipment.

With a wave of his large sleeve, he set up some more defensive and warning restrictions before he finally sat down cross-legged with his mind at ease.

In about ten days, a great battle would officially begin.

Afterward, a jade slip appeared in Li Yan’s hand. Here was the information on the cultivators from the other teams this time.

“‘Seven Tigers Alliance,’ Ming Long, cultivation method ‘Startle the Tiger by Beating the Mountain.’ His appearance is extremely deceptive. He looks rough, but is actually good at using the opponent’s strength against them…”

“‘Heavenly Mountain Garden,’ Yin Man, cultivation method ‘Plum Forest Snow Drift’…”