Above the boundless blue sea.

The heavenly boat transformed into a streak of light and swiftly traveled through the empty space. Occasionally, it would pause in the air for a moment, leaving behind an illusion of a boat that was realistic enough to deceive others, before continuing its flight and leaving another illusion millions of miles away.

The illusory boats would fly in random directions and gradually fade away and disappear after about an hour.

This was a special celestial secret technique that could sever the karmic connections in the world, greatly misleading various tracking spells and techniques. It made it impossible for the Heavenly Human Clan’s remnants to deduce their whereabouts and identities, at least not so quickly, thus ensuring their safety to the greatest extent.

“…Junior Brother, your identity is already special enough, and this technique is unnecessary. However, the powerful figures among the Heavenly Human Clan’s remnants are not simple. No one can say for sure if they have any unexpected special means. So, this secret technique is an additional safeguard for your safety.”

“With our current cultivation, it is difficult to permanently keep it a secret. However, we can still ensure your safety for a hundred years with some confidence.”

Yu Lingzhou said as over a hundred elders joined forces, with the assistance of Qing Muling’s unparalleled luck, to barely complete this highly consuming secret technique.

Ultimately, it was because Qing Muling’s current cultivation was too low, so they didn’t dare to take any risks. If he had the same strength as his senior sisters now, it wouldn’t be so troublesome.

Qing Muling frowned and asked, “What is the cost? And most importantly, can it be restored?”

Yueyi Heavenly Lord casually replied, “It’s not much, each person will lose ten thousand years of lifespan and a cultivation equivalent to a Yuanhui. As for whether it can be restored… it depends on your performance, Junior Brother! If the gains in the Qifeng Basin this time are abundant enough, it will be easy to resolve such injuries.”

Xuebing Xuan and the other senior sisters’ expressions changed. Losing ten thousand years of lifespan and a cultivation equivalent to a Yuanhui meant certain death for them. It was clear that the elders had made a huge sacrifice for Qing Muling’s safety.

Especially for Yu Lingzhou and some of the other elders who had been in seclusion due to serious injuries and only managed to recover with the help of Heavenly Medicine a few months ago, sacrificing themselves again like this was simply…

“There’s nothing to regret. This price is nothing for you.”

Yu Lingzhou patted Qing Muling’s shoulder with a smile, her beautiful eyes shimmering. “If you really want to repay us, why not seriously consider our previous proposal?”

Qing Muling glanced at her seductive figure and nodded slightly. “Alright, as long as you can convince Master, I have no objections.”

Qi Yalan and the other senior sisters’ faces changed slightly. This foxy woman just couldn’t let go of Junior Brother? It was simply intolerable!

Yueyi Heavenly Lord glanced at her indifferently and said, “We’re almost there. Get ready to take action. Hopefully, there won’t be too many native creatures below this time.”

Only then did the women shift their attention. The heavenly boat had already started to descend. From afar, a huge basin was embedded in the vast land below, with a radius of over ten million miles. The edge of the basin was surrounded by cliffs over three thousand zhang high, completely separating it from the surrounding barren desert.

The billions of miles of barren desert were cold and desolate, with rare signs of life. However, the basin was full of vitality, with abundant spiritual energy like water, presenting a vibrant scene. The stark contrast between the two made one wonder what kind of natural evolution had occurred to create this spectacle.

“Could this place be intentionally arranged by a powerful figure?”

Qing Muling furrowed his brows. He had already noticed that the spiritual energy on the billions of miles of desert, both on the surface and underground, was extremely scarce, without even a decent spiritual vein.

On the other hand, the spiritual energy in the Qifeng Basin was so rich that it reached its peak. Deep underground, there were almost only spiritual veins and spiritual eyes. Hundreds of giant spiritual veins converged in the central area of the basin, forming a spiritual vein sea with a radius of tens of thousands of miles. Even in this Misty Illusion Secret Realm, it was considered a top-grade immortal land.

In other words, the Qifeng Basin was formed at the cost of sacrificing the environmental ecology and spiritual veins of billions of miles around it. Qing Muling couldn’t believe that there were no artificial factors behind this.

“Perhaps it is, perhaps it isn’t. But it doesn’t matter to us now. We’re only here for the resources. Besides, the owner of this place has never appeared before when we came here in the past. Let’s just treat it as ownerless land.”

Qing Muling didn’t say anything more. When the heavenly boat descended to a height of only five thousand zhang above the ground, it circled around the central area of the basin a few times before finally stopping above a primitive jungle.

Due to the abundant spiritual energy, the flora and fauna here were unusually large in size. Trees that were hundreds or even thousands of zhang tall were a common sight. As a result, the bottom of the heavenly boat was almost brushing against the treetops of dozens of giant trees.With Qing Muling’s perception ability, he easily discovered large patches of spiritual herbs and plants. There was no shortage of holy and divine medicines that had been growing for tens of thousands of years or even longer. The entire area was filled with radiant light and auspicious energy. Countless stars poured down from the sky, condensing into various magnificent phenomena in the basin, which was awe-inspiring to behold.

“It’s strange. There are no traces of dangerous creatures within a thousand miles?”

Yueyi Heavenly Lord released her divine sense and tried to sense the situation. She couldn’t help but feel puzzled. “Could it be that they are all hiding? Or has something unknown happened?”

Although they saw many exotic beasts and spirit birds, there were also formidable and difficult-to-deal-with species among them. However, with the cultivation of the elders, as long as they joined forces, they could easily handle them. So far, they had not encountered any dangerous beings that exceeded their limits.

After thinking for a moment, Yueyi Heavenly Lord boldly tried to lower the height of the heavenly ship until it stopped at a thousand zhang above the ground, but it still did not trigger any abnormal reactions.

“Don’t worry about it. Since there doesn’t seem to be any threat, let’s get to work quickly!”

Yu Lingzhou said, “Junior Brother, use your innate ability to try it out. There are many rare trees and spiritual woods here that have been growing for tens of thousands of years. It is expected that you will be able to harvest a large amount of postnatal ethereal wood essence.”

Qing Muling agreed and walked to the front deck, sitting down and slowly activating his innate ability.

After a few breaths, a huge blue lotus shadow slowly appeared, enveloping the entire heavenly ship. Rolling blue air currents spread out lightly in all directions, quickly covering an area of nearly a hundred li. Dazzling starlight scattered in the sky, silently infiltrating into the interior of those rare trees and spiritual woods.

Compared to when he was in the Condensing Elixir Realm and the seventh level of the Nascent Soul Realm, the coverage area of the blue air currents had increased several times. The quantity and quality of the harvested ethereal wood essence had also greatly increased.

Under the gaze of the senior sister and the elders, countless faint purple ethereal wood essence separated from the interior of these rare trees and spiritual woods, rising into the air and converging into a thick layer of purple clouds. They then transformed into a hundred-li-wide vortex of ethereal energy, continuously flowing into Qing Muling’s body.

The feeling of his five organs, six bowels, and meridians being on the verge of bursting came from within his body. Fortunately, the innate Harmony Spirit Seed emitted a hazy radiance and the strange Dao Rhyme filled the air, easily absorbing the excess ethereal wood essence and resolving Qing Muling’s dilemma in time. Otherwise, he might have exploded on the spot.

It took a full two quarters of an hour for Qing Muling to complete a round of cultivation. At the same time, he felt a closer connection with the primitive virgin forest beneath him. Some hidden and obscure information surged into his divine soul, as if this place had become his home ground. Within a radius of a hundred and fifty li, he could sense any movement without fail.

“How is it, Junior Brother?” Cheng Yulan asked.

“Very good,” Qing Muling opened his eyes. “For the time being, there won’t be any formidable creatures appearing here. Everyone can go down and collect resources. As long as you stay within a hundred and fifty li of me, there won’t be any problems.”

“That’s great.”

Yu Lingzhou excitedly agreed and immediately urged the elders to start working. They formed groups of three to take care of each other, so even if they encountered any trouble, they would be able to handle it.

Xuebing Xuan couldn’t help but say with joy, “As long as we can transport a large amount of the medicinal resources here back to the Great Void Starry Sky, we can try to refine many dan medicines with special effects. This will further enhance the combat power and cultivation speed of the disciples.”

Qing Muling asked, “Has the sect collected the dan formulas and refining methods passed down by the Heavenly Human Clan survivors?”

Xuebing Xuan said, “Of course. Most of the alchemy classics and formulas are not secrets. You can obtain them with a little attention. It’s just that in the past, the medicinal materials from the secret realm couldn’t be brought back to the Great Void Starry Sky, so even if we knew them, they were useless. But now there’s no need to worry.”

In fact, directly consuming these holy and divine medicines was a bit wasteful. If they could refine them into high-grade dan medicines and then consume them, the benefits for cultivators would undoubtedly be greater.

However, the Misty Illusion Secret Realm was only open for a limited time. Even if there were alchemy masters who came in and collected all the required medicinal materials and prepared a top-grade alchemy furnace to refine the dan medicines, it would take several years to refine a qualified furnace. It was too slow.

Therefore, the cultivators from the Great Void Starry Sky could only rush to the wilderness to find opportunities. Few people had the peace of mind to refine dan medicines or artifacts. Not only did these things take a lot of time, but the rewards did not match the effort, so naturally, no one was willing to be foolish.

After one day, thousands of large-capacity spatial artifacts were filled, and Qing Muling successfully brought them back to the Great Void Starry Sky.

Yueyi Heavenly Lord roughly estimated that it would take at least half a year to completely plunder all the valuable resources in the Qifeng Basin.

…

Gouli Heavenly Palace.

By the side of a shimmering lake, dense white mist filled the air. Inside a jade stone pavilion by the lake, Zihuang looked at Lingxi, who had a serious expression, with some surprise.

“Sister, why did you come back so soon? I thought you would be gone for many days!”

“Something is not right,” Lingxi said with a serious expression.Lingxu handed over a bone talisman, explaining, “I found the last place where Zhu Yan appeared. He indeed fell, but it’s still unclear who did it. Perhaps you should…”

She recounted what she had seen and heard, causing Zi Huang’s eyebrows to furrow, her unparalleled beauty clouded with gloom.

“These foreign cultivators really know how to stir up trouble!”

Zi Huang said coldly, “In that case, I will use the Heavenly Palace’s heavy instrument to calculate. We must find them and punish them according to the law. Come with me.”

Half an hour later, in a hall exuding an ancient and vicissitudinous aura, a Formation Array altar about a meter high had been set up.

Zi Huang made a final check, and only after confirming that there were no oversights did she activate the Formation Array. Mysterious and distant Dao Rhymes began to permeate the space.

Then she stepped onto the altar, took a black crystal ball about a foot in diameter from a precious and heavy place, and began to expend her heart’s blood to stimulate it. The altar emitted a low hum, and mysterious and abstruse symbols appeared and disappeared around her. Occasionally, strange and inexplicable roars and howls would come from the void.

“No——!”

Suddenly, Zi Huang’s face turned pale. The backlash from the unknown came without warning. Even with her profound cultivation, she couldn’t help but spit out a mouthful of fresh blood, her aura rapidly declining.

“Sister, what’s wrong with you?”

Lingxu on the side quickly rushed forward to support her, grabbed the black crystal ball, and, enduring the pain of the backlash from the heavenly secrets, threw it far away. Only then did the operation of the Formation Array stop.

——Author’s Note——

I will continue to update tonight, please vote for monthly tickets and recommendation tickets.