The structure in the center was clear, broad, and wide. A winding underwater forest also surrounded it.
The terrain rose and fell, right beside a mountain, curving like it was alive. The dragon mouth in the center was locked down by trees. There were mountains and rivers around, guarding it. This was definitely a treasured land that hid a Spirit Vein.
There were many Spirit Veins in the Heavenly Starry Ocean. However, they were mostly hidden at the bottom of the sea. Unless something strange happened with the land, exposing the Spirit Veins, one could only rely on a Geomaster to use the Dragon Seeking Art to find them.
Most cultivators do not understand geomancy. Even if they pa.s.sed a place with a hidden Spirit Vein, they would not discover anything.
Xiao Chen grasped five Dragon Fixing Needles in his right hand. He felt nervous; this was his first attempt.
A misjudgment would be a big blow to him.
Do I have any talent in this Dragon Seeking Art? This unexplored treasure land will give me the answer.
Am I right or wrong?
Holding the Dragon Fixing Needles, Xiao Chen leaped out and dove into the sea. Then, he went to the “dragon cave” that was surrounded by many trees.
Only when Xiao Chen approached did he discover that the so-called “trees locking down the dragon” was just a scene that was visible from afar.
Now that he was truly at the bottom of the sea, the hundreds of underwater trees were relatively distant from each other and were very spa.r.s.e. Ordinary people would find it very difficult to a.s.sociate them with the dragon cave or dragon mouth.
When Xiao Chen got near, he carefully touched the bark of one of the trees. These were not Spirit Trees but just ordinary underwater trees.
The Heavenly Eye was already closed. Xiao Chen peered into the distance in the seawater. The mountain range in the south looked like a ferocious beast circling around in the sea.
To the north, he saw countless mounds around positioned like guards.
Once he stood in the dragon cave in the middle, he closed his eyes and carefully felt for the flow of the sea, something that ordinary people would find hard to detect.
In the deep sea, the water flow would mostly be calm.
However, if this was truly a dragon cave with a Spirit Vein in it, the direction of the water flow would definitely have something strange to it.
Xiao Chen vaguely felt that the water flow one kilometer away moved extremely slowly, from left to right, in a barely perceptible manner.
This was indeed correct: trees locked down the dragon, flowing water surrounded it, small mounds in the north served as its guard, layered over each other.
There was a ferocious mountain beast baring fangs and claws in the south, staring at it like a tiger.
There was definitely a dragon cave hiding a Spirit Vein under Xiao Chen’s feet!
He stomped ferociously on the ground, and it cracked open with a rumble. Countless air bubbles surged out.
“Ka ca! Ka ca!”
The crack extended deeper. Xiao Chen’s stomp seemed to have disrupted some sort of balance. The speed of the crack’s growth downward was startlingly fast. Soon, it reached a depth of one kilometer.
“Bang!” The ground shattered in that instant. The initially barely perceptible, weak and slow water flow suddenly accelerated, spinning around rapidly.
Xiao Chen’s tense face eased into a smile. He was right, succeeding in this battle. However, this was no time to relax yet.
Seeking dragons and fixing veins were not that simple.
“Hu chi! Hu Chi!”
The crust trembled, and a strong force of nature uprooted the small mounds in the north. Many small mounds carrying enormous force smashed towards Xiao Chen.
These were the guards of the dragon. Those who touched the dragon cave needed to pa.s.s this round. Otherwise, not to even mention obtaining the Spirit Vein, the Spirit Vein might swallow one up instead, and one would lose one’s life.
The fourth segment of the Paradise Secret Canon on confinement included many secret techniques that could borrow the power of mountains and rivers, allowing one to deal with this situation with a wave of the hand.
Xiao Chen had not reached that level yet. He could only use his martial prowess to forcibly suppress this.
As he looked at the small mounds rus.h.i.+ng towards him in the water, he opened his palm and directly blocked a small mound.
He moved around, deflecting the mounds, smas.h.i.+ng some of the other small mounds. Rocks shattered and went flying. Even with the resistance of the seawater, they still gouged out many huge craters in the bottom of the sea.
“Roar!”
Suddenly, a ferocious beast broke out of the ground from the mountains in the south. It was actually a three-hundred-meter-long snake that was as thick as a cow.
The snake glared, and a strong aura surged out. However, after it saw Xiao Chen, it trembled in fright and turned quickly to flee.
This snake was merely as strong as a grandmaster-level Martial Sage. When Xiao Chen saw its strength, he was now confident that the Spirit Vein hidden under his feet was not a very-high-ranked Spirit Vein.
However, that did not matter. This was just a test. His only fear was coming up empty, not that the Spirit Vein was of a low rank.
He only needed to prove whether he did indeed have the talent to seek dragons and fix veins.
“Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!” Cracks appeared in the ground, spreading to the north like something was moving underground.
Xiao Chen’s expression turned cold. “Hiding the head but showing the tail? How long are you going to hide?!”
The five Dragon Fixing Needles in Xiao Chen’s hand shot out, moving in a flash.
A miserable shriek resounded at the bottom of the sea. The seawater surged, and the surface ten kilometers above rose in large waves.
The small silver wars.h.i.+p moved with the waves. Ao Jiao, who was on the wars.h.i.+p, revealed an expression of joy. She did not fear the wind and waves. What she feared was nothing happening, gaining nothing.
The cracks stopped spreading out. Xiao Chen walked calmly in the water, moving to the end of the crack. Then, he stomped a few more times.
In the end, he was still not skilled enough. If he could master just a small part of the fourth segment on confinement, he would not have to do this in such an unsightly manner.
He would be able to use the power of the surrounding geography and make the ground rise on its own.
Right now, Xiao Chen had not reached that level yet. He could only expose the Spirit Vein by brute force.
When the bottom of the sea erupted open, there was a green Roaming Dragon pinned down by the five Dragon Fixing Needles, unable to move.
“My luck is pretty good. A Rank 3 Spirit Vein. The surrounding Spirit Stone Mines can produce Medial Grade Spirit Stones, and there are chances of Superior Grade Spirit Stones appearing.”
Xiao Chen sized up the Spirit Vein below and smiled faintly. In the Sky Dome Realm, this would be worth cities, but it was nothing in the Kunlun Realm.
At the very least, at Xiao Chen’s level, it was not worth mentioning.
The five Dragon Fixing Needles slowly melted, and the green Roaming Dragon turned into a ball of Spirit Vein’s origin. A suction came from Xiao Chen, and he directly absorbed it.
The surging Spiritual Energy flooded through his body like a mighty river, looking very vast and powerful.
However, when this Spiritual Energy reached the dantian, where the vague silhouette of the dragon-shaped Heavenly Seal filled with specks of light was, it was like a river cras.h.i.+ng into the sea, silently disappearing into the flow.
The surrounding geography looked utterly wrecked. Xiao Chen finished absorbing the Spirit Vein and looked around. Then, he shot up like an arrow and burst out of the sea.
Soon after, Ao Jiao asked, “How was it?”
“One Rank 3 Spirit Vein,” Xiao Chen replied when he landed on the wars.h.i.+p.
Ao Jiao said excitedly, “Not bad! Not bad! This is really not bad! In the entire Kunlun Continent, all the Spirit Veins that could be discovered with one look are all already occupied by the major factions. Not a single one is left.
“In order to get the resources you need, you originally could only rob those Holy Lands. That would be tantamount to suicide. Now, with the Dragon Seeking Art, you no longer need to rely on others. In fact, people will come to you in droves to seek your help.”
The importance of Spirit Veins to sects went without saying. Any capable Geomaster would be an honored guest in the Holy Lands, treated with the highest respect.
Ao Jiao was completely right. However, Xiao Chen was still far from that.
After all, he was still new to this. Compared to some of the experienced Geomaster Clans, there was still a great difference.
“Oh, right. We are already in the Northern Sea. Should we head directly for the Northern Sea Alliance’s headquarters?”
The Northern Sea Alliance was an organization made up of many factions seeking mutual benefits; it was similar to the Martial G.o.d Palace.
However, in regard to strength and acc.u.mulations, they were much inferior to the Martial G.o.d Palace.
The current Alliance Chief of the Northern Sea Alliance was Ye Chen’s father. Barring the unexpected, Ye Chen should be at the alliance headquarters.
Xiao Chen took out the sea chart and checked it. Then, he said, “Let’s go to the Cloud Treasure Sea Market first. That is the largest sea market of the Northern Sea. Let’s see if I can buy the materials for refining the Dragon Subduing Platform and Dragon Revealing Mirror.”
These two dragon-seeking Secret Treasures required many divine materials, no less than a hundred types—in quant.i.ties of at least five tons for each type.
Just the divine materials alone would come up to an astronomical sum. If not for having more than forty million Black Astral Coins, making him a fabulously wealthy person, he would not bear to refine something like that.
Ao Jiao nodded and took over the sea chart. Then, she nudged Xiao Chen into the wars.h.i.+p’s hold with a smile, telling him to focus on cultivating the Paradise Secret Canon.
As for navigation and the ferocious beasts that the wars.h.i.+p encountered at sea, Xiao Chen could just leave those to Ao Jiao and Little Yellow Feather.
---
After traveling for ten days on the sea, the vague silhouette of the Cloud Treasure Sea Market appeared in the distance.
Like the Ten Thousand Treasure Sea Market, it was built around a tall sculpture standing in the sea. When seen from afar, the appearance of this sculpture was that of a different person.
However, its posture was almost the same. It looked into the sky, showing a helpless expression of grief and rage.
After Xiao Chen’s first experience, he knew that the finest market was naturally in Cloud Treasure City on the palm of the sculpture.
Not wanting to attract any attention, Xiao Chen mindfully withdrew his aura. Then, he flew into the city together with the crowd.
After asking around, Xiao Chen found that the Nine Cauldron Merchant a.s.sociation also had a branch in Cloud Treasure City. Furthermore, it was ranked third, holding the position of the Third City Lord.
As the largest sea market of the Northern Sea, the liveliness of Cloud Treasure City went without saying.
For one to be able to enter Cloud Treasure City, one needed to be at least a Superior Grade Martial Sage, a high requirement.
Even so, there was an endless stream of people on the streets. This was the best testimonial for this bustling merchant city.
According to rumor, all the Immortal sculptures in the Heavenly Starry Ocean belonged to the mysterious Treasure Master.
As Xiao Chen walked around the city, he entered deep thought.
Regardless of the veracity of the rumor, for this Treasure Master to continue standing despite compet.i.tion from the many Immortal Holy Lands, he was definitely an incredible person.
Before Xiao Chen knew it, he had arrived at the gates of the Nine Cauldron Merchant a.s.sociation. When he walked in with large strides, a pretty maidservant immediately came over to attend to him.
“This Young Master, what instructions do you have?”
Without saying anything, Xiao Chen took out a prepared list and handed it over.
The maidservant took one look and was stunned. The densely filled list included all sorts of divine materials. However, what was even more overwhelming was that the list specified fifty tons of each.
“Young Master, please come with me to the honored guest’s pavilion to rest for a while,” the maidservant said with an embarra.s.sed smile as she quickly suppressed her fl.u.s.tered heart.
Xiao Chen did not wait long in the honored guest’s pavilion. Soon after, the manager of the Nine Cauldron Merchant a.s.sociation, the big shot who held the position of the Third City Lord here, came personally.
The moment this person appeared, she was startled at the sight of Xiao Chen. Then, she waved her hands, gesturing for her guards and attendants to withdraw.
Xiao Chen’s expression changed slightly with some surprise. Then, he said with a smile, “Miss Zi Ying, we meet again.”
Both were very surprised. They had not expected to meet each other again in Cloud Treasure City after parting at the Treasure Master’s residence in Ten Thousand Treasure City.
Zi Ying walked over with a smile and said, “It’s a small world after all. Azure Dragon King, should I address you as Mo Yun or Xiao Chen?”