Without saying a word, Pei Qiqi sat in her original place and contemplated the profundity of the tiny spatial blades inside of her. Dong Li and Qin Yan, however, grew bored and wanted to talk in private. Therefore, they strolled away from the location where they had gathered.
They hadn’t expected that Nie Tian hadn’t gone very far away, but rather was sitting in this nearby, secluded place.
The two of them were astounded after seeing him sitting in the lotus position before seventy-two snapped branches that had been planted in the ground, and the slightly visible, green ward around them.
Qin Yan’s bright eyes instantly lit up. “This is....”
Her gaze switched back and forth between Nie Tian and the branches for a while before she suddenly came to a realization.
She realized that the way the branches were arranged was according to the arrangement of the huge trees that filled this floating continent.
They appeared to be aligned in some pattern, thereby forming a mysterious spell formation.
After a moment of hesitation, Qin Yan rapidly went into action, not saying anything.
She copied Nie Tian and snapped seventy-two branches, which she planted in the ground in the same arrangement as his.
“What are you doing?!” Dong Li blurted, looking somewhat displeased.
With a soft chuckle, Qin Yan said, “Everyone is ent.i.tled to the hidden fortunes on this continent. You’re not going to let him reap the fortunes alone just because you fancy him, are you?”
With these words, she finished planting the branches in the ground the same way Nie Tian had at an eye-dazzling speed.
Afterwards, she copied Nie Tian and sat down in the lotus position, gazing at the branches before her, hoping for changes to happen.
However, even though the branches before her were planted in the same arrangement as Nie Tian’s, nothing seemed to be happening.
Face filled with confusion, she attempted to infuse her spiritual power into the formation of fresh, green branches, yet still nothing happened.
Eyebrows knitted, Qin Yan muttered to herself, “What went wrong? I did everything just like he did it.”
Standing next to Qin Yan, Dong Li looked down at her and said, with a taunting tilt to her mouth, “You really believed it would work?”
Somewhat frustrated, Qin Yan said, “It’s working for him. Why not me?”
With a soft chuckle, Dong Li said in a composed manner, “He has a vortex of wood power in his spiritual sea, and the spiritual power he infused those branches with was wood power. I don’t recall you ever practicing wood-attributed incantations or possessing wood power.”
Qin Yan went blank briefly.
Then, unwilling to give up just yet, she once again summoned her spiritual power and cast a few spells.
However, the formation of branches still didn’t show any changes, which frustrated her greatly.
After remaining silent for a while, she finally gave up and asked Dong Li, “Aren’t you going to give it a try?”
Dong Li shook her head, her expression surprisingly composed. “You tried and failed. There’s no point in me trying again. You might not believe it, but I strongly believe that if there are any secrets in this place, he’ll be the only one who will be able to uncover them.”
“You really have confidence in your little lover, don’t you?” Qin Yan asked, surprised by Dong Li’s words.
Dong Li pursed her lips into a smile, ignored Qin Yan’s teasing, and nodded squarely. “Yep.”
Qin Yan rose to her feet. “Well, I don’t. If I remember correctly, one of our Greater Heaven stage members also practices wood power. Everything that’s wood-attributed naturally agrees with her.”
Before Dong Li could stop her, her garments fluttered as she flashed off into the distance.
“You wouldn’t!” Dong Li yelled.
Qin Yan’s pleasant laughter rang out as she rapidly flashed about and disappeared into the distant forest. “Hahaha, we’ll see if your little lover can have all the fortunes of this place to himself.”
Dong Li thought about chasing after her, yet at this moment, Nie Tian was apparently deeply submerged in his contemplation of some profound mysteries. She was afraid that if she left, others who pa.s.sed by this place might disturb him.
After hesitating for a few seconds, she stomped her foot vigorously and shouted into the distance, “Qin Yan! If you dare to ruin it for Nie Tian, we’ll no longer be sisters!”
Then, she quietly stepped to Nie Tian’s side, where she glanced around vigilantly and served as Nie Tian’s protector.
At that moment, Nie Tian’s spirit seemed to have left his body and was roaming about in the magnetic fluctuations among the tree branches before him.
Even though Dong Li wasn’t able to see through what was happening, she could tell from Nie Tian’s incomparably focused expression that he had discovered something.
Hence, she waited.
Outside the floating continent...
Dong Baijie, Dong Kang, and the members of the Water Moon Chamber of Commerce returned to Dong Tuodi and Qin Yi one after another.
Under Dong Tuodi and Qin Yi’s inquiring gazes, every one of them shook their heads with bitter smiles, showing that they hadn’t discovered anything.
In fact, Dong Tuodi and Qin Yi had already expected these results, seeing them returning so quickly.
Although they were rather disappointed, they gradually accepted the fact that their juniors might not be destined to uncover the secrets of this floating continent.
Gazing down at the dense forest, which, even though he could see with his eyes, he couldn’t examine with his soul power, Dong Tuodi said with a somewhat frustrated tone, “We’ll wait for three more days. In three days, whether the secrets of this place are uncovered or not, we’ll need to leave. The Cao Clan, the Gu Clan, and the Pill Pavilion Sect are already summoning us. They seem to have also found something.”
Qin Yi nodded in a.s.sent. “You’re right. We can’t stay here forever.”
SHEW!
The figure of a woman suddenly flashed into view at the edge of the floating continent. She called out, looking at a female member of the Water Moon Chamber of Commerce from afar, “Feng Ying! Get down here, quickly!”
The young woman named Feng Ying also practiced wood-attributed incantations and possessed wood power.
She had carefully scanned the continent with the others earlier, but had given up after their fruitless search.
Upon hearing Dong Li’s summons, she rushed down to her side and asked, “What’s going on, Big Sister Qin Yan?”
“I’ll explain later,” Qin Yan said very urgently. “Come with me.”
Hence, Feng Ying followed her into the forest.
After reaching the nearest ancient tree, Qin Yan planted the branches she had brought with her in the ground according to her memory.
However, at that moment, great changes suddenly took place.
Even though not a single Worldly or Profound realm expert was attempting to enter the floating continent, the invisible ward once again became visible.
A dark-green, semi-transparent ward rapidly spread out in the sky and enveloped the entire continent. Detailed and complicated tree patterns appeared and started flowing on the ward.
Confused, Dong Tuodi asked, “Did any of you just send your soul power towards the continent?”
Qin Yi was also deeply puzzled.
The two of them were both at the late Profound realm. Considering the keenness of their perception, if any member of the Dong Clan or the Water Moon Chamber of Commerce had sent their soul power towards the floating continent, they would have sensed it at the first moment.
However, the ward, which would only show itself when foreign forces attempted to enter, somehow suddenly lit up.
This didn’t make sense.
Under Dong Tuodi and Qin Yi’s gazes, all of the Worldly realm members of the Dong Clan and the Water Moon Chamber of Commerce shook their heads repeatedly, showing that they hadn’t done anything.
“Can it be that someone else is trying to enter the continent from another direction?” Eyebrows furrowed, Dong Tuodi immediately spread out his profound soul awareness to cover and scan a vast area around him.
After some time, he withdrew his soul awareness and said with a frustrated expression, “No one is around.”
Confused, Qin Yi asked, “This is odd. What could be triggering the ward?”
“Hmm?!" Dong Tuodi’s eyes lit up and his expression flickered as his eyes were suddenly seized by the dark-green ward.
In the next moment, everyone else’s eyes were also caught by the special ward.
Under their gazes, the countless complicated tree patterns, which were originally slowly roaming about on the ward, suddenly started converging on one point, as if they were attracted by something.
Without any hesitation, Dong Tuodi shot up into the sky and followed the moving tree patterns to the point they were all converging on. Then, floating in the void, he looked down, and discovered that the converging point was right above the center of the floating continent.
However, since the canopies of the ancient trees were too wide and thick, he couldn’t see through them.
Therefore, he didn’t realize that he was actually floating directly above Nie Tian.
Soon, everyone from the Dong Clan and the Water Moon Chamber of Commerce rushed to Dong Tuodi’s side on their respective rocks or Rainbow Lightnings.
They all gazed down, and saw numerous beautiful tree patterns converging on this point from all directions.
“One of the tree patterns disappeared!” Qin Yi exclaimed.
One of the tree patterns suddenly disappeared from the ward after flowing to the convergence point, as if it had fallen towards the floating continent.
Upon hearing Qin Yi’s words, everyone paid more attention, and discovered that more tree patterns were vanis.h.i.+ng after reaching the center of the ward.
RUUUUMBLE!
Moments later, violent rumbles echoed out from the continent below them.
“The continent seems to be breaking apart!” Dong Tuodi gasped with astonishment.
Standing in one of the Rainbow Lightnings, Dong Baijie’s face was filled with disbelief as he stared downwards.
He was well-aware that the area underneath them was the place where he had previously parted with Nie Tian.
Even though he couldn’t see Nie Tian from the void, he was certain that he was still there.
Hence, he reached the conclusion that it was Nie Tian who had triggered the great changes.