Chapter 1565: Boundless Sea and Sky
Editor: Atlas Studios
The sounds of laughter spread with the wind.
The black boat moved rapidly.
It quickly approached the spirit mine on the ground.
From afar, this spirit mine looked like a huge pit with a range of 500 kilometers.
Around the deep pit, there was a barrier that shone with black light, sealing this place.
As for the surroundings of the spirit mine, they could only see the wilderness and few signs of living beings.
As the black boat got closer, among the eight to nine cultivators on the boat, a handsome youth coughed lightly.
He was clearly the leader of everyone on this boat in terms of status. Hence, everyone immediately looked over.
After gathering everyone’s attention, the youth calmly spoke.
“Let’s take some time to relax. This mission was tough on everyone. Who would have thought those remnants were hiding among the common folk? But we managed to find traces of them, so we’ve successfully completed the family’s task.”
“It’s just that I have some regrets. In order to find their tracks, we had no choice but to destroy several mortal cities. This matter can be seen as small, or it could be seen as something much bigger…”
The youth sighed.
When the surrounding cultivators heard this, they immediately spoke.
“Brother Haishan, you have a kind heart.”
“Those innocent mortals’ deaths are ultimately the fault of those heretical remnants. The killing wasn’t our intention, and even the clan will understand this.”
“Indeed. Hunting down the heretical remnants has long been the decree of the Immortal Capital. We can all testify that we were just carrying out our duty. The responsibility doesn’t lie with us.”
The youth nodded to express his regret. His gaze swept over and he looked at a beautiful woman beside him with a faint smile.
“Let’s not talk about this. Among the thirty-five spirit mines of the clan, this place is the most peaceful. To be honest, it’s my first time here, but now that we’re here, we’ve entered Junior Sister Ling’s territory.”
When the others beside him heard this, they also smiled and nodded before speaking.
“Indeed. The guardian of this spirit mine, Elder Lingdu, is one of the family’s revered figures and also the ancestor of Junior Sister Ling’s lineage. When we meet Elder Lingdu later, I hope Junior Sister Ling can put in a good word for us so that he might offer us some guidance.”
“Though he’s an honorary elder from an outside family, with Elder Lingdu’s cultivation, even a slight piece of advice from him would be immensely beneficial to us.”
Amidst the waves of laughter, the woman who was being looked at smiled slightly.
“Brother Haishan, you’re exaggerating. I’m merely benefiting from the protection of my ancestor. How could I possibly compare to any of you?”
“The ancestor could be the guardian of this place thanks to the opportunity provided by your esteemed clan.”
“However, since Brother Haishan has spoken, when I see the ancestor later, I’ll definitely beg him to give everyone more spots to enter the minor worlds to absorb spiritual energy.”
“1 hope that my esteemed senior brothers can relax and enjoy yourselves here.” The woman spoke softly. Although her tone was humble, she quite enjoyed the words of these cultivators.
Just like that, as they chatted and laughed, the boat they were on arrived outside the spirit mine.
As everyone flew out one by one, the woman surnamed Ling stood behind the youth named Haishan. She was the first to walk out and used a jade slip to transmit her voice to the ancestor.
The others had relaxed expressions and were looking forward to the relaxation as they waited for the spirit mine’s forbidden formation to be opened.
However, as time pa.s.sed, the formation of the spirit mine showed no signs of being activated. That woman surnamed Ling also frowned slightly.
There was also no reply to her voice transmission to the ancestor.
“Strange…”
The woman surnamed Ling thought about it and looked at the people accompanying her.
“The ancestor should be cultivating. Brother Haishan, you’re a direct descendant of the clan, so you should have the right to activate the spirit mine’s formation. Why don’t you open it?”
The youth in the lead glanced at the formation in front of him.
With the obstruction of the formation’s light, he couldn’t see the situation inside.
He thought about it and shook his head.
“Although I have the authority, this place is still guarded by Senior Ling after all. It’s not polite to enter without permission.”
“Since Senior Ling is cultivating, we’ll wait a while.”
When the others heard this, they nodded in agreement.
The woman surnamed Ling nodded and continued to transmit her voice and even tried to transmit her voice to the ancestor’s servant, but there was no response.
This was the first time she had encountered such a situation. Gradually, she couldn’t help but feel a little fl.u.s.tered and worried that an accident had happened. However, when she thought of the ancestor’s cultivation and personality, she felt that the possibility of an accident happening was minimal. These people didn’t notice that at that moment, through the array formation, a cold gaze was sweeping over.
It swept past them.
“Three are at the fourth stage of Nihility, four are at the Soul Acc.u.mulation Two Worlds, one has three worlds, and the strongest has four worlds.”
In the spirit mine, Xu Qing, who was absorbing the spiritual energy here, slowly opened his eyes. After looking outside, he mumbled.
It would be easy for him to kill these people.
However, Xu Qing didn’t want to kill if there was no need. After all, if he killed too many, it would ultimately cause some trouble in the future.
By not killing these individuals, although they might report the anomaly here, the anomaly would likely be dismissed as merely the sealing of the spirit mine. Since they wouldn’t know the specifics, even if their clan sent someone to investigate, it wouldn’t be immediate; it would most likely take some time.
However, if he killed these people, due to bloodline and other spells, their clan would probably discover what happened in the spirit mine.
As such, before the other party looked for death, Xu Qing wouldn’t attack. Instead, he continued to absorb the spiritual energy.
The spiritual energy here was very thin now. Xu Qing estimated that he would be able to finish absorbing it in about two hours.
Although absorbing spiritual energy could help his cultivation increase to a certain extent, Xu Qing’s main focus was to use the spiritual energy here to enhance his Seven Extremities Dao.
Among them, he mainly focused on s.p.a.ce and time.
In Xu Qing’s judgment, he hadn’t developed enough of these two extremities.
Therefore, his main focus was to try to comprehend the vortex pa.s.sage while absorbing the spiritual energy.
He had already done this in the small bubble world. Now, he borrowed the spiritual energy to continue to comprehend.
During this time, he also absorbed the liaoxuan holy liquid.
This would allow his comprehension to be smoother.
Just like that, time flowed by.
Often, even though Xu Qing didn’t want to create complications, the winds of change would come on their own.
An hour later, outside the array formation, doubts gradually rose in Haishan’s mind. He then spoke to the woman surnamed Ling.
“Junior Sister Ling, even if Senior Ling is immersed in cultivating, he should have a servant by his side. Have you contacted the servant?”
The uneasiness in the woman’s heart was now even more intense than before. She nodded.
“I did, but… there was also no response.”
When the others heard this, their expressions also changed. All of them instinctively looked at Haishan.
Haishan narrowed his eyes and slowly spoke.
“Since Senior Lingdu is cultivating, it’s not good for us to continue disturbing him. We will leave for now.”
With that, he flew back to the black boat.
The others hesitated but they also flew over one by one. However, the uneasiness in the heart of the woman surnamed Ling deepened. She opened her mouth and wanted to say something but after seeing Haishan’s serious expression, she didn’t dare to speak.
Just like that, everyone boarded the boat and quickly left.
After flying to a certain range, the boat stopped. Haishan narrowed his eyes and turned his head to look at the spirit mine in the distance while pondering.
‘The Ling family ancestor and his servant haven’t sent any word. Either they’re truly engaged in cultivation or other matters, or perhaps they’ve gone out. But if they had gone out, it shouldn’t prevent them from sending a message. So, it’s possible that due to some reason, they’re unable to divert their attention.’
‘Of course, there’s another possibility and that is that an accident has happened.’
‘However, the formation’s seal is still intact and there are no signs of it shattering. This means that even if an accident happened, it hasn’t spread out.’ ‘Moreover, we were so close just now and stayed for an hour but we weren’t attacked. There was also no obstruction when we left…’
‘All of this…’
After some thought, Haishan suddenly spoke to the woman surnamed Ling.
“Junior Sister Ling, does your ancestor have any enemies? When was the last time you two contacted each other?”
When the woman surnamed Ling heard this, she hurriedly replied.
“The ancestor does things with caution and stability as priority. He has basically dealt with all his enemies, and he has almost never gone out ever since he was stationed here.”
“The last time we contacted each other was a few days ago. After we completed the mission, I contacted the ancestor to tell him that we were going to visit him.”
Haishan pondered thoughtfully, realizing that the probability of something going wrong was low. Even if an issue did arise, it would likely be in the initial stages. Such a problem, which could distract Senior Lingdu, would certainly be at the level of a Ruler.
However… this represented merit!
‘If I report the abnormality here and it turns out everything is normal here, the clan will definitely be dissatisfied with me.’
‘So…’
After a moment of silence, Haishan thought to himself, ‘I’m only taking a rough look from afar. It should be fine.’
At the thought of this, he stood on the boat and suddenly took out a jade slip. He squeezed it fiercely and used the authority as a direct descendant to lock onto the spirit mine array in the distance. A blood-red light flashed in his eyes as he looked over.
With this glance, as his authority locked onto the spirit mine, the blurry scene inside the formation immediately became a little clearer in his eyes.
After seeing the scene inside through the array formation, his expression changed drastically.
He saw ruins everywhere and a pair of eyes that were as cold as death!
With just a glance, his entire body trembled and he spat out a mouthful of blood. His cultivation base also shook.
“Leave!”
Without any hesitation, Haishan crazily activated the boat and left. At the same time, he tried to take out his family’s jade slip and report for help.
The others didn’t know the details but seeing Haishan like this, their expressions changed drastically.
However… before Haishan could take out the jade slip, a cold voice echoed through the sky.
“You shouldn’t have looked.”
As the voice rang out, in the eyes of Haishan and the others, the sky was replaced by a large hand. The surrounding s.p.a.ce became gridded and the flow of time seemed to be lengthened.
Finally, it was pitch-black.
The large hand clenched fiercely.
Their bodies and souls were destroyed, and even the black magic boat turned to dust.
The surroundings instantly fell silent.
A while later, waves appeared in the array formation of the spirit mine. Xu Qing, who had ended his absorption of spiritual energy, appeared and walked out.
He looked at the sky.
“The Fifth Star Ring…”
Xu Qing mumbled.
He disappeared from the spot..