Chapter 46 – Undersea Cave

“Huh?” Feng Ye, who was swimming along the uneven layer of rock below the surface of the floating island, suddenly looked back.

The illusion array he’d drawn had broken.

It seemed Hao Chen had discovered it a little earlier than expected.

Feng Ye couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought.

His series of tricks were a resounding success. He’d taken advantage of Hao Chen falling behind him to activate the magic array drawn on his robes and escape.

He hid in the darkness, watching as Hao Chen caught up with him again and followed the daoist robes driven by Feng Ye’s spiritual power, going farther and farther away in complete ignorance.

If he hadn’t feared being exposed, he probably wouldn’t have been able to stop laughing right then and there.

He managed to hold it in, and once Hao Chen was out of his sight, he turned around and swam in the opposite direction.

Administrator Zheng had only said that Ling Yun found the Jianmu seed at the bottom of the sea in the Floating Island Secret Realm, but although this sea wasn’t as big as the vast sea outside, it wasn’t small either. If he searched like a headless fly, he may not find it even if he searched for eight to ten years.

And the Floating Island Secret Realm was only open for one day. And after one day, the cultivators from outside must leave, or they could only wait ten years for the entrance to open again.

But being trapped in the dangerous secret realm for ten years…..even if they didn’t die, they would suffer untold misery.

Feng Ye wasn’t worried about the danger, but he didn’t have that much time.

He didn’t always have that dream, but lately it had been happening more and more frequently.

The intervals between the recurring dream were getting shorter and shorter. And the feeling of panic when he awoke with a start was also becoming increasingly more intense.

All of this illustrated one point: in this seemingly peaceful world, disaster was fast approaching.

He must hurry to discover the source of all this. Thus, it was impossible for him to spend a decade searching the entire sea.

Feng Ye never fought a battle unprepared. When he came here, he naturally had a method to find the Jianmu seed. Hao Chen truly had no idea where the Jianmu seed could be, but Feng Ye was different.

Administrator Zheng hadn’t given details, but the file in the records Feng Ye snuck a peek at had recorded them in great detail. After Administrator Zheng reminded him through his story, Feng Ye had recalled the contents of the file.

Ling Yun had found the Jianmu seed in a cave three hundred meters underwater on the eastern part of the island that hadn’t been eroded by the sea. This greatly narrowed the search parameters.

Feng Ye was currently heading eastward along the edge of the floating island. He had dived to a depth of about three hundred meters and finally saw the edge of the floating island.

The land portion of this island was relatively flat, with the highest hill being only one hundred meters high, but the underwater rock layer was three hundred meters deep.

Feng Ye spread his five fingers slightly, and a fine stream of water flowed through them. He could sense that he was getting closer to his destination.

The subtle vibrations of seawater transmitted to his exposed skin were not caused by schools of fish or packs of monsters swimming through the water.

It was wind.

Wind under the sea.

This showed that there must be an air chamber ahead. The air pressure formed a balance with the seawater, preventing water from pouring into the cave, and also caused different vibrations than could be found in other areas.

This was most likely the underwater cave described in the files where Ling Yun found the Jianmu seed.

Feng Ye glanced back, then continued swimming forward.

So what if Hao Chen had discovered the illusion array? Although it was earlier than expected, it wasn’t too early.

He’d never expected to keep it from Hao Chen for long. He’d drawn the array pattern in the short time they were separated, and although he was skilled at arrays, he was not proficient in illusions. The illusion array was very crude, and was incapable of speaking or showing expressions.

If not for the dim lighting in the deep sea, Hao Chen would have seen through it at first glance.

And during the period where Hao Chen was fooled, Feng Ye was already far enough away that there was no chance that sticky guy would catch up with him easily.

Feng Ye actually didn’t know where his daoist robes had led Hao Chen to. He’d just chosen the opposite direction of his actual destination.

He’d then let the broken-sleeved robes drift through the sea, taking Hao Chen to a distant, unknown place.

At the thought of Hao Chen being foolishly deceived by a piece of clothing, he couldn’t help but laugh again.

Then he realized that laughing was too frivolous, and restrained his expression – he had more important things to take care of. With this in mind, Feng Ye continued to move forward in the direction of the rising wind.

Even as he was swimming, the corners of his mouth curled up uncontrollably.

He didn’t have to go too far before he found the cave that wasn’t filled with seawater.

He traveled through a narrow passage, at the end of which he spied a faint light.

As he swam, the light grew brighter. And when he finally surfaced, Feng Ye found its source.

There were spirit stones embedded in the cave walls. Feng Ye looked around with some surprise. There were spirit stones here? Spirit stones were scattered across the stone walls like stars in the night sky, emitting faint spiritual light in the dark seabed.

Although the light was faint, it was able to illuminate the path forward, and Feng Ye could see the general outline of the cave.

The cave wasn’t flooded with sea water, but it was still very humid, and there was moss everywhere in addition to the scattered spirit stones.

The ten-meter-high cave ceiling was covered with sharp, downward-facing rocks that looked like bamboo shoots. A water droplet slid along the tip of one, and when it reached the bottom, it hung there without falling.

Finally, with a tick-tock sound, the droplet fell through the air and landed right on the tip of Feng Ye’s nose. He casually reached up to wipe it away, and the hem of his inner garments, which were completely soaked with seawater, inadvertently brushed across his cheek as he raised his hand. 

That drop of water was wiped dry, but his dripping undergarments spread more water across his face.

Only then did Feng Ye realize that his white undergarments were sticking to his body.

Some masters of internal martial arts who had made great achievements were able to directly dry their clothes with their internal strength, and cultivators could do the same. Feng Ye just gave his sleeves a casual shake, and the clothes sticking to his body were once again dry.

Even though he was the only one here, it was still rather inappropriate to be clad only in his undergarments. Feng Ye took out the storage bag hanging at his waist.

There was a small sword pattern embroidered onto the bag, which was the standard equipment for every member of Lingxiao Sword Sect.

In fact, Lingxiao Sword Sect had two pieces of standard equipment. In addition to this storage bag, there was also a high-quality iron sword. Although it wasn’t a magic weapon, it was better to have a sword to protect oneself than to go out unarmed.

It was just that when Feng Ye left the sect, in order to keep Hao Chen off guard, he couldn’t reveal any intention of going to the Floating Island Secret Realm.

If he, a man who usually didn’t practice swordplay, suddenly picked up a sword, not only would Hao Chen notice, but even someone as slow-witted as Fang Yang would feel surprised.

And his storage bag was too small to hold a sword. Thus, he simply didn’t bring it.

Feng Ye held the storage bag upside down and dumped its contents onto the ground. There were not many things in total – two spirit stones, and a spare set of sect uniform robes.

This was all he owned. Two sets of daoist robes to be washed in turn, and two spirit stones.

He was so poor that if a mouse crawled in, it would crawl back out in tears.

As for the extent of his poverty, Feng Ye had a deep understanding of how destitute he was after he searched through all of his boxes and drawers but couldn’t even find a jade pendant, and had to use a bamboo slip instead.

Junior disciples of Lingxiao Sword Sect received a subsidy of ten spirit stones per month, and food and drink were provided by the sect, so there were basically no expenses on a daily basis. Logically speaking, no matter how poor he was, he shouldn’t be this poor.

But Feng Ye really was this poor.

This was not because the original owner of this body spent money lavishly, but because he had poor luck. While traveling, he had encountered bandits who made a living through robbery, and was robbed not only of his possessions, but also of his life.

It was also due to this that Feng Ye was able to use his identity to infiltrate Lingxiao Sword Sect.

Feng Ye had found these two spirit stones at the foot of the bed when he was searching for a jade pendant. They had likely been stashed away by the original owner. 

And now they had become Feng Ye’s. Feng Ye placed them back in the storage bag and picked the daoist robes off the ground, putting them on with some regret. 

He’d been so happy just now that he had forgotten that although he had tricked Hao Chen away, he had lost a quarter of his property as well.

Although the sleeve of the robes had been cut, they could still be worn after mending. But now that the illusion had been broken, the array-patterned robes had likely not met a good end.

What a loss! Feng Ye lamented despondently, and wrapped himself tightly in his only remaining set of robes.

The other set was gone, so he must protect the only one he had left. Otherwise, he would really be so poor that he didn’t even have clothes to wear.

After getting dressed, Feng Ye observed the distribution of spirit stones above his head and chose a direction where there were more of them, then walked onward.

Ling Yun had once used a spiritual power-gathering array to cultivate Jianmu, but it ended in failure. He later realized that sunlight, rain, and soil were the key to making Jianmu sprout, but that didn’t mean that Jianmu had no need for spiritual energy.

Although spiritual energy could not make Jianmu sprout, it could ensure that it grew to its greatest extent. The Jianmu seed that had been buried beneath the sea for who knew how many years had not completely lost its vitality during that period of time, which meant that there must have been enough spiritual energy in its environment.

Therefore, the denser the distribution of spirit stones, the likelier it was that the Jianmu seed could be found in that direction.

Feng Ye walked for some time. This cave was not small, and the passage was winding. Even with the faint light emitted by the spirit stones, Feng Ye was unable to see the end of the cave.

But he shouldn’t be far from the seed, because there were increasingly more spirit stones above his head. The entrance of the cave sported only a few scattered stars across the stone walls, but here, there was a full starry sky.

At last, Feng Ye reached the end of the spirit stone cave, and the initially faint light now illuminated his entire field of vision. 

Rich spiritual energy comparable to that of heaven emanated continuously from the spirit stones embedded in rock formations. The number of spirit stones was difficult to estimate, but there must be at least tens of thousands of them.

Were other cultivators to come to this place, they would likely be unable to hold back from hefting their weapons and chiseling spirit stones out of the rock.

Feng Ye was a poor man with nothing to his name, but he turned a blind eye to the treasures all over the place. As his eyes wandered, his attention was not on the spirit stones, but on the spiritual energy scattered throughout the air.

He was observing the direction of its movement. Although the emitted spiritual energy was disordered, it was drifting in a fixed direction, which must be the location of the Jianmu seed.

Feng Ye immediately started in the direction where the spiritual energy was gathering. He walked toward a nearby raised stone platform. It was roughly circular in shape, and was densely inlaid with high-quality spirit stones, like lotus petals.

The middle of this lotus platform created by natural magic was slightly concave, so Feng Ye had to walk closer to see it clearly.

It was empty.

Unconcealable surprise appeared on Feng Ye’s face. It would be normal for such rich spiritual energy to give birth to some rare treasures, but there was nothing here.

No, perhaps not nothing, Feng Ye suddenly thought. The seed Ling Yun had taken away a hundred years ago had likely resided on this stone platform.

But Ling Yun had only taken one away, and the platform was empty.

Was there really a second Jianmu seed in this world?

Feng Ye wasn’t sure.

In fact, he was more inclined to think that there wasn’t.

Like Hao Chen, he didn’t believe that a sacred tree like Jianmu would be mass-produced. Therefore, when he first began investigating the Jianmu matter, he had never thought about coming to the Floating Island Secret Realm.

But what Adminstrator Zheng had said was not baseless. After such a fire, even if there was some debris left over from Jianmu, it should have been discovered by the group of cultivators who went searching for the remains of their relatives and friends. It would have been impossible for no news to leak out over a hundred years.

The only person who had the opportunity and motivation to find the pieces of Jianmu and keep them privately was Ling Yun’s shidi – Ji Chengyue.

Ji Chengyue was the second figure that appeared in Feng Ye’s dream. The two martial brothers had a very close relationship, and after Lin Yun planted Jianmu, the first person he told was his shidi.

Ji Chengyue had participated in the entire process of the passage to heaven, and was present when Jianmu was cut down.

He didn’t climb Jianmu, but like Ling Yun, stood at the base of the tree to maintain order and prevent the group of people from fighting over who would climb up first.

Thus, he luckily escaped when Jianmu collapsed.

After the heavenly flames burned out, he was one of the first to arrive and search through the ashes. Ling Yun and Jianmu were connected in life and in death. Even though Ling Yun was denounced as an eternal sinner by everyone, Ji Chengyue was still his fellow junior disciple who had grown up with him.

People were so intimidated by the reputation of the God of War, Yinglong, that they dared not even mention the name Ling Yun. Naturally, they wouldn’t have hidden this ominous tree that was capable of offending Yinglong. 

But Ji Chengyue was different. Emotions could make people irrational. If he still harbored some brotherly love for this shixiong of his who had committed a grievous crime, he might have secretly kept the fragments of Jianmu he found in the ashes.

Although Ling Yun had died in the heavenly flames, as long as Jianmu still lived, perhaps Ling Yun could also be resurrected.

This was a logical assumption. Therefore, Ji Chengyue was Feng Ye’s prime suspect.

But he had searched Ji Chengyue’s rooms and found no trace of Jianmu.

Jianmu was not an unliving object, and it would be impossible to keep it in a storage bag for long. It was impossible for Ji Chengyue to carry it with him, otherwise, once it was discovered, the consequences would be disastrous.

Other people wouldn’t care if Ling Yun could be resurrected or not. They only knew that Jianmu would attract Yinglong, and that Yinglong would bring disaster.

Although a hundred years had passed since Yinglong brought terror down on the world, once that memory was reawakened, countless people would be terrified and unable to sleep at night.

Fear made people sensitive and paranoid. Yinglong hadn’t spoken a word throughout the entire process, but people couldn’t help but speculate on the thoughts of this supreme god. Ling Yun’s name became taboo, and no one dared mention it again.

Therefore, if it was as Feng Ye thought and Ji Chengyue had indeed found fragments of Jianmu and secretly hidden them, he would have definitely hidden them in a fixed location.

Such as his bedroom.

The bedroom of the sect leader was located at the top of the mountain, and was the most heavily guarded location in Lingxiao Sword Sect. In addition to the disciples who patrolled at night, there were nine defensive formations set up inside and outside the house, both openly and covertly, which made it absolutely watertight.

Of course, it was only watertight to ordinary people. An extraordinary person like Feng Ye was able to find a gap and slip inside.

But it was already an excellent hiding place. The bedroom was different from other areas, and only Ji Chengyue was able to enter. With both security and privacy being extremely high, there was no better place to store a Jianmu fragment.

But there was no trace of one in his bedroom.

There wasn’t even anything related to Ling Yun. He appeared heartless to the point that he was like all the others, regarding his shixiong as an eternal sinner and even unwilling to miss him.

It seemed that he hadn’t hidden any Jianmu fragments.

Feng Ye’s mind was gradually leaning toward the possibility that there might be a second Jianmu seed somewhere in the world, but he had found nothing in this place today.

How was this possible?

Jianmu must still exist in the world. Feng Ye was certain of this.

But Feng Ye had found no evidence for these two possibilities.

Feng Ye simply refused to believe it, and looked around the lotus platform again. The flow of spiritual energy couldn’t be fake. If there was a second Jianmu seed here, it would inevitably absorb spiritual energy in order to sustain itself.

But he didn’t see any physical object that could disturb the circulation of spiritual energy. He searched back and forth three times to avoid missing anything, but the result was still the same.

He was certain that he had searched thoroughly enough. There was no Jianmu seed here.

So where was it?

Perhaps…..he still needed to seek out Ji Chengyue in order to reach an answer.

Feng Ye let out a sigh. This was indeed a wasted trip. He had paid the enormous price of one daoist robe to get here, but found nothing in the end.

He started to head back. His business was finished, and all that was left was to return to the surface, meet up with Fang Yang, and then wait quietly for the day to pass and leave the Floating Island Secret Realm.

Speaking of which, he wondered how Fang Yang’s harvest was up on the surface. That silly boy should be doing fine, because Feng Ye couldn’t sense any danger.

The bamboo slip he’d given Fang Yang usually didn’t monitor his actions. He wasn’t a deviant with strange hobbies like Hao Chen. For that reason, he would only be notified if Fang Yang’s life was in danger.

And since entering the Floating Island Secret Realm, the array engraved in the bamboo slip hadn’t sent him a danger signal, so Fang Yang was naturally fine.

Feng Ye walked back slowly. The day was almost half over, and he wasn’t like the others, who were rushing around seeking treasures. He had enough time to travel leisurely toward Fang Yang.

However, when he wandered to the entrance of the cave and was about to re-enter the water, there was a sudden, unfamiliar palpitation in his chest.

Feng Ye’s initially absent-minded gaze immediately froze. He looked upward, but only saw a three hundred-meter thick layer of rock, impenetrable by light.

Where good fortune failed, bad luck thrived. He had just been thinking that Fang Yang was doing okay – who would have thought that in the next second, the boy would be in grave peril?

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Chapter 45 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 47