123: Chapter 123 Chaotic Sea

The sea surface was calm, shimmering, stretching all the way to the horizon where it merged with the sky.

In the distance, there were a few small black dots, looking like reefs protruding from the water, or perhaps small islands; it was too far to tell clearly.

Lin Xuan stared at that expanse of sea, stunned for quite a while.

The sea.

He had never seen such a vast sea in his life.

Tianxuan Continent also had seas, but Sanyang Sect was in the interior, and as a low-level Qi Refining Cultivator, he hadn't even left the Sect many times, let alone gone to see the sea.

He took a deep breath, and the salty, fishy sea breeze rushed into his lungs, choking him into a couple of coughs.

Then he looked down and saw his Storage Pouch.

It was still there.

Hanging at his waist, completely undamaged.

Lin Xuan let out a sigh of relief; the items inside were all there—Talisman, Medicinal Pill, Spirit Stone—not a single thing was missing.

With a thought, he communicated with his Spirit-Taming Tower Space.

The space was stable.

The thunder-pattern grass in the spirit field was still there, the thunder spirit flower was still there, and the seedling of the shocking thunder flower was also still there.

The thunder essence fruit tree was still wilted, but its roots were firmly planted, showing no signs of withering.

The Herb-Seeking Mouse squatted by the edge of the spirit field, ears pricked, looking vigilant.

The Pangolin was curled up beside the thunder-attracting vine, its scales still bearing faint scratches from the teleportation, but its aura was stable, and it was unharmed.

The Thunder-Light Bug was lying on the leaves of the thunder-attracting vine, the purple light on its body dimmer than usual, but it was slowly recovering.

They were all still there.

They were all alive.

Lin Xuan let out a long breath, only then feeling his heart pounding violently.

The teleportation had happened too suddenly.

From the moment he reached out his hand in the Stone Chamber, to the spirit crystal erupting with blinding white light, and then being swallowed by that irresistible suction force—the entire process took only a breath or two.

At that time, he only had time to do three things: recall the Pangolin, activate the Vajra Talisman, and throw out the Jade Slip containing the data on Thunderfall Ravine.

The Jade Slip...

Lin Xuan touched his Storage Pouch; the Jade Slip was not inside.

He had thrown it away.

That was fine.

At least if people from the Sect found that Stone Chamber and saw the Jade Slip, they would know he had been there and that he had been taken away by a teleportation array, rather than having disappeared inexplicably.

He stood up and stretched his limbs.

His whole body crackled and popped for a moment, and the soreness in his muscles slowly eased.

He began to observe the surrounding environment.

This was an island.

It wasn't big.

Lin Xuan cast the Wind Control Technique, rose into the air, and flew around the island once, getting a rough idea—it was about three or four miles in circumference, oval-shaped, like a pebble polished smooth by the waves.

The vegetation on the island was sparse, mostly low shrubs with thick, hard leaves, clearly the kind that could tolerate salt, alkali, and drought.

There were no tall trees, and certainly none of the spirit plants he was accustomed to seeing on the Tianxuan Continent.

The beach was scattered with seashells and coral fragments, white, pink, and pale yellow, sparkling under the sunlight.

But there were no traces of human activity.

No footprints, no buildings, no ashes from campfires, not even a stone that had been carved by human hands.

Lin Xuan landed back on the ground, stood at the highest point of the island—a small hill less than ten zhang high—and gazed in all directions.

Apart from the sea, there was only more sea.

In every direction, it was all sea.

There were a few blurry black dots on the horizon, possibly reefs or smaller islands, but they were too far away to see clearly.

He crouched down, pressed his palm against the ground, and activated the Earth Listening Technique.

His Divine Sense spread out along the ground, scanning the entire island.

No Yao Beast.

No other Cultivator.

There wasn't even any large wild beast.

Only some small lizards hiding in the shrubbery and small crabs crawling in and out under the beach.

Temporarily safe.

Lin Xuan withdrew his palm, sat cross-legged on the hill, and began to circulate the Purple Heaven Divine Thunder Art.

First, he would test the Spiritual Qi here to see if it was suitable for Cultivate.

The moment he activated the Cultivation Technique, he felt something was wrong.

The Spiritual Qi here... was very "lively".

How to put it, the Spiritual Qi in the Tianxuan Continent was like a pool of still water; if you threw a pebble into it, the ripples would spread slowly, very gentle and very stable.

But the Spiritual Qi here was like a pot of boiling water, bubbling and restless; if you reached out to grab it, it would slip through your fingers.

And the concentration was also low.

Lin Xuan closed his eyes and sensed for a long while before barely managing to capture a wisp of Thunder Spiritual Energy, carefully guiding it over and incorporating it into his Meridians.

The efficiency was very low.

At least thirty percent lower than when he was at Emerald Bamboo Peak.

He opened his eyes and frowned.

Thirty percent.

This meant that the Spiritual Energy he could accumulate in one hour of Cultivate before would now take nearly an hour and a half.

Although it wasn't a life-threatening matter, in the long run, the difference would be significant.

He must find a place rich in Thunder Spiritual Energy to Cultivate.

This crappy island definitely wouldn't do.

Lin Xuan stood up, brushed the dust off his pants, and walked toward the seaside.

The beach was very lively.

After the tide receded, it left behind a patch of wet sandy ground, covered with all sorts of small creatures.

Lin Xuan crouched down and reached out to grab a crab.

The crab wasn't big, about the size of a palm, with a grayish-blue shell bearing a few faint patterns, and a faint shimmer of Spiritual Qi flowing within.

First Grade Low Grade?

No, it couldn't even be considered First Grade.

It could only be considered an ordinary creature with "Spiritual Qi," similar to the wild beasts that lived near Spiritual Veins on the Tianxuan Continent.

Lin Xuan examined it over and over, confirmed that this thing had no aggression, and casually tossed it into his Beast Taming Space.

He also discovered some small fish in the crevices of the reefs by the sea.

The fish were not big, about the length of a finger, with transparent bodies where one could see their bones.

They swam extremely fast, darting from one rock crevice to another in a flash; if you reached out to catch them, they would have already run away.

Lin Xuan couldn't be bothered to waste the effort and directly cast a miniature version of the Thunder Net Technique.

The electric net entered the water, crackling with a series of sounds, and a few small fish floated up with their white bellies exposed.

He scooped up the fish and examined them in his palm.

Inside the fish, there was a very weak but very pure Spiritual Energy.

It wasn't the rigid Spiritual Energy like in Spirit Stones, but living, vibrant Spiritual Energy, as if a miniature spirit plant were growing inside the fish's body.

What surprised him even more was that this Spiritual Energy had a natural "affinity" for Thunder Spiritual Energy.

He injected a wisp of Thunder Spiritual Energy into the fish's body, and the Spiritual Energy inside the fish not only did not repel it, but instead, as if it had encountered its own kind, it actively moved closer and merged with it.

Lin Xuan's eyes lit up.

This was interesting.

The affinity these small fish had for Thunder Spiritual Energy meant that they might have been "fed" with Thunder Spiritual Energy, or that the environment they lived in had a high concentration of Thunder Spiritual Energy.

Regardless of which possibility it was, both pointed in the same direction—somewhere in this sea area, there was a region rich in Thunder Spiritual Energy.

He could take these fish back, chop them up, mix them into the soil, and try to see if he could Cultivate new spirit plants adapted to the marine environment.

Or feed them directly to the Herb-Seeking Mouse and the Pangolin to see if it would help their growth.

Lin Xuan also collected the small fish into his space, stood up, and patted the water off his hands.

The sun had already begun to set in the west.

The horizon was stained with a layer of faint orange-red, and the sea surface was reflected like a huge, flowing piece of silk, shimmering and beautiful in an unreal way.

Lin Xuan found a rock cave on the cliff face.

The cave was not deep, only about a zhang deep, but it was spacious enough to accommodate three or four people lying side by side.

The cave entrance faced south, sheltered from the wind, so the sea breeze could not blow in, and it was quite dry inside.

He took a blanket out of his Storage Pouch and spread it on the ground, then released the Herb-Seeking Mouse from his space.

As soon as the little guy came out, its fur stood on end.

It had never smelled the sea before, nor had it ever seen such a vast expanse of water; the whole mouse froze, ears pricked, nose twitching incessantly, its four legs clutching onto Lin Xuan's shoulder, refusing to come down no matter what.

"Alright, alright, there's no danger." Lin Xuan reached out to pry it off his shoulder and placed it on the blanket.

The Herb-Seeking Mouse landed on its four paws, still nervous, body curled into a ball, eyes darting around, vigilantly observing its surroundings.

Lin Xuan ignored it and released the Pangolin.

The Pangolin was much calmer than the Herb-Seeking Mouse.

After coming out, it first circled the rock cave, used [Earth Perception] to scan the surrounding geological structure, and then nodded at Lin Xuan, meaning "No problem, it's safe."

Lin Xuan patted its head, took a few Medicinal Pills from his Storage Pouch, and fed them to the two little guys.

Then he sat cross-legged and began to think.

Judging from the murals in the Stone Chamber and the records in that book "Overseas Commercial Observations," this place should be the Luantian Sea.

An overseas Cultivation world separated from the Tianxuan Continent by who knows how many billions of miles.

Want to fly back?

Dream on.

Even a Nascent Soul Cultivator would need to fly for decades; he, a low-level Qi Refining Cultivator, couldn't even defeat the Yao Beast in the sea, so if he flew around randomly, he would just be feeding the fish.

The only hope was to find other teleportation arrays between the Luantian Sea and the Tianxuan Continent.

Since there was a teleportation array that could send him here, theoretically, there should be a teleportation array that could send him back—or at least to a place closer to the Tianxuan Continent.

But he couldn't count on it in the short term.

A teleportation array capable of traversing billions of miles would likely cost an astronomical amount for a single trip.

He had to first survive in this strange sea area, improve his cultivation, accumulate enough resources, and then slowly search for a way back.

Short-term plan:

First, find a place rich in Thunder Spiritual Energy to Cultivate.

Second, figure out the power distribution in this sea area, what Cultivators are there, what Yao Beasts are there, and what dangers exist.

Third, accumulate resources—spirit materials, Spirit Stones, Medicinal Pills, anything would do.

Fourth, search for clues about teleportation arrays.

Lin Xuan went through these things in his mind, confirming there were no omissions.

The sea breeze blew into the cave entrance, carrying a salty, fishy scent.

The Herb-Seeking Mouse finally wasn't so nervous, curling up by his leg and emitting a faint purring sound.

The Pangolin lay at the cave entrance, half-closing its eyes, vigilantly watching the movements outside.

The sky outside the cave had completely darkened.

There was no moon, but the stars were very bright.

Densely packed, as if someone had scattered a handful of crushed diamonds in the sky, shining with an unreal brightness.

On the Tianxuan Continent, he rarely saw such a clear starry sky—the lights in the Sect were too bright, covering up the light of the stars.

Lin Xuan watched for a while, withdrew his gaze, and closed his eyes.

The Purple Heaven Divine Thunder Art circulated.

Although the concentration of Thunder Spiritual Energy here was low, it was still better than not Cultivate.

The Spiritual Energy circulated slowly through his Meridians, accumulating bit by bit.