561: variable, traitor

With a resounding gong, the massive spirit boat began to unfurl several cloud sails.

At this moment, the spirit boat was already filled with Cultivators.

Everyone landed on the spirit boat, and in the next moment, the spirit boat concealed itself within the clouds, becoming one with them.

Even Purple Mansion Qi Refining Cultivators couldn't detect the spirit boat with their Divine Sense.

Only Golden Core Cultivators could barely sense it.

Lin Shiming and the Lin Family members were among them. After a brief observation of the surroundings, Lin Shiming no longer paid attention.

In his hand, there was a crimson token.

This token had three patterns on it.

This was the three-patterned token issued by the Coral Alliance.

Three patterns were typically only for Late Golden Core Stage Cultivators, but Lin Shiming was an exception, and currently, within the Coral Alliance, only Lin Shiming and Real Person Hongye could possess this token.

The other Golden Core True Persons had two-patterned tokens.

As for Purple Mansion Late Stage Cultivators, they had one-patterned tokens.

Those below Purple Mansion Late Stage and Foundation Establishment Cultivators had none.

Orders would be issued from the three-patterned token each time.

This three-patterned token had no time or space restrictions, making it a true Secret Treasure, which also demonstrated the profound heritage of Coral Island.

Lin Shiming returned to his room, which was on the fourth floor.

This expedition's lowest cultivation level was Foundation Establishment Cultivators; there were no Qi Refining Cultivators at all.

Foundation Establishment Cultivators shared a room in groups of ten.

Purple Mansion Cultivators each had their own room on the second floor; the third floor housed ordinary Golden Core Cultivators, and the fourth floor was for Cultivators like Lin Shiming.

As for the fifth floor, only Lord Coral resided there.

Lin Shiming returned to his room. For him, carefully examining his gains was the real priority at this moment.

That hat-shaped Ancient Treasure was the first Ancient Treasure he had ever obtained.

He just didn't know how to unseal it.

He entered the Grotto-Heaven, where Autumn Blood Sword and Ying Feng Sword were now on either side of the hat.

"Shiming, this Ancient Treasure of yours should be sealed with a Bloodline Sealing method. You need to find the fresh blood of a Bloodline descendant!" Autumn Blood Sword said.

Lin Shiming couldn't help but feel a headache upon hearing this.

Where would he find the descendant's blood for this Bloodline Sealing method?

"However, besides that method, you can forcefully break it with extremely strong Divine Sense, but you need to know the foundation of the Sealing method. I have the Divine Sense to break it, but I can't find the foundation!" Autumn Blood Sword said again, seeing Lin Shiming's dilemma.

As he said this, Ying Feng Sword beside him also indicated that he couldn't help.

If Autumn Blood Sword couldn't find the Formation base, he certainly couldn't.

Lin Shiming, however, became interested. Others might not find the Formation base, but his System's prompts could.

So, he wasn't in a hurry.

He then took out the Storage Pouch Real Person Hongye had given him.

Upon opening the Storage Pouch, he found a fifth-tier Spirit Seeking Compass inside, and within the Spirit Seeking Compass, there was a pure wood-attribute Spiritual Vein of the fifth-tier.

Lin Shiming was incredibly surprised at this moment.

In the South Sea, he had seen many pure water-attribute, fire-attribute, and earth-attribute Spiritual Veins, but pure wood-attribute and pure metal-attribute Spiritual Veins were rare.

Moreover, this was a fifth-tier Spiritual Vein.

Real Person Hongye had given him a great gift.

If he Cultivated the Kui Wood Sword Scripture with a pure wood-attribute fifth-tier Spiritual Vein, he could Cultivate faster, and many other Spirit Plants would also benefit.

The heritage of Hongye Island was indeed formidable.

Upon confirming Golden Thunder Island, a pure water-attribute Spiritual Vein had already been gifted to the Lin Family.

The reason so many Immortal Masters were now expanding and conquering was, at its core, the struggle for Spiritual Veins.

Coral Island's Spiritual Veins had not yet reached the sixth-tier.

One can imagine how Coral Island would plunder this time.

After plundering enough Spiritual Veins, they would all be moved to Coral Island, and the remaining areas, becoming barren and Spirit Qi-thin, would actually have nothing to do with Coral Island.

After all, it was impossible to kill all the Cultivators within the Heavenly Illumination Sect's territory. Plundering their Spiritual Veins and resources could also suppress the growth of these Cultivators.

This was what the major powers were happy to see.

What the sea lacked least were islands and territory; what it lacked was Spiritual Veins.

However, the main Golden Core and Purple Mansion Cultivators of the Heavenly Illumination Sect absolutely could not be allowed to remain.

Lin Shiming embedded the pure wood-attribute Spiritual Vein into the mountain within his Grotto-Heaven.

He planned to use this Spiritual Vein solely for his own Cultivation.

There were relatively fewer wood-attribute Cultivators in the Lin Family.

Moreover, wood-attribute Spiritual Veins could also Cultivate Spirit Plants. In his Grotto-Heaven, he now had two Minor Divine Power Fruit Trees, one nascent soul fruit Tree, and a Gold Core Forming Fruit Tree.

The Ziyang Pagoda needed to absorb enough wood-attribute Spirit Qi to better support the growth of these Spirit Medicines.

For the next period, Lin Shiming continued to refine the Divine Sense Palace of the Divine Sense Weapon Secret Art.

After such a long period of Cultivation, the Divine Sense Palace had already taken a rudimentary form.

Moreover, he now felt that what restricted him was no longer comprehension, but rather an insufficient amount of Divine Sense.

Time passed bit by bit.

However, there was no initial movement. With the terrifying speed of this spirit boat, even if the Tianzhao Sea was vast, it could cover a small portion.

Lin Shiming walked out of the Grotto-Heaven and onto the deck of the spirit boat. At this moment, not only Lin Shiming but also many others on the deck were puzzled.

Lin Shiming looked at the sea and islands below. He had seen the distribution of the Heavenly Illumination Sect's sea area.

The Heavenly Illumination Sect's sea area was also divided into seven archipelagos.

These seven archipelagos were further divided into seven Sect Islands, known as the Seven Injuries Sea Area.

These seven Sect Islands were named after Heavenly Joy, Heavenly Wrath, Heavenly Sorrow, Heavenly Thought, Heavenly Grief, Heavenly Fear, and Heavenly Shock.

The scope of each archipelago was equivalent to that of the Lanling Archipelago.

Besides the Seven Sect Islands, there was Heaven and Earth Island.

The Heavenly Illumination Sect was a Sect, so the three Sect Leaders of Heaven and Earth Gate all Cultivated on Heaven and Earth Island.

Heaven and Earth Island was also the largest Spirit Island in the Tianzhao Sea.

And the Tai Gan Abyss was located within the Heavenly Sorrow Archipelago, part of the Seven Injuries Archipelago.

Because it was located in the inner sea, the Heavenly Illumination Sect's sea area was not as large as that of the Coral Alliance.

Coupled with the rich resources of the Outer Sea, the Cultivators of the Outer Sea were also slightly stronger than those of the Heavenly Illumination Sect.

But even so, the Opportunity controlled by each Sect Island was extremely vast, and these were positions that the other four major sea areas wanted to invade and occupy.

After all, all seven Sect Islands had Golden Core Cultivators, and at least two or three fifth-tier Spiritual Veins.

More, like Hongye Island, could have five or six.

There were also fourth-tier Secret Realms, third-tier Secret Realms, and various valuable resources, all of which were rare benefits for a power.

Moreover, each Sect Island power also had an ancient Legacy.

And they had their own core secret arts and Legacies for their respective Sect Islands.

However, Lin Shiming now discovered that this spirit boat not only passed through the Heavenly Sorrow Archipelago sea area, which was close to Yuntie Island.

It also bypassed the Heavenly Wrath Sea.

It seemed utterly unconcerned with the various archipelagos.

It headed straight for Heaven and Earth Island.

But even so, the distance to Heaven and Earth Island was still extremely far.

Without Teleportation Arrays, this was how it was in the sea area.

And just then, the token began to flash.

As soon as this order was given, all those with two-patterned and three-patterned tokens headed towards the fifth floor of the spirit boat.

The fifth floor, to everyone's surprise, was a grand hall.

In front of the hall was the incomplete Spirit Treasure, Blood Sky Gong.

The astonishing gong sound was still vivid in their memories.

Everyone walked past the gong, feeling a mysterious Spiritual Might.

Inside the hall, True Lord Xueshan frowned, looking at the Spirit Map.

After everyone had arrived.

She then said, "I know what you want. Three of the Seven Injuries Archipelago will be given to our Coral Alliance, and two of them will be given to you. Coral Island will not take any!" True Lord Xueshan's words immediately stifled any thoughts everyone had.

The benefits that could be divided from one archipelago were enough for four or five inner island powers to share.

With the existence of Teleportation Arrays and being in the inner sea, without the danger of beast tides, many families were actually willing to plan for territory in the rear.

It should be known that in ancient records, the Coral Sea Area and the Chilan Sea Area had countless precedents of being submerged by beast tides and then recaptured by later Cultivators.

When True Lord Xueshan said this, many Golden Core True Persons were tempted, even Lin Shiming was somewhat tempted.

But he knew that greater benefits also meant greater risks.

"This time, we received news that the target is on Heaven and Earth Island, but Heaven and Earth Island might have a Nascent Soul Cultivator guarding the Dao. The Spiritual Veins and Formations on Heaven and Earth Island have already been upgraded to the sixth-tier. We will arrange a Teleportation Array to send you into Heaven and Earth Island!"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone was somewhat shocked.

This plan was not what they had expected.

In their expectations, this time they only needed to follow along and pick up treasures.

After all, they had four Nascent Soul Cultivators on their side.

And the Heavenly Illumination Sect had clearly not broken through to Nascent Soul.

Otherwise, powers like Nine Dragon Island's Blood Cultivation Sect would have given up the expedition immediately.

A helping hand at the Nascent Soul Stage is, after all, just a helping hand. If he has a Formation, he will resist a bit.

Without a Formation, he will leave automatically.

There is no need to fear.

So this attack will not stop.

But after all, they had to pass through the Formation and confront all the Golden Core Cultivators of the Heavenly Illumination Sect.

Along the way, True Lord Xueshan did not visit those archipelagos, perhaps because there were no Golden Core Cultivators on those archipelagos at this moment.

But the Spiritual Veins and treasures were all there, just waiting for them to claim.

They now needed to buy time.

In the eyes of the Heavenly Illumination Sect, as long as the Sect Leader of Heaven Gate broke through, everything was worth it.

They didn't care about a few treasures at all.

Therefore, the Golden Core Cultivators on Heaven and Earth Island must have exceeded twenty.

Among them, there must be many Late Golden Core Stage Cultivators.

The Heavenly Illumination Sect was a Sect, and its restrictions were far greater than those of the Coral Alliance.

Plus, there was the mysterious Earth Gate Master.

This was what worried them.

"Don't worry, our five Nascent Soul Cultivators against a sixth-tier Formation, plus an ally, as long as there's any Opportunity, we can break the Formation!" True Lord Xueshan said.

The five True Lords clearly included Lin Shiming's Autumn Blood Sword.

But for everyone, it still felt a bit unsettling.

However, looking at True Lord Xueshan's Aura and the gong outside.

It definitely wouldn't end so peacefully.

"You just need to destroy the Formation bases inside as much as possible!" True Lord Xueshan added again.

"Besides you, Nine Dragon Island and other island Sects will also send Golden Core Cultivators!"

"It's not just you. This time, our strength is about four or five times that of the opponent!" Nine Dragon Island said.

This statement finally put them at ease.

They all nodded, and just when everyone thought it would end there.

True Lord Xueshan took out a Spirit Talisman.

"Of course, before going to Heaven and Earth Island, this jade talisman needs to be dealt with!" True Lord Xueshan said.

As soon as she said this, everyone's expressions tightened, even Lin Shiming's face changed drastically.

This jade talisman was clearly a message-transmitting jade talisman.

This meant that the Coral Alliance had an internal spy.

And ordinary internal spies would naturally not be in True Lord Xueshan's eyes. The fact that she took it out at this moment also meant that among the Immortal Masters present, there was a Golden Core Cultivator who was an internal spy.

But at this moment, everyone felt a bit surreal.

After all, all the Immortal Masters here had taken an oath of the heavenly dao, and they had all recently advanced, so there were no previous Immortal Masters involved.

Soon, Lin Shiming thought of something: purple illusion heaven smoke wine.

This spirit wine could isolate an oath of the heavenly dao, and perhaps it could also isolate previous ones.

But there was a Gu worm from the Heavenly Illumination Sect on it.

It required at least a fourth-tier High Grade Heaven and Earth Spirit Flame to burn it to achieve the Release effect.

So that Immortal Master had clearly fallen for the Earth Gate Master's trick.

"This jade talisman is for transmitting messages. Everyone, come claim it. I know that an oath of the heavenly dao might not be useful to you, so let's try the fifth-tier Late Stage Spirit Locking Grand Formation!" True Lord Xueshan said.

She also took out a portal, which was an empty door frame.

The door frame was covered with Spirit Runes, as well as various strange, profound, and exotic stones.

As True Lord Xueshan spoke, the Cultivators lined up and walked towards the portal.

The first to go was Real Person Xuanji, who appeared very calm about it.

He seemed not to have the slightest worry.

Next was Real Person Hongye, then Lin Shiming.

As he passed through the portal, he only felt a vast Divine Sense passing through his body.

This feeling was the same as when he was investigated by Immortal Master Divine Machine in the Eastern Region.

And it was at this moment that the Physical Body star nodes within his body also lit up to their extreme.

Having had his Cultivation Technique route and Spirit Qi investigated by Immortal Master Divine Machine before, he would not repeat the same mistake this time.

Although it was an inspection for an internal spy, who could have predicted whether True Lord Xueshan wanted to achieve multiple goals at once?

Lin Shiming walked through calmly.

True Lord Xueshan said nothing, continuing to look at the next person.

After Lin Shiming was Zhao Yulin. Nothing happened to her as she passed through.

After Zhao Yulin, it was Yuntie True Person.

Everyone was focused.

Yuntie True Person was an island master close to the Heavenly Illumination Sect; he had the highest probability of having a problem.

So even though they saw Yuntie True Person full of confidence.

They all thought so.

But clearly, Yuntie True Person was not the one; the portal remained calm.

It was only after Yutong True Person that a crimson light suddenly lit up on his body.

One by one, Gu worm Spirit Eggs were magnified in Yutong True Person's mind, and dazzling Spirit Light emerged.

And True Lord Xueshan directly raised her hand.

In an instant, a bloody light flashed, and Yutong True Person died directly.

Not even his Golden Core escaped.

True Lord Xueshan wiped her hands and then collected Yutong True Person's corpse.

"Next one, continue!"

This scene caused everyone to feel panic.

They only then remembered that the one before them was a True Lord, a Nascent Soul Cultivator.

And they were merely Immortal Masters.

They couldn't even withstand a single move.

Yutong True Person didn't even have time to react.

Fortunately, no new Cultivators possessed and controlled by Gu worms appeared afterward.

Cultivators swayed by the Earth Gate Master were, after all, a minority.

Every Immortal Master present had experienced a great deal and would not easily trust others.

"Alright, everyone prepare. The Teleportation Array is about to be set up!" True Lord Xueshan said, also revealing another astonishing piece of news!