Chapter 329: Kirin Island

Half a year later.

The Qilian Merchant Guild's Crossing-Abyss Dharma Ship sailed steadily across the Black Sea, drawing ever closer to Kirin Island.

The situation atop the Black Sea was treacherous; hurricanes and massive waves arose endlessly, while fierce sea beasts lurked within the deep waters.

These sea beasts would occasionally harass passing vessels; despite the numerous cultivators guarding the Crossing-Abyss Dharma Ship throughout this journey, they were still thoroughly battered.

During this long sea voyage, the fleet encountered several crises before finally sailing out of the dangerous waters.

On one occasion, they even encountered a massive school of Blood Sea Mad Sharks, numbering in the thousands; the dozen or so leader beasts among them had reached the late second-stage level, their bodies stretching a hundred zhang in length.

Had they collided, the ship would have sunk to the ocean floor.

If not for a sudden sea storm, the Qilian Merchant Guild's Dharma Ship would have faced the shark school head-on.

Even so, the incident made everyone on board break out in a cold sweat.

Capsizing in the Black Sea was no joke.

Han Yuan and his two companions looked extremely tense, clearly experiencing such matters for the first time.

"It seems traveling to Great Jin truly isn't easy; not only is the journey distant, but the sole passage is fraught with danger."

"Factions without sufficient strength simply cannot make the crossing."

Standing on the deck, Qin Ming gazed at the churning, endless Black Sea and spoke with deep emotion.

"Naturally; aside from the specially crafted Crossing-Abyss Dharma Ships of Great Jin, other vessels simply cannot withstand the winds and waves of this sea region."

"Thus, even those notoriously infamous pirates dare not appear on the Black Sea."

"The greatest dangers are actually natural disasters and sea beasts."

Gao Feng, a thin, tall middle-aged cultivator, stood beside Qin Ming and explained with a smile.

Qin Ming nodded, recalling all he had experienced during this period.

Over these past six months, his cultivation and farming had never been neglected.

After all, he now possessed the Small Xiao Lingjing, a blessed land of caves and heavens, allowing him to cultivate and farm anytime, anywhere, which was extremely convenient.

His innate spiritual plant, the Yin-Yang Xuanteng, continued to grow robustly.

As for his three spiritual beasts, they required little management from Qin Ming; endowed with an environment featuring a top-grade third-stage spiritual vein, they were all diligently cultivating on their own.

Taking advantage of this time, Qin Ming had assigned the Shi Tian Shu to farming, sending it to reclaim uncultivated areas within the Small Xiao Lingjing.

This caused the beast to complain incessantly while inside, just as Qin Ming stood on the deck enjoying the breeze and fresh air.

Just then.

Suddenly, a warning voice, loud as a great bell, rang out across the entire Dharma Ship.

"Everyone, please return to the cabins to take shelter; the sea region ahead passes through a Spirit-Sealing Strange Mist zone, covering an area of approximately five hundred li."

"Reminding everyone once again..."

Upon hearing this, Qin Ming and the others frowned, turned, and returned inside the cabin, sealing the doors and windows tightly.

"May I ask, Fellow Daoist Han, could this strange mist be of the same origin as the Northern Border Swamp?" Qin Ming asked.

Han Yuan sat down, took a sip of tea, and explained calmly, "Precisely; the sea region we are currently traversing lies to the northeast, bordering the Spirit-Sealing Land. Influenced by weather conditions, strange mists occasionally diffuse onto the sea surface."

"However, Fellow Daoist Lu, rest assured; the Crossing-Abyss Dharma Ship is protected by a specially crafted defensive formation, so it is essentially safe and sound."

"Oh, so the Northern Border Swamp is actually called the Spirit-Sealing Land." Qin Ming nodded in sudden realization.

At this moment, the plump woman Liu Ye beside them also chuckled lightly and explained, "The Spirit-Sealing Land, as the name implies, is a place where the strange mist can devour the magic power within a cultivator's body until they exhaust themselves and die; even a Jin Dan True Person cannot withstand this erosive force."

"I see."

Qin Ming nodded; this time, he finally understood the general situation.

Half a day later.

The Qilian Merchant Guild's Crossing-Abyss Dharma Ship passed through a patch of gray strange mist so thick one could not see one's own fingers; the cultivators inside looked out to see only an eerie, terrifying aura radiating from it, as if it intended to devour everything.

Qin Ming silently released a wisp of divine sense toward the strange mist outside the window, but in the next instant, he was horrified to discover that his wisp of divine sense, comparable to that of a perfect Jin Dan stage, was instantly devoured by the gray fog, vanishing without a trace.

He hastily withdrew his divine sense, a trace of pallor appearing on his face.

'It seems the strange mist of this Spirit-Sealing Land is truly formidable, even several times stronger than the Misty Illusion Realm on my Moon-Watching Island.'

As if noticing Qin Ming's abnormality.

Han Yuan, sitting opposite him, asked aloud, "Is Fellow Daoist Lu feeling unwell in some way?"

"It is nothing; perhaps I am simply unaccustomed to such long ocean voyages and feel somewhat fatigued," Qin Ming said with a dry laugh.

The silver-haired elder Han Yuan nodded upon hearing this, took a bottle of pills from his robe, and handed it to Qin Ming: "This is quite normal; when I first ventured out to sea, my reaction was even worse than yours; after all, continuous navigation for over half a year is not something everyone can adapt to on their first try."

"This bottle of Wind-Lin Pills can alleviate some of the fatigue."

"Additionally, there is something I must inform Fellow Daoist Lu of: when passing through the Spirit-Sealing Strange Mist, you must absolutely not use divine sense to probe, or else at best you will injure your spirit, and at worst your spiritual soul will be devoured, leading to death; remember this well!"

Hearing this, Qin Ming broke out in a cold sweat; curiosity had nearly killed the cat.

He did not stand on ceremony; during these past six months, he had become quite familiar with the three of them. Thus, he accepted the jade bottle, poured out a sweet-green spiritual pill, and swallowed it.

'It is actually a second-stage pill...'

Several days later.

The Qilian Merchant Guild's Dharma Ship passed through the strange mist; sunlight once again fell upon the ship, sweeping away the previous gloomy atmosphere.

Gradually.

An immensely large island appeared within everyone's line of sight.

Upon the island towered a massive volcano, continuously spewing thick smoke.

At first glance, it resembled a chimney standing erect in the sea, extremely conspicuous.

"Fellow Daoist Lu, we have arrived at Kirin Island!"

Gazing at the distant island, Han Yuan and his two companions revealed looks of joy in their eyes and let out a long sigh of relief.

"We've finally arrived; I was about to suffocate."

"This assignment really isn't easy to handle."

"Once we return to the Shang Alliance headquarters and report in, we must take a good long rest."

"Fellow Daoist Lu, we felt an instant kinship upon meeting, and we've drunk quite a bit of your fine wine; when we reach Great Jin, the three of us will host a banquet, and you must grace us with your presence for a drink."

Han Yuan spoke enthusiastically to Qin Ming.

"Certainly, certainly."

Qin Ming forced a smile in response; these three from the Myriad Daoes Shang Alliance were not overly scheming and were indeed worth befriending.

One hour later.

The full view of Qilin Island continuously expanded within Qin Ming's sight.

The Dharma boat of the Qilian Trading House slowly docked at the island's ferry terminal.

Hundreds of cultivators dressed in crimson and purple robes bore emblems on their arm bands and lapels, all embroidered with a symbol of three intertwined flames, precisely the sect emblem of the Offending Li Huogong.

It symbolized the dominant status of a Nascent Soul sect.

Cultivators stationed on the island by the Offending Li Huogong appeared at the port and began inspecting identities one by one.

After identities were verified and the Sacred Fire Tokens were surrendered to board the island.

Qin Ming followed the crowd onto the island.

The moment he stepped onto Qilin Island, he suddenly felt an extremely dense, scorching aura rush toward his face.

As far as the eye could see.

Although not a single blade of grass grew on this island, which was covered everywhere with black-gray rocks and ash left behind by volcanic eruptions, making the view utterly mottled and unsightly.

Yet—

"Such dense fire spiritual energy..."

"This is... a pure third-grade upper-tier fire attribute spiritual vein!"

For a moment, he was secretly greatly surprised, marveling at the miraculous creation of the Dao.

He instantly felt that this trip had not been made in vain.

"I never expected that atop this endless Black Sea, there would be such a land of fire possessing a high-grade spiritual vein; it is truly magnificent beyond measure."

Hearing Qin Ming's exclamation, the tall and thin cultivator Gao Feng sidled over, chuckled, and said, "Fellow Daoist Lu, you do not know; this Qilin Island was originally discovered by a Nascent Soul expert who once attempted to cross the Black Sea."

"Do not look at the island's desolation; in reality, besides the third-grade upper-tier fire spiritual vein, various spiritual mineral resources are incredibly abundant."

"In particular, it produces an abundance of Qilin Jade Crystal, a rare spiritual material of great use for pill refining, planting spiritual crops, and artifact forging alike."

"The toll fees from the teleportation array are merely a minor portion; the island's resources are the main source of income."

"It is also a crucial stronghold of the Offending Li Huogong; after all, Qilin Island's geographical location is extremely vital, as the teleportation array on the island connects Great Jin with various realms of the Immortal Realm, serving as an important hub."

While listening to Gao Feng's introduction, Qin Ming walked inward.

Soon, a layer of blue-hazed protective great array appeared before Qin Ming's eyes; inside were countless buildings constructed from black mystic stones, forming two large districts connected by stone-paved roads extending in all directions.

Many cultivators inside were shouting, vigorously selling various goods.

This gave Qin Ming a sense of unique human customs and atmosphere.

"Fellow Daoists passing by, come over and take a look!"

"Freshly出炉 second-grade mid-stage Deep Sea Demon Eels, an essential nourishing supplement for body-refining cultivators, also boasting the efficacy of maintaining virility, all for just nine ninety-eight!"

(End of Chapter)