Chapter 349: Heavenly Venerable Qing Ming, Tea From 1,000 Years Ago
Chapter 349: Heavenly Venerable Qing Ming, Tea From 1,000 Years Ago
There had already been an inkling of the news of the Immortal Abode Island appearing a few months ago.
That was the island where the Golden Crow Thearch’s tomb was and had been hidden within North Sea for the past tens of thousands of years without being discovered.
Now that the island had appeared, the attention of countless forces was naturally attracted toward it. It was unknown just how many fights had taken place secretly.
It was needless to say about the importance of the fortuitous opportunities within the Thearch’s tomb. Thus, after the news was leaked, it was definitely not something a single force could take for themselves, or else other forces would crazily target them.
Even if the North Sea demons were extremely powerful, they would have to share the loot and cooperate with other forces from other regions.
Meanwhile, the forces that were on good terms with the demon races were naturally being roped in to cooperate and resist the pressure from the other sacred grounds.
Those that split the profit together were friends, and they would work together to prevent others from snatching the profits—that was the hidden rule of the five regions.
After confirming the name list of the forces splitting the loot on Immortal Abode Island, the various forces’ numerous top mighty beings also started to break through the restriction on Immortal Abode Island’s outer area.
Immortal Abode Island was the Golden Crow Thearch’s tomb. The island was tens of thousands of miles in length from the east to the west, and countless mystic realms were hidden within.
The whole island was just like a continent, and the number of fortuitous opportunities within was immeasurable.
Meanwhile, the dangers within also went without saying.
Even the top Sages of the various sacred grounds also had to pay a huge price to break through the island’s restriction by using their sect’s most-treasured powerful artifacts.
The reason they could do that was also partially because of the array formation’s power’s decline due to time.
If not, one would not even be able to enter the Thearch’s tomb!
After all, that Thearch had been absolutely invincible in the mortal world’s five regions.
Even if Perfected Immortals of the Celestial World descended, they would only be slightly stronger ants that the Thearch could easily annihilate.
Shen Tian looked at the Divine Firmament Sacred Leader. “Master, Immortal Abode Island is the tomb of the Thearch, so if many of our sect’s disciples were to enter and encounter any dangers, it might be difficult to deal with.”
The Sacred Leader nodded. “Very good. You now have the critical thinking of a leader if you’re able to think of that.”
The lightning and heavenly aura around the Sacred Leader swayed gently as he said coldly, “However, the fortuitous opportunities present in Immortal Abode Island are definitely something that most disciples might not be able to encounter a second time in their life.
“No one is willing to miss such a fortuitous opportunity, or else they might regret it for the rest of their life.
“After reaching Immortal Abode Island, I’ll split the disciples and elders into three batches and let the elders bring the disciples in.
“This will ensure that not all the disciples will enter Immortal Abode Island at the same time, so even if they encounter dangers, it will be less pressuring for us to save them.”
Although the Sacred Leader’s voice was cold, it still carried a trace of fear and cautiousness.
It was in the end the Bodhimanda of a Thearch, so even a Sage might not be able to guarantee their safety.
As a matter of fact, the distance between obtaining a fortuitous opportunity and death could be just a hair’s breadth.
So no matter how one was reluctant to let slip those fortuitous opportunities in Immortal Abode Island, it was not good for the Divine Firmament Sacred Ground to put all the eggs in one basket.
Shen Tian understood the Sacred Leader’s thinking, so he nodded. “I understand. If I enter Immortal Abode Island, which elder should I follow?”
The Sacred Leader was momentarily stunned before he smiled and said, “You, Yunxi, Yunting, and Fang Chang are not restricted.
“Given your providence, even if there really is danger on the island, it will most likely not threaten your safety. You only need to be cautious.”
Heavenly Venerable Azure Lotus, who was at the side, hurriedly said, “Junior Brother, the four of them are the future hope of our sect, so how could you let them adventure alone?
“I can follow and protect them. Although this might hold me up from looking for my fortuitous opportunity, I’m willing to sacrifice myself for the future of the sect.”
Martial Uncle Azure Lotus wants to follow me?
Shen Tian glanced on top of Azure Lotus’ head, and his mouth could not help but twitch when he saw the mottled black and white halo.
Azure Lotus had freeloaded quite a number of fortuitous opportunities that Shen Tian brought back in the past year, such as Decalamity, the God of War Pagoda, the Nirvana Holy Liquid, and so on.
Azure Lotus had relied on the fortuitous opportunities to increase his providence, so his originally black halo had turned white by quite a lot.
The problem was that... Azure Lotus was still extremely unlucky!
Even the providence of an ordinary mortal selling pork at the entrance was much higher than Azure Lotus’.
Having him follow me in Immortal Abode Island that is filled with dangers everywhere? Forget it!
Shen Tian felt a shiver run down his back, so he hurriedly said, “Master, it’s okay! Martial Uncle Azure Lotus is too strong, so it’s too much of a waste for him to follow me.”
The Divine Firmament Sacred Leader glanced at Azure Lotus coldly, well-aware of what his Senior Brother was thinking. “Senior Brother, when the time comes, you’ll naturally have your own mission.
“As for protecting Tian’er and the other three, someone else will be responsible for this mission. Senior Brother, you don’t need to worry about it.”
...
The Divine Firmament Sacred Leader had arranged everything as he spoke.
Currently, the various forces had already set the rules after Immortal Abode Island’s array formation was broken.
The Sage and above cultivators would join hands to break through the restrictions present deeper within the island so that the Thearch’s tomb could be accessed earlier.
As for those cultivators below the Sage stage, they could search for fortuitous opportunities on the island freely, and what they would obtain all depended on their luck.
One had to know that in the tens of thousands of years that Immortal Abode Island had been secluded from the outer world, the Golden Crow Thearch’s Qi Gathering Array had continuously been nurturing the island. Hence, there were definitely countless rare and extraordinary treasures on the island.
If one’s luck was good, then it would even be possible for them to discover the Golden Crow Thearch’s core legacy and directly rise up to dominate an entire region on their own.
Of course, sometimes strength was really not the most important factor in deciding how much one could obtain from a mystic realm.
It was having high providence!
To the Divine Firmament Sacred Leader, this was the perfect home advantage for Shen Tian!
As long as Fang Chang, Yunxi, and Yunting can ride on Tian’er’s coattail, they will definitely benefit greatly.
Yeap, all according to plan!
In fact, most Divine Firmament cultivators had already begun heading toward Immortal Abode Island a few days ago.
That was because Shen Tian had yet to come out, so the Sacred Leader and Azure Lotus had stayed behind to wait for him since the fortuitous opportunities in the outer region were not attractive to them anyways.
Tian’er’s favorability is more important!
Now that Shen Tian had come out, the Sacred Leader instantly used his arts to tear through space and create a space portal. The three of them headed toward Immortal Abode Island through the space portal.
What was worth mentioning was that in the past, when Shen Tian had followed the Sacred Leader and traveled through space, he could not sense the movement of space.
However, after obtaining the Hurricane Lilies and comprehending the Kun Peng Dao, Shen Tian’s perception of space had increased greatly, and he could vaguely sense the change in space.
Shen Tian even had an intuition that if he was willing, he might even be able to try some simple space teleportation.
Of course, he definitely would not be able to match up the Sacred Leader in terms of distance.
After around an hour, Shen Tian felt that the power of the void had gradually become weaker.
Are we reaching soon?
Just as Shen Tian had such a thought, he saw that the space in front of him started cracking apart.
An extremely bright crimson red light shone on Shen Tian, and what followed afterward was the sound of the surging waves.
Once Shen Tian stepped out of the void tunnel, he discovered that he was on a humongous crimson red sandy beach, and rich fire-attribute Spirit Qi filled the air.
It was an island surrounded by sea, but it was burning hot like a volcano!
...
So this is Immortal Abode Island?
Shen Tian spread his golden wings and flew high in the clouds as he looked down on the island. All he could see were a crimson red color, the red beach, red boulders, and all kinds of red weeds and trees.
Everything here was filled with fire elements, and if a cultivator, who had learned fire-attribute cultivation techniques, lived on this island, then said cultivator’s cultivation level would definitely increase rapidly over the years.
This was only the island’s outer region, but the fire-attribute Spirit Qi’s density could already be compared to the sacred grounds’ core areas.
If one were to enter deeper into the island, it would be unimaginable just how exaggerating the fire-attribute Spirit Qi’s density would be!
Besides this, Immortal Abode Island’s space stability also exceeded the outside world greatly.
If the space of the mortal land was like window paper and the sacred grounds’ space like glass, then Immortal Abode Island’s space was like tempered glass, and its stability was strengthened by many times.
In a place with such high space stability, the detection range of one’s spiritual power, speed, and destructive power would be greatly restricted.
It was no exaggeration to say that even those weaker Heavenly Venerables would not be able to tear open space in this Immortal Abode Island.
“As expected of the Thearch’s tomb, it’s exceptional.”
Shen Tian slowly descended back on the beach. He clenched his fist and punched the air.
Instantly, the mighty surging gale formed from the punch gathered to the extreme, and wherever the wind blew, majestic dragon roars could be vaguely heard.
The space was torn apart, and a hole was formed, revealing the black void cracks like a spider web within. It emitted an aura that would terrify others before quickly recovering.
Upon witnessing Shen Tian’s attack, the Sacred Leader nodded. “Tian’er, you have the Saint Token on you, and the energy of three attacks are stored within it.
“Under normal circumstances, you should not encounter any fatal dangers. However, if you really do face a crisis, don’t worry as I’ll rush to you quickly.”
After finishing, the Sacred Leader and Azure Lotus both left.
As the Divine Firmament Sacred Ground’s most powerful on Immortal Abode Island, they also had the mission of breaking through the array formation. As such, they could not waste much time.
Otherwise, when they started splitting the loot, the Divine Firmament Sacred Ground would suffer a loss!
Meanwhile, Divine Firmament’s people seemed to have heard of the news that the Sacred Leader and Shen Tian had arrived, so they hurried there together.
Naturally, Divine Firmament’s top four prodigies—Fang Chang, Zhang Yunting, Zhang Yunxi, and Zhao Hao—were leading everyone else.
Amongst them, Fang Chang had already increased his cultivation level greatly. He had completely broken through to the Nascent Soul stage, and the same happened for Zhang Yunting too afterward.
Meanwhile, Zhang Yunxi had successfully achieved peak Golden Core Ninth Refinement Stage under the help of the enlightenment tea and was only a step away from the so-called Golden Core Tenth Refinement Stage.
After taking that step, she would most likely consider breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage!
After all... her competitors were simply too powerful!
What was worth mentioning was that as a young prodigy, whose engagement had been broken off, Zhao Hao’s talent was also quite extraordinary,
After Zhao Hao had joined the Divine Firmament Sacred Ground and was taught by both the Divine Firmament Sacred Leader and Sword Venerable Qian Yang, his cultivation level had soared through the roof.
After being honed by going through the ups and downs of life, Zhao Hao’s mental fortitude was much stronger than those of his same age. At the same time, the Nine Refinement of Sword Flame mystic arts strengthened both his physical body and spiritual power.
Zhao Hao’s earlier Sixth Refinement Stage Golden Core had been of extremely high quality and even more outstanding than Fang Chang’s back then.
Now that he had undergone the past few months of harsh training, and with the enlightenment tea’s help, Zhao Hao had raised his cultivation level to the peak of Golden Core Eighth Refinement Stage.
At least, when it came to Eastern Wilderness’ younger generation, Zhao Hao was as famous as some sacred grounds’ Saints.
Looks like this sheep is growing unexpectedly well!
...
Besides the four of them, the Favored Ones’ founders, such as Eunuch Gui, Song Fugui, Liu Taiyi, Zhen Zhijia, Xiong Meng, Qin Gao, and so on, were naturally there too.
They were basically Shen Tian’s die-hard worshippers, so during the period Shen Tian had not been in the Divine Firmament Sacred Ground, they had been the ones taking charge.
Meanwhile, their strength had also been improving rapidly with the help of fortuitous opportunities, like the God of War Pagoda and enlightenment tea.
Originally, given their providence and talent, they might not have the chance to break through to the Golden Core stage in their life.
However, Song Fugui, Liu Taiyi, and others had reached the Golden Core stage in just one year.
Eunuch Gui and Qin Gao had even cultivated the Demon Book of Hyuga to an extremely high level. They had reached the Golden Core Sixth Refinement Stage!
Although they were only at the Sixth Refinement Stage, aided by their elusive speed and crafty swordsmanship, even Zhao Hao would not be able to block them if they cooperated.
Even in the whole Eastern Wilderness or even the five regions, these people could be counted as extremely outstanding prodigies.
Thus, now everyone was confident enough to even walk with great vigor!
“Your Highness, you’ve finally come out of seclusion!” Eunuch Gui, in his long red robe, looked at Shen Tian with concern. “Did everything go well during the seclusion this time?”
Shen Tian smiled and nodded. “I improved slightly, and I just reached the Golden Body Eighth Refinement Stage. If nothing goes wrong, then I can prepare to break through to the next stage.”
Golden Body Eighth Refinement Stage!?
Everyone was momentarily shocked before looking at each other in surprise.
What did our Saint say just now? Is it really Golden Body Eighth Refinement Stage and not Golden Core Eighth Refinement Stage?
Although they had never heard of anyone successfully breaking through to the Golden Body Ninth Refinement Stage in the five regions, it was Master Heavens!
If there was truly someone in this world that could reach the Golden Body Ninth Refinement Stage, it must be Master Heavens!
Breaking through to the next stage was just too low for him!
Song Fugui and Liu Taiyi glanced at each other, and the former revealed a mysterious smile.
A low profile!
It’s definitely because Master Heavens wants to keep a low profile!
Shen Tian had been keeping a low profile all along. Although his talent was beyond comparison, he never allowed others to publicize it.
However, Song Fugui felt that as one of the Favored Ones’ great elders, he should be able to understand Master Heavens as his cultivation level was definitely not as simple as just a mere Golden Body Eighth Refinement Stage.
That’s because someone as proud as Master Heavens would definitely continue to improve his strength and definitely not prepare to break through to the Nirvana Stage if his cultivation level was only at the Golden Body Eighth Refinement Stage.
Since Master Heavens had said he would break through, then his cultivation level was definitely higher than the Golden Body Eighth Refinement Stage!
He’s definitely at least at Golden Core Ninth Refinement Stage or even the Tenth Refinement Stage!
Well, in theory, Golden Body’s highest refinement stages are only the Ninth and Tenth Refinement Stage.
But that’s only the limitations of normal cultivators. Is Master Celestial a normal cultivator?
He’s the main lead of this era and has no limitations!
However, since Master Celestial has already announced that he is a Golden Body Eighth Refinement Stage practitioner, he might have his own considerations. Smart people should learn to read others’ hidden meanings and not say what should not be said.
Shopkeeper Song secretly decided that he would obediently follow Shen Tian.
...
Shen Tian looked at Zhao Hao, and his eyes suddenly lit up.
He coughed lightly and said, “Junior Brother Zhao’s cultivation level is improving as time passes. Congratulations.”
Zhao Hao scratched his head and said in embarrassment, “Senior Brother Saint, you’re flattering me. Such slight improvement is nothing compared to Senior Brother’s and is not worth mentioning at all.
“If not for Immortal Abode Island’s fire spirits, which can nurture special Fire Spirit Crystals and increase fire-attribute cultivators’ strength greatly, I won’t be able to break through so quickly.”
Fire Spirit Crystals?
Shen Tian was slightly stunned. “What is that?”
Before Zhao Hao could explain, Shopkeeper Song quickly passed the jade bamboo slip, which was already prepared beforehand, to Shen Tian.
“Master Heavens, this is the information regarding Immortal Abode Island.”
Liu Taiyi’s mouth twitched. He was regretting deeply that he stomped his foot!
No wonder!
Shopkeeper Song had been secretly holding the jade bamboo slip and recording something down these past few days. He was even afraid of being discovered by me.
So he’s thinking of buttering up to Master Celestial himself!
Wise move. He’s just too smart!
Heaven, why did you create someone like Shopkeeper Song when you already have me!
Shen Tian, on the other hand, appreciated how considerate Shopkeeper Song was. Shopkeeper Song could even be compared to Eunuch Gui.
If this was the mortal royal palace instead of the cultivation sect, a trusted subordinate as considerate as Shopkeeper Song would definitely be promoted to the overall-in-charge of the palace eunuchs and maids.
Shen Tian then concentrated on reading the contents of the jade bamboo slip.
Although Immortal Abode Island had only appeared not long ago, it was already quite attractive to the various forces that had arrived on the island.
Firstly, many fire spirits were formed from fire-attribute Spirit Qi hidden within this island. It was quite miraculous.
They could control the abundance of fire-attribute Spirit Qi on the island, so their attacks were extremely aggressive.
If one could kill those fire spirits, then one would be able to obtain a Fire Spirit Crystal.
The spirit crystal was extremely miraculous and had many uses as it was formed from the purest fire-attribute Spirit Qi.
Whether it was directly absorbing the energy within to increase one’s cultivation level or using them as materials to create pills or forge artifacts, the effects would be extraordinary.
Even the fact that Zhao Hao could reach the Golden Core Eight Refinement Stage so quickly was also largely because he had absorbed Fire Spirit Crystals.
Anyways, the fire spirits were definitely the best nourishment that all fire-attribute cultivators would dream of having.
If not for the fact that the outer region’s fire spirits were simply too weak that even Supremacies were rarely seen—-in other words, they were useless to Heavenly Venerables and Sages—Heavenly Venerable Azure Lotus might be reluctant to wait for Shen Tian and immediately massacre the fire spirits.
...
Besides the fire spirits, there was a so-called Red Flame Volcano in the east of Immortal Abode Island.
There was an extremely powerful exceptional fire, Earth Vein Fire. It was the best flame to make pills or forge artifacts.
Although it could not be compared to the Nan Ming Li Fire, which was ranked on the Exceptional Fire List, an exceptional fire was already extremely rare in the five regions!
If one could obtain the Earth Vein Fire from the Red Flame Volcano, then even most Sages would be tempted and might even fight over it.
Heavenly Venerable White Lotus from Divine Firmament had quite good relations with other cultivators, so under the support of many other cultivators, she had obtained a portion of the exceptional fire.
If she used it to create pills in the future, its effects could be increased greatly.
In the south of Immortal Abode Island, the Black Snake race’s Heavenly Venerable Qing Ming had discovered a Dark Flame Gold Mine. It was a supreme-grade mine with an abundance of ores.
Such ores were extremely important to most fire-attribute sects as Dark Flame Gold Essence could be obtained from the ores, which was a supreme-grade material to forge fire-attribute spirit artifacts.
It was a pity that few Black Snakes mainly cultivated fire-attribute techniques, so this mine was quite useless to them. Thus, they were now thinking of selling it to sacred grounds!
It was said that Southern Border’s Phoenix race’s elders had tried finding Heavenly Venerable Qing Ming in hopes of buying this mine, but she had politely turned down, using excuses.
Afterward, another few human sacred grounds had wanted to buy partial ownership of the mine, but they had still been politely refused.
Had the forces not agreed beforehand that the loot would belong to the person who discovered them, they might have already started battling over the mine. The value of such a supreme-grade mine was indeed considerable.
Currently, on the south and west of Immortal Abode Island, numerous other fortuitous opportunities were also being discovered, but they could not be compared to the Earth Vein Fire or the Dark Fire Gold Mine. Thus, the Sages were not attracted to make a move.
The true fortuitous opportunities should still be in Immortal Abode Island’s inner area, which was surrounded by the array formation!
...
Just as Shen Tian’s divine consciousness entered the jade bamboo slip to check the information regarding Immortal Abode Island, an indifferent voice suddenly echoed from the south of the island.
“I am the Black Snake race’s Heavenly Venerable Qing Ming, and the Dark Flame Gold Mine is now in my race’s hands.
“Those that want to buy the Dark Flame Gold Mine, bring Divine Firmament Sacred Ground’s Heavenly Venerable Azure Lotus, Chu Longhe, to me, or else there’s no room for negotiations.”
Heavenly Venerable Qing Ming was the Black Snake race’s princess. Her father, mother, and grandfather were all Sages, so she had an extraordinary status in the Black Snake race.
If not, she would not have been able to decide on selling such an important mine, like the Dark Flame Gold Mine, with just Heavenly Venerable cultivation level. It would be impossible even if she was the first one to have discovered the mine!
She had put the Dark Flame Gold Mine as a bounty for the various forces to bring Heavenly Venerable Azure Lotus to her, and such a condition was extremely appealing.
“Qing Ming, you’re going too far! Senior Brother Chu is mine!”
“Sister Qing Ming, what happened back then was just a misunderstanding, so please don’t make things difficult for First Senior Brother.”
Two familiar voices echoed. They were Heavenly Venerable Scarlet Dance and Heavenly Venerable White Lotus. Who knew what kind of drama would occur with those three women?
Anyway, Shen Tian could vaguely sense powerful auras appearing on the island’s outer region once he closed his eyes. They seemed to be making a move because of Heavenly Venerable Qing Ming’s bounty.
Of course, it was all because of his Connate Constitution’s special effects that he could listen to those voices and sense those powerful auras.
Otherwise, it would be almost impossible for cultivators weaker than Heavenly Venerable to sense so far in the distance on Immortal Abode Island, not to mention hearing the voices.
This was the gossip that only mighty beings had the qualifications to listen to—those weaklings that were not even Heavenly Venerables had no qualifications to hear such things.
At that moment, the deafening thunderclap sounded west of the island.
Golden lightning instantly smashed the space all around into pieces, and a black void vortex was formed. It then began sucking seawater endlessly.
“Zhang Longyuan, you actually sneak-attacked me!”
“Senior Brother, 800 years have passed since things became awkward with Heavenly Venerable Qing Ming and you. It’s time to clear things up.”
“F*ck you! You think that things could be cleared up between her and me? You’re just tempted by the ores, someone help, save me! The Divine Firmament Sacred Leader is heartless. He’s going to sell his Senior Brother out for ores!”
“Senior Brother, please stop shouting. No matter how strong your Godfiend Body is, you can’t break free from being bound by my Mixed Divine Lightning chains.”
Golden lightning pierced through the air and as the heavenly aura surrounding the Sacred Leader fluctuated vigorously. A chain formed from Mixed Divine Lightning appeared from within the heavenly aura.
The old Taoist priest wearing a purple robe was bound on the other side of the chain, and currently, his hair was standing from being struck by lightning.
He struggled crazily, trying to escape. Unfortunately, the Mixed Divine Lightning chains had bound him like a dumpling. They were so tight it was even difficult to move his fingers.
“Senior Brother, it’s all for your own good. Heavenly Venerable Qing Ming has such a powerful background and has been concerned about you for so many years. Just admit defeat!”
...
The Sacred Leader’s voice was cold and emotionless all along, but his words caught countless Heavenly Venerables and Sages between laughter and tears.
However, the eyes of the mighty figures, who were aware of the gossip from back then, lit up.
This tea that we have waited for almost 1,000 years, can we finally drink it now?
Azure Lotus, serves you right!
Haha, how gratifying!