Cultivation Begins From The Desert

Chapter 634 - 619: Ten Thousand Year Fire Coral

Jiang Fengxian, although aware of Zhouyang’s intentions, didn’t outright reject his proposal.

Forcing someone against their will won’t lead to a sweet outcome; since Zhouyang’s heart was no longer in this, with her pride, how could she take such actions?

Moreover, not only was Zhouyang eager to quickly form his Nascent Soul and return to Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm, but she also wished to swiftly achieve her Nascent Soul and return to seek revenge against Lou Feifeng.

Thus, after staying for another ten years on "Peach Blossom Island" and waiting for both Jiang Fengxian and Jiang Yufeng to ascend to the Ninth-Layer Golden Core and Third-Layer Golden Core respectively, Zhouyang left this overseas Immortal Island where they had lived for fifty-seven years and headed towards the true Overseas Cultivation Realm.

Refining Pill and Forming Infant is a crucial stage for cultivators; surpass this stage, and one truly transforms from mortal to immortal, becoming a genuine person among deities, possessing a non-human body, non-human strength, and non-human divine techniques.

During the process of Refining Pill and Forming Infant, it requires gathering a massive amount of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi to assist the cultivator’s breakthrough, which can’t be provided by the small Tier Five Lower-Grade Spiritual Vein on "Peach Blossom Island".

Generally, a Tier Five Upper-Grade Spiritual Vein is the minimum requirement; finding a Tier Six Spiritual Vein for Refining Pill and Forming Infant would naturally be better.

Even in the Overseas Cultivation Realm, where spiritual veins abound, it’s not easy to find masterless Tier Five Upper-Grade Spiritual Veins. If Zhouyang and Jiang Fengxian were to search on their own, they might take years to possibly find one.

Thus, they could only go to places in the Overseas Cultivation Realm where cultivators gather, inquire about related information from other cultivators, and then decide where to perform Refining Pill and Forming Infant based on the situation.

Though this is also quite difficult, because if a high-tier spiritual vein is easy to occupy, it would definitely have been occupied and exploited by someone already and wouldn’t be an ownerless place.

Most likely, they would end up having to do something similar to what they did on "Peach Blossom Island"—seizing the spiritual veins occupied by formidable demon beasts.

In this vast sea, spiritual veins and islands occupied by demon beasts are far more frequent than those occupied by human cultivators.

Nowadays, the large islands in the Overseas Cultivation Realm were snatched by cultivators from the demon kings.

However, ever since the East Sea Flood Dragon Race organized a demon army to counterattacked and overrun more than half of the Overseas Cultivation Realm thousands of years ago, no one dares to seize territory from demon kings anymore.

But taking territory from demon beasts below the demon king level, the Flood Dragon Race wouldn’t intervene.

Only Tier Six Demon Kings are considered part of the demon race; below Tier Six are merely demon beasts. The sea is teeming with demon beasts, and the Flood Dragon Race can’t oversee them all, since their own clan member count is limited as well.

It’s said that when a sea demon beast advances to become a Tier Six Demon King, the first thing it must do is make a pilgrimage to the East Sea Flood Dragon Race’s headquarters, the "East Sea Dragon Palace," to secure the Flood Dragon Race’s protection.

Those demon kings who do not make the pilgrimage, the Flood Dragon Race will not only ignore their survival but may sometimes even send troops to punish them.

The sea area where "Peach Blossom Island" is located is quite far from the central area where cultivators gather in the Overseas Cultivation Realm. After all, Zhouyang was fleeing for his life at the time, so he naturally chose such an isolated and remote sea area to hide.

This doesn’t matter though; Zhouyang possesses a relatively detailed sea chart of the Overseas Cultivation Realm and has directional magical artifacts. Truly heading there would just take a year or half a year at most.

For safety reasons, they still used the Fish Dragon Shuttle for travel instead of the Cyan Nether Flying Ship which is much faster.

One day, as Zhouyang and the two women were traveling under the sea, they suddenly sensed a strong magical combat fluctuation coming from a distant sea area, accompanied by a thunderous beast roar.

Out of curiosity, Zhouyang drove the Fish Dragon Shuttle over there to investigate.

A glance was all it took for Zhouyang to be captivated.

The magical combat fluctuation originated from two sea demon beasts, and the treasure they were contesting over was an extraordinary sea treasure, the "Ten Thousand Year Fire Coral".

"Ten Thousand Year Fire Coral" is a rare treasure of the East Sea; it can be used in spiritual elixirs or in artifact refining.

Zhouyang’s daughter Jiang Yufeng formed her core more than seventy years ago, but due to the suppression of the Divine Lady Palace, she has yet to refine her Lifebound Spiritual Artifact. This "Ten Thousand Year Fire Coral" is perfect for the materials of her Lifebound Spiritual Artifact.

Of course, this rare spiritual object, "Ten Thousand Year Fire Coral," is not only useful for cultivators; some marine fire attribute demon beasts also greatly benefit from consuming it.

Now, the two demon beasts battling underwater are fighting over this spiritual object.

These two demon beasts are a flame-spraying Flaming Dragon Turtle and an eel-like exotic Fire Eel.

Both are Tier Five High-Grade Demon Beasts with extremely formidable power.

They are engaged in combat at the seafloor, using various fire element divine techniques, boiling the surrounding seawater and creating an impressive spectacle.

However, when the two were engaged in combat, they deliberately avoided the Ten Thousand Year Fire Coral growing beside the seabed volcano to prevent damaging this extremely rare underwater treasure.

"Let’s retreat a bit farther. Seeing the way these two Demon Beasts are fighting, it’s going to take days to determine a winner. We’ll wait until they’re exhausted and separate, then eliminate them one by one."

Inside the Fish Dragon Shuttle, Zhouyang, after utilizing the Stinging Dragon Avoiding Tribulation Technique to sneak around the battlefield perimeter and assess the situation, returned and quietly explained his plan to Jiang Fengxian and her daughter.

Among the three of them, he alone, due to having practiced the Azure Dragon Body Refining Technique, could move freely underwater without the need to use any magic or divine techniques, so naturally, the task of gathering intel fell to him.

Neither Jiang Fengxian nor her daughter had any objections to his plan.

If they were to take them out separately, with the strength of the three Golden Core Stage Cultivators, killing a Tier Five High-Grade Demon Beast in the depths of the sea wouldn’t be a difficult task.

Things indeed played out as Zhouyang had predicted. After two full days and nights of fierce battle, the two sea monsters finally decided the victor.

The Flaming Dragon Turtle managed to defend the Ten Thousand Year Fire Coral, while the exotic Fire Eel was severely wounded and fled.

The Flaming Dragon Turtle wouldn’t easily leave to chase the exotic Fire Eel, as it needed to guard the Ten Thousand Year Fire Coral, but Zhouyang’s family, who had long been lying in ambush outside, wouldn’t miss this chance to strike at a weakened adversary.

The three of them were separately lurking in different directions miles away from the battlefield, and coincidentally, the exotic Fire Eel fled right towards Zhouyang’s direction.

Immediate action was taken, Zhouyang didn’t even wait for Jiang Fengxian and her daughter to arrive for assistance. He directly used the Cyan Dragon Transformation divine technique and swiftly smashed the head of the already severely injured exotic Fire Eel.

After killing the exotic Fire Eel, Zhouyang maintained his half-dragon, half-human form and charged directly at the Flaming Dragon Turtle.

The Flaming Dragon Turtle sensed trouble right when Zhouyang suddenly attacked the fleeing exotic Fire Eel. It wasn’t foolish and quickly realized someone was trying to be the fisherman reaping the benefit.

As a result, it immediately uprooted the Ten Thousand Year Fire Coral and swallowed it whole, preparing to flee instantly.

It hadn’t expected that there were not just one, but three fishermen.

Jiang Fengxian and Jiang Yufeng, who had failed to intercept the exotic Fire Eel, abandoned their support for Zhouyang and intercepted the Flaming Dragon Turtle halfway through its escape.

Jiang Fengxian was already highly skilled in magical combat. Armed with the Golden Flood Dragon Sword and the Red Profound Golden Pearl—two top-tier Tier Five magical artifacts given by Zhouyang—she had no weaknesses in her attack and defense.

The Flaming Dragon Turtle was already in poor condition after its battle with the exotic Fire Eel. When intercepted by her, it only lasted a few exchanges before she severed a section of its tail with the Golden Flood Dragon Sword.

Whenever the Flaming Dragon Turtle attempted to flee recklessly, she would unleash that Seven-Colored Spiritual Light divine technique to bind and disrupt it, making it impossible for it to escape easily.

When Zhouyang, still in his half-human, half-dragon form, also arrived, the fate of the Flaming Dragon Turtle was sealed.

Following a battle that wasn’t particularly intense, the Flaming Dragon Turtle ultimately perished under Jiang Fengxian’s Golden Flood Dragon Sword, beheaded by a single stroke.

Since the battle didn’t last long, after cutting open the Flaming Dragon Turtle’s belly, the swallowed Ten Thousand Year Fire Coral was quickly retrieved, landing in Zhouyang’s hands.

Adding to that the demon pills, demon souls, and corpses of the two Tier Five High-Grade Demon Beasts, the battle resulted in enormous gains for them.

They tidied up the battlefield slightly, ensuring no treasures were overlooked, and then Zhouyang and his companions carried their ample spoils and proceeded as planned to the overseas Cultivation Realm.

The subsequent journey was uneventful, and approximately ten months after leaving "Peach Blossom Island," Zhouyang and his group finally entered the sea chart-indicated "Inner Sea" region.

The so-called "Inner Sea" doesn’t refer to the concept of "inner sea" from Zhouyang’s previous life. Instead, it is a term used by overseas Cultivators to describe the areas where Cultivators frequently operate, essentially the narrow definition of the overseas Cultivation Realm.

Beyond the "Inner Sea" lies the Outer Sea, where islands like "Peach Blossom Island," along with many secluded isles inhabited by overseas Cultivators and a multitude of islands taken over by Demon Beasts, are located.

Generally speaking, due to the frequent activity of Cultivators, and their high density in the "Inner Sea," high-tier Demon Beasts have become rare after years of hunting by Cultivators. Even when present, they generally stay in deep waters and don’t easily reveal themselves.

Thus, for Cultivators, the "Inner Sea" is relatively safe, allowing for secure aerial travel over the ocean without suddenly facing the threat of getting shot down by a hidden high-tier Demon Beast and ending up as its food.

Of course, this safety is only relative, as dangers may not only come from Demon Beasts and alien races. Malicious bandit Cultivators could sometimes be even more dangerous than Demon Beasts.

For Zhouyang and his party, the "Inner Sea," where Cultivator activity is frequent, is undoubtedly more dangerous than the Outer Sea.

Though over fifty years had passed, the pursuit by the Dragon Taming Family wouldn’t be as intense as initially, but Zhouyang still did not underestimate their threat.

In the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm, a wanted order issued by the Beast Taming Sect could remain effective for a century or two, let alone the far more powerful Dragon Taming Family.

The main base is located in the Dragon Taming Family of the East Sea, and its influence in the Overseas Cultivation Realm is equally substantial.

Zhouyang believed that if he dared to reveal his true identity, the Nascent Soul Stage cultivators from the Overseas Cultivation Realm would likely be dispatched to capture him and take him to the Dragon Taming Family for a reward.

Fortunately, he had numerous means to conceal his identity, whether it was the mask gifted by Lu Xuanji or the Tier Five High-Grade Spiritual Artifact [Illusory Treasure Pearl] obtained from Dragon Taming Golden Radiance, both of which could help obscure his appearance, enough to make even Golden Core Stage cultivators unable to discern any anomalies.

Thus, after traversing the "Inner Sea" region for another month, Zhouyang established a temporary cave dwelling in an underwater spirit vein, allowing his daughter Jiang Fengxian to seclude herself and begin refining her own Lifebound Spiritual Artifact.

He and Jiang Fengxian each used the [Illusory Treasure Pearl] and the mask gifted by Lu Xuanji to conceal their appearances, and they also utilized the [Stinging Dragon Avoiding Tribulation Technique] to restrain their auras, transforming into a Purple Mansion Stage cultivator and separately heading to several nearby sea realm market immortal cities to inquire about spirit vein information.

Zhouyang disguised himself as a Ninth-Layer Purple Mansion cultivator from the Donghua Continent Cultivation Realm who came to the Overseas Cultivation Realm seeking opportunities for Core Formation.

This level of cultivation allowed him to barely mingle in some circles of Golden Core Stage cultivators to gather information without arousing too much attention.

Of course, unless necessary, he would not easily engage in close contact with those Golden Core Stage cultivators.

The first place he went to was an island called "Golden Turtle Island."

Golden Turtle Island is a large island with a Tier Five High-Grade Spiritual Vein, jointly controlled by a cultivation sect and two cultivation clans. The [Golden Turtle Marketplace] on the island is quite famous, being the most prosperous area in the surrounding sea region, second only to those marketplaces on large islands with Nascent Soul Stage cultivators guarding them.

On the way to Golden Turtle Island, Zhouyang witnessed the "characteristics" of the Overseas Cultivation Realm.

In just over a hundred-thousand-mile journey, he encountered as many as six battles between cultivators, including pirates attacking sea-traveling merchant ships and simple ambushes against passing cultivators.

Luckily, his disguised cultivator identity had a cultivation level that was not low, so no rash individual dared to target him.

In fact, because of the high cultivation level he displayed, other cultivators on the route would see his sword light from a distance, assess his cultivation based on the speed of his sword light escape technique, and then detour away from him far in advance, not daring to come within several hundred miles of him.

Such occurrences were only encountered in the Overseas Cultivation Realm and not in the other cultivation realms Zhouyang had visited, indicating just how lacking a sense of security the cultivators here had.

This also secretly made him wary and reminded him that if he encountered a Golden Core Stage cultivator, it would be best to behave like a normal overseas cultivation realm’s cultivator and stay far away from the other party.

After an uneventful flight of over a hundred thousand miles, Zhouyang finally entered the sea region near Golden Turtle Island.

Near Golden Turtle Island, incidents of murder and treasure grabbing were finally less frequent.

It wasn’t because there was someone maintaining order here, but rather because Golden Turtle Island was quite prosperous, with cultivators often coming and going nearby.

If one were to murder and seize treasures here, unless their cultivation was as high as the Golden Core Stage, they would risk becoming the mantis stalking the cicada, only to be caught by the oriole from behind.

This strange mutual apprehension situation instead created a safe environment here, which ironically was a form of safety.

Golden Turtle Island is a large island with the longest east-west distance being over thirteen thousand miles and the widest north-south distance over eight thousand miles, with three to four million mortals living on the island.

It’s worth noting that these mortals in the Overseas Cultivation Realm, despite the occasional threat of sea demon beasts coming ashore to slaughter them, actually have quite a prosperous life.

Many large islands in the sea, like Golden Turtle Island, are abundant in resources—not only are the lands fertile, but the surrounding sea region also has extremely rich fishing resources, leaving no concerns about food shortages.

This scenario is completely different from the situation in the Boundless Sea of Sand Cultivation Realm’s desert oases.

In some oases in the Boundless Sea of Sand Cultivation Realm, clans like the Zhou Family and other cultivation clans have to use various methods to control population growth, whereas in the overseas cultivation realm, almost no forces do so.

If the island’s population becomes too large, they can easily build large sea ships capable of transporting thousands upon tens of thousands of people at a time, relocating the excess population to nearby other islands, including uninhabited barren islands without spirit veins.

In reality, this situation doesn’t occur because the number of low-tier demon beasts in the sea is too vast. Even on those large islands with Nascent Soul Stage cultivators guarding them, low-tier demon beasts frequently sneak ashore to hunt mortals for food.

These low-tier demon beasts, whenever one manages to sneak onto an island, can kill hundreds of mortals in a single night, making it impossible to guard against them.

Therefore, the greatest wish of these island mortals is for their family to produce a cultivator, who can then lead them to move their entire family into those towns protected by low-tier arrays, so they at least won’t have to worry about being torn apart by demon beasts in their sleep at night.

After entering Golden Turtle Island, Zhouyang paused in mid-air for a moment to observe the living conditions of the mortals on the island. After finishing his observation, he immediately headed to the island’s [Golden Turtle Marketplace].

This [Golden Turtle Marketplace], although called a marketplace, is actually not smaller in area than those immortal cities; the only distinction is that it is not built on a Tier Four Spiritual Vein.

An additional unique aspect of the overseas cultivation realm is that high-tier cultivators here usually do not rent or frequent cave dwellings within immortal cities and marketplaces of other forces, and this applies to loose cultivators as well.

Therefore, the distinction between Immortal City and Marketplace here is not significant; both are merely places for trading items.

The [Golden Turtle Marketplace] truly lives up to its reputation for prosperity. After Zhouyang paid the "head tax" and entered the marketplace, he witnessed a bustling scene of a multitude of cultivators coming and going. Everywhere on the streets, one could see cultivators setting up stalls to sell various special spiritual objects from the sea.

This is probably also a distinctive feature of the overseas Cultivation Realm, hmm, a characteristic of loose cultivators.

However, do not misunderstand and think that the cultivators setting up stalls are low-tier cultivators with low-level cultivation.

Perhaps in other cultivation realms, this might be the case, but in the overseas cultivation realm, this situation is not absolute.

Those low-tier cultivators know that the items they can acquire have little value and are hard to sell even when set up at stalls. Therefore, they often accept the situation, selling at low prices to purchasing shops or storing them for a while before setting up stalls to sell.

After all, time cost is also a significant expense for these Qi Cultivation Stage cultivators who yearn for Foundation Establishment, especially considering the not-so-cheap retention fee inside this [Golden Turtle Market].

The primary force behind those setting up stalls is actually the Foundation Establishment cultivators. These cultivators can venture out to sea to acquire some decent spiritual objects and can afford a certain amount of time cost. They are unwilling to sell at low prices to those shops, hence they first set up stalls here for some time. If they really can’t sell, they might take it to a shop to sell.

Zhouyang even saw a Ninth-Layer Purple Mansion cultivator setting up a stall among them, with materials from Tier Four demon beasts and spiritual materials like treasure pearls and corals commonly found in the sea placed at their stall.

Noticing this situation, Zhouyang was also moved in his heart, secretly considering that if he couldn’t gather information on spiritual veins elsewhere, he might also try blending in among these stall cultivators to gather information.

He first visited several major shops in the marketplace to inquire about supporting core formation spiritual objects, resulting in nothing.

Supporting core formation spiritual objects are popular and scarce items everywhere. Without any background, trying to purchase them through normal trading means heavily depends on luck.

After walking around for a while, Zhouyang reached the place with the highest footfall in the marketplace, a square dedicated to allowing island cultivators to freely form teams for sea adventures.

In the center of this square stood two massive walls, a hundred feet high and several tens of feet wide. On one of these walls were various cultivator portraits, with detailed written descriptions beside them.

These were all wanted criminals by the Seventy-Two Islands Alliance of the overseas Cultivation Realm. Cultivators listed on this wanted wall were at least of the Purple Mansion Stage.

Clearly, Zhouyang’s entire family of three was among them, placed prominently in the first row, following three Nascent Soul Stage cultivators who have been posted for hundreds to thousands of years.

And the so-called Seventy-Two Islands Alliance of the overseas cultivation realm is essentially a loose alliance formed by the seventy-two largest islands.

This alliance has seventy-two Elder Seats, held by the island masters of the seventy-two largest islands. Over eighty percent of the cultivator forces of the overseas cultivation realm are almost all within this alliance.

Originally, the establishment of this alliance was to unite the forces of the entire overseas cultivation realm against the demon army, led by the Jiao Dragon Race. After the great catastrophe, the alliance was not disbanded.

However, this alliance has no binding force on its members. Members voluntarily join or leave unless it’s a war between the Human Race and the Demon Race; otherwise, the Elder Council of the alliance has no authority to command any members to do anything.

Now, the role of this alliance is somewhat akin to a well-known but powerless international organization from Zhouyang’s previous life, specifically used to coordinate conflicts between members and to issue a wanted list across the alliance.

However, it is not easy to get someone onto this wanted list; either it requires the agreement of one-third of the Elder Seats within the alliance or the personal signature of the alliance leader or two vice alliance leaders on the Alliance Leader Order.

This shows that the influence of the Dragon Taming Clan in the overseas cultivation realm is absolutely not low.

Zhouyang only glanced at the wanted list for a few moments and then lost interest. Such a wanted list has never been of much use, and the presence of those powerful individuals still living freely after so many years is proof of this.

The cultivation realm is so vast; like him, how many cultivators can recognize someone with a changed identity and face?

His gaze was on the other massive wall.

On that wall were posted various employment tasks, which were categorized into two types: one type was issued by various forces within the Seventy-Two Islands Alliance targeting the entire overseas cultivation realm. These tasks, visible in any marketplace like [Golden Turtle Marketplace], usually came with high rewards and high danger, not tasks that ordinary cultivators could complete.

The other type of task was issued by cultivators near the [Golden Turtle Marketplace], which included hiring people to venture out to sea to hunt certain demon beasts, seeking certain spirit elixirs, requesting help in guarding islands, and so on.

Even ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators can post tasks as long as they pay one middle-grade Spirit Stone to the personnel at the bottom of the wall in the [Golden Turtle Marketplace], allowing the task to hang on the wall for ten days.

If no one accepts the task after ten days and you want the task to remain on the wall, you must pay a "ranking fee." Each additional day a task stays on the wall incurs a "ranking fee" of ten low-grade Spirit Stones.

Zhouyang scanned task after task, and suddenly, one task caught his attention.

"Proceed to Celestial Wave Outer Sea to hunt Tier Five High-Grade Demon Beast [Water-Resistant Golden-Eyed Beast], seeking five Golden Core Stage cultivators for backup, preferably with Mid-Stage Golden Core cultivation. Generous reward. Interested parties can negotiate face-to-face on Thunder Whale Island."