The world had recently seemed a little more restless than usual.
In the Shadowfallen Domain, newly emerged dark beings dubbed Shadow Eaters were leaving their marks across the land, slowly gaining notoriety.
Elsewhere, meanwhile, a discreet yet significant event was taking place.
At the edge of the Nanyun Continent (Southern Cloud), one of the four mid-continents, an enormous shadow suddenly appeared along the coast.
Several fishermen, ranging from Foundation Establishment to Golden Core, fishing in the dangerous waters of the sea, trembled when they saw the ocean in that region roil, knowing that a massive creature was about to emerge from the depths.
"Return…" A captain on one boat lowered his voice and tone, his face pale as nervousness took over his expression.
He did not even dare to give orders out loud or flee with sudden movements, for he did not want to be the first to draw the beast's attention.
On several boats, the same scene repeated itself. But there was always some idiot who panicked.
"RUN! RUN! A powerful beast is coming!" a scream of horror cut through the waters that had until then been silent, making everyone freeze in fear.
The voice belonged to a young captain of a certain boat, who at that moment was whipping his men, trying to make them speed up and escape as fast as possible.
Unfortunately, that was the wrong move, and if the beast had not been paying attention to them before, it certainly was now.
"Fool!" A captain slammed angrily against the railing as he found himself doomed by another's actions and, no longer hesitating, stopped holding back and accelerated his boat to the limit to flee, even burning his precious mid-grade spirit stones to gain speed.
But when he looked back, fear overtook his face, for that immense monster seemed about to emerge, and seeing its size, its power could not be far behind, which meant they were doomed.
Without hesitation, clinging to a sliver of hope to save himself, he was about to abandon the crew and the low-quality ship, which was slower than traveling alone, and flee flying with his tail between his legs.
Yet when he saw what emerged, his energy froze and his body could not respond in the face of the shock and terror of what he was witnessing.
Only a single stammered word escaped his mouth.
"D-D-Dragon!!"
His cry was not the only one, and more terrified exclamations echoed from all directions as an immense black draconic head emerged from the waters.
Fiery energy pulsed in its mouth and eyes, making its entire presence terrifying.
The beast continued to rise with an imposing and dreadful presence, as if the king of the heavens were ascending from the seas.
But to everyone's successive shock, the serpentine body expected below the neck did not appear. Instead, a bulging black body emerged, which soon revealed itself to be a gigantic ship beyond words to measure.
As for the dragon head, which looked alive and sinister, it was merely a terrifying figurehead.
The enormous black ship slowly rose from the depths of the sea like a fierce serpent emerging, creating a tremendous suction force in the waters around it.
Soon, its entire vast body rose from the water, casting a shadow that seemed to swallow the sun. It then righted itself, its hull crashing back into the sea and sending a massive tsunami that left everyone present pale.
Fortunately, rays of light burst forth from the ship, accompanied by the glow of formations, which immediately pressed the raging sea back into place, restoring calm.
Now emerged from the depths, the ship's deck began to drain, water streaming down the hull and back into the ocean. Far from the sight of the boatmen, hundreds of thousands of disciples lay sprawled across the deck, soaked, breathing heavily, their eyes filled with disbelief at their own survival.
That was the eighth day of navigation, and on that day everyone had been gathered to fight, without any further division into groups. And to their astonishment, the battle had taken place on the seafloor, where beasts clustered like a massive school, trying to destroy them.
There, they had faced the fiercest battles of their lives.
Fortunately, with the protection of the elders and the sect ship itself, there were no fatalities, only exhaustion and some severe, near-death injuries, which were soon healed under the care of the elders.
In fact, the disciples even wished the healing had been slower, for in mere moments they were already cured and hurled back into battle, not even given time to cry.
Meanwhile, Aotian placed his hands on his waist, watching everyone sprawled and exhausted on the ground with an amused smile, satisfied with their growth over the past few days.
But seeing his reaction, even his beautiful wife, who was also lying on the ground doubting her own life, shot him a resentful look.
If his wife was like that, then what about the other disciples, who had been fighting nonstop while he was just 'fishing'? They truly wanted to tear into him in anger.
Unfortunately, they did not know that Aotian's face was thicker than a wall, and that he had actually been working very hard during those days as well. After all, he had many bodies, but also many things to do.
And secretly, he enjoyed watching the disciples want to curse him while he drank coconut water and watched them fight furiously. Yes, he could be mischievous sometimes.
Of course, their fighting was also very good for him, and the feedback he received from the disciples about combat in the lower realms actually helped him improve his control and combat experience a bit more.
Thus, satisfied with the gains and quickly averting his gaze to avoid his wife's wrath, Aotian began to whistle, pretending to be casual as he walked forward.
Approaching the railing, he admired the scenery, looking at the land in sight and at the fishermen staring at the ship with their mouths agape.
Ignoring them, his eyes shone.
'Nanyun Continent. Are you ready for our arrival?'
Amused and excited, he stopped looking at those people and resumed controlling the ship with a clear goal in mind.
The bottom of the hull slowly rose from the waters, and soon the ship floated before the eyes of the stunned crowd, who watched dumbfounded as droplets of water fell upon them while the enormous titan gently flew above their heads.
"W-What is it doing now?!"
One of the sailors asked, stammering.
He had never seen anything like this in his life, and it truly seemed like something only immortals in legends could do.
But before he could understand what was happening, he saw energy gather across the colossal ship's hull in the sky, with various golden, shining runes lighting up.
Then, with a sudden flash, the ship shot forward, tore through space, and disappeared before their eyes, leaving behind only a spatial rift that soon closed.
For a long time, the crowd of fishermen remained there, motionless, wondering whether all of that had truly happened or if it had merely been a collective delusion.
…
In a place very far from the coast, surrounded by sand dunes and a scorching desert, a gigantic rift in space appeared, and at a dazzling speed, the Infinite Dao Sect's ship passed through it in a flash of light.
After the crossing, the vessel's speed suddenly dropped to almost zero, once again floating calmly in the sky.
As for the rift, as if space itself were healing, it quickly closed in a smooth manner.
Aotian observed that vast desert with a neutral expression, but inside he was pale.
'Aotian, you imbecile! That jump devoured a hundredth of the sect's wealth in spirit stones, just to shave a few hours off the journey!' he cursed in his mind, on the verge of tears.
If it weren't for his ability to synthesize perfect-grade spirit stones, which were far more energy-efficient, he didn't even want to imagine the kind of costs he would have faced.
Using a Void-Tier ship to cross the void was something excellent. As it was fueled directly by spirit stones, the jump could be carried out continuously as long as stones were available, with no distance limit, something far superior to what a cultivator of the same realm could do.
Just like this recently executed jump, which covered a distance that one of Aotian's ancestors would have had to open the void at least three times to traverse. And that would be traveling alone, without carrying hundreds of thousands of disciples and without being a ship the size of a city.
But the longer the jump, the greater the cost, and adding to that the size of the rift and the need to protect the entire ship, isolating it from the aggressive energy of the void, it was natural that the consumption would be enormous.
He had known from the beginning that the cost would be high, he just didn't think it would be this much. But if he could go back in time, reluctantly, he would still do it.
His purpose with this jump was to erase the sect's traces, preventing others from locating their destination.
Even so, he had to complain to feel better.
'Ugh… remember not to jump so far next time with so many disciples, and preferably… not to jump at all.'
While pretending to be natural, with an evaluative gaze directed at the desert below, but crying internally, a voice reached his ears.
"Where are we?"
Turning his face slightly, he saw Rihai approaching, her face still tired, but even so she couldn't stop herself from looking down with curiosity in her eyes.
Besides her, several disciples who had already recovered a bit of their strength ran to the sides of the ship, observing the world below, curiosity clearly written on their faces.
But all of them, without exception, were stunned when they saw the desolate, lifeless scenery outside.
By all indications, the fact that the ship was floating calmly there meant that they had arrived, or were very close to their new home. They just hadn't expected… a place this bad.
Ignoring the confused murmurs of the crowd, Aotian turned his gaze back to the desert as he answered his wife.
"We are on the Nanyun Continent, one of the four mid-continents. And this place, specifically, is called a forbidden zone by the local inhabitants."
He explained with a slight smile, pushing the losses of spirit stones to the back of his mind.
It wasn't as if he would frequently jump with a mobile city, nor were his finances tight, so there was no need to lament so much. Besides, the sect would soon grow stronger, and with so many disciples, he would quickly make up for his expenses.
"Forbidden zone?" Rihai raised a surprised eyebrow at him upon hearing the name. "It doesn't sound like a friendly place," she murmured, observing the desert attentively.
["Because it isn't."]
A familiar voice suddenly sounded, reaching their ears.
Aotian and Rihai identified who had spoken almost instantly, even though there was no one visible nearby.
But in the distance, the two looked at Shen He, who was observing the scenery along with the others, unaware of their gazes.
Even so, the couple was certain that the one who had spoken was the old man still hidden within the boy's necklace.
"Dear, isn't it a bit sinister for an old man to be secretly listening?" Aotian looked at his wife and lightly rolled his eyes.
Rihai seemed a little embarrassed and gently nudged her husband's side a few times with her elbow, casting him a pleading look that said: "Don't be mean to him."
Aotian merely held the arm of his wife that was poking him, letting out a bitter sigh.
["Hmph! Brat, this old man has no interest in what you youngsters talk about. He's only afraid that you and your sect are taking my great-granddaughter to her grave. This desolate place, without a speck of spiritual energy, makes clear to anyone what it is, and I tell you: tell your sect that if they don't have confidence, turn back and find a place that won't lead everyone to death!"]
The angry and mocking voice of Old Liu sounded, as irritating as ever. Even so, Aotian noticed that the old man didn't speak with the same firmness and vehemence as before, seeming more like he was testing his reaction.
Or, more precisely, the sect's attitude.
'It seems that the old man seeing the sect's cultivation techniques must have given him quite a scare. But that's good. Now he doesn't seem so firm about going against the sect anymore. Who knows, maybe I'll get feedback from a cultivator at the peak of Tribulation Transcendence soon hehe. Even if it's not as good as what I got from Lei Yun, a former Mahayana, it's still not bad at all.'
With shining eyes, he nodded inwardly, satisfied.
Of course, deep down, he also longed for the cranky old man's approval to make his wife happier, but he would never admit that.
"Great-grandfather, Tian'er, what is going on with this place? And why would the sect come to such a spiritually poor location?" Rihai asked curiously, stretching out her hand and releasing her energy outside the ship.
As she probed the air, she quickly confirmed her great-grandfather's words, that there wasn't even a trace of spiritual energy out there, forming an environment countless times poorer than the desert continents, something impressive just to think about.
But before Aotian could answer her, the old man spoke first.
["Child, this place has existed for tens of thousands of years. In fact, this is the crash site of a mansion belonging to an ancient Mahayana. The mansion ended up disconnecting from the world tree and falling here."]
"What?!" Surprised, Rihai exclaimed a little too loudly, almost drawing the disciples' attention, if not for Aotian quickly isolating her voice.
Not that it needed to be kept secret, but it would be strange for others to see him and his wife reacting to nothing. The old man's presence was still hidden, and he had no desire to reveal himself.
["You heard me right. When it fell, it attracted people from all over the central continent, including me and our Liu family. Unfortunately, it seems to be a testing ground, and old people like me can't enter it even by force. And none of the juniors who were sent ever returned."]
["The surrounding desert was born because of this mansion, which since its fall, to avoid running out of energy, began to frantically draw in all the spiritual energy from the surroundings, slowly desertifying everything around it over time, until it produced what we see today."]
The old man's explanatory voice echoed as Aotian nodded discreetly.
He already possessed this information, obtained on the central continent.
What he didn't know was that the mansion had fallen from the tree of life, which was an unexpected revelation.
'It seems the tree of life is so gigantic that one can build a mansion on it. And somehow, that same mansion fell from there, landing on this distant continent. Perhaps I'll find more precise information about the tree inside that mansion.'
With his interest further piqued, Aotian smiled at his wife.
"Well, our goal in coming here is quite simple…"
Then, to the surprise of the two listening, he leaned his body against the railing, staring at the sands below that were being whipped by the wind, before declaring:
"We came to conquer that mansion and check whether it can serve as a good provisional environment for our sect."