Chapter 5103 — All Taken In
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"Spirit jade is not something found only in the Ancient Little Jianghu," Wei Zhao said with an unfathomable smile, neither confirming nor denying.
Xin Yi'an could not help drawing a sharp breath at these words. Wei Zhao had meant Cloud Terrace Island, but to his ears it naturally became proof that the secular world too possessed spirit jade mines—a miracle unheard of since the dawn of time! That a secular world with spiritual energy so thin could still nurture spirit jade mines!
It was a good while before Xin Yi'an recovered from his astonishment. "Since Grand-Uncle-Master is so generous," he said gratefully, "this disciple would be most ungrateful to decline."
?"Think nothing of it. I have plenty of the stuff," Wei Zhao said with an offhand laugh, nearly making Xin Yi'an stumble again. The look he turned on Wei Zhao grew ever more reverent. Wealth, after all, was in a sense a manifestation of strength. A moment ago this man had casually handed out three top-grade Foundation Establishment Pills, and now he had casually produced a pile of spirit jade—who would have thought this Grand-Uncle-Master was a god of wealth as well!
Suppressing his shock, Xin Yi'an waited until Wei Zhao and the others had taken their places in the teleportation formation, then promptly activated it. The world blurred before their eyes, and the scenery changed in an instant.
"This is?" Wei Zhao had assumed the way station would still lie deep in the Shennongjia Mountains, but to his surprise it was a small island. Apart from a few similar islets nearby, there was nothing on every side but vast empty sea, without a single landmark—no way at all to tell where they were.
One thing, however, was certain: this place could not possibly be the secular world, for the spiritual energy here was quite dense—far beyond anything the secular world could offer.
"This is the Ancient Sea Region, the way station between the secular world and the Ancient Little Jianghu. Pray look, Grand-Uncle-Master—that teleportation formation opposite is the Ancient Passage connecting to the Ancient Little Jianghu," Xin Yi'an explained.
Wei Zhao looked where he indicated. Sure enough, a similar formation stood not far off across the water. "You mean to have them attempt Foundation Establishment here?" he asked.
"Indeed. The spiritual energy here is about as dense as in the Ancient Little Jianghu. If these quasi-disciples are of solid enough aptitude, it will be enough for them to attempt Foundation Establishment," Xin Yi'an said with a nod.
"I wonder. If there were no time limit, letting them cultivate here for a few decades would be no problem. But there are only ten and a half months. To attempt Foundation Establishment on nothing but this ambient spiritual energy—easier said than done, surely?" Wei Zhao shook his head. In his view, unless these secular-world cultivators were given pills such as Foundation Establishment Pills, their chances of success were vanishingly small.
"Ambient spiritual energy alone is indeed not enough. But scattered across these islets are several dozen spirit eyes, where the spiritual energy is at least tens of times denser than normal. Let them cultivate beside a spirit eye for ten and a half months—if they still cannot achieve Foundation Establishment, then one can only say they were never fated to join the Ancient Alliance," Xin Yi'an said with a faint smile.
"Spirit eyes?" Wei Zhao was taken aback.
"Just so. Pray follow me, Grand-Uncle-Master." Xin Yi'an at once led the way. Several small wooden boats were moored at the island's edge; flimsy things, to be sure, but with only a few li between the islets, they were more than enough to ferry back and forth.
The senior brothers in charge and the quasi-disciples from the Ancient sects who had come through earlier were now nowhere to be seen—clearly they had gone to find spirit eyes of their own. Led by Xin Yi'an, Wei Zhao and his party soon found one on a nearby islet.