"Do you dare threaten me?" Leng Xingzhi walked up to Meng Qinghe, looking down at him from above. "Do you think your mere underwater city can stand against my Leng family? What a pipe dream."
"Leng Xingzhi, you are a demon. You actually deceived Chu Lingwei!" Meng Qinghe felt as if his heart was shattering. He continuously used his spiritual power to heal himself, but to no avail. A shock ran through him. Why? How could he be unable to heal himself?
"This is between me and Weiwei. You should mind your own underwater city." Leng Xingzhi turned around and looked at the vast underwater city, his eyes growing colder. "Is this where you confined Weiwei for a month?"
Meng Qinghe's heart began to panic. How could this be? Leng Xingzhi was clearly a peak cultivator of the Huatian Realm, yet he couldn't even muster a hint of resistance. He was hiding his cultivation. It had to be this way.
"Leng Xingzhi, dare to oppose our Meng family, and I will make you pay." Meng Qinghe tried to stand up, waved his right hand, and shattered the barrier here. All the powerful cultivators of the underwater city rushed towards them.
"Confining Weiwei here, you will also pay the price." Leng Xingzhi smiled wickedly. Suddenly, the entire space here began to tremble and writhe violently. Meng Qinghe watched helplessly as the barrier outside his underwater city shattered piece by piece.
"Leng Xingzhi, what did you do to this place?" Meng Qinghe was greatly shocked. How was this possible? No one in the Xuan Tian Continent could destroy the barrier of the underwater city.
"Hmph." Leng Xingzhi snorted heavily. Meng Qinghe spat out blood and fell to the ground again. "This is just a small lesson for you. If you dare to appear before Weiwei again, your fate will be the same as this underwater city." With that, Leng Xingzhi vanished before Meng Qinghe.
Meng Qinghe watched as the barrier above the underwater city shattered, piece by piece. All the cultivators within the underwater city began to panic. If the barrier above the underwater city was completely destroyed, this place would cease to exist.
"Someone, leave quickly!" Meng Qinghe hated him deeply, vowing in his heart that he would grind Leng Xingzhi to dust.
Meanwhile.
Chu Lingwei, Illusion Cat, and Feng Ming sat on a flying artifact, waiting for Shui Yi to return. They had been drifting at sea for several days. The area remained like a dead sea, devoid of any living creatures, and they hadn't encountered any people.
"Weiwei, do you think we've entered the domain of some powerful cultivator or a territory of a high-level spirit beast?" Feng Ming tilted her small head. In the cultivation world, there was no place that hadn't been explored.
"How is that possible? If that were the case, I would have known immediately," Illusion Cat refuted directly. His cultivation had been increasing rapidly, and such a possibility was out of the question.
"I was just saying." Feng Ming rolled her eyes at Illusion Cat. She was growing increasingly annoyed by this stinky cat, who always seemed to contradict her no matter what she said.
"Our flying speed is not low, covering a thousand miles a day. What kind of powerful cultivator would have such a vast domain?" Chu Lingwei and the others had been floating above this dead sea since they left the underwater city. To leave this place quickly, they had maintained a high speed.
"That's true. Why hasn't Shui Yi returned yet?" Feng Ming sighed. Shui Yi had left for several days and still hadn't returned. It was truly agonizing.
Another day passed before Shui Yi appeared before them.
"Shui Yi, you've finally returned." Feng Ming saw Shui Yi appear and finally felt a glimmer of hope.
"Master." Shui Yi stepped forward and bowed to Chu Lingwei.
"Did you find anything?"
"Heading constantly east, there is an island. There are signs of cultivators active there." Finally, a ray of hope. As long as there were cultivators, things would be easier.
"Then let's head east and take a look."
"Master, the underwater city is destroyed." Shui Yi reported what he had learned about the underwater city to Chu Lingwei.
"How was it destroyed?" Chu Lingwei was surprised. She had only opened the array core and hadn't caused such great destruction. At most, she had severely damaged the underwater city.
"I don't know." Shui Yi shook his head.
"It must have been Senior Brother," Illusion Cat exclaimed. Only Senior Brother had such capabilities. Chu Lingwei glared at him unhappily. She had quite a lot of confidence in Senior Brother.
Ten days later, Chu Lingwei finally arrived at the island Shui Yi had mentioned, where there were signs of cultivators. As they stepped onto the island, it was desolate everywhere. The spiritual energy here was extremely scarce, making cultivation difficult.
"Sister, are you a cultivator?" Chu Lingwei had Illusion Cat and the others enter her spiritual beast pouch, walking slowly on the island with only Shui Yi. By the seaside, many children were collecting seashells and other marine products.
"You know about cultivators?" Chu Lingwei looked at the young boy in front of her. He was about ten years old, with a pair of bright, dark eyes.
The little boy nodded. "I know. Every ten years, someone comes here to select children with spiritual roots to cultivate. Are you here to select people?"
"No." Chu Lingwei shook her head. She wanted to give the boy a spirit stone. Seeing all the children by the sea turn their gaze towards them, their clothes patched, their faces sallow and thin. If she gave this boy a spirit stone, it might even harm him.
"Ah!" Disappointment flickered in the little boy's eyes. He had heard his mother say that cultivators would come to their small island today to select children.
"Do you know where those cultivators stay when they come to the island?" Chu Lingwei bent down and smiled at the boy.
"They all stay at the island lord's house. I'll take you there." The little boy quickly picked up his basket, which was already filled with many crabs and shells. "Whenever cultivators come here, they all stay at the island lord's house. The island lord's house is so beautiful."
"Is it?" The island was not very large. They walked for less than ten minutes before a neatly dressed middle-aged man, followed by people of all ages, walked towards them.
"Distinguished fellow Daoists, welcome. We have failed to welcome you properly," the island lord, Shen Guang, said respectfully to Chu Lingwei and the others, bowing with everyone behind him. Chu Lingwei felt no spiritual energy from these people. It seemed this was just an ordinary island, and those with spiritual roots had already been taken away.
"Island Lord, there's no need for such courtesy. We came here by chance and have disturbed you." Seeing how accommodating Chu Lingwei was, Shen Guang's smile became even more enthusiastic. "Fellow Daoists, please come to my residence to rest."
"Alright, thank you for your trouble." Chu Lingwei followed Shen Guang to his home. From their conversation, she deduced that this was just an ordinary island, and under normal circumstances, no one would come here. Unless it was for the once-every-ten-years disciple selection.
"Yaoguang Sect?" Chu Lingwei had never heard of such a sect on the Xuan Tian Continent. It seemed she was indeed very far from the Xuan Tian Continent.