Chapter 985 - 306: Gui Xu
This sea domain, rich in Sea Soul Crystals, appears to be a massive undersea whirlpool of dark tides.
The surface of the sea, stretching for a thousand miles, looks quite calm, yet beneath a hundred meters, the seawater shows a slow rotational movement, with the squeezing power of the vortex growing stronger the deeper it goes.
In the vast sea domain, Shen Chongming was dumbfounded upon arriving in that area abundant with Sea Soul Crystals!
Cultivators!
Cultivators everywhere!
These cultivators were either riding flying magical artifacts or commanding various exotic beast mounts, while some stood alone in the void without relying on any external objects, surrounding the thousand-mile-wide sea domain in layers.
Among these cultivators were humans and demon beasts; some traveled alone, others in groups of three or five, occupying a territory and releasing their aura as if warning other nearby cultivators not to approach.
Shen Chongming stood on his flying boat at the periphery, watching the dense crowd of cultivators and the continuous flow of light from afar, frowning deeply.
When he accepted this task, he merely thought it was a simple treasure hunt mission, believing that by carefully searching, he could easily find Sea Soul Crystals formed by the divine spirit of the Silver-scaled Twin-headed Serpent.
Who would have thought that the Sea Soul Crystals were so popular, that countless cultivators had gathered in such a small sea domain.
"Are all these people here for the Sea Soul Crystals?"
Shen Chongming murmured with a bitter smile.
A familiar voice then resonated from beside him: "This time, the opening of the Sea God’s Eye is much more lively than last time."
Upon hearing the voice, Shen Chongming turned his head in confusion, and indeed saw a colorful cloud carrying several figures approaching from afar and stopping not far from him.
Seeing the colorful cloud and the figures upon it, Shen Chongming squinted his eyes slightly, a trace of killing intent rising in his heart!
"Are they tracking me?"
The figure on the cloud was precisely the middle-aged man from the Purple Mansion and his disciples whom Shen Chongming had encountered outside Jin Chuan Island.
Having personally witnessed at the Jin Chuan Island Market, seeing cultivators with special constitutions or mutated spirit roots being sold as commodities, Shen Chongming realized that his Wood God Thunder Spirit Root would attract trouble.
The Thunder Pool Spirit helped him conceal his spirit root aura and change his appearance, also reminding him that the Purple Mansion cultivator and his disciples on the colorful cloud had seen him using the Thunder Light Escape Skill.
At that time, Shen Chongming merely thought they had brushed past each other, and since he was soon leaving Jin Chuan Island, there shouldn’t be any issue.
Who would have expected that, today, as soon as he arrived at the Sea God’s Eye, tens of thousands of miles away from Jin Chuan Island, the other party followed closely behind.
A colorful cloud had already halted nearby, intentionally keeping a distance, yet still alerting Shen Chongming.
And that middle-aged man from the Purple Mansion, seemingly sensing Shen Chongming’s vigilance, turned and greeted him with a smile.
The aura of Shen Chongming’s Wood God Thunder Spirit Root was concealed, and his appearance had changed, so the other man did not recognize him and merely thought of Shen Chongming as a lone cultivator at the Golden Core Perfection Realm.
"Young friend, no need to be nervous, I am just pausing here, waiting for a good position for the Sea Soul Crystal’s eruption."
The middle-aged man from the Purple Mansion appeared very amiable, not showing any formidability despite seeing Shen Chongming at the Golden Core Perfection Realm.
However, Shen Chongming did not relax his vigilance.
He coldly glanced at the arrogant youth beside the man, then immediately turned away.
"Fellow Daoist, is this your first time at the Sea God’s Eye?"
"When the opportunity arises later, it’s best to get closer."
The middle-aged man thought Shen Chongming’s alertness was due to him being a loose cultivator, so he spoke up again.
This was also the survival strategy of the Qionghai Sect amidst the snowy sea domain.
Not overpowering the weak, not provoking strong forces, building good relations, and trying to befriend some of the more powerful loose cultivators around.
Although such actions were not enough to make these loose cultivators or powerful forces support the Qionghai Sect in critical moments, maintaining this "good person" image at least prevented targeted targeting of Qionghai Sect cultivators outside.
Upon hearing the man’s words, Shen Chongming narrowed his brows slightly.
He was unaware of Qionghai Sect’s survival strategy and naturally did not understand the man’s talkative behavior.
Nonetheless, he did have some questions in his mind, and the other party clearly did not recognize him.
After some thought, he immediately turned and cupped his fists: "Fellow Daoist has keen insight, I am Ge Chi, and indeed it is my first time in this sea domain, I’ve heard there’s a treasure called Sea Soul Crystal here; so I came to try my luck."
"I am not very knowledgeable about these Sea Soul Crystals, could Fellow Daoist enlighten me?"
The middle-aged man smiled and cupped his fists, then drove the colorful cloud closer, saying: "I am Zhao Tianhai of Qionghai Sect, and these are my disciples."
Shen Chongming cupped his fists: "Nice to meet Fellow Daoist Zhao."
Zhao Tianhai smiled and returned the salute, then immediately said: "Sea Soul Crystal is a remarkably unique Heavenly and Earthly Treasure."
"Using it to create pills can result in superior elixirs that repair cultivators’ divine spirits."
"Adding one during the refining of magical artifacts and treasures can greatly enhance their spiritual nature."
"It’s said that an Artifact Refining Master once used Sea Soul Crystals to refine a Divine Weapon with a complete Artifact Spirit, enabling the weapon to fight independently, quite remarkable."
"Additionally, Sea Soul Crystals are said to be usable in array formations, triggering the soul of Sea Demons within to create attack methods."
"Overall, this treasure is very popular among cultivators."
Upon hearing this, Shen Chongming was deeply astonished.