Hunyuan Immortal Sect

Chapter 397 Return to the South China Sea
The presence of the three-colored peony fish here indicates that there is a passageway nearby that leads back to the South China Sea.

Song Xian has been wandering around this small island for nearly two months, traveling from south to north and from east to west.

This island wasn't just the ghost town he'd encountered before; there were several other similar cities, also inhabited by ghosts and minotaurs.

In addition, in other rural areas, I also encountered villages of minotaurs and places where ghost dogs dwelled.

Although he didn't understand the division of power among these ghost cities, after observing the situation, he guessed that the ghost cities on the island were occupied by different forces, each controlling a portion of the territory.

The group of ghostly figures he saw earlier annihilating the ghost dogs must have been forces from another city that had encroached on the territory of that ghost city, and were thus wiped out.

He spent more than two months on the island searching for clues, but to no avail. He was just about to continue westward and leave the island to explore the sea when he unexpectedly encountered a group of minotaurs holding some kind of ceremony around a campfire.

Out of curiosity, he quietly approached to take a look, only to find them taking out the three-colored peony fish from the fish basket.

At first, he just thought it looked familiar, but after realizing it, he couldn't contain his excitement and joy.

He concluded that there was a passage connecting this area to the South China Sea, but he didn't know where it was hidden. The deep-sea demon whale was extremely fast, able to travel ten thousand miles a day in the ocean.

But no matter how fast it is, it's impossible for it to swim from the South China Sea to this completely unfamiliar world in a single day; there must be a place similar to a teleportation array.

The deep-sea demon whale must have arrived here through that teleportation array.

Song Xian has been searching all over the island these days, trying to find clues about the deep-sea demon whale and the teleportation array.

He had never imagined that what he had been searching for would come so easily. He had originally intended to leave the island, but unexpectedly, he found the clue he had been dreaming of right on the shore.

If I'm not mistaken, these tricolor peony fish came from the bottom of the South China Sea in the Muhe Grassland via a teleportation array hidden deep underwater.

This deep-sea whale is definitely not a first-timer here; it's a regular who knows the place well.

When it activated the teleportation array, it may have attracted nearby fish to travel to this area through the teleportation array, which is why the three-colored peony fish appeared here and reproduced.

Of course, this is just his speculation. It is also possible that the three-colored peony fish is native to this sea area.

But no matter what, with this clue, there was finally hope, and he no longer had to wander around aimlessly like a headless fly.

While Song Xian was overjoyed, the minotaur was still kowtowing and muttering words of begging for mercy.

Although he didn't understand the Minotaur's language, he had heard these words of pleading many times before.

He grabbed the minotaur's chin, held the three-colored peony fish in his hand in front of him, made a few gestures, and uttered a peculiar syllable.

During his two-month travels on the island, he captured many minotaurs in search of clues and learned a few simple pronunciations from their speech and gestures.

After all, he was prepared to stay here for a long time to find clues to return home. How could he communicate and find clues without learning some Minotaur language?
The syllable he just mentioned means "where".

The minotaur was quick-witted; seeing him holding the three-colored peony fish and making gestures, he roughly understood what he meant. He quickly pointed to the sea and rattled off a string of words.

Song Xian certainly didn't understand the meaning of its words, but seeing that it was pointing in the direction of the sea, he guessed that it meant the fish came from the sea.

When he escaped from the deep-sea whale, it was in the waters east of the island, but this is the west side of the island. It seems the deep-sea whale had been wandering around this area.

Excited at having found a clue, Song Xian used his escape technique to carry the orc into the air and head in the direction the orc was pointing.

He traveled for several days before finally arriving at the place designated by the minotaurs.

These orcs must be fishermen who make a living by fishing at sea; otherwise, they wouldn't have come to such distant waters to catch the three-colored peony fish.

If he was right, their earlier singing and dancing around the campfire must have been some kind of ritual, intended to pray for or celebrate a successful fishing trip.

Such rituals were not uncommon among the people of the Qin state and the Muhe steppe, only differing in form.

For ordinary people, going to sea is a major undertaking, often fraught with danger to their lives.

Therefore, many fishermen pray for a smooth voyage before setting sail, and they also celebrate after each successful return with a full catch.

Those orcs must have just returned from fishing in the open sea and were holding a celebration ceremony.

Song Xian dived into the seabed and, after searching for a short while, indeed discovered a group of tricolor peony fish.

Without hesitation, he killed the orc and then searched alone in the sea for the teleportation array.

The vast ocean has no idea how big it is.

He spent his days searching alone on the seabed along the area where the three-colored peony fish were known to appear, but after more than a month, he still found nothing.

On this day, the weather was fine and the sea was calm. Song Xian sat cross-legged on a rock protruding from the sea, opened his eyes from his meditation, and then rose up in a flash of light, heading towards the distant sea.

His search on the seabed was not like a headless fly wandering around; rather, he used the reefs as reference points to search area by area in a carpet-like manner.

Just as he arrived at the location he had searched the day before, preparing to continue his exploration today.

Suddenly, a huge shadow flashed across the sea.

Deep-sea whale.

Song Xian was stunned at first, then overjoyed.

Although he couldn't see the full shape of the shadow underwater, judging from its size, it must be a deep-sea demon whale.

I didn't expect it to still be here. Of course, it's also possible that it has already returned to the South China Sea once and has come here to play again.

Countless possibilities flashed through Song Xian's mind in an instant. He immediately chased after it, no longer caring whether the ferocious beast would attack him. His mind was filled with the idea of ​​following it back to the South China Sea.

Normally, with his speed, he wouldn't be able to catch up with the deep-sea demon whale, but it didn't speed up its escape, instead slowly wandering around, allowing Song Xian to keep following behind it. He knew that the deep-sea demon whale must have noticed him.

But for some reason, the deep-sea whale ignored him and didn't even look back at him.

Perhaps it was because he emerged from its body and was imbued with its aura.

Or perhaps this ferocious beast is simply gentle by nature and not interested in him?
And so, the man and the beast traveled for quite some time, until the deep-sea demon whale plunged headfirst into the sea and headed for the ocean floor.

Below the seabed, there was a mountain range formed by a volcanic eruption. The deep-sea whale slowly swam to a black rock formation.

Without any visible movement, a section of the black rock face suddenly emitted a faint light, and images could be faintly seen flowing within.

Upon seeing this, Song Xian's pupils suddenly contracted.

He had seen this kind of 'teleportation array' before. Back when Han Yuan was asked by Lei Yuanmu to explore for treasures, he had encountered this strange stone wall.

Years ago, they were transported to a secret desert realm through that strange stone wall. According to An Daoquan, who accompanied them, he had consulted ancient texts and found that ancient cultivators before the Great Zhou Dynasty had designed something like a teleportation portal, but because the materials for making teleportation portals were too rare, they were eventually completely replaced by teleportation arrays.

Based on his speculation, the stone wall was probably something like a teleportation portal.

Song Xian had almost forgotten about this past event, but he never expected that today, in this strange seabed of a foreign land, he would encounter a similar eerie stone wall again.

No, not similar, but exactly the same.

As the light from the stone wall grew stronger, the scene inside became clearer. Inside the stone wall, the scene was completely dark, with faintly visible, gently rippling water, indicating that the 'opposite' area was also a sea.

Once the image on the stone wall froze, the deep-sea whale burrowed inside.

Its enormous body, hundreds of feet long, suddenly shrank. When its head touched the glowing stone wall, its body shrank as well. In less than a breath, it became a fish only a few feet in size and swam into the painting.

It's unclear whether its body shrank voluntarily or was absorbed by this strange stone wall 'portal' and shrunk.

After the deep-sea demon whale disappeared, Song Xiancai came to the stone wall and carefully examined the surrounding rocks before he also entered the glowing stone wall.

Upon entering the inner room, a strange sensation arises, as if one is enveloped by something soft and fluffy.

It felt exactly the same as when he passed through the teleportation wall last time. When his whole body entered the wall, it was as if he had stepped into a bottomless abyss. The surrounding space was completely dark, but it only lasted for a moment.

The next moment, his vision cleared again, and he was still at the bottom of the sea.

Looking back, he saw a black mountain behind him, as if he had never left, but had simply turned around.

But Song Xian knew that he had already escaped that foreign land.

The deep-sea whale has disappeared, and the black rocky outcrops are surrounded by volcanoes of varying sizes, forming a mountain range.

He wouldn't have discovered this 'teleportation portal' if he hadn't personally passed through the stone wall.

Song Xian carefully examined and stroked the black stone wall, which was no different from the surrounding mountains. He tried to channel his spiritual energy into it.

As spiritual energy was continuously poured in, the black stone wall remained unresponsive.

Song Xian frowned slightly, then took out a magic weapon from his storage bag, cut his palm, and placed it on the stone wall.

I remember that back then, to pass through this stone wall teleportation portal, one had to smear the stone wall with one's own blood and then infuse it with spiritual power before the portal could be opened.

However, he did not see the deep-sea demon whale open the stone gate with its own blood, so he did not try.

After failing to infuse spiritual energy, this method was used.

The sharp magical weapon sliced ​​across the palm, immediately cutting a gash, and blood gushed out.

However, due to the underwater currents, the blood that gushed out was carried away by the current and could not soak the stone wall at all.

He flipped his hand and took out a talisman. Spiritual power surged into it, forming a golden circular shield around his body, isolating him from the water.

Then he placed his bleeding arm on the stone wall, and as the blood flowed down, it soaked the entire stone wall, which then shimmered with a faint light.

Then, his spiritual energy surged into the stone wall, and the light on the stone wall grew brighter and brighter, with images flowing across it.

Sure enough, it works.

Song Xian was secretly delighted. Although that foreign land would not be of any benefit to his cultivation, he could obtain Ghost General Crystal Cores on that island.

If it can be determined that the emerald bead's absorption of the ghost general's crystal core was helpful to him, he might go there again in the future.

In any case, there's never a bad thing to have access to a secret passage.

As for why the Deep Sea Demon Whale didn't use blood to open the stone portal, he didn't pay much attention to it.

It wouldn't be surprising if such an ancient ferocious beast possessed some special abilities.

After noting the location of the rock wall, he left the seabed. High in the sky, the dazzling sun hung high, and its warm sunlight shone on him.

Feeling the long-awaited sunshine, Song Xian let out a long sigh of relief and unconsciously opened his arms, like a prisoner who had just escaped from a dark cage, celebrating his new life and embracing the sunlight.

As far as the eye can see, there is only the boundless blue sea, without a trace of human presence.

He checked his bearings and headed south.

After traveling for several days, he finally saw a sea ship that hunted monsters. He descended in a flash and blocked the ship's path.

The cultivators on the spirit ship were visibly tense when they saw him blocking their way, looking like he was up to no good.

One of the tall, thin men walked to the bow of the ship and loudly asked through the ship's defensive light barrier, "May I ask who you are, senior? Why are you blocking our way?"

"I have something to ask you. Are you the ship owner, fellow Daoist?" Song Xian was not familiar with the terrain of the South China Sea. He had been traveling along the way without any landmarks or anyone to ask, and had lost his way home. Now that he had finally encountered a fleet of ships, he naturally wanted to ask about the situation and find out where he was.

Otherwise, if someone were to sail alone on this vast ocean, they would never know where they would end up.

"Please wait a moment, senior." The cultivators on the ship were all at the Qi Refining stage and dared not easily offend him, a Foundation Establishment cultivator. The tall, thin man in the lead replied and then turned and went into the cabin.

The other cultivators on the ship stared at him warily, practically ready to pull out their magical artifacts.

Soon, a tall, burly middle-aged man emerged from the cabin, his expression clearly showing wariness: "I am Herfan. My brothers and I were hunting monsters at sea when we passed by. May I ask your esteemed name, fellow Daoist?"

"I am Song Xian. I was passing through this place and lost my way at sea. Now I wish to look back at Haicheng. May I ask, fellow Daoist, where is this place? How can I look back at Haicheng?"

"This is the southwestern part of the South China Sea, still tens of thousands of miles away from Wanghai City. Fellow Daoist, just head straight northeast." Herfan flipped his hand and took out a topographical atlas, drawing a circle on it: "Since we have met, it is fate. This is a map of the South China Sea, which I will give to you. I have marked our current location. Fellow Daoist, just head straight towards the location of Wanghai City on the map."

After saying that, he ordered his men to open a gap in the defensive light barrier on the ship and throw out the map.

Song Xian snatched the album, glanced at it, thanked him, and then rose into the light, heading northeast.

Traveling day and night for several days, he finally arrived at the waters near Pear Blossom Island, his destination. His original purpose was to find the Purple Coral Spirit Tree, but he inexplicably ended up on a strange island.

So far, he has only picked one Purple Coral Spirit Tree, and he was unwilling to go back empty-handed, so he dived into the sea again to search for another Purple Coral Spirit Tree.

This time, he did not encounter the sixth-tier black-tailed shark python again. He didn't know if it was good luck or because the black-tailed shark python was so frightened by the deep-sea demon whale that it fled to other places.

In short, the search for the Purple Coral Spirit Tree went very smoothly. In the end, he found more than a dozen Purple Coral Spirit Trees, put them all into his storage bag, and then left the sea area.

(End of this chapter)