Courtyard Check-in: Starting with a Small World of Cultivation

May 30th, central South China Sea, sunny.

The "Xiangyanghong 03" sailed smoothly in the morning light. The danger of last night seemed to have been blown away by the sea breeze. On the deck, the crew was busy cleaning up the traces left by the storm—scattered ropes, puddles of water, and lifebuoys blown askew.

Chen Yu stood at the bow of the ship, holding the plank he had retrieved from the seabed. After a night of contemplation, he decided not to delve into the secrets of the plank for the time being—there were many people on the ship, especially Dr. Zhou Mingyuan, who seemed to be observing him unintentionally all the time.

"Comrade Chen, up so early?" Zhao Jianguo came out of the cabin, holding a notebook. "The weather's nice today. We're going to do some seawater physicochemical property testing. Would you like to come along?"

"Okay." Chen Yu put away the wooden plank and followed Zhao Jianguo.

The seawater sampling point was on the side of the ship. Engineers Wang and Li had already prepared the equipment: a water sampler, thermometer, salinity meter, pH test strips... a complete set of seawater analysis equipment. Chen Yu helped record the data while secretly observing how to use these instruments—knowledge that a "geological surveyor" must master.

"Temperature 27.3 degrees Celsius, salinity 33.5‰, pH 8.1..." Engineer Wang read out the measurements as he went. "The seawater conditions in this area are very good, suitable for coral growth."

"There should be coral reefs down there." Li took the water sampler. "Should we put an underwater camera down to take a look?"

"You can give it a try."

An underwater camera was lowered into the sea. Chen Yu saw the underwater scene through the monitor: colorful coral reefs, swimming tropical fish, slowly crawling starfish... It was a vibrant underwater world.

But just as the camera panned across a coral reef, Chen Yu's pupils contracted slightly—in the shadows of the coral, he saw a broken stone tablet!

The stone tablet was half-buried in the mud and sand, with the exposed part engraved with blurry patterns. Those patterns... were extremely similar to the runes on the wooden board!

"Wait, move it a little to the left," Chen Yu pointed at the screen.

The operator adjusted the camera's direction, revealing more of the stone monument. Although covered in marine life, the monument's rectangular shape was still discernible, with traces of carving along its edges.

"This is..." Zhao Jianguo leaned closer to the screen, "It looks like an artificial product? It doesn't seem to be naturally formed."

"Could it be ballast from an ancient shipwreck?" Engineer Wang speculated.

"It doesn't seem like it." Chen Yu observed carefully. "Ballast stones are usually just ordinary stones. This stone tablet has carvings, so it's more like... some kind of marker."

Upon hearing the news, Li Dahai also came to the deck and looked at the stone tablet on the screen: "This area was a shipping route of the ancient Maritime Silk Road, so it's not surprising to find shipwrecks. But this stone tablet is indeed rare."

"Should we salvage it?" Zhao Jianguo asked.

Li Dahai pondered for a moment: "How deep is the water?"

"About forty meters."

"It's too deep; our equipment can't retrieve it," Li Dahai shook his head. "Besides, retrieving cultural relics requires permits. We're a research vessel, not an archaeological vessel."

Everyone was somewhat disappointed, but there was nothing they could do. Chen Yu, however, secretly memorized the location—16°48′N, 111°35′E. If he had the chance, he would definitely go down and see for himself.

After lunch, Chen Yu returned to his cabin under the pretext of resting. Zhou Mingyuan wasn't there; he had probably gone to the infirmary. He locked the door and took out the wooden board and the spiritual compass.

Chen Yu placed the wooden board flat on the table, took a deep breath, placed his hands on both sides of the board, and slowly infused it with spiritual energy.

At first, there was no reaction, but when he adjusted his spiritual power to match the frequency of the wooden board runes, something unexpected happened—

A faint red glow emanated from the surface of the wooden plank, and the previously blurry runes became clearly visible, as if they had been redrawn. Even more miraculously, the runes began to flow and recombine, forming a three-dimensional pattern on the surface of the plank!

It was a Vermilion Bird pattern with outstretched wings, ready to take flight! Although the lines were simple, it was full of spirit, especially the eyes, which seemed to be burning with flames.

The Vermilion Bird pattern only lasted for a dozen seconds before disappearing, and the wooden board returned to its original state. But Chen Yu had already memorized the pattern. He took out paper and pen and quickly drew the pattern he had seen.

"This is definitely a clue to the Southern Vermilion Bird Key," Chen Yu thought with certainty.

He tried to infuse the wooden board with spiritual energy again, but this time the board didn't react; it seemed to need time to "charge." Chen Yu wasn't in a hurry. He carefully put the board away and began to study the pattern he had drawn.

The Vermilion Bird was facing southeast, and the curve of its wings hinted at a certain direction... Chen Yu took out a nautical chart to compare and found that if they took their current position as the starting point, the direction the Vermilion Bird was facing was exactly the location of yesterday's storm center!

"Could the Vermilion Bird Key be located where the storm formed?"

This conjecture gave him a jolt. If that were true, then the presence of Heavenly Alliance ships near the storm area would make sense—they were also looking for the key!

At 3 p.m., the ship's radio received a routine contact from Guangzhou. After Li Dahai reported the ship's position, course, and weather conditions, he received an encrypted message.

The translator handed the translated telegram to Li Dahai. After reading it, the old captain frowned slightly, but still nodded: "Understood."

Chen Yu noticed the change in Li Dahai's expression but didn't ask any further questions. He was more concerned about something else now—Dr. Zhou Mingyuan.

There are too many suspicious things about this ship's doctor: those strange medicine bottles, his sensitivity to unusual events at sea, and... When Chen Yu secretly used his spiritual sense to investigate last night, he found that Zhou Mingyuan's breathing rhythm was very special, like some kind of breathing technique.

Ordinary people don't breathe like this.

During dinner, Zhou Mingyuan took the initiative to sit opposite Chen Yu: "Comrade Chen, you look quite well. Have you fully adapted to the sea?"

"It's alright, maybe I'm just in good health."

"Indeed." Zhou Mingyuan picked up a piece of green vegetable with his chopsticks. "I observed everyone on the ship, and you were the only one who wasn't seasick at all. That kind of constitution is very rare."

These words sounded like casual conversation, but Chen Yu sensed a probing undertone.

"Does Dr. Zhou have expertise in understanding body constitution?"

"Well, as a doctor, I should know a lot," Zhou Mingyuan smiled. "By the way, the pills you gave me yesterday worked really well. What's the formula? Can you tell me? I can use them on passengers who get seasick in the future."

Chen Yu was alert, but his expression remained unchanged: "It's just a common Chinese medicine prescription, to calm the mind and replenish qi. I don't remember the exact formula, it was prepared by an elder in my family."

"Oh, that's a pity." A hint of disappointment flashed in Zhou Mingyuan's eyes, but he quickly concealed it.

After the meal, Chen Yu deliberately lingered on the deck for a while. Sure enough, Zhou Mingyuan also came up, holding a pair of binoculars, seemingly observing seabirds, but actually observing the sea surface.

Chen Yu quietly extended his spiritual sense, sensing Zhou Mingyuan's aura. This time he was even more careful, using only the most subtle probe.

Sure enough, within Zhou Mingyuan's body, he sensed a faint, regular flow of spiritual energy! Although it was very weak, almost negligible, it was indeed spiritual energy!

This ship's doctor is a practitioner! Or at least, he has been exposed to spiritual practice!

Alarm bells rang in Chen Yu's mind. Who was Zhou Mingyuan? A member of the Seven Star Alliance? Or a spy for the Heavenly Dao Alliance? Or... a third-party force?

Not daring to alert the enemy, he pretended to admire the sunset and slowly walked back to the cabin.

At nine o'clock at night, Chen Yu tried to send a signal via radio again. This time he changed the frequency and used the second method of communication taught by Shen Qingzhu.

After sending the signal, he waited ten minutes without a response. Just as he was about to shut down the equipment, the receiver light suddenly came on!

An encrypted signal was transmitted.

Chen Yu quickly wrote down the code and decoded it using a special codebook after returning to the cabin—a code given to him by the old Taoist Xuanji before his departure, known only to core members of the Seven Star Alliance.

The telegram was short: "Arrived at Yongxing Island. Strange phenomena are occurring frequently in the Spratlys, suspected to indicate the opening of a secret realm. We will meet in three days. Coordinates will be provided later. Do not reply."

Wen Ruoxu and his group have arrived at Yongxing Island! And there's news from the Spratly Islands!

Chen Yu burned the translated telegram, calculating the time in his mind. Three days later, that would be June 2nd. According to the "Xiangyanghong 03's" sailing plan, it could arrive at Yongxing Island for resupply on June 1st, the timing just in time.

But a problem arose—how should he leave the ship? Research vessels have strict regulations; one cannot leave at will. Moreover, with Zhou Mingyuan present as an uncertain factor, he had to be careful.

It was 11 p.m., and Zhou Mingyuan still hadn't returned to his cabin. Chen Yu quietly got up and went to the door of the infirmary. Light shone through the crack in the door, and there were rustling sounds.

He used a concealment technique, making himself completely ethereal, and pressed himself against the door to listen.

A low voice came from inside, as if he were talking to himself, or as if he were communicating with someone.

"...Target identified...Responding...Further contact needed...Yes, understood..."

The fragmented words made Chen Yu's heart sink. Zhou Mingyuan was indeed up to something!

Just as he was trying to hear more clearly, the sounds from the infirmary suddenly stopped. Chen Yu immediately backed away, tiptoed back to his cabin, and pretended to be fast asleep.

A few minutes later, Zhou Mingyuan returned. He stood by Chen Yu's bedside for a while, seemingly observing, before returning to his own bed.

Chen Yu could feel the scrutinizing gaze, but his breathing was steady, his heartbeat was normal, and he appeared to be sound asleep.

That night, Chen Yu didn't truly fall asleep. He maintained a shallow level of meditation, cultivating while remaining vigilant.

The next morning, May 31st.

The atmosphere on the ship was somewhat tense. At breakfast, Li Dahai announced, "We've received instructions from higher command that we need to change our itinerary. The original plan to resupply at Yongxing Island is cancelled; instead, we'll resupply at Coral Island in the Xisha Islands."

"Why?" Zhao Jianguo asked, puzzled. "Yongxing Island has better facilities."

"This is an order," Li Dahai said firmly. "I don't know the specifics, but we must carry it out."

Chen Yu's heart skipped a beat. A change of course…was it a coincidence, or was it deliberately orchestrated? If the latter, what was the purpose? To prevent him from reaching Yongxing Island and meeting up with Wen Ruoxu?

He looked at Zhou Mingyuan, who was drinking porridge with his head down, his expression calm and revealing nothing.

In the morning, Chen Yu made an excuse to go to the infirmary to get seasickness medication—although he didn't need it, it was a legitimate opportunity to make contact.

In the infirmary, Zhou Mingyuan was organizing the medicine cabinet. Seeing Chen Yu enter, he turned and smiled, "Comrade Chen, what's wrong?"

"No, I just want to keep some medicine on hand, just in case."

"Wise." Zhou Mingyuan took a small bottle from the medicine cabinet. "This is for you. I made it myself. It works better than the seasickness medicine on the market."

Chen Yu took the medicine bottle. There was no label on it, and inside were small white pills. He scanned them with his spiritual eye technique and saw a faint fluctuation of spiritual energy emanating from inside the pills!

This is not your average seasickness medication!

"Thank you, Dr. Zhou." Chen Yu accepted the gift calmly. "By the way, I heard from the captain yesterday that the voyage has been changed. Do you know why?"

"I don't know." Zhou Mingyuan shook his head. "Maybe something's happened on Yongxing Island. When sailing at sea, plans can't keep up with changes."

His eyes were sincere when he spoke, and if Chen Yu hadn't already noticed something amiss, he probably would have been fooled.

Back in the cabin, Chen Yu poured out one of the pills and examined it carefully. With his spiritual eye fully activated, the internal structure of the pill was clearly visible—several common herbal ingredients, but mixed in was a peculiar blue crystal, and it was this crystal that emitted spiritual energy fluctuations.

He had never seen this crystal before, but his intuition told him that it was not a good thing.

He repackaged the pills, deciding not to take them for the time being, nor to throw them away—so as not to alert the enemy.

In the afternoon, the ship sailed southwest, its destination Coral Island. Chen Yu stood on the deck, gazing at the seamless blend of sea and sky, his mind filled with a myriad of thoughts.

Zhou Mingyuan's identity, the secret of the pill, the change in the voyage, the ships of the Heavenly Dao Alliance, the stone tablet at the bottom of the sea, the runes on the wooden board... these clues are like a net, and he is trapped in the center of the net.

"I must find a way to contact Wen Ruoxu and the others," Chen Yu resolved silently.

As dusk fell, a strange sight appeared on the sea—the distant sky turned blood red, and the seawater shimmered with an eerie dark red glow, as if the entire sea was on fire.

"Is this... a red tide?" Engineer Wang said uncertainly.

"It doesn't look like it." Li Dahai held up his binoculars. "Red tides are caused by the proliferation of red algae, but this is way too red..."

Chen Yu activated his Spiritual Eye Technique and looked over, his heart trembling – there was a strong fluctuation of fire-attribute spiritual energy in that red sea area! It shared the same origin as the Vermilion Bird runes on the wooden board, but was much more powerful!

The Southern Vermilion Bird Key is located in that sea area!

"Captain, should we go take a look?" Zhao Jianguo said excitedly. "This unusual phenomenon is very valuable for research!"

Li Dahai hesitated. As a research vessel, studying marine anomalies was its primary duty. But as captain, he was responsible for the safety of everyone on board.

"Observe first, don't get close." Li Dahai finally decided, "Record the location coordinates and take photos."

The ship stopped about five nautical miles from the red zone. The researchers got busy, collecting water samples, measuring temperatures, taking photographs…

Chen Yu also helped, but his mind was entirely focused on that red sea area. The sensing jade tablet was already burning hot, and the pointer of the spiritual compass spun wildly, finally pointing firmly in that direction.

There's no mistake, the Vermilion Bird Key is right there!

But how do we get there? What reason do we have to get there?

Just then, a sudden change occurred—

In the center of the red sea, a beam of fire shot into the sky! Although it was far away, everyone could see it clearly; it was a crimson pillar of light piercing the clouds!

The beam of light lasted for about ten seconds before slowly dissipating. But where the beam disappeared, a whirlpool appeared on the sea surface—a huge, slowly rotating whirlpool!

"My God..." someone muttered to themselves.

Chen Yu clenched his fist. The entrance to the secret realm had opened!

Almost simultaneously, three bright spots appeared on the radar screen—approaching the vortex at high speed from three different directions!

One of them was a black ship, which Chen Yu recognized as a ship belonging to the Heavenly Dao Alliance!

The other two...

Chen Yu's heart began to pound violently.

The battle for the Vermilion Bird Key is about to begin. And he must find a way to get involved!