Eternal Life Begins with Learning

Chapter 384: Chapter 354: Crescent Island

Another half a year passed in the blink of an eye.

Throughout that half-year, Chu Mu hadn’t allowed himself any distractions, devoting nearly all his focus to studying the Demon Beast Atlas.

Just to be safe, he had also visited other shops in the city and purchased a copy of every Demon Beast Atlas he could find.

After painstakingly comparing and studying them, he had committed the several thousand species of Demon Beasts almost entirely to memory.

He even took the time to brush up on general knowledge about the Vast Sea Cultivation Immortal World.

This included the several thousand types of Demon Beasts—every species, every body part, and even the effects of each type of Demon Pill. He also studied the appearance and uses of Spiritual Materials and Objects unique to the Vast Sea.

Although much of this information was a closely guarded secret of the major powers, he had managed to learn a great deal by attending numerous auctions and trade fairs and spending lavishly.

Through all these efforts, his understanding of the Vast Sea Cultivation Immortal World and the boundless Vast Sea itself had deepened considerably.

One day, half a year later, Chu Mu led Wangcai back into the city.

This time, his objective was perfectly clear.

He headed for the palace complex in the city’s center, where the Teleportation Array to the Outer Sea was located.

The palace was hundreds of feet tall and covered several hundred acres, its towering structure supported by rows of gilded pillars.

Compared to the hustle and bustle elsewhere in the city, this hall was rather quiet.

Although the Teleportation Array offered a convenient, direct route to the Outer Sea, the price was also exceedingly high.

A single trip cost as much as a Spiritual Artifact—an expense that would make even an ordinary Foundation Establishment Realm Cultivator wince.

As far as he knew, there were also large Flying Boats and sea vessels in Chixia City that could travel to the Outer Sea, and their prices weren’t considered too expensive.

Cultivators could even set out to sea by themselves; it would simply take a great deal of time.

Upon entering the grand hall, he was met with the same vast emptiness he had seen from outside. Only in the center of the hall stood several platforms, each about ten feet high.

In front of each platform stood a Jade Stele, clearly inscribed with markers indicating the destination of each Teleportation Array.

On one side of the hall, a counter stood against the wall. A few Cultivators were gathered in front of it, evidently making arrangements for their journey.

Chu Mu approached. The Cultivators glanced at him before returning to their business at the counter.

’Late Stage of Foundation Establishment... Perfection, and a Golden Core Realm...’

After a quick assessment, Chu Mu immediately withdrew his gaze.

Without exception, the Cultivators preparing to travel to the Outer Sea all had a Cultivation at the Late Stage of Foundation Establishment or above.

He glanced at the counter. Behind it, several Qi Cultivation Realm Cultivators from the Chen Family stood, respectfully handling the teleportation arrangements for the seafaring Cultivators.

"Senior, are you teleporting to the Outer Sea?"

Seeing Chu Mu arrive at the counter, a Female Cultivator immediately came forward to greet him.

"To Crescent Island."

Chu Mu placed a bag of Spirit Stones on the counter, his gaze already shifting to the teleportation array on the far left of the hall.

The eight Teleportation Arrays in the hall each led to one of eight islands in the Outer Sea.

According to the Sea Area Map, these eight islands were all located on the border between the Inner and Outer Seas. Although situated in different regions, there wasn’t much practical difference between them.

He chose Crescent Island because it was in the Southwest region of the Outer Sea, and his target was located in that area.

"Could you please present your Identity Token, Senior?"

the woman said respectfully.

Chu Mu paused for a moment. With a wave of his hand, the Restriction Token that served as his identification landed on the counter.

"Please wait a moment, Senior."

The woman respectfully accepted the Token and turned to leave.

Chu Mu glanced at a Cultivator who had already stepped onto a different Teleportation Array. The man held a flawless, pure white token that resembled jade.

A Chen Family Cultivator stood before the Teleportation Array. As he formed a hand seal, a beam of light shot down, evidently activating some kind of switch. A faint glow began to swirl above the array.

Immediately, a pillar of light shot skyward. Amidst faint spatial fluctuations, the pillar dimmed, and the figure on the Teleportation Array was gone.

Chu Mu’s eyes deepened. At some point, the Spiritual Radiance Blessing had activated, and his Divine Sense had imperceptibly enveloped the Teleportation Array. His transcendent intellect compiled and analyzed every minute change.

’Perhaps I could study the Array Dao...’

The thought came to Chu Mu suddenly. All this time, limited by his own aptitude, he had only ever dabbled in skills other than Artifact Refining and Alchemy, never studying them in depth.

But experience had proven time and again that one could never have too many skills.

Take the Array Dao, for example. If applied to his Puppets, the result would be a synergy where one plus one was far greater than two.

Moreover, strictly speaking, the Array Dao was a core component of the Artifact Refining Skill. The so-called Array Prohibitions were, in fact, an evolution of Arrays.

After a moment of contemplation, Chu Mu suppressed the thought.

A Foundation Establishment Cultivator’s lifespan was three hundred years. Even if his own was likely much longer than an ordinary Cultivator’s, he was still only at the Middle Stage of Foundation Establishment.

Beyond that lay the Late Stage, Perfection, and then the bottleneck of the Golden Core Stage...

Each step was like crossing an impassable chasm!

Any delay could cost him a decade, or even several.

If he really wanted to branch out, he would have to wait until he reached a higher realm where his lifespan was no longer a pressing concern.

"Senior, here is your Teleportation Order. During the journey, this order will protect you from the spatial pressure and ensure a safe passage."

Chu Mu accepted the Teleportation Order, examining it with great interest.

"This way, Senior."

The woman led him over respectfully.

Chu Mu stepped onto the Teleportation Array. Even with his considerable knowledge of such arrays, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of unease.

A teleportation across a million li was no joke. If even the slightest thing went wrong, even a Nascent Soul expert would likely be annihilated instantly by the terrifying Spatial Turbulence.

Although the chance of such an error was minuscule, a small chance was still a chance...

As a pillar of light shot skyward, the teleportation began. Chu Mu felt an indescribable spatial force envelop him, followed by... an endless, dazzling brilliance.

Before he could even make out what that dazzling brilliance was, the feeling of solid ground abruptly returned to his feet.

The salty sea breeze and humid air washed over him. He now stood in a simple, ancient Stone Hall.

In that brief instant, he had successfully crossed a distance of one million li.

"Hand over your Teleportation Order and exit through the side door."

Just then, an aged voice reached his ears.

Chu Mu looked toward the source of the voice and saw an old man with white hair sitting cross-legged in the center of the hall. The man’s Cultivation aura was so restrained that Chu Mu couldn’t discern his level at all.

Looking around the hall, he saw it was indeed ancient and simple. The walls were formed from rows of grayish-white stone pillars, giving the entire place a coarse, unrefined look.

The Stone Hall was enclosed on all four sides, with only the main entrance open. The side door the old man had mentioned was a small, ten-foot-high opening to his left.

In front of the old man was a stone basin piled high with Teleportation Orders. Its purpose was obvious.

Chu Mu placed his Teleportation Order in the basin, gave the old man a respectful salute, and then turned toward the side door.

With the current strength of his Divine Sense, he was likely on par with a Cultivator at Foundation Establishment Perfection.

If even his powerful Divine Sense couldn’t perceive the old man’s Cultivation, then the man’s realm was self-evident.

He had to be a Golden Core expert, stationed here as a guard.

As he stepped through the side door, the sea breeze hit him full in the face. The boundless ocean and the full vista of Crescent Island unfolded before him.

Crescent Island had earned its name from its peculiar terrain, which was shaped like a crescent moon.

Crescent Island wasn’t large, and it possessed only a single Tier Two Spiritual Vein.

The island was sparsely populated, but it possessed a grim, austere atmosphere, much like Jingmen had in the past.

A single street curved like a crescent moon across the island. Both sides were lined with stone houses built from grayish-white rock.

At a glance, the shops lining the street were, almost without exception, branches of famous merchant houses from the Vast Sea Cultivation Immortal World.

On the street, Bloodline Cultivators of all shapes and sizes could be seen sitting cross-legged, a simple piece of Beast Hide marking their stall.

The entire island was clearly protected by a Grand Array. A faint, fluorescent light enveloped the sky above, resembling a crescent scimitar standing guard.

The Stone Hall itself was situated on a stone mountain at the curve of the crescent, and from its vantage point, one could see almost the entire island.

After surveying the island, Chu Mu turned his gaze outward. Among the jagged reefs, he could see deep, crisscrossing gouges. Despite the constant washing of the tides, a thick layer of bloodstains remained.

The sight didn’t surprise Chu Mu; he had already made thorough inquiries before his arrival.

Even though the Vast Sea Cultivation Immortal World had operated in the Outer Sea for many years, for some unknown reason, they had never managed to gain a decisive advantage.

With an endless supply of Demon Beasts, every settlement of Cultivators was, in the eyes of the beasts, nothing more than a gathering of fresh meat.

Thus, the situation in the Outer Sea was naturally grim.

Any place where Cultivators gathered was inevitably attacked by Demon Beasts.

The only variables were the strength and number of the attacking Demon Beasts.

He had learned that just a few hundred years ago, a massive Beast Tide had erupted in the Outer Sea. In its wake, fewer than one in ten of the hundreds of islands developed by the Vast Sea Cultivation Immortal World survived.

That Beast Tide had even pushed into the Inner Sea, causing a bloodbath and inflicting disastrous casualties upon the Vast Sea Cultivation Immortal World.

The casualties were so devastating that the Outer Sea became a forbidden zone, a topic that made people pale with fear.

Although the Beast Tide was eventually suppressed by the combined forces of the Vast Sea’s major powers, pioneering the Outer Sea remained an arduous task.

To this day, based on his inquiries, there were still only a little over one hundred Spirit Vein Islands recorded on the Sea Area Map in the entire Outer Sea.

After a moment of reflection, Chu Mu descended from the stone mountain and set foot on Crescent Island proper.

Looking down from the mountain, the entire island came into view. While not teeming with Cultivators, a fair number were still visible.

But once he was down on the street, the number of Cultivators he could see seemed even smaller.

The street was hundreds of feet wide, yet utterly deserted. At a glance, he could count fewer than ten Cultivators.

Furthermore, the weakest of these Cultivators was at the Foundation Establishment Realm. Even the shops were run by Foundation Establishment cultivators; there wasn’t a single person below that realm to be seen.

After a moment’s thought, Chu Mu couldn’t help but give a self-deprecating smile.

’In a place like this, what was the difference between a Qi Cultivation Realm Cultivator showing up and committing suicide?’

’Even Foundation Establishment Realm Cultivators, if they weren’t powerful enough, would likely become a meal for Demon Beasts with the slightest misstep.’

’Though Demon Beasts lacked full Spiritual Wisdom, the Outer Sea was their home turf.’

’The heart-pounding danger he’d felt at every turn back in the East Lake Secret Realm was still fresh in his memory.’

’Killing a single Demon Beast, if done carelessly, was like kicking a hornet’s nest!’

’Given their incomplete Spiritual Wisdom and utter fearlessness, it wasn’t impossible for a swarm of them to take down a much stronger foe, like a horde of ants killing an elephant.’

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