After entering the blue shimmering portal, they found themselves surrounded by green hills and meadows. The new place looked serene and there was not a single desolate beast that could be seen.
Above them were dozens of massive floating island. Compared to the hundreds of floating islands on the second floor, this was considered to be so much less.
Ye Jing was a little surprised by the serene surrounding as she looked at Xuan Danfeng and Fan Yuqing.
"This looks like the perfect place for meditation and to have a breakthrough." She pointed out.
Xuan Danfeng was equally perplexed too as she smiled, "Don't look at me like this. I've never been to the third level before."
Fan Yuqing seemed to be divining with her fingers rapidly as she looked at her surroundings, not bothering with them.
Feng Minyue said, "I do agree with Sister Jing. This is a perfect meditation place. It seems that we are quite lucky to land here."
Xiaofang was hopping around the vicinity to scout but his gentle voice could be heard saying, "It seems that we are alone here in these parts. We seem to be in a conclave that is surrounded by the mountains. While we are safe here but unless we are able find a way out of these mountains, we will be trapped here."
Xuan Danfeng and Ye Jing had quickly displayed their swiftness movement to join Xiaofang as they looked around their vicinity. It was exactly what Xiaofang had said to them.
Feng Minyue was left alone with Fan Yuqing. She looked at her curiously and asked, "Sister Yuqing, what are you divining?"
Fan Yuqing had a faint smile as she looked around her, "It seems that we are around the vicinity of the Turtle Citadel."
Feng Minyue asked curiously, "Turtle Citadel? What is this place?"
All of a sudden Ye Jing was shouting to them, "Look what we have seen. You'll be surprised. We actually saw a mountain that is shaped like a turtle and on top of the turtle, is a tree. Well, it is only half a tree…"
Fan Yuqing smiled at Feng Minyue, "That is the Turtle Citadel."
She extended her hands to hold Feng Minyue's hand as they flashed to where Ye Jing was.
Ye Jing really had sharp ears as she looked curiously at Fan Yuqing, "What this Turtle Citadel that you are talking about?"
Overlooking the mountains was an outstanding mountain that was shaped like a giant turtle and on top of the mountain seemed to be the root of a gigantic fallen tree. There were no tree branches for it was like the tree had been cut cleanly into half at the bottom. But even the half remaining root stood hundreds of meters in height. It was difficult to imagine how high this gigantic tree would be if it was not chopped.
Xuan Danfeng smiled, "I guess that we will be paying that monument a visit then?"
Ye Jing chuckled, "I'm more intrigued by what Sister Yuqing knows about that place."
Fan Yuqing smiled, "It is only a myth that I had heard. It was said that when the cosmos was young, the creation turtle was the first of all the creations. On its back, it carried the divine tree of the tree of life. As the creation turtle grew, so did the divine tree till it spanned the entire cosmos. The fruits of the divine tree eventually became the suns of the cosmos. But the divine tree grew at the expense of the creation turtle and this eventually caused the creation turtle to die. When the creation turtle died, it created a great void where it was the center of all the cosmos."
Ye Jing muttered, "Poor creation turtle. But what happens to the divine tree then? Why is it chopped in half?"
Fan Yuqing smiled, "It also died as well for it could not live without the creation turtle. They were originally one body. What you see is the withered form of the divine tree."
Ye Jing looked at the Turtle Citadel and blinked her eyes, "For something that spanned the entire cosmos, this Turtle Citadel looks a little too small."
Fan Yuqing laughed softly, "That is because this is only a monument of the mythical creation turtle and the divine tree. The story may not be real. It is something the Great Goddess Alice told me when I was a child."
Xuan Danfeng smiled weakly, "You even know the Great Goddess Alice?"
Fan Yuqing nodded lightly, "Right. We are actually quite close."
Xuan Danfeng, Feng Minyue: …
Ye Jing asked, "Who is this Great Goddess Alice?"
Ye Jing really had poor knowledge in her celestial lore and had no idea who the Great Goddess Alice was.
Xiaofang was smiling weakly too because he had no idea as well. He was finding their conversation quite interesting. He knew that Ye Jing would ask anyway. Although her celestial lore was lacking but when it suited the situation, she would surely ask until there were no stones that were being left unturned.
Xuan Danfeng felt like giving Ye Jing a kick, "The Great Goddess Alice is one of the most powerful goddess in the immortal realm."
Ye Jing chuckled, "Surely she can't be more powerful than my Celestial Teacher the Heaveness and the Great Goddess Isa, am I right?"
Xuan Danfeng smiled weakly as she heaved a soft sigh, "She actually is more powerful than them. You should really study your celestial lore more thoroughly. How did you get selected by the immortals to be their champion, I am so curious about it. You basically know nothing about them."
Ye Jing: …
"Huh?" Ye Jing muttered, "Are you serious? You are not pulling my leg? How can anyone be more powerful than the Great Goddess Isa? She is the ruler of the Celestial Realm."
Fan Yuqing was shaking her head too as she took over from Xuan Danfeng, "The Great Goddess Alice is the ex-ruler of the immortal realm. She actually ruled over the immortals in the past."
Ye Jing blinked her eyes, "Really?"
Then Fan Yuqing whispered, "Don't tell the Great Goddess Isa that I told you this but the Great Goddess Alice had frequently beaten the Great Goddess Isa in the past."
Ye Jing muttered weakly, "She is so formidable? I wonder what her level of divinity in the Immortal Positioning."
"And your Celestial Teacher, the Great Goddess Heaveness…" Fan Yuqing smiled, "Is actually weaker than the two of them."
Ye Jing looked at Fan Yuqing with disbelief, "This can't be right? My Celestial Teacher Heaveness is the successor of the Great Goddess Fantian. Exactly who is the stronger of the two? The Great Goddess Fantian or the Great Goddess Alice?"
Fan Yuqing growled softly, "I'm not going to answer you. Why don't you go and ask them yourself?"
Ye Jing smiled weakly, "As if I am able to ask them. You are so lame."
Fan Yuqing chuckled, "You can ask the Great Goddess Isa or your Celestial Teacher, am I right? But didn't say I didn't warn you. The minute you ask them, you may be courting your own death."
Ye Jing asked bitterly, "Why so?"
Fan Yuqing smiled wryly, "They are extremely envious of her. If you ask them out of the blue like that, they may suspect that you are with the company of the Great Goddess Alice. The wraths of the great goddesses are not to be underestimated."
Ye Jing gave a bitter smile, "It seems that the rivalries among the immortals are…so fierce."
Xuan Danfeng had a weird expression as she looked at Fan Yuqing. She began to mutter, "My dear Sister Saintess Yuqing, I really did not know that you know even the Great Goddess Alice as well…"
Even Feng Minyue was startled by the revelation. It was because the Great Goddess Alice was not just the ex-ruler of the immortal realm, she was also the supreme great goddess of the Three Known Realms. Before the ascension of the Great God Yi Ping as the Great God Pangu, she was already the de facto immortal ruler of the Three Known Realms.
Ye Jing saw that they were looking at her with a look of disbelief and she quickly tried to distract them by asking, "So, this Turtle Citadel, do we get any fortuitous encounters inside?"
Fan Yuqing smiled, "Plenty. We may be able to obtain some cultivation insights even if we are not able to obtain some wondrous treasures. Problem is…" She paused with a weak smile before continuing, "We are not the only ones that will be in that place."
Ye Jing, Feng Minyue and Xuan Danfeng were startled.
Ye Jing asked, "There are others that are here?"
Fan Yuqing nodded, "If there are other cultivators that are in this place, it won't take them too long to find this serene place. Moreover they are eight years ahead of us."
Xuan Danfeng nodded and said with a weak smile, "And moreover there are cultivators from the other celestial fraternities that are competing for the same wondrous treasures as well."
Nodding in agreement with Xuan Danfeng, Feng Minyue said. "The presence of this Turtle Citadel seems to suppress the desolate aura of this place, hence it looks unusual serene. However, it is also a tell-tale sign to the other cultivators that a monument such as this exists in the mountains. Therefore, it is not surprising that there may be others who are here already, given that they had a eight year head start over us."
Ye Jing panicky said, "Then what are we waiting for? We should hurry." She had displayed her movement skill and had flashed toward the direction of the Turtle Citadel.
She was quickly followed by Xiaofang, Fan Yuqing and the rest.