Chapter 23
Immediately upon entering the mountain range, the map flickered, and a bright dot began blinking. Li Tianxi, who held the map, sensed the movement and took it out. They quickly determined the direction indicated by the dot and headed towards it.
Crack, crack, crack... A nearby tree suddenly split apart, and a wooden snake slithered out of it. The hollow tree collapsed after its emergence. This wooden snake was peculiar, as it seemed to be entirely made of wood.
As the snake swiftly passed by Li Tianxi, she leaped onto its head and formed a hand sign. She executed the Serpentine Body Blink technique, which she had learned from the sutra pavilion. The wooden snake was an outcome of the Verdant Blossom technique.
After completing the hand signs, the snake leaped off the ground and disappeared into the distance. Its mysterious movements allowed it to appear in one location and vanish to another with a blink of an eye.
Xue Wuya continued walking, managing to keep up with Li Tianxi using a movement technique Wang Shitian had never seen before. Wang Shitian use the Cloud Treading Steps, which allowed him to move swiftly alongside them.
Although it takes time to describe, all these events occurred simultaneously and happened in the blink of an eye.
Traveling at great speed, it took them approximately four hours to reach the designated spot on the map.
Before them lay a lake, and the blinking dot was right above it. After observing for a while, they concluded that the inheritance ground must be located beneath the lake. They dived into the water and swam downwards.
As they descended, the water grew progressively darker. Initially, it did not pose a problem, but soon it impeded their vision. They had no choice but to continue going deeper.
After swimming downward for over an hour, they contemplated returning. Despite their power, they were still mortal in a sense. Until they reached the level of Foundation Establishment, where they could hold their breath for hours and sustain themselves by living off the Qi in the environment, they were not true immortal cultivators. Their abilities were limited, and staying underwater for too long could lead to drowning.
However, their curiosity about the lake's depth kept them going. They wondered why it was so deep.
Li Tianxi moved through the water with remarkable agility, her body enveloped in a light blue membrane of water that propelled her forward at great speed. She outpaced her two companions.
As they continued swimming downwards, the map emitted subtle fluctuations that went unnoticed by them. Suddenly, they felt a shift in their surroundings and realized they had started swimming upward at some point. To their astonishment, they saw light shining from above. They swam towards it and soon emerged from the water, finding themselves on a small beach.
Unbeknownst to them, the map's fluctuations had activated a certain formation, transporting them to this location. Without this activation, they would have kept swimming down and either drowned from lack of breath or eventually turned back.
On the beach, they looked around with visible surprise, except for Xue Wuya, who seemed unfazed. While the others were uncertain, Xue Wuya provided an explanation.
"While we were swimming, we must have triggered a formation or restriction left behind by Senior Serenecloud. It seems this is what transported us here. However, I'm unsure if it's a teleportation formation or a concealment formation."
His explanation cleared some doubts for the others. Throughout their journey, they had gradually grown accustomed to the fact that Xue Wuya possessed knowledge beyond what a cultivator his age should possess. This had earned their respect. However, Wang Shitian remained suspicious due to his past experiences with cultivators who could possess others' bodies. He had almost lost his life to someone who had possessed the Little Demon King and was not eager to face such a situation again.
Upon leaving the water, Li Tianxi remained completely dry, while the others were wet. Xue Wuya emitted heat that quickly dried his clothes. Only Wang Shitian was left soaked, and he felt embarrassed as he had no choice but to change into dry clothes. After donning a blue robe, he appeared somewhat like a wealthy young master, but his imposing figure and loosely hanging long hair contradicted this image, giving him a unique aesthetic.
As he emerged from his hiding spot after changing, he noticed a swarm of bees flying towards them, buzzing and emanating a terrifying aura.
Just as the bees approached, Li Tianxi's blue eyes flashed, and her blue hair swayed as the temperature around her dropped significantly. Without warning, five ice swords materialized behind her, and as the temperature plummeted, the ground beneath her feet froze in a circle. Any bee that entered the circle was instantly frozen.
Witnessing her strength, Wang Shitian nodded in confirmation. Her reputation was well-deserved.
After this brief interlude, they separated and started searching the forest. This was to aid them in covering more ground. However, after searching for more than half a day, they found nothing for their troubles, leaving them in doubt. When they met up again, they took out the map and were surprised to see that new writing had appeared on it: "Only the full moon will guide your path." After hearing this and doing some calculations, they found out that the full moon was in two days, which meant they could only stay here for the next two days. Since there was nothing else they could do, they had no choice but to start cultivating.
While Wang Shitian meditated, the others took the opportunity to strengthen their cultivation. At the Qi gathering stage, Qi is stored in the body in the form of mist. At the seventh level of Qi gathering, one opens up the Qi sea, but it is very small and contains only mist. However, the process of compressing the Qi into liquid and expanding the Qi sea is known as foundation establishment. The degree to which the sea can be expanded during the first expansion determines one's talent.
Ordinary cultivators, when stepping into foundation establishment, have a sea of 1000km. There can be only three expansions, which represent the early, middle, and late stages of foundation establishment. For ordinary cultivators, the second expansion is 3000km, and the final expansion is 9000km. This can only be achieved after enough accumulation. However, there are heaven-genius and lucky cultivators who can expand beyond these levels, allowing them to have a stronger foundation than their counterparts. This benefits them further along their cultivation path. To achieve peak foundation establishment, one must fill the Qi sea with liquid Qi after the third expansion. It should be known that after every expansion, the sea must be filled before further expansion can occur.
At this moment, Xue Wuya and Li Tianxi were accumulating Qi to help them build a better foundation, which was the reason they had not yet stepped into the foundation realm.
After waiting for two whole days, the sky darkened as moonlight shone upon the earth.