As the magical bird flew further, the greenery on the ground became scarcer, with the swamps gradually shrouded in a thin black mist. The only plants visible were massive, grayish-black vines. There wasn't a single living creature in sight, and even the birds in the sky didn't linger in the area.
Going a little deeper, the mist thickened so much that it completely covered the ground; it was like a sea of black clouds. Truly an eerie sight.
In the distance, a mountain peak pierced straight through this blackness. The mountain peak was very wide and not exactly steep. The top and part of the midsection seemed to have been leveled off by someone. And aside from the usual trees and plants, there was a strange-looking building.
"This is the place!"
The female cultivator guided the spirit bird toward the peak. Before they even landed, a wave of putrid stench hit them. She pressed her fingers together and gently released a gust of wind, dispersing the unpleasant smell.
"This is the Eastern Gate of the Southern Chu Sect, the Black River. From now on, the Black River and this Black River Peak will be the territory of your Chu Qin Sect!" She smiled at Qi Xiu then added, "But the nearby cultivators like to call it the Stinky Gutte, so now you understand why the Chu family cultivators on the flying shuttle were so polite to you, right?"
The spirit bird landed beside the strange building, letting everyone off.
Qi Xiu glanced around and was speechless. So, this is where our sect will be based? he wondered.
There was no trace of human activity here, and the place felt completely isolated. Aside from the peak and midsection, which looked like they could grow some crops, the base of the mountain was just churning with foul-smelling black clouds. The environment was really something else—and not in a good way. The worst part was that there wasn't any spiritual energy to be sensed on the mountain. For a cultivator, this place was worse than an ordinary farmhouse in the Qi Yun state.
Traveled thousands of miles just to end up in a place like this? A twinge of regret couldn't help but creep into his heart.
Noticing Qi Xiu's prolonged silence, the female cultivator pretended to be annoyed. "I see, you're not satisfied, are you?" She took out the Chu Qin Sect belongings she had been holding in her storage pouch and tossed them onto the ground.
Qi Xiu snapped out of his disappointment, hurriedly bowed, and apologized, "The Southern Chu Sect has shown us great kindness. We have no reason to be dissatisfied with this place."
The female cultivator just giggled. "There's more to this place than what your eyes can see," she said as she continued to drop their items. "It's not entirely worthless. If it weren't so dangerous, it wouldn't have ended up in your hands."
Qi Xiu secretly glanced at her and realized she wasn't truly angry. "Our Chu Qin Sect is deeply grateful for the kindness shown by the two ancestors of the Chu family," he said, carefully choosing his words and. "We fear our abilities are too limited to repay such a favor. No matter what this place is like, since the Chu Qin Sect has been entrusted with it, we will certainly not fail in our duty. We'll guard this Eastern Gate for the Southern Chu Sect with all we have!"
"Hahaha, you sure think highly of yourself, guarding the Chu family's gate, haha, that's too funny." Theyoung woman laughed so hard she bent over, as if she'd heard the funniest joke in the world.
Qi Xiu's face turned red. He realized he had said the wrong thing again, and this time in front of his disciple. Feeling embarrassed, he forced a couple of awkward laughs to play along.
When the female cultivator had laughed enough, she threw a jade slip and a magical item to Qi Xiu, before mounting the spirit bird."The jade slip contains all the details you need to know," she said. "Only you can read it, and it mustn't be shared. This 1st-grade mid-tier flying item, the Wind Array Spirit Boat, is a gift for your Chu Qin Sect. South Xinjiang is vast and sparsely populated, and ordinary flying items can't travel far before the user's spiritual energy depletes. This kind of spirit boat uses talisman formation techniques that use spirit stones to help with the spiritual energy consumption, making it almost indispensable in South Xinjiang."
With that, she urged the spirit bird onward and disappeared within moments.The only thing left was her voice echoing in Qi Xiu's ears: "My name is Chu Zhuangyuan. If you encounter any issues you can't handle, come find me in Southern Chu City."
"She's gone just like that?" Zhang Shishi and Zhan Yuan approached Qi Xiu after seeing that the female cultivator had left. "What should we do now, Sect Leader?"
Surrounded by an endless sea of black clouds, with nothing but only the strange building, the Chu Qin Sect members were left alone in a desolate and isolated world, a feeling of loneliness washing over them. Qi Xiu sighed. "Let's first settle down in our residence and organize our things. We'll deal with the rest later," he said.
Residence ... the group looked at the square, rough-looking building. It lacked the wooden pillars, brick walls, tiled roofs, and flying eaves typical of Daoist architecture, being made entirely of white stone slabs. The roof had some layers, but it couldn't compare to the beauty of Daoist pavilions.
The most unusual feature was that it had no doors or windows, and it was unclear how people had entered it in the past. One of the walls had a large, gaping hole, evidently made by someone, revealing a dark opening.
"No matter what, this will be our home from now on, the foundation of our sect and mountain gate!" Qi Xiu said firmly. "The Southern Chu Sect went to great lengths to bring us here. We are now committed to this place, and we must take root here to meet their expectations. Only by doing so can we repay the Chu family's kindness in preserving the Chu Qin Sect."
He instructed Gu Ji to keep an eye on Qin Weiyu, He Yu, Zhan Yuan, and the other four as they sorted the boxes and cages outside. He then took a luminescent firefly stone and, together with Zhang Shishi, entered the building through the hole in the wall.
Inside, the place was better than expected. The entrance led to a large hall that occupied about seventy to eighty percent of the building's interior.
The floor was surprisingly clean, with very little dust, and the air felt surprisingly fresh. However, the walls, once adorned with murals, were now faded and mottled, with most of the artwork barely recognizable.
In the middle of the hall, there was a blackened patch on the floor and some leftover ashes; clearly someone had been here recently.
"Sect Leader, look at this!" Zhang Shishi pointed to a mark on the wall, left by some unknown magical item.
Qi Xiu walked over to inspect it. The mark was old, and the attack didn't seem very powerful—just a few shallow, half-finger-deep gouges in the stone wall.
"It looks like some cultivators used this place as a temporary shelter. It's not surprising that there were conflicts here," Qi Xiu deduced.
Soon, the two of them found more evidence to support this: signs of a campfire remains and combat, discarded, deactivated firefly stones thrown around haphazardly—everything pointed to the fact that this place had been used by others before.
Finally, when they searched the last two inner rooms of the hall, they found that one was impeccably clean. It had a large jar filled with fresh water, several pieces of dried beast meat hanging up, and even a wooden box containing a full set of clean bedding.
"Is someone living here?" The two exchanged glances, both showing thoughtful expressions.
"There's meat here, so it must have been occupied by Qi Cultivators who can't abstain from eating," Zhang Shishi remarked. "It should be fine."
Qi Xiu nodded. "Regardless, this place is under the control of the Southern Chu Sect. Even if someone has been using it as a temporary residence, once we declare our connection to the Southern Chu Sect, they should back off. After all, this is just a stopover with no spiritual energy, so it's unlikely to attract much interest."
"But the lack of spiritual energy..." Zhang Shishi hesitated, revealing his doubts.
Qi Xiu understood that Zhang Shishi still held some hope for his path, as did He Yu, who had even greater potential. If there was no spiritual energy here, making cultivation impossible, it would be difficult to keep these two in the Chu Qin Sect.
Of course, if cultivation were truly impossible here, Qi Xiu wouldn't force them to stay.
Qi Xiu thought of the jade slip that Chu Zhuangyuan had given him. "That Foundation Establishment cultivator left me a jade slip when she departed," he said to Zhang Shishi. "The contents should provide us with some useful information. Gather everyone inside and start cleaning up the main hall. No matter what, we need to make this place livable for now. I'll stay here and check what's inside the jade slip, and you all can guard the hall for me while I do so."