"Don't be alarmed, let's meet outside the cave! I am Jiu Chi."
Zhao Sheng was horrified when he heard this voice transmission.
He found it hard to imagine why Master Jiuchi had found Qionggui Island so quickly, and he couldn't figure out the man's intentions. Was he a friend or an enemy?
Filled with doubt, Zhao Sheng stood up, calmed himself, and strode out of the cultivation room.
Upon exiting the cave, the night was hazy and the stars were sparse.
Zhao Sheng's pupils contracted as he saw the tall and imposing Nine-Foolish Immortal hovering in mid-air not far away, smiling at him. His wide red robe fluttered in the sea breeze.
"Junior Cen Hezi pays respects to the True Man!" Zhao Sheng flew to Jiu Chi's side on his sword and then bowed.
"Little guy, you've been hiding it well!" Master Jiuchi suddenly teased.
Zhao Sheng was shocked by what he heard, but he remained calm on the surface and asked in confusion, "What do you mean by that, Master? I don't quite understand."
hehe!
After a laugh, Zhao Sheng's eyes suddenly lit up. A flash of fire swept across his cheek, the scorching flames seeming to lick his face, making his hair stand on end.
He instinctively raised his hand to shield his face, but after feeling the slight coolness of the sea breeze on his cheeks, he suddenly realized that his disguise had been exposed.
Zhao Sheng slowly lowered his hand with an uncertain expression, revealing an incomparably handsome face with extremely delicate features. His pair of jewel-like blue eyes added a touch of strange and inexplicable charm to him.
"As expected of the Spirit Clan, they are all born with handsome features!" Master Jiuchi exclaimed, clapping his hands in admiration upon seeing his true appearance.
"How did you see through my disguise? I believe I didn't reveal any flaws," Zhao Sheng said seriously.
Nine-Foolish Immortal crossed his arms and laughed smugly, "You're really unlucky! My natal magic treasure, the Nine-Jeweled Mirror, has the power to pierce through illusions. You've just walked right into its trap. Hehe!"
Zhao Sheng was taken aback upon hearing this, then suddenly realized what was going on. He then said coldly, "You've come so late at night, could it be that you intend to capture me and take me to the Star God Palace to report the reward?"
At the same time, he secretly activated his magic technique, his dantian spiritual power ready to erupt at any moment.
Although it was unlikely that he could escape from a Golden Core cultivator, sitting idly by and waiting to die was not his style.
He would never give up as long as there was even the slightest hope!
"Wait!"
Real Person Jiuchi sensed Zhao Sheng's resolute intention and quickly waved his hand, saying, "I have no ill intentions towards you, kid. If you don't believe me, just look."
As he spoke, Master Jiuchi blinked, as if shattering an invisible layer, and several fragments of starlight fell down, revealing a pair of light blue pupils.
"W-you are a Spirit Clan member?!" Zhao Sheng exclaimed in surprise.
Upon hearing this, Master Jiuchi complained indignantly, "Hmph, I did want to. But those shameless dogs won't acknowledge me. They insist that I'm too ugly, and if I were included in the family register, it would only ruin the reputation of the Spirit Clan."
Looking at the burly, muscular Nine-Foolish Immortal, Zhao Sheng was at a loss for words. After a moment's hesitation, he asked, "Immortal, what brings you here from so far away to find me?"
"Heh heh, even now you're still pretending to be confused! I've traveled tens of thousands of miles just to chat with you? Since you possess the true blood of the Spirit Clan, why don't you hurry up and acknowledge your ancestors? Instead, you're hiding and running away. Is it because your Spirit Clan identity is beneath you? You're such a lucky guy who doesn't know how good you have it!" Nine-Foolish Immortal couldn't help but complain at the end.
Zhao Sheng blinked, understanding dawning on him. He then stopped channeling his spiritual power and asked with a cryptic expression, "Senior, have you come here to take me back to Lingyuan?"
Nine-Foolish Immortal shook his head and said, "In the past, I would have taken you back to Lingyuan to acknowledge your ancestors without saying a word. But now, the situation has changed. The ancestor has ordered me to bring you to Dragon Head Island."
Zhao Sheng's heart skipped a beat, and he instantly thought of the sea monster tide. He couldn't help but ask tentatively, "May I ask, Master, who is the Ancestor? Could it be a Nascent Soul Ancestor of the Spirit Clan?"
Master Jiuchi smiled, flicked his finger and released a crimson flame. The flame instantly transformed into a beam of light, shooting straight into the sky and disappearing into the vast night.
"Who is our ancestor? I'll tell you once we're on our way. Don't even think about running away, or don't blame me for being impolite."
Just as Master Jiuchi finished speaking his threat, a huge black shadow suddenly descended from the sky and landed in front of the two of them.
Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a strange, large bird with jet-black feathers, a wingspan of over five zhang (approximately 10 meters), an iron beak and steel teeth, claws like dragon claws, but a head like a ferocious tiger.
"A tiger owl at the Demon Core Realm?!"
Sensing the subtle pressure emanating from the giant bird, Zhao Sheng's expression turned solemn, and he was filled with shock.
"Not bad, this fifth-tier tiger owl is quite fast. It's quite suitable as a means of transportation," said Master Jiuchi in a calm yet arrogant tone.
Zhao Sheng was speechless for a moment.
At this moment, he completely gave up the idea of escaping.
Putting everything else aside, with this tiger owl around, he wouldn't be able to escape even if he fled to the sea.
The Tiger Owl is a mythical beast that roams the land, sea, and air, and is known for its speed and ferocity.
Faced with a powerful demon at the Core Realm capable of soaring through the heavens and diving into the seas, Zhao Sheng had no way to escape.
"Let's go! Do I have to take you?"
Seeing that Zhao Sheng hesitated to step forward, Master Jiuchi shook his head and urged him on.
As he spoke, he stepped into the air and landed on the broad back of the tiger owl. He turned around and gestured to Zhao Sheng with his eyes.
Zhao Sheng sighed inwardly, looked back at the cave-filled Ao Shou Cliff, reached into a storage bag in his arms, and with a flick of his wrist, tossed it to the entrance of a nearby cave.
After that, he resigned himself to his fate and flew onto the tiger owl's back, landing behind Jiu Chi.
"Hold on tight!"
Just then, a warning sounded in my ear, followed by a sudden surge of force from my feet. My body jerked backward, and a whistling wind rose in my ears. The sea breeze that rushed towards me instantly transformed into invisible wind blades.
With a thought, Zhao Sheng unleashed a surge of spiritual power, instantly condensing into a blue light shield that protected his entire body.
At that moment, an invisible circular barrier suddenly rose up all around, completely keeping out the chill of the sea breeze.
In just a few breaths, Tiger Owl had soared into the sky, and the island of Qiong Turtle below looked as small as a sesame seed, and was instantly obscured by thick clouds.
In an instant, a black light streaked across the night like a shooting star, flashed a few times, and disappeared into the horizon.
Only then was the stone door of a cave dwelling near the Dianjing Mansion pushed open from the inside, and Zhao Yunxian walked out covered in sweat.
He picked up the storage bag, looked up at the hazy, deep night sky, his face full of lingering fear. His mouth moved a few times, but no one knew what he said.
...
Dragon Head Island is located between the Inner and Outer Star Seas, and is a key point connecting the Inner and Outer Star Seas. It is about 30,000 li away from Qiong Turtle Island.
Although the Tiger Owl, a demon core realm creature, is fast, it still takes it three days to fly to Dragon Head Island.
On the way, Zhao Sheng earnestly inquired about the Spirit Clan from Master Jiu Chi.
I wonder if it's because they weren't afraid of him escaping at all.
Master Jiuchi was incredibly patient with his questions, answering them without reservation.
Therefore, after a few days, Zhao Sheng had a relatively clear understanding of the current situation of the Spirit Clan.
The real name of the Nine-Foolish Immortal is Qiu Chijiu, but his real name in the Spirit Clan is Wang Jiu.
The Spirit Race does not use the generational naming system of the Human Race, but rather distinguishes between them based on the purity of their bloodline and their cultivation level.
According to him, members of the Spirit Clan with inferior bloodlines like his, regardless of their cultivation level, can only have single-character names. Only those Spirit Clan members whose bloodlines can cause fluctuations in the clan's sacred artifact can be given three-character true names.
As for the Spirit Clan's clan-protecting artifact, what is it?
Zhao Sheng was very curious, but Master Jiu Chi smiled and remained silent, only saying that he would naturally see him when he returned to Lingyuan.
The Spirit Clan has a small population; the three-character clan has only a little over a hundred members, and even including the two-character clan, the total number does not exceed one hundred thousand.
However, what shocked the human race was that the proportion of the spirit race with spirit roots was too high, almost one-tenth.
Moreover, the Spirit Race seems to be favored by the heavens. The Foundation Establishment barrier, which is extremely difficult in the eyes of the human race, can be broken through by the Spirit Race with a hard-won success rate of 40%.
Even more remarkably, the Golden Core Tribulation couldn't stop the exceptionally gifted Spirit Race. Under the protection of their clan's divine artifact, the Spirit Race's success rate in surviving the tribulation was more than ten times that of the human race.
Only when one reaches the Nascent Soul Realm will the chances of advancement for humans and spirits be roughly the same.
The Spirit Race places great importance on bloodlines. To maintain the purity of their bloodlines, they practice endogamy and rarely intermarry with other races, which makes it difficult for their offspring to reproduce and results in a slow increase in their population.
Even so, over the past few thousand years, the number of three-character members of the Spirit Clan who can activate the clan's sacred artifact has gradually decreased.
If it weren't for all the reasons mentioned above, the Spirit Race would have long since conquered the Tyrant Sea Clans and the Flood Dragons, unified the vast ocean, and driven the Human Race out of the Shattered Star Sea.
It's not like we're in this situation now, having to repeatedly unleash sirens in order to break into the Starweed Sea.
When Master Jiuchi spoke, he was quite indignant, much like he was complaining that the human race was hogging the spot without actually using it.
Zhao Sheng sensed something was amiss in his words, so he pressed him several times to ask why the Spirit Clan always launched the sea monster tide. Wasn't the purpose to stop the human race from expanding their sea territory? Or was it simply to retaliate against the human race for slaughtering sea beasts?
Nine-Foolish Immortal scoffed at this, and then told Zhao Sheng a big secret.
The reason why the three great ocean overlords always stirred up sea monster tides was that revenge against the human race was just a side effect; their most important purpose was to pay homage to the star god.
Before he could ask any more questions, Jiu Chi continued, "Boy, the human race keeps the Star God a secret, not letting low-level cultivators know about it. But what is this little secret to us Spirit Race? Do you want to know what kind of being the Star God is?"
Seeing this, Zhao Sheng nodded seriously.
Master Jiuchi laughed heartily, sat cross-legged on the back of the tiger owl, and then said mysteriously, "Star God... it's not human!"
Zhao Sheng collapsed in disbelief.
Coming to his senses, he rubbed his forehead and said with a hint of resentment, "Senior, don't keep me in suspense."
"Until now, you haven't called me uncle." Master Jiuchi's tone suddenly changed, becoming aggressive.
Zhao Sheng immediately fell silent.
The other party's meaning was quite clear. However, Zhao Sheng still had reservations about whether to acknowledge the Spirit Clan's identity.
To be honest, Master Jiuchi has been very kind to him these past two days.
If he were to return to the Spirit Clan, his future would be bright.
Furthermore, as Zhao Sheng gained a deeper and clearer understanding of the Spirit Race, he was shocked to discover that the Spirit Race and the Human Race were very similar in their lifestyles and habits, not to mention that the two races were more than 90% similar in appearance.
The Nine-Foolish Immortal subtly revealed a viewpoint in his words: the human race is a branch that separated from the ancient spirit race countless millions of years ago. From the perspective of bloodline origin, the spirit race holds a far higher status than the human race.
Although Zhao Sheng had serious doubts about this view, it was an undeniable fact that there was no reproductive isolation between the Spirit Race and the Human Race.
The saying goes, "Seeing is believing, hearing is deceiving."
Zhao Sheng knew that his mindset was starting to waver, and a thought occasionally popped into his head: "Perhaps being a member of the Spirit Clan for life wouldn't be such a bad experience."
But this slight wavering is not enough to shake the unwavering will that Zhao Sheng has forged over generations.
So Zhao Sheng avoided the main point and asked, "You still haven't told me what the Star God is?"
"You little rascal, you're so stubborn! Just like me." Master Jiuchi said with a laugh.
Zhao Sheng ignored the teasing remark and continued to appear as if he were listening attentively.
Seeing this, Master Jiuchi shook his head in dissatisfaction, but did not insist. Instead, he said directly, "If you can maintain this stubbornness even when you meet Ancestor Lingyuan, then I will truly admire you."
After saying this, he returned to the previous question, saying, "The Star God is neither human nor deity. How so? The Star God is a strange existence similar to the Heavenly Dao. Its appearance is ever-changing, and I am not quite sure what its true form is. However, I once heard an elder of my clan mention it. In our clan, the Star God is also known as the Sea God."
Upon hearing the words "Sea God," Zhao Sheng's heart skipped a beat, and he instantly recalled the unexpected events that had occurred in the misty underwater cave.
That wisp of the spirit race's lingering immortal will once mentioned that a primordial sea god was conceived in the sea. Could it be that the primordial sea god he spoke of is the current star god?
Is the Star God in the Star Algae Sea? Does the Star God awaken only once every hundred years?
The Spirit Race stirred up a demonic tide for the sake of the Star God!
Why would the Star God Palace seal away the secret of the Star God's existence?
Why do the Eldar want to pay homage to the Star God?
Why do high-level cultivators from the human race, spirit race, demon race, and other races value the Star God so much? What benefits can they gain from it?
In an instant, Zhao Sheng's mind raced, and a burst of inspiration struck him.
He suddenly understood many things, but countless doubts also arose in his mind.
With these questions in mind, Zhao Sheng finally arrived at Dragon Head Island the following evening.
...
As dusk fell, the sky was ablaze with crimson clouds. The sun had already sunk halfway down, leaving only a waning ray on the horizon. Its light was dim and blood-red, casting a shimmering, blood-red glow on the sea.
Zhao Sheng stood on the back of the tiger owl, looking down at the endless ocean below.
Beneath the sea, one could see vast stretches of shadow, and countless strange-looking sea creatures leaping out of the water, splashing up countless waves.
at the same time.
Huge waves churned on the sea, creating vast expanses of white foam, and enormous backs of various colors—blue-black, silver-white, and crimson—emerged on the surface. These gigantic sea monsters swam freely back and forth on the sea, occasionally devouring the smaller sea creatures around them.
Above the sea, the sky was filled with all kinds of seabirds and magical birds. They formed groups by species, each occupying a territory. Sometimes they would suddenly soar up, and sometimes they would swoop down, like patches of black clouds darting across the sky.