Chapter 1856 - To Exploration Grounds
Eternal embarked right on schedule with more than ten thousand experts on board.
Because this was the only ship heading to Remote Wildland, its journey would span across all the known space of Exploration Grounds. It would also stop at places like Hope Corner and Imperial Change City. These are the top locations for adventurers so many qualified cultivators wanted to ride this ship.
Outside of its route, this ship was also the safest of them all. The earlier advertisement wasn’t a lie. It was indeed created by emperors and Ancient Gods so it could withstand a similar level of assault.
Moreover, no one dared to have any ideas about Eternal. There were professional robbers in Exploration Grounds but they were smart enough to not mess with this ship. Rumor has it that several emperors and Ancient Gods were joint-owners of the ship. This was their transportation method in the area.
The captain of the ship declared to the guests that as long as they were on the ship, it would safely let them travel through Exploration Grounds and bring them back without a single injury.
This safety made many cultivators treat it as a spectating vessel. They didn’t venture outside and only stay on the ship to check out the sceneries here.
“See you!” As the ship was leaving, the passengers waved goodbye to their friends and family members.
The people back at port continued to wave towards Eternal’s departing figure for a long time. Because no one knew the result of adventuring in Exploration Grounds. This was a place where emperors have died. This might be the last time they could see their friends. Some of the passengers didn’t want to leave but the temptation of the adventure was too much to take.
This flying continent had a frightening speed despite its size. This was indeed the velocity at the imperial level.
Of course, in a stricter sense, it was still slower than emperors. Nevertheless, it was the fastest one in this space zone.
In just half a day, it had entered Exploration Grounds.
“We have arrived at Exploration Grounds. Esteemed guests, please get ready. Without the right conditions, please don’t cultivate on the ship and absorb chaos energy. These chaos energies have been refined after entering the ship but we can’t guarantee that they are the same as our chaos energy. If anyone forces the issue, qi deviation might occur. We do not take responsibility for this.” The workers quickly reminded the guests.
“Look, Exploration Grounds!” The first-timers were especially excited and rushed to the front of the deck.
There was a thick fog ahead, lowering all visibility. Even the stars became dimmed in the sky.
There were many strange scenes inside the fog. One could see something resembling clouds up above; it looked both tangible and illusory at the same time. There were black lands ahead as well. It gave the feeling of an abyss as if the moment one stepped on it, they would fall down towards eternal damnation. Hidden nebulas were around too. They looked so far away as if they were not part of this epoch. They were shining to this place from an older epoch, real yet so distant…
These scenes gave the spectators a strange feeling. This looked to be a mix of reality and illusion. There was no way to tell real from fake. This resulted in a very creepy feeling. There could be fierce beasts and devils slumbering in Exploration Grounds. Approach closer and be devoured by them!
The entire place was filled with chaos energy. Primordial chaos was everywhere as if this was a world that has yet to be open and expanded.
However, experienced cultivators would find that the chaos energy here was different from the one outside. It had a black mist to it. Perhaps the energy here had changed after the long passage of time.
“Such thick energy, wouldn’t training here have an amazing effect?” A youth excitedly said after seeing the thick layers of chaos energy.
It was even denser than the ancestral grounds of imperial lineages.
“Silly boy, you can’t train with the chaos energy here.” His junior shook his head: “Even the chaos energy that had been purified by the ship won’t do either. It’s not suitable for cultivation. Anyone who does it for a long time would be affected. The speed might be fast but some problems remain. A light case would be qi deviation; a serious case would be death.”
“Why?” The junior didn’t understand.
“No one knows the exact reason. Rumor has it that this chaos energy doesn’t belong to our epoch. It was abandoned and ruined by destruction and corrosion, not full of life like ours.” The senior slowly explained.
“Splash!” Loud splashes resounded as Eternal moved forward and slammed into these large waves.
The first-timers were curious and wanted to see what was going on. They saw that Eternal was flying on an ocean. Of course, this was not a regular ocean since it consisted of broken stardusts. It looked like these stars have been crushed numerous times, even more broken than sands.
These broken pieces were actually flowing like just sea water. Thus, they came together to form an ocean of glimmering stardusts.
Alas, this was in appearance only. The specks were indeed shining like starry lights but they also had an ancient golden glow. It resembled the passage of time, the afterglow of yesterday.
When a person continued to look at these flashing glimmers, they would eventually see illusions. Before one knows it, they would find themselves in a different world.
Look, an immortal beast was right there! Glance over a different direction and one would see several incredible scenes of war… These illusions inside the ocean looked like the flipping of pages in a historical scroll.
“Stop looking at the water or you won’t be able to get out.” A junior was immersed in these scenes but his senior dragged him away immediately. He warned: “This is a broken river of time, you’ll never finish staring. After a long while, your soul will be lost in there and never return.”
The junior felt cold sweat all over his body after hearing the warning and understand the gravity of the situation.
Meanwhile, Li Qiye has been meditating and absorbing chaos energy after the ship left the port.
Chaos energy flowed into him like rivers from all directions. They were absorbed into his palaces as if he was an insatiable whale devouring all the energy.
He had more than one thousand units of chaos energy, allowing him to jump from Dao Insect to Dao Serpent.
As chaos energy gathered in his palaces, all thirteen lit up with a buzzing sound.
In the thirteen continents, a Dao Serpent was nothing. There were too many to count.
However, this was also a very important realm since it was the first palace opening, a crucial beginning for cultivation.
Everyone was born with one fate palace. At Dao Serpent, they would be able to open more palaces.
The cultivation system of the nine worlds was similar to the tenth. As long as cultivators could reach Dao Sovereign, they would have three chances of opening fate palaces.
The number of palaces opened during Dao Serpent was predicated on one’s talents, power, and dao heart, ranging from one to four.
The strong could open three to four while the weak was limited with one. The latter case meant that their talents were simply insufficient.
Of course, if one couldn’t open any palace, it showed a natural deficiency. This type of cultivator would have limited success in the future.