Chapter 419 Coastline

Lin Lee’s pupils shrank. Far on the northern horizon, a dark line appeared in the sky, rapidly condensing into a black, towering wall. It was not a storm cloud in the ordinary sense, but a dense, unnatural darkness.

Simultaneously, he noticed the sea below was oscillating with a slow but increasing frequency. The waves were not crashing in the usual chaotic manner; they rose and fell in a strange, hypnotic rhythm.

He sped up, urging the Dark Star Sword to cut through the air faster. As he closed the distance, the dark line in the horizon became a colossal wall of roiling black clouds and lightning-laced storm. The rushing sea waves below grew immense, and the strange, increasing frequency was literally splitting the ocean in countless, geometrically perfect sections.

The very air thrummed with a terrifying spiritual pressure that made his Flawless Jindan core instinctively flare in defense. This pressure was far beyond the Yuan Ying realm... it was an overwhelming, ancient force that seemed to be actively tearing the world apart.

He halted the Dark Star Sword ten miles from the advancing spectacle, his eyes fixed on the epicenter of the chaos. The sea itself was being dissected by invisible spiritual blades, the water forming colossal, vertical sheets that stretched hundreds of feet into the air before collapsing.

’A natural calamity? No, this is an art... a spiritual technique of unparalleled power,’ Lin Lee thought, his mind racing to analyze the phenomenon. ’The rhythm, the frequency... It’s a profound application of the Law of Nature and Order. Someone is controlling the very structure of this oceanic area.’

Just as Lin Lee was about to fly forward, a deep, grating sound scraped through the water below, a noise that seemed to originate from the abyssal depths and then instantly vanished.

His pupils contracted slightly. "This sound... a Dragon? A creature of immense power, rarely seen in any world, let alone one as minor as this."

Lin Lee muttered to himself, his voice barely audible above the roar of the strange spiritual storm ahead, "A Dragon... I didn’t expect to find one of those ancient things in a place like this. And one strong enough to control the sea and weather structure with such ease."

He paused, reassessing the immense danger. He had no wish to engage with a being of that caliber in its own territory. Even with his Flawless Jindan, fighting a true Dragon was suicidal.

’I will avoid any conflict. My goal is the location on the map, not a territorial dispute with a celestial beast. I can’t afford to expose the Life Bead to such a powerful, ancient being.’

He adjusted his trajectory slightly, guiding the Dark Star Sword to skirt the massive, geometrically sectioned spiritual influence of the power ahead, flying on the periphery where the sea remained merely turbulent.

The vast spectacle of world-splitting power slowly receded behind him. He maintained his speed, pushing the Dark Star Sword relentlessly northward.

Days bled into one another, marked only by the constant rush of the sea wind and the unwavering focus of his Flawless Jindan core. The energy consumption was constant, keeping his core working at a high, focused pace.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity of empty blue water, a distant line appeared on the horizon, distinct from the gray sky and the dark sea.

A coastline.

A profound sigh of relief escaped Lin Lee’s lips. He urged the Dark Star Sword forward, pushing his spiritual energy to its absolute limit for a final burst of speed. The continuous, focused flight, even with his powerful core, had been draining. He was approaching the edge of his endurance, the spiritual fatigue a heavy weight on his soul.

With a soft, scraping sound, the Dark Star Sword settled onto the dry, dusty ground of the new land. Lin Lee stepped off, his legs momentarily heavy, the constant motion of the flying sword suddenly replaced by the solid earth.

He looked around. The coastline here was a barren, deserted stretch of land, nothing like the lush, forest-covered cliffs he had left behind on the southern continent. The air was dry, and the sand beneath his feet was a pale, chalky gray.

But what truly captured his attention was the quality of the air.

Lin Lee took a deep breath, and his eyes widened.

"The spiritual qi concentration..." he muttered, testing the dense atmosphere. "The heaven and earth aura is more than ten times higher than the previous continent I left."

The immense purity and density of the spiritual energy immediately washed over his entire being. His Flawless Jindan core, which he had been diligently suppressing to prevent an involuntary breakthrough, pulsed wildly. He felt a distinct loosening at the very bottleneck of the Yuan Ying realm... that final, thin membrane separating the peak Jindan from the Nascent Soul.

He was now at the absolute zenith of the Jindan realm, a single thread away from ascending.

Lin Lee took another sharp, focused breath and slammed his spiritual sense down upon his core. The Boundless Heaven Art instantly roared, locking the core down, sealing the fissure in the bottleneck. He didn’t want to break through in an unknown, barren place immediately after an exhausting flight.

’Not yet. I need a proper safe location, an isolated place, and full preparation to enter the Yuan Ying realm. A spontaneous breakthrough is too risky.’

With the ascent temporarily suppressed, Lin Lee looked out at the desolate, high-qi landscape before him.

After a brief moment, Lin Lee found a clean patch of sand on the coastline and settled down. The exhaustion of his weeks-long, non-stop flight across the North Sea was a heavy weight, and the immediate proximity to the potent spiritual qi of this new continent made his body ache with the compulsion to cultivate. He suppressed the urge, instead choosing to focus on stabilizing his mind.

He walked to the water’s edge, his spiritual sense dipping into the cold ocean. In moments, a massive, iridescent fish, equivalent to a low-level qi gathering cultivator in size and spiritual essence, was pulled from the water and deposited at his feet.

Lin Lee didn’t bother with a fire; he simply cut a generous slab of the raw, sparkling meat with his spiritual qi. The flavor was a clean, spiritual burst on his tongue, a stark contrast to the small, bland spirit beasts he’d been occasionally consuming during the ocean crossing.

The sun eventually dipped below the boundless ocean horizon, painting the sky in violent shades of orange and bruised purple. Lin Lee finished his meal, tossed the remains back into the sea, and settled onto a large, flat rock that was still warm from the day’s sun. He sat cross-legged, his mind sinking into a deep, silent focus, the Boundless Heaven Art gently circulating, consolidating the gains of his journey and ensuring the new energy he absorbed remained sealed and stable.

Night passed in absolute stillness.

...

The next morning, as the sun began to cast a pale, weak light over the desolate coastline, the silence was broken by the faint, rough sound of footsteps crunching on the chalky sand.

Lin Lee’s eyes snapped open. He didn’t move, merely focusing his vision. The area far away zoomed in, revealing three figures in simple, coarse village clothes. A senior aged man and two young men, one around fourteen and the other fifteen, were setting a small, wooden fishing boat near the water’s edge, their few simple fishing tools clattering softly.

’Mortal villagers.’ Lin Lee mused internally. ’They will have information about this land.’

He stood up from the rock, and the Dark Star Sword, a sleek dark-gold appeared in front of him. Without hesitation, he stepped onto the humming blade and flew toward the small group.

On the sand, the aged man was instructing the youths. "Feng’er, release the bow rope slowly. Shen’er, patch that tear in the net before we venture out too far."

The two young men were following instructions, their faces serious with the effort of their early morning labor. It was Lu Shen, the younger one, who raised his head first. His pupils immediately widened into pale, terrified circles.

"Grandfather... look!" he managed, his voice barely a squeak.

The old man and Lu looked up. Their expressions instantly changed from focused labor to sheer, panicked horror as they watched a silent, dark figure flying toward them on a sword.

The old man hurriedly dropped the tools from his hand, the metal scraping across the sand. He grabbed both young men’s arms with a strength born of pure desperation and walked forward, sinking to his knees. The young men, startled and dazed, subconsciously followed the old man’s lead, kneeling on the ground, their faces buried in the sand.

Just as Lin Lee gently settled the Dark Star Sword a few feet in front of them, the old man’s voice, thick with terror, hurriedly greeted him.

"This insignificant mortal begs his Excellency for mercy! Please, spare us, Immortal lord!"

... Chapter End ...