46

A few days later.

A spirit ship sailed on the sea.

At the bow, a gray-robed junior disciple held a compass, its needle spinning rapidly.

Seeing Qing Chen look over, he pointed downwards: "Alright, Junior Brother Qing, we've arrived at Huangzhu Island. Let's disembark."

Qing Chen cupped his hands in thanks, then used his lightness technique to gracefully leap off the spirit ship.

He looked up and saw a middle-aged cultivator in a gray robe standing not far away, with several mortals kneeling beside him, young and old, their knees sinking into the sand.

The middle-aged cultivator glanced at Qing Chen, a hint of pity in his eyes. His lips moved as if he wanted to speak, but in the end, he simply shook his head, turned, and quickly boarded the spirit ship.

This spirit ship was one of the Ningxuan Sect's patrol vessels.

It was responsible for transporting newly assigned island-stationed disciples to their respective islands and bringing back those whose terms were about to expire.

The ship's planks creaked twice, and a pale blue protective shield rose from the spirit ship, instantly reducing it to a tiny dot on the sea.

Qing Chen touched the short sword at his waist, a cold smile playing on his lips: "They pity me now, but once they're rich, plenty of sycophants will fawn over them."

He turned to the kneeling mortal, his voice steady: "Who is the mayor of this island? Come out and answer me."

As soon as he finished speaking, an old man with white hair tremblingly raised his head, his face covered in wrinkles.

He kowtowed deeply, his voice trembling, "May the Immortal know that my surname is Chen, and I am the mayor of Huangzhu Town, where I have served for over thirty years."

Qingchen took two steps forward and said calmly, "Tell me about the island."

"Yes, yes!"

Mayor Chen quickly scrambled to his feet and began to explain in detail, "Immortal, Huangzhu Island is about twenty or thirty li in circumference, named after a grove of yellow bamboo on the island. There is a town on the island called Huangzhu Town, a small town with a population of about seventy or eighty thousand..."

"Are there many monsters along the coast? Do they frequently attack the island?"

Qingchen interrupted him, his gaze sweeping across the distant sea. The water was a deep green, with the occasional fish fin skimming the surface.

Mayor Chen's face paled slightly as he rubbed his hands together. "Reporting to the Immortal, I'm not sure about the number of demonic beasts along the coast, or how many there are.

However, the demonic beasts attacking the island aren't too numerous, because there's an array set up by immortals on the island, which seems to be able to drive away demonic beasts. Whenever an immortal comes, they always go to the place on Huangzhu Island where the array is set up first."

Qing Chen nodded; he had long expected the sect to set up a protective array for the island.

In the Ningxuan Sect's view, territory, population, and spiritual veins are of paramount importance.

Even among first-tier low-grade array plates, the value of such a protective island array far exceeds that of an array that can only protect cave dwellings.

The role of a resident cultivator like Qing Chen is primarily to activate and maintain the array's operation, or to issue warnings when necessary.

Therefore, the sect provides resident cultivators with some long-distance communication talismans.

"Hmm, take me to the residence where that array plate is located," Qing Chen calmly instructed.

Mayor Chen quickly led the way, and Qingchen followed him toward the island.

As they passed through Huangzhu Town, the common people on the street hid inside their houses, only daring to peek through cracks in the doors.

The town was filled with the smell of fish and the fragrance of bamboo. The bamboo houses along the roadside were crooked and thatched, looking far inferior to the cities of Jing Kingdom.

After walking for about half an hour, a low mountain appeared ahead. At its foot was a dark cave entrance, beside which stood a stone tablet inscribed with the four characters 'Island Protection Array Mansion'.

Mayor Chen stopped three steps away from the cave entrance and kowtowed again: "Immortal, the array plate is located inside. This humble old man dares not set foot in the realm of immortals, and can only escort you this far."

Qing Chen nodded: "Hmm, there's no need to send anyone this month. Next month, just send a servant to deliver meals once a day. You can all go back."

As a Qi Refining stage cultivator, his cultivation was still shallow, and he couldn't completely detach himself from certain mortal needs.

Back on the outer peak, the sect's stipend included free fasting pills.

One pill was enough to go a month without food, but here, that was no longer available.

Then Qingchen took out the 'Mysterious Array Plate' and formed a hand seal. The plate transformed into a beam of white light, enveloping the cave entrance. Mist instantly billowed up, completely obscuring the entrance.

Only after completing this step did he dare enter the cave.

The cave was more spacious than he had imagined, over three zhang high, with luminous pearls embedded in the walls, illuminating the entire cave.

In the very center stood a circular array plate about ten zhang in size, inscribed with runes that flowed with a pale blue spiritual light.

Qingchen crouched down and touched the array plate with his fingers. It was made of jade, cool and smooth, heavier than the black iron shield he had bought.

He took out the array key given to him by the sect and inserted it into the groove in the center of the array plate. The plate immediately hummed, and the spiritual light brightened further.

Qingchen breathed a sigh of relief. The island-protecting array was fine; at least it could hold off the demonic beasts charging towards the island for a while.

But the thought of Mo Qiuxian made him tense again:

This cave was too conspicuous; if Mo Qiuxian sent people, he wouldn't even have a place to hide.

"I need to dig an escape route."

Qingchen gritted his teeth and took out a short sword from his storage bag.

The sword was a low-grade magic weapon given to him by his sect. He activated the sword and slashed at the cave wall!

With a "crack," the stone wall split open like tofu.

He didn't stop, slashing again and again. Sparks from the blade landed on the luminous pearl, casting flickering light inside the cave.

After slashing for a quarter of an hour, a gash wide enough for a person to pass through was cleaved in the cave wall.

Qingchen wiped the sweat from his brow and leaned against the stone wall, panting: "This work is more tiring than killing demonic beasts. That damned Mo Qiuxian!"

But the thought that this man might be waiting to devour his life force made him grip the sword tightly and continue digging.

He dug tunnels by day and practiced the *Brahma Demon-Refining Technique* by night.

When his qi and blood churned in his *Brahma Aperture*, he used the *Demon Seed Golden Lotus* to stabilize his soul.

"A place that can be seen is never safe. Only what cannot be seen is truly safe."

After digging for more than half a month, the tunnel was finally completed, leading from his cave dwelling all the way to the Yellow Bamboo Forest behind the mountain, a full fifty zhang deep.

Qingchen stood in the tunnel, slashing at the cave wall with his sword, then cast a petrification spell.

A pale gray spiritual light enveloped the cave wall, instantly hardening the loose soil and rocks, making them as hard as iron.

He then used earth-遁术 (earth-遁术, a type of magic technique) to fill the excavated soil and rocks back into the original path, leaving only a small opening large enough for one person to crawl through, which he covered with weeds.

Having done all this, Qingchen sat in the tunnel, feeling more at ease: "To become a towering immortal, one must first learn to dig tunnels."

Just as he was about to sit down to meditate, he suddenly frowned. It seemed that the array barrier set up at the entrance of the cave had been touched.