Cultivating for a hundred lifetimes to ascension

After swimming more than two hundred nautical miles in one breath, Zhao Sheng felt the crisis in his heart diminish slightly.

However, as soon as he stopped and time passed, that nameless sense of crisis in his heart quickly intensified.

Zhao Sheng had no choice but to leave again and continue his underwater escape.

In this way, the chase endured for three whole days.

During these three days, Zhao Sheng searched inside and out of his body and finally discovered a Divine Soul Mark on his twelfth vertebra.

Having been a Foundation Establishment Cultivator in his past life, Zhao Sheng was very familiar with Divine Soul Marks and knew they were extremely hidden and difficult to remove.

For other Qi Refining Realm cultivators, not to mention not being able to find it, even if they did find it, they would be helpless against it.

But for Zhao Sheng, the Divine Soul Mark was not unsolvable; it only required a lot of time to erode it.

And the means to erode it was the Godslaying Sword Intent.

At this time, Zhao Sheng once again sincerely thanked that transcendent and free-spirited True Immortal.

No, he should now be referred to as the Yue Ancestor.

From the memories of Zhao Dingtian, he knew that Yue Qinghan had successfully ascended to the Nascent Soul Realm over a hundred and twenty years ago, becoming the new sect's ancestor of the Sky Sun Sword Sect.

Because of her decisive killing and divinely skilled swordsmanship, she also earned the reputation of a Female Sword Immortal.

Thus, Zhao Sheng escaped while repeatedly bombarding the Divine Soul Mark with Godslaying Sword Intent.

Two months later, in an undersea cave with no name, Zhao Sheng appeared pale with tattered clothing and deep dark circles under his eyes, showing great fatigue and dishevelment.

However, he didn't care about such things at the moment.

After two months of wear and tear, the Divine Soul Mark had dimmed to its limit and was on the verge of being shattered.

The most critical moment had arrived!

Zhao Sheng focused all his attention on the Divine Soul Mark; suddenly, a flash of Sword Light emerged from the depths of his Purple Mansion Soul Sea, leapt out of the Purple Mansion in a flash, and the next instant fiercely slashed upon the Divine Soul Mark.

Crack!

Zhao Sheng seemed to hear an invisible shattering sound and saw the mark flash before breaking into countless light points, which then vanished in the blink of an eye.

Phew!

Zhao Sheng finally let out a sigh of relief, his heart's burden completely dissipated, feeling an immense weight lifted off his shoulders.

Opening his eyes, he turned his head and gazed into the distance, his vision penetrating through the cave and the thick seawater.

He seemed to see that Mr. Dong, mad as a rabid dog, was utterly frustrated.

"Two months of relentless pursuit, Zhao has noted this vendetta! There will be retribution in the future!"

After muttering to himself, Zhao Sheng's tense body relaxed, and a surge of profound exhaustion rose to his heart.

Moments later, a series of bubbles quickly rose in the cave.

He was indeed too exhausted!

...

Three days later, standing atop the highest sea cliff on a secluded and desolate island, Zhao Sheng looked up at the sun that had just risen on the horizon.

As time passed, the sun slowly climbed to its zenith.

Having observed enough, Zhao Sheng took out three Nautical Gold Plates and began to carefully discern them.

After a lot of effort, combining information about ocean currents, sea winds, marine life populations, and the position of the sun, he finally determined his approximate location.

He had now crossed the Second Island Chain and was roughly in the middle of the Outer Star Sea,

Within five thousand nautical miles, there were quite a few mid and small-sized islands; there were also about five or six spirit islands.

After a short time, Zhao Sheng thoughtfully put away the Nautical Gold Plates.

Looking around at the sea surface and the scorching sun above, Zhao Sheng narrowed his eyes slightly, adjusted his direction, leaped into the sea, and quickly vanished into the deep waters.

On his way, Zhao Sheng casually caught a First-stage Speckled Seahorse to use as transportation.

He avoided ships when he encountered them, landed on deserted islands to make fire and roast fish to fill his stomach, and took the opportunity to recover his Spiritual Power.

...

Half a month later, on an isolated island, Zhao Sheng's figure appeared above the nearby sea surface.

This island was not as bustling as Zhi Ao Island, with few people and not a high concentration of spiritual energy, but it was still a small spirit island, far superior to the vast majority of barren islands.

This was the destination Zhao Sheng had chosen: Beilu Island.

Aside from a few thousand mortals, the island was inhabited by some cultivators who had chosen to live in seclusion and retire here. There was no concept of an island master, making it a completely free island.

Beilu Island earned its name because the nearby sea produced a very peculiar type of big sea shell.

These big sea shells looked identical to ordinary ones, with the only difference being their size, which was more than tenfold larger, with an average diameter of over one foot.

The meat of these shells, after being simmered for a long time, could produce a special Jade Dew.

Regular consumption of this Jade Dew had a slight effect on prolonging life and enhancing longevity.

Therefore, some elderly and frail cultivators simply settled on the island, buying the living "big sea shells" at a low price all year round to simmer into Beilu and consume for themselves, selling any surplus to visiting merchant ships.

As a result, the island attracted a number of low-level cultivators.

Although the concentration of spiritual energy on Beilu Island was not high, its influence was wide enough to cover the entire island and even extend to the undersea nearby.

Because the spiritual energy was too thin, and there were only a few specialties, few Foundation Establishment Cultivators chose to stay here; most were just passersby.

This was the perfect place for Zhao Sheng to hide!

...

Two days later, Zhao Sheng stood beneath a sea cliff on the edge of the island, looking at the newly opened temporary cave mansion in front of him with great satisfaction.

In addition to the essential rooms like the cultivation room, talisman room, and storage room, under each room there was an escape tunnel leading to the undersea.

Moreover, he had deliberately constructed the entrance to the cave mansion under the sea surface, and above it was a naturally protruding giant stone.

As long as visitors weren't too meticulous in their search, Zhao Sheng was confident that they wouldn't detect anything unusual.

With this in mind, Zhao Sheng entered the cultivation room, sat down cross-legged, and took out two Water Element Spirit Stones in his hands. As he ran the Mystic Primordial Heavy Water Technique, the spiritual energy within the spirit stones was slowly absorbed into his Core Vortex, being refined and assimilated.

As his cultivation deepened, the passage of time became meaningless to Zhao Sheng.

Spring came and winter passed, time flew by!

Two years later in July, Beilu Island was unusually lively.

It was the season when the big sea shells were ripe and reproducing. Many Qi Refining Immortal Cultivators were bustling in and out of the island, taking boats into the sea to catch the big sea shells that usually hid undersea and rarely revealed their true form.

But by midday, about three hundred sea miles from Beilu Island, a fierce wind suddenly rose, accompanied by flashing lightning and thunder.

The originally clear blue sky rapidly transformed as ominous clouds gathered.

A huge expanse of dark clouds quickly engulfed that area of the sea, with silver lightning and deafening thunderbolts dancing chaotically like wild snakes.

At the same time, within six hundred miles above the sea and sky, nature's spiritual energy was being drawn towards the center of the sea area, forming a giant spiritual energy vortex over one hundred feet wide and two hundred feet high on the sea surface.

Such a massive vortex of spiritual energy could be clearly sensed even on Beilu Island, hundreds of miles away.

The cultivators on the island were astounded and looked simultaneously towards the area where the sky was changing.

Faced with such a phenomenon, expressions of both envy and fear flickered across everyone's face.

Spiritual energy swirling, skies changing colors, Heavenly Tribulation was on its way!

This was clearly a sign of Core Formation.

But it was not known for whom the Heavenly Tribulation was descending.

If it were a Human Clan member forming their core, then it would be a moment of joy rather than sorrow.

But if it were a demon beast solidifying its pill, it would indicate the birth of a third-tier sea beast.

With Beilu Island not too far from this place, should the beast successfully upgrade, the humans on the island might suffer.

If the beast's upgrade failed... the mere corpse of the demon beast would allow the cultivators to make a fortune.

Thinking this, some greedy cultivators who cared little for their lives hurriedly took to the sea in boats, racing towards that maritime region.