CCTnovel Chapter 453: Death Sea Passage, Ancient Teleportation Array
Chapter 453: Death Sea Passage, Ancient Teleportation Array
After stepping into the Nascent Soul stage, those earlier opportunities no longer posed any threat to him.Now, revealing them might even reduce the mystery around how fast his strength had increased.
That worked more in his favor.
Besides, this so-called secret wasn’t even a secret anymore.
Back at the Hehuan Sect sub-branch, Ancestor Ningyan had already guessed he was the one who took the spiritual artifact from the inner domain of the Great Void Realm.
“Spiritual artifact? No wonder.”
Hearing that, Cao Mi suddenly understood.
She’d already had some guesses when she first learned Wei Tu had broken through to Nascent Soul, but she hadn’t expected that the opportunity he gained was actually the top-tier kind—a true spiritual artifact.
Compared to other Nascent Soul breakthroughs, spiritual artifacts weren’t just immensely helpful for the breakthrough itself. Their abundant spiritual nature could also help newly advanced Nascent Soul cultivators get through the post-breakthrough “weakness period” with ease.
In other words, although Wei Tu looked like a newly advanced Nascent Soul cultivator, in reality, he wasn’t much different from veterans like Ancestor Luo and Hong Jing.
“But even with that explanation… Brother Wei’s strength is still kind of off the charts.”
Cao Mi shook her head at the thought.
Wei Tu wasn’t just strong compared to other new Nascent Souls—he stood at the very top of early-stage Nascent Soul cultivators.
At least, she didn’t believe people like Hong Jing or Ancestor Luo could escape from a pursuit by a Six Desires Sect cultivator and still succeed in snatching away the Yin-Yang Demon Corpse.
After all, there was precedent.
Yin Mozi was also at mid-stage Nascent Soul.
But both Hong Jing and Ancestor Luo had fared poorly against him.
One had been seriously injured and fled.
The other had been directly captured alive.
And now, both still had to rack their brains to come up with a rescue plan.
...
Time flew by like water.
In the blink of an eye, the ten-year deadline agreed upon by Wei Tu, Cao Mi, and Hong Jing had arrived.
“These two are getting closer and closer,”
Seeing Wei Tu and Cao Mi emerge together from Moon Condensation Palace with clear coordination in their movements, Hong Jing raised an eyebrow slightly and thought to herself.
She didn’t realize that their closeness wasn’t because of romantic feelings. It was simply the result of eight years of training together in joint attack techniques, creating a quiet understanding between them.
After exchanging greetings with Wei Tu and Cao Mi, Hong Jing didn’t waste time. With a flash of light, she took the lead and flew off, guiding them away from the Moon Condensation Palace region.
The three of them flew south, crossing the border between the Kang Kingdom and the Xiao Kingdom, finally arriving at the Desolate Nether Death Sea.
Along the way, Wei Tu quietly memorized the route.
Back when he escaped from the Hehuan Sect sub-branch, he had already decided to move Wei Yan, Wei Erlang, and the rest of his close friends and family to the overseas cultivation world to avoid the disasters he’d stirred up.
Of course, this plan hinged on the right opportunity.
Right now, Hong Jing still wasn’t someone he could trust completely. He wasn’t about to foolishly expose his “weak points” in front of her.
So for now, this plan was still in the preparation stage of his list.
Half a day later…
Hong Jing activated her magic shield and dove into a specific part of the Desolate Nether Death Sea.
The Death Sea was a place where spiritual energy was completely cut off. The seawater inside had no spiritual energy at all—and it was incredibly corrosive.
A Golden Core cultivator falling into it would dissolve into a pool of blood in under half an hour.
Even though Wei Tu and Cao Mi were Nascent Soul ancestors, neither dared to dive in recklessly.
After a moment of hesitation, Wei Tu and Cao Mi exchanged a glance, quietly took out the control tokens for the Yin-Yang Demon Corpse, prepared themselves, and cautiously followed Hong Jing into the Death Sea.
The moment he entered, Wei Tu felt his magical shield rapidly weakening, and his divine sense instantly compressed to within a ten-zhang radius.
In that moment, he, a Nascent Soul ancestor who was normally powerful and capable on land, felt like a tiny speck in the vast ocean—insignificant and helpless.
Thankfully, their destination wasn’t far.
After about an hour, the three of them reached an underwater stone mountain.
The mountain looked like three massive boulders stacked together. It was no different from any other part of the Death Sea—no signs of life, just bare rock.
“This is the way to the overseas cultivation world?” Wei Tu’s eyes showed surprise. He glanced at Cao Mi, signaling her to ask Hong Jing for details.
After all, this place had been discovered by both Ancestor Luo and Hong Jing. As a newly advanced Nascent Soul cultivator of Moon Condensation Palace, Cao Mi had a partial right to know.
Ten years ago, when they visited Hong Jing, they had learned of the overseas cultivation world’s existence—but not the specifics of how to get there.
At the time, Hong Jing clearly hadn’t been willing to tell them more.
Seeing Wei Tu’s glance, Cao Mi instantly understood. She stepped forward and softly asked Hong Jing about the details of this place.
Hong Jing didn’t mind and casually began explaining to Wei Tu and Cao Mi how she and Ancestor Luo discovered this hidden location.
Wei Tu had already learned some of it from Cao Mi nearly a hundred years ago.
Ten thousand years ago, the founding ancestor of Mirror Water Pavilion, Jingshui Daoren, and the founder of Moon Condensation Palace, Fairy Huanyue, had once accidentally entered a dangerous location while fighting on the righteous-demonic battlefield. There, they used an ancient teleportation array to enter a secret realm.
Inside that secret realm, there just happened to be a heavily injured descendant of a true spirit—the Moonshadow Snow Phoenix.
Afterward, Mirror Water Pavilion obtained the Moonshadow Snow Phoenix’s spirit essence, while Moon Condensation Palace got its true spirit flesh and blood.
But in truth...
The dangerous place those two founders stumbled into wasn’t actually on the battlefield. It was deep inside the Desolate Nether Death Sea.
Because this matter was so sensitive, the secret had only been passed down to Nascent Soul ancestors of the two sects.
That was why, when Cao Mi and Wei Tu arrived at the Death Sea, they hadn’t made the connection.
“For ten thousand years, the Nascent Soul ancestors of our two sects have been exploring this secret realm inside the Death Sea.”
“Only about 200 years ago did we accidentally discover a path from the secret realm to the overseas cultivation world.”
Hong Jing explained slowly.
When she finished speaking, Wei Tu’s expression shifted.
He had originally thought the discovery of the overseas realm was just a stroke of luck for Ancestor Luo and Hong Jing.
But now it seemed inevitable.
After all, without the persistent efforts of the two sects' generations of ancestors over 10,000 years, the current discovery would never have happened.
He guessed that the Moonshadow Snow Phoenix killed by Jingshui Daoren and Fairy Huanyue likely came from the overseas cultivation world.
That’s probably why the ancestors of both sects were so determined to explore the secret realm in the Death Sea, despite the hardship.
Once the questioning ended, Wei Tu and Cao Mi didn’t bother Hong Jing further. They stood off to the side and quietly waited for her to open the entrance to the secret realm.
Hong Jing took out three array flags from her sleeve and embedded them into the stone mountain.
Moments later, the interior of the mountain began to shine, emitting multicolored rays of light. The whole mountain slowly started to tremble, as if about to rise from the ground.
“Rise!”
At that moment, Hong Jing pulled out a magic mirror glowing with divine light.
Surrounded by lines of runes, the mirror cast a hazy yellow light onto the mountain.
In the next moment...
The stone mountain rose straight up, revealing a dark cave entrance about three meters wide.
“Let’s go! Don’t waste time,” Hong Jing urged, flashing forward into the opening.
Now, Wei Tu and Cao Mi had no reason to hesitate. Keeping a little distance from her, the two also stepped into the dark entrance.
Inside the entrance was a winding staircase made of green stone, spiraling downward. At the bottom was an ancient teleportation array that looked very similar to the one at Copper Kettle Mountain.
“Too bad Bai Zhi’s still unconscious.”
Wei Tu’s eyes flickered. He thought about all the ways Bai Zhi used to help and support him.
If she were here, with the ancient teleportation array and the Nine-Yuan Flying Star Pearl in his hand, she might’ve been able to pinpoint the coordinates this array was connected to in the Death Sea secret realm.
Then maybe he could’ve found another way in, bypassing the mountain formation and entering the realm on his own.
He wouldn’t have needed Hong Jing’s help.
‘I wonder if that old demon Zhu understands formations?’ Wei Tu suddenly thought.
Before, with Bai Zhi around, he hadn’t dabbled much in formation arts.
After all, of the four main cultivation arts—pill refining, talismans, formations, and tools—none could be mastered in a short time. They all took slow, steady progress.
So he made choices. During Foundation Establishment and Golden Core stages, he only studied talismans and pill refinement—what helped him the most.
But now, without Bai Zhi’s assistance, not knowing formations was starting to hold him back.
Hearing Wei Tu’s thoughts, the Ancestor Chilong living inside the Dragon Glaze Pearl in his sleeve chuckled proudly. “Fellow Daoist Wei, you underestimate me. My formation skills might not be peerless, but I can easily handle fourth-rank formations.”
“Of course… that only applies to breaking formations. I can’t set them up.”
After thinking for a second, the Ancestor Chilong added that last line.
Wei Tu nodded slightly, having a clearer idea of the old dragon’s capabilities now.
He figured the red dragon probably didn’t have much talent in formations. Whatever formation skills he had now were probably built up over a long, long life.
After all, a cultivator could get by without understanding pill refining, talismans, or forging, but they’d still need to deal with formations from time to time.
Especially since the Ancestor Chilong was hoping to find a chance to reach Divine Transformation inside the Sovereign Palace secret realm.
So naturally, he’d have some solid formation skills.