This cave at the seabed was a secret treasure house which the Dragon King had told Yang Chen about, when he was beheading him. This huge open space at the bottom of the sea was also a magic tool to control the ocean within the palace of the Dragon King at the bottom of the sea, the East Sea Nautical Map.
The East Sea Nautical Map was able to illustrate all mountains or creeks above the sea bed, even including the topography of the sea bed. On top of it was the distribution of formidable ocean beasts and at the same time also the distribution of Spirit Veins within the ocean.
Those bright spots were precisely the distribution within the East Sea, every bright spot meant a Spirit Vein and the size and illumination showed the Spirit Power concentration of the Spirit Vein. The larger and the brighter, represented clearly how much more Spirit Power the Spirit Vein had.
The Green Jade Immortal Island’s were within the territory of the East Sea, naturally they had to accept the control of the Dragon King of the East Sea, but the Dragon King of the East Sea 1 had long ago concealed this place, so even the currently acknowledged Dragon King didn’t have this treasure.
This Nautical Map of the East Sea furthermore had a very important use, that was that the person controlling it could move the Spirit Power within the East Sea Territory however he wished. Yang Chen thoroughly understood how to control the tricks of this treasure and he could extract and move the Spirit Power within these Spirit Veins at all times.
Placing the Bottle of the Medicine Garden on top of the area representing the Green Jade Immortal Island, Yang Chen began to exhaust the Spirit Veins from the Nautical Map of the East Sea.
The region occupied by the Green Jade Immortal Island was indeed a region with abundant Spirit Power: a large number of their veins were enough to rival the master vein of the Pure Yang Palace. These formidable veins had also contributed to the countless experts of the Green Jade Immortal Islands and also made the Green Jade Immortal Islands one of the top sects.
Without caring for any of these, Yang Chen was solely engrossed in controlling the Nautical Map and began to extract the Spirit Power of that region. Immediately, only slight traces of the hundred, previously bright, spots remained, and a thin thread of Water Essence had congealed in the surroundings of the bottle and started entering it.
The congealing speed greatly astonished Yang Chen. The bottle which had required a whole year to be completely filled at the Immortal Falling Well had already been filled by so much within such a brief time, at lightning speed. If this continued, then it would only be a matter of a few hours before it was filled completely.
This was moreover the purest type of tenth water Spirit Power, it basically did not require any kind of transformation and could be absorbed by the bottle of the Medicine Garden directly. Such a great thing, where else could he find it?
What made Yang Chen most happy was that this enormous amount of Spirit Power, was already sufficient to allow him to refine the bottle of the Medicine Garden. What Yang Chen had been able to do previously was at most to receive the medicine garden and lay down an imprint of his Spiritual Awareness, so that the defending sword spell would not attack him, but refining it properly was a completely different matter.
The refining would allow the Medicine Garden to become even more formidable as well as become a treasure intimately bound to Yang Chen. This Medicine Garden was such a luxurious natural resource, how could Yang Chen not treasure it?
The Heavenly Stars Treasure Refining Secrets were unleashed at lightning speed and began the first layer of refining. Previously, because his cultivation was not sufficient and he did not have an enormous supply of Spirit Power, he could not have done anything about it. Even at the Second Fierce Yang Courtyard Yang Chen was not willing to thoroughly extract the Spirit Power of that Di Mai for this kind of thing.
But currently, after the female disciple of the Green Jade Immortal Islands had insulted and driven away Yang Chen without any cause or concern, how could Yang Chen still be courteous? He directly extracted about half of the Green Jade Immortal Islands’ Spirit Power. The enormous amount of Spirit Power was enough to allow Yang Chen to completely refine the medicine garden to the first layer.
But the grade of Medicine Garden was very high, refining it forcefully was just barely enough and he needed to fully concentrate on this. This region of the ocean was completely deserted, with only Yang Chen present so he could concentrate fully on refining and had no need to be vigilant.
Even if Yang Chen was already at the Foundation stage and moreover all attributes of the Five Phases of Yin and Yang secrets were at the Foundation stage and he was also already able to use the fourth layer of the Heavenly Stars Treasure Refining Secrets, in front of the Yang Mountain Medicine Garden, he could only refine the first layer of the Heavenly Stars Treasure Refining Secrets.
The Medicine Garden had transformed into a bottomless pit for Spirit Power and began to crazily absorb the Spirit Power, which was also purifying its main body, under Yang Chen’s control, allowing it to become even more purified. This process lasted for a whole twenty days. Only then was the first level of the cleansing by Spirit Power completed.
Following this, it was permeated by all types of Spirit Power, each of them inserting the Heavenly Stars Treasure Refining Secrets trace by trace, as if demanding to completely absorb the entire Spirit Power within Yang Chen’s body. The Spirit Power transmitted by the Nautical Map was crazily transformed into Yang Chen’s Spirit Power, which allowed him to sustain the consumption by the medicine garden.
Even though it was hard work, Yang Chen did not stop for even for a moment; whether it was day or night, he continued to refine. The Spirit Power of other attributes was still not bad, but when the fifth earth True Qi began its refining, small changes suddenly appeared in the bottle of the medicine garden.
The soil in the Medicine Garden was apparently just crudely selected and refined afterwards, but after suddenly receiving the nourishment of the fifth earth True Qi, with this kind of origin Spirit Power, the soil began to transform quickly.
It seemed as if dark oil was added in the yellow soil, frantically absorbing and transforming. A part of the ground had already turned black. Those cultivation resources growing on it were also as if they had received some nourishment and began to grow quickly.
Immersed in the refining, Yang Chen couldn’t even sense the passing of time. The Spirit Power within his body was crazily used up, leaving none behind and afterwards, Spirit Power entered from outside of his body and transformed at lightning speed. Then it was was used up again, once again leaving nothing behind. This cycle continued for a long time.
After Yang Chen had reached the Foundation stage, what he needed to do was to consolidate his realm. What was meant by consolidating the realm was precisely to allow him to get completely familiar with the conditions of the meridians in his body, allowing him to get familiar with the cultivation of this realm and the consumption of Spirit Power, so that he would be able to adapt and not lose a realm due to the backlash after consuming an enormous amount of Spirit Power.
The most simple method for this was training for a long period of time. But what Yang Chen was doing currently was precisely something which could be described as that kind of enormous consumption of Spirit Power. But the most fortunate thing was, that his body had an unending stream of Spirit Power, so he didn’t need to worry about being unable to absorb Spirit Power, or that perhaps his Spirit Power absorption rate was not sufficient, leading him to lose a realm of cultivation.
The Green Jade Immortal Islands and Yang Chen had no hatred in his previous life, therefore Yang Chen would not do such a thing as destroying their foundation. But Yang Chen was also not someone who allowed others to insult him for no reason, so he had to teach them a lesson.
When the soil within the Medicine Garden had transformed into fertile black earth, which was full of fifth earth True Qi, the bottle of the medicine garden shook once and then produced a brilliant white light, signifying that the first layer of the Heavenly Stars Treasure Refining Secrets had already been refined completely.
At this moment, Yang Chen was counting the time that had passed since he had started refining on his fingers and two months had already passed. Within these two months, the Green Jade Immortal Islands would have probably sunken into chaos.
The Spirit Power emitting rate of the Spirit Veins previously filled with Spirit Power had suddenly slowed by many times, and the Spirit Power rushing forth had also become thinner by much. Any person who was cultivating could sense this situation clearly.
Originally the people had believed that the Spirit Power in the Spirit Vein at their location had dried up and that’s why this was happening, but when the news was reported to the higher ups, the elders of the Green Jade Immortal Islands discovered that this kind of situation was happening throughout the entire Green Jade Immortal Islands.
In the end, nobody knew what had happened. Several YuanYing stage expert immediately began their investigation and even a Da Cheng stage expert in seclusion was disturbed, but even after one month of thorough investigation, no results were obtained.
The Green Jade Immortal Islands was as if facing a huge enemy. Everyone knew what the drying up of their Spirit Veins implied. Everyone who knew about this matter, was asked to seal their mouths. Countless disciples were ordered to go out and look for any suspicious signs in a radius of two thousand miles.
Since such a big affair had happened, those female disciples at the gateway were also called back and investigated regarding what had happened recently. Who had come, what did they want, every single piece of information was thoroughly inquired about. Maybe something among this information was related to this affair.
Everyone knew how critical this situation was, so nobody dared to hide anything and told them about who had visited and regarding what happened very clearly one after another, allowing the higher ups of the sect to analyze them.
When the time of Qi Yun Rou, the one who was responsible at the time when Yang Chen had visited, she told them very clearly about everything, but was hesitating whether or not to tell them regarding Yang Chen’s matters, but having been seen through by the elder responsible for the investigation, he asked her strictly:
“Are you still hiding something?”
“Disciple does not dare!”
Qi Yun Rou hastily replied and afterwards, clenching her teeth, began to speak about the matter of driving Yang Chen away.
“He had come for an official visit, why did you drive him away?”
The investigating elder deeply wrinkled his brows, his eyes fixed on Qi Yun Rou, he suddenly asked:
“Do you have some hatred towards the Pure Yang Palace?”
“No, elder!”
Qi Yun Rou hastily replied.
“Then do you have any hatred towards this Yang Chen?”
The elder asked again, he had to clearly inquire about this matter, maybe something important was concealed in this.
“I do not, elder!”
Qi Yun Rou replied by shaking her head.
“That youngster, Pure Yang Palace’s Yang Chen, did he show proper etiquette or was he arrogant?”
The elder wrinkled his brows even more, the questions also became more and more pointed.
“He was not, elder!”
Qi Yun Rou was feeling wronged all of a sudden, why was the elder asking her these things?
“Then how did he come, you must know, right?”
The elder had already loosened his brows, but nobody among the female disciples responsible for receiving visitors in the surroundings dared to make any sound. They all knew about this elder’s temperament, the angrier he was, the friendlier he seemed. Even when his brows were not wrinkled, he was clearly a little angry.
“He had come in on a boat.”
Qi Yun Rou remembered everything very clearly, from the time Yang Chen had landed on the coast to the time he had been at the gate.
“Then what do you think, could he use a flying sword or not?”
The elder asked again, nicely.
“He could, elder!”
Qi Yun Rou didn’t dare to be neglectful and replied quickly:
“When he was departing, he left using a flying sword.”
“Oh, so it was like this!”
The elder nodded his head, he seemingly recalled something suddenly and he asked with a consulting tone:
“Qi Yun Rou, what do you say, since he could use a flying sword, why did he use a boat to come here?”
It was not like nobody had come using a boat before, so Qi Yun Rou naturally knew the reason. Currently she had a faint feeling that things were far from encouraging, but she also had to reply to the elder’s question and could only reply, bracing herself:
“He had come using a boat, to convey his respects for my Green Jade Immortal Islands!”
“Yes, he wanted to convey his respects to my Green Jade Immortal Islands, therefore he came by boat!”
The elder nodded his head, using a tone as if he had suddenly gained enlightenment. Suddenly he said:
“But unfortunately, you had no grievance or hatred towards him and the Pure Yang Palace hadn’t provoked you and the Pure Yang Palace had also not offended my Green Jade Immortal Islands. Someone else’s disciple came to visit us in good faith, but you have driven him away. Is this how my Green Jade Immortal Islands treat fellow daoists of the same path2?
The elder’s tone was very kind, but Qi Yun Rou did not dare to remain standing anymore and hastily knelt down on the ground, knocking her head against the ground, not daring to lift it up anymore.
The Green Jade Immortal Islands was one of the big sects, so it had to pay clear attention to these etiquettes. As the disciple responsible for greeting visitors, going so far as to neglect a visitor, not just neglecting, simply insulting the visitor, this was precisely throwing away the face of Green Jade Immortal Islands.
Let alone Yang Chen being a fellow daoist, even if he was a mortal enemy, since he had given them respect, they also had to respect him back. Even if they had to fight a huge battle, they still had to wait until the situation had changed. But Qi Yun Rou had gone too far handling the matters like this, how could the elder not be angry?
“Elder, junior apprentice sister Qi has just recently joined the outer disciples and does not understand all of the rules! I request elder to to be lenient in her punishment!”
The responsibility of receiving visitors was naturally not only with Qi Yun Rou, one person of the other senior and junior apprentice sisters on duty said this, and immediately they all kneeled on the ground, pleading for leniency over Qi Yun Rou’s matter.
“Qi Yun Rou, you give me a good reason. If your reason is justifiable, then I will also not punish you!”
The elder was not someone who did not allow people to speak their reason, glancing at everyone kneeling down asking for leniency for her, his gaze rested on Qi Yun Rou again.
“This disciple… disciple… had heard that he had used despicable means to climb to the peak of the Heavenly Stairs, thus surpassing senior apprentice sister Shi’s record. The troubled senior apprentice sister Shi has been in seclusion, cultivating painstakingly ever since the news had come through.”
Qi Yun Rou lifted her head and explained to the elder in a pitiful tone:
“He made senior apprentice sister suffer through that sort of hardship, therefore, this disciple thought…thought…”
“In your opinion, is your senior apprentice sister Shi someone who can’t accept a defeat?”
The Elder said this in one breath and then slowly asked:
“My Green Jade Immortal Islands also can’t accept a fair defeat, is that right?”
“Disciple does not dare!”
Qi Yun Rou hastily kowtowed again:
“Disciple only thought that he had cheated to climb the Heavenly Stairs and he had also used Senior Apprentice Sister Shi’s name to abuse people in the Pure Yang Palace before, he even made the Merit Transferring Disciple let him leave when he just at the qi layer, therefore……”
“Therefore you thought of teaching him a lesson, is that right?”
Affection or tenderness had already appeared on the elder’s face and his tone was also gentle.
“Yes, elder, this disciple only thought of teaching him a lesson, that’s all!”
Qi Yun Rou did not dare to lift her head again, nor could she look at the elder’s expression and replied while kowtowing.
“How did you know that he used despicable and shameless means to climb to the peak of the Heavenly Stairs?”
The elder continued to ask while shaking his head:
“And moreover how do you know that he used the name of your senior apprentice sister inside the Pure Yang Palace to oppress people?”
“This disciple was told by Greatest Heaven Sect’s Fellow Daoist Li.”
This time Qi Yun Rou didn’t dare to hide anything and revealed everything:
“Last time when Fellow Daoist Li had come to visit Senior Apprentice Shi, he said this.”
1. The Dragon King is the ruler of the East China Sea in traditional Chinese literature ↩
2. The same path as in devil path or righteous path