by <unknown>
General cotton coats would have frozen into pure ice in less than one day if they were kept in such an environment!
Even if the Cultivators covered themselves in as many clothes as possible to the point that they looked ridiculously fat, the cold wind of the Land of Eternal Night that felt like tiny, sharp needles would still pierce through every invisible hole possible, stimulating the flesh, veins, and bones of the explorers incessantly. Most of the Cultivators were forced to turn on their spiritual shields or heating magical equipment twenty-four hours a day to resist the harsh weather. As a result, their consumption on spiritual energy and crystals was greatly increased.
Other than that, there was another issue, which was that most of the magical equipment was not functioning properly due to the extreme temperature. The erosion rate and the crystal consumption rate had both been increased, whereas the efficiency had dropped.
In the environment of minus fifty degrees, the uneven, delicate patterns on the magical equipment had all been covered in frost. The durability of the weapons such as swords and sabers had plunged. Even some of the Cosmos Rings were malfunctioning, making it impossible to retrieve or store objects.
The magical equipment such as sabers and swords could be stuffed into the Cosmos Rings to address the issue.
However, the floating rune arrays, power rune arrays, defense rune arrays, and heat rune arrays on the flying boats had to be exposed to the cold air.
Not only were the flying boasts consuming twice as many crystals as usual, their speed had been lowered by about two thirds. The exploration fleet that had been rushing like lightning previously was struggling to crawl forward in the frigid hell like an army of tortoises.
Thankfully, they had foreseen the situation before the exploration.
Inside the thirty airships, other than the tough soldiers, most of the assets accommodated were crystals and various kinds of resources. Also, every Cultivator had been equipped with at least two Cosmos Rings that had been packed with materials.
The technology of Cosmos Rings in the Ancient Sages Sector, of course, could not have been more developed than that of the Heaven's Origin Sector.
Most of the storage magical equipment that the middle-level and low-level Cultivators used only had the space of a backpack. It meant that, other than the storage space in the cabin, everybody was carrying two backpacks of life-saving items, nothing more.
They still have twenty-six flying boats. Other than the wind runners to manipulate the flying boats, there were 977 experts from the Imperium guards such as the Fiery Phoenix Legion and 1,026 Cultivators from the six major sects.
"Master Spiritual Vulture, please!"
On the deck of the airship in the lead, a few imperial guards and Cultivators invited Li Yao to look at a piece of bizarre-looking magical equipment respectfully.
It looked like dozens of iron rings large and small that had been embedded together and rotating in a dazzling way.
On every iron ring, countless glittering silver balls were rolling, colliding, and uttering clanging noises.
The magical equipment was named Heavenly Magnetic Measurement Instrument. It was used by the locals of the Ancient Sages Sector to determine their location in a long journey.
It had always been a great headache in the Ancient Sages Sector to determine the precise coordinates of where one was.
There was not a network made of hundreds of satellites in the orbit of the Ancient Sages Sector. If the Cultivators were on the ocean or in the wilderness where the directions were beyond recognition, how should they measure where exactly they were?
In other ancient Cultivation worlds, the astronomical magical equipment to observe stars had been invented very early. The Cultivators could observe the relative locations of the stars and run a series of complicated calculations to determine their latitude and longitude.
Unfortunately for the Ancient Sages Sector, the 'stars' were not the stars in the universe whose trajectory was relatively stable but glittering, radioactive debris of the primeval war near the Ancient Sages Sector.
The war debris were susceptible to the gravitational force of the stars, the planets, and the satellites. They would even collide into each other every once in a while. Their direction and trajectory were utterly chaotic and of zero significance for reference purposes.
Therefore, it was not until recently that the Ancient Sages Sector finally invented magical equipment to determine one's specific location by measuring the intensity of the magnetic field. Even the concept of 'latitude and longitude' was rather new.
However, the intensity of the magnetic field was a rather ambiguous notion that was under the interference of many factors. Therefore, the precision of such localization was not very high. One might say that it was only slightly better than nothing.
Li Yao had drawn a few rough maps marking the location of the Divine Palace based on his memory, but the maps were certainly far from detailed.
The Cultivators from the royal observatory who specialized in astrology and geography turned the Heaven Magnetic Measurement Instrument by pushing the handles on its two sides, allowing the interconnected iron rings to lean toward different angles. The silver balls on them were running into each other nonstop, too. The few of them gathered and calculated something together for a while. Finally, they concluded their location precisely.
Drawing a line from the coordinates of where they were to the coordinates of the Divine Palace would be their sailing route.
The same work had to be repeated three times every day to adjust the sailing route.
Sometimes, due to the disorder of the magnetic field, something went wrong with the localization, and they were misled into going backward instead of moving forward.
But all in all, after an arduous march, they were still drawing ever closer to the Divine Palace.
Boundless ice occupied the sky and the earth. Except for the whiteness on the ground and the grayness in the sky, there was not a third color to be seen. The monotonous environment was almost driving everybody insane.
Thankfully, most of them were determined Cultivators, and it was not unusual for them to train in seclusion for a year and a half. That was why they had managed to persevere.
On the fourth day after they entered the Land of Eternal Night, they discovered something that did not belong to the place for the first time.
It was a flying boat, or what was left of it, that had been shattered by the tempests. The remains were scattered on the snow field and about to be entirely buried by the snow. Only a few bare masts were still exposed on the ground.
It was possible that there were crystals and other resources that were not used up yet in the flying boat that had an accident. Naturally, it was not ignored.
The Cultivators spent half a day excavating the remains of the flying boat. The result, however, was rather unexpected for them.
It was not one flying boat but a tiny fleet made of three flying boats. Also, the accident that caused their fall did not happen a long time ago but only around two days prior.
Although none of the three flying boats were flying their banners, Qi Zhongdao recognized quite a few Cultivators who had been frozen to death.
"They are subordinates from the Dragon Ocean Sect, the Equal Mountain Sect, the Heaven Shocking Hall as well as another five or so sects!"
Qi Zhongdao looked rather awful.
One condition on which the six major sects had been allowed to participate in the operation was that they must handle the smaller sects that were seething with impatience and prevent them from causing trouble.
Li Yao did not know what kind of pact the six major sects and the smaller sects had reached in exactly what way, but it was obvious that the Core Formation Stage Cultivators and the Nascent Soul Stages in the smaller sects did not intend to abide by their promise at all. They might have established fleets with higher speeds and risked marching into the Land of Eternal Night earlier than the six major sects did, hoping to discover t
he Divine Palace in advance!
"They were asking to be killed!" Qi Zhongdao remarked coldly. "Even the six major sects and the court, with the finest flying boats of the entire Flying Star Sector and the best wind runners, have to tread lightly and make thorough preparations for every step!
"But those guys were trying to barge into the Land of Eternal Night and loot the Divine Palace in advance with just the few of them, insufficient crystals and resources, and probably not even the Heaven Magnetic Measurement Instrument?
"Idiocracy can never be cured!"
They discovered the body of a Nascent Soul Stage not far away from the remains of the flying boats that had an accident.
The Cultivator from the Dragon Ocean Sect, who had always been a well-known celebrity in the world of Cultivators, had died the most miserable death. His body was like a skeleton as if his flesh and blood had been drained.
According to Qi Zhongdao and Master Bitter Cicada's analysis, he must have escaped alone after the flying boats were ripped apart by the tempests. He had tried his best to fly out of the dangerous area, only to be caught in the turbulence. He had activated the spiritual energy inside his body to resist the force of nature and eventually died of exhaustion.
Chapter 1468: Above the Divine Palace! |
The Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator's end made all the Cultivators including Li Yao's sigh. They could not help but feel sorry for the guy.
The Cloud Qin Gold Statues and the path to the deities' realm were priceless treasures that could awaken the infinite greed buried at the bottom of anyone's heart, forcing them to break the restraint of their rationality and do the craziest things.
The small exploration squad that had been established was probably not the first fleet that had arrived in the Land of Eternal Night without informing the court and the six major sects, nor would it be the last one.
At that moment, countless more exploration teams and Cultivators must have lost their way in the Land of Eternal Night, waiting to be torn into shreds by the freezing tempests!
Were they stupid? Maybe.
However, were Li Yao and his companions any better than the guys who broke into the Land of Eternal Night recklessly?
It was true that they were well prepared and had the best gear and experts, which allowed them to resist the scourge of the tempests and possibly to reach the depths of the Land of Eternal Night and dig out the legendary Divine Palace successfully.
But when the day did come, and when the Cloud Qin Gold Statues and the path to the deities' realm were unfolded in front of them, would they be caught in a storm that was even more horrendous than the tempests, one that rose from everybody's heart, enough to destroy all their trust and rationality and make them kill each other?
The discovery of the debris added to the grave atmosphere in the exploration fleet that was vaguely divided into three forces.
Qi Zhongdao went to Li Yao, Yan Liren, Ba Xiaoyu, and Master Bitter Cicada to discuss solutions more than once, restating that the five of them must be united as the pillar to keep the situation from going out of control no matter how chaotic it was later.
Emperor Phoenix summoned Li Yao quite a few times, too. Every time, he simply asked Li Yao some questions regarding the production of magical equipment respectfully and never mentioned the discovery of the Divine Palace. However, he expressed his support for Li Yao to establish an independent sect subtly between the lines. The support that he promised was greater after every meeting. Even Li Yao felt more or less intrigued.
For the rest of the journey, the dozens of high-level Cultivators in the Nascent Soul Stage expanded the search range at the cost of tremendous crystals. As they expected, they discovered another three spots of debris.
The smallest of them had only one flying boat, but the largest one actually boasted almost ten airships where the Cultivators from dozens of sects were held!
It was a pity that their flying boats had not been solid enough for them to resist the tempests. Also, they lacked the state-of-the-art Heaven Magnetic Measurement Instrument and a precise map of the Divine Palace. As a result, they could only wander on the snow field like blind people riding blind horses. It was inevitable that they had an accident. All one thousand Cultivators had been turned into frozen statues.
Judging from the traces left on the debris, it seemed that a few experts at the peak of the Core Formation Stage and in the Nascent Soul Stage had managed to escape the blizzard.
However, without the protection of the flying boats and the support of sufficient resources, it was unbearable to imagine how long they could survive on the freezing Land of Eternal Night and what a gory ending would become of them.
The last debris, on the other hand, was different from the debris that they had discovered earlier.
Most of the corpses had become broken limbs and torsos. Countless flowers of blood seemed to be thriving on the snowy earth. All the crystals and resources in the flying boats had been plundered. The Cosmos Rings and the bags on all the Cultivators were gone, too.
The ferocious animals in the snow field might feed on the bodies, but they would certainly never take way the Cosmos Rings.
It was evident that the victims had not been killed by the tempests but assaulted by the enemy.
A lot of dead bodies of foreign Cultivators, who was wearing the robes in a different style from the central plateaus and had tremendous tattoos on their faces with giant gold rings on their ears, were also found on the spot. They should be the Cultivators from Ghost Qin.
It was certainly not good news that the Ghost Qin team was faster than them.
Thankfully, the internal organs of quite a few bodies had not entirely frozen yet, and the vague stench of blood still lingered in the air, suggesting that the battle did not happen a long time ago. It was possible that the attack took place yesterday or the day before.
Before Wang Xi escaped, he had grabbed the map core of the Divine Palace, but Li Yao had kept the Thousand Stars Tray to himself.
It was unlikely that there would be a replica of the Thousand Stars Tray, which was a piece of magical equipment that was specially designed to parse the map core.
Therefore, at that moment, both parties were using the imprecise map drawn based on Li Yao and Wang Xi's memories to guide the way.
In the meantime, Ghost Qin, the Heaven Battering Army, and Ghost Character were unlikely to possess localization tools as precise as the device from the royal observatory.
Therefore, everybody was still almost at the same location before the start line. It remained to be seen which of them would reach the 'Divine Palace' sooner!
The traces of the Ghost Qin were like a whip in the ass for the exploration fleet from the Great Qian Dynasty. They rushed at their top speed without considering the cost at the risk of dismembering the flying boats. Finally, they reached the coordinates of the Divine Palace according to the map five days later.
The point on the map in Li Yao's memory and the location of the fleet according to the Heaven Magnetic Measurement Instrument overlapped.
However…
The tiny point on the map was actually a vast land with a coverage of almost a hundred square kilometers in reality.
Considering the error of the Heaven Magnetic Measurement Instrument, the specific range of the Divine Palace could be anywhere in the hundreds of kilometers around them.
The weird world in front of them, on the other hand, made all the Cultivators look particularly awful.
Starting from the previous night, a vague mist had risen up on the Land of Eternal Night.
At first, nobody had thought much of it. It had never occurred to them that mist was highly unlikely to appear in a terrible environment with a temperature of below minus sixty degrees!
Perhaps, it was not mist but a certain uncanny natural phenomenon similar to mist.
As they approached the Divine Palace, the 'mist' had grown more and more intense. In the end, it looked like an ocean of clouds that was flowing o
n the earth. It was barely possible to see one's own fingers after the Cultivators walked into it!
The mist boasted a strong suppressive effect on spiritual energy. Both the Cultivators and their magical equipment were having problems with spiritual energy disorder when they were placed in the middle of the mist.
"The Divine Palace could be anywhere in the hundreds of kilometers nearby. It is hidden right inside the mist!
"Let's set up camp at the edge of the mist. Connect all the flying boats with chains. Dig holes in the snow field and fix the anchors on the solid rocks deep below the snow!
"Send out exploration teams in different batches and search in all directions. Also, according to the map, divide the five hundred square kilometers nearby into grids of one square kilometer. Then, mark every grid after it has been explored!
"The experts from Ghost Qin, the Heaven Battering Army, the White Lotus Cult, and Ghost Character are likely to be hiding on the opposite of the mist. Stay alert, everybody!"
Qi Zhongdao issued orders unhurriedly.
A camp made of twenty-six flying boats was established quickly. Bronze pillars were erected, constructing a defense rune array that was enough to resist the blizzard.
Li Yao and the other Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators, each leading an exploration team, went into the mist in search for the Divine Palace.
However, the moment that he entered the hazy mist, Li Yao realized how tricky the operation would be.
The mist was like an invisible, yet unbreakable maze and cage. After only several hundred meters, the temporary camp made of the twenty-six flying boats had already disappeared. Even the dazzling brilliance on the masts, which was supported to provide guidance for them, was as lackluster as a dying firefly.
When he roared to the outside world, the soundwaves seemed to be absorbed by puffy cotton, and it was barely audible fifty meters away.
The exploration team that he led had fifty members, but he could only see the shadows of the ten or so people closest to him. As for those further away, he could neither see nor hear them.
