Chapter 1097: Sea Vast and Sky Wide

Sounds of laughter and conversation still lingered in the wind.

Between heaven and earth, the black flying boat whistled through the air.

It was rapidly approaching the spiritual mine on the ground.

From a distance, the spiritual mine appeared as an enormous crater, spanning a full thousand li.

A shimmering black barrier covered the crater, sealing the area.

The surroundings of the spiritual mine were desolate wilderness, sparsely populated.

As the black flying boat drew near, one of the eight or nine cultivators inside, a handsome young man, coughed lightly.

He was clearly the leader of the group on the boat in terms of identity and status, so everyone immediately looked at him.

After gathering all eyes, the young man spoke calmly.

"Take some time to relax later. Everyone worked hard on this mission. It was unexpected that those remnants were hidden among mortals, but we still found their traces, thus successfully completing our family's task."

"It's just a pity that to find their whereabouts, we had to destroy several mortal cities. This matter could be minor or significant..."

The young man sighed.

Hearing this, the surrounding cultivators immediately spoke up.

"Brother Haishan is kind-hearted."

"Brother, the deaths of those innocent mortals are ultimately the responsibility of those remnants of divine spirits. Killing was not our original intention. Even the family will understand this."

"That's right. The search for the remnants of divine spirits has long been the decree of Xiandu. We can all testify that we were executing a mission, and it's not our responsibility."

The young man nodded, expressing his regret, then his gaze swept over to a beautiful woman beside him, and he smiled faintly.

"Let's not talk about that anymore. Among the family's thirty-five spiritual mines, this place is the most peaceful. Frankly, it's my first time here, but arriving here means we've reached Junior Sister Ling's territory."

The others beside him also nodded with smiles and offered comments.

"Indeed. Elder Lingfeng, who guards this spiritual mine, is a family consecrator and also Junior Sister Ling's lineage ancestor. When we pay our respects to Elder Lingfeng later, we hope Junior Sister can put in a good word for us and ask him to give us some guidance."

"Although he's a consecrator from another family name, with Elder Lingfeng's cultivation, even a little guidance would benefit us greatly."

Amidst the rising and falling sounds of laughter and conversation, the woman, who was the focus of everyone's gaze, smiled slightly.

"Brother Haishan, you flatter me. I merely rely on the elder's protection. How can I compare to any of you?"

"The elder, as a consecrator guarding this place, was also given this opportunity by your respective families."

"However, since Brother Haishan has spoken, after I see the elder later, I will certainly plead with him to grant more slots for everyone to enter the small world and absorb spiritual energy."

"I hope this allows all senior brothers to relax well here."

The woman spoke softly, her words modest, but she was quite pleased by the cultivators' comments.

And so, amidst their conversations and laughter, their flying boat hovered outside the spiritual mine.

As everyone flew out one by one, the woman surnamed Ling bowed to the young man named Haishan, then took the lead, using a jade slip to transmit a message to her elder.

The others looked relaxed, anticipating the upcoming rest and waiting for the spiritual mine's barrier to open.

However, as time passed, the spiritual mine's barrier remained, showing no signs of opening. The woman surnamed Ling also furrowed her delicate brows.

There was also no reply to her transmitted message to the elder.

"Strange..."

The woman surnamed Ling thought for a moment, then turned to look at her companions.

"The elder must be cultivating. Brother Haishan, as a direct descendant of the family, you should have the authority to open the spiritual mine's barrier. Why don't you open it?"

The leading young man heard this and glanced at the barrier in front of him.

The barrier's light obscured their view, preventing a detailed inspection.

He pondered for a moment, then shook his head.

"Although I have the authority, Elder Ling is guarding this place. Entering without permission would be impolite."

"Since Elder Ling is cultivating, we'll just wait."

Hearing this, the others also agreed.

The woman surnamed Ling nodded, took out her jade slip, and continued transmitting messages, even trying to contact the elder's servants, but still received no response.

She had never encountered such a situation before, and a growing sense of unease began to rise in her heart, fearing something unexpected had occurred. However, recalling her elder's cultivation and temperament, she found the possibility of an accident to be extremely remote.

What these people didn't realize was that, through the barrier, a cold gaze was sweeping over them from within.

It passed over their forms.

"Three Void Return stage four, four Soul Nurturing stage two, one Soul Nurturing stage three, and the strongest one is Soul Nurturing stage four."

Inside the spiritual mine, Xu Qing, who was absorbing the spiritual energy, slowly opened his eyes. After gazing out, he murmured softly.

If he wanted to kill these people, it would be effortless.

However, unless necessary, Xu Qing didn't wish to kill indiscriminately. After all, too many killings would eventually cause subsequent troubles.

If he didn't kill them, they might report the anomaly here. But this anomaly was merely the spiritual mine being sealed. Since they didn't know the specifics, even if their family sent people to investigate, it wouldn't be immediate and would likely take time.

However, if he killed these people, due to bloodline-related spells, their family would likely discover it before they found out about the spiritual mine itself.

Therefore, as long as the other party didn't actively seek death, Xu Qing chose not to act and continued to absorb.

The spiritual energy here was now very sparse. Xu Qing estimated that in about an hour, it would all be absorbed.

While absorbing spiritual energy could aid in cultivation advancement, Xu Qing's main focus was to use the spiritual energy here to enhance his own Seven Extremes Dao.

Especially space and time.

In Xu Qing's judgment, these two extremes were not yet sufficiently developed by him.

So, his focus was on trying to comprehend the whirlpool he had seen during his passage through the Primordial Sea, while absorbing and enhancing with spiritual energy.

He had already been working on this in the bubble small world, and now he continued to comprehend it by absorbing spiritual energy.

During this period, he would also absorb the Sacred Liquid of Liaoxuan.

To make his comprehension smoother.

Thus, time passed.

Often, Xu Qing didn't want to cause extra trouble, but trouble found its way to him.

Half an hour later, outside the barrier, the young man named Haishan felt a growing doubt in his heart and spoke to the woman surnamed Ling beside him.

"Junior Sister Ling, even if Elder Ling is cultivating, he should have servants with him. Have you tried contacting the servants?"

The woman surnamed Ling's unease was now stronger than before. Hearing this, she nodded.

"I did, but... there was no response either."

Seeing this, the others' expressions also changed, and they instinctively looked at the young man named Haishan.

Haishan narrowed his eyes and spoke slowly.

"Since Elder Lingfeng is cultivating, it's not good for us to disturb him further. We should just leave."

As he spoke, he swayed and stepped onto the black flying boat.

The others hesitated but also flew over one by one. Only the woman surnamed Ling felt a stronger sense of unease. She wanted to speak, but seeing Haishan's serious expression, she dared not.

And so, everyone boarded the flying boat and quickly flew away into the distance.

After flying a certain distance, the flying boat paused. The young man named Haishan on board narrowed his eyes, looked back at the spiritual mine in the distance, and murmured to himself.

"There's no news from Elder Ling and his servants. Either he's truly cultivating or engaged in other matters, or he's out. But if he were out, he should still be able to reply. So, it's possible he's preoccupied for some reason and can't be distracted."

"Of course, there's another possibility: something unexpected has happened."

"However, the barrier seal remains intact, with no signs of breakage, which suggests that even if an accident occurred, it hasn't spread outwards."

"Furthermore, we were so close just now, stayed for half an hour, and were not affected, nor were we obstructed when we left..."

"All of this..."

After thinking, Haishan suddenly spoke to the woman surnamed Ling beside him.

"Junior Sister Ling, does your elder have any enemies? When was the last time you contacted him?"

The woman surnamed Ling quickly replied upon hearing this.

"The elder acts cautiously; he has essentially dealt with all his enemies. And in recent years, guarding this place, he hardly ever goes out."

"The last time I contacted him was several days ago, right after we completed our mission; I messaged him that I was coming back."

Haishan mused, thinking that in that case, the probability of an incident was low. And even if something truly happened, it would be in its initial stage, and any trouble that could distract Elder Ling must be at the Dominator level.

But... this also represented merit!

"If I merely report an anomaly here, and everything turns out to be normal, it means my analysis was wrong, and this will definitely cause dissatisfaction within the clan towards me."

"Therefore..."

After pondering, Haishan thought to himself that merely taking a rough look from afar should be harmless.

With that thought, he stood on the flying boat, suddenly took out a jade slip, squeezed it tightly, and using his direct lineage authority, locked onto the distant spiritual mine's barrier. His eyes flashed with a bloody light, and he sharply gazed at it.

With that gaze, as his authority locked on, the blurry barrier in his eyes immediately became clearer.

And looking through the barrier, upon seeing the scene inside, his expression suddenly changed drastically.

He saw widespread destruction and a pair of eyes as cold as death!

Just from that glance, his entire body trembled, he spat out fresh blood, and his cultivation roared.

"Quick, let's go!"

Without any hesitation, Haishan was profoundly shaken. He frantically activated the flying boat to speed away, while simultaneously trying to take out his family's jade slip to report and call for help.

The others didn't know the specifics, but seeing Haishan's reaction, their expressions also changed drastically.

But... before Haishan could even take out the jade slip, a cold voice echoed through heaven and earth.

"You should not have looked."

As the voice sounded, in the eyes of Haishan and the others, the sky was replaced by a giant hand, the surrounding space turned into a grid, and the flow of time seemed to stretch.

Finally, everything turned to pitch black.

And the giant hand clenched tightly.

Their forms and spirits were annihilated, and even the black magical boat turned into dust.

Silence instantly descended upon the surroundings.

A moment later, ripples appeared in the spiritual mine's barrier. Xu Qing, who had finished absorbing the spiritual energy, emerged from within and stepped out.

He gazed at the world.

"Fifth Star Ring..."

Xu Qing murmured.

His body swayed, and he vanished into the distance in an instant.