Chapter 98: The Purpose of Yan Nanfei

The entire Azure Sea and Vast Sky is composed of an endless ocean, devoid of any solid landmasses, featuring instead a vast multitude of islands. On these islands, humans and demonic beasts live together in mixed communities. As for why humans and beasts can coexist peacefully here, it is the product of an ancient entanglement between the two species. In the present day, no one bothers to explore the truth behind this; the history of their harmonious coexistence can be traced back tens of thousands of years. Thus, through the sedimentation of long history, this has become a deeply ingrained habit, and the two are inseparable.

Under the instructions of Tu Maomao, the wooden sailing ship soon hoisted its sails, departing from the small island and heading toward Fenglan, the final destination for the human martial artists arriving in this region.

However, not long after the ship departed, Yan Nanfei appeared out of the void, draped in a cyan robe. His deep, dark eyes narrowed as he watched the ship carrying Guoguo disappear into the horizon. A corner of his mouth curled into a smile: "If the Great Sage Haotian knew that her precious disciple was on the verge of falling in love, and that the culprit was a member of the demon royal family, I wonder if she would storm the Azure Sea and Vast Sky?"

Yan Nanfei had been here for some time. He had not entered through the Heaven-Connecting Tower, but rather via a hidden passage. Before coming to the Ancient Realm, his master had given him a topographical map of the region, which included a shortcut to the Azure Sea and Vast Sky left behind by his predecessors. His primary objective in coming here was for a specific treasure; the Divine Spring was of little consequence to him.

"The taste is not bad. No wonder the little girl likes it. I haven't heard that the Great Sage Haotian had any interest in such matters, so how is it that her disciple has such a talent for it?"

Yan Nanfei chewed on the paper-wrapped meat pie with great relish. His eyes shifted to gaze toward the western side of the island. "That place shouldn't be too far from here. Let them fight over 'Fenglan'."

After muttering to himself, Yan Nanfei swallowed the rest of the pie in a few bites and wiped the corners of his mouth. He glanced back at the island, feeling a strange sensation in his heart, but the intuition vanished as quickly as it had appeared. He frowned, summoned his concealment light, and flew toward the west.

Back on the island, on the same street as yesterday, a group of people still gathered in front of the meat pie stall. The old man was meticulously preparing the pies. Inadvertently, he looked up in the direction Yan Nanfei had taken, thinking to himself with a smile: "It seems the descendant of that unlucky fellow has come to claim that item. I suppose I have finally resolved one bit of karma."

The old man sold the freshly baked pies to the long-waiting customers. With his kind face, though the wrinkles recorded the passage of time, his bright eyes proved he was healthy and full of spirit, showing no signs of being in the twilight of his life.

The old man’s business was excellent. Every day, people queued up to wait for the fragrant pies to come out of the oven. As the crowd grew, the old man’s figure was gradually swallowed by the bustling throng.

Sunrises and sunsets, the shifting of stars, day after day, year after year—the old man's pie stall seemed to have become an indispensable ornament of the small town. The silence of time did not make the people here feel how long the old man had existed; they simply continued to wait for the pies every day, as if no one cared about his longevity at all.

As the sun set, the day passed in a hurry. The town returned to the tranquility of night, and the streets were cold and deserted, devoid of the daytime bustle.

On a desolate island several hundred miles away, Yan Nanfei sat cross-legged in a cave. A bonfire crackled before him, with an unknown beast roasting above it. Grease dripped from the meat, and as it sizzled, he evenly sprinkled layers of spices. Before long, a thick, rich aroma wafted through the cave.

Seeing that the meat was cooked, Yan Nanfei took out a gleaming, cold dagger, sliced off a piece of meat, and began to savor it carefully.

Yan Nanfei did not drink alcohol, only a pot of fresh water. After finishing a leg of the beast, he left the cave and flew to a small hill. Seeing that it was already late at night, he took out a beast-skin map and studied the markings under the moonlight. After carefully observing the surrounding terrain and confirming his location, he leaped down from the hill and began walking across the island following a strange, specific route.

He spent the entire night patiently walking and inspecting the path according to the map over and over again. It was not until the first light of dawn that he stopped beside a mound, just as a red sun shyly revealed a corner on the horizon.

Golden sunlight streamed across the sea surface, illuminating the island and landing on Yan Nanfei's handsome face. A smile blossomed, and the cyan-robed figure leaped onto the mound.

He turned and looked in a straight line along the mound. As the morning sun aligned with the horizon, the height of the mound allowed the sunlight to graze its top and shine into the distance.

Yan Nanfei stared intently at the landscape illuminated by the sun. Before long, a miraculous sight appeared before him. Not far ahead lay a chaotic area filled with giant rocks and hills, but under the refraction of the sunlight through the terrain, a mysterious distortion in space revealed a blurred, archaic character.

This archaic character was formed by the reflection of sunlight off several giant rocks of different colors, and the spot where it appeared was exactly above the cave where Yan Nanfei had spent the night.

"Escape..." Yan Nanfei pronounced the archaic character. "Heh... truly, I was in the midst of a treasure mountain without knowing it." He laughed at himself; the place he had struggled to find all night was somewhere he had already been.

The archaic "Escape" character faded in the blink of an eye. Yan Nanfei flashed a few times and arrived in front of the cave. "Escape... is it to escape the heavens or to escape the earth?" After considering it for a moment, he decided to investigate underground first.

The first step was to start from inside the cave. He stepped inside; the fire from last night was still smoking, and the roasted meat was still warm. Yan Nanfei cut off a leg with his dagger and ate his breakfast with the water.

He searched the small space, and after some effort, finally discovered the secret. Beneath a thick layer of dust on the stone floor was an array map. After clearing away the dust, the original appearance of the array was revealed.

"It seems this is it!" Looking at the array, Yan Nanfei confirmed that this was what he was looking for. He immediately took six white crystals from his storage ring and placed them into six diamond-shaped grooves.

Once everything was ready, Yan Nanfei placed his palm on the array. A surge of powerful true energy poured into it. As the energy entered, the six white crystals emitted rays of light, illuminating the entire cave. As the light bloomed, the white crystals melted, flowing along the grooves to fill the entire array.

Every groove was filled with the liquid runoff of the white crystals, and the array was fully activated. A pure white pillar of light rose, striking the ceiling of the cave.

The array carved into the cave floor had been left by one of Yan Nanfei’s martial ancestors thousands of years ago. This ancestor was a peerless genius; when he first entered the Ancient Realm, his cultivation was at the peak of the Profound Entry stage, but after entering the Azure Sea and Vast Sky, he broke through to the Mortal Shedding stage in one fell swoop.

However, heaven envies the talented. This ancestor of Yan Nanfei’s sect suffered an accident. When he returned to the sect, he was severely wounded, his life hanging by a single thread of spiritual essence. He found the sect leader of that time, recounted his encounter, left behind a beast-skin map, revealed a secret, and then passed away.

Only the sect leader knew what exactly had happened to him. Everyone in the sect questioned it, but the sect leader only said that the breakthrough had failed, resulting in severed meridians that could not be saved.

The matter passed. Yan Nanfei’s master was a descendant of that sect leader's lineage. For thousands of years, no one from this lineage had come to the Ancient Realm until Yan Nanfei appeared and was gifted the beast-skin map to seek the treasure hidden in the Azure Sea and Vast Sky, fulfilling the ancestor's wish. At the same time, this was also a stroke of fortune for Yan Nanfei himself.

"Ancestor, your disciple Yan Nanfei has finally reached the place where you left your treasure. May your soul bless me with success in retrieving it!"

Yan Nanfei prayed sincerely, hoping for his ancestor's blessing to obtain the treasure.

Seeing that the array was activated, Yan Nanfei stepped into the light array without hesitation. As the light flashed, his cyan-robed figure blurred and vanished without a trace.

After teleporting Yan Nanfei away, the light array shattered with a loud bang, and the entire cave collapsed in a rumble, startling the surrounding beasts into fleeing. A few demonic beasts that had begun to develop intelligence did not run; their round eyes glimmered as they stared at the collapsing hill, observing the situation.

Upon seeing the mountain completely cave in, they exchanged human-like glances before dispersing.

High in the sky, a seabird circled above the desolate island. Its eyes, which should have been clear, revealed a trace of evil. Deep in the green ocean, in a deep-sea trench, there was a cage. Inside the cage was an Abyss Demon exuding gray, evil energy—a demon unlike any that had appeared before.

Covered in purple-red fur, with a pitch-black horn on its forehead, its deep purple eyes flashed with extreme evil and coldness. "Duan Changfeng, ten thousand years! A full ten thousand years! You think that by imprisoning me in this sea of Azure True Qi, you can wear me down? That is wishful thinking. Hehe... one day I will get out and slaughter every living soul in this realm!"

"Even the Flight-Escape Armor has been taken by you... Hmph, eventually, it will be mine." As purple light flickered in the demon's eyes, the seabird above the island let out a mournful cry and plummeted to the ground; its essence had been devoured by the demon.