Unexpected Seclusion

Envy aside, Lord Banyan Fire and Lord Ripple Crystal kept their hands busy.

As the saying goes, your map is quite nice—but the next second, it becomes mine.

The two had fully recorded the path Qing Huan had traversed, reaping a bountiful harvest in the process.

Qing Huan was well aware of their little schemes, but he paid them no mind. A single route was nothing; he considered it compensation for the two inadvertently covering his tracks.

And so, in a somewhat peculiar atmosphere, after spending roughly two months or so, Qing Huan, Lord Banyan Fire, and Lord Ripple Crystal arrived together at the Flowing Cloud Sea.

Boundless azure-blue clouds appeared before their eyes.

As they flew into the mist, officially entering the bounds of the Flowing Cloud Sea, Qing Huan, Lord Banyan Fire, and Lord Ripple Crystal all unconsciously slowed their flight speed.

Lord Banyan Fire began observing his surroundings first, while Lord Ripple Crystal flew alongside him.

This was one of the advantages of teaming up—they could take turns keeping watch for the Eternal Freeze Cold Qi, allowing each to rest in rotation without exhausting themselves.

Qing Huan, relying on the Fire Scale armor he wore, circled around, continuously scanning the area in all directions.

"The anomaly in the Flowing Cloud Sea is in this direction. Let's head this way."

After observing for a moment, Qing Huan called out to his two companions, and they advanced toward the site of the disturbance.

After flying for a long while, the three spotted twelve rapidly spinning tornadoes formed from flowing clouds in the distance.

These were known as "Flowing Cloud Vortexes," a special phenomenon of the Flowing Cloud Sea. According to records, every time a Flowing Cloud Vortex appeared in history, over ninety percent of the time a treasure would emerge. Only on rare occasions would the vortex collapse without any treasure appearing at all.

Each Flowing Cloud Vortex tornado measured light-years in diameter. The immense pressure radiating from them, even when viewed from afar, weighed heavily on the mind.

Inside the tornadoes, the flowing clouds raged violently, and the Eternal Freeze Cold Qi appeared with even greater frequency. A top-tier domain treasure would be easily shattered within such a vortex; even a peak domain treasure could not extend its coverage very far. Only a domain-type Supreme True Treasure could spread normally across a range of hundreds of light-years.

But domain-type Supreme True Treasures were exceedingly rare even among True Gods, let alone Universe Masters, who naturally possessed no such treasures.

Thus, the Universe Masters had no choice but to cautiously explore within the tornadoes, hoping to be the first to discover any peak treasure that might emerge.

"Which vortex should we go to?"

Having rushed over, Lord Banyan Fire and Lord Ripple Crystal were both a bit dumbfounded and turned to Qing Huan, the strongest among them.

Qing Huan was quite indifferent. He hadn't come here to compete for the peak treasure; his goal was to set a trap for the God Eye Race.

He didn't much care who ended up with the treasure.

Moreover, from what he understood, these Flowing Cloud Vortexes would gradually collapse over time, and only when two or three vortices remained would the treasure actually appear.

Before that, the Universe Masters weren't so much searching everywhere in hopes of finding the treasure early as they were familiarizing themselves with the conditions inside the vortices.

Of course, intelligence like this was hard for Universe Masters such as Lord Banyan Fire and Lord Ripple Crystal to come by.

Qing Huan didn't want to explain too much, so he pretended to ponder for a moment before casually pointing at one tornado. "Let's go there. The treasure's emergence time is unknown, so let's move quickly."

"Alright."

Lord Banyan Fire and Lord Ripple Crystal nodded repeatedly, and the three soon charged into that Flowing Cloud Vortex.

Inside the Flowing Cloud Vortex, there were numerous smaller tornadoes—these were the objects of the Universe Masters' exploration.

Quite a few Universe Masters had already arrived at the Flowing Cloud Sea, but compared to the vastness of the vortices, the density of experts remained very sparse.

At the very least, within the line of sight of Qing Huan and his group, they didn't see a single other Universe Master.

"Such powerful vortices."

As soon as they entered the Flowing Cloud Vortex, Lord Banyan Fire and Lord Ripple Crystal both momentarily lost their balance.

With their third-tier peak strength, they were indeed at the bottom of the heap in the Flowing Cloud Sea. Though they could unleash fourth-tier combat power when working together, they still fell short of true fourth-tier Universe Masters in many aspects.

Qing Huan waited until the two had steadied themselves before saying, "Inside this Flowing Cloud Vortex, the Eternal Freeze Cold Qi is denser than outside. You two keep watch carefully. Let's go."

"Understood."

The two Universe Masters nodded and followed Qing Huan as the trio swiftly began their search within the tornado.

Searching for treasures in the Universe Ocean required patience above all. Though the Universe Ocean produced many treasures, that was only relative to the Primal Universe. Under normal circumstances, an expert might roam the Universe Ocean for countless eras and still gain very little.

Take the Giant Axe Founder, for example.

A True God who broke through early in the Primal Universe's history, yet he didn't find a Supreme True Treasure in the Universe Ocean until the era when Luo Feng rose to prominence.

He might have obtained many peak treasures along the way, but for a True God, those were hardly major gains.

In comparison, Universe Masters were weaker, and to obtain good treasures, patience, caution, and a bit of luck were all indispensable.

Qing Huan and his two companions spent over thirty years burrowing through the Flowing Cloud Vortex.

"There are way too many Universe Masters gathered in the Flowing Cloud Sea now. The omen of this treasure's emergence has lasted so long. With our strength, our chances of snatching the treasure are too low, and we might even lose our lives. Better not risk it here."

At the edge of the Flowing Cloud Sea, two Universe Masters—one white, one red, resembling starfish with carapaces—were flying toward the boundary.

The white one was speaking.

The red carapace Universe Master chimed in, "Yeah, we finally got lucky once, being close to the Flowing Cloud Sea, but after all this time, the treasure still hasn't appeared. What rotten luck."

"But come to think of it, the omen has lasted this long. If a treasure does emerge, it might be something special—perhaps even a peak treasure second only to a Supreme True Treasure, unlike anything the Flowing Cloud Sea has produced before," the white carapace Universe Master mused.

"Special Peak Supreme Treasure? That's a bit much. Even in the Inner Domain of the Three Great Forbidden Lands, such treasures rarely appear. This time, the Flowing Cloud Sea can produce one?" The Red Carapace Universe Master said skeptically.

"Who knows? After all, the omens this time are indeed somewhat special." The White Carapace Universe Master shook his antennae.

"That's true. I heard from a few friends that they even ran into teams from the Skeleton Race, Human Race, Bug Race, and Monster Race. Adding the Dream-Eater Race and Tree Race that we brothers encountered, plus the God Eye Race who already had people in the Flowing Cloud Sea, at least seven peak races are now coveting this treasure. They must also think the Flowing Cloud Sea might produce a more precious treasure." The Red Carapace Universe Master said.

"Human Race and Bug Race? Which Reincarnation Era?" The White Carapace Universe Master asked curiously.

The Human Race and Bug Race were two races that often rose to prominence across many Reincarnation Eras. The Human Race had a vast population and countless geniuses, while the Bug Race had powerful individuals, with every Mother Queen being an elite among her peers.

Among the three Reincarnation Eras of the current Universe Ocean, aside from the First Reincarnation Era, which was suppressed by the God Eye Race and only had the God Eye Race and Skeleton Race as peak races, the Human Race and Bug Race were both peak powers in their respective eras.

In comparison, the Monster Race was a race forcibly cobbled together from many different beast tribes, and the Machine Race was a product of intelligent life's independence. Their rise relied heavily on the two Universe Supreme Beings, the Monster Beast Progenitor and the Father God of Machine Race.

For example, the First and Second Reincarnation Eras had no races called the Monster Race or Machine Race.

"Second Reincarnation Era." The Red Carapace Universe Master added: "After all, the Bug Race of the Primal Universe era is still weak, and the Human Race has lost the Original Ancestor. Now, an obscure 'Giant Axe Founder' is maintaining their race. They can't be called a peak race in the Universe Ocean."

"True." The White Carapace Universe Master nodded, then sneered: "Don't even mention those two races. As for the Monster Race of the Primal Universe, even though they have three Universe Supreme Beings, at the Universe Master level, they might not even match the Human Race and Bug Race of the Primal Universe."

"Indeed. Claiming to be a peak race, yet the team they sent couldn't even produce a single Peak Palace Treasure. How shabby." The Red Carapace Universe Master also treated this as a joke.

"They're probably so desperate from poverty that they want to grab as many treasures as possible to supplement their race. But I think they're dreaming if they think they can succeed this time." The White Carapace Universe Master judged.

While casually gossiping about the peak races, the two Universe Masters quickly approached the edge of the Flowing Cloud Sea.

"Ahead is the boundary of the Flowing Cloud Sea. Let's hurry and leave. Don't linger in this place of trouble." The Red Carapace Universe Master said.

Though they privately used the peak races' affairs as idle chatter to pass the time, they still respected the peak races' strength. Talking was fine, but taking action was out of the question.

The two quickly rushed out of the range of the blue-green clouds. Just as they were about to continue forward, the Red Carapace Universe Master, who was on guard against the Eternal Freeze Cold Qi, suddenly froze in place, his eyes wide.

"What's wrong?"

The White Carapace Universe Master noticed his companion's abnormality and instinctively stopped in place.

"You... look ahead!"

The Red Carapace Universe Master's voice trembled slightly.

"?"

Ahead? There was nothing ahead?

The White Carapace Universe Master was baffled, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he controlled the surrounding spacetime and observed the front.

The next second, the White Carapace Universe Master also froze in place.

"This... is this the Eternal Freeze Cold Qi?"

The White Carapace Universe Master swallowed hard, speaking with difficulty.

If it were just the Eternal Freeze Cold Qi, it naturally wouldn't have made him look so pathetic.

But at this moment, the sheer amount of Eternal Freeze Cold Qi ahead had gathered into a thick Cold Wind Barrier Wall, seemingly enveloping the entire Flowing Cloud Sea from within.

"We... let's quickly circle along the boundary. Maybe this Eternal Freeze Cold Qi only covers this direction." The Red Carapace Universe Master hurriedly said.

But even as he said this, he felt pessimistic inside.

"Alright." The White Carapace Universe Master nodded repeatedly, clinging to a sliver of hope.

The two Universe Masters then set off, circling along the edge of the Flowing Cloud Sea.