In the boundless seas tens of thousands of li from Mysterious Constancy Island lay a hidden, nameless isolated island.
The island spanned barely twenty-odd li, small and desolate.
Its spirit vein was impoverished and its spiritual energy thin, barely reaching the threshold of first-tier low-grade.
Presumably, even the smallest Qi Refining Stage lineage would never cast its gaze upon this barren place. Only a few mortals lived there.
"Chirp... chirp..."
A falcon clad in silvery-white feathers clutched an enormous carp tightly in its beak, beating its wings as it sped toward a small hillside beside the island's woods.
Hidden in that hillside was a cave, undoubtedly the falcon's nesting place.
Yet as the falcon drew near its nest, it seemed to grow extremely agitated, letting out uneasy screeches.
Where the cave entrance should have been, the surface had become as smooth as a mirror. The opening had vanished without a trace, and wisps of mist lingered around it, turning a familiar place utterly strange in an instant.
The falcon did not understand why, whenever it approached the hillside, an invisible force flung it back before it could touch anything, as though an unseen barrier stood in its way.
Unwilling to give up, the mother falcon repeatedly slammed her head and sharp talons against the invisible barrier. The enormous carp had long since fallen from her beak, and spots of blood seeped between her feathers.
Several of her chicks were still inside the cave, so the mother falcon refused to give up.
At that moment, however, the interior of what should have been the cave lay strewn with broken stones, as though it had been sliced apart by something sharp.
Inside, a dozen or so people stood or sat. Two had feeble auras, their bodies covered in talismans and bloodstains, their