A few days later.
A spirit ship sailed across the sea.
At the bow, a gray-robed administrative disciple clutched a compass whose needle spun rapidly.
Seeing Qing Chen look over, he pointed below. "All right, Junior Brother Qing, we've reached Yellow Bamboo Island. You can disembark."
Qing Chen cupped his hands in thanks, then used the Weightlessness Art to leap lightly off the spirit ship.
He looked up and saw a middle-aged cultivator in gray robes standing nearby. Several mortals, young and old, knelt beside him, their knees sunk into the sand.
The middle-aged cultivator glanced at Qing Chen, a trace of sympathy in his eyes. His lips moved as though he wanted to speak, but in the end, he merely shook his head, turned, and quickly boarded the spirit ship.
This was one of the Condensed Jade Sect's sea-patrolling spirit ships.
It delivered newly assigned island disciples to their respective islands while bringing those whose terms had ended back to the sect.
The deck creaked twice, and a pale blue-green barrier rose around the spirit ship. In the blink of an eye, it became a tiny speck on the sea.
Qing Chen touched the short sword at his waist and sneered inwardly. Pity me now, will you? Once I make it big, there'll naturally be no shortage of bootlicking cultivators.
He turned toward the kneeling mortals, keeping his voice steady. "Who is the mayor of this island? Step forward and answer."
No sooner had he spoken than a white-haired old man shakily raised his head, his face covered in wrinkles.
He knocked his forehead against the ground with an audible thud, his voice trembling. "If I may inform you, exalted immortal, this humble old man's surname is Chen. I am the mayor of Yellow Bamboo Town and have held the position for over thirty years."
Qing Chen took two steps forward and said evenly, "Tell me about the island."
"Yes, yes!"
Mayor Chen hurriedly clambered up and began explaining in detail. "Exalted immortal, Yellow Bamboo Island measures twenty to thirty li across and takes its name from a grove of yellow bamboo on the island. There is a Yellow Bamboo Town here, a small town with a population of roughly seventy to eighty thousand..."
"Are there many demonic beasts along the coast? Do they attack the island often?"
Qing Chen interrupted him, sweeping his gaze across the distant sea. The water was deep green, with an occasional fin cutting across its surface.
Mayor Chen's face paled a little, and he rubbed his hands together. "In answer to you, exalted immortal, this humble old man doesn't know how many demonic beasts there are along the coast, or whether they are numerous.
"But there aren't too many that attack the island, because there is a formation here set up by immortals. It seems to drive away demonic beasts or something of the sort. Whenever an exalted immortal arrives, they first visit the place on Yellow Bamboo Island where the formation is installed."
Qing Chen nodded. He had already expected the sect to have established a grand island-warding formation.
To the Condensed Jade Sect, territory, population, and spirit veins were vitally important.
Even among formation discs of the same first-tier low grade, a grand island-warding formation like this was worth far more than a formation that could only protect a cave abode.
The main duty of an island cultivator like Qing Chen was to activate and maintain the formation, or issue a warning when necessary.
For that reason, the sect issued island cultivators some Ten-Thousand-Li Voice Transmission Talismans.
"Mm. Take me to the abode where the formation disc is installed," Qing Chen instructed calmly.
Mayor Chen hurried ahead to lead the way, and Qing Chen followed him inland.
As they passed through Yellow Bamboo Town, the mortals on the streets hid inside their houses, only daring to peek through cracks in their doors.
The fishy smell and fresh scent of bamboo drifted through the town. The bamboo houses along the road stood crookedly beneath thatched roofs, looking far inferior to the cities of the Jing Kingdom.
After walking for just under an hour, they came upon a low hill. A pitch-black cave entrance lay at its foot, with a stone tablet beside it bearing the words "Island-Warding Formation Abode."
Mayor Chen stopped three paces from the entrance and knocked his forehead against the ground again. "Exalted immortal, the formation disc is installed inside. This humble old man's status is lowly, and I dare not set foot in an immortal's dwelling. I can only escort you this far."
Qing Chen nodded. "Mm. There's no need to send anyone this month. Starting next month, send a servant here to deliver food, once a day. You may all go back."
As a Qi Refining Stage cultivator, his cultivation was still shallow, and he could not yet fully dispense with certain mortal needs.
Back on Outer Disciple Peak, his sect stipend had included free Fasting Pills.
One pill allowed him to go a month without eating, but there were none provided here.
Qing Chen then took out the Lost Trail Formation Disc and formed a hand seal. The disc turned into a streak of white light that enveloped the entrance, and mist instantly surged up, concealing it completely.
Only after doing this did he dare enter the cave abode.
The cave abode was more spacious than he had imagined, over three zhang high, with luminous pearls embedded in all four walls that brightly illuminated the entire interior.
At its center sat a circular formation disc roughly a zhang across, engraved with runes through which pale blue-green spiritual light flowed.
Qing Chen crouched down and touched the disc with his fingers. It was made of jade, cool and smooth, and heavier than the Dark Iron Shield he had bought.
He took out the formation key the sect had given him and inserted it into the recess at the disc's center. It immediately hummed, its spiritual light growing a little brighter.
Qing Chen sighed in relief. There was nothing wrong with the island-warding formation. At least it could hold out for a while if demonic beasts attacked.
But the thought of Mo Qiuxian made him tense again:
This cave abode was too conspicuous. If Mo Qiuxian sent someone, he would have nowhere even to hide.
"I need to dig an escape route."
Qing Chen gritted his teeth and took the short sword out of his storage pouch.
The sword was a low-grade magical artifact issued by the sect. He channeled power into it and slashed at the cave wall!
With a crack, the stone wall split like tofu.
He did not stop, hacking away, one stroke after another. Sparks flying from the blade fell onto the luminous pearls, making the light in the cave abode flicker.
After hacking for a little under a quarter of an hour, he had cut an opening one person wide into the cave wall.
Qing Chen wiped the sweat from his forehead and leaned against the stone wall, panting. "This is more exhausting than killing demonic beasts. Damn you, Mo Qiuxian."
But at the thought that this man might be waiting to devour his blood and vital energy, he tightened his grip on the sword and continued digging inward.
He dug during the day and practiced the Brahma Demon-Refining Art at night.
When his blood and vital energy churned inside the brahma aperture, he used the Demon Seed Golden Lotus to stabilize his soul.
"Places people can see are never safe. Only what they can't see is safest."
After more than half a month of digging, the tunnel was finally complete. It ran from the cave abode all the way to the yellow bamboo grove behind the hill, a full fifty zhang deep.
Standing in the tunnel, Qing Chen hacked at its walls a few times with his sword, then formed the hand seal for the Petrification Art.
Pale gray spiritual light enveloped the walls, and the previously loose earth and stone instantly hardened, becoming like ironstone.
He then used the Earth Escape Art to fill the original passage back in with the excavated earth and stone, leaving only a small opening large enough for one person to crawl through, which he covered with weeds.
Once all this was done, Qing Chen sat in the tunnel, feeling somewhat more secure. To become an immortal who stands tall between heaven and earth, I first have to learn to crawl into holes in the ground.
Just as he was about to sit in meditation, he suddenly frowned. Someone seemed to have touched the formation restrictions he had set at the cave entrance.