The Seven Great Spirit Realms

Once the division of labor had been settled, the eight of them began taking action.

They made a slight adjustment to the peach-leaf pendants they used to conceal their cultivation levels. Instead of making their cultivation impossible to discern, the pendants now displayed them as being at the fourth or fifth level of Qi Condensation.

Cultivation at that level would attract no attention at all in a city where cultivators were everywhere, provided they did not do anything obviously beyond their capabilities or bring out any overly conspicuous treasures.

Eight ordinary Qi Condensation cultivators blending into the enormous city of Yuanling were like drops of water falling into a river—unable to stir up even the slightest ripple.

Just as the eight members of the summer camp team were energetically carrying out the first stage of their assignment, Lin Xiao had already left Yuanling City to search for a site for their sect.

Although Lin Xiao had never claimed to have traveled through every corner of the Southern Spirit Region, he had a fairly good understanding of its general terrain and the distribution of its various forces.

The spiritual energy here was far denser than in the mortal world, but Lin Xiao knew that, compared with the cultivation world as a whole, it was still nothing special. If they were thinking long-term, it would naturally be better to establish the sect in a place with abundant spiritual energy.

However, the denser the spiritual energy, the more cultivators there would certainly be. Their cultivation levels and other aspects would also be far superior to those in the Southern Spirit Region.

There would be more major sects, cultivation clans, and other such forces as well, and their overall strength would surpass that of the Southern Spirit Region—a relatively impoverished and remote corner of the cultivation world.

This time, Lin Xiao had come intending to explore some of the other spirit regions.

Since he did not know much about the situation elsewhere, he had chosen not to bring anyone with him and instead set out alone.

After all, their former cultivation levels had truly been insignificant in the cultivation world. But now that he had reached his current level, Lin Xiao understood that, given his age, his cultivation was still exceptionally conspicuous.

Although he had upgraded the peach-leaf pendant once before, granting it the ability to adjust his apparent cultivation level and raising the limit of the cultivation it could conceal, even cultivators at the Void Reversion Realm could no longer see through it.

But who knew what ancient monsters exceeding the Void Reversion Realm might exist in the depths of the cultivation world?

Even so, Lin Xiao was not so worried that he would dare not go. After all, even if cultivators at the Integration or Grand Ascension stage really appeared, they would most likely have little interest in cultivators of their level.

For cultivators at that stage, overcoming the tribulation and ascending to immortality was probably their only goal. The various conflicts between cultivators would hardly enter their eyes, much less move their hearts.

Still, Lin Xiao did not dare to act recklessly and bring everyone along when he knew nothing about the situation.

The cultivation world was divided into seven major spirit regions.

People in the Southern and Northern Spirit Regions referred to them as two separate regions, but throughout the cultivation world, they were regarded as a single spirit region.

The other six spirit regions were the Profound Extremity Region, the only one bordering the Southern and Northern Spirit Regions; the Soaring Heavens Region, which shared a broad border with the Profound Extremity Region; the Netherworld Region, which bordered the Soaring Heavens Region; the Great Wilderness Region, which bordered the Netherworld Region; the legendary Ascendant Region, which bordered none of the first five regions; and the Thousand Waves Sea Region, which was said to border every spirit region except the Southern and Northern Spirit Regions.

It was indeed true that the Thousand Waves Sea Region bordered several of the regions mentioned above. However, there was no reliable information as to whether it also bordered the Ascendant Region.

After all, to the vast majority of cultivators in the cultivation world, the Ascendant Region itself existed only in legend, let alone any information about it.

According to legend, the Ascendant Region contained a great opportunity to ascend and become an immortal. Every year, many cultivators entered the Thousand Waves Sea in search of this legendary opportunity and attempted to find the Ascendant Region.

Yet most of them either returned in a sorry state, empty-handed, or vanished without a trace into the Thousand Waves Sea. No one knew whether they had truly found the Ascendant Region or had perished in the endless depths of the ocean.

Lin Xiao naturally had no intention of considering the Ascendant Region as a possible site for the sect.

A place like the Ascendant Region could wait until he had truly reached the bottleneck before overcoming the tribulation and ascending. Then he might take the risk of going there, but he certainly had no intention of establishing the sect there.

As for the Thousand Waves Sea Region, it was said to be vast beyond measure, with many areas that were extremely dangerous. So dangerous, in fact, that no intelligence organization in the cultivation world had yet been able to produce a complete map of it.

Lin Xiao therefore crossed the Thousand Waves Sea Region off his list as well.

That left only the Profound Extremity Region, the Soaring Heavens Region, the Netherworld Region, and the Great Wilderness Region.

Lin Xiao decided to look at the Profound Extremity Region and the Soaring Heavens Region first.

There was no particular reason. Their names simply sounded more normal.

Once he had chosen his destination, Lin Xiao began traveling day and night without rest.

He did not take one of the spirit ships that shuttled between the various cities and spirit regions. Instead, he chose to fly on his sword.

He usually spent most of his time cooped up in the sect and rarely had a chance to travel far. Now that his Nascent Soul cultivation was more than sufficient to support long-distance flight, and he had a peachwood sword, how could he not take the opportunity to enjoy himself?

Besides… Lin Xiao opened the exploration log function of his lock ring.

He could activate the map while traveling and make good use of the journey.

With a thought, the peachwood sword flew out from his dantian and hovered horizontally in front of him.

Unlike Fuzi, Sun Yigao, and the others, who had been given their life-bound treasures by the system, Lin Xiao had received no such treatment. He had therefore refined the peachwood sword into his own life-bound treasure.

Lin Xiao did not mind. With the system at his disposal, it was not difficult for him to make any kind of magical treasure he wanted. Still, a treasure only needed to be comfortable to use. He felt that this peachwood sword, made from a branch plucked from the Ten-Mile Peach Blossom Tree, was quite good enough. After all, the Ten-Mile Peach Blossom Tree itself was an exceedingly rare existence.

He stepped onto the peachwood sword, and with a whoosh, transformed into a streak of light and flew away.

Of course, that was merely how it appeared to an outside observer.

To Lin Xiao, his speed was not particularly fast. Along the way, he continued using his spiritual sense to monitor the surrounding environment. Whenever he encountered large areas of region-specific vegetation or various demon beasts and spiritual plants, he would also gather some along the way.

Lin Xiao generally avoided the various cities, choosing instead to travel through deserted wilderness and remote mountains. As a result, he also managed to locate quite a few sects along the way.

Because the system had an idle cultivation mode, Lin Xiao could activate it to run his cultivation technique automatically and replenish the spiritual energy in his body while he traveled. He controlled the speed of his sword flight so that the spiritual energy he expended always remained within the range that could be replenished. Thus, he hardly needed to stop and meditate to recover his spiritual energy throughout the journey.

Although there was no strict time limit on this trip, there were still eight sect disciples waiting in Yuanling City. Whenever he could save time, he should. Spending a few spirit stones was nothing.

Fortunately, the system did not demand an exorbitant price. One day of idle cultivation at the Nascent Soul stage cost only one hundred spirit stones, which was not particularly painful for Lin Xiao, who now had a stable income.