“No wonder this place is called Levitating Island!” Deep inside the island, Lu Yun looked up at the colossal landmass hovering in the sky with unmasked awe. Levitating Island’s heart was, well, a huge levitating island about five thousand kilometers across. True to its name, it floated at least fifty thousand meters above sea level.
Below the island was an endless inner sea, wrapped in a barrier. Despite its bounded nature, Lu Yun was nevertheless unable to see where it ended. The floating island’s inner sea was just as mysterious as the North Sea, filled with danger and opportunity alike.
“Hmm?” He paled suddenly. He soared a few thousand meters into the air, scanning the waters below.
“What have you discovered?” Close behind him, Qing Han asked curiously. The little fox hung wide-eyed on his shoulder, clearly wondering the same thing.
“This Levitating Island follows a natural ‘pearl-in-jade’ layout in the terrain!” Lu Yun gasped in surprise. “If there’s a great tomb here, the one buried inside is either an irredeemable devil or a veritable saint…”
The pearl-in-jade layouts he’d seen back on Earth had only involved small marshes. A dozen kilometers of land, at most. Levitating Island, on the other hand, was a perfect pearl-in-jade that spanned several thousand times as much space.
“Did you just say there’s a tomb here?” The little fox’s eyes lit up. Mo Yi had told her that Levitating Island held the secret to the ancient monster spirit ancestor’s tomb. If she could find it, she would be able to find herself and regain her strength.
“Not necessarily. The terrain layout is suitable for a tomb to be built here, that’s all. I’m not saying there’ll actually be one.” Lu Yun shook his head. The sea’s feng shui was completely obscure to him, and a casual glance had failed to yield any useful information at all.
He landed, and found a secluded place to wait. Moments later, Aoxue and Beigong Yu arrived with Xing Mou. The little girl’s astral constitution meant that her talent was exceptional. Given time to develop, she would be able to reach dao immortal realm without much difficulty, so he naturally wouldn’t leave her on Levitating Island for the Donglin Clan.
He hadn’t hidden the truth from her, after which she’d chosen… ah, chosen to follow Qing Han. As such, Aoxue no longer felt any hostility toward her. What surprised Lu Yun and the others the most, though, was that Qing Han had taken her on as a disciple! Xing Mou was none too pleased about it, but she did accept the arrangement.
Qing Han was the future Dao Sovereign of the world, the first and foremost. As his first student, Xing Mou would become especially prominent in turn. Neither of them realized that at this moment, of course.
……
“A dragon sleeps in mountains coiled,
“Those deathly cliffs with mysteries roiled.
“Danger shies if mountains hide,
“In stars bright and waters wide!”
Lu Yun took out his feng shui compass, chanting a phrase of the Dragonsearch Invocation.
Hum.
Silvery starlight burst from the luopan, transforming the endless sea before him into something drastically different—at least visually. Star after star appeared over the cerulean blue, blending the dazzling celestial radiance with the boundless sea waters. Before long, the sea looked like an indistinguishable field of stars.
Beneath the starry waves was a foggy barrier, hiding a certain place within the deep blue. This was a kind of layout based on the constellations, and his cosmic feng shui method would be able to do the same, if he reached a high enough level with it.
There is indeed a tomb here! As Lu Yun took a deep breath, his eyes became a glistening silver.
“Five stars orbit in the skies, five dragon veins course the ground.
“Five stars and veins are as one, to which the latter follows the former.
“From them emerge five archetypes, to be divided, analyzed, and understood!”
The Dragonsearch Incantation invoked the corresponding cosmic feng shui method. Five shimmering stars appeared on his compass, spinning ever faster in a variety of changing shapes.
“Five stars and veins gather as one, five veins create a guiding star.
“A star that guides true and sound, must by river and field be bound.
“Its remnant airs are fortune’s ties, an influence at the waterside.”
A hum filled the air, accompanied by an endless flood of starlight that gradually shaped itself into a copy of Levitating Island, projecting its every detail on the feng shui compass.
“Right here!” Lu Yun pointed at a place in the Levitating Island’s inner sea. A long strip of land cut into the inner sea in the shape of a very large peninsula. The place he was pointing at was upon the peninsula’s shore.
“That’s where my Kunpeng Palace is!” Beigong Yu immediately identified. He’d had his own territory upon the Levitating Island. Evidently, his palace was on a peninsula beneath rather than the central island proper. And unfortunately, it seemed that unwanted guests had set up there in his absence.
“Lu Yun!” The little fox looked at the human youth with pitiably adorable eyes. “You have to help me!”
“The North Sea dragon tomb will need some time to open, and the Embittered Bamboo has brought my poison under control. Why don’t we help the little fox find the ancestral monster spirit tomb first?” Qing Han piped up as well.
“This tomb must be the one you’re talking about.” Lu Yun furrowed his brow and asked haltingly, “Was the ancestor of monster spirits a huge menace of some kind? Someone incorrigibly evil?”
“No!” The fox jumped up and down in front of him in an energetic attempt to correct the misunderstanding. “The ancestor of monster spirits was very, very good! This tomb makes perfect sense!”
“Well, alright then. Let’s take a look.” Lu Yun felt a bit of an itch himself. He remembered when he’d excavated a large tomb within a ‘pearl-in-jade’ influence back on Earth. An ancient bandit lord had been buried alongside his countless treasures there, enriching Lu Yun overnight.
The skydragon tomb wasn’t open yet, so he wasn’t in any particular hurry. If he could find a powerful envoy or treasure in this tomb, he would have a much better shot at obtaining the Skydragon Pearl.
Having made up his mind, Lu Yun set off immediately, crossing the inner sea to the Kunpeng Palace. According to the information from the Scaled King, Beigong Yu’s Kunpeng Palace was currently under the occupation of the dragon crown prince of the East Sea monster spirits.
The East Sea monster spirits had a much lengthier, and more illustrious, history than their North Sea brethren. In fact, the court there could nearly rival a heavenly court of the twenty-four facets. Lu Yun didn’t want to clash with them if at all possible; he had more than enough enemies already.
……
Levitating Island’s inner sea was very large, at more than fifty thousand kilometers in breadth. In his original form, however, the kunpeng carried them nine-tenths of that distance with a single wingbeat. They crossed the inner sea and arrived before the Kunpeng Palace in the blink of an eye.
“The East Sea’s… Dragon Crown Prince?” Lu Yun mulled over the name with some hesitation. “Could the East Sea’s monster spirits actually be ruled by dragons?”
“Halt, interlopers! This is the crown prince’s residential palace!” Two enormous water spirits rose into the air, interrupting both the kunpeng’s passage and his train of thought.
“Good generals, please tell your master this: Lu Yun of Dusk Province requests an audience,” the young man said, openly proclaiming his identity.