Above the vast sea, Shan Shayuan slowly adjusted his breathing. Behind him, Huang Ming and the others had already retreated several kilometres, but no one looked away. Although they had repeatedly experienced Immortal Ascension within Dream Realms, those experiences had ultimately been false. Shan Shayuan was the first among them to truly take this step, and whatever happened to him would affect the choices of everyone who followed.
Shan Shayuan naturally understood this as well. He had volunteered first partly because he was confident in his own accumulation, and partly because someone needed to test how closely their Dream Realm experiences matched reality. If even he encountered an unexpected problem, those behind him would still have time to adjust their preparations.
After checking his condition one last time, Shan Shayuan no longer hesitated and shattered his aperture. A vast surge of pure white human qi erupted from his body and soared into the sky, drawing the surrounding heaven qi and earth qi toward him.
As the three qi gathered, an Earth Path calamity slowly took shape. The sky darkened, and enormous quantities of yellow dust gathered above the ocean before descending toward Shan Shayuan. Lin Yan watched closely from nearby, prepared to intervene once his uncle could no longer endure.
At the same time, on the other side of the Turbulent Sea Area, a beautiful female immortal was approaching. She wore a flowing palace dress, her long sleeves fluttering in the sea breeze. Her skin was delicate, while her clear eyes seemed to contain rippling autumn water.
Any Eastern Sea Gu Immortal familiar with the region would have recognized her as Fairy Hua Die, a Transformation Path Gu Immortal who had already undergone two Heavenly Tribulations. Although she remained Rank Six, her battle strength had firmly reached the peak of that rank.
Fairy Hua Die had been cultivating near the Turbulent Sea Area when she sensed repeated disturbances in the surrounding heaven and earth qi. Believing that an inheritance might have appeared, she immediately came to investigate.
After all, a great battle had once erupted within the Turbulent Sea Area. Two Rank Eight great experts had led the fighting, while numerous other Gu Immortals had died during the conflict. The battle had thrown the entire sea into chaos and left several inheritances scattered throughout the region.
However, after following the disturbance for some distance, Fairy Hua Die gradually noticed something strange. The heaven and earth qi ahead was not surging outward from a fixed location, but continuously gathering toward the same place. This did not resemble the appearance of an inheritance.
After travelling for some distance, Fairy Hua Die finally saw the source of the disturbance. Yellow dust covered a large stretch of the sea, while heaven qi and earth qi continued gathering toward its center. With her experience, she immediately recognized what was happening.
"Someone is undergoing Immortal Ascension here?"
Fairy Hua Die was slightly surprised. Her gaze passed over Shan Shayuan before naturally moving toward Lin Yan and the people waiting farther away. When she saw that almost all of them were peak Rank Five Gu Masters, her attention immediately shifted away from the ascension itself.
One person undergoing Immortal Ascension was nothing unusual, but gathering so many Gu Immortal seeds together was different. Fairy Hua Die had travelled through the Eastern Sea for many years, yet she could not remember any nearby force that matched the group before her. More importantly, she had never seen the Gu Immortal standing beside them.
She did not approach immediately. Instead, Fairy Hua Die remained at a distance and carefully observed Lin Yan, trying to determine his cultivation and origin before deciding whether to make contact.
At this moment, Lin Yan also turned his head and looked directly toward her.
Their gazes met across the sea. Fairy Hua Die immediately understood that the other party had discovered her long ago. Since he had neither driven her away nor shown any hostility, continuing to hide would only make her intentions appear suspicious. She stopped concealing herself and transmitted her voice from a distance. "Fellow immortal, please don't misunderstand. I am Fairy Hua Die. I was cultivating nearby and came here after sensing the disturbance."
Lin Yan had indeed discovered her through Flame Eye before she approached, but he had not expected the newcomer to be Fairy Hua Die. He knew considerably more about her than she could possibly know about him, though Fairy Hua Die herself was not particularly important. What interested him was Miao Ming Shen, the Rank Seven Space Path Gu Immortal behind her, as well as the small group of Eastern Sea Gu Immortals gathered around him.
More importantly, Miao Ming Shen possessed the means to enter the Blue Dragon Whale, where Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable had left behind an important true inheritance. Lin Yan had known about this opportunity for a long time, but unlike the other inheritances he had seized ahead of Fang Yuan, he had never gone searching for Miao Ming Shen. The reason was simple: the Blue Dragon Whale was one of Paradise Earth's arrangements.
Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable was certainly among the most benevolent Venerables in history. Even during Fang Yuan's future development, Paradise Earth's arrangements would provide him with tremendous assistance, including a method connected to becoming a Venerable.
Even so, Lin Yan remained cautious. Anything involving a Venerable deserved caution, and he had no reason to involve himself with such an arrangement before it became necessary.
Lin Yan smiled faintly and cupped his hands. "So it's Fairy Hua Die. I am Chu Ying, a secluded cultivator of the Eastern Sea."
He casually fabricated an identity. Flustered Mind continuously concealed the aura belonging to his original region, while his appearance had been altered using several Rank Three Blue Face Gu. Now that his dao marks no longer conflicted, using Transformation Path Gu for such a simple disguise posed little difficulty.
"So it's fellow Immortal Chu." Fairy Hua Die smiled before kindly reminding him, "Since you cultivate around the Turbulent Sea Area, you should be careful of Ding Yan and Ding Qi. The two brothers have remained here for many years and are both Rank Six Blood Path demonic immortals. When they work together, they can contend with Rank Seven Gu Immortals."
"Oh?" Lin Yan had not expected to hear another pair of familiar names so soon.
Strictly speaking, the original clues leading to the Information Path true inheritance had belonged to Ding Yan and Ding Qi. In the original novel, the brothers were pursued by Eastern Sea Gu Immortals and eventually encountered Fang Yuan. Under pressure, they shifted the trouble toward him, causing information connected to the inheritance to fall into Fang Yuan's hands.
At that time, Fang Yuan had only recently survived the battle of Yi Tian Mountain and obtained Sovereign Immortal Fetus Gu through Spectral Soul's arrangement, while his original body had fallen into Shadow Sect's hands. Eager to return to the Northern Plains, he encountered the incident while passing through the Eastern Sea.
Lin Yan also remembered that Heaven's Will had been influencing events around Fang Yuan during that period, constantly arranging dangers and obstacles in an attempt to eliminate him.
Fairy Hua Die noticed that Lin Yan had little interest in continuing the conversation and quickly understood. The mortal undergoing Immortal Ascension nearby was clearly important to him, and no one wanted unnecessary disturbances during such a critical moment.
She cupped her hands and smiled. "Then I won't disturb your companion's Immortal Ascension. May his Immortal Path be prosperous."
Fairy Hua Die soon departed, while Lin Yan watched her disappearing into the distance. Miao Ming Shen and his companions had fairly mild temperaments compared with most Gu Immortals, so establishing some friendly relations with them in the future would not be a bad thing.