txolops Chapter 1 Night Sea
Chapter 1 Night Sea
It was late at night, pitch black.
An island floats in mid-air.
The island, shaped like an inverted hill, is only three zhang (approximately 10 meters) long and wide, and drifts silently in the vast night sky.
Ji Yun sat on the edge of the empty island.
Sixteen or seventeen is a time of youthful vigor and vitality.
His face was gaunt and his body thin. He held a hoe and stared blankly at the empty space beneath his feet.
hungry.
I'm so hungry.
The island has only a small, dilapidated wooden house, a small patch of barren land, and otherwise unbreakable rocks.
With the grain bin empty and no more food to be found, if there is no turning back, he will become nothing more than an unnamed skeleton in this place.
"There's only half a tank of water left."
"They'll either starve or die of thirst."
"Is there really such a hellish place in the world? And can people even live in such a place?"
Ji Yun's voice was hoarse as he looked up and gazed around.
As far as the eye could see, there was no starlight, and no human voice could be heard.
Only the outlines of a few pebbles could be seen, floating on either side of the island.
Last night he awakened to the wisdom he had accumulated in his past life.
This is not his first awakening. From Earth to the cultivation world and back to this place, he has awakened three times in three lifetimes.
In that previous life on Earth, he died in a car accident at the age of twenty-six.
In his previous life in the cultivation world, he died during the Golden Core Tribulation, at the age of 432.
Even as he died, he thought that perhaps he could be reborn.
But he never expected that he would be born in this kind of 'outer space asteroid belt' in this life.
"This place is called Night Sea, but it is not an ocean. It is a vast and boundless night sky with long nights and short days."
"Some elderly people say that this place used to be part of the mainland."
"Due to the battle between immortals, the continent shattered, and countless fragments of rock scattered everywhere, which then transformed into islands that float in the air."
"Nowadays, not only do people live by farming and weaving on these floating islands, but there are even cultivators who can cultivate by breathing in spiritual energy..."
Ji Yun flipped through her memories.
Scenes flashed through my mind.
He was born into the Ji family on the third floor of the Night Sea.
The Ji family has over a hundred members, owns eighty-three sky islands, over four hundred acres of farmland (both good and bad), and more than ten mineral deposits.
The patriarch is at the third level of Qi Refining cultivation.
Among the numerous archipelagos, they cannot compare to those large clans that have been passed down for hundreds of years, but they are still a force to be reckoned with.
Who would have thought that a month ago...
It rained.
They actually wiped out the entire Ji family...
This is because the night sea not only stretches endlessly horizontally, but also extends thousands of miles vertically.
It is divided into nine layers from bottom to top.
The higher you go, the denser the spiritual energy becomes.
The higher the cultivation level of the residents, the better.
Legend has it that above the Night Sea Realm lies the Primordial Spirit Realm, inhabited by Foundation Establishment cultivators.
The upper-level cultivators occasionally throw down some 'garbage,' such as broken magical artifacts and discarded medicinal residue.
Once these "trash" fall into the barren and desolate lower levels, they become a godsend opportunity for those seeking cultivation, attracting everyone to scramble for them.
That was the case with the "rain" a month ago.
Every drop of rain carried the fragrance of medicinal herbs, and the concentration of spiritual energy was astonishing.
Some elderly people say that it was the Foundation Establishment alchemist who poured out the water after cleaning the alchemy furnace.
Some say that it was a Golden Core cultivator changing the spiritual spring water for the dragon carp in the pond.
Some even say that it's the bath liquid that left the fairy with her body fragrance after her medicinal bath...
The rain that fell on Ji Family Island was originally an opportunity for the Ji family, but it was also seen by the Li family on the fourth floor of the Night Sea.
Thus, the Ji family was wiped out overnight.
The patriarch was killed with a single sword strike, and over a hundred clansmen were captured. Only a few descendants from a remote dwelling managed to escape.
Ji Yun was one of them.
He was at the first level of Qi Refining, and he guarded a mining island all by himself.
After the incident, they escaped in the chaos and drifted on the vast night sea for a month on this small island, until they were completely out of energy and food.
"A cultivator in the upper ranks taking out the trash causes a massacre of an entire clan in the lower ranks? What kind of world is this...?"
Ji Yun remained silent for a long time.
In his previous life, he was born into the Demon Sect.
In the treacherous and perilous environment of the Demonic Sect, he fought his way through mountains of corpses and seas of blood, ultimately achieving the Golden Core stage.
But looking back on my memories, the atmosphere here was in no way inferior to that of the Demon Sect.
Murder and genocide over "trash" are commonplace here.
"I have memories of my past life, superior cultivation techniques, and various secret arts, but now I am on the first level of the Night Sea, where the spiritual energy is thin, making it almost impossible for me to cultivate."
"If you want to cultivate immortality, you must ascend to higher realms."
"Competing with other cultivators for resources, and even stealing the trash of upper-level cultivators..."
"But before that, I have to survive; I can't starve to death."
Ji Yun's throat was dry. He stood up and stared at the dark abyss below.
After escaping the Ji family, he deliberately descended and hid in the first layer of the Night Sea.
This layer is barren of spiritual energy and lacks resources; below it lies a deep abyss devoid of spiritual energy and shrouded in taboos and strangeness.
The area below is completely black.
But once you get used to the darkness and look carefully, you can vaguely see another floating island thirty feet below.
There are dilapidated courtyards on the island.
A rotten fence surrounds the fields.
There is also a bamboo grove on the edge.
After observing for several days, Ji Yun was basically certain that the island below was unclaimed and there was no trace of human presence on it.
"There are fields on that island, and perhaps there's something edible in them..."
Ji Yun looked down at his surroundings and saw a grappling hook for landing on the island, a dagger, and a bundle of hemp rope.
The Night Sea has no continents, but in the depths of the lower abyss, a mysterious force pulls and drags everything containing spiritual energy, forming a weak gravitational force.
Thirty feet is a distance that is easy for a Qi Refining Level 1 cultivator to descend, but it is troublesome to climb back up.
Therefore, we should first use hooks and ropes to build a ropeway.
He bent down, picked up the grappling hook, and threw it with all his might toward the deserted island below.
Click.
The grappling hook landed on the island.
Ji Yun secured the other end of the hemp rope to a boulder on his own sky island.
After testing the rope a few times to make sure it was secure enough, he picked up the dagger, grabbed the rope, and slid towards the deserted island.
There is a breeze on the sea at night.
The rope was being blown around.
He landed on the ground very quickly.
Bang.
A slight thud underfoot.
He quickly took out a tinderbox, lit it, and used the firelight to illuminate the surroundings.
The island had clearly been abandoned for a long time; a thin layer of dust covered the ground, and there were no signs of human activity or footprints.
In the barren fields on the left, one can vaguely see some grayish green.
Directly in front were three simple old houses, with black bricks and black tiles, enclosing a square courtyard. They were dimly lit by the firelight, appearing eerie and terrifying.
We need to be careful.
Ji Yun gripped the rope, standing quietly in place, cautiously observing his surroundings.
There were tragedies in my memory.
Lower-level cultivators would deliberately create the illusion that the sky island was uninhabited to lure outsiders to explore, and then launch a sneak attack.
To survive long in the Night Sea, one must be cautious and never let one's guard down.
They held their breath and waited for a long time.
Suddenly, he extinguished the fire, disappeared into the darkness, and quietly took two steps toward the fence.
The deserted island remained lifeless.
He remained vigilant of his surroundings, glancing down at the wasteland.
"The soil is quite nice."
Ji Yun reached out and grabbed a handful, grinding it carefully in his palm.
Soil is considered a rare resource in the Night Sea, especially fine soil without sand or stones, which is quite valuable.
Generally speaking, once an abandoned sky island is discovered, it will be completely looted, and even the soil will be taken.
The field enclosed by this tattered fence, about three-tenths of an acre in size, was entirely composed of fine soil from which no sand or gravel could be seen.
He pulled out a dagger and scratched it a couple of times.
A few lush green leaves stand out in the gray soil, with half of their red skin peeking out from their roots.
It should be yam.
The yam was very plump, probably already mature, and had continued to grow silently in the ground for who knows how many years.
This is an ordinary plant; once it has been more than six months, it will stop growing and will only take up space if left in the ground.
There must really be no one there.
Since that's the case, Ji Yun didn't stand on ceremony anymore and immediately used his dagger to dig out a few yams from the ground.
He hugged the sweet potato to his chest.
He grabbed the rope and took a few light steps, quickly climbing back to his own sky island.