Inside the Tortoise Shell
Mu Yu collected a map of Moyun Mountains from the academy after leaving No-Man’s Cemetery. The most detailed map only had the ocean side very generally because cultivators didn’t like oceans. Cultivators usually resided on mountains, while fiend beasts resided in forests. Cultivators were active near mountain forests due to it being where fiend beasts’ corpses and fiend spirits could be harvested.
“Mu Yu, you’re not lost, are you?” questioned Xiaoshuai.
“I don’t think so,” answered Mu Yu, checking his map.
There was nothing in the sky to use as landmark. The sun wasn’t available today as it was a cloudy day.
“I think we should be heading east. Yeah, this way,” enthused Mu Yu.
“Yep, we’re lost,” commented the dragon vine.
“Why is the sun not out today? Is it feeling shy?”
“You cast Divine Soul Formation on Gui Hongyu, didn’t you? Try sensing the divine soul wood,” instructed Xiaoshuai.
“She needs to be in range. I can’t sense it if she’s too far away.”
Mu Yu flew past a mountain and, to his delight, saw the ocean, fishing nets, boats and everything else one would expect to see at fishing villages!
“See?! I told my sense of direction has been improving.”
“You reckon they’ve set sail? Would they board a ferry or fly over?” Xiaoshuai asked.
“Probably the latter. Elder Chi Long asserted it’s impossible to find the island without specific directions. If they can’t sense changes to tidal waves, they’ll never find it, and they’ll never find it from the sky,” postulated Mu Yu.
“Do we know which direction to go, then?” queried the dragon vine.
“If Ghost Gate wants to travel by boat, they’ll need to borr-, steal boats, in their case, from the villages nearby,” explained Mu Yu.
Mu Yu descended outside a village and walked in through the front entrance as a show of courtesy. None of the villages heard anything about a group in black hijacking boats recently or unexplainable phenomena taking place.
The tall lighthouse was designed for fishermen to sojourn on night trips. There was someone assigned to climbing to the top of the tower and burning level one wild shark skin to provide lightning for a five kilometre radius,
“How are we going to find the island if we can’t find any ghosties?” Xiaoshuai questioned.
“Let’s go check closer to the ocean. They’ll have to have left traces if they travel by boat,” replied Mu Yu.
They didn’t find any clues at the shore. Having said that, they heard a middle-aged woman shout, “Watch over your children! I heard children on the east of the ocean being kidnapped the day before!”
“Who did it?”
“I heard it was death gods from hell; apparently, they were dressed in black and shrouded in black smoke. Several villagers also died.”
Mu Yu asked the woman for directions to said village and flew fifteen minutes in the direction she indicated until he picked up the divine soul wood he planted in Gui Hongyu approximately fifteen kilometres away from where he was. He detected Ghost Gate’s signature aura as he edged closer
A tentacle of some sort suddenly popped out from the darkness and seized Mu Yu around the waist. He reactively chopped the tentacle with his sort, yet his sword went straight through.
“Don’t go that way.”
“Qiao Xue?”
Qiao Xue pulled Mu Yu over to herself. “Ghost Gate has set a trap and is lying in wait to spring on you. Come with me.”
They took refuge at a depilated house that had spent years collecting dust and was on the brink of collapse. Mu Yu didn’t miss the formation that concealed the house to those outside.
Qiao Xue spun around and cracked a smile. “We meet again.”
“Wow, you look even prettier than before Qiao Xue,” cheered Xiaoshuai, leaping for her valley right away.
Adorning a yellow robe, Qiao Xue caressed Xiaoshuai’s head.
Mu Yu smiled back. “What are you doing here?”
“We are heading to an island. What about you? Are you trying to tail Ghost Gate’s group?”
“Yes, we are going to Ghost Island” responded Mu Yu, looking for a chance to shoo off Xiaoshuai and the dragon vine.
When Qiao Xue’s water spirit knocked on the wooden door, it turned into a water screen and then a big turtle shell.
“It’s not called Ghost Island, it’s our pl-”
The white ape fiend king suddenly pulled the two of them in and griped, “Qiao Xue, I sent you on night patrol. Why did you bring your lover back?”
Mu Yu, who was ruthlessly thrown aside, flipped out. “Furry, you sick in the head? Can’t you go easy? Didn’t Third Heaven Palace summon you?”
The four Body Synthesis Realm, Six Spirit Severing Realm fiends and Long Xingyun in the turtle shell disliked Mu Yu’s attitude toward their king.
“Mind your language, runt! They think they can make me wipe do their bidding? Who do they think they are?” responded the fiend king, sitting in the chair at the centre, feet on the table and feasting on a melon.
“Why are you all holing up in your shell?” Mu Yu questioned brazenly.
“Holing up in our shell? Did turtles ever offend you? You want to leave as a corpse?” brayed an old white fiend next to the fiend king.
“Where do I know that Body Synthesis Realm fiend from?” Mu Yu pondered to himself.
“Elder Turtle, Mu Yu was only joking,” interjected Qiao Xue. “Mu Yu, we all need him to facilitate our journey to Sacred Island.”
“Sacred Island? What’s that?” Mu Yu, who couldn’t take his eyes off the elder, swept his gaze to the white-haired elder with antlers next to the first elder. “Wait, aren’t you two Elder Deer and that what’s-his-face tortoise?!”
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