It was the first of May, the day after my birthday. I refused to believe that with May upon us, The Purple Mansion wouldn't shoot up the Monthly Ticket rankings.

Chu Bai'er was terrified by the Sky Fire Black Thunder bolt that had been relentlessly pursuing him, and in a panic, he tried to flee, but how could he outrun Ye Qin? Ye Qin weaved through the clusters of broken rock, completely cutting off Chu Bai'er’s escape route, leaving him nowhere to run. Chu Bai'er attempted to soar away on his sword, but Ye Qin's two flying swords—one gold, one cyan—danced through the sky, sealing off any aerial exit, leaving him not a sliver of a chance to escape heavenward.

Chu Bai'er fled for half a day without shaking off Ye Qin. Glancing back, he saw the Black Thunder, emanating a terrifying aura, about to smash into the back of his head. In utter horror and despair, he collapsed onto his knees, soils and excrement escaping him in torrents, howling and weeping, begging for mercy. "Master, please don't kill me, I don't want to die! Spare me, and I'll give you everything. I have spirit stones in my storage pouch, and—and magical artifacts too. Whatever you want, I’ll give it to you."

Ye Qin had toyed with him long enough. With a wave of his hand, he recalled the Sky Fire Black Thunder and strolled over, his voice cold and sharp. "Did you really think I’d waste this Sky Fire Black Thunder on killing you? Using this magical treasure on you would be too much of a waste. Leave all your storage pouches behind, and scram!"

Torn between his life and his storage bags, Chu Bai'er unhesitatingly chose his own life. He hastily threw down his storage pouches and everything valuable on him, then tumbled and crawled away, fleeing frantically from the boulder field. At that moment, the skeleton demon had "accidentally" killed a guard at the Foundation Establishment initial stage. It wasn't that Ye Qin had deliberately commanded the skeleton demon to kill the guard; it was just that the guard was too useless—a single sweep of the skeleton demon's tail smashed him dead.

The other two guarding cultivators, seeing this, quickly dropped their own storage bags and fled pell-mell after their master, Chu Bai'er. They realized they had severely underestimated Ye Qin's strength; the skeleton demon alone was capable of killing them dozens of times over. Moreover, Ye Qin himself hadn't even made a move. If Ye Qin had acted, they would already be lying there, fate unknown.

Ye Qin did not kill Chu Bai'er. This wastrel certainly deserved death, but he still had some reservations about the wastrel’s father. Shipmaster Chu was a Golden Core cultivator, with a contingent of Foundation Establishment cultivators loyal to him. If his useless son were killed, Shipmaster Chu would undoubtedly seek furious revenge. Even if he could silence Chu Bai'er and the four Foundation Establishment cultivators in this desolate wilderness, several people in the Sea Heaven Pavilion had witnessed his argument with Chu Bai'er. If Chu Bai'er died, Shipmaster Chu would certainly suspect him. Even though the four Golden Core Ancestors of the Azure Pill Sect did not fear Shipmaster Chu’s retaliation, they would certainly be annoyed that Ye Qin had brought such immense trouble upon the sect and added complications to this Eastern Crossing mission. As long as Ye Qin remained in East Fishing Town, he couldn't afford to disregard these factors. As long as this wastrel wasn't killed, there was still room for maneuver.

Ye Qin collected the six or seven storage pouches left behind by Chu Bai'er and the four cultivators, sitting on a large rock to examine them. The pouches belonging to the four guards were unremarkable—just some low-value raw materials and a few Spirit Artifacts; they were pitifully poor. However, upon opening Chu Bai'er’s storage pouch, he discovered a strange, disc-shaped magical artifact within.

The inner wall of this disc artifact was a smooth, shimmering mirror surface, emitting a faint spiritual energy. Ye Qin initially suspected it was a magical mirror designed to shoot beams of light to attack enemies, but when he poured his magic power into it, the disc artifact didn't change shape; only a hazy white mist appeared on the mirror surface, and nothing else happened. "Hmm, what kind of artifact is this? It can’t be used for offense, nor for defense."

Ye Qin hesitated for a moment and seeped a wisp of his divine sense into it. As soon as that wisp of divine sense entered, it quickly vanished without a trace. The interior was unfathomable, boundless. Ye Qin shuddered, daring not to probe further. If all of his meager divine sense entered, he probably wouldn't detect anything. This sensation was like being in the endless void within his Purple Mansion—no end in sight. "This artifact is quite peculiar," Ye Qin murmured, his eyes gleaming. He tidied up the storage pouches, keeping the few useful low-grade magical artifacts. He planned to take the rest—the unimpressive goods and raw materials—to the marketplace to sell for some spirit stones. He quickly ascertained the direction, took a detour down a minor path, circled widely, and flew toward the opposite side of East Fishing Town.

Chu Bai'er, accompanied by two guards, bolted toward East Fishing Town with a mournful face. He had originally intended to snatch Ye Qin's Golden Crow Luminous Crystal to report success to his father. Who knew that not only did he fail to obtain the crystal, but he himself was thoroughly stripped bare. What pained him most was that in his panic, only after escaping did he suddenly remember that he had left an extremely crucial magical artifact in his storage pouch.

That disc artifact was called the Star Fixing Plate, an essential artifact for sailing the high seas. The large sailing ships had to traverse millions of li across the East Sea, where navigation was impossible on the vast ocean surface. Only this Star Fixing Plate, inscribed with a mystical formation, could borrow the power of the stars to determine the exact location of the ship, preventing it from getting lost.

He had taken it stealthily from his father out of curiosity, wanting to show it off to Miss Yu of the Sea Heaven Pavilion. He never expected that the one intending to rob would end up being robbed. The Star Fixing Plate was crafted by grandmasters proficient in formations and the profound arts of the stars; very few were made, and they were never sold on the market. Losing the Star Fixing Plate, he could imagine how furious his father would be. The entire Chu family fleet had three large sailing ships, each equipped with one Star Fixing Plate; the Chu family possessed only three in total. The next time one of the Chu family's large ships set sail, it would lack a Star Fixing Plate to use. If that ship got lost on the open sea, it would be unable to return to East Fishing Town and would perish in the ocean. This Star Fixing Plate artifact offered no offensive or defensive capabilities, so it naturally did not change its form. Furthermore, something very important: it could only be used effectively at night when the starry sky was clear, reflecting the stars into the plate's formation. At any other time, it was utterly useless.

If Ye Qin knew this, he would likely be ecstatic. Because the Map Scroll of the East Sea Waters recorded the terrain of the waters leading to the East Sea Isles. And the Star Fixing Plate could pinpoint one's exact location. Only by using both together could the location of the East Sea Isles be found. The Sea Heaven Pavilion sold Sea Area Maps, but possessed no Star Fixing Plates whatsoever. Ancestor Bo Ran of the Azure Pill Sect held such a Star Fixing Plate. Precisely because of this, all Azure Pill Sect cultivators had to follow Ancestor Bo Ran when crossing the sea, to avoid getting lost on the boundless ocean. If any cultivator fell behind, they would be unable to find the correct bearing.

Ye Qin was unaware that he had just seized a highly important Star Fixing Plate belonging to the Chu family. As he flew, he was still wondering about the function of this disc artifact. Suddenly, Ye Qin abruptly stopped his flying sword, his expression shifting slightly. He sensed the distant rumbling of magical artifacts and spells about seven or eight li ahead. It seemed at least two or more Foundation Establishment cultivators were engaged in a fierce battle. East Fishing Town was an extremely chaotic place; the cultivators here came from the entire Central Continent, making it impossible to guess who was fighting ahead. The wilderness outside the town was the perfect arena for duels and slaughter.

Ye Qin surveyed the surrounding environment. He was only about ten li from East Fishing Town, meaning he could return quickly, and there was little danger, so he might as well go take a look. His feet sank, his flying sword inverted, and he plunged directly down into the jungle below. Then, he silently crept for several li through the undergrowth, arriving within three or four li of the ongoing battle a moment later. He saw a dazzling golden light and a yellow radiance flickering and crossing paths in the scrubland sky, accompanied by sharp, dense ringing sounds. Ye Qin, concealed in the jungle, gazed from a distance and sucked in a sharp breath of cold air. This was not just two cultivators as he had imagined. Instead, there was a group of several dozen male and female Foundation Establishment cultivators, divided into two factions, standing silently and grimly on a small rise, observing the fight. And in the center of them, two cultivators were locked in fierce combat. The vast majority of these cultivators were late-stage Foundation Establishment, with the lowest being above the sixth layer of Foundation Establishment. Each of them exuded a palpable killing intent—the aura only gained from fighting bloody battles, utterly incomparable to a wastrel like Chu Bai'er.

"Ugh~" Ye Qin stealthily crept closer again and was stunned. He actually saw more than a dozen notorious figures from the Sky Dome Plain. And facing them were Huangfu Bing'er, Qin Yan, Wei Tianqin, Lü Yuanhong, Lü Yuanpeng, and a group of over a dozen famous Foundation Establishment cultivators from the Seven Great Sects of the Spirit Mist Realm. Ye Qin never expected that the fierce battle here would be between dozens of peak cultivators from the Spirit Mist Realm and the Sky Dome Plain. After the three Nascent Soul cultivators arrived in Spirit Mist City, the cultivators of the Sky Dome Plain Realm and the Spirit Mist Realm had reached an armistice, and both sides had dispatched a contingent of elite cultivators to the East Sea to join the Heavenly Dao Alliance. "Private Duel!"

Ye Qin swiftly pondered, and a bad notion surfaced in his mind. Yes, a private duel was the most likely scenario. During the Spirit Mist City campaign, the younger generation of Foundation Establishment cultivators from the two realms had accumulated countless bloody grievances. Although the Nascent Soul Ancestors and Golden Core Ancestors above them were keeping a lid on things, grudges weren't erased so easily. These peak Foundation Establishment cultivators from the Sky Dome Plain Realm and the Spirit Mist Realm all wore grim expressions, their gazes filled with hostility toward the other side. Even upon arriving in East Fishing Town, they had not forgotten their past enmities and had come to the wilderness to fight.

However, they clearly weren't acting rashly or engaging in chaotic slaughter. Instead, they were adhering to some unspoken rule of the Cultivation World Ye Qin was unfamiliar with: only two Foundation Establishment cultivators entered the arena for a duel at a time, while the rest observed. Ye Qin quickly dismissed distracting thoughts and focused intently on observing their combat. Being able to witness a duel between the peak Foundation Establishment cultivators of these two realms was a rare opportunity.