Chapter 2023: Devilish Origin Sea
"Thank you, Mistress; I'll be sure to help you complete your objective even if it means I have to give up my life!" Hei'e hurriedly said in an elated manner as a show of his loyalty.
"Good. From now on, just follow my orders. We've already delayed here long enough; let's set off right away," Bao Hua said as she cast her gaze into the distance with a cold look in her eyes.
"Yes, Mistress!" Hei'e replied in a respectful manner.
Thus, Bao Hua swept a sleeve through the air, and the pink floral tree projection reappeared before sweeping up both of their bodies, then shot forth into the distance as a ball of pink light.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of kilometers away, Han Li and the others were also flying through the air.
Even though they had encountered a slight mishap outside the node, once they entered it, everything was identical to what the Long Family patriarch had described. Not only was the location they had emerged in right at the Bloodstone Mountain Range, there were only some ordinary devilish beings guarding the entrance into the Elder Devil Realm.
In order to avoid attracting attention, they refrained from slaughtering those devilish beings, choosing to force their way through the devilish beings instead.
After flying for around half a month and slaying a flock of unknown devilish birds, Han Li and the others flew out of the mountain range and arrived on a vast grassland with no end in sight and was covered in wild flowers.
The black devilish Qi drifting through the air here was clearly denser than that in the mountain range.
Right at this moment, the Long Family patriarch called out for everyone to stop, and they gathered together to discuss the route they were going to take.
"According to our last Spirit Monarch, the Spirit Cleansing Pond and the Clean Spirit Lotus are situated on a mysterious island on the Devilish Origin Sea located in the easternmost region of the Elder Devil Realm. I have some leads on its exact location, but those leads will only be applicable once we get there. What we have to do now is get to the Devilish Origin Sea safely; I'm sure you have a plan for how we can do that, right, Fellow Daoist Long?" Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns said in a serious manner.
"Indeed. I've been collecting an extensive amount of information about the Elder Devil Realm, and I was able to determine that there are three routes for us to take if we want to get to the Devilish Origin Sea from our current location. However, all three of these routes have their own advantages and disadvantages, so we have to make a decision together on which route to take. Perhaps we'll have to try taking all three of them before we make a final decision," the Long Family patriarch replied with a solemn nod.
"What are the three routes, Brother Long?" the long-haired man from the Lin Family prompted.
"The first route is to advance onward along this grassland, then pass through several major devilish cities, using their teleportation formations to reach the Devilish Origin Sea. If everything goes smoothly, we'll reach our destination in about one or two years. The only issue is that devilish cities with teleportation formations will definitely also have devilish lords or even Sacred Ancestor clones, as well as powerful restrictions. Even if we use the Devilfeign Beads, there's only around a 20% chance that we'll be able to fool all of the devilish beings in those cities," the Long Family patriarch said in a calm voice.
"That's far too risky! We can't take this route," the woman from the Ye Family immediately objected with furrowed brows.
"Fellow Daoist Ye is right. This is the route that conserves the most time, but it is indeed far too risky," Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns chimed in with a shake of his head.
No one else said anything in response, but they clearly all held the same opinion.
The Long Family patriarch wasn't surprised to see this, and he immediately moved on to the second route. "The second route involves traveling to the center of this grassland, then following the devilish river that runs through this grassland straight to the sea. After that, we'll travel over the sea to reach the Devilish Origin Sea. Considering how vast the oceans of the Elder Devil Realm are, we won't have to worry about encountering and being identified by high-grade devilish beings. The issue with this route is that there are countless types of marine devilish beasts in the devilish sea. If we encounter a pack of tens of thousands of sea beasts, we'll have no choice but to flee. On top of that, there’s no lack of sea beasts of the devilish lord level in the devilish seas, and it's said that there are even Sacred Ancestor level sea beasts. If we take this route, we'll get to our destination in about five to six years."
"That's still too risky. I don't know much about the devilish seas, but the sea beasts in our Spirit Realm are extremely formidable even for the most powerful races of our realm. On top of that, we're completely unfamiliar with the devilish seas; if we stumble into a perilous region of the sea, we'll be in a world of trouble. What's the third route, Brother Long?" Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns asked with furrowed brows.
"The final route involves heading west while skirting along the edge of this grassland until we enter the barren devilish plains. That region of the Elder Devil Realm is very similar to the primordial world of our Spirit Realm; there are also devilish beasts that can be found there, but far less so than in the devilish seas. With our powers, we shouldn’t have too much trouble navigating through those plains. The issue with this route is that not only is it the longest of the three, we'll also have to pass through the vastly renowned Illusion Howl Desert. That desert is one of the 10 restricted areas of the Elder Devil Realm; all cultivators who venture into that desert will be severely debilitated, and what's even more concerning is that no movement techniques or treasures can be used in that desert, so we'll have to traverse through it entirely on foot," the Long Family patriarch said.
Han Li's heart stirred slightly upon hearing this before asking, "Are there any powerful devilish beasts or venomous insects in this Illusion Howl Desert?"
The Long Family patriarch shook his head in response. "There are some low-grade and mid-grade devilish beasts in the Illusion Howl Desert, but even if we're severely debilitated, we'll be able to take care of them with ease. The only thing that poses a threat to us in that desert is the Illusion Howl Devilish Wind. However, even though our magic power will be severely restricted, our spiritual sense won't be affected at all, so we should be able to withstand those devilish winds as long as we remain vigilant."
"In that case, why did you specifically single out this desert as a major obstacle? Surely there has to be something else we should be concerned about," Han Li said with a smile.
"Indeed, Brother Han. If this were the extent of the issues that we had to face, then I would've chosen this route right away without even preparing those two alternative routes. The main problem is that the Illusion Howl Desert is far too big; without being able to use any treasures or movement techniques to traverse it, it'll take five to six decades to get to the other side," the Long Family patriarch replied with a wry smile.
"Five to six decades?" Han Li and the woman from the Ye Family were both stunned to hear this, while the Spirit beings remained quite composed, indicating that they already knew about the scale of the Illusion Howl Desert.
"Five to six decades is far too long! By the time we get to the Devilish Origin Sea, the devilish tribulation will most likely already be over! On top of that, the longer it takes for us to get there, the greater the chance that something will go wrong," the long-haired man from the Long Family said.
"In that case, which one of the first two routes would you prefer, Brother Lin?" the Long Family patriarch asked.
The long-haired man hesitated momentarily before gritting his teeth, and replying, "The first one is too risky; the second one is also rather risky, but so long as we're careful, there's a chance that we could get to the Devilish Origin Sea without being noticed by any sea beast."
"Alright, what do you think, Fellow Daoist Han, Fellow Daoist Thousand Autumns?" the Long Family patriarch asked as he turned to Han Li and the Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns.
Aside from the Holy Spirit enshrouded within white light who barely ever talked, those two were the only other late-Body Integration Stage beings present, so the Long Family patriarch was naturally interested to hear their opinions.
"The second route does appear to be more plausible than the other two. However, I'd much rather go with the third route if we can somehow take less time to traverse through the Illusion Howl Desert," Han Li sighed.
"I'm also of the same opinion. There's actually a method to traverse through the Illusion Howl Desert in a shorter time, but even that will take around 30 years, which is still too long," Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns said.
"Oh? May I ask what method this is? I was unaware that such a method existed," the Long Family patriarch hurriedly asked in a surprised manner.
"I'm also interested to hear this," Han Li chimed in with an intrigued expression.