“In truth… I know a secret passage to the mainland. The passage itself isn’t particularly special; it’s just that the route to the mainland is a bit shorter.” Left with no choice, the Black Rock Turtle finally confessed honestly to Bai Sha.
A secret passage to the mainland?
Bai Sha felt a jolt inside. She immediately demanded, “Where is this secret passage? Take me there at once to see it.”
“It’s not far…” The Black Rock Turtle sighed. “If the Senior wishes to go, then I will lead the Senior there.”
Since matters had already come to light, the Black Rock Turtle simply gave up hiding anything.
He divulged the location of the passage.
Traveling from the Hundred Demon Territory, they could reach the destination in about three hours. From there, passing through the passage to the mainland would only take one hour, saving considerable time compared to the normal route to the mainland.
After gathering this information, Bai Sha first returned to the market to find Yin Sha.
By now, Yin Sha had already encountered the Ice Snow Dolphin, Bingning, and the Sun Anemone, Xiaokui, and was discussing plans to head to Lost Island.
Seeing Bai Sha approach, Yin Sha quickly waved her pectoral fins for Bai Sha to come over, then introduced her to Bingning and Xiaokui.
“I’m Bai Sha. Nice to meet you,” Bai Sha said with a slight smile as she looked at the two Demon Cultivators she had known in her previous life.
“Nice? How nice?” Bingning asked strangely upon hearing this.
“However nice you are, I am just as nice.”
“Uh…”
Bingning was instantly at a loss for words.
“Bai Sha, Bai Sha.” Yin Sha’s mood was quite buoyant at that moment. “I just heard about a place called Lost Island, and there might be quite a few treasures on it. I was planning to go explore Lost Island. Want to come along?”
“I have some temporary matters to attend to, so I can’t go right now.” Bai Sha shook her head.
She had originally intended to head to Lost Island, but upon discovering the situation with the Black Rock Turtle, she decided to investigate his matter first.
She was very concerned about bypassing the Heavenly Devil Palace’s lockdown to reach the mainland.
Besides, going there and back would only take about eight hours. Lost Island would still be there during that time. She could simply head to Lost Island after eight hours without fear of missing anything significant.
The arrays on Lost Island—having mastered the command token in her previous life—she knew them by heart and could find the correct path to the innermost depths with her eyes closed.
But those arrays wouldn’t be so easy for other Demon Cultivators to deal with. Eight hours might not even be enough for them to see the fifth array of the Gloomy Forest.
“So you have something to attend to? Oh well,” Yin Sha said, sounding a tad regretful.
Seeing this, Bai Sha added, “My matter won’t take too long. Once I’ve handled it, I’ll come find you at Lost Island.”
Hearing Bai Sha say that, Yin Sha smiled brightly again. “No problem.”
Bai Sha didn’t linger further. After bidding farewell to Yin Sha, she returned to the Black Rock Turtle’s side. Then, with the Black Rock Turtle leading the way, they departed.
They left the market, left the Hundred Demon Territory, and continuously traversed the great sea.
Schools of fish, coral thickets, swarms of jellyfish, undersea canyons, seaweed clusters… all manner of ocean floor scenery flashed before their eyes.
After roughly three hours, they arrived outside a cave entrance covered by seaweed.
As the Black Rock Turtle cast a spell, the seaweed over the entrance obediently parted, revealing the pitch-black cave within.
This cave was situated deep within an abyssal trench on the seafloor, normally blanketed by seaweed. Even if someone passed by, they wouldn’t be able to see this Undersea Cave, not to mention that few, if any, ever passed through such a desolate place.
“This is the place.” The Black Rock Turtle looked at the cave before him. “I discovered this place by accident in the past and entered it afterward. I eventually found the cave was bottomlessly deep, so I kept going deeper, until I finally emerged on the mainland.”
“Go on in,” Bai Sha instructed.
The Black Rock Turtle said nothing more and dove headfirst into the cave.
Bai Sha followed him inside.
It wasn’t pitch-black inside the cave. At regular intervals, a Luminous Sea Pearl was embedded in the wall.
The Black Rock Turtle explained that he had embedded these Luminous Sea Pearls here himself. Otherwise, traversing such a long stretch of utter darkness would make even him feel anxious.
Luminous Sea Pearls were harvested from the sea in considerable numbers, so their price wasn’t high. Even a Qi Condensation Demon Cultivator could easily afford this expense.
Bai Sha didn’t speak, merely swimming forward while mentally tracking the time.
Gradually, an hour approached.
At that moment, the Black Rock Turtle swimming ahead transmitted his voice: “We’ve arrived.”
As his words faded, light suddenly brightened before their eyes.
“Splash!”
Amid the sound of rushing water, Bai Sha emerged from a dark, murky pool.
She surveyed her surroundings. The pool was located inside the belly of a mountain, and the environment around her was rather dim. However, a faint glimmer came from one direction.
After the Black Rock Turtle crawled out, he headed toward that light source.
Bai Sha cast Water Sky Travel, making the surrounding air feel like seawater so she could swim through it nimbly.
“Rumble…”
As she neared the light source, Bai Sha heard the deafening roar of water coming from outside, realizing a waterfall wasn’t far away.
She continued closer and arrived at the entrance/exit point.
Before her eyes, a cascade of silver unfurled and plummeted downward, crashing into the massive pool below and sending up skyfuls of water spray.
Bright sunlight streamed down generously from the sky, illuminating the water droplets until they sparkled crystal-clear, clothing the plunging waterfall in a dreamlike, illusory glow.
Bai Sha’s gaze penetrated the waterfall, dimly making out a village not far off. Wisps of smoke curled from chimneys in the village, and people shuttled back and forth, leading peaceful lives.
Beside her, the Black Rock Turtle looked into the distance. “That village is called Silver Moon Village. It’s deep in the mountains, so it has very little contact with the outside world. Fortunately, the village is self-sufficient and can survive just fine. I do business through them.”
The Black Rock Turtle had always been passionate about raising meat animals for trade and had attempted such ventures on some sea islands. Unfortunately, they failed for various reasons, since he was ultimately just a Qi Condensation Demon Cultivator and couldn’t make things go as he pleased.
So this location was actually a much better choice for him.
Bai Sha, however, was pondering a different question.
‘I’m not sure what method the Heavenly Devil Palace uses to seal off the Eastern Sea, but it should be some kind of array. Yet a passage exists that leads to the mainland—how inconceivable is that? Normally, when an array traps a region, it doesn’t ignore the underground situation. Otherwise, if someone could simply dig their way out, wouldn’t that make the array an embarrassment? So what’s going on here?’
Bai Sha fell into deep thought.
