Chapter 202

Chapter 202: Endless Sea – Floating Island
A few days later, the one hundred people heading to the Floating Island gathered at the mountain gate of Wen Ding Pavilion.

Yu Zhao, Zhou Jin Yue, and Zhang Jun had just arrived when Mo Ci from Hundred Flowers Valley came over with a few people, bringing the latest gossip.

Mo Ci lowered her voice and said: “Jin Yue, Zhao Zhao, have you heard? The Senior Brother of Tai Bai Academy could not take it and went mad.”

Zhou Jin Yue and Zhang Jun both looked stunned.

Zhou Jin Yue frowned and asked: “You mean Li Jing Rang of Tai Bai Academy? He went mad?”

Mo Ci nodded with a mysterious look and said: “That is him.”

Zhou Jin Yue frowned tighter. She felt there was something very strange about this.

The scene of her last argument with Li Jing Rang was still fresh in her mind. Li Jing Rang did not seem like someone who would give up on life and lose his mind.

As she was thinking, she caught, out of the corner of her eye, Zhang Jun craning his neck to look toward the Heavenly Sword Sect disciples. She reached out, turned his head back, and scolded him: “Do not stare around.”

Zhang Jun shrank his neck and obediently listened to his Senior Sister’s lesson.

Mo Ci squinted her eyes in delight.

She had known that Zhou Jin Yue would not be as shallow as the others and blame Li Jing Rang’s madness on Liu Zheng canceling the engagement.

In her view, this was karma.

Who told Li Jing Rang to have little skill but a heart higher than the sky, and even dream of standing with one foot on each boat.

Now that the boat had flipped, he deserved it.

She turned her gaze to Yu Zhao again.

Seeing Yu Zhao with her brows lowered, not knowing what she was thinking, and no joy on her face at all, Mo Ci felt very pleased.

At this time, the disciples of the Heavenly Sword Sect were all glaring fiercely, trying to scare off every person who dared peek at Senior Sister Liu.

What was disaster without cause?

This was exactly it.

Li Jing Rang had gone out to flirt and play around on his own. Senior Sister Liu canceling the engagement was simply stopping the loss in time. What fault did she have?

They would not let anyone pour dirty water on Senior Sister Liu. The Heavenly Sword Sect would not accept that.

Liu Zheng herself did not feel very much, but when she saw her junior brothers and junior sisters trying so hard to protect her, warmth rose in her heart.

Her sword should protect her fellow disciples,

not stay by brush and ink.

She thought that even if she had to choose again, she would still make the same choice.

After a while, the Sect Masters of the Seven Great Sects arrived together.

The medium that opened the passage to the Floating Island was kept jointly by them. All seven of them had to be present for the Floating Island to be opened.

Besides the seven Sect Masters, someone no one expected also came.

A cold, bone chilling gaze fell on Yu Zhao, but she acted as if she did not feel it at all. Her eyes were fixed straight on Sect Master Ji Yuan, and she did not even lift an eyelid.

Master Qing Yan calmly withdrew his gaze.

Sect Master Ji Yuan had just taken a deep breath, then suddenly let it go again, feeling quite torn inside.

On the other side, the air between the Dean of Tai Bai Academy and Chong Yang, the Head of the Heavenly Sword Sect, was also very strange.

Clearly, the matter of Li Jing Rang had affected their relationship.

Sect Master Bai Lian had a sense that a storm was coming. He did not even want to say extra polite words. He directly took out a flying boat and urged everyone to board.

Very soon, the flying boat left Wen Ding Pavilion and flew toward the Endless Sea.

The Endless Sea lay between the Southern Region and the Western Region. It was covered by fog all year round, and no one could see its end, so it was given that name.

Also, the Spiritual Energy here was thin and the land was poor in resources. Except for a small number of people who came with the hope of getting lucky and finding the entrance to the Floating Island, very few cultivators passed this way.

Yu Zhao and the others disembarked one after another. The damp fog hit their exposed skin, and there was no one else nearby.

Sect Master Bai Lian stood in front of everyone and said: “Before you enter the Floating Island, there are a few things I must tell you. The Floating Island stays open for one year. After one year, the passage to the Floating Island will close, and you will also be thrown out of the Floating Island, so you must make full use of this year.

“Also, even though it is called an island, the terrain of the Floating Island is complex and ever changing. Danger is everywhere. If you are the least bit careless, you may die and your body will not remain whole. Do not act on impulse. Be careful above all.”

Sect Master Bai Lian spoke with a solemn expression and earnestly warned them.

Everyone answered together, their eyes shining with eagerness to try.

Sect Master Bai Lian smiled, looked at the other Sect Masters, and said: “Please, everyone.”

At once, seven streaks of spiritual light shot out from the bodies of the Sect Masters and gathered into a seven colored pillar of light.

The seven colored light shone in all directions. The clouds and mist seemed to come alive and began to churn wildly. A fist sized vortex slowly took shape.

As time went on, the light from the pillar grew more and more blinding. The vortex also kept shrinking and stretching until it finally became a passage two people tall and four people wide.

Sect Master Bai Lian announced: “The passage is open. Enter in order according to your ranking.”

As usual, the sect teams went first, and the rogue cultivators lined up behind them.

So the five person team led by Zhou Jin Yue was the first to enter the vortex passage, followed by the Heavenly Sword Sect team that Liu Zheng was in.

Yu Zhao’s status was special. If she entered the passage together with Zhou Jin Yue and the others, no one would say anything. But she still chose to follow the rules and stayed at the back, entering together with the cultivators from the Individual Competition.

The line moved quickly, and it was soon Yu Zhao’s turn.

Just as Yu Zhao stepped into the vortex with one foot, Master Qing Yan suddenly raised his hand and sent out a spell seal that landed on the corner of Yu Zhao’s robe.

None of the disciples present noticed anything, including Yu Zhao herself.

But Master Qing Yan’s move was not hidden from Sect Master Ji Yuan and the others.

Sect Master Ji Yuan froze for a moment, then his face sank.

He had known that this day would come sooner or later. There was no way to dodge it.

Sect Master Ji Yuan glared at him and asked: “Qing Yan, what did you do to Yu Zhao?”

The other Sect Masters also looked at Master Qing Yan in confusion, not knowing what he was playing at.

Master Qing Yan said nothing. He only raised his hand and summoned a huge Water Mirror.

The Water Mirror showed Yu Zhao walking inside the passage.

Sect Master Ji Yuan was startled. He reached out, wanting to smash the Water Mirror, but Master Qing Yan blocked him.

Master Qing Yan looked at him and said: “Are you afraid?”

Sect Master Ji Yuan was so angry at being blamed instead that he almost laughed. He said coldly: “Yu Zhao is not a criminal.”

Master Qing Yan said: “You want to take Yu Zhao as your disciple. Then I will let you see her true face.”

His eyes and brows were icy cold.

He had wanted to give Yu Zhao a chance to turn over a new leaf, but Yu Zhao was stubborn and would not change. He could not let the fame that the Five Elements Dao Sect had built up over thousands of years be destroyed in one day.

He had to stop Ji Yuan from taking her as a disciple.

Sect Master Ji Yuan kept letting out cold laughs because of his anger.

He said: “Nonsense. This is clearly your prejudice.”

When he thought about how every move Yu Zhao made from now on inside would be under Master Qing Yan’s watch, he deeply regretted that he had not been more careful earlier.

The other Sect Masters also had complaints about Master Qing Yan’s actions. But after all, this was an internal matter of the Five Elements Dao Sect, so it was not their place to say too much.

Besides, they were also curious whether Yu Zhao really was as Master Qing Yan said, someone whose outside did not match her inside, whose virtue did not match her position.

Just as everyone was lost in their own thoughts, a surprised shout drew their attention away.

A cultivator cried out: “Why did the passage close? I have not gone in yet.”

Sect Master Bai Lian and the others looked at the flustered cultivator, then looked again at the closed passage, full of surprise.

This man was the one who had later taken a spot as a substitute, the one who ranked twentieth in the Individual Competition.

By rights, the passage to the Floating Island would only close automatically after the hundredth person entered, which should have been him. Why had it closed early this year?

Had the rules changed?

Or had someone slipped into the passage while they were not paying attention and taken the spot that should have been his?

This was big trouble.