Cultivation begins in Qingfeng Market.

Master Dingling said that the fleet would next have to pass through a dark current area, which would take about a month to get through. He added that the three of them were welcome to contact him anytime if they needed anything.

Lin Zhao and the other two nodded.

When the meeting ended, Master Dingling personally escorted the three of them to the door.

After the three left, the reception room remained quiet for a long time.

Wenjing Daoist looked at Dingling Zhenren and lowered his voice, "Brother, they—"

Master Dingling shook his head.

"The one in charge isn't that monk." He picked up his now-cold tea and downed it in one gulp. "As for the other two, I can't see through either of them."

He paused, then turned to look at Madam Yunxiang.

"Third sister, I know what you're thinking. You want to find a home for Muqing and settle down."

Madam Yunxiang did not respond.

Dingling Zhenren paused for a moment, then put it more bluntly: "To put it bluntly, in the cultivation world, strength is paramount, and Mu Qing is not worthy of them right now."

Things may not turn out as you wish in the future. That's all I have to say. Third sister, think it over carefully.

Lady Yunxiang remained silent for a long time.

She finally spoke, her voice a few decibels lower than usual: "Brother, I know you're doing this for Mu Qing's sake, but I'm tired. How many people who spend so much time at sea end up well?"

She looked firmly at Dingling Zhenren and said, "I don't want to give up this opportunity to contact a Nascent Soul cultivator."

Master Dingling didn't say anything more; he knew that Madam Yunxiang was right.

After reaching the Core Formation stage, a large amount of Tier 3 resources are concentrated in the hands of major powers. If a cultivator from a rogue background wants to advance further after reaching the Core Formation stage, they either need to join a major sect or risk their lives on the front lines.

The Dingling Merchant Guild is relatively good; it can field a caravan and earn resources through trade.

The others only had one option: to fight the monsters at the Wanfa Alliance's defensive line.

Harder.

The Spirit Master respected her wishes.

The fleet continued forward.

A few months later, the sea changed.

It was as if, suddenly, an invisible boundary had been crossed.

This area is called the Raging Waves—several underwater currents converge here, creating towering waves hundreds of feet high on the surface.

They've made this place never peaceful again.

Taking a detour would have taken at least several more years, so the caravan chose not to detour and went straight in.

Lightning bolted wildly through the dark clouds, illuminating the sea with its churning white waves.

The spiritual energy in the entire sea area is constantly turbulent, and the magic domains of Core Formation cultivators are crushed by the chaotic spiritual energy as soon as they are deployed here.

Leading the way were the third-tier sea ships, and the remaining twenty-three second-tier sea ships were connected together by an array. The protective spiritual light on their hulls formed a continuous line as they struggled forward through the raging waves.

Lin Zhao stood by the window for a long time, and the surging spiritual energy on the sea made him a little frightened.

The power of the vast universe.

Faced with such a scene, even the power of a Core Formation cultivator seems somewhat insignificant.

Fortunately, the Dingling Merchant Guild had clearly traveled this route many times before.

Master Wenjing personally steered the ship, and at each point where the undercurrents converged, he was able to adjust the course in advance, slipping through the gap between the two currents.

They avoided the most dangerous central area.

They even stopped briefly at two islands and reefs where the spiritual energy was relatively calm, allowing the cultivators to catch their breath and repair the damaged ships and formations.

Two weeks later, the fleet successfully passed through the raging sea.

When the sea returned to calm, the monks in the fleet collectively breathed a sigh of relief. This place was truly eerie.

Even a peak Core Formation cultivator would be trapped here and die if they didn't know the way out.

For the next year or so, things were calm and peaceful.

There were no pirates, no third-tier monsters, and even fewer storms.

Lin Zhao cultivates for three hours every day, and spends the rest of his time fishing on the deck, exchanging a few words with Tian Hao, and occasionally pulling Pu Hui out for a chat.

It's been several years since Lin Zhao went to sea.

We've already covered most of the journey out to sea.

That day, Fairy Muqing came to inform the three of them.

She wore a moon-white long dress, which made her look a bit softer compared to her previous outfit.

For more than a year, she took on the task of communicating between the caravan and the three people. She went from being reserved at the beginning to gradually being able to sit down and say a few words naturally.

She roughly understood the relationship between the three, even though they were all of the same generation.

But Tianhao and Lin Zhao are truly equals.

Monk Puhui rarely gets involved in the affairs of these two, in other words, Lin Zhao and Tianhao are stronger than Puhui.

Fairy Mu Qing explained, "The Shilang Islands are just ahead. The fleet will need to rest and recuperate there for a month."

The Shilang Islands consist of four large islands spanning a hundred miles and hundreds of smaller islands.

The Stone Wave Islands have a history spanning a thousand years, led by three major Core Formation families, with eleven Core Formation True Persons, one in the late stage, two in the middle stage, and eight in the early stage.

Below are hundreds of Foundation Establishment families, making it the largest gathering place for cultivators in the surrounding seas, with three markets.

After listening, Lin Zhao suddenly asked, "What is the fundamental reason why the three major Core Formation families can rule the Stone Wave Islands?"

Fairy Mu Qing glanced at him.

She paused for a moment, as if weighing something, before speaking.

Master Dingling had instructed her that she could say anything as long as it didn't concern the very foundation of the Chamber of Commerce.

The original quote was: "Instead of letting them worry about the Chamber of Commerce, let them mess with outsiders."

"There are rumors that there is a fragmented fourth-order ghost cultivation lineage in the Stone Wave Islands."

Mu Qing lowered her voice slightly, "At the northernmost point of the Stone Wave Islands, there is another island, Moon Eclipse Island, which stretches for over a hundred miles."

The Core Formation cultivators of the three major families, upon reaching five hundred years of age and nearing the end of their lifespan, will all enter that island and transform into ghost cultivators.

She paused before saying, "It is said that the ghost cultivators on Moon Eclipse Island are stronger than the three major families combined."

Lin Zhao and Tian Hao exchanged a glance.

"That's bold."

Tianhao said, his tone revealing neither admiration nor any other emotion.

Ghost cultivators are different from ordinary cultivators.

True ghost cultivators need to abandon their physical bodies. The biggest advantage is that they don't need any additional life-extending methods; their lifespan can reach the limit of each realm.

A person who has reached the Foundation Establishment stage is over two hundred years old, and a person who has reached the Core Formation stage is over five hundred years old.

However, there are actually not many cultivators who can live to the limit. Fighting, cultivation going astray, or internal injuries can all send people away prematurely.

Ghost cultivators are different.

One cannot become a ghost cultivator by refining qi. A foundation-building ghost cultivator can live for three hundred years, while a core-forming ghost general can live for eight hundred years.

It sounds like it has many benefits, but the cost is also high.

Ghost cultivators are extremely easy to suppress.

To be precise, most attributes in this world are able to counter them—the Five Elements, wind and thunder, yin and yang attributes; any one of them can make a ghost cultivator of the same level unable to raise their head.

But that's not the biggest problem.

The real problem is that the price of losing the physical body is one's sanity.

After losing their physical bodies, ghost cultivators are extremely susceptible to being controlled by their emotions.

An ordinary person gets angry, but that's it.

A ghost cultivator's anger can last for years, or even decades.

Joy, sorrow, resentment, obsession—every emotion is amplified infinitely, growing bigger and bigger like a snowball, until it completely engulfs the original will.

The longer one remains a ghost cultivator, the thinner one's "human" emotions become.