Chapter One: Heaven's First Floor

  Mount Wanzhen stands tall and proud, piercing the clouds, standing still in the vast ocean for thousands of years, witnessing the birth and death of waves, watching the ups and downs of the tides.

  All that ordinary people see is the picturesque green mountains below the clouds, with majestic and magnificent mountain ranges, but they do not know that above the clouds there are grotto heavens, a paradise for immortals, where there are all sorts of beautiful and strange sights, as magical as a dream, which cannot be fully described in words.

  A golden sun hangs high in the sky, radiating a million rays of brilliant golden light illuminating the heavens and the earth. The misty clouds spread out and rise up, layer upon layer, reflecting each other, finally transforming into a rainbow stretching across the sky, like a golden halberd or a great road, hanging from the peak of Golden Rainbow Mountain, becoming a wondrous sight in the mortal world.

  Under the golden rainbow, at the top of the majestic mountain, there is a magnificent and spacious palace. The white jade carvings are used as railings, and the green stones are used as bricks. The auspicious dragons and phoenixes are all present, and the crane's cries echo through the wind. It has an ethereal atmosphere, and it is the Lingxiao Temple, where the heart of the Lingxiao Sect lies.

  The temple name is Ling Xiao, located above the nine heavens. Leaning against the jade railing of the temple hall and looking into the distance, one can only see the vastness of the sky and earth, with clouds rolling beneath their feet. Dark clouds gather, hiding thunder and lightning within, as a storm approaches.

  Inside the Lingxiao Hall, a person leaned on the railing and gazed into the distance. He had thick eyebrows and long whiskers, with an elegant appearance. In front of him was the Taiji diagram of yin and yang, behind him were the eight trigrams of the prior heaven. His entire being was carefree and ethereal, with a hint of otherworldly elegance, inspiring reverence in those who saw him. He must be a celestial master, a true immortal who had attained the Tao.

  Apart from this, outside the Ling Xiao Hall corridor, all the disciples who were on duty had already retreated, but one person was still kneeling at the feet of the true person, with a sorrowful expression and a handsome face, it was Kang Zhen who had gone missing for several days from Qingyu Island.

  At this moment, Kang Zhen, who was usually lively and agile, was motionless with his head bowed to the ground, not even daring to breathe heavily. He was clearly very respectful of the true person in front of him. Even though he had been kneeling for a long time, the true person showed no intention of telling him to get up. Kang Zhen also knelt honestly, without any complaints.

  The winds howl and the clouds move, under the Lingxiao Hall, dark clouds surge and change unpredictably. One by one, strange and wondrous scenes are reflected in this true person's eyes. At this moment, if someone were to carefully examine his eyes, they would discover that the gaze within is profound and boundless, reflecting all the phenomena of the world, as if having witnessed all the vicissitudes of life, yet seeming like a bottomless deep pit, dark and endless. The scenes of the world enter his eyes like sinking water, silently and noiselessly transforming.

  It wasn't until much later that Kang Zhen, who was still kneeling on the ground, suddenly heard a voice in front of him ask, "Who told you to go to Xuan Gui Island?"

  Kang Zhen gritted his teeth and said: "Reporting back to Master, it was this disciple himself..."

  The only person who can be called Shifu by Kang Zhen is the current leader of Ling Xiao Sect, Zhen Ren, who is also a giant figure in the Xian Tian North Dipper of the Hongmeng ethnic group, and is revered by people all over the world, Cen Huaiyuan Zhenren.

  Kang Zhen's words had only reached halfway when he was interrupted by Hui Yuan Zhenren, who said, "Are you trying to deceive me?"

  Kang Zhen's body shook, and he looked up to see only Hua Yuan Zhen Ren slowly turning around, his deep eyes fixed on him. In just one glance, Kang Zhen felt cold sweat breaking out all over his body, and he hastily lowered his head, no longer daring to deceive, saying in a low voice: "Disciple was wrong, it was disciple's impatience to save Du Shixiong that led him to seek help everywhere. Wang Huan Shixiong did not want to say much, but was entangled by disciple until he had no choice but to point out one or two things."

  "King Wu?"

  Huaiyuan Zhenren was silent for a moment, then looked at Kang Zhen who was kneeling on the ground again. He slowly turned around and leaned against the railing to gaze into the distance. A slender hand emerged from his sleeve and gently landed on the white jade railing, with fingers slowly flexing and extending.

  After a while, the calm and steady voice of Huaiyuan Zhenren came over, unable to hear joy or anger, rarely seeing tone fluctuations, just faintly saying: "Since you want to see your Du Shixiong so much, don't mind offending Master Uncle, go to Heiyundong to accompany him for a few days."

  Kang Zhen's body trembled slightly, but he didn't have any other reaction. He just replied in a low voice, "Yes."

  A true man from afar no longer speaks, but silently gazes down at the clouds and sea below. The wind grows stronger, the waves grow larger, a massive wave crashes against the sky, thunder rumbles, lightning flashes, and in that moment, the sky is torn apart, illuminating the cloud curtain, all reflected in his eyes, transforming into rolling clouds and rain. With one glance, he sees through the void, shattering the stormy weather, piercing through the vast sea and sky, passing over countless green mountains and islands, arriving instantly, amidst the violent storm, he sees that small island like a turtle, quietly lying beneath the Golden Rainbow Mountain, in the midst of the blue sea.

  A small bay on Qingyu Island.

  Shen Shi and Zhong Qingzhu stared at each other, both unsure of what to say for a moment. Finally, Shen Shi reacted first, jumping down from the rock and walking a few steps on the sandy beach before stopping in front of Zhong Qingzhu, sizing her up and saying:

  "Are you here to pick up something?"

  Zhong Qingzhu's face and body were covered with a lot of sand grains, and his left hand was still holding several colorful shells. Except for picking up shells, there shouldn't be any other possibility, right? Indeed, Zhong Qingzhu nodded, and his face still had a few hints of doubt, saying: "Yes, usually we pick shells on these nearby beaches. Ah, how did you end up here?"

  Shen Shi furrowed her brow, but she had detected something unusual in her words. Instead of answering, she asked, "Us?"

  Qingzhong nodded and said, "Yes, apart from me, there are more than thirty fellow disciples who also received the task of picking up shells in the array hall. They usually do it around here..." Before she finished speaking, she seemed to have suddenly discovered something, paused for a moment, looked around, and then her gaze floated back to the stone wall behind Shen Shi's arrival. Her body moved slightly, as if she wanted to go over and take a look.

  "No need to look, I just came from over there, and there's no one left." Shen Shi shook his head and said.

  "Ah?" Zhong Qingzhu was visibly surprised, and a look of confusion also appeared on her pretty face. "How could this be? Where did they all go?"

  Shen Shi was also unable to answer this question. After a moment of contemplation, he looked up at the sky and saw that it was already darkening with thick clouds, which had lowered to an alarming degree, causing the surrounding light to dim significantly, as if it were about to enter the night. The sea breeze also suddenly became fierce, blowing the clothes of the two people into a fluttering dance.

  Above the vast ocean, waves rise and fall, getting bigger and bigger, surging and rolling ceaselessly, as if about to capsize, looking at which is frightening; thunderous thunder sounds, rumbling from thick and heavy cloud layers, threads of lightning, flashing and darting through the dark clouds, already a sign that wind and rain are coming.

  At this moment, the words Haixing girl said early in the morning suddenly echoed clearly in Shen Shi's ears: Today there may be a storm, the wind and rain are too big to do anything, go back early, it's best to stay in the cave and don't come out, don't wander around especially on the coast.

  Shen Shi suddenly felt a chill run down his body, and he broke out in a cold sweat. At the same time, before he could react, Zhong Qingzhu on the other side suddenly exclaimed "Huh?" and stretched out her palm to feel around, then said:

  "It seems like it's going to rain."

  The words had barely fallen when a thunderclap boomed in the dark clouds, like the Thunder God drumming in the sky, bellowing with a deafening roar that shook the earth. Bean-sized raindrops fell instantly, pouring down in sheets.

  Shen Shi's face changed, and he muttered under his breath: "It's over." After that, he turned around and ran back the way he came, shouting loudly to Zhong Qingzhu: "Hurry up, hurry up!"

  Qingzhong bamboo covered his head with his hand, looked at the sky color, and also felt that something was wrong. He hurriedly followed Shen Shi's back and ran away. Just as he had run two steps, Qingzhong bamboo suddenly let out a loud cry of surprise, pointing to the distant sea surface of Cang Hai, shouting: "Ah... what is that?"

  Shen Shi turned his head to look, and almost fell down with a stumble. His face also showed an unbelievable and astonished expression, as if he didn't dare to believe it. In the distance, on the surface of the sea where the waves were surging, a gigantic wave suddenly rose up, over ten zhang high, just like a huge wall of water, rapidly rushing towards the bay here.

  A loud rumble, the sky and earth changed color, as if this ancient monster of the ocean finally woke up from its slumber, revealing its extremely ferocious side. The entire sea seemed to be awakened by a demon, dancing wildly and howling, with waves surging and rolling, and a huge wall of water in the middle, covering the sky and earth, unstoppable, wanting to crush everything that dared to stand in its way.

  In an instant, amidst the wind and rain, the two people's bodies were completely drenched by the heavy rain. The strong winds howled and the rain pounded against them, leaving them helpless and at the mercy of the waves. As they gazed out at the massive waves rolling in, escape seemed impossible. Shen Shi suddenly turned around and shouted to Zhong Qingzhu: "Is there anywhere we can take shelter?"

  Zhong Qingzhu looked like he was also scared out of his wits, and for a moment, he didn't react. Shen Shi didn't know why every time he met this woman, it seemed like they were both extremely unlucky. He felt a sudden surge of anxiety in his heart, and he rushed forward to grab her shoulders, shaking her violently as he shouted: "Hey, wake up! Is there anywhere around here to take shelter from the rain?"

  Qing Zhu suddenly woke up, his face pale, but still stretched out a slightly trembling finger towards the back of his head, with a hint of crying in his voice, saying: "That... that side, I think I remember there's a cave..."

  Before she finished speaking, Shen Shi had already taken big strides to run in that direction. After running two steps, he felt something was off and turned his head back to see Zhong Qingzhu still standing in the same spot, seemingly not having reacted yet. He couldn't help but yell at her again:

  "Run quickly, want to stay here and die?"

  Zhong Qing's body shook as he looked at the terrifying giant wave rapidly approaching, covering the sky and earth like a ferocious evil spirit. How dare he stand there? He quickly turned around and ran towards Shen Shi, gritting his teeth.

  Shen Shi was so anxious that he didn't bother to say anything else, grabbed her hand and pulled her to run desperately while shouting loudly: "Where, where is the cave?"

  Zhong Qing was not as fast as him, but he was tightly grasping his wrist and pulling him along, stumbling and staggering to keep up. At this time, Shen Shi yelled at him, also subconsciously pointing towards the depths of the mountain wall in front of them. The strong wind and heavy rain seemed to blur their vision, and although they were standing together, their voices sounded distant, as if they had to shout loudly to be heard.

  "Over there, under the mountain wall..."

  Shen Shi ran while looking up and saw that there was indeed a small, dark cave at the foot of the mountain wall. It looked like it was only about one person high, and he couldn't see what was inside. At this point, he didn't care about anything else, and with his eyes closed, he could only rush towards it.

  The waves surged forward, rolling and advancing, and in the blink of an eye, they had already overflowed the original coastline, still not stopping. They continued to move forward, like a raging monster sweeping everything away, rushing towards those two small figures in front.