"Swish!"
Qi Tianhe instinctively flickered and appeared among the clouds.
Bai Zihe's vision blurred.
It was as if something had vanished.
"Hmm?"
Bai Zihe frowned slightly and immediately released his divine sense.
However...
There was nothing.
This was strange.
Had he seen things? That seemed unlikely.
"Little Pagoda..."
Bai Zihe subconsciously asked the pagoda spirit, "Did you detect anyone just now?"
"Yes."
Little Pagoda's reply was as crisp as ever.
Bai Zihe was startled. So he hadn't imagined it; someone had indeed appeared.
In this vast, endless ocean.
Without a plane or a ship, ordinary people couldn't possibly reach here.
That left only one possibility.
This person was also a cultivator, and a master of extreme power, capable of disappearing from his sight while he himself mistook it for an illusion.
Bai Zihe's expression turned grave. He asked, "Who was it?"
"Don't know."
Little Pagoda replied, "This person has been here since not long after you got off the ship."
Bai Zihe was rendered speechless.
"Then why didn't you say anything earlier?"
"You didn't ask."
"..."
Bai Zihe didn't know what else to say.
At the same time, his mind churned with many thoughts.
According to Little Pagoda, this person had been following him for a long time, clearly with him in mind.
From the moment he disembarked, meaning, he had witnessed the entire scene of Bai Zihe evading the ultimate thermal weapons.
However...
For some reason, this person remained hidden, doing nothing to him, nor helping him, seeming more like an observer.
This feeling of being spied upon made Bai Zihe extremely uncomfortable.
If he hadn't accidentally stumbled into Penglai Immortal Island just now, he wouldn't have discovered anyone was tracking him.
No.
Bai Zihe thought of another point.
Why didn't this person enter Penglai Immortal Island? Was he unable to, or did he not discover it?
Bai Zihe couldn't figure it out.
Never mind.
He shook his head, not dwelling on it, and continued to pursue the group.
Above the clouds.
Qi Tianhe was also restless.
He wasn't entirely clear how Bai Zihe had vanished.
But now he had personally seen Bai Zihe appear out of thin air, materializing before his eyes.
His strength had just jumped from the mid-stage of the Divine Transformation realm to the Integration realm!
This was too terrifying.
So terrifying that Qi Tianhe began to doubt his own life.
It had taken him many years to advance from the Divine Transformation realm to the Integration realm.
But Bai Zihe...
Clearly.
Besides possessing the Xuanyuan Sword and the Haotian Pagoda, Bai Zihe also had many secrets and unknown opportunities that he was unaware of!
"Bai Zihe..."
Qi Tianhe gazed down at the rapidly retreating figure, a flicker of light in his eyes.
Before long.
Bai Zihe caught up with Zhuge Sheng and the others.
"Brother Bai!"
"Young Master!"
"Lord Bai!"
It was evident that everyone was already exhausted.
After a prolonged battle and a desperate flight across the vast ocean, their stamina had been severely depleted.
Fortunately.
A black dot could already be seen in the distance.
That should be the location of the island they had pinpointed on the ship earlier.
"Ding-ling..."
Bai Zihe's phone vibrated again.
"Little Junior Brother..."
Yue Rushuang said on the other end of the line, "Xuantian Pavilion's 'Tianhe' number ship has set sail. Its current destination is an island next to the one your phone is locating."
"Alright."
Bai Zihe was about to tell Yue Rushuang this himself.
Even for a ship sailing at full speed from Great Xia to here would take several days.
Setting sail in advance was very necessary.
"Fifth Senior Sister, my phone's battery is low. From now on, I'll turn it on for an hour or two every night. Call me then if you need anything."
"Okay."
Then.
Yue Rushuang gave a few more instructions and hung up.
Bai Zihe was currently relying on a single mobile phone to maintain contact with them, and it couldn't be recharged. He couldn't waste even a tiny bit of time.
Distant mountains look close, but are far to travel.
The group could see the island ahead, but after hours in the water, the island had only grown slightly larger...
"I'll go to the island first to scout."
Bai Zihe found it pointless to stay with them.
Ordinary creatures in the ocean would not be a match for Zhuge Sheng and the others, so there wouldn't be much danger.
So, Bai Zihe left the main group and headed for the island.
Zhuge Sheng and the others naturally had no objections.
"Whoosh..."
Bai Zihe's feet touched the water, like flickering light, covering hundreds of feet in an instant.
In the blink of an eye, he became a black dot and vanished from their sight.
And that island...
Grew larger and larger in Bai Zihe's vision.
Closer.
After more than ten minutes of travel, Bai Zihe finally reached the island.
The island was approximately four to five kilometers in circumference. Bai Zihe's divine sense scanned it briefly and found nothing unusual.
The only somewhat useful thing.
Was a cave discovered on one of the mountain peaks.
The cave had been abandoned for a long time.
And.
Inside, there were dried feces of wild beasts.
It seemed this was once the "residence" of a large wild beast, but the owner had not appeared for a long time.
Bai Zihe cleaned up the cave.
Next, they would have to spend some time here.
Afterward.
He casually roamed around the island.
There were some small animals, and some unknown wild fruits that could be eaten for sustenance.
In the time that followed.
Bai Zihe went to the seaside and began to meditate and cultivate.
Quietly waiting for Zhuge Sheng and the others to arrive.
The Integration realm...
Compared to the Divine Transformation realm, it was a world of difference.
The early, middle, and late stages of the Integration realm also had different designations: Departing Soul, Soul Refining, and Integration!
Departing Soul meant one could detach their soul and roam the heavens, better comprehending the creations of heaven and earth, and the mechanisms of the universe.
Soul Refining meant one could temper the soul, making it stronger, and practice certain soul secret techniques, to the point of separating a small part of the divine soul and attaching it to talismans or clones, making it infinitely useful.
Integration meant one could re-unite the scattered divine senses. The greatest benefit was being able to cultivate with both the main body and clones simultaneously, comprehending the laws of heaven and earth, and progressing much faster.
However.
For Bai Zihe.
His immediate priority was to learn some of the most common skills of cultivators.
For example...
Sword flight!
What kind of cultivator would not know sword flight?
Speaking of which.
True Nascent Soul stage cultivators already knew sword flight, which was excellent for both combat and escape.
But he...
After his masters left, he had no one to guide him, leading to his current predicament.
This time was a good opportunity.
The few days on the island would be enough for him to make up for much of what he had missed.