"Have I already entered the 'Heavenly Saint Ancient Tomb'?"
When Ye Chen's divine sense recovered from the dizziness of the teleportation, he found himself sitting on the back of a giant flying beast.
This was a huge eagle-like creature that measured a full kilometer in length, but bizarrely, it exhibited no signs of life, it was actually a flying puppet.
Besides Ye Chen, there were thirty-two other people on the back of the beast, but all of them still appeared dazed, seemingly yet to recover from the disorientation of the teleportation.
"Where is Jiang Yao?"
Ye Chen swept his divine sense over the thirty-two people but couldn't find Jiang Yao among the crowd.
He had entered the giant coffin teleportation formation with Jiang Yao, but now she had vanished?
Not only was Jiang Yao nowhere to be found, but the other individuals of the 349 who had entered the tomb were also missing.
A feeling of surprise began to rise in Ye Chen's mind.
Looking around, Ye Chen was shocked to find that he was in the high skies, with nothing below him but the massive flying eagle puppet, and above him loomed a gloomy and dull sky. Looking down, he could see a vast expanse of the ocean.
Immediately after entering the Heavenly Saint Ancient Tomb, had he been teleported above the ocean?
Where was this giant beast taking them?
As Ye Chen surveyed his surroundings, several half-step Rotating Pill Realm experts on the beast's back also gradually revived. Upon awakening, they quickly spread out their divine senses to inspect their surroundings. Discovering there were only a few dozen of them on the back of the beast, flying over the ocean, they all uttered soft sounds of surprise.
Soon after, the other individuals on the beast's back completely came to.
"Is this the 'Heavenly Saint Ancient Tomb'?"
"God, such vast heaven and earth, we are actually above an ocean!"
"Legend has it that the Heavenly Saint powerhouses could comprehend the laws of space and create a world of their own, but who would have thought that just an ancient tomb could be this massive!"
"And where are the others? Why are there only the few dozen of us here?"
After awakening, these individuals examined their surroundings, and each of them started expressing their astonishment and doubt.
Just as all thirty-three people on the back of the beast woke up, the flying beast suddenly turned its head and opened its mouth to spray something into the void. In an instant, thirty-three wooden tokens flew directly towards the group.
Each person caught a wooden token.
The moment Ye Chen's hand touched the wooden token, a flood of complex characters surged into his mind. After closing his eyes for a moment to digest this information, he then opened his eyes.
"So that's how it is."
From the information conveyed by the wooden token from the giant beast, Ye Chen finally understood why there were only thirty-three of them here!
According to the token, everyone who entered the Heavenly Saint Ancient Tomb would land on a flying giant beast, with a total of ten such beasts taking ten different groups of tomb explorers to ten separate islands.
These islands constituted the outermost area of the Heavenly Saint Ancient Tomb, known as the "Spirit Sea Relic Zone"!
Ye Chen's group was on the fourth flying giant beast and was headed for the Fourth Sea Island, where they had the opportunity to search for the relics within the Spirit Sea Relic Zone.
As stated on the token, there was a total of one month of treasure hunting time on the Fourth Sea Island. After a month, the second area of the Heavenly Saint Ancient Tomb, the "Rotating Pill Relic Zone," would open.
This Rotating Pill Relic Zone was situated on a giant island in the very center, encircled by the ten islands. Regardless of the number of tomb explorers on each island, only ten individuals would have a chance to enter the Rotating Pill Relic Zone, totaling one hundred people from the ten islands who could ultimately reach the central giant island.
As for the most important "Heavenly Saint Relic Zone," its location wasn't specified on the token; perhaps only after setting foot in the Rotating Pill Relic Zone could one possibly learn more.
The selection of the ten who could enter the central giant island from each of the outer islands would depend on hunting the giant beasts.
According to the record on the token, not only did each of the ten islands harbour various relics, but numerous giant beasts also resided there. During the one month on the outer islands, explorers would search for relics and hunt the beasts.
In the end, the number of beasts hunted would be recorded on these tokens. When the month was up, those who had slain the most beasts— the top ten from each island—would be able to use the teleportation formation between the outer islands and the central island to enter the central giant island.
Moreover, the token stated that any thoughts of entering the central island through flight were futile; throughout the entire expanse of the ancient tomb, except for the realms of the outer and central giant islands, all other areas were under flight restrictions.
Even with abilities to soar through the skies or burrow through the earth, none could fly within the tomb's confines, let alone cross the islands by flight to reach the central giant island.
Even the ocean's airspace was under flight restrictions, which was why they were being carried by the giant beast into the islands!
Nor was it possible to reach the central giant island by crossing the ocean waters—according to the token, if even a drop of that sea water were to touch someone, even a Rotating Pill Realm expert would be reduced to ash!
"So all of us tomb explorers were divided into ten groups and sent to ten different islands."
"I wonder which group Jiang Yao is in?"
"It seems that the only chance to meet Jiang Yao again is to wait until the central giant island opens after a month."
Ye Chen had entered the tomb with the intent of exploring it with Jiang Yao, but never expected that the rules of the tomb would separate them right away.
Just like Ye Chen's group, indeed nine other groups were also within the ancient tomb's world, situated in other directions across the ocean, seated on the backs of flying beasts, heading towards other islands.
Jiang Yao at this time was atop a giant beast, flying together with thirty-five tomb explorers toward the Eighth Sea Island.
"Each batch of people challenges the islands separately?"
"To enter the central giant island and reach the Rotating Pill Relics area, one must wait until a month later, and also be among the top ten of their batch?"
"Ye Chen doesn't know which sea island he has gone to."
Jiang Yao was currently holding a wooden token in her hand. She looked around but didn't see Ye Chen's figure, and a barely concealable sense of loss was evident in the girl's eyes.
"So the area of the Rotating Pill Relics will only open after a month, and only then can one enter the central giant island?" Liu Yan from the "Flame Sect," a fifth-rank major sect, who was flying to the First Sea Island, looked at the boundless ocean, smiled faintly, and clutched tightly onto his wooden token, "Well then, let's wait for a month.
It will be too easy to snatch the top ten of this batch to qualify for entering the central giant island!"
Liu Yan's gaze swept over the others on the giant beast, completely unconcerned with them.
"Spirit Sea Relic? That suits Little Dingdang even more than the Rotating Pill Relics, I should look for these Spirit Sea Relics for her first."
Sitting quietly at the forefront on the flying giant beast of the third batch was Fairy Nishang, whose eyes did not bother to survey the others; she only looked straight ahead.
As everyone became aware of the exploration rules for the outer area of the Heavenly Saint Ancient Tomb, those seated on the ten flying beasts finally saw the respective sea islands they were heading to appear on the horizon before them.
"The Fourth Sea Island, that's the Fourth Sea Island ahead!"
After flying for the duration of an incense stick, Ye Chen's batch finally saw the emerging sea island ahead.
To call it a sea island was an understatement, as the area was immensely vast. From the sky, everyone could feel the grandeur of the sea island.
As they flew closer, the sea island felt more like a continent, with roars emitting from the island from time to time. They could also occasionally see giant flying beasts rising into the sky from the island.
As they approached close to the island's airspace, many people on the back of the giant beast stood up excitedly, and even a late Spirit Sea Realm disciple from the "Cloud Sky Sect" couldn't help but step off the giant beast and fly straight onto the sea island when they were still about thirty meters away.
Clearly, this overly excited disciple had forgotten about the flight restriction around the sea island. As he stepped off, he plunged straight down towards the sea.
It was at this moment that the Cloud Sky Sect disciple remembered that the sea water below was not to be touched. Once it was touched, even a Rotating Pill Realm expert would be turned to ash.
Restricted by the flight prohibition, he couldn't fly, and plummeting into the seawater meant certain death!
The late Spirit Sea Realm disciple couldn't help but cry out in panic.
Just then, a whip extended from the body of the giant beast, "whooshing" tens of meters in length and gently coiling around the falling disciple, whisking him back to safety on the beast's back.
Back on solid ground, the pale-faced Cloud Sky Sect disciple was visibly shaken!
"Next time, if you're not careful, no one will save you!" The one who intervened was a Half-Step Rotating Pill expert from the Cloud Sky Sect, who scolded towards the Spirit Sea Realm disciple.
From the Cloud Sky Sect disciple's fall and struggle to the Half-Step Rotating Pill disciple's rescue, it all happened in the blink of an eye.
However, many on the back of the beast shuddered inwardly.
What was stated on the wooden token was indeed true, the flight restriction in the tomb was extremely powerful, so much so that not even someone in the late Spirit Sea Realm had any power to resist!
Finally, after a small mishap, the flying beast carrying Ye Chen and the thirty-two others safely landed on the sea island.
As soon as they touched down on the island, the flying beast disappeared in a flash of light.
Leaving thirty-three people standing on the ground of the sea island.
"With only a month for hunting giant beasts and treasure hunting, we must make haste!"
"Flying is not prohibited within the sea island, so we might as well fly around and take a look."
Among the thirty-three people, some were from the same sect and gathered together upon landing, preparing to set off into the island.
Others, like Ye Chen, who was the only one from his sect in this batch, were planning to go solo.
Ye Chen also planned to first look around the sea island. Just as he was about to set off like the rest, a long-haired young man stepped in front of everyone.
"Hehe, no need to rush off. Of the thirty-three people in our batch, only ten will have the chance to enter the central giant island in the future. Wouldn't it be better to eliminate a few people right here?"
As the long-haired youth spoke, his mocking gaze fell on Ye Chen and several others.
Without exception, these individuals were among the lower realms of the thirty-three, with Ye Chen only at the early Spirit Sea Realm and the others being in the mid Spirit Sea Realm.
This long-haired young man seemed eager to prey on the weak as soon as they arrived on the island!