Though he was nearing the marked region, Lin Yun still couldn’t bring himself to feel happy.
“The area outlined on the sea chart may just be a small circle, but in reality, it spans at least a hundred thousand nautical miles. Finding the Great Kun Clan’s ruins within such a vast range is quite the challenge,” Lin Yun said helplessly.
Besides the sea chart, Emperor Huoyun had also given Lin Yun a piece of intelligence.
The intelligence noted that, to prevent their treasure from being seized by other races in the Endless Sea, the Great Kun Clan likely hid their ruins on an island rather than underwater.
After all, the creatures of the Endless Sea typically lived in the water. If the ruins were hidden underwater, they’d be far easier to discover.
This was somewhat good news. If he had to search underwater, that would be the real danger.
“I’ll start by scouting this marked area,” Lin Yun decided.
With that, he continued piloting the flying boat, entering the region marked on the map.
The designated area was massive, so Lin Yun slowed the boat’s speed, carefully observing each island within the region.
“This island doesn’t seem special.”
“This one doesn’t either.”
…
Lin Yun pressed forward, exploring as he went.
He planned to first survey every island in the marked area, regardless of size.
If he found no anomalies, he’d have to meticulously search each island one by one.
It was the only way.
Because he needed to examine each island closely, Lin Yun moved slowly. This exploration took a full two days.
Initially, Lin Yun had been worried that if other races from the Endless Sea were also after the Great Kun Clan’s ruins, he might be attacked upon entering this region.
He’d been on edge the whole time, but over these two days of exploration, everything remained surprisingly calm—no dangers arose.
The stranger the calm, the more an ominous feeling grew in Lin Yun’s heart.
On the afternoon of the third day.
Since starting his search, Lin Yun had covered a lot of ground, but about half the region still remained unexplored.
At that moment, an island appeared in Lin Yun’s line of sight ahead.
He immediately lowered the flying boat’s altitude, preparing to release his divine sense to investigate.
But before he could, his naked eye caught something.
“Hm? There are people on that island!”
Lin Yun spotted several figures on the island ahead.
At the same time, he faintly sensed an unusual aura emanating from it.
“It seems this island might very well be the hiding place of the Great Kun Clan’s treasure ruins,” Lin Yun murmured.
The island was small, with a diameter of just about five kilometres—unremarkable among the countless islands in this region.
“The Great Kun Clan probably chose to hide their treasure here because it’s so inconspicuous and unlikely to draw attention,” Lin Yun thought to himself.
Unfortunately, over tens of thousands of years, the seals on the Great Kun Clan’s ruins had gradually weakened, making them easier to detect.
With that, Lin Yun stowed his flying boat and descended toward the island.
On the island.
Eight figures were present, and they naturally sensed Lin Yun’s arrival.
As Lin Yun landed, all eight turned their gazes toward him.
Lin Yun sized them up as well.
The eight wore identical attire, clearly part of the same group.
An elderly man with white hair stepped forward and spoke slowly, “May I know who you are, sir, and which power stands behind you? Please state your identity to avoid any misunderstandings.”
“Just a nameless wanderer, a lone cultivator with no affiliations,” Lin Yun replied calmly.
Back at the palace when he received the mission, Emperor Huoyun had instructed him to conceal his identity, and Lin Yun followed that advice.
“Oh? A lone cultivator?” The old man seemed somewhat surprised.
He pressed further, “Then may I ask, fellow lone cultivator, what is your realm? How about displaying your cultivation level for us?”
Clearly, they wanted to gauge Lin Yun’s situation and strength to plan their next move.
If they figured out Lin Yun’s background and found him non-threatening, they might even attack him—it wasn’t out of the question.
“Senior, we’ve only just met, and you’re already digging into my details and trying to probe my strength. Isn’t that rather impolite? Since you’re asking me to reveal myself, shouldn’t you first share something about yourselves?” Lin Yun said with a faint smile.
The white-haired old man stood with his hands behind his back, exuding a touch of arrogance. “I am from the Mu Clan of the Huoyun Empire.”
This was the Endless Sea, beyond the jurisdiction of any empire, so it wasn’t strange for people from other empires to be here.
“The Mu Clan? Sorry, I’ve never heard of it,” Lin Yun said calmly.
“Haha, no matter if you don’t know. You only need to understand that our Mu Clan has three Immortals!” the old man said proudly.
“Three Immortals?” Lin Yun murmured.
He knew that within the Huoyun Empire, beyond the usual forces in various counties and prefectures, there were factions with Immortals. Their power had reached a certain height, so they naturally didn’t bother competing with the families, sects, or forces of those regions. They also rarely appeared in the public eye.
The Mu Clan must be one such existence.
Even in the Xingwu Empire, where Lin Yun had once stayed, there were similar factions with Immortals.
Back then, with his limited strength, Lin Yun had only encountered sects like the Tianjian Sect. It was only later that he came across ancient families.
Though Lin Yun had been in the Huoyun Empire for a few years, he’d spent most of that time cultivating and hadn’t bothered to learn about its truly powerful factions.
He hadn’t heard of the Mu Clan, yet for some reason, the name felt vaguely familiar, as if he’d come across it somewhere before.
At that moment, a hawk-nosed man with a youthful appearance and dark hair stepped forward.
“Kid, since you’re a nobody with no backing, this treasure isn’t something you can lay claim to. Get out of here now! Otherwise, don’t blame us for being rude!” the hawk-nosed man barked at Lin Yun.
Naturally, they wanted to monopolise this treasure.
“I went through great hardship to find this place, and you think you can just tell me to leave? That doesn’t seem fair,” Lin Yun said calmly.
“If you don’t scram, you’ll be leaving your corpse behind!” the white-haired old man said coldly.
As he spoke, he unleashed the powerful aura of an eighth-turn Tribulation Realm cultivator!
“Eighth-turn Tribulation Realm?” Feeling this level of power, Lin Yun immediately sensed the pressure.
He’d known in advance that no Immortals would be here—just Tribulation Realm cultivators at most—but such a formidable Tribulation Realm expert was beyond what he could handle!
In that moment, Lin Yun truly felt the difficulty of this training mission!
This task was indeed far too hard. If it came to a fight, how could he possibly take them on? This was an eighth-turn Tribulation Realm cultivator!
And behind the white-haired old man stood seven others.
He was alone.
“Leave or stay—it’s your choice!” the white-haired old man urged coldly.
