Chapter 286: Dark and Deep Island

Judging from this harvest, the master of Ningyuan City's Residual Time-Space is undoubtedly Mr. Bai. Now that his obsession has been completely resolved, I'm afraid the next time I enter the Immortal Falling Realm, I'll be in a different place. I wonder what kind of encounters await me then.

It now seems that being trapped in the same time-space within the Immortal Falling Realm was a rare opportunity. If there had only been one attempt, without the chance to repeatedly explore and uncover the hidden clues within the time-space, it would likely have been impossible to gain so much.

Of course, the prerequisite was being able to escape the trap of endless reincarnation.

As for what will happen, I'll know once I enter again next time.

Feeling a slight sensation in his heart, Li Fan frowned. Perhaps because he had gained two sets of rewards this time, the restriction on entry time had nearly doubled. It would probably take about a year for the restriction to disappear.

“Good things come to those who wait; I can only wait patiently,” Li Fan mused to himself.

Desolate Island.

Since Su Xiaomei and Zhang Haobo left, Xiao Heng seemed to have been spurred on, becoming even more diligent in his cultivation. The bottleneck that had plagued him for a long time finally dissipated recently, allowing him to advance to the Golden Core Realm at any time. Following an inner prompting, he headed to the central sea region of the Cloud Forest Sea to seek his own opportunities.

Meanwhile, the Yin sisters also reached Qi Refining Completion at the same time. From the Bone Vanguard Realm, they obtained the Superior Human Relic-Concealing Gauze and the Divine Escape Needle, respectively, and began their secluded journey to Foundation Establishment.

On the Desolate Island, Su Changyu was the only one who had yet to establish his foundation.

However, he had only just broken through to the late Qi Refining stage. Foundation Establishment was still a distant prospect.

For a time, even with Su Changyu's steady disposition, he couldn't help but feel bewildered.

“By the time Xiaomei and Xiao Heng return, they'll probably have entered the Golden Core stage,” “while I'll still be stuck in Qi Refining.” “In fact, the further we go, the wider the gap between us will become.”

Su Changyu stood on the beach, watching the tides ebb and flow, a touch of bitterness in his heart.

He wasn't a saint, after all. Surrounded by exceptionally talented individuals day in and day out, how could he not feel pressure?

It was just that in the past, he had always suppressed these frustrations, never speaking of them to anyone.

Now, his familiar companions had suddenly all left. Even the two younger sisters who later joined the Desolate Island were going to establish their foundations before him. Su Changyu finally felt his resolve crumble a bit.

Ultimately, he was just an ordinary young man.

Troubled in his heart, he couldn't even bring himself to cultivate.

For the first time, Su Changyu flew away from the Desolate Island, aimlessly wandering. Along the way, whenever he encountered other cultivators, he instinctively avoided them.

He wandered for an unknown period until, when he came to his senses, he had unknowingly arrived near a desolate island.

The island was small, with little vegetation. Only a square, black stone building stood upon it.

Noticing that the island seemed inhabited, Su Changyu prepared to steer clear to avoid any misunderstandings.

Just as he was about to distance himself, flames suddenly erupted from the black stone building on the island. Faint cries for help also accompanied the blaze.

Hesitating for a moment, Su Changyu eventually descended and rushed into the square building.

Inside the building, transparent cages were arrayed. They contained strange, eerie creatures: two giant pythons, goat-headed sea turtles, colossal water maggots, grotesque beings made of six heads and hands, and more. For some unknown reason, all these creatures had lost their life force. Only their corpses lay quietly in the cages.

Su Changyu's expression turned grim. He put up his guard and proceeded deeper.

He continued inwards until he reached a massive rectangular transparent cage. Four smaller cells on each side were connected to this rectangular cage. These four cells held several ragged mortals. Some were already dead, while others were barely clinging to life. Intense flames were spreading outwards from the central massive cage. The cries for help Su Changyu had heard earlier came from these mortals.

Seeing this, Su Changyu performed a Water Control spell, intending to extinguish the fire. However, to his surprise, these were no ordinary flames. Instead of being put out by water, they burned even more fiercely.

Su Changyu's expression changed. While controlling the water, he also channeled his internal spiritual energy into the spell. This only slightly hindered the raging flames. Yet, he still couldn't extinguish them.

Before long, Su Changyu found himself faltering. His spiritual energy output grew weaker, and the flames intensified.

Seeing a cultivation master attempting to rescue them, the mortals in the cells were filled with hope and began kowtowing to Su Changyu.

Su Changyu gritted his teeth and persevered. Just before his spiritual energy ran out, two strange voices rang out simultaneously.“Why, why would you, a cultivator, rescue these mortals?”“Why, why would you, a cultivator, rescue these mortals?”

Su Changyu was startled. He turned towards the voices and saw a snow-haired, somewhat aged cultivator standing behind him, seemingly having appeared out of nowhere. The cultivator stared at Su Changyu with a somewhat dazed look and mumbled his question.

Su Changyu was momentarily at a loss for how to reply. It had only been a little over a decade since he left Dali and his mortal life. During that time, he had lived on the Desolate Island with his family and friends. He didn't harbor any notions of a divide between immortals and mortals. Helping someone who cried for help was simply an instinctive act for him.

Seeing Su Changyu's embarrassed expression, the man let out a scoff. With a casual wave of his hand, the fiercely burning flames instantly vanished.

Su Changyu immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

“Come with me.”“Come with me.”

Still, two voices spoke simultaneously. A door beside them suddenly swung open, and Su Changyu followed him inside.

The chaotic scene inside surprised him. It looked as if it had been deliberately destroyed, with shattered bones and remains strewn across the floor. Some belonged to humans, others to strange creatures. There was even a horrifying puppy in the middle of the aisle, its four limbs being human hands and its belly covered in eyes.

The white-haired cultivator didn't seem to care much about it. He casually swept the debris aside, clearing a path.

Su Changyu cautiously followed.

At the end of the passage was a staircase leading downwards. The man looked back at Su Changyu, smiled inexplicably as if gesturing for him to follow, and then slowly descended.

An eerie atmosphere permeated the entire place. Su Changyu took a deep breath, considered it, and then chose to follow the staircase downwards.

As his eyes adjusted to the darkness of the lower space, a chill immediately flooded Su Changyu's heart when he discerned his surroundings. The not-so-spacious area was densely packed with hundreds of corpses. Most of these bodies were shattered beyond recognition, like torn rag dolls. Their body parts were scattered haphazardly across the floor, creating a scene of terror akin to purgatory.