Chapter 1157: Golden Isle
This sudden development stunned everyone in the crowd, including the elders from Golden Isle. They didn’t dare to believe their eyes while looking at the formations that were completely activated.
“This… this has to be impossible, right?!” These elders were slack-jawed, but this was definitely the reality of the matter.
They had full confidence in their arrays. Only a few lineages in the Heaven Spirit World would have comparable formations. Such a powerful and complete platform was the work of their Treefather, so there was no chance of this being an error.
“Damn, don’t tell me, a bloodline examination platform?” Li Qiye noticed the refined jades all around him and immediately cursed. He was currently seeing stars while his blood energy was churning like crazy; his body felt like it was splitting apart.
He was shot by the powerful water beam into the sky. Without the protection of the pentagate, he would have already been lacerated to little pieces by that terrifying beam.
Who would have thought that an even more outrageous circumstance would happen after landing? Li Qiye naturally knew what this platform was used for.
He smiled while seeing the platform’s dao power enveloping him with runes in order to analyze his bloodline and said: “Not bad, only an emperor level character would be able to create a platform like this.”
He then wanted to leave, but he started to stumble. His body felt especially heavy; it was as if something was pouring into his body.
“That’s good stuff.” He murmured after realizing what was happening. Outside of being wounded by the water beam, the bead of water he obtained from the maelstrom was also affecting him.
He took a deep breath to adjust his body while channeling his blood energy. However, he found that something has gone awry.
“Check it out.” The elders calmed down and immediately checked the formations on the platform. They found that there were no problems at all.
In fact, they also believed that there was nothing wrong at all with the array created by their Treefather.
At this time, an elder pulled Li Qiye’s hand up and loudly announced: “We have a victor!”
The defeated human youth from earlier didn’t say anything. Victory was in his grasp, but he had to now leave grumpily since there was nothing else he could do. However, it wasn’t a big deal since he had absolute confidence in his bloodline. Even if he wasn’t selected by Golden Isle, other lineages would pick him eventually.
In a short period of time, the disciples decorated the islands with lanterns and flowers. The lively sounds of drums and laughter could be heard everywhere.
One disciple bowed before Li Qiye and cheerfully smiled: “Our groom, please follow me. I have prepared a new house for you.”
Li Qiye could only wryly smile back. He magically became someone’s groom the moment he arrived at the Heaven Spirit World. This whole event was too strange.
He looked around and asked: “Where is this place?”
The disciple smiled in response: “Our groom, you participated in the selection but you don’t know where this place is? This is Golden Isle of the Jade Sea.” 1
“Golden Isle…” He couldn’t help but smile helplessly while shaking his head: “You all are misunderstanding something. I accidentally fell down from the sky; it is out of sheer coincidence that I am your groom.”
“Then that’s even better. This is the will of the heavens, a predestined fate. This will be a topic that garners even more praises and songs!” The disciples smiled once more.
Li Qiye glanced at the disciple and said: “Predestined fate? What a pleasant way to put it. Isn’t it more like your island wants to use my bloodline?”
The disciple was not offended by this and maintained his jolly demeanor: “Our groom, you should know that a marriage with Golden Isle is not a bad thing at all, don’t you think?”
Li Qiye was quite amused. He naturally understood what this so-called marriage was in the Heaven Spirit World for humans. The ones with good bloodlines were simply breeding stallions. Although they wouldn’t have any authority within these sects, it would be a carefree life.
Because of this, many humans were willing to become said stallions. They would have a beautiful wife and an easy life. Despite not having any power to shift the clouds and winds, it was still a very happy result.
“Okay then, might as well go with the flow.” Li Qiye was fairly relaxed. Of course, he was not afraid of anyone in the present times. He smilingly said: “Take me to see the beautiful sceneries of Golden Isle.”
The disciple didn’t expect this nonchalant attitude from Li Qiye. Being a disciple of a great lineage, he was quite knowledgeable. Becoming the groom of Golden Isle should be something exciting. It was the same as a carp turning to a dragon by crossing the gate. Some people would even begin to act arrogant.
However, this ordinary young man ahead was still very calm; it was as if becoming the island’s groom was nothing worth mentioning.
“This way, our groom.” He didn’t say anything else and led the way for Li Qiye.
The two of them went on a sightseeing tour to check out the wondrous landscapes.
The Jade Sea was a blue ocean — vast and majestic. Few could actually explain how large it was in a clear manner. Golden Isle was actually very large, but it was nothing compared to the Jade Sea.
Here, one could see things never seen before, such as islands made out of gold and silver.
There were more than a hundred islands within Golden Isle, so it looked quite big. Some were floating in the sky while others were hanging on tree branches. In fact, some islands were made from gigantic tree roots! 2
The more discerning crowd would be able to see that despite having plenty of islands, the main foundation of Golden Isle was based on two gigantic trees. They were situated in the central area of this archipelago. One was a bamboo tree made of gold while the other consisted of silver and black iron.
A regular tree and a bamboo tree created this entire area. Their roots were rooted in the depths of the ocean. Remember that in the past, this was just an empty ocean without any islands.
Not all of the islands here were created by the intertwining roots and branches of these two trees. Some of them were made from a great amount of refined sea water.
In addition to many vegetations and trees on the islands, there was also a lot of coral and seaweed surrounding the area. They grew very well as if they were sky-piercing trees arranged in a very spectacular manner.
While standing on one of the islands, Li Qiye stared at the two trees in the distance and insipidly commented: “Returning to the earth… there is nothing else that can protect the future generations better than this. The Golden Bamboo Father and Silver Treefather died here to turn into the land that protects Golden Isle for tens of millions of years. This might go on for millions more.”
The disciple smilingly praised: “Our groom is quite insightful.”
Li Qiye thought about many things while looking at these two trees, especially the origin of the treants.
It was one of the three major races of the Heaven Spirit World. They could cultivate just like humans. The moment their flesh and blood formed, they would turn into cultivators. There was no difference between them and the other cultivators since their realms and levels were the same as well.
The only thing that was different was the final outcome. Humans and the other races would have a chance to compete for the Heaven’s Will to become the Immortal Emperor. On the other hand, treants did not vie for the Heaven’s Will; they would return to the earth and turn into a haven for their descendants.
Only treefathers were qualified to return to the earth. For the treants, treefathers were equal to Immortal Emperors!
When a treant was powerful enough to become a treefather, it would return to the ultimate origin and take root on the earth upon death. Their descendants would be able to multiply unceasingly in this newly created paradise.
This was the most frightening aspect of treants. When these treefathers returned to the origin and took root, they wouldn’t be able to manifest themselves as regular beings anymore, but they were still extremely powerful. Some could become even stronger than when they were still alive.
This was just like the sects that once had a living Immortal Emperor to protect them. One could imagine just how mighty these lineages used to be during those periods.
The disciple looked at Li Qiye and suggested: “Our groom, it is getting late now, please go back and rest.”
Li Qiye gently nodded while looking back at him: “Okay, I’ll stay at Golden Isle for now, but it is too early to decide whether I’ll be your groom or not.”
The disciple repeated with a smile: “Our groom, remember that it is not a bad thing to be part of our Golden Isle.”
Li Qiye abruptly retorted: “You should remember that with my bloodline, many people would want to kidnap me so that I can be their groom instead.”
The disciple couldn’t come up with a response in a short time after hearing this.
1. Our groom is one of those honorifics with no direct translation without it sounding stilted. The bride’s family would call the husband “groom”. It is quite respectful.
2. Golden Archipelago is probably more fitting in a geographical sense than Isle, but since the author didn’t use the exact word for it, I’ll just stick to the raw.