The next morning, Ye Futian found Little Butterfly in the Herb Garden to say goodbye to her.
Little Butterfly looked up at Ye Futian, smiled, and said, “I knew this day would come, but when it comes time to actually say goodbye, I can’t do it. It seems like I’ve gotten used to you these past few days. See you next time, although I don’t know how many years it’ll be.”
“I’m the same way. If you have a chance, come visit me in the Barren State,” Ye Futian responded.
“Mm.” Little Butterfly nodded. “Are you going to return directly to the Barren State?”
“No, I’ll probably go out and see the world a bit. Once they get back, I will return.” The “they” he was talking about were those who had left with Xia Qingyuan. Little Condor was in the palace. As soon as they got back, he would know.
“Where do you want to go?” asked Little Butterfly?
“The Endless Sea in the Ocean State,” said Ye Futian.
Little Butterfly was stunned. “So far?” There were many places to train in the Nine States, and the Summer State was vast. Qi State, Cloud State, and War State all surrounded the Summer State, and all of them were very strong. To get to the Ocean State, you had to cross through the Eastern State. It was even farther than the Barren State. Thus, she had some misgivings. She didn’t know why Ye Futian had chosen the Ocean State.
“I’ll go around Qi State and Feng State. I can cultivate on the road. The whole road is a trial road. The Nine States is so vast, there are still many places I haven’t been to.” Ye Futian smiled and said, “Later, I will return to the Barren State by way of the Ocean State.”
Little Butterfly understood what he meant. This was a roundabout way to return to the Barren State. According to Ye Futian, these past two or three years, he had been always been shut away, cultivating. In Nine State College, he had also been cultivating with the medical trials. He should take the time to get out and experience the world.
“I’ve heard that the Ocean State is the biggest in the Nine States. It is located beside the Endless Sea. There are no boundaries there. If I had a chance, I’d also like to go see it.” Little Butterfly smiled and said, “Why don’t you go check it out for me first?”
“Alright.” Ye Futian nodded.
“Have a good trip!” said Little Butterfly with a smile.
“Say to goodbye to Saint Jiang for me. I don’t want to bother him.”
“Mm.” Little Butterfly nodded.
“I’m off,” Ye Futian said lightly. He turned to leave, waving as he went. Little Butterfly watched him leave, wondering if the Endless Sea could hide his lofty ambitions. She hoped to one day see him standing at the peak of the cultivators of the Nine States.
Ye Futian left quietly, not disturbing anyone in Nine State College other than Little Butterfly. He and Qin Zhuang had small goals, and with Qin Zhuang’s incredible speed, it was hard to see them. Thus, they were able to leave without anyone knowing.
It was not until a few days later that the people at Nine State College realized that Ye Futian had left. Although many people had been talking badly about him those last few days, after he left, the College seemed a little less fun, and everyone felt very strange.
Later, some people said they had seen Ye Futian in the southern part of the Summer State. It was said that after the Great Zhou Sacred King’s people found out that Ye Futian had left Nine State College, they sent out many people to look for him, wanting to kill him outside, but they could find no trace of him.
Afterward, there was news from Qi State that people from the holy land there had seen him. He had played music in the area controlled by Yue House, attracting many of the women there, leaving behind a story, and then disappearing quietly. Later, there was news that Ye Futian had appeared in Ghost City, but no one knew if this was true or not.
In the year 10,016 of the Divine Prefecture Calendar, countless island towns were situated on the Endless Sea. Some of the towns had almost no people, and some of them had populations so large they were almost uncountable. But no matter how big the island towns were, they were only a part of the Endless Sea.
With its clear sky that was so strikingly blue, it could make people open their hearts, the Endless Sea was like a holy land on earth. But in reality, the Endless Sea was not a holy land. On the contrary, it was the most inhospitable place in the Nine States, even worse than the thousands of mountains in the Cloud State. This was because there were too many sea monsters in the waters, and some of them had even formed groups.
In the Endless Sea, human cultivators hunted sea monsters, and sea monsters also hunted cultivators. Thus, this beautiful Endless Ocean hid unimaginable dangers. The extremely harsh conditions also gave cultivators a stronger desire for power. Now, in one place in the Endless Ocean, there was no blue sky, only a terrible dark storm that engulfed everything. Vast waves rolled and screamed as the terrible storm formed by a hurricane broke everything. In the center of the dark storm, you could occasionally hear dragon roars.
Inside the dark vortex, there was a terrible sight. Here, a dark dragon, hundreds of meters in length, circled in the air, its eyes full of violence and ferocity. It stared coldly at the small human before it. As the storm swept by, the human was engulfed and seemed insignificant. But he stood so calmly in the storm, with a bit of a sarcastic smile on his lips as he looked at the huge dragon before him.
This figure was Ye Futian, who had come to Ocean State to train. He had experienced many attacks on the Endless Sea, but this opponent was the strongest. It was a dark dragon that was almost at the Sage level.
The dragon shot forward with a roar, opened its ferocious mouth, and breathed at Ye Futian. Terrible dark flames consumed the spot where Ye Futian was and seemed to burn his body. The dark flames contained terrible destructive power, and ferocity flashed in the dragon’s eyes.
Ye Futian seemed to not feel it. He still stood there calmly, letting the dark flames burn his body as he stood steadfastly.
“Roar!” The dark dragon felt humiliated. Its several hundred-meter body rolled up into the sky, and it whipped its tail with incomparable power at Ye Futian, causing the waves to roar. A star curtain appeared around Ye Futian, and it was like there were real stars protecting his body.
Boom! The sound of a violent collision rang out. The star curtain was broken, but the power of the dark dragon’s attack also disintegrated.
Ye Futian swept his gaze over his opponent indifferently. “If you want me to take action, don’t be so polite.”
“Roar!” With another loud bellow, the dragon’s claws shot out towards Ye Futian. This puny human had ordered him to be his mount. That was unforgivable.
“Impenetrably stupid,” Ye Futian said indifferently, then stepped forward into the storm. A terrible rule power appeared in a flash. Ye Futian stretched out his hand and clenched it into a fist. Suddenly there was a terrific stream of rule power flowing around his fist.
As soon as he stepped forward, he flashed towards the huge dragon like a bolt of lightning. His opponent’s claws were bigger than him, and they slashed downwards, trying to tear him to pieces. The endless stream flowed across Ye Futian’s arm and gathered on his fist. When the dragon slashed his claws at him, Ye Futian thrust out his own fist like a flash of lightning. The scene was like an ant trying to topple a tree. He looked like he had a deathwish.
However, a pained roar came out of the dark storm. The dark dragon’s claws were covered in blood. But he seemed not to have felt it. His head swooped down at Ye Futian as he opened his mouth. It seemed like he wanted to swallow him in one gulp.
Ye Futian did not dodge, but the star curtain around him became like actual stars. As the dragon’s giant maw came down, they blocked him at the corners of his mouth. His incredibly sharp teeth were smashed by the star curtain.
“You’re too weak,” said Ye Futian, and he punched once again. Suddenly, the rest of the dragon’s teeth shattered, and his roar of pain shook the storm. The dragon fluttered wildly. He wanted to spit Ye Futian out.
Bang, bang, bang… A string out sounds rang out. With each attack, the dragon’s teeth were smashed even further.
“I submit.” A human voice came forth from the dragon. Ye Futian rushed forward and brought his fist down on the descending dragon’s head. The dragon’s body trembled fiercely as it plunged downwards towards the sea.
“Take me to a bigger island city nearby,” ordered Ye Futian. The dark dragon righted himself up and flew up into the storm.
Ye Futian had a goal besides training on the road. He wanted to try his luck and see if he would have a chance to get the third divine implement on the Divine Implement Ranking—the Halberd of Time and Space.
Three years ago at Saint Xia’s banquet, he had sensed a crisis. His Sacred War with the Great Zhou Sacred King was his current dilemma, but potential opponents he might face also included the Zhisheng Cliffs of Yu State and even Xihua Sacred Mountain.
Saint Ji had also shown hostility towards him. Although he was the Palace Lord of a holy land, and they would not dare to trifle with him, that did not mean they wouldn’t pose a threat to him in the future.
There was nothing wrong with taking precautions. Besides lacking top-notch military power, the Barren State also lacked divine implements. Most of the top divine implements on the Divine Implement Ranking had owners. Only the Halberd of Time and Space had been lost in the Endless Sea. Thus, he had come here to try and find it. If he did not find it, it didn’t matter, as this was only a trial.