"Uncle Xin, where exactly is this third teleportation array you spoke of? Surely it isn't just some baseless legend?" the crowd could not help but ask in doubt.

"That..." Xin Yi'an was rather puzzled himself. Yet the existence of this third teleportation array was a matter of explicit record in the ancient minor martial world, and could by no means be a baseless legend—though whether the upper echelons of the Primal Alliance had misjudged the day of its appearance, that was hard to say.

Xin Yi'an's manner only made everyone more suspicious and jittery. They had looked forward to this once-in-a-millennium ancient trial for a full year, and to that end had fought with all their might through the harshest great contest in history—and now they could not even catch a glimpse of the third teleportation array. If the so-called once-in-a-millennium trial ground was purely a legend, how were they to bear the shame?

Just as everyone was beginning to mutter despite themselves, Ying Ziyu suddenly spoke up: "The moon tonight is so round and so close."

At these words the crowd started, and looking up, they broke into a flurry of talk. For some reason the moon tonight was indeed very round and very near. Had it merely been round, that would have been one thing—the moon waxes and wanes, and even if this were a transit land there would be little strange in it. But tonight this moon was absurdly close, as though one could touch it by reaching out a hand, pressing almost directly upon every face—such a thing was unheard of and unseen.

"Look, the tide is retreating so fast!" someone suddenly cried.

The crowd looked as bidden, and indeed the tide was falling with extraordinary speed. In but a moment the water level had dropped a great deal, with not the slightest sign of slowing. Faster and faster the tide withdrew, until at last it roared like the rending of heaven and earth, leaving all who saw it dumbstruck.

"They... they've actually joined into one..." The crowd was utterly astonished at the sight. This place had been the transit archipelago, yet now, after this unprecedented and surging ebb, the shallow seas that had once separated the islands had all turned to land, joining them into a single expanse.

"Huh? Isn't that the seabed spirit jade mine? This makes mining it much easier—no need to surface for breath every little while as before, nor to work at a snail's pace. If we went mining now, three pieces a day would be no problem at all," the crowd discussed among themselves.

But Xin Yi'an paid their chatter no mind. Instead he walked straight toward the newly emerged land, a complex and esoteric diagram still in his hand.

Not understanding what he was about, the crowd rose one after another and followed behind him, unable to resist asking: "Uncle Xin, is there some hidden mystery in this?"

"The mystery is right here." Xin Yi'an suddenly halted and pointed at the rounded black stone block beneath his feet.

The crowd gathered round and examined it carefully. Apart from being rather hard, the black stone looked to have nothing else unusual about it, and they exchanged bewildered glances: "Is there anything strange about this?"

Xin Yi'an smiled a profound smile and said nothing. After comparing it against his esoteric diagram, he turned and walked to another spot, where he soon found another black stone block, identical to the first.

Then came the third, the fourth, the fifth...

In the end, across a great expanse of the surrounding area, they found no fewer than seventy-two identical black stone blocks, which seemed faintly to form an inexplicably wondrous array.

"What on earth are these?" The crowd was at a loss.

"The Black Stone Plum Blossom Array!" Xin Yi'an stroked his beard and smiled faintly.

"The Black Stone Plum Blossom Array? What is that supposed to be—is it another kind of teleportation array?" The crowd was utterly baffled.

"It is not. But you will all see the third teleportation array very soon. Come, lend a hand, all of you—place three spirit jades upon each black stone block," Xin Yi'an called out.

A short while later, three spirit jades had been placed atop each of the seventy-two black stone blocks as Xin Yi'an instructed. At first nothing stirred, but soon they began to give off a collective ghostly glow, and then an invisible gale surged skyward, in an instant sweeping every grain of sea sand utterly away and lowering the entire ground by a full seven or eight meters.

Everyone was greatly startled. So the black stone blocks they had seen before were only a small portion—these were in fact seventy-two black stone pillars, and among them, behold, stood an exceedingly ancient teleportation array.

"The third teleportation array!" The crowd was overjoyed, and one among them said with regret: "Had we known that clearing away the sand would reveal the teleportation array, why waste so many spirit jades? A bit of effort would have saved them all."

Clearing away this sea sand was no hardship for them at all. But those two hundred-odd spirit jades were a vast fortune in the ancient minor martial world—many present had never in their lives seen so many spirit jades.

"Then you have thought too much of it. The Black Stone Plum Blossom Array is an ancient maze array. Without activating it with spirit jades, you could clear every last grain of sea sand and still never find the teleportation array," Xin Yi'an said, shaking his head.

"Since the teleportation array has been found, we may begin the teleportation now, yes?" Xue Jianming suddenly stepped forward and said. Since returning from his focused training at the center, his whole bearing had changed greatly from before—he had grown more restrained and deep, with not a trace of his former flamboyant arrogance. Rather, he was like a venomous serpent, forever flicking its forked tongue, as though ready at any moment to choose a man and devour him.

At his words, the crowd, still immersed in shock, came to their senses at once. Every one of them grew impatient, itching to be the first to charge into the teleportation array.

"Very well, then let us all enter in order. There is no need to rush—there are only forty-three of us in all, and given the scale of this ancient teleportation array, it can easily send us all at once," Xin Yi'an said, wasting no time as he guided them one by one into the teleportation array.

Forty-three—that was the total number of participants in this ancient trial. And that was only because Wei Zhao and his companions had joined; otherwise the number would have been even smaller. Quality over quantity—such was the unified thinking of the Primal Alliance's upper echelons. There was no need for every disciple of the Primal Alliance to obtain fortuitous opportunity; it was enough that those genius disciples most deserving of it did not miss their chance.