C124-1: See The Sea

"On behalf of the Beasthaven sect, I, Luo Yi, welcome you all, fellow cultivators from the Crimson Snow Sect ."

In front of them was a formally dressed middle-aged woman, her expensive beizi style hanfu flapping in the high sea breeze.

That's right, high sea breeze; the heavy, salty, rough gale that was as pleasant as the scent of wet vegetation it carried.

Upon executing the final step of the Celestial Gateway technique, Han Xuhan's  consciousness had finally returned back to its normal state inside his own body, his senses returning slowly. Then he had opened his eyes and received a shock bigger than his experience inside the mass integration of consciousnesses of the Celestial Gateway technique .

Before the execution of the technique, Kong Ye and he had been standing on top of the Heavenly Hailstorm mountain peak, surrounded by many other peaks, rivers, villages, woods and plains as far as his eyes could see.
Now, they were still on top of the Heavenly Hailstorm mountain peak, still surrounded by the other mountains containing the rest of the sect members....except the woods, the plains, the rivers, the villages, the woods, all of those elements had vanished from the picturesque scene he was used to seeing.

The Crimson Snow Sect now was on top of sea. Not only that, it was also at least 500 meters above the seawater level from his vantage point.

"Hah, yes. Your eyes are not fooling you! Your sect is now technically a floating island ! Ta da !"

The shout came from the representative of their host, whose unnaturally loud, sing-song voice was surprisingly pleasant, rousing the rest of disciple body from their stunned reverie.

A commotion rose instantly amidst the floating mountains of Crimson Snow Sect. Even from where he was standing, Han Xuhan could hear the contents of the countless shouts from the nearby mountains.

"Holy heavens ! So this was the surprise! Even through the third layer of the technique  pretty much spelled out what would happen, I never thought it would be this amazing !"

"What's even more amazing is how much you've been bragging about reaching the third layer, Xu Qing !"

"Oh no ! Where did my secret cave go ? My adult paintings !"

"My secret spirit stone stash ! The boulder isn't there anymore !"

"Ahhhh ! My home ! It's gone !"

"Fuck surprises! I didn't even ready my equipments for the tournament! Why didn't they say we'd be travelling instantly?"

"Hey, who was the girl shouting about her adult paintings? Asking for a friend."

"But you have no friend, Long Yun ."

"My clothes are gone ! I just left them to dry in the sun half an hour ago!"

Han Xuhan redirected his focus, the chaos all around becoming too loud and complicated for his improved auditory senses to analyse. He had gathered a bunch of valuable information from the shouts, however. Slowly getting up from the ground, he walked up toward his master Kong Ye while his mind connected the dots.

Point number one— the Celestial Gateway technique had somehow teleported their entire sect, including a significant portion of its region, to this designated place. Judging by the workings of the technique, the formations laid all over the mountain soil were behind the teleportation. While the residences and general infrastructure were still intact, many elements hadn't been teleported along; such as the cave of that hentai artist, the spirit stone stash of the rich-no-poor kid, and the clothes of the third victim. The natural conclusion from these incidents was that anything not specifically covered by the area of effect of the formations might not have been teleported along.
His heart sank as he remembered how many precious treasures he had hoarded inside his bedroom over the last few weeks.

Point number two— It was intended to happen this way, sudden and silent. The fact that the disciples were not given any time or warning to prepare for the teleportation was not an accident, neither did it stem from the sect master's enthusiasm to surprise them. This was quite possibly a part of the tournament's hidden rules.

Point number three— that Xu Qing name was very familiar. He was that uppity brat with a brother in the mysterious inner court of the Crimson Snow Sect. The first time they had had an exchange, Han Xuhan had generously gifted him with Elder Shen's wrath. Their following exchanges during dao lectures of the elders had been fairly less exciting due Xuhan's reputation and connections skyrocketting every other month.
So he was one of the nine talents who had reached the third layer of the Celestial Gateway Technique....that was worrisome. The brat carried the quality of a very annoying template of Shounen protagonists.