Chapter 128: Trying to Steal the Jade Tablet

After she ran out of the passage, she looked ahead and saw, to her surprise, an endless expanse of blue ocean, and the most striking thing was a huge goddess stone statue that seemed to have risen from the seabed, standing tall in the distance.

The statue towered into the clouds, a hundred zhang tall, as if piercing the heavens.

The goddess had her hands pressed together, eyes closed, with a solemn and dignified demeanor.

Countless chains were attached to the massive goddess statue, and each chain bore red, green, and blue flags fluttering.

At this moment—

Hundreds of young disciples from various sects were fighting over the flags on the chains, even coming to blows.

Some who fell into the sea vanished instantly.

Yuan Yao, familiar with formations, realized a huge formation had been laid out on the sea surface.

She guessed: those who fell into the sea lost the right to compete for the flags here; they must have been sent to other places in the secret realm.

Yuan Yao scanned ahead and saw several familiar senior brothers and sisters from the Carefree Sect.

Suddenly, a faint sound came from behind her.

She turned and saw Zhai Qingye walking out of the passage.

Not far behind Zhai Qingye was Dongfangxiu!

Yuan Yao's eyes shifted slightly; she withdrew her gaze, leapt onto the chains on the sea, steadied herself, and hurried forward.

Dongfangxiu burst out of the passage, took in the scene, was quite shocked, and immediately locked his gaze on Yuan Yao walking on the chains in midair.

He drew the heavy sword on his back with a backward pull and then swung it straight at Yuan Yao.

Boom!

The fierce, violent sword blade instantly tore through the void, striking at her back.

Yuan Yao remained calm, having anticipated the sudden attack; as the sword energy neared, she flickered, lightly leapt onto a nearby chain, and used the momentum to move forward.

Seeing this, Dongfangxiu, to stop her escape, unleashed a series of sword strikes.

Swish swish swish—

"Ah!" a young disciple mistakenly injured cried out, then accidentally fell onto the sea surface and was transported away.

The commotion caused by Dongfangxiu quickly drew others' attention.

Dongfangxiu felt many gazes on him, tightened his grip on the sword hilt, and took a deep breath.

He also calmed down a bit.

He could not abandon the competition just to take revenge on Yuan Yao.

Thinking that, Dongfangxiu glared fiercely at Yuan Yao and immediately joined the ranks vying for the flags.

Zhai Qingye witnessed this, raised an eyebrow intriguingly.

Do these two actually have a grudge?

Zhai Qingye smiled, then swiftly leapt onto the thick chain, materializing a broadsword in his hand, and joined the contest.

Meanwhile, Yuan Yao, having shaken off Dongfangxiu, finally took a careful stock of the situation.

Most of the flags here had been seized by disciples of various sects.

They were also fighting each other for the flags they held.

Yuan Yao's gaze shifted to the sea surface, then slowly to the goddess statue, after which her beautiful brows and eyes curled into a sly smile.

While others were busy grabbing flags, Yuan Yao walked around the goddess statue on the countless chains.

She performed hand seals with both hands.

Naturally, many noticed her odd behavior.

But at this moment, everyone was preoccupied with seizing flags and had no time to ponder her motives.

After Dongfangxiu and Zhai Qingye joined the flag‑seizing fray, dozens of young disciples were eliminated.

The flags possessed by those eliminated young disciples were all taken by Dongfangxiu and Zhai Qingye.

Their scores kept rising, and their rankings climbed extremely fast.

Outside the secret realm, onlookers seeing Zhai Qingye and Dongfangxiu's rankings shoot up couldn't help but sigh repeatedly.

"Zhai Qingye, no wonder he was second in the last sect grand competition! In such a short time his ranking rose over a thousand places, now nearing the top twenty!"

"Is Dongfangxiu really that strong? At first I thought his early Nascent Soul Realm strength was too weak."

"You actually think Dongfangxiu is weak? He's one of the Ninth Province's famous geniuses!"

"Then why did he lose to Yuan Yao?" someone asked sincerely.

As soon as that was said, the crowd fell silent.

Precisely for that reason, many in the stands began to pay attention to Yuan Yao.

They noticed Yuan Yao seemed uninterested in grabbing flags; instead she circled the goddess statue, her hands swiftly forming seals, tracing one strange totem after another.

"What is she doing?"

"Who can understand it?"

"Huh, is she laying down a formation?" a formation master said, narrowing his eyes in doubt.

The seals she was making resembled formation seals.

But he could not see what formation she intended to set up.

Someone speculated: "Could she be trying to lay a gravity formation to deal with these contestants?"

"If that's really the case, she must be overconfident in her strength! With just her gravity formation, could she trap these hundreds of elite disciples? She's really overestimating herself!" an old formation master scoffed.

And just then—

Inside the secret realm, a burst of white light exploded around the goddess statue, instantly engulfing the entire sea area of the statue.

Such intense light made every young disciple present feel as if their eyes were about to be burned, the pain unbearable.

Thus, these young disciples almost in unison reflexively shut their eyes, fearing any harm.

"What's happening?!" a young disciple shouted.

"What happened?!"

"Who! Who touched me?!"

"Who stole my jade token!"

"Ahhh who slashed me!"

"Dog‑lord's kid, who the heck pushed me?!"

Hundreds of young disciples could barely open their eyes, and could only rely on their instincts and vague intuition to attack wildly!

In an instant, blades flashed and sword shadows interlaced, while palm winds and fist forces whistled across.

A cacophonous sound came.

Thump! Thump!

The sound of water splashing also came.

Dongfangxiu tried to open his eyes, but the white light burned his pupils; he could only squint, leaving a slit, as he attempted to observe everything around him.

He found the surroundings in utter chaos; in his blurred vision, many young disciples, to protect themselves, kept launching attacks outward.

Some even hurled a palm strike at him.

Dongfangxiu hurriedly raised his sword to block, and at that moment, a multicolored rope, as if alive, surged forward, heading straight for the jade token in his bosom.

Because the jade token cannot be stored in a storage space, each competing disciple can only carry it on their body.

Dongfangxiu's expression startled, he quickly stepped back and slashed at the multicolored rope with his sword!

Clang!

Dongfangxiu deflected the rope, instantly realized something, and let out a roar.

"Yuan Yao, get out of here!"

At that moment, Zhai Qingye's voice drifted in, "Everyone, jump into the sea quickly, someone's trying to steal the jade token!"