Chapter 411: Boundless Divine Sea

Thirty days later.

The group passed through more than two hundred mountains and finally beheld the golden Divine Sea.

The Divine Sea stretched endlessly, its surface glittering. A three‑zhang‑wide beach lay along the shore, and under the setting sun each grain of fine sand shimmered with golden light.

Zhang Xingyu and Tang Yunxi hand in hand walked barefoot onto the golden beach. The fine sand beneath them was soft and warm, making every toe feel so comfortable it seemed to sigh.

After walking a short distance, something hard brushed Zhang Xingyu's foot. The two stopped, bent down, and retrieved a gray‑white stone from the sand. The stone was shaped like a small hill, yet felt as heavy as ten thousand jin in the hand.

Strange ancient characters were carved on the stone's surface. Perhaps because of its great age and the ravages of time, most of the characters were no longer discernible.

"This stone is entirely forged from over ten thousand jin of extraterritorial divine essence. Judging by the residual characters on its surface, it must be an ancient relic spiritual treasure left here. Unfortunately, its age is so great that its spiritual essence has long been eroded."

"Essence of mithril? Is it valuable?"

Tang Yunxi nodded. Zhang Xingyu is a country bumpkin, so she obviously knew.

"Do you want it?" Zhang Xingyu lifted the stone and waved it before Tang Yunxi.

"No. Keep it for yourself," Tang Yunxi said. Such a large piece of extraterritorial divine essence could barely serve as one of the bride gifts.

She is the Immortal Emperor's daughter; to marry her, the bride price must include at least one hundred and eight items, each a rare treasure.

Given Zhang Xingyu's modest wealth, Tang Yunxi guessed she would have to wait until the day she grew old and died to gather the entire bride price on her own.

Forget it—who made her fall for him? She would have to handle the bride price herself.

Zhang Xingyu tossed the extraterritorial divine essence into his storage ring. He was in a great mood. He had just made a small fortune upon arriving at this Divine Sea. With this momentum, his luck seemed good. Perhaps he could escape this ancient god‑forbidden realm with Tang Yunxi.

The two walked hand in hand forward. Behind them, the golden beach bore two long tracks of footprints.

Feng Qingyu led Gu Yuyiao to sit on the shore. To the right front, the silhouettes of the two on the beach stretched ever longer in the sunset.

For some unknown reason, Gu Yuyiao's attempt to walk barefoot on the sand was mercilessly refused by Feng Qingyu.

Behind the pair, several other disciples of the Tianya Sea Pavilion wore relaxed expressions. The older disciple even cracked a joke.

"Junior brothers, I tell you not to keep sneaking glances at Senior Sister and Junior Sister. If they catch you, watch out you won't get away unscathed."

Wei Xiang kicked a stone on the roadside away.

"A pair of dogs, is having a Dao partner something to brag about? Why do they keep flaunting their love in front of us?"

His gaze withdrew from the two silhouettes on the beach and finally settled on Gu Yuyiao.

"I must not let Junior Sister be harmed by that scumbag!" Wei Xiang vowed silently.

The couple on the beach finally stopped.

The sun had already sunk below the sea, and fierce winds rose overhead, while towering waves roared beside them.

Strangely, there were no rocks between the beach and the water, yet the massive waves could not reach the sand.

Zhang Xingyu and Tang Yunxi hand in hand walked onto the grassy shore and sat on a golden rock.

After more than a month of climbing and wading, they should have rested by now.

"Xingyu, how shall we proceed?"

Tang Yunxi turned her head toward Zhang Xingyu. Sometime she had grown accustomed to letting him decide everything.

"We'll just keep walking forward along the beach!" Zhang Xingyu laughed.

At that moment, Feng Qingyu led a few other Tianya Sea Pavilion disciples over.

"Zhang Xingyu, how shall we proceed?" Feng Qingyu asked softly.

Sometime, Feng Qingyu and the others had also become used to Zhang Xingyu making the decisions.

Wei Xiang wanted to object but dared not speak, so he lowered his head and kicked at the stones beneath his feet.

"We'll rest here for a night and set out tomorrow to continue along the coastline. There's nothing here; we can't stay and just wait for the sea breeze," Zhang Xingyu stood, pointing to the winding beach ahead.

Night fell.

The towering waves glimmered with a faint golden light in the night.

Zhang Xingyu stared silently at the sea, lost in thought. He wondered whether at the far end of this Divine Sea truly lay a sacred mountain inhabited by immortals.

He thought of the village chief Jiang Tang of Jiang Village. That burly man who dreamed of seeing immortals never dared step onto Flaming Mountain, and thus never came to this golden sea.

He also recalled his former self. Had he not stumbled onto the path of cultivation, he might now be stuck in a dilapidated hut in the small town, gazing at the endless stars above and sighing alone.

He sat there dazed, letting his thoughts drift outward, drifting toward the Divine Sea, into the void, toward the distance.

In his half‑dazed state, a mournful song kept echoing from the void in his mind.

"Past dust and memories have vanished, frozen tears rain the heavens. Flowers bloom and wither year after year, time has faded the crimson visage. Fate comes and goes, fate is gone, memories etched across the years. In an instant, you are no longer..."

Zhang Xingyu tried to focus and listen, but the song abruptly stopped, as if it had never been.

Zhang Xingyu sat quietly for a while, then drifted off to sleep in a daze.

Faintly, a deep voice kept chanting, "Past dust and memories have vanished..."

The next day, warm sunlight roused him from his slumber.

He habitually reached out to grasp Tang Yunxi, but found she was not beside him.

He turned his head to look around, only to see Gu Yuyiao and her senior brothers and sisters had also vanished.

He sprang up with a start. He panicked, truly panicked.

"Yunxi, where are you?"

He shouted loudly.

But the shore was empty; only his own voice echoed along the coast.

"Gu Yuyiao, where are you?"

No one answered.

Zhang Xingyu stood and walked along the riverbank searching forward. Yet, even after venturing far, he still found no trace of them.

He turned back to search again, but still saw nothing.

Tang Yunxi was gone, Gu Yuyiao was gone, Feng Qingyu was gone; everyone had vanished, as if they had never been there.

"Senior sister, where are you?"

"Gu Yuyao, where are you all?"

He ran back and forth, shouting loudly. Until he was completely exhausted, he finally slumped onto a large stone by the shore.

His heart raced. Since he began cultivating, even when facing life‑or‑death crises, he had never been this panicked.

Why? Why did they disappear overnight?

He lowered his head helplessly.

Then, he jumped up as if nervous.

In his eyes reflected a faint pair of footprints. The footprints led from the shore toward the sea, then vanished beneath the water.

A terrifying thought leapt out of his mind.

Did they jump into the sea?