Chapter 521

Does what you said before still count?

Yunhe spoke in a detached tone, neither pleased nor angry, neither servile nor overbearing.

Hearing this, Qilin Soul Ruolan gave Yunhe a deep glance, then leaned back relaxedly on the jewel‑studded lord's chair behind her, speaking with a faint smile.

Of course!

I'm not sure what the Grand Elder wants me to do; my current cultivation is only at about thirty percent, so I fear I'll let him down.

Yunhe said this, yet his tone remained unchanged.

If the Grand Elder really wants to unify the sea clan, he naturally wants to muddy these waters as much as possible. Regardless of the final result, the sea clan's internal conflict is only advantageous, never detrimental, to the humans of the Eastern Border.

If she could truly fulfill her earlier promise and the sea clan allied with humanity, it would greatly relieve the pressure humans face from the Abyss clan and the demon alliance.

There is also this detail that Qilin Soul Ruolan is unaware of—in fact, only Yunhe knows it.

In the secret realm, the three major late‑stage fourth‑rank demon beasts of the demon clan, as well as the human Yellow Springs Old Ancestor, are all under the control of the Corpse Worm Gu, and will soon become "law corpses" refined by it, completely subjugated.

To most Nascent Soul cultivators, a hundred years is just a flick of the finger—hardly any change—but for Yunhe, it is a life‑or‑death race for countless lives in the Eastern Border.

If Yunhe still hasn't found a solution to the Corpse Worm Gu after a hundred years, he'll have no choice but to apologize and depart alone.

Qilin Scale Longlan is already dead by your hand, right?

However, Qilin Soul Ruolan did not answer Yunhe directly; instead, she suddenly brought up Qilin Scale Longlan.

Hearing this, Yunhe instantly became alert—his heart roiled, yet his exterior remained calm as clouds and wind. He denied it almost without hesitation.

I'm only a mid‑stage Nascent Soul cultivator—how could I possibly slay a late‑stage Nascent Soul like Qilin Scale Longlan? Grand Elder, you're overestimating me.

Oh, really? Daoist Yun, your demeanor back then is still vivid in my mind.

Having said that, Qilin Soul Ruolan narrowed her beautiful eyes; while such a look would seem charming on an ordinary woman, from her it exudes palpable danger, like being watched by a predator.

If Daoist Yun had killed that scale scoundrel back then, Ruolan would surely thank him profusely.

Qilin Soul Ruolan affected a regretful demeanor, leaving Yunhe unsure whether she was truly pleased or merely testing him.

Since you've denied it, Daoist Yun, let's drop the matter.

Qilin Soul Ruolan then appeared considerably more relaxed, and proceeded to tell Yunhe what he needed to do.

Yunhe had thought he only needed to repair the formation so that Qilin Soul Ruolan could gain a larger edge in the forthcoming internal war, given that the Qilin Scale clan had lost a late‑stage Nascent Soul expert, sealing their decline.

Even if they now suppress the news, claiming Qilin Scale Longlan is in seclusion healing, the truth cannot be hidden forever—someone as astute as Qilin Soul Ruolan, who has lived a thousand years, long ago saw through it, merely hasn't revealed it yet.

Yet Qilin Soul Ruolan told him he must venture into the ancient sea clan's domain, retrieve their sacred treasure, and bring it back to Haipo City. Yunhe was hardly eager—she couldn't expect to persuade him with just a few words and send him to his death.

Is a journey into the ancient sea clan's territory merely a leisurely park visit? Is that sacred treasure something you can just pick up as a souvenir?

Seeing Yunhe's resolute stance, Qilin Soul Ruolan sat upright and spoke solemnly.

If the palace wanted to harm you, why go to all this trouble? There's someone in the dungeon you've already met; if you retrieve the treasure, the palace can guarantee to send you both out of the sea region.

Seeing Qilin Soul Ruolan's demeanor grow cold again, Yunhe frowned slightly; it was clear he had been manipulated from the outset, and even in the dungeon they had deliberately let him see the imprisoned Wuxiang Sword Lord.

Being constantly schemed against is truly aggravating.

After leaving the lavish lord's manor, Yunhe hurried to his former small residence, checked that no one was tailing him, then went inside and sat cross‑legged.

There was news that made Yunhe both pleased and concerned: Gu Yan had awakened and had now reached mid‑Nascent Soul cultivation; lacking a suitable treasure, its power could still advance another stage.

However, he and his incarnation are now far apart, so for the time being he can't be of much help.

However, Gu Yan awakening now is not without use — I am the dividing line.

Yunhe certainly can't just go off to work for the sea clan naked; Grand Elder, you wouldn't want me to fail the task you entrusted me with, would you?

After looting many treasures from the Qilin clan, Yunhe finally felt satisfied stepping onto the teleportation formation.

However, having learned from the prior two's mistakes, Yunhe didn't just charge straight into the ancient sea clan's domain at the outset.

A contingent of sea‑clan guards escorted several prisoners—sea‑clan, Abyss, humans, and others—plus a species even Old Gourd had never seen.

These were merely sacrificial prisoners; Yunhe didn't pay them much heed, since the dungeon inmates were mostly heinous criminals now being put to use.

Yet one prisoner stood out—a demon cultivator bearing a ferocious knife scar on his face, who gave Yunhe a lingering sense of familiarity, though he couldn't recall where he'd seen him before.

As the teleportation formation's light flared, two prisoners knelt at its center; though their vision was obscured, they didn't know what awaited them, yet their anxiety was evident.

Even before the teleportation channel's light fully faded, sounds from the far end of the formation could be heard nearby.

Crack

Ah!

A terrified scream rang out as one prisoner was snatched into the ancient sea clan's maw, leaving only a bloody mist where he stood.

Continue!

The black-robed attendant earlier had a cold expression, as if mechanical, spitting out two icy commands from his mouth; the prisoners below were then forcibly escorted into the teleportation array to begin a new round of 'feeding'.

No, don't! I don't want.

The terrifying sound emanating from the teleportation array intensely stimulated the prisoners' nerves.

One prisoner actually shoved aside the guard behind him, attempting to flee this terrifying place.

Pfft

Just then, before he had taken two steps, a sharp claw burst from the prisoner's chest and was then hurled straight into the teleportation array.

I didn't expect that the black-robed attendant would be like Qihun Liling, both being special cultivators capable of transforming into snake women, formerly possessing the indestructible body of a snake woman golden vajra. Yunhe still recalls it vividly; in some respects, even a mid-Nascent Soul snake woman is more difficult to deal with than the late-Nascent Soul great cultivator he previously encountered.

With the black-robed attendant's violent suppression, the other prisoners, although they couldn't see, could still hear roughly what was happening; for a moment they dared not entertain any thought of escape, since fleeing meant immediate death, while leaving this unlucky Sea Amber City might still offer a chance to survive.

Most of the prisoners felt somewhat uneasy before entering the teleportation formation, but only that demonic cultivator remained completely calm.

Finally it was the demonic cultivator's turn to step onto the teleportation formation; a blue light flared up, and the demonic cultivator directly entered a half-demonized state. 'This is.' At that moment, Yunhe widened his eyes—wasn't this the state that Bai Zhanwu maintained that day?

Unlike before, no blood mist appeared, and there were no painful wails.

At that moment, the black-robed attendant glanced at the captain of the guards; as their eyes met, the captain instantly understood the attendant's meaning.

Continue!

Just then, the guards immediately shoved the two prisoners forward; the two who had still been hoping just moments ago became somewhat hesitant.

When the blue light formation flickered again, everyone held their breath, waiting for what would happen inside the teleportation array in the next second.

The blue light gradually faded, as if it were just a normal teleportation.

"Hurry!"

The black-robed attendant hastily waved his hand, and Yunhe immediately darted into the teleportation array. As the blue light gradually subsided, Yunhe gazed at the surrounding pitch-black waters, occasionally hearing a sound like a shout from the dark depths.

But when an invisible intangible water ripple touched Yunhe again, he felt something wrong, flapped his wings, and fled at top speed in the opposite direction of the ripple.

Only when the sense of danger gradually faded did Yunhe stop and carefully observe his surroundings.

When his divine sense touched the rocks at the bottom and top, Yunhe realized that the teleportation array was actually located inside a huge underwater cavern!

The water pressure was noticeably greater, indicating they were in a sea area deeper than Haibo City.

Suddenly a subtle disturbance in the water flow caught Yunhe's attention.

"You want to leave?"

An electric arc flashed in Yunhe's eyes, and he already appeared at the water disturbance; fortunately, the power of the Void was unaffected, although his current cultivation mana could not support frequent teleportation or long-distance jumps.

He grabbed at the void, and a strange little fish appeared in his hand: "What is this?"

This little fish was truly bizarre—its body lacked scales, its skin was extremely smooth, and it even had a layer of transparent slime; its claws resembled fins, its cheeks bore three gill slits, and upon close inspection it looked three parts human, seven parts fish, currently staring at Yunhe in terror.

In its large orange-yellow eyes were some murky tears, making it indeed look pitiful.

"Young master, this should be a child of the ancient sea clan."

Old Gourd suddenly appeared from the side; although not entirely certain, he still confirmed the identity of this strange fish.

"I never expected that the sea clan abandoned by the sea god would turn into such monsters."

Seeing that feigning pitifulness was useless, the strange fish suddenly flashed a murderous glare; its orange-yellow eyes instantly turned crimson, and it began attacking the air.

Looking at this strange monster, Yunhe and Old Gourd both fell into contemplation at the same time.

"How can this dark, bloodthirsty feeling be so familiar?"

Yunhe said, this feeling the ancient sea clan gave him was as familiar as could be.

"It's practically identical to when you went into demonic possession."

Old Gourd said calmly, but this made Yunhe somewhat startled; Yunhe did not have complete memories after his demonic possession, and he was actually vague about what happened in between.

Originally Yunhe didn't think much of his demonic possession, but when another voice frequently appeared in his mind, tempting him, he realized how terrifying demonic possession could be.

There is no way to dispel the demonic voice; invisible and intangible, it continually harasses the host's spirit over long years, eventually forcing them to lose reason and become an unceasing killing machine.

However, the story of this ancient sea clan apparently has nothing to do with Yunhe; he needs to find the gathering place of the ancient sea clan to possibly discover their supreme treasure.

Thinking of this, Yunhe vanished from the spot, and that ancient sea clan member was also released at that moment.

Although somewhat bewildered, the little monster fish hurriedly began to swim.

The little monster fish swam ahead, Yunhe followed behind, always maintaining a distance that would not be detected yet would not be lost.

Gradually, a tiny glimmer of light appeared ahead, and Yunhe then stopped, saying, "Found it."

"——————I am the dividing line——————"

On Huanhu Dao, suddenly thunderclouds rolled, and someone actually broke through the Fourth Level at this moment?

Under the blazing sun, what should have been the scorching heat of August instead saw heavy snowfall like goose feathers, and even the lake surface around Huanhu Dao froze over.

Yunhe hurriedly stored all the island's demonic beasts into the Luo Tian Xuan-colored gourd to avoid being harmed by Bai Ning's tribulation thunderclouds.

Although many spiritual plants on the island seemed impossible to preserve, fortunately most had already been moved into the Five Elements Spirit Nurturing Pearl earlier; the remainder were mostly low-grade elixir ingredients, so even if destroyed it wouldn't matter much.

"This Bai Ning, I reminded her last time to pay attention to the timing of her tribulation."

Yunhe silently thought, a gigantic turtle's body lay hidden beneath the lake not far from Huanhu Dao, extending its long neck to stare at the situation on the island.

Thunderclouds rolled, continuously emitting deafening roars; velvety dark clouds gathered in a few breaths, and the heavy overcast shrouded a radius of several hundred li as if night had fallen.

Suddenly a white thunderbolt struck Huanhu Dao, slamming heavily into Bai Ning's abode!

"Boom!"

Wherever the lightning passed, everything turned into scorched black earth, and Bai Ning's abode became a ruin amidst the lightning.

"This Bai Ning."

Obviously the experience of the sunbathing platform being destroyed is still fresh in memory; unexpectedly, Bai Ning also lost her abode during her tribulation.

As the thunderclouds gradually condensed, Yunhe's lightning pouch felt slightly itchy, and he began quietly absorbing the scattered heavenly lightning power around him.

"Boom!"

One after another heavenly thunderbolts fell; by the fifth layer of heavenly thunder, it was already golden divine thunder, indicating that Bai Ning's bloodline talent far surpassed that of the Cold Chant Flood Dragon.

The quality of the heavenly thunder represents Heaven's acknowledgment of the one undergoing tribulation; the greater the thunder, the more it can forge a powerful cultivator! However, Yunhe's expression began to grow solemn at this moment.

He could feel that Bai Ning's condition was not good; after withstanding the fifth heavenly thunder, she suddenly seemed somewhat weak!

Could it be that she still couldn't withstand this golden divine thunder?

Yunhe thought, if anything goes wrong, he can only try to help Bai Ning forcefully endure the tribulation! If the heavenly tribulation is truly too overwhelming, then it can only be said that Bai Ning's fate is thus. (End of chapter)