"Qing You, drag him over here!" Nie Kong beckoned to Qing You. The little fellow employed a rather crude method, condensing his body into a ribbon-like form, encircling the Sea King's neck at the center, and then swimming vigorously forward with both ends, quickly hauling the mountain of flesh before Nie Kong.

With a splash, he leaped onto Nie Kong's shoulder, transforming back into a nearly transparent silhouette. The Sea King kept his eyes closed, emitting weak, miserable groans, seemingly on the verge of death.

"Stop feigning death, get up for me!" Nie Kong raised his foot and stomped down hard upon the Sea King’s bulging belly. The Sea King’s layers of fat trembled, yet he still didn't stir, only letting out a slightly louder moan.

Tai Yan’s eyes darted, and she smiled sweetly, "Brother, I’ll bring over all those torture implements." "Spare me! Spare me!" Before Tai Yan could take a step, the Sea King suddenly flipped over, immediately kneeling before Nie Kong, incessantly begging for mercy, tears streaming down his face, kowtowing with the frantic speed of a pounding pestle.

As the most revered monarch of the Sea Clan, he resided in the Immortal Qin Divine Palace deep within the earth's core sea abyss, accustomed to having every desire instantly fulfilled, never having suffered the slightest slight. How could he have ever witnessed such a scene as this?

After seeing the Second Tribulation Great Divine Official effortlessly slain by Nie Kong, he was nearly scared out of his wits. Subsequently, the miserable state of the seven Divine Elder Officials, coupled with the subjugation of the Immortal Qin Sea Map, completely extinguished the lingering hope in his heart, leading him to simply lie on the ground and feign death.

But Tai Yan’s single sentence instantly shattered his pretense. "Have you seen this person?" Nie Kong looked at the creature, timid as a field mouse, with palpable disgust, condensing the power of Chaos Divine Might into the likeness of Yu Longyue.

Having witnessed firsthand the true character of the Sea King and those Divine Officials and Elders, Nie Kong’s premonition grew increasingly grim. Gui Xian had claimed Yu Longyue remained in the earth's core sea abyss to cultivate, but judging by the wicked nature of these scoundrels, cultivation meant serving the Sea King—perhaps she had… Fortunately, the guidance from the "Blood Shadow Puppet" remained effective; her aura had not vanished.

"Seen, seen…" Straining his eyes open, the Sea King bobbed his head like a chicken pecking grain. "Where is she?" "She is… she is…" The Sea King’s small eyes darted around nervously.

Nie Kong sneered internally, shooting a thread of spiritual thought into his head. "Are you going to confess, or shall I just search your soul!" As he spoke, that spiritual thread felt like countless sharp steel needles piercing deep into the Sea King’s soul.

"Ah!" The Sea King immediately shrieked like a slaughtered pig, crying out, "I confess, I confess! She is in the Immortal Qin Divine Palace!

I will take you to see her right now." With that, he scrambled up and scurried toward a side door of the palace. Though obese, he was still an Eighth-Rank Illusionary Spirit Master, and his movements were surprisingly nimble.

Nie Kong and Tai Yan followed. He wasn't worried about the Sea King attempting any tricks.

His spiritual thought resided within the Sea King’s mind; with a mere thought, he could instantly extinguish the Sea King’s life. The Sea King surely understood this.

However, to be absolutely safe, Nie Kong extracted a portion of Yu Longyue’s aura from the Sea God Pearl and reapplied the "Blood Shadow Puppet" technique. Thus, behind the Sea King’s corpulent figure, a spectral image of Yu Longyue now trailed.

Those Divine Elder Officials had all fallen silent. As the Sea King passed by their still forms, his face turned ashen, his legs buckled, and he nearly collapsed.

Glancing back hastily at Nie Kong and seeing his grim expression, the Sea King quickly pulled himself up and hurried forward again. Beyond the palace side door lay a staircase leading downwards.

The Sea King led the way, the Blood Shadow Puppet followed in the middle, and Nie Kong and Tai Yan descended step by step. Just as they had observed from the outside, the lower section of the Immortal Qin Divine Palace resembled an inverted cone, with the palace area shrinking with each descending level.

By the fifteenth layer, it was only about a few dozen meters in diameter. Yet, one thing was remarkable: the further down they went, the more abundant the Water Spirit Energy elements became in the air.

"How much further?" Nie Kong suddenly asked. "Close, close, just the last bit now," the abrupt voice startled the Sea King, causing him to tremble, and he replied hurriedly.

"..." They finally reached the eighteenth layer, where the staircase terminated. This palace level was barely twenty to thirty meters in circumference, shrouded in a deep, oppressive darkness.

The instant Nie Kong stepped across the threshold, he sensed that beneath the terrifyingly dense Water Spirit Energy, there was an equally thick presence of death qi—a miasma emanating from human bodies. While others might miss it, Nie Kong was extremely perceptive in this regard.

A swift scan of his intention swept across the small hall, and Nie Kong indeed detected a familiar spark of life force. Yu Longyue!

Aunt Yue was indeed here. Nie Kong quietly activated the "Chaos Divine Art," drawing the surrounding death qi into his body and refining it completely.

The sinister sensation receded considerably. "Hoo!" A ball of flame, several meters in circumference, suddenly erupted from Nie Kong's palm, hovering high in the air.

The heat of this flame had been entirely contained, its light illuminating every corner with crystal clarity. The lowest area of the Immortal Qin Divine Palace turned out to be a prison.

The entire level was lined with over sixty circular, azure cages, each forged from immense Water Divine Power. Nearly every cage held a figure standing rigid and motionless; Nie Kong sensed no life force from them—they were utterly deceased.

The death qi they had noticed earlier stemmed entirely from these containment units. "Keep an eye on him!" After instructing Qing You, Nie Kong and Tai Yan moved through the dense array of cells.

Within seconds, they reached the inner wall of the hall, where, in the final cage, Yu Longyue stood motionless with her eyes closed. The pale blue, ethereal light illuminated the finest hairs on her face with stark clarity.

At this moment, Yu Longyue seemed completely oblivious to the commotion outside; the appearance of Nie Kong and Tai Yan had no discernible effect on her. It seemed Aunt Yue had not been defiled by that ball of lecherous flesh, yet that bastard had imprisoned her in such a cage.

While Nie Kong breathed a sigh of relief, a surge of fury rose in his chest, making him yearn to return immediately to the palace entrance and personally annihilate that wretch. "Aunt Yue, I will release you now." Nie Kong took a deep breath and launched his right fist towards the cage, intending to free Yu Longyue.

But just as his fist was about to touch the cage, a look of profound bewilderment flashed across Nie Kong’s face. His punch halted abruptly, and the poised Chaos Divine Power was completely withdrawn.

Tai Yan looked puzzled. "Brother, why did you stop?" "Aunt Yue is actually cultivating inside?" Nie Kong was utterly confused.

"Could that fat pig have been telling the truth?" Tai Yan stammered, her pretty face etched with incomprehension. "Impossible." Nie Kong knitted his brows.

"It's likely that after being imprisoned, Aunt Yue encountered some other opportunity that allowed her to survive. She seems safe now; let's not disturb her cultivation for the moment… Hmm, let’s go ask that scoundrel what exactly he and those Divine Officials did to Aunt Yue?" ...

...RO