The desiccated corpses lay silent aboard the shattered treasure ship of the Spirit Treasure Grotto. Five martial artists from the Spirit Treasure Grotto stood upon the ruined vessel, their expressions grave as they gazed upon the shriveled bodies.
Xu Hao, the leading elder of the Spirit Treasure Grotto, gently slipped ten rings from Chen Feng’s fingers, securing them carefully. He muttered, "Elder Chen Feng, which demonic figure did you encounter that you didn't even manage to flee...?"
As a fellow elder of the Spirit Treasure Grotto, Xu Hao was intimately familiar with Chen Feng's capabilities and the array of secret treasures he possessed—some of which, once activated, could whisk him away from battle in an instant, covering vast distances in a single breath. Chen Feng was notoriously cautious; facing an opponent he couldn't defeat, he would invariably activate those treasures for an immediate escape.
Yet, he was dead...
Along with him was Dongfang He of the Dongfang family, a man renowned for his ruthlessness, who also possessed secret artifacts capable of saving his life. The demise of these two sent a chill down Xu Hao’s spine. He meticulously surveyed the scene, then retrieved a sound stone to relay the situation.
Across a sea expanse, the news of Chen Duo’s death quickly reached the Spirit Treasure Grotto in the Black Water Sea region. Qiu Xun, the Master of the Spirit Treasure Grotto’s manor, upon receiving Xu Hao’s message, immediately contacted Gu Xiao.
“It’s Shi Yan.”
On the Myriad Swords Peak of the Gu family, when Gu Xiao relayed Qiu Xun's information, Cao Zhilan reacted instantly, surprise flashing across her delicate features.
“How do you know it was him?” Gu Xiao caressed a three-foot-long sharp blade, watching clusters of white clouds drift overhead. With a flick of his finger, the divine sword shot out with a whoosh, piercing the center of an array of standing swords.
The numerous swords within Myriad Swords Peak seemed to resonate, emitting strange cries.
Beams of sword light erupted under the moonlight, weaving together above the peak to form a dazzling net of blades. The sharp sword energy shook heaven and earth, drawing the spiritual energy from the surrounding peaks, causing Myriad Swords Peak to hum in unison.
The Song of the Divine Swords!
“When we entered the Abyss Battlefield, we fought Shi Yan. Any martial artist who dies by his hand exhibits this same symptom: essence drained, leaving behind a withered husk,” Cao Zhilan sighed softly in her heart, a flicker of internal struggle crossing her beautiful eyes. Ultimately, she disclosed the truth. “This might be some evil secret technique, or perhaps the work of a bizarre secret treasure. Chen Feng and Dongfang He clashed with him on Sun Island before. Now that he has left Tang Yuan Nan’s protection and possesses the power to slay them both, he naturally wouldn't show mercy.”
Seeing the defensive restrictions of Myriad Swords Peak deactivated, Gu Xiao’s expression shifted. He nodded silently. “Very well, I will spread the word immediately. Announce Shi Yan’s appearance in the Boundless Sea and warn everyone to watch for his movements. Even if he temporarily possesses the strength of a Divine Realm master, once his whereabouts are known, he cannot escape pursuit from all sides, let alone the demons.”
Cao Zhilan could only display a helpless expression, twitching her delicate eyebrows despite having more to say.
Gazing up at the star-studded night sky, a bitterness welled up within her. Family orders compelled her to face reality. Between logic and emotion, her habitual reason triumphed over the subtle feelings she had developed for Shi Yan, yielding to reality.
A pile of broken stones.
Dark red rocks were scattered chaotically, each piece bizarrely shaped. Under the moonlight and starlight, the shadows of the stones resembled the demons lurking in the hearts of warriors.
Upon a relatively flat slab of rock, two graceful women lay leaning, their light silks torn into strips. Their soft bodies rested against the stone, faces flushed, breathing softly with intoxicating languor, their beautiful eyes staring vacantly at the sky.
Ten meters away, Shi Yan sat cross-legged on a square stone, his upper body bare. His eyes were closed, light and color swirling around him; faint threads of purplish-red light zipped rapidly along his left arm.
Between him and the two women from the Yin-Yang Grotto, tattered remnants of clothing lay strewn about.
Under the starlight, Shi Yan appeared solemn, as if deeply immersed in a state of selfless cultivation, seemingly oblivious to his surroundings, focusing all his energy on refining something.
Misty white smoke strangely swirled around him without dispersing, moving gently with the sea breeze like ocean currents.
After a long while.
The two female disciples from the Spirit Treasure Grotto slowly regained some strength. Leaning against the stone, they exchanged glances, noticing the teeth marks and scratches on each other’s tender breasts, yet showing no signs of shame, as if these were commonplace occurrences unworthy of anger.
The scenes of the previous storm-like ravaging replayed in their minds: Shi Yan’s savage, beast-like violation, the madness evident in his scarlet eyes, leaving the two women with lingering palpitations.
They silently watched Shi Yan cultivating quietly in the distance, exchanging no words, communicating only through their gazes.
Gradually, a trace of malice appeared almost simultaneously in their eyes. They felt this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. While secretly observing Shi Yan’s every move, they gathered their vital essence, slowly moving their numb limbs, and stealthily rising from the stone.
After a pause, the two women suddenly leaped up. A jade crystal short sword and a jade hairpin simultaneously flashed with sharp, chilling light as they struck toward Shi Yan.
Just as their fierce attack was about to land on Shi Yan’s bare chest, points of cold starlight abruptly manifested before him and instantly coalesced into a star shield. Countless tiny star points rotated upon the shield following mysterious celestial paths. The innumerable minuscule points within the shield suddenly converged into a single star point the size of a fist.
The fierce attack from the two women struck squarely upon that single point.
The great star point shattered, and countless fragments of starlight surged along the short sword and the jade hairpin directly into the exposed, soft bodies of the two women.
“Boom!”
These two women from the Spirit Treasure Grotto, possessing Hundred Tribulation Realm cultivation, felt their snow-white bodies suddenly convulse. The brittle sounds of cracking bones erupted throughout their frames; every bone was pulverized, and their internal organs were shattered.
The two women collapsed onto the ground like mounds of soft, white flesh. The malice in their beautiful eyes vanished. In overwhelming terror, their souls dissolved, their life essence instantly depleted, leaving behind two shriveled but exquisitely beautiful corpses—life utterly extinguished.
Shi Yan, who had been cultivating in silence on the square stone, suddenly opened his eyes. He glanced at the two corpses, a mocking sneer playing on his lips, before slowly closing his eyes again, continuing his indifferent cultivation.
Innumerable strands of purplish-red light writhed across his left arm, flowing through the muscle fibers of each segment. A faint purplish-red glow radiated from this arm, causing it to feel heavier and heavier, as if immense weight had been poured into the muscle mass.
Gradually, the purplish-red light on his left arm became increasingly dazzling. His body, seated on the stone, began to tremble slowly, even his Sea of Consciousness vibrating along with it.
Amidst the tremors, both his arms turned purplish-red. The mysterious alien energy and his own vital essence merged into the solid muscle blocks, slowly transforming his two arms.
Martial Soul Metamorphosis.
Once initiated, the change seemed unstoppable, unwilling to cease until the alien energy and his entire vital essence within him were fully consumed.
The mysterious alien force from his seven hundred and twenty acupoints, along with his vital essence, erupted, transforming into streams of electric current that rapidly condensed and fused within his two arms, undergoing some miraculous transformation.
The essence ancient tree within the peculiar space at the core of the vortex faded once more. As the vital essence drained, the crystalline essence ancient tree gradually shrank, eventually disappearing entirely once more.
Shi Yan sat motionless, trembling as before, completely absorbed in the Martial Soul Metamorphosis.
Beneath the bright moon, Moon God Ouyang Luoshuang resembled a celestial being floating in the moon, enveloped in pure moonlight. Within the pillar of lunar light descending from the bright moon, she quietly comprehended something.
Below, on Moon Island, numerous demons from the Fourth Demonic Domain, their eyes savage and bloodthirsty, looked up at the sky.
Xinda and Alike, the two Demon Lords, stood atop a massive Demon Emperor Divine Ship, rapidly approaching from the direction of Sun Island.
In the moonlight, the Moon God seemed lost in some secret realm, apparently unaware of the rapidly approaching enemies, her form veiled in moonlight as she contemplated the eternal nature of moonlight.
The bone-white Demon Emperor Divine Ship suddenly shook violently.
At the bottom of the ship, the body of Xiao Hanyi, lying within the frigid ice coffin, was suddenly enveloped in surging demonic energy. Amidst the churning, boiling demonic miasma, the primary soul of Scarlet Yan Demon Emperor descended once more, using Xiao Hanyi’s body to arrive at the Boundless Sea.
A flash of demonic light pierced the air. Scarlet Yan, who should have been lying in the ice coffin, now stood before the Moon God Ouyang Luoshuang.
Scarlet Yan glanced indifferently at the Moon God veiled in moonlight. Without a word, he pressed his ten fingers down into the void.
“Heaven-Binding Demonic Net!”
As Scarlet Yan uttered a low command, the ridges on his ten fingers suddenly spread infinitely outward.
The ten fingerprints formed ten massive nets, each one appearing woven from the sinews of a demon dragon—thick, black, and gleaming—blotting out the sky like ten dark canopies, covering all the moonlight, slowly enveloping Ouyang Luoshuang from every direction.
The radiance of the bright moon and stars, trapped beneath the ten demonic nets, could not permit a single sliver of light to penetrate the gaps.
On the Demon Emperor Divine Ship, Xinda and Alike, the two Demon Lords, seeing Scarlet Yan unleash the “Heaven-Binding Demonic Net,” visibly relaxed, feeling that the new generation of the Moon God was about to be annihilated.
Innumerable streaks of moonlight, like silver water, spread out centered on Ouyang Luoshuang, violently colliding with each of the demonic nets.
The clash of silver light and demonic light made the night sky dazzling, as if countless fireworks were bursting across the heavens, brilliant and varied.
Amidst the pervasive, strange lights, Scarlet Yan’s ten demonic nets merged, completely binding that section of the sky.
When the ten demonic nets had fully locked down the space, Scarlet Yan observed closely, and his expression subtly shifted.
The Moon God Ouyang Luoshuang, despite the spatial lockdown, had escaped the confines of the Heaven-Binding Demonic Net and vanished without a trace.
“Lord Scarlet Yan, that woman...” Xinda flew from the Divine Ship, stopping behind Scarlet Yan, unable to help but ask.
“She fled.”
Scarlet Yan frowned slightly, turning to glance at him, and said coolly, “From this day forward, in the Boundless Sea, aside from Yang Yi Tian, Cao Qiu Dao, and Yang Qing Di, another powerhouse capable of threatening our grand plan has emerged. Remember, the next time you encounter this woman, if the situation turns unfavorable, immediately flee for your lives; do not linger unnecessarily.” Xinda’s face was aghast.
“The Corpse Soul Bridge is only one step away from completion. All of you, focus your efforts on clearing obstacles and search for Shi Yan’s trace. Once found, strike him down immediately,” Scarlet Yan commanded.
“My Lord, is that Shi Yan truly so important?” Xinda asked, confused. “He could injure Mo Qidun, clearly relying on external force. Once that force is gone, he has nothing to rely on, merely an ordinary human boy. Is he worthy of your attention?”
“The Boundaryless Demonic Blade was obtained by Bo Xun from an anomalous spatial region; it is one of the three great ancient demonic blades, yet that human boy’s sword managed to put a crack in it. If this boy one day steps into the Divine Realm, relying on that divine sword, no one in the Boundless Sea will be able to suppress him,” Scarlet Yan snorted coldly.
He paused. “Nor will I be able to!” Xinda’s body shook. He knelt in the void, awestruck, “Your subordinate understands.”