Chapter 124: Breaking Through the Siege

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Two figures shot straight up from the depths of the sea, as swift as meteors streaking across the heavens, crossbow bolts piercing clouds. Sonic water arrows shrieked without end as they sped northward toward the Tranquil Sea.

They were Luo Xiong, the Sea-Li Lion Beast, and Lin Feng. One pursued the other, both driving their speed to the utmost. Swordlight flashed ahead while sonic waves flickered behind. With his enormous body, Luo Xiong seemed like a predator chasing a tiny fish, his momentum fierce and relentless.

Their speeds were nearly identical, so the contest became one of endurance and willpower. Luo Xiong was brimming with fighting spirit and confidence. With his two brothers closing in from the sides, capturing Lin Feng was only a matter of time.

“Now that I’ve escaped the Whale-Slaying Palace, I’ll be safe as soon as I shake these three pursuers. I have to kill one of them first, to establish my might and raise my morale while striking fear into the others! If they surround me, I won’t be able to escape!”

While flying at full speed, Lin Feng suddenly wheeled around. The Infernal Fire Red Lotus wrapped around his body, and at the same moment he hacked forward with an unrivaled swordstroke!

The swordlight was black as ink and more than thirty feet long. Its shrill roar as it cleaved through the water stabbed at the spirit like steel needles. With a single charge, the sword aura closed the distance between them by three hundred feet.

They had met in a narrow passage.

They crashed head-on!

Luo Xiong had never imagined that Lin Feng would dare turn back and fight. Was this a desperate struggle in which both sides would perish together? Clearly not! Both men had driven themselves to their utmost speed, and by the time Luo Xiong tried to brake and evade the sword aura, it was already too late.

Caught off guard, he let out a furious roar and spat three blood arrows from his mouth in succession. After a thunderous lion cry, his Lion Roar Sonic Art instantly followed. Ten thousand water arrows shrieked forth, forcing the seawater away from the dozens of yards before him until the space became a vacuum.

The black sword aura split the overwhelming rain of water arrows in two, then struck Luo Xiong head-on with the force of thunder.

Sword aura, water currents, and sonic waves erupted in a violent clash. Countless vortices shrieked, while the water arrows struck both figures with sharp crackling sounds, bursting like beans popping in a pan.

At last, the red and black figures collided head-on. Amid the savage struggle, torrents of blood erupted, dazzling radiance burst forth, and ferocious roars shook the sea.

A red glow enveloped Luo Xiong, transforming him into a blood-red lion. Across his thick chest, a wound had torn open a vast expanse of fat, and blood and flesh gushed out.

Under ordinary circumstances, he would certainly have died beneath that sword. In a narrow passage, the braver man prevailed. In terms of momentum, Luo Xiong had already lost the first exchange. At the critical moment, however, the sonic vortex produced by his roar saved his life. Borrowing the force of the chaotic currents, he avoided having his heart pierced, escaping with severe injuries and his life barely intact.

“Big Brother!”

Luo Kun and Luo Zhi roared themselves hoarse, wishing they could sprout wings and fly over like flying fish to roar Lin Feng to death.

“Sorry, but I’ll have to decline your company!”

Although protected by the flames of the Infernal Fire Red Lotus, Lin Feng was still pierced all over by water arrows, leaving him drenched in blood. Dizzy and deafened by ringing ears, he made a distant leap and slipped into the Abyssal Palace.

“Forget about me! Drag him out! Quickly!”

Luo Xiong, clad in tight combat garb, clutched his chest and transformed into human form, thereby reducing the loss of strength and blood as much as possible.

A flash of red light appeared, and Lin Feng materialized inside the Abyssal Palace. He immediately swallowed several pills and sat down cross-legged with his eyes closed.

Chen Yuxi, who had been anxiously waiting there, first breathed a sigh of relief. Then her brows drew together slightly, and a complicated look appeared in her eyes.

Lin Feng’s robes were dyed red with blood, and great wounds covered his body, as though he had just been dragged through a storm of blades.

After a moment, he opened his eyes and said solemnly, “Senior Sister, I’ve already escaped from the Whale-Slaying Palace. If the two of us fight our way out together, giving it everything we have, we can certainly break through the encirclement of those three. I’ve already gravely wounded one of them. The other two are probably around the late Golden Core stage. There’s just one person missing. Yichan, come over here and escape with us.”

From the corner of his eye, Lin Feng spotted the fat man in the corner, bustling about in excitement and confusion.

“What? Kill whom?”

Yichan was holding several instruments, apparently dissecting a corpse for research.

“You deal with the one who’s badly wounded. The two of us will handle the others and come help you. If you can’t defeat him, flee. Hurry! Don’t give them time to make full preparations. Three against three—we’re certain to win. Strike ruthlessly! If the situation turns bad, escape immediately!”

Taking one person by each hand, Lin Feng once more entered the Water-Mirror Disc.

“No, Big Brother. It’s already been several hours…”

Luo Kun was searching in all directions when, without warning, a flash of white light appeared beside him and three figures sprang out.

“You’ve waited long enough. Now surrender your lives!”

The Mo Yan Sword trembled once before shooting forward at a speed that surpassed all limits. Its sharpness condensed into a single point, its sword aura brazen and domineering, its momentum like thunder. There were no tricks or flourishes—only astonishing speed.

Luo Kun reacted just as swiftly. He slapped his enormous tail, causing his smooth, gleaming body to bend into the shape of a bow, and nimbly evaded the sword aura. In the next instant he flashed into human form, while a broad-edged saber appeared in his hand.

Nine holes ran in a line along the blade, and each was set with a jewel. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, black, and white—the nine colors imbued the saber with an even more mysterious and sinister air.

“Haha! You refuse the road to survival and dare come straight to my door instead? Taste the power of this Protector! Nine Melodies in Unison!”

Ssshh!

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The silver-white saber, glittering with nine-colored radiance, flew from Luo Kun’s hand amid his surging force. Its blade expanded tenfold and stabbed forward.

At the same time, the nine jewels released piercing shrieks. It was as though the sky and earth were being torn apart, as ghosts wailed and wolves howled. Nine sounds rang out together—buzzing, booming, shrilling, shrieking, keening, and howling—each one eerie and terrifying, striking directly at the heart.

The sounds rolled forward in waves, tearing through the watery curtain and roaring without cease. A coward might have collapsed on the spot from sheer terror.

Saber aura howled, and the waves raged. The might of this strike had reached an almost peerless level, seemingly capable of sweeping aside anything before it.

Chen Yuxi and Yichan, charging toward the opposite side, saw the exchange and felt their hearts tighten. They could not spare any assistance, for they were each facing two unfathomable opponents and could not afford the slightest distraction.

Just as the saber descended, with scarcely a pause in time, an enormous Vajra Dharma Form suddenly appeared before it. Its trident rose in a sweeping thrust and hacked into the saberlight.

Golden radiance and white light howled upward. The terrifying force of the sonic waves grew even stronger, and great quantities of bubbles churned through the seawater in a chaotic, dazzling mass.

At the same moment that the Great Mighty Virtue Universal Law Vajra Dharma Form blocked the technique known as Nine Melodies in Unison, Lin Feng sprang nimbly to the side, sliding more than a dozen yards away. The sword returned to his hand, and man and blade merged into one as countless rays of light burst forth and hacked toward the strange saber.

The mid-grade spirit artifact Nine Melodies severed the Vajra Dharma Form’s trident in a single stroke. Its fierce saber aura and sonic waves struck the Vajra’s body, slicing through it like blades cutting iron. Brilliant light and sparks burst forth before rapidly fading away.

At that moment, the aura of destruction carried by the Mo Yan Sword, together with the flames of the Infernal Fire Red Lotus, slashed violently against the Nine Melodies Saber.

One was already at the end of its strength; the other was surging with overwhelming momentum.

Crack!

Luo Kun let out a scream that shook heaven and earth. He transformed into his demonic form once more and spat a mouthful of blood arrows. His ten-yard-long lion-beast body swelled to twice its size, while his head became so enormous that it seemed capable of swallowing whales and devouring elephants.

Between his giant fangs, the blood pouring from his mouth transformed into sharp arrows. Ten thousand arrows shot forth at once.

“Die!”

Lin Feng spun in midair and swung his sword down. His fierce, unyielding sword aura collided head-on with the blood arrows at full force.

With a thunderous explosion, blood churned, and the deep sea seemed to erupt like a furnace.

“We’re evenly matched, heh heh! Once the palace guards arrive, you’ll never escape, even if you grow wings!”

Luo Kun’s enormous mouth, stained with blood, laughed wildly without pause. Blood foam dyed the surrounding waters red.

“Escape? Who said I was going to escape? Try this!”

Lin Feng gave a cold laugh.

“Horizontal Cleave of the Eight Wastelands!”

As the Mo Yan Sword swept through the water, a vast and righteous killing intent erupted. Eight sword auras followed one another, arcs of light overlapping as they slashed horizontally with violent force.

Puff! Puff!

Luo Kun’s entire lower jaw was severed, and the cuts sank deep into his skull.

“Roar! Roar!”

The Sea-Li Lion Beast writhed in agony, rolling violently as great masses of thick blood gushed from him. Terror born of impending death filled his eyes.

Boom!

A mass of blazing flame pierced through his enormous mouth, ending Luo Kun’s agonized howls.

In the distance, swordlight crisscrossed while the seawater continued to surge without pause. Chen Yuxi and Yichan were locked in fierce battle.

Just as Lin Feng was about to retrieve Luo Kun’s Golden Core, an overwhelming murderous aura and destructive force suddenly swept from the direction of the Whale-Slaying Palace with the speed of a gale.

Its terror was no less than that of the pursuit by the Ancestor Kui on that earlier day.

“Not good!”

Lin Feng instantly realized that this aura belonged either to the Shark-Jiao King or to the reclusive cultivator Bei Sajin. The battle beneath the sea had finally drawn out one of those peerless experts.

The Mo Yan Sword rose beneath his feet at tremendous speed, carrying him desperately toward Chen Yuxi and Yichan. Afterimages formed behind him, and the Golden Core in his dantian trembled faintly, revealing that he was already nearing the limit of his strength.

He was simply moving too fast.

“Leave, now!”

A meteor-like sword cleaved toward Luo Zhi. In the brief instant between lightning and flint, Lin Feng seized Chen Yuxi’s hand and darted toward Yichan.

No one had expected Yichan to injure Luo Xiong so severely. Wearing the embroidered battle armor of Tide-Shaking Border and relying on his own naturally formidable defenses, Yichan could defend while retreating and attack while advancing. Luo Xiong’s sharp ax could not harm him in the slightest.

“Haha! How do you like Master Yi’s sword?”

Controlling the sword hidden within Xi Huaiyu’s flute and clad in the battle armor of Tide-Shaking Border, Yichan was unbearably smug, his entire face shining with excitement.

“Stop playing around and move!”

Lin Feng and Chen Yuxi flew past together on their sword, seized him, and dragged him away.

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“What’s happening? We haven’t had enough yet! I’m about to skin that lion! You…”

Yichan shouted loudly, then suddenly felt a chill at his back. He turned around and saw a vast black shadow, surging with demonic energy, sweeping across the entire ocean less than a hundred yards away.

“Good heavens!”

With a shriek, Yichan pulled his head into his shell and let Lin Feng drag him away for his life.

“Stop acting like a coward! I’m running out of strength. The two of you control the sword together while I activate the Abyssal Palace.”

After sending the urgent message, the Water-Mirror Disc hovered before him and trembled violently, as though it had become impossible to control.

The situation had grown perilous to the extreme!

Luo Zhi and Luo Xiong were also pursuing them without relent. The demonic shadow suddenly accelerated, crossing a hundred yards in an instant. In another blink, it would have caught them.

But at that crucial moment, the three figures suddenly vanished from the ocean like bubbles, slipping into the Abyssal Palace at the final instant.

“That nearly scared me to death! This game isn’t fun. I’m never going out again, even if someone kills me!”

Yichan lay sprawled across the immortal palace’s jade floor, his face ashen.

Chen Yuxi and Lin Feng stared at each other in horror, each seeing the lingering terror in the other’s eyes.

“It wasn’t the Shark-Jiao King.”

After a long while, Chen Yuxi exhaled and gradually composed herself.

“Then it must have been Bei Sajin. Only two supreme experts remain in the Sea-Li territory. Let’s cultivate for now. After some time, I’ll go out alone. I refuse to believe he can guard the place forever.”

A flicker passed through Lin Feng’s eyes.

Time could dilute everything, and it could also wear away a person’s patience. Once he put on the Formless Garment, he would have a very good chance of escaping the Sea-Li territory.

Thus began the long yet swift cultivation of everyone within the Abyssal Palace.

Within the immortal abode, there were no days or months; in the outside world, entire cycles of existence passed.

In the far eastern lands, atop a mist-shrouded mountain that seemed to have flown down from the heavens, an old man with long brows sat quietly in the void. He slowly opened his eyes, which reflected a celestial waterfall cascading through the sky, calm and without a ripple.

A teardrop-shaped glint of light rested between his brows, as vivid as blood, lending him an added air of demonic strangeness.

Beneath this mountain peak drifting through the heavens, one could faintly see vast stretches of rolling waves, emerald waters and clear blue seas surging without end. Nothing about the place seemed unusual, yet no birds left traces and no fish could be found.

A phoenix cry pierced the universe and scattered the clouds. A figure followed, carrying an air of sumptuous splendor, flashing onto the mountain peak as swiftly as wind chasing clouds.

“Wenqing, has the matter been settled?”

The long-browed old man smiled gently.

“Reporting to Master, the Shark-Jiao King has withdrawn into seclusion and refuses to emerge. Bound by the prohibition, we have no way to act. However, the Ancestor Kui of the Sea-Li territory has already been sealed by Junior Brother Dancheng within the Celestial Urn. At present, only Bei Sajin and Xi Bing remain.”

The young man wore a white jade crown set with a ring of dazzling jewels. His rainbow-hued robes were magnificent, and his features were more captivating than those of the most alluring woman beneath heaven. A colorful aura constantly surrounded his brow, resembling smoke and mist, mysterious and noble.

“Oh? It seems Xi Bing’s destiny has not yet run its course. Let us hope he turns back before reaching the brink and learns to conduct himself properly. Wenqing, return to Flawless Mountain and cultivate. After I discuss the matter with the others, we shall decide what to do. This affair is of enormous consequence and involves far too much. A single disturbance may shake the entire body. Of late, I have had an ominous premonition. The affairs of the Sea-Li territory may yet give rise to disaster…”

The old man lowered his eyelids and sighed softly.

The handsome youth known as Wenqing immediately changed color. There were few things left in this world capable of moving his Master. Even when the decision had been made to eliminate the Lord of the Sea-Li territory, the Ancestor of the Long Brows had not so much as blinked.

What had given him such an ominous premonition?

Countless thoughts passed through Wenqing’s mind, yet none could even approach the answer.

“Go. And remember to tell Dancheng to pay particular attention to developments in the Sea-Li territory.”

The old man softly uttered these words, then closed his eyes.

Wenqing was faintly moved. He answered, “Yes,” and spread his wings, flying westward.