Guanshan Dao Master furrowed his brow, pondering how to find the Legacy Pearl next, but Chen Yu spoke up first.
"Daoist friend, hold on. I have a way to track down the Legacy Pearl."
Guanshan Dao Master was startled by this sudden statement. He turned to look at the white-robed Sword Immortal beside him, his tone unable to hide his surprise.
"Is the Daoist speaking the truth?"
"Beneath the Abyss, hidden currents block out the sun, and the sea fiends use the Sun-Stealing Golden Wheel to conceal their tracks. I've searched no fewer than a hundred times with the Sea-Suppressing Divine Cauldron and found nothing. What marvelous method does the Daoist have?"
Chen Yu didn't beat around the bush and said directly, "To be honest with you, Daoist friend, my achievements today are all thanks to a dragon soul senior who has been helping me along the way. I know quite a bit about the true dragon's path. Using resonance to find a dragon pearl shouldn't be too difficult."
Guanshan Dao Master suddenly understood.
He had previously pondered over this Daoist friend Ning Jiao's origins. Whether it was the sword cultivator foundation shown by the Primordial Origin Sword Dao, or the astonishing strength to shake the Sea-Suppressing Divine Cauldron with bare hands, none of it seemed like something a rogue cultivator without a master's lineage could have figured out on their own.
But if a dragon soul senior was guiding him from behind the scenes, then everything made sense.
He just never imagined there were still living dragon souls in this world.
"Just as you guessed," Chen Yu nodded.
On the castle lawn, Olivia rested her dragon head on her front paws, her slit pupils half-closed as she listened to the Gel Network's real-time translation of the conversation. Her expression turned a bit strange.
Her Majesty really dared to say anything.
What could she, a silver dragon, teach a slime?
Yet this strange mage actually believed it.
She figured people in this world probably had some deep-rooted reverence for things like "dragon souls," reverence so deep they even skipped basic logical verification.
This world was more interesting than she imagined. At least here, Her Majesty's "Sword Immortal" reputation could really fool people.
"Then I'll trouble the Daoist," Guanshan Dao Master said no more, bowed solemnly, and made a "please" gesture.
Chen Yu nodded, withdrew the miniature castle floating in his left hand into his sleeve, and his form transformed into a golden rainbow that leaped up from the reef rock and plunged into the Abyss's sky-swallowing maw.
Guanshan Dao Master followed closely, the Sea-Suppressing Divine Cauldron suspended by his shoulder, its blue light beam at the cauldron's mouth shining especially brightly against the surrounding darkness the moment they entered the Abyss waters.
The moment they crossed that boundary, the gravity direction of the originally cascading sea currents abruptly reversed.
What had been a waterfall pouring down from below into the abyss was now an ocean surface spread out beneath their feet.
Seawater surged and flowed underfoot, rushing toward the utter darkness ahead, its depth impossible to discern, its end unreachable.
Chen Yu looked up. The sun here was reduced to a dim yellow halo barely visible through layers of heavy fog. He could vaguely make out something like a massive fluid moving in the high heavens, like another inverted sea.
So this was the Abyss? How amazing.
I quietly remarked to myself, spread my Divine Sense outward behind me, and the golden light accelerated again, stretching into a sword rainbow cutting across the dark currents. Guanshan Dao Master followed close ahead.
The further they flew, the more clearly Olivia could feel this hidden fluctuation.
Guanshan Dao Master identified the specific direction and finally realized, "This place is the Sea-Strangling Fiend King's lair. So it was the one who stole the Legacy Pearl. A sea snake that became a spirit, also daring to dream of transforming into a dragon."
"More importantly, that sea snake has lurked at the Abyss's edge for centuries. It doesn't cause much trouble usually, but every tidal surge, it overturns passing fishing boats. Hundreds of fishermen along the Zhan County coast die every year because of it."
"If it really uses the dragon pearl to transform into a true dragon, not to mention the Eighteen Islands of Zhan County, the entire South Sea will never know peace. Daoist friend, let's hurry!"
...
Hundreds of miles ahead in the deep sea's dark currents, two fiends were cowering fearfully within the golden light shield of the Sun-Stealing Golden Wheel.
One was a shrimp fiend clad in a red shell, the other a blue crab fiend waving its double pincers, carefully holding the divine wheel that could block Divine Sense with its crab claw.
They had been hiding like this without moving for a long time.
Just now, Guanshan Dao Master's Divine Sense had swept over their heads repeatedly, all blocked by the Sun-Stealing Golden Wheel's light shield.
The shrimp fiend lowered its voice, "They shouldn't have followed us, right? That human's Divine Sense scanned so many times; if it was going to find us, it would have by now."
The crab fiend was more composed. It tapped the shrimp fiend's head lightly with its claw.
"Shh, don't talk. Wait a bit longer. Once those cultivators are completely gone, we'll go back to report to the King."
The two small fiends waited a while longer, sensing no pursuers' movements. The shrimp fiend was about to relax.
"Looks like those two cultivators didn't chase..."
The water suddenly shook violently.
A massive bronze divine cauldron fell from the sky, its mouth crashing into the sea ahead of them. A blue light beam exploded outward, flattening the waves for a hundred miles in an instant. Even the ceaseless deep-sea currents that had flowed for centuries were frozen still under the cauldron's suppression.
The two sea fiends turned in alarm. At the boundary where the sea surface and dark currents were illuminated, a sky-piercing golden rainbow had already arrived out of nowhere.
"It... it's that Sword Immortal?!"
"That day he split the entire bay outside Guanshan Island with a single sword stroke. Didn't the Heavenly King say the divine wheel could block all Divine Sense? How did he find us?"
The crab fiend stared at the golden light growing closer, its claws starting to tremble uncontrollably. It tried to press them down with its other claw but couldn't stop them.
The shrimp fiend was so scared its whiskers went limp. Its compound eyes spun wildly, searching for escape routes everywhere. But the Sea-Suppressing Divine Cauldron had already suppressed all the dark currents, making it impossible to use even the most familiar aquatic arts.
"Run! Run!"
Before the shrimp fiend could finish speaking, a massive dark surge erupted from the deep sea. From within it shot out a section of pitch-black snake body as thick as a mountain range. Its scales were covered in dark purple fiendish runes, each scale the size of a millstone.
The snake body coiled around, wrapping up both fiends and the divine wheel together. Then the water exploded apart in the middle. An enormous snake head broke through the surface, tongue flicking, its slit pupils gleaming with cold green light in the dark sea.
Looking closely, one could also see two underdeveloped fleshy horns bulging on top of its head.
"What's the panic? Your Heavenly King is here."
"Let me eat these two to replenish myself. Two Golden Cores as snacks isn't too shabby."
The Sea-Strangling Fiend King's voice was unhurried. It licked its tongue around the corner of its mouth, carrying a hint of condescending mockery.
Olivia lay on the castle railing, watching that snake head, larger than the entire castle, emerge from beneath the sea. Surprise flickered in her slit pupils.
"The magical creatures in this place can actually grow to such a massive size."
"In terms of sheer size alone, it's already not inferior to an adult sea dragon."
Chen Yu didn't answer. He was dodging a sweeping giant tail.
The Sea-Strangling Fiend King's snake tail scraped past his sword light and smashed into the sea below, sending up thousand-layered walls of waves in a thunderous roar. White foam exploded into a sky-obscuring fog barrier.
Guanshan Dao Master urged the divine cauldron to dissipate the incoming tsunami's aftershocks while urgently warning, "Daoist friend, beware of this beast's Sea-Strangling divine ability!"
"The fiend art it cultivates specializes in raising storms. Nine out of ten tidal surges in the Abyss are stirred up by it. Fighting it in these waters with endless currents flowing is extremely advantageous for the fiend king."
"And after using the Dragon Transformation Pool, it's already showing signs of becoming a dragon. It might even have hidden special abilities."
No sooner had he finished speaking than he caught sight of Chen Yu making his move out of the corner of his eye.
Chen Yu extended a palm, facing the Sea-Strangling Fiend King's massive snake head. Then a Doppelganger stepped out of his body, identical to his current white-robed Sword Immortal appearance.
The Doppelganger gave a slight nod to the main body, took a step, and transformed into a dazzling golden light. Chen Yu grabbed it backhandedly, holding it in his palm like a golden sword drawn from the void.
Then he swung his arm and hurled the golden light formed from the Doppelganger forward.
[Gel Golden Light Sword]
No sword?
His gel Doppelganger was the best sword.
The golden light, once released, swelled with the wind, stretching into a giant golden sword spanning several miles above the Abyss's dark sea, illuminating the entire murky Abyss waters in brilliant golden radiance.
The giant sword split the air. The sea surface at the sword's tip was carved into a trench, seawater surging to both sides, revealing the dark brown sea mud at the bottom.
Damn it, a sword cultivator!
The Sea-Strangling Fiend King's pupils shot wide open. Before the sword's edge even reached it, the purple-black fiendish runes on its scales began to disintegrate on their own.
It didn't recognize this technique, but it felt the sword intent on the golden sword. And it wasn't ordinary sword intent—it was sword intent that had entered the Dao.
It thrashed its massive snake body desperately, trying to dodge, but the golden light had already arrived.
The sword light pierced into the snake body. Blood sprayed from the gaps between scales, carrying a thick aura of fiendish energy and the stench of blood into the sea, staining the entire dark current red.
The Sea-Strangling Fiend King let out a agonized shriek. The sound itself caused the seawater to ripple with dense white ripples, but these were quickly drowned out by the towering waves.
And an even more peculiar sight appeared where the sword light had cut through the sea surface.
Where the sword intent lingered, the seawater was divided into two distinct realms. Even as the currents surged on either side, not a single drop of water could cross the boundary marked by the golden light.
Guanshan Dao Master breathed a quiet sigh of relief.
This appearance, this power—his guess had been right.
He had heard of such phenomena before. It was a hallmark of the Southern Wastes' Three Origins Sect's Primordial Origin Sword Dao. The sword split two realms. Even the vast ocean had to be divided into different sword domains, mutually inaccessible.
Even the deepest-rooted sorrow could be severed by this sword.
It was the most heartless sword Dao, and the one closest to the Heavenly Dao.
But then his gaze fell on the treasure in Chen Yu's left hand.
He had seen it clearly. While striking that sword stroke, this Daoist friend Ning Jiao had steadily held a "precious furnace" in his left palm the entire time.
Shouldn't a sword cultivator's lifebound treasure be a sword?
Why did this Sword Immortal, who could wield the Three Origins Sect's true inheritance sword Dao, never reveal his own sword from start to finish, instead carefully cradling that ornate creation—neither quite a furnace nor a cauldron—in his palm?
Before he could figure it out, the Sea-Strangling Fiend King's collapsing snake body on the sea below suddenly erupted with a burst of surging blood aura again.
The snake head broke through the blood mist and reemerged. The sword wound on its neck was still spewing dark green fiendish blood.
It let out a piercing, mad hissing sound, shouting toward the deeper dark sea behind it, "Won't you all act now? Do you want to be slowly skinned and broken, bone by bone, by this Sword Immortal?!"
As soon as the words fell, three enormous splashes erupted simultaneously on the pitch-black sea hundreds of miles away.
First, a giant black whale, larger than the islands at the Abyss's periphery, leaped from the deep sea, its blowhole spewing thick black fiendish mist.
Then two giant octopuses rolled out of the deep-sea dark trenches on either side of the whale, their tentacles spreading out to cover the sky, each one densely embedded with suckers capable of stirring up dark currents.
Guanshan Dao Master's Divine Sense swept over these three new auras. His expression changed drastically, and his tone dropped to its lowest point.
"Daoist friend Ning Jiao, these three are, respectively, the Tide-Swallowing Fiend King, who roams the deepest Abyss, and the Twin Fiend Kings—one called Mountain-Crusher and the other Sea-Overturner. They are skilled at combining their storm-raising divine abilities. Every underwater earthquake in the deep Abyss involves them."
"Four Fiend Kings assembled is no ordinary Golden Core can handle. Though the Sea-Strangling Fiend King is wounded, the other three are at full combat strength. Perhaps we should retreat for now."
"Transforming into a dragon requires the dragon pearl combined with the Abyss's Dragon Transformation Pool water for continuous refinement for several days. There's still time. I'm confident that if I want to escape, they can't stop me."
Chen Yu shook his head and said only one thing, "You go after the Sea-Strangling Fiend King to recover the Legacy Pearl. I'll handle these three Fiend Kings."
Guanshan Dao Master was stunned.
If he were weighing the pros and cons, the most rational choice now would be to temporarily retreat and await reinforcements, then join forces with the seventeen islands' troops to encircle and destroy them.
But Chen Yu's attitude left him no room to weigh further.
This Daoist friend Ning Jiao, when he wasn't even at Golden Core, could shake the Sea-Suppressing Divine Cauldron with bare hands. Now that he had formed his Golden Core and possessed three Daos, perhaps he truly could hold off the combined assault of three Fiend Kings.
Chen Yu continued, "I'm doing this for your dojo. Naturally, I can't just stand by. Consider it my contribution to the people of the Eighteen Islands."
"Then many thanks to the Daoist."
Guanshan Dao Master didn't waste words. He slapped the cauldron, and its blue light surged, wrapping him inside. He rode the waves, chasing in the direction the Sea-Strangling Fiend King had fled.
"Take care, Daoist friend! I'll come back to assist as soon as I recover the Legacy Pearl."
Chen Yu watched as Guanshan Dao Master's figure disappeared into the depths of the Abyss's mist. Then he faced the three massive silhouettes rapidly approaching from the horizon.
He steadied the castle in his left hand. Golden light coalesced in his right palm again. A Doppelganger separated from his body, fell into his palm, and stretched into a sword form.
He took just one step sideways and blocked the path of the three Fiend Kings pursuing Guanshan Dao Master. He held the golden light sword horizontally, expanding the boundary between the two sea regions a bit further.
"Why rush so hurriedly, you three? Why not stop here and rest for a while?"
"The scenery in the Abyss isn't bad. I haven't had a good look at what's below the sea yet. Perfect timing—why don't you three join me for a look?"