The Sea Rises; A Formidable Enemy

Chapter 579: The Sea Rises; A Formidable Enemy

“Stop!”

A man’s voice issued from within the carriage, and instantly the beast-drawn chariot and the streaks of遁光 all halted in midair.

The red light converged, revealing a group of strikingly beautiful young women. All wore identical light green palace robes, their black hair coiled atop their heads, with twin swords slung across their backs. These female cultivators stood in orderly ranks on either side of the chariot, each with head bowed and an expression of solemn respect. Every single one of them was at the Foundation Establishment stage.

“Strange! Who would be casting a Heaven-defying magic art here? Judging by the gathering of Yin energy, it’s either a Yin-to-Yang Conversion Art or the Soul Reunion Art.” The astonished voice came from within the carriage, still shrouded in a white light. It had called out the name ‘Soul Reunion Art’ in a single breath.

“This celestial phenomenon is so striking—why couldn’t it be the heavenly sign of a rare treasure emerging?” A young woman’s voice followed, speaking with extreme coldness, though it could not hide its naturally sweet and alluring timbre.

“Heh! Do you think I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the sign of a treasure’s birth and a Heaven-defying magic art?” The man seemed very confident, letting out a light chuckle.

“Hmph! That’s just your one-sided opinion. It might very well be a sign of a treasure. I, for one, can’t see any difference between the two.” After a moment of silence, the woman’s cold voice came from the carriage again, speaking without any courtesy.

“If you want to know the truth, wouldn’t it be simple enough to go over and take a look?” The man seemed extraordinarily indulgent toward the woman. Instead of getting angry at her challenge, he followed her line of thought. “Whether it’s a Yin-to-Yang Conversion or a Soul Reunion, only a cultivator at Core Formation or above can perform it. And after casting it, the user’s cultivation will greatly regress; it’s common even for them to drop an entire realm. I’m a bit curious myself, and I want to see who’s casting it. If their cultivation is passable, I might as well take them in. Our Divine Pigeon Hall is still short a few Enforcement Envoys.”

“Fine! I’ve been feeling a bit stifled after nearly a month in this flying carriage. It would be good to go to the island to stretch my legs.” The woman hesitated for a moment before agreeing.

“Wait a moment. I’ll withdraw the barrier now.”

As soon as he said this, the white light on the carriage flickered and slowly dissipated, revealing the two people sitting inside.

Inside the beast-drawn chariot were indeed a man and a woman, seated at opposite ends.

One was a barefoot youth of about twenty-seven or twenty-eight, wearing a linen robe and a tall crown. He had a refined and scholarly appearance, but faint golden light shot from between his brows, hinting at a mysterious cultivation technique. Beside him sat a young girl of sixteen or seventeen.

She was draped in a white gauze dress, her skin like凝脂般凝脂般 smooth jade, and her jet-black hair fell like satin over her shoulders. Her features were exceptionally beautiful and pure. The only thing was that her face seemed a little pale, lacking a bit of color, which gave her the ethereal, almost dreamlike air of a celestial being untouched by mortal烟火.

The girl leaned against one corner of the carriage, her brows slightly creased as if she were displeased. Seeing the light barrier withdrawn, her expression shifted. She stood up gracefully and stepped out of the carriage.

The man had been watching her every move with a tender gaze. Seeing this, he smiled faintly and followed her out.

“Daoist Wen, how confident are you in your prediction that the Ghost Mist will appear nearby? As I understand it, as the most mysterious natural disaster of the Chaotic Star Sea, the Ghost Mist’s time and place of appearance follow no discernible pattern.” The girl looked toward the small island and spoke, without turning her head, of something completely unrelated to the scene before them.

The man, seemingly accustomed to her manner, clasped his hands behind his back and replied with a smile:

“The Ghost Mist does indeed have no precise pattern. However, after considerable effort, I collected detailed records of its appearances over the past several hundred years and discovered something rather interesting. Some of the places where the Ghost Mist appears are locations where a volcanic eruption had just occurred. It’s not always the case, but at least one-third of the time, it matches this rule. And in this sea region, two submarine volcanoes happened to erupt not long ago. The chances of the Ghost Mist appearing here should be fairly high.”

Upon hearing this, a strange light flickered in the beautiful girl’s eyes. After a moment of hesitation, she asked slowly, “So after all this time, you brought me all the way to this sea region just to see the Ghost Mist appear? When ordinary cultivators encounter it, they flee as fast as they can. Who would go out of their way to approach it?”

“Why not? I have nothing better to do lately, so I thought I’d come and see if my calculations were correct. If the Ghost Mist does really appear, do you think I, Wen, would not know how to escape?” The hempen-robed youth’s lips curled slightly, and he wore a nonchalant expression.

The girl fell silent for a moment.

“Shall we go now? It seems the other party is at a critical point in their casting. Would we be interrupting them?” After a brief pause, the young woman pointed at the sky over the small island and asked calmly.

“Interrupting? I, Wen Tianren, want to see a Core Formation cultivator. Do you think I care about ‘interrupting’ them? If this person is not tactful and dares to speak rudely, I’ll simply strike them down.” The handsome scholar’s face suddenly took on a proud expression as he spoke bluntly.

The young woman looked at the man before her and remained silent for a long moment.

However, this man’s magical power was indeed unfathomable. Although he had not yet condensed a Nascent Soul, other cultivators of the same stage were simply not on the same level as him. Calling him the number one Core Formation cultivator in the Chaotic Star Sea might very well be living up to his reputation.

“Oh!” The man’s expression suddenly shifted. He cast a glance toward the small island, and a trace of surprise appeared on his face.

“What is it? Has something happened?” The girl was somewhat curious, but still asked in a cold, indifferent tone.

“Interesting. There are now three Core Formation cultivators gathered on that small island. Two of them are nothing special—just early Core Formation. One of them has a rather clever concealment technique, but it’s nothing I can’t see through. But the other one, a late Core Formation cultivator, is not ordinary. He actually sensed my divine sense probing him. This person’s divine sense is almost as strong as my own.” The man spoke while staring intently at the island, a rare look of gravity appearing on his face.

The young woman’s expression changed slightly upon hearing this.

She had personally witnessed how strong this man’s divine sense was. Even compared to Nascent Soul old monsters, it was not much weaker.

For there to be another Core Formation cultivator with divine sense as powerful as his was truly hard for the girl to believe. An odd expression appeared on her face for the first time.

Still, the young woman knew that although this man seemed refined and friendly, he was not a magnanimous person. On the contrary, he was vicious, ruthless, and fickle. At the slightest displeasure, he would take a life, and his cultivation base was terrifyingly high.

Even though he was currently infatuated with her, she only dared to maintain a cold demeanor and could not afford to anger him excessively.

Fortunately, the man seemed to view conquering her as an interesting game and had never forced himself on her, which gave the girl some peace of mind.

Though his expression remained normal, she estimated that there was a nine-out-of-ten chance he had already developed the intent to kill the cultivators on the island. After all, this man had always prided himself on having divine sense rivaling that of Nascent Soul old monsters. How could he tolerate the existence of another at his own level among his peers?

The young woman sighed inwardly. She could only offer a shred of pity to the cultivators on the island.

...

At this time, on the small island, several li away from the valley, there was a patch of scattered rocks. It was eerily quiet, as if no one was there.

Suddenly, a sharp whistling sound erupted, and a massive, three-colored spear shot up from below, flashing low through the air over the rock pile in an instant.

A “pu chi” sound rang out. Light flickered in the low air, and the giant spear slammed into a white protective barrier that had appeared out of nowhere.

Within the barrier, a figure flickered, revealing a pale, panicked face.

Just as this person started in shock and opened their mouth, barely managing to spit out a purple jade ruler, a cracking sound came from the barrier. Before the white figure could even activate their magic treasure, the giant spear pierced straight through their chest.

The corpse, reeking of fresh blood, plummeted from the air and crashed into the rock pile with a “bang,” disappearing from sight.

In the air, the three-colored giant spear had dissolved back into a swarm of insects. One cluster of the swarm carried away a storage pouch, while another cluster carried the purple jade ruler, buzzing as they flew back toward the small valley.

A moment later, Han Li sat with a storage pouch in one hand, scanning it with his divine sense, while the other hand idly played with the purple jade ruler.

After a short while, Han Li put both items away and slowly raised his head to look in a distant direction. His expression was rather grim.

Not long ago, when he had just released the Gold Devourer Beetles, he had felt an almost imperceptible sweep of divine sense pass over him. It had startled him so much he nearly jumped.

As far as he knew, only Nascent Soul old monsters could possess such terrifying divine sense. After carefully tracking it, he discovered that the divine sense came from the group of newly arrived cultivators. A cautious scan of his own revealed an astonishing truth.

The person who had released this terrifying divine sense was, surprisingly, another late Core Formation cultivator, like himself—and young, not much older than he was.

Han Li was utterly shocked.

In the very instant his divine sense had swept over the area, the other party had detected his prying. Somehow, the man had activated some kind of restriction over that entire area, forcibly pushing Han Li’s divine sense back, making it impossible to penetrate further.

This caused Han Li’s heart to sink even further.