Ten Half-Ancestors on the Eastern Sea

The vast blue sea was a place of fierce winds and savage waves for ordinary men. To venture into it carelessly was to invite a watery grave. Before heaven and earth, humanity was too small. Facing the firmament and the boundless ocean, a person was like a speck of dust in an endless desert—utterly insignificant.

Yet the frail human frame could transcend itself, step by step climbing to the pinnacle of glory. At the Half-Ancestor level, a being could topple mountains and drain seas, could shatter heaven and earth. The body remained just as small, but the power it could gather was unimaginable.

Ten Half-Ancestors traveled alongside Xiao Chen. The storm-tossed sea, with its rolling black clouds and towering waves, had calmed under their overwhelming pressure, becoming as placid as a giant sapphire. The sky was a clear, cloudless blue, meeting the water at a seamless horizon.

They advanced several thousand li into the eastern waves. The spiritual energy gradually grew stronger, no longer as scarce as in the Nine Provinces.

"Is that Penglai Immortal Island?" Laozi asked, gazing at a hazy chain of islands in the distance.

That was a mobile chain of islands, racing across the sea at incredible speed. The legend of Penglai Immortal Island had circulated in the Mortal World for endless ages, but few had ever found it—not even immortals—because it was constantly on the move.

"There are supreme treasures on it," Tongtian said, a look of interest on his face, though he did not pursue. The Penglai archipelago vanished.

"One must not force such things," the Buddha intoned a Buddhist prayer.

Daoist Jieyin gave a cold snort and retorted, "Everything in this world must be fought for. One day I shall take it and show you."

Deep in the ocean, scales glittered. Dragon-fish leaped, and enormous flood dragons crossed the sky, churning up waves and spray. One fairy island after another appeared on the blue sea, bathed in flowing light and color—illusory as a dream. The offshore islands were truly a realm of immortals.

Chiyou looked down at the islands from the sky. "I have a feeling we may encounter some powerful old acquaintances. Figures like Da Yu and Hou Yi may reappear."

By now they were deep in the vast sea. Xiao Chen had gradually calmed down, no longer as agitated as before.

They were less than a thousand li from the Immortal Island of Shu. The group moved at extreme speed, arriving in the blink of an eye.

The ethereal Immortal Island of Shu: green peaks and verdant valleys, rich, dense spiritual energy, divine springs splashing, immortal birds dancing—a scene of perfect peace and tranquility.

Boom!

A thunderous explosion. The void above Shu Island was torn open. The unassuming, unadorned old man Taihao was blasted out. Had the Haotian Tower above his head not shrouded him in chaotic primordial energy, the four sword beams that slashed at him from behind might have wounded him.

"Old barbarian, you are utterly infuriating! If you meddle in my affairs again, do not blame me for striking without mercy—an endless feud!" A cold, clear voice issued from within that dimensional space.

Xiao Chen breathed a sigh of relief. He knew Taihao had held back the Green Lotus Celestial Maiden and prevented her from succeeding.

Taihao laughed heartily and flew toward Xiao Chen and the others.

The Green Lotus Celestial Maiden's divine consciousness was vast as an ocean. She had already sensed someone approaching, but because the ten Half-Ancestors had all concealed their auras, she did not realize their true strength. Her voice, sharp as ice, came from the rent in space: "You don't know when to die!"

The ten Half-Ancestors did not take offense. They calmly watched the spatial exit, waiting for her to appear.

Taihao knew all these people. Some he had even fought against in the ancient ages. Chuckling, he flew up to the Buddha and reached out as if to touch his bald head, only to have his hand stopped by the light radiating from the Buddha's relic.

Xiao Chen was utterly speechless. This Taihao really had no inhibitions…

"Chiyou, you didn't come just for the Green Lotus Celestial Maiden, did you? You're here to help your brother break free, aren't you?" Taihao looked at Chiyou, who was wreathed in demonic energy and holding an iron halberd.

Chiyou nodded. "That's right."

A tearing sound split the air, and the Green Lotus Celestial Maiden appeared. She wore a lotus garment, her whole body wrapped in auspicious radiance. Her beauty was peerless, her splendor unmatched under heaven. Beneath her feet was a Twelve-Grade Lotus Platform, scattering bits of jade-like light. To her four sides, four peerless swords stood like pillars of heaven, their killing aura soaring to the sky. In her hand she held a lotus flower, radiant with colored light.

The moment she appeared, the Green Lotus Celestial Maiden sensed something wrong. The people facing her were utterly composed, treating Taihao—a Half-Ancestor—as an equal, without the slightest deference.

She was from the cultivation world and had never set foot in the Mortal World before, so she did not recognize Chiyou or the others. But the moment she saw the Buddha, she felt a deep unease.

The bald head… the Twelve-Grade Lotus Platform… that was enough to identify the man. And the people who sat as his equals—how could they be ordinary?

Ten people, all of equal status!

In that instant, the Green Lotus Celestial Maiden was deeply shaken. She knew this was bad.

For a moment, she was almost stunned. Ten Half-Ancestors arriving together—it was almost unimaginable!

Too absurd!

How could ten Half-Ancestors come together?

What did that mean? The power behind it was beyond imagination!

There was no way she could fight ten Half-Ancestors at once.

Feeling it was unbelievable, the Green Lotus Celestial Maiden scanned each of them in turn—from the Buddha to Laozi to Daoist Jieyin. Finally, she ground her teeth and said, "Good! Good! Good! Ten Half-Ancestors together. Have you no shame? Do you truly intend to gang up on me?"

Then she turned her gaze to Xiao Chen, her eyes filled with hostility. In the past, she had scorned him, looked down on him without a second thought. Now she hated this boy to the bone. How could an ordinary demigod like him possibly have the power to invite ten Half-Ancestors?

"Old witch, release Qingqing and return Ruoshui's body to me," Xiao Chen said coldly, staring at her.

Fury surged within the Green Lotus Celestial Maiden, but she quickly calmed herself. After all, she was a Half-Ancestor—her state of mind was far beyond that of ordinary cultivators. She returned to a tranquil, well-like state. Ignoring Xiao Chen, she looked at the ten Half-Ancestors. "Are you coming one by one, or all ten at once?"

The Buddha said nothing. He simply stepped forward. The Twelve-Grade Lotus Platform beneath his feet glowed with specks of light, indistinguishable from the Celestial Maiden's own platform—almost exactly the same. That might have been why he wished to fight.

Tongtian stepped out as well. The Immortal-Slaying Formation Diagram hovered above his head, his four fierce swords positioned at the four directions. He looked hungrily at the Celestial Maiden's four war swords. If he could replace his own Slay Immortal, Kill Immortal, Extinguish Immortal, and Trap Immortal swords with those four, his combat power would skyrocket.

"You two want to fight together? Then come at me together!" The Green Lotus Celestial Maiden's phoenix eyes blazed with frost. Her lotus garment fluttered, her killing intent soaring to the heavens. Her overwhelming aura as the unmatched Celestial Maiden of her age was on full display. In an instant, the entire vast sea froze solid, the temperature plummeting. Ice sealed more than three thousand li.

Neither Tongtian nor the Buddha advanced, but they did not retreat either. At their level of cultivation, ganging up was beneath them—they would never double-team the Celestial Maiden.

"Since the Buddha and the Daoist are being so modest, let this wicked Daoist test the Celestial Maiden's peerless arts." Daoist Jieyin, his hair disheveled, stepped forward holding a dharma wheel in his left hand and an iron duster in his right. Ignoring Tongtian and the Buddha, he walked directly through the void and addressed the Green Lotus Celestial Maiden: "I am Daoist Jieyin, the First Patriarch of the Western Sect."

He was sixteen feet tall, with a sallow complexion. His face should have appeared compassionate, but a fierce light blazed in his eyes. As he advanced, lotus blossoms as large as millstones fell from the sky across a full three thousand li, but every one of them was black as ink, as though stained by demonic energy. The vast sea for three thousand li turned, the ice melted, and the waters surged toward the sky. The very sun and moon seemed to shake.