On the seabed of the Forsaken Continent, Mu Guyue, dressed in a tight-fitting long robe, was looking around intently. The dark seabed mountains rose and fell. She hadn't been here for some time. At this moment, she no longer wore the sleeveless armor that exposed her silk-like skin as she often did before. She preferred to hide herself under long robes, no longer liking her skin to be seen by others. At this moment, she was more like a noble queen, cold and aloof!
Her purpose for coming here was strange. One reason was to probe a secret that had never been opened, which was of course one of her goals. There was a Cave Residence there that she had never been able to open. She was now a Mid-level Demonic General; her methods and cultivation were on a completely different level than before. The restriction on that Cave Residence named "Celestial Spirit Grotto" was too powerful. Mu Guyue had been trying to break it for so many years, yet she still couldn't break that formation. And every time she attacked it by force, she would be battered by the formation's restriction. A few times, she was almost seriously injured. Although she had withstood the backlash of the formation's attack, she always returned injured whenever she attacked by force.
As a result, Mu Guyue became even more certain that the "Celestial Spirit Grotto" held a world-shaking secret. As for the other two Cave Residences, she had been in and out of them many times over the years. In fact, she had already explored them thoroughly; there were no treasures at all. However, Mu Guyue would often find herself walking into them unconsciously, especially one of them. Every time she entered, she would inexplicably go to a vine trellis in the courtyard. She would stand there quietly for a long time, then walk out of the Cave Residence in silence, no one knowing what she was thinking.
Every time she walked out of the Cave Residence, she would use a formation to conceal it again. That place had become a forbidden land in her heart; Mu Guyue did not want anyone else to enter. This was precisely the trace of the restriction outside "Flowing Wave Grotto" and "Jade Balance Grotto" being forcibly broken and then resealed that True Lord Qianchong had noticed at a glance. It was the result of Mu Guyue re-concealing it with an illusion formation.
Today, after coming to the seabed again, Mu Guyue was shocked to find that she could no longer find the passage into that mysterious Cave Residence. She had already been searching the nearby five-thousand-li seabed for an hour, to no avail.
"Impossible. I've been here many times. How could I have gotten the location wrong!"
At this moment, Mu Guyue, who had always been calm and aloof, became increasingly anxious, her emotions showing a rare fluctuation. Then, she slammed her fist into the mountain wall in front of her. This was the location she had searched for a long time and believed was the most likely entrance to the passage.
"Boom!"
The surrounding seawater churned wildly. In the pitch blackness, countless pieces of gravel shot out in straight lines through the water, breaking through the waves and shooting into the distance. In an instant, the seabed turned into a dense, interwoven net drawn by tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of large and small stones, emitting different sounds of "whoosh whoosh whoosh" and "rumble rumble rumble."
It was unknown how deep the mountain's foundation went into the seabed, but under Mu Guyue's punch, the continuous mountain range trembled from near to far.
An hour later, Mu Guyue broke through the air and left. But at this moment, her face had turned frosty, and the aura around her was bone-chillingly cold.
At the bottom of the "Demon-Swallowing Abyss," in front of a mountain wall, Mu Guyue's figure suddenly reappeared. She gently waved her palm, and the originally still mountain wall rippled like water, and then a cave appeared. Mu Guyue stepped inside and, with another casual wave, the cave behind her disappeared again.
The surrounding cave walls were rough and dry, the two sides the same dark brown as the mountain peaks outside. The stone wall facing the cave entrance was covered with a dense layer of gray moss. She was also very familiar with this place. She had been here many times over the years, but no matter what technique she used, she could no longer enter that cave from here. But she could also see the strangeness of this cave. No matter how deep a mark she left on the stone wall, those marks would completely disappear after three days. So, she had also sealed this place with a formation. Although she had not been able to teleport out from here again, today she had to try again.
Mu Guyue's face was expressionless. She held up her palm like a knife, magical power surging. The next moment, a blade of light, like a bolt of lightning, struck the large patch of dense moss in front of her.
"Bang!"
Large patches of gray moss scattered down, revealing the dark brown, hard rock wall, and a long palm-print channel several hundred zhang deep…
Half an hour later, Mu Guyue's figure reappeared in the "Demon-Swallowing Abyss." At this time, her face had become extremely ugly, and the veins on her smooth forehead were throbbing.
"Damn it, how could it just disappear for no reason? What the hell is that place, and what happened?"
At this moment, she was furious, her entire aura on the verge of going berserk.
Tens of thousands of zhang below the "Demon-Swallowing Abyss," few demonic beasts and cultivators came here. The demonic qi here was so dense that even Nascent Soul cultivators dared not stay for long.
Halfway up a giant peak, among the black rock layers that were intertwined like spears and swords, there was a constantly rotating vortex of demonic qi. Suddenly, a slender and curvy figure appeared.
Without a word, a pair of Crescent Moon Handguard Sabers suddenly appeared in Mu Guyue's hands. The sabers' light was as smooth as the moon on water. With a flash, they fiercely chopped towards the demonic qi vortex.
"Boom!"
The entire demonic qi vortex exploded in an instant, revealing a hundred-zhang-thick demonic qi barrier inside. Mu Guyue then pointed again lightly. The Crescent Moon Handguard Sabers' momentum did not decrease, and in the next moment, they heavily chopped onto the thick demonic qi barrier.
With two "hissing" sounds, the hundred-zhang-thick demonic qi barrier was directly cut into two long channels by her, revealing a huge mountain cave inside, and a coiled Heaven-Confounding Profound Gold Dragon.
Because Mu Guyue's attack was too fast, the Heaven-Confounding Profound Gold Dragon only reacted at this moment. He looked up and saw Mu Guyue outside the cave. The moment he saw it was Mu Guyue, he was instantly furious, his roars shaking the entire bottom of the "Black Demon Abyss."
"It's you again, you crazy woman! What the hell do you want? I was the one who ambushed you, but you've been here so many times, and you can't kill me. Are you annoying or what!"
This Heaven-Confounding Profound Gold Dragon felt like he was about to lose it. He had wanted to make this woman his plaything back then, but he hadn't succeeded, had he? Later, this woman's cultivation actually reached the Mid-stage Nascent Soul after a few decades, and so she would come to fight him every once in a while. And since their strengths were similar, and their physical strengths were also similar, the Heaven-Confounding Profound Gold Dragon could no longer defeat Mu Guyue, and she couldn't defeat him either. So, every time, the two of them would fight until the sky turned dark, either ending in mutual injury or a draw.
At first, the Heaven-Confounding Profound Gold Dragon didn't think much of it. It was normal for women to hold grudges. Anyway, she couldn't get any advantage from him. However, he gradually discovered that something was wrong. First, Mu Guyue's strength was getting stronger and stronger, and it was becoming more and more difficult for him to cope. Although the growth was slow, her strength was indeed constantly increasing.
Furthermore, fighting like this all the time annoyed him to no end. It had already affected his normal cultivation and habits. Mu Guyue would come whenever she wanted, and attack directly upon arrival. Finally, the Heaven-Confounding Profound Gold Dragon proposed that since she had wanted the "Black Jade Profound Dragon Grass" back then, he could now exchange it with her at a lower price. From then on, she should not bother him again. But Mu Guyue, apart from a cold sneer, completely ignored him. She continued to come, and then attacked directly, forcing him to go out and fight every time.
It had been three years since Mu Guyue's last visit. The Heaven-Confounding Profound Gold Dragon had originally thought that she might have gotten tired. Since she couldn't win, she probably wouldn't come back. Unexpectedly, this crazy woman had come again today.
"Nonsense. I'll beat you up first, then we'll talk!"
Mu Guyue was annoyed. Her Crescent Moon Handguard Sabers chopped over like the autumn splendor!
"What the hell do you want? Always like this, you say…"
A furious, sky-shaking roar from the Heaven-Confounding Profound Gold Dragon came from the bottom of the "Demon-Swallowing Abyss"…
Verdant Continent, within the Tianli Clan. It had been half an hour since Li Yan and his group had entered Shuang Fengyan's Cave Residence.
Shuang Qingqing and the others finally knew the reason for the Third Elder's quick return. That day, after receiving Shuang Fengyan's secret order, the Third Elder of the Tianli Clan had immediately and quietly left the clan. After spending a huge amount of Spirit Stones, he had teleported to the Forsaken Continent on the same day. Then, following the map in Li Yan's jade slip, he had headed straight for "Falling Star Valley."
With his cultivation, he was naturally unimpeded. And by traveling at full speed, he soon reached "Falling Star Valley" after a journey of tens of thousands of li. "Falling Star Valley" was now flourishing with disciples, the sect at its zenith. There were more than ten auras of Foundation Establishment cultivators in the valley alone. Tianxingzi and Xing Ming were still in seclusion. The Third Elder soon discovered the only two Golden Core cultivators remaining in "Falling Star Valley." Then, he recognized Shuang Wuyan at a glance. Her appearance was not much different from what Li Yan had recorded, and she was refining a puppet in a refining chamber.
After some thought, the Third Elder quietly entered Shuang Wuyan's refining chamber without alerting anyone else. His silent appearance, without concealing his form, scared Shuang Wuyan so much that her face turned pale. The other party had entered "Falling Star Valley" without any warning, and the Sect-Protecting Grand Formation had not given any alarm. She wasn't an idiot. Under circumstances where she also hadn't sensed anything, this person had to be a terrifying Nascent Soul cultivator.
Shuang Wuyan and her group had always been afraid of being hunted. Although these years in "Falling Star Valley" had been very peaceful, they still often thought of the past. Now, someone had suddenly broken in here. Shuang Wuyan's first reaction was that she had been found.
However, in the next moment, while sealing the space here, the Third Elder didn't waste words and revealed his identity and stated his purpose.
Shuang Wuyan's face was pale as she gradually widened her eyes. Because her ancestral teachings had two rules: one was that when someone's cultivation reached the Mid-stage Nascent Soul, they must return to the Tianli Clan on the Verdant Continent to inquire about the current situation. That way, they should be able to suppress the Bai clan and must settle the old grudge with them. The second was to be very careful of cultivators who claimed to be from the Tianli Clan, because it was very likely that their enemies would use this as a trap to uproot them. Of course, this was under the condition that both sides were of similar strength.
Although the Third Elder had explained his purpose for coming, he had not mentioned Zhang Ming. Because when he came over, Shuang Fengyan had instructed him that everything must be judged by himself, and not to let the other party know that he had come because of Zhang Ming. Because in that case, the Third Elder could see more problems from the other party's reaction.
For a moment, Shuang Wuyan was both shocked and scared, hesitant. How many years had it been? Generation after generation, they had both looked forward to this day and feared that cultivators claiming to be from the Tianli Clan would come looking for them.
Shuang Wuyan then shook her head in terror, saying she didn't know what the other party was talking about. But she knew in her heart that she was about to be soul-searched by the other party. This was her final resistance, although it was meaningless.
The Third Elder naturally had his ways of dealing with such matters. He had no intention of performing a Soul-Search; that was a last resort. He just said one thing.
"I am not from the Bai lineage. If I were, I would just soul-search and kill you. I know that in this sect, besides you, there are four other members of the Shuang clan. If I were to kill you, no one here could stop me. The clan has been searching for Shuang Tongguan's lineage, and now we have finally found this clue. You just need to refine a simple puppet here, using the most orthodox Tianli Clan techniques. After I confirm it's correct, I can take you back to the clan. As for the Bai clan, you need not worry. The current Great Elder is also an expert of the Shuang lineage, a Late-stage Nascent Soul Great Cultivator named Shuang Fengyan!"