The moment before, Li Yan had been looking down at the obstruction his left hand had encountered. He discovered that the Gui-Yi Water-Parting Spike was stuck in a layer of dark light. It was... half a suit of azure armor.
Ripples of water undulated across it, emitting a defensive force that was both soft and unyielding.
The reason he called it half a suit was that the armor had risen from the purple-robed man's feet, but it had only reached his back before his shield and head were breached, and its "growth" had instantly ceased.
The moment Li Yan saw the half-suit of armor clearly, his heart suddenly seized. The protective light shield on his body began to flash frantically, and a bloody mist splattered across it.
He and Gong Shanhe were caught off guard, sent flying by the enormous force of the essence blood explosion. The protective shields on their bodies lasted less than a single breath before being torn to shreds, like paper kites scattered in the wind.
Fortunately, both were veterans of a hundred battles, men who had walked the line between life and death countless times. Their reaction to danger had long surpassed the speed of their divine sense.
Within a single breath, the two moved with incredible speed, slapping defensive talismans on themselves one after another, as if they were free.
"Bang, bang, bang..."
Like firecrackers on New Year's Eve, a continuous series of explosions erupted. As the two flew backward, dazzling flames of light bloomed across their bodies. The talismans couldn't even last for half a breath before they all detonated.
But because they had reacted so quickly, these talismans still managed to block a significant amount of the force. At the same time, a world-shaking, destructive power spread out in a circle from the center of where the three had been fighting.
Two nearby islands, each seventy to eighty li in radius, were wiped clean from the surface of the sea as if by an unseen hand. In a single breath, everything—the reefs, peaks, trees, and demonic beasts on the islands—was completely annihilated.
It was as if a vase on a table had been swept away by a palm, leaving no trace behind.
In the sky above, a massive black hole-like crack, three hundred zhang wide, appeared. A powerful suction force emerged from within, pulling up the seawater from below to form a "dragon's breath" waterspout that stretched for hundreds of li.
In an instant, a vast, dark pit appeared on the sea's surface, far more terrifying than the hundred-li-wide vortex the purple-robed man had created with his art earlier.
All that seawater rushed into the massive black hole in the sky. The ancient mountain ranges and various strange reefs and corals on the seabed were revealed one by one.
But the seabed was too deep, and the depths were pitch black, impossible to see, giving off a terrifying, cavernous feeling...
Li Yan was sent flying, tumbling through the air as if riding the clouds, and was thrown into the "dragon's breath" waterspout.
His back slammed through layer after layer of the thick water curtain that churned between heaven and earth, connecting the sky to the sea. A fit of violent coughing wracked him, and he spat out mouthfuls of bloody foam.
A thousand li away, "Cough, cough, cough..." he could still feel the force that could tear anything apart on the surface of his body, but with Li Yan's formidable physique, he was able to withstand it.
The magical power in his body circulated madly, and Li Yan's backward momentum finally slowed. Suddenly, a sharp glint flickered in his eyes. His figure shot out sideways, once again plunging into the vast curtain of water.
In an instant, he was three hundred li away on the other side. He reached out a hand into the raging wind and churning seawater, snatched at something, and then, with a sharp tug, his five fingers closed around an object.
It was an azure water pearl, half the size of a fist, shimmering with a faint blue light. Only after being caught by Li Yan did it erupt with a more brilliant radiance, struggling and ramming against his palm as if trying to escape.
The moment Li Yan secured it with his magical power, a talisman appeared in his other hand and was promptly slapped onto the blue water pearl.
As soon as the talisman landed, the light on the blue water pearl dimmed rapidly, and it became still.
Just as Li Yan put the item away, he turned his head to the side. The water curtain was pierced by a figure. Gong Shanhe had arrived from another direction.
Their eyes met, and both could see that the other was heavily injured.
Their clothes were tattered and torn. Beneath the shredded cloth, a large hole was visible in Li Yan's chest, so deep that the continuous rising and falling of his lung lobes could be seen clearly.
Torn tendons and minced flesh were mixed within, like a patch of chaotic crimson grass. His entire body was covered in blood.
But a silver light flickered within the large hole, and an invisible force contained the gushing blood, preventing it from flowing out.
Countless other wounds, large and small, crisscrossed his body, deep bloody gashes that were shocking to behold.
Gong Shanhe's condition was no better. Both of his legs were gone from the thighs down, leaving only the upper half of his body, and it was in this state that he had flown over.
His magical-treasure-grade robes had also been reduced to rags. A shard of white bone protruded from his right shoulder, like a sharp bone knife stabbed from behind and piercing out through his shoulder socket. Blood and flesh spattered his face.
They merely glanced at each other and spoke in unison.
"Go!"
The total time they had fought the purple-robed man was over twenty breaths. Such a commotion had already attracted the attention of powerful experts. Several formidable auras were approaching from the distance.
Fortunately, Li Yan had planned ahead, deliberately luring their opponent to this location. He had been pursued for the better part of an incense stick's time, and the Sea-Breaking Beast's territory was in another direction.
Li Yan and Gong Shanhe could sense that among the approaching figures were both human cultivators and members of the Demonic Clan, likely experts from the Wind Beast clan.
The moment they spoke, they had already plunged into the water curtain. Only then did the massive black hole in the sky finally disappear.
The seawater that had been sucked into the sky, under the residual suction, cascaded down in layers, like a tiered waterfall, returning to the ocean below...
Two years later, in a boundless ocean, endless and vast, the water reflected the sky. Low-rank sea demons swam through the water.
Seabirds stretched their wings in the air, gliding in elegant arcs. Occasionally, they would dip a wingtip into the surface, then soar up again, trailing a string of crystalline water droplets that glittered in the sun. Their crisp calls echoed between heaven and earth.
Tens of thousands of zhang beneath this sea, there was a mountain range that rose and fell like an ancient behemoth. In the pitch-black seabed, everything was deathly still.
Only the overlords who could roam these seas, those who had reached the fourth rank or higher, would venture to such depths. Here, there was no sound year-round; endless darkness was the eternal, unchanging color.
At this moment, within a cave in this mountain range, two figures were sitting cross-legged.
The entrance to the cave was long gone, concealed by a formation. From the outside, one could only see a chaotic jumble of pitch-black, bizarrely shaped reefs.
Inside the cave, which should have been filled with seawater, there was not a single drop. It was just like a normal cave on land.
Li Yan slowly opened his eyes. He looked at Gong Shanhe, who was not far in front of him. The man's aura was stable, and he was in the midst of breathing exercises.
Li Yan assessed his own internal condition and a smile appeared on his face. After consuming a large number of medicinal pills, his injuries had finally healed by about eighty percent.
The reason he had awakened at this time was that he had finished refining the last batch of pills he had taken.
The great battle two years ago, even with his current cultivation, still sent a lingering fear through him whenever he recalled it.
'The self-detonation of a Late-stage Nascent Soul Great Cultivator is too terrifying. No wonder the Second Elder's self-detonation of his physical body left the Qionglin Sect helpless despite their siege, and even allowed the Fifth Elder to escape their encirclement!'
Li Yan thought to himself. This was the first time he had encountered the self-detonation of a Nascent Soul cultivator, and a Late-stage one at that.
In his past fights, he had always been wary of such last-ditch counterattacks from his opponents, so basically no enemy had ever managed to self-detonate in front of him.
Furthermore, in previous years, he had used various methods, aided by the Vajra Sacred Mountain-Suppressing Formation, to suppress Yan San. This had led him to believe that he could handle a Late-stage Nascent Soul Great Cultivator without issue.
He had overlooked the various factors that contributed to trapping Yan San, and now, Li Yan wouldn't dare say whether Yan San had truly been waiting for death back then.
But if Yan San had disregarded everything and used his final secret art, there was a high probability he would have perished. However, the most likely scenario was that the Vajra Sacred Mountain-Suppressing Formation had sealed Yan San, preventing him from self-detonating.
The outcome of the battle more than two years ago had exceeded both Li Yan's and Gong Shanhe's expectations. They had successfully ambushed their opponent, and while he was caught off guard, Li Yan's Gui-Yi Water-Parting Spike had pierced his body.
Fearing that the man might not die, Li Yan had instantly infused the tip with seven types of potent poisons, all of them fragmented poisons capable of killing a Nascent Soul cultivator.
At the same time, Gong Shanhe had seized the opportunity to shatter the First Island Master's protective light shield. Just when they thought they had won, the magical treasure that had transformed into the Water-Avoiding Golden-Eyed Beast turned out to be a supreme defensive treasure.
The moment it sensed its master's death, though it was only half a step behind Li Yan, it did not attack him. Instead, it directly transformed into a suit of water-attribute armor to protect the First Island Master's body.
But it was still a fraction too late. The First Island Master's sea of consciousness was still pierced by Li Yan, but it had blocked Li Yan's fatal blow aimed at his Nascent Soul.
The First Island Master's divine soul was exceptionally powerful. Although the first layer of the Gui-Yi Water-Parting Spike, Wave-Hiding Soul-Slaying Art, had pierced part of his divine soul and touched his Nascent Soul, he had managed to regain consciousness amidst the extreme pain.
He knew in an instant that his physical body was destroyed and he was on the brink of death. So, using the moment the water-attribute armor blocked the attack, he immediately self-detonated his physical body.
A Late-stage Nascent Soul Great Cultivator self-detonated. Li Yan and Gong Shanhe were so close. Thankfully, their instincts were faster than their divine sense, and they retreated instantly.
They slapped almost all of their defensive talismans onto themselves with astonishing speed. The defensive power of every single talisman they carried was immense; these were all prepared before they came to the Qionglin Sect.
The cumulative effect of so many talismans negated a lot of the impact force. The duo's protective light shields, comparable to those of Late-stage Nascent Soul Great Cultivators, also played a crucial role, deflecting another portion of the impact.
Finally, with their formidable physical bodies, which were virtually at the peak of this world's body cultivators, they managed to survive.
Yet, in the first wave of the explosion, Gong Shanhe's legs, which were rapidly treading the air as he retreated, were instantly destroyed, dissolving into nothingness. Li Yan's right chest was also blasted open, leaving a hole that nearly pierced through his body.
The First Island Master's Nascent Soul, however, took the opportunity to escape. A Nascent Soul possessed the divine ability of instantaneous movement, which was faster than any of their evasion techniques. The moment he self-detonated his body, his Nascent Soul had already fled.
However, Li Yan's divine sense had caught a fleeting glimpse of light. When the opponent's Nascent Soul entered the void, it had already turned a grayish-black color.
Li Yan and the other man retreated a thousand li before stabilizing themselves. It was impossible to give chase.
Just as Li Yan stabilized himself, he sensed the aura of the Water-Avoiding Golden-Eyed Beast that had attacked him earlier. It was no longer in its armor form but had reverted to an azure water pearl.
Perhaps in the instant the First Island Master self-detonated, with his divine soul damaged and poisoned, his mind was filled with nothing but the thought of escape. Or perhaps he believed the armor could not possibly have survived such a powerful self-detonation, so he hadn't taken it with him.
The magical treasure was also severely damaged and could no longer maintain its armor form. However, after reverting to its original water pearl form, it had been blasted several hundred li to Li Yan's side, and ultimately fell into his hands.
As for the First Island Master's storage ring and other storage artifacts, Li Yan and Gong Shanhe had no time to search for them.
Li Yan felt that under the force of such a terrifying explosion, they had most likely been destroyed. Another possibility was that they had been sucked into the massive black hole that had formed above.
At that moment, they sensed powerful experts approaching. Injured as they were, they didn't dare to linger and fled for their lives.
Fortunately, the place Li Yan and Gong Shanhe chose for the assassination was remote. Additionally, perhaps due to the mutual vigilance between the Qionglin Sect and the Sea-Breaking Beasts.
After chasing them for an hour, the auras, seeing that they were getting farther and farther from their main camp, eventually circled behind them for a while before disappearing completely.
Only then did Li Yan and Gong Shanhe breathe a sigh of relief. However, they didn't stop. Swallowing medicinal pills, they desperately fled for nearly another month before finally entering a desolate, uninhabited region of the deep sea.
After activating a formation restriction, they began to cultivate and recover. Their external injuries had already healed during their escape, at least on the surface.
Both were Nascent Soul cultivators, so regenerating lost limbs was no difficult matter. Moreover, they were both top-tier body cultivators, so their physical recovery was even faster.
But the internal injuries to their bodies required medicinal pills and cultivation to properly nurse. With such internal injuries, two normal Dharma Cultivators might not have recovered even in several decades, or even a century.
But the essence blood of these two was too vigorous, and Li Yan also possessed the essence blood of the Undead Nether Phoenix. Their recovery speed was astonishingly fast, reaching an unbelievable level.
Just as Li Yan was about to take out more medicinal pills, Gong Shanhe also opened his eyes. Although his face was still somewhat pale, his eyes were now gleaming with spiritual light.
The moment he opened his eyes, he looked at Li Yan. He had, of course, sensed Li Yan's earlier movements. The instant Li Yan sensed the man's gaze, he immediately stopped what he was doing.
"What, are you planning to leave?"
"Yes. It's been nearly three years since I left the clan. Although I have a soul lamp in the clan, A Ying must be very anxious. I've already recovered about sixty percent of my strength."
"Moreover, I don't know what has been happening with the seal in recent years. It's unsettling me, and I can't continue to cultivate in peace. It's better to go back as soon as possible!"
Gong Shanhe nodded. Hearing this, Li Yan immediately stood up. The moment he saw the look in Gong Shanhe's eyes, he knew this would be the result.
If it weren't for the First Elder and Third Elder being in the clan, Gong Shanhe would probably have chosen to leave more than a year ago.
"On the way, we'll gather more information about the Qionglin Sect!"
Gong Shanhe added. Li Yan just smiled faintly.
Barring any surprises, the Qionglin Sect was likely already in decline, or even facing extinction.
Having lost two Nascent Soul cultivators at once, how could they possibly contend with the Sea-Breaking Beasts? Although the First Island Master hadn't perished, his divine soul was already damaged, and he had been afflicted by several of Li Yan's fatal poisons.