Translator: Cinder Translations
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"Be careful, it's a Longyu! (a type of toad)" Ji Qing shouted loudly.
Suddenly, a long spear appeared in his hand, over ten feet long, its surface jet-black.
With a flick of the spear, Ji Qing moved with it, aiming directly for the Longyu's abdomen.
The Longyu's flat body suddenly swelled, and its massive mouth opened wide, releasing a powerful blast.
A violent wave of energy, like a flood, erupted from its mouth.
In an instant, a massive underwater vortex rapidly formed in front of the Longyu, towering dozens of feet high. It resembled a giant funnel, wildly tearing apart everything around it.
The surrounding Sea Silk was sucked into the vortex, shredded into pieces.
Countless grains of sand from the seabed were drawn in, turning the whirlpool murky.
Before such a massive vortex, Ji Qing seemed tiny, as if he would be sucked in at any moment and torn to pieces.
With a calm expression, Ji Qing's body rapidly turned into a dried corpse, his form resembling a thousand-year-old mummy.
The spear in his hand transformed into a streak of black light, a sharp gleam shooting out.
The whirlpool's rotation suddenly slowed, and a surge of overwhelming corpse energy erupted from the center of the vortex, rapidly spreading outward.
Under the impact of the corpse energy, the whirlpool, as fragile as paper, quickly collapsed into a torrent, churning up the seabed.
Ji Qing moved with the spear, and the black light cut through the water, thrusting straight into the Longyu's abdomen.
The Longyu tried to struggle, but it felt a massive surge of corpse energy burst within its body.
"Boom!"
The Longyu's body suddenly exploded, sending chunks of crimson meat and blood scattering, staining the seawater red.
"Ji Qing Senior Brother, truly a master! With just a small move, a third-level early-stage Longyu falls to your hands," Zhu Yin praised from behind, clapping.
Song Wen's eyes flashed with a sharp light. Judging from Ji Qing's corpse-like appearance and the energy he emitted, the technique he was cultivating was indeed the Corpse King Blood Refining Technique.
Song Wen raised his hand, unleashing a surge of spiritual power that swept up a segment of the Longyu's corpse.
Within this segment of the corpse was the Longyu's demonic core.
As per their agreement, apart from the Earth Dragon Mushroom and Frost Bone Wood, any other spoils belonged to Song Wen.
The Longyu's body wasn't worth much, but its demonic core could fetch two to three thousand spirit stones.
Despite Song Wen's habit of standing by during monster slaying and collecting the spoils, the others didn't object.
"We should split up and search for the Frost Bone Wood. This way, we'll be more efficient. Regardless of whether we find anything, let's reconvene here in two hours," Ji Qing said firmly.
"Splitting up, isn't that a bit risky?" Zhu Yin asked.
Zhu Yin didn't want to separate, but couldn't come up with a valid reason to oppose the plan, so she used safety as an excuse.
Ji Qing responded, "The miasma has suppressed our spiritual senses, restricting our detection range compared to the outside world. If we stay together, how long will it take to find the Frost Bone Wood? The miasma's weakening time is limited, and we can't afford to waste too much time here."
As he spoke, Ji Qing took out three blood-colored jade slips and threw one to each of the others. He continued, "These are warning jade slips. If any of you are in danger, simply crush them, and a blood-red beam will shoot into the sky. After seeing the beam, the other three will come to your rescue."
With that, Ji Qing casually picked a direction and disappeared into the Sea Silk Forest.
Seeing this, Si Xi chose the opposite direction to explore.
Zhu Yin glanced in the direction Si Xi had disappeared and signaled Song Wen with a look, reminding him not to forget to follow Si Xi.
Song Wen nodded, donned a black cloak, blending seamlessly with the dark underwater surroundings, and quietly followed behind Si Xi.
Zhu Yin then used an unknown technique, her presence disappearing entirely, vanishing into the Sea Silk Forest that Ji Qing had just passed through.
...
Song Wen's spiritual sense had a detection range of about 300 meters. With the help of the Shadow Gu, he could detect a range of roughly 500 meters around him.
This range was far superior to Si Xi's, so Song Wen could easily follow him without worrying about being noticed.
Gradually, Song Wen noticed that Si Xi was specifically searching the denser areas of the Sea Silk Forest, as if he was genuinely looking for the Frost Bone Wood, not like Zhu Yin had suspected, that it was just a ruse to hide his ulterior motives.
After following for some distance, Song Wen lost interest in continuing the pursuit. He found a cluster of strange rocks and hid there.
He planned to wait until the scheduled meeting time and then return.
There was nothing of interest here, so he didn't need to keep following Si Xi just to honor his promise to Zhu Yin.
Not long after he hid, a sudden rumble echoed, followed by violent tremors in the seawater.
Song Wen's expression tightened—someone was fighting!
The rumble had come from the direction Si Xi was exploring.
"Could it be that Si Xi encountered a demonic beast? Or has he found the Frost Bone Wood and is fighting with a guardian beast?" Song Wen wondered to himself.
As he stepped out from his hiding place among the rocks, he saw a blood-red light column rise from the seabed, about ten miles away.
The light column barely rose a few feet when it suddenly collapsed and vanished, as if something had forcefully shattered it.
Song Wen cautiously approached the area where the battle was taking place.
As he got closer, he discovered that Si Xi was not fighting a demonic beast, but rather a female cultivator.
The female cultivator was stunningly beautiful, her fair skin radiating an almost ethereal glow. She wore a long, dark robe, embroidered with intricate cloud patterns, which accentuated her graceful figure. She looked like a celestial being descending from the moon, cold and aloof.
She was wielding a long sword that emitted a cold gleam, swift and agile, like a dragon emerging from the sea.
The female cultivator's cultivation level was at the peak of the Golden Core stage, two levels higher than Si Xi. The power of her flying sword meant that Si Xi was no match for her.
Si Xi had set up a third-level defensive formation, and with the formation's power, he could barely withstand her attacks.
"From her attire, she must be from the Liangyi Sect," Song Wen thought to himself.
He was about to leave and avoid getting involved in their battle when he remembered that when they explored the core area of the Valley of Rebirth, Si Xi would need to set up a formation to trap the Ghost Sea Hound.
Si Xi couldn't die yet!
However, it was obviously impossible for Song Wen to appear and rescue him.
If he confronted the female cultivator directly, he wasn't sure he could defeat her. Moreover, such an action would expose many of his hidden cards.
After retreating a distance of about 100 meters, Song Wen crushed the blood-colored jade slip Ji Qing had given him.
Instantly, a blood-red light column shot into the sky.
The appearance of the light column immediately drew the attention of both the female cultivator and Si Xi from over ten miles away.
Their reactions were completely different.
The female cultivator's face darkened, and her gaze toward the light column was filled with anger.
The light column was too far from her, and while she wanted to destroy it before anyone else could notice, she was unable to reach it in time.
Si Xi, on the other hand, was delighted.
The appearance of the light column meant that the Ji Yin had detected that he was under attack and was notifying Ji Qing and Zhu Yin.
Si Xi was certain that it was Song Wen who triggered the light column. If it had been Ji Qing or Zhu Yin, they would have immediately rushed to his aid, not waited for others to assist.
(End of the Chapter)
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