197: The eldest sister is in trouble!

The sun was just right, and the breeze was mild.

Su Lin rarely found a moment of peace, basking in the sun on a giant boulder in the back mountain.

However, this tranquility lasted for less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

"Revered Master!!!"

A shrill scream broke the afternoon silence.

Su Lin's brow twitched as he opened his eyes.

He saw Gu Qiuyue stumbling up from the foot of the mountain, her hair disheveled, tightly clutching a Jade Slip that was still emitting black smoke.

More importantly, she was only wearing one shoe; the other had clearly been lost in her extreme panic.

"What happened?"

Su Lin's figure flickered, instantly appearing in front of Gu Qiuyue and reaching out to support her swaying body.

"Why the panic? Did the warehouse collapse again?

"Did they go berserk?

Or did Wang Ba lead the miners in a rebellion?"

"No... it's not that..."

Gu Qiuyue gasped for breath, her eyes filled with terror and anxiety, even a hint of deep despair.

She tremblingly held up the Jade Slip, her voice choked with tears:

"It's... it's Eldest Senior Sister!"

"Something happened to Eldest Senior Sister!!"

As soon as those three words were spoken, the four other figures who had been hiding in the shadows, ready to ambush Su Lin at any moment, all appeared instantly.

"What?!"

Su Hongling jumped down from a tree carrying her giant sword, smashing a crater into the ground upon landing.

"Who did you say had something happen? The Boss?"

Luo Ximei stepped out of the Void Realm, her heterochromatic pupil suddenly constricting: "Impossible! That woman is as strong as a monster. Who could possibly cause something to happen to her?"

The poison bottle in Chu Weiwei's hand dropped to the ground: "Eldest Senior Sister..." Even the coldest, Mu Qingxue, now had a face as cold as frost. She instantly teleported to Gu Qiuyue's side, grabbing her wrist with a chilling grip.

"Speak clearly."

"What exactly is going on?"

Among the seven disciple, Cold Moon's status was special.

She was the first to join Su Lin's Sect and the one who had accompanied him the longest.

She had single-handedly shouldered the panic of all her Junior Sisters and then calmly arranged an escape route for everyone.

If Su Hongling was a sharp sword and Luo Ximei was a domineering blade, then Cold Moon was the mountain that suppressed everything.

In the hearts of all the Junior Sisters, the Eldest Senior Sister was synonymous with invincibility.

But now, Gu Qiuyue was saying something had happened to her?

"This is the highest-level urgent report from the Master-Seeking Alliance. It uses ninety-nine layers of encryption Formations and is only activated in desperate situations."

Gu Qiuyue took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down as she handed the Jade Slip to Su Lin.

"The news came from the deepest part of the Nanyu Imperial Court."

"Three days ago, blood rain fell from the sky in Southern Yu, and the Imperial Qi collapsed."

"The Divine Dynasty established by Eldest Senior Sister... changed hands overnight."

"Changed hands?!"

Everyone gasped.

"Not only that."

Gu Qiuyue's expression turned even worse as she pointed to the last line of bloody characters on the Jade Slip.

"The final piece of intelligence the messenger sent out at the cost of their life was..."

"The Empress has been imprisoned. In one month... she will be sacrificed to heaven."

"Sacrificed to heaven?!"

Su Lin's pupils shrank violently, and a heaven-toppling Killing Intent erupted from his body, causing the surrounding air to boom under the pressure.

Sacrifice to Heaven.

In the cultivation world, this was no blessing ceremony.

It involved stripping away a high-level Cultivator's Divine Soul, Physical Body, and cultivation to exchange for some forbidden power!

This was meant to completely erase Cold Moon, not even leaving a chance for Reincarnation!

"Who did it?!"

Su Hongling was furious, her giant sword, no edge, buzzing, and the golden battle patterns on her body flashing wildly.

"Who dares touch the Boss! I'm going to twist his head off and use it as a chamber pot!!"

"Southern Yu... that's the territory of the Human Emperor."

Luo Ximei's eyes were gloomy. "Could it be those hidden ancient clans?"

"No."

Gu Qiuyue shook her head, her voice trembling as if she couldn't believe the intelligence herself.

"Who did it?"

"It was... the Grand Preceptor, Sima Rongrong."

Gu Qiuyue gritted her teeth, her eyes full of hatred.

"No one expected that she would trigger the long-buried Dragon-Locking Formation at the critical moment when Eldest Senior Sister was in seclusion breaking through to the Late Stage of the Mahayana Realm, causing the Southern Yu Golden Dragon of National Fortune to backlash!"

"National fortune backlash..."

Su Lin took a deep breath, the Killing Intent in his eyes condensing in the air like something tangible.

He knew all too well what that meant.

For an Empress who established her country through the Imperial Dao, national fortune was both the source of power and a fatal shackle.

Once the national fortune was defiled and backlashed into the body, the pain would be ten thousand times more intense than being cut into a thousand pieces.

Not to mention being betrayed by the person she trusted most.

"Cold Moon..."

Su Lin whispered the name.

In his memory, she was the one who always stood behind him, handling all the trivial matters, forever steady and calm, as reliable as a great mountain.

She was the most like him among the seven disciple, and also the one who lived the most tiring life.

And now, she had ended up imprisoned and scheduled for sacrifice?

"Good. Very good."

Su Lin laughed out of extreme anger, a smile that caused the surrounding temperature to drop to freezing point instantly.

"Sima Rongrong, is it?"

"Since they want to play at sacrificing to heaven, I'll fulfill their wish."

He turned abruptly to look at the four disciple behind him.

"Did you all hear that?"

"We heard!"

The four spoke in unison, their Killing Intent converging to form a massive blood-colored thundercloud over the Daochu Sect.

Usually, they would fight tooth and nail to compete for favor.

But if an outsider dared to touch their Eldest Senior Sister... they were touching their reverse scale!

"That old woman is usually very naggy, controlling this and that..."

Su Hongling cracked her knuckles.

"But she's the only one who would scold me while applying medicine after I got injured during sword practice."

"Except for Revered Master, no one can bully her!"

Luo Ximei sneered, the Demonic Fire in her hand turning from black to white, a sign of extreme rage.

"My Eldest Senior Sister, even if she dies, can only die at Revered Master's hands."

"A bunch of trash dares to lay a finger on her crown?"

Chu Weiwei silently put away those agonizing poisons and replaced them with a batch of lethal toxins that kill instantly upon contact.

"This kind of pain... Eldest Senior Sister must be hurting a lot, right?"

"Weiwei is going to 'treat' those people... skin them all and make a carpet for Eldest Senior Sister."

Mu Qingxue didn't speak.

She just stood there quietly, but the surrounding space had already begun to freeze, with countless ice crystals condensing into sharp ice blades in the air.

"Kill."

She uttered only that one word.

"Qiuyue."

Su Lin looked at Gu Qiuyue.

"How far is the Imperial Court from here?"

Gu Qiuyue quickly calculated the position in her mind, her face pale:

"Revered Master, Southern Yu is located in the Canglan Floating Continent in the far south.

It's separated from our Eastern Continent by the Endless Sea.

Even using the fastest flying boat, traveling without rest, it would take... three months."

"Three months?"

Su Lin shook his head.

"Too slow."

The sacrifice is in one month.

By the time three months pass, it'll be far too late.

"But Revered Master, spatial storms rage across the Endless Sea, making it impossible to set up Teleportation Formations unless a Tribulation Transcendence Stage powerhouse tears through space..."

"Cold Moon can't wait three months."

"I can't wait either."

He slowly raised his hand; in his palm, the newly acquired Myriad Heavens Star Chart was slowly rotating.

"Since the path within this world is blocked, we'll take the path outside the world."

"Tear through space?"

Gu Qiuyue was stunned, then her face turned deathly pale. "But Revered Master, the spatial turbulence of the Endless Sea is a notorious meat grinder,

Even a Tribulation Transcendence Stage powerhouse wouldn't dare cross it with their Physical Body. Without a Star-Fixing Plate, we'll get lost in the spatial storms and never return!"

"Who said we're crossing over it?"

Su Lin narrowed his eyes, looking toward the distant southern horizon.

"Since it's a sea, it must have a bottom."

"We're not going over the top."

"We're going through—the Sea Eye Guixu!"

"That place usually connects to the turbulence, allowing us to reach our destination directly."

As soon as these words were spoken, there was dead silence.

Sea Eye Guixu.

That was the most forbidden place in the deepest part of the Endless Sea, rumored to be the drain of the ancient immortal-demon battlefield, connecting to the Core Abyss of this world.

There was no light, no direction, only terrifying water pressure capable of crushing stars and countless exiled ancient Vicious Beasts.

"Crazy... Revered Master, you've gone mad!" The abacus in Gu Qiuyue's hand was shaking.

"What? Are you afraid?"

Su Lin turned to look at the four disciple behind him.

"Not afraid!"

Su Hongling slammed her giant sword onto the ground, making it tremble, her red eyes burning with a fierce fire.

"As long as I'm with the Old Man, forget Guixu, even if we go to the Yama Hall to snatch the Book of Life and Death, I won't even blink!"

"As long as we can save Eldest Senior Sister, what does it matter even if we fill up the Endless Sea?"

Luo Ximei tidied a strand of hair at her temple. "Coincidentally, my myriad soul banner is still missing a few main souls from sea beasts."

"Deep in the Sea Eye... there must be many deep-sea poisonous creatures never seen before, right?"

Chu Weiwei licked her lips, her eyes full of morbid excitement. "Weiwei is going to bring lots of bottles!"

Mu Qingxue didn't speak.

She just silently stepped forward and took Su Lin's hand.

Her palm was cold, but exceptionally firm.

"Wherever Revered Master goes, I go."

"Good."

Su Lin gripped her hand back, his gaze sweeping over these four disciple who, despite their twisted personalities, were incredibly reliable at this moment.

"Qiuyue, you stay behind to guard the Sect and take charge of the overall situation. Also..."

He glanced at the trembling guests.

"Collect all the gift money from this ceremony. Not a single copper less."

"Yes!" Gu Qiuyue instantly entered merchant mode, her tears vanishing as her gaze became sharp.

"Let's go."

Su Lin didn't hesitate at all.

He summoned the Myriad Heavens Star Chart, which shone with brilliant starlight, turning into a dazzling meteor.

Su Hongling, Luo Ximei, Chu Weiwei, and Mu Qingxue instantly soared into the sky, racing toward the Endless Sea in the south... Three days later.

The edge of the Endless Sea.

The seawater here was a desperate ink-black, with fierce winds whipping up thousand-foot-high waves that crashed against the pitch-black reefs, making a terrifying sound like the wailing of ten thousand ghosts.

The sky was forever a gloomy leaden gray, with heavy thunderclouds hanging low and purple lightning weaving through the clouds as if ready to strike with world-ending punishment at any moment.

"This is the Endless Sea?"

Su Hongling stood at the edge of the cliff, peering down into the bottomless black water, unable to help a shiver.

"It's so cold... and I feel like something inside is staring at me."

"It's the Abyssal Gaze."

Luo Ximei stood to the side, Devilish Qi forming a protective shield around her, isolating her from the corrosive sea breeze.

"This water is full of Death Qi and resentment. If an ordinary Cultivator touches even a drop, their Spiritual Qi will be contaminated."

"Not only that."

Chu Weiwei reached out a finger, touched a bit of the splashing seawater, and sniffed it at the tip of her nose.

"This water... is poisonous. And it's the kind of corpse poison that can cause hallucinations and eventually lead to madness and self-mutilation."

She shook her hand in disgust and quickly fed herself a detoxification pill, and incidentally stuffed one into Su Lin's mouth as well.

"Revered Master, keep it in your mouth, don't swallow."

Su Lin held the sweet-tasting Medicinal Pill in his mouth, looking solemnly at the sea ahead.

"Prepare to dive."

He didn't summon a flying boat because, under this level of storm and water pressure, any flying boat would be crushed into scrap metal in an instant.

Only the Physical Body and Laws are the sturdiest arks.

"Form the array!"

Su Lin gave a low shout.

"Yes!"

Although the four usually couldn't stand each other, at the critical moment, their tacit understanding in protecting their Revered Master was frighteningly high.

Mu Qingxue was the first to act.

Her hands formed seals, and a vast amount of ice-attribute spiritual energy surged out.

"Crack, crack, crack!"

Centered on the sea surface ahead, the black water for a hundred miles around was instantly frozen.

Then, she manipulated the profound ice to quickly construct a massive, crystal-clear shuttle-shaped ice shield, firmly protecting the five of them inside.

Su Hongling shouted and stepped heavily on the bottom of the ice shield.

An invisible gravity ripple spread out, counteracting the terrifying external water pressure and greatly reducing the burden on the ice shield.

Luo Ximei waved her sleeve, and the black and white Devilish Qi turned into a flowing membrane covering the surface of the ice shield, specifically designed to swallow and corrode any sea Yao Beasts that tried to approach.

Chu Weiwei scattered a handful of purple powder, which merged into the Devilish Qi, forming a poisonous defense line capable of killing a Body Integration Stage sea beast.

"Go!"

Su Lin stood in the center of the ice shield, the Myriad Heavens Star Chart floating above his head, shedding thousands of rays of starlight to stabilize the space inside the ice shield and prevent it from being scattered by the turbulence.

"Plop!"

The giant ice shuttle, like a sharp sword, pierced fiercely into the ink-black Endless Sea.

It didn't kick up much of a splash because the surrounding seawater was instantly refrozen by Mu Qingxue's cold Qi the moment it touched the ice shuttle.

Diving.

Rapidly diving.

The surrounding light quickly disappeared, and the world fell into a dead, dark silence.

Only the faint light emitted by the ice shield illuminated a few yards of the surrounding seawater.

As the depth increased, the water pressure began to grow exponentially.

"Creeeak... creeeak..."

The Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice shield, as hard as iron, began to make a tooth-aching squeezing sound.

"So heavy..."

Mu Qingxue's face turned slightly pale, and cold sweat broke out on her forehead.

She was single-handedly fighting the pressure of the seawater for ten thousand miles around.

"I'll help you!"

Su Hongling stepped forward, pressing her hands against the ice wall, pushing her gravity Law to its limit to forcefully withstand the giant force squeezing inward.

"Haven't we reached the bottom yet?"

Luo Ximei's heterochromatic eye, shining brightly in the darkness, alertly scanned the surrounding gloom.

"I feel... something is closing in."

This was thirty thousand feet underwater.

It was also a paradise for deep-sea giant beasts.

"Hiss!!!"

A sharp hiss suddenly pierced through the thick seawater and the ice layer, exploding directly in the ears of the five people.

Then, two lanterns lit up in the darkness.