Chapter 58 Part 2

Li Ruoshui stopped her random thoughts. She had called for help, and though it was originally the Dragon Palace’s affair, she could not just hide in the back watching the show. She could not intervene in Nascent Soul Realm battles, but the Golden Core level Silver Armor Daoists gradually swimming nearby were within her capabilities.

However, with their numbers, showing herself would lead to being surrounded. Li Ruoshui’s mind stirred with a new use for the Shanyue True Form Chart. She directly dragged a Silver Armor Daoist into the Shanyue True Form Chart. Here, she feared no enemy reinforcements, and out of the water, she could unleash her divine channel methods without restraint.

Li Ruoshui focused on practicing the Emperor Sword’s momentum field. She had only seen that Legalist fellow Daoist demonstrate “Imprison” and “Suppress,” but the Legalist path was emotionless—beyond that, there must be the sin deserving execution! How to activate the execution of the Imperial Decree? Li Ruoshui had not learned it, so she resorted to the sword momentum of the Yin Talisman Three Absolutes. After suppressing him, decapitating with one sword was the same.

The true spirit of the Shanyue True Form Chart had gone from initial screams to numb indifference.

For a moment, it envied the Emperor Sword—the sword had spirituality but no true spirit, so it would not compare the gaps between the Qing Emperor and this one.

The entangled Thunder Spine Sharks naturally noticed their companions dwindling but could not figure it out. It was as if a giant maw lurked in the darkness, silently swallowing people. They were highly vigilant, but the Shanyue True Form Chart had birthed a true spirit—how could Golden Core Realm them detect it? When dragged into the chart, they had no power to resist.

Lian Rusu stood to the side, her gaze always on Li Ruoshui.

Even when Li Ruoshui was injured in her fights with opponents, she did not intervene.

Back in the Return to Ruins Gap, Li Ruoshui had walked through alone; she could then, and she could now. Interfering unnecessarily when she needed no help would only hinder her cultivation progress.

Several hours later, as Li Ruoshui targeted a Silver Armor Daoist to drag into the Shanyue True Form Chart, Lian Rusu suddenly blocked her. Her expression was calm, but a hint of wariness appeared in her eyes.

Li Ruoshui’s senses were not as sharp as Lian Rusu’s. She puzzledly uttered an extended “Hm?”, her trailing tone laced with confusion.

In the next breath, a massive rumble echoed. Li Ruoshui looked up to see a magnificent spectacle in the world: as if an invisible force split the sea domain in two, the roiling seawater forcibly parted under overwhelming mana, the surging tides squeezed to both sides.

In an instant, the vast sea turned to fields!

Rolling thunder surged forward, painting the heavens and earth in brilliant purple. A massive Cave Heaven Dharma Image of a Thunder Spine Shark leaped out, baring its ferocious fangs amid the clouds and waters. Li Ruoshui’s mind trembled. She had witnessed Ying Wu Gui’s breakthrough to the Cave Heaven Realm in the East Sea—a magnificent spectacle of auspicious clouds illuminating the sky, revealing only the ethereal detachment of the Cave Heaven. But now, she glimpsed raw, savage power capable of splitting mountains and parting seas!

Li Ruoshui stared fixedly at that Cave Heaven Dharma Image until darkness fell before her eyes—Lian Rusu had raised her hand to block her view. Li Ruoshui blinked, finally sensing a faint sting. Her heart sank as she said, “That Thunder Spine Shark has achieved the Cave Heaven Realm?”

Lian Rusu replied, “Yes.” She glanced at the sky. The Dharma Image seemed close at hand, but it was actually tens of thousands of li away. Moreover, it wasn’t the only Dharma Image manifesting in the Origin Sea. What had split the Origin Sea wasn’t the Thunder Spine Shark’s brute force, but the Dragon Lord’s innate command over water.

Since the Thunder Spine Sharks were connected to the Ruin Spirits, how could Dragon Lord Ji Yanyu sit idly by? Tidal waves rose to heaven-shaking heights, gales swirling from all directions. Opposite the Thunder Spine Shark’s ferocious Dharma Image, an boundless, profound mist of ethereal haze emerged, gradually pressing forward. Amid that profound mist stood a golden-robed Daoist, hands clasped behind their back.

“The Dragon Lord’s esteemed arrival truly brings splendor to my humble Thunder Crack Valley,” came a strange laugh from the thunder. The Thunder Spine Shark also transformed into human form, dressed in scholar’s robes with a feather fan and silk headscarf.

Ji Yanyu said coolly, “With your aptitude, reaching the Third Realm was already a struggle.”

The Thunder Spine Shark Daoist burst into laughter, shaking his feather fan as his eyes turned crimson. “But now, I have succeeded.” He flicked his sleeve, sending a roiling mass of mist surging forward. Thunder leaped and flickered within it, electric light darting back and forth like countless thunder serpents, sharp and menacing. He stared straight at Ji Yanyu and declared proudly, “I have come to experience the Dragon Lord’s superior techniques!”

Ji Yanyu sneered, shaking her body. With a booming crash, the profound mist unfurled for a thousand li, and a majestic dragon circled restlessly in the clouds and fog. Her Dharma Image pressed forward, and deafening claps of thunder echoed from all sides, showing no intention of yielding.

As the two sides’ Cave Heaven auras clashed, countless bolts of raging lightning, raindrops, and hailstones plummeted into the sea domain. Just as the storm swept outward, a gentle breeze carrying a clear, ethereal song brushed across the sea surface, dispersing all the residual waves of spell power wherever it passed. It was Yue Rushuang of the Merfolk Kingdom, striding over the waves with a conch shell in hand.

Cave Heaven True Persons clashing is truly world-shaking, Li Ruoshui mused inwardly. The tides still surged to either side, and anyone walking amid them would feel uneasy. No one knew when the parted seas would close. Once those hundred-zhang-high waves crashed back, anyone caught inside would be ground to powder!

“Who will win?” Li Ruoshui murmured.

Lian Rusu said, “The Nine Provinces Cavern Heaven has already been alerted. They won’t let the Ruin Spirits have a chance to escape.”

“But the Thunder Spine Shark just broke through to the Cave Heaven Realm and dares to challenge two True Persons. He must have some trump card,” Li Ruoshui thought, then added, “The Thunder Spine Sharks don’t have a Return to Ruins Gap at the Cave Heaven level, but what if the altar he secretly set up allows Ruin Spirits at the Cave Heaven Realm to cross over?”

Lian Rusu shook her head. “I haven’t sensed any other Cave Heaven auras.”

Is this perception reliable? Li Ruoshui grumbled inwardly.

Lian Rusu lowered her gaze to her. “I have a divine ability: one step covers a thousand li, leaving no trace.”

After her incarnation dispersed, she merged spirit and qi via the Carefree Wander, arriving instantly in the Origin Sea.

Li Ruoshui: “?”

How many techniques has she cultivated exactly? Unable to hold it in, Li Ruoshui hesitated a moment before asking aloud.

Lian Rusu said, “I cultivate a scriptural canon as my Fundamental Scripture, gaining enlightenment from every word and phrase.”

Li Ruoshui’s lips moved, but she couldn’t utter a word for a long time.

Enlightening wherever she goes, huh! I’m done competing with these geniuses.

Composing herself, Li Ruoshui said, “With the Dragon Palace mobilized and chaos in the Thunder Spine Shark Territory, this is a perfect chance to approach the Thunder Dragon Bone.” She hadn’t forgotten her original purpose!

In a clash of Cave Heavens, a small fry like her would just be cannon fodder. If caught up in it, she’d truly be scattered body and soul.

Lian Rusu lifted her gaze to the high heavens, withdrawing it moments later. She followed Li Ruoshui’s lead. “Good.”

—

After all, the Thunder Spine Shark was a newcomer to the realm, while Ji Yanyu opposite him had already stepped into the Cave Heaven Second Layer, aided by Yue Rushuang. How could he be their match? After just a few clashes of Dharma Images, the ferocious Thunder Spine Shark Dharma Image had lost giant teeth, several dorsal spines broken, and the scales it manifested shattered beyond repair. He cut a sorry figure, while the true dragon across from him grew ever more vigorous.

The Thunder Spine Shark snorted coldly and bellowed, “Fellow Daoist Zhi Wang, why not show yourself?”

This roar made Ji Yanyu and Yue Rushuang’s eyelids twitch. An unfamiliar aura surfaced—one they had never encountered, and at the Cave Heaven level! An unknown Cave Heaven True Person, unrecorded in the Tianyan Mirror—could it be from the Return to Ruins Realm? Had the Ruin Spirits there gained Daoist titles, making their incarnations indistinguishable from true cultivators?

Ji Yanyu was startled, exchanging a glance with Yue Rushuang.

The unfamiliar aura solidified from ethereal vagueness, manifesting beside the Thunder Spine Shark as a black-robed, white-haired Daoist. She wore a conical hat and gripped a broad longsword in her right hand. When she raised her eyes, green light flickered in her pupils.

Ji Yanyu’s expression filled with shock. That familiar face made her heart skip beats. She blurted, “Wen Yuhuang?!”

She was the great general of the Feather Kingdom from Phoenix Island, guardian of the Feather Sovereign, and their sole Cave Heaven True Person. When the rift disaster struck the Feather Kingdom, she had carried the National Guardian Artifact to suppress the Return to Ruins Gap and perished. Soon after, Feather Sovereign Yu Liansheng broke through to the Cave Heaven Realm, abdicated, and vanished.

“No, you’re not Wen Yuhuang,” Ji Yanyu said. The Daoist before her no longer carried the aura of phoenixes, only a bone-chilling coldness.

The Thunder Spine Shark laughed loudly. “Fellow Daoist Zhi Wang, kill them.” He had once visited near the Chaos Grotto and seen these eerie array patterns in a dream. After tinkering, he learned they could tear open a rift to the Return to Ruins. His cultivation had stagnated for ages, his lifespan nearly exhausted. Through repeated contact with the patterns, he learned the path to advancement from the other side, in exchange for erecting the altar.

The Daoists summoned from the altar varied in level, but the most successful one was this once-invincible Feather Race Cave Heaven True Person!

“Attack!” the Thunder Spine Shark roared hoarsely.

Zhi Wang raised her blade, but in the instant she struck, a sudden change occurred.

The sharp blade edge wasn’t aimed at Ji Yanyu or Yue Rushuang—it slashed toward the Thunder Spine Shark’s Cave Heaven.

The blade light was icy cold, trailing ghostly green afterimages in midair. As the broadsword fell, a shrill scream erupted from the Thunder Spine Shark’s mouth.

Ji Yanyu didn’t know Zhi Wang’s stance, but since she attacked the Thunder Spine Shark, she wouldn’t miss the chance to eliminate him utterly! Beneath the airtight net of blades, amid the golden dragon’s crashing waves, and within the merfolk’s ethereal song, the Thunder Spine Shark had nowhere to flee.

His ferocious Dharma Image shed all scales and spines, the lingering clouds within turning to thick blood clouds.

With a final thunderous boom, the Thunder Spine Shark reverted to his original form and was torn into five pieces. His nascent spirit barely escaped a few zhang before Ji Yanyu flicked her sleeve to extinguish it.

The conical-hatted swordswoman raised her eyes to Ji Yanyu and Yue Rushuang.

She flicked up her dripping blade, its tip pointing forward.

The eerie, pallid aura, nearly like a Ruin Spirit’s—had it been fully corrupted? But if possessed by a Ruin Spirit, it would act as Wen Yuhuang, not this vacant demeanor.

The waves crashed noisily. Amid the standoff, a clear, melodious flute tune drifted on the wind from distant seas.

The killing intent on Zhi Wang vanished abruptly. Like a drifting wisp of ghostly fire, she ignored Ji Yanyu’s bindings and vanished with the flute in an instant.

“That flute sound is—”

Ji Yanyu and Yue Rushuang stared at each other, their expressions growing even more horrified.