The creature emerged from the turbid waters, its body glowing with rings of blue light, as if countless eyes were opening, densely arranged on its massive form. The eerie blue glow illuminated the deep sea, revealing its colossal body, resembling a submerged mountain.
Xue Chenjing stood before it, tiny as a speck of dust.
He gazed admiringly at his former masterpiece. It had grown larger than he had anticipated, a testament to the blood and flesh he had fed it daily in his previous life.
Xue Chenjing spread his hand, and from the spell seal, a gelatinous white creature floated out. He instructed the two demonic beings, "Guard the gate well. Do not let anyone enter the hidden spirit island. For every intruder, I will cut off one of your legs. If two enter, I'll cut off a pair. I can count how many legs you have for me to sever."
The octopus shivered under his threat, stirring up a tidal wave beneath the sea, and obediently cupped the Earthly Turbulence.
Suddenly, a thick fog rose from the island, enveloping the entire sea area and the scattered islands within it. In the dense fog, shadows of colossal beings occasionally flashed by.
"Earthly Turbulence," Shen Qingzhi said from the warship, gazing at the rising fog. They had come prepared, armed with something to counter the Earthly Turbulence.
He tossed an object into the air. It grew with the wind, spreading golden light in circles, stirring up whirlpools on the sea. The golden light quickly formed a funnel-shaped depression, with its bottom dark and ominous, as if connecting to an abyss.
Born from the abyss, the Earthly Turbulence naturally gathered like water towards low places. The fog on the sea began to flow uncontrollably into the funnel formed on the sea surface, creating a spectacular sight akin to a waterfall of clouds.
Xue Chenjing glanced at it, not particularly concerned. Nothing in this world was lower than the Return to Void, where gods and demons were interred. As long as the Earthly Turbulence's essence remained symbiotic with him, the fog on the sea wouldn't be so easily exhausted.
He walked on water, stepping out of the fog, and looked at the people on the warship, laughing, "Only this many? Your sects really are getting worse and worse."
Pei Jingchao stood at the prow, wielding his long sword and pointing it at the demon, coldly saying, "Enough to deal with you, we are."
As soon as he finished speaking, someone shouted, "Form the array!"
Several beams of white light shot out from the warship, quickly forming a spell array on the water. The spiritual lines moved across the surface, and in the blink of an eye, the sea froze inch by inch, turning into a realm of ice and snow.
Sharp ice spikes emerged beneath his feet, and Xue Chenjing leaped into the air, his figure swift as lightning, with the ice spikes chasing the fluttering hem of his robe. Snow and mist filled the sky, and the falling snowflakes transformed into inch-long ice blades, raining down on him densely.
An ice blade grazed Xue Chenjing's cheek, and before the blood could seep out, frost immediately spread from the narrow wound, covering half of his face in a layer of ice.
"Heh," he chuckled, the ice on his face shattering, a drop of blood splashing into the air. From the blood, a pair of broad wings unfolded, generating fierce winds beneath them. The wind blades swept through, slicing the ice spikes into pieces and dispersing the ice blades in the sky.
He raised his palm and struck the ice layer beneath him. The ice cracked, revealing the spell array's spiritual lines. In just a few exchanges, he found the eye of the ice realm's spell array.
Demonic energy flowed from his palm, and Xue Chenjing shattered the array's eye with a single strike. Cracks spread rapidly around him, and the ice and snow realm collapsed instantly, dissipating over the sea.
At that moment, several chains suddenly shot down from the sky, wrapping around the black wings in mid-air. The wings let out a shrill cry, twisted and deformed under the chains, their bones creaking, feathers scattering into wisps of demonic energy.
"Binding Demon Chains," Xue Chenjing felt his bones breaking through the symbiosis with the demon, pain causing a layer of cold sweat to form on his forehead.
The sensation of being strangled by chains until bones snapped and flesh burst was all too familiar, stirring memories from a past life. On a platform under the gaze of thousands, white light enveloped him, the Binding Demon Chains tightening around him inch by inch, first cutting into flesh, then crushing organs, breaking bones.
He watched his blood and flesh scatter everywhere, his hoarse cries of despair from his twisted throat. But no one cared, no one listened to the pleas of a demon. They only cheered, celebrating another demon's demise.
Xue Chenjing shook his head forcefully, trying to clear the memory from his mind. His body, however, trembled uncontrollably under the revived memory. Enraged, he charged into the center of the entangled chains.
The Binding Demon Chains seemed to recognize his presence, their links humming with excitement as they wrapped around him, binding his body and limbs.
With the chains tightening, Xue Chenjing's demonic energy was sealed, the familiar oppressive sensation weighing down on him like a mountain.
His chest heaved violently, blood seeping from the corner of his mouth. He gripped the chains, laughing fearlessly, "Do you have nothing new to offer? I've said it before, I will never die by the same thing twice."
The silver chains wriggled, wrapping tightly around him until he was encased in a cocoon of iron links. The person controlling the Binding Demon Chains on the warship exclaimed happily, "It's done!"
"Not yet," Shen Qingzhi said, "Don't let your guard down."
In the next instant, the chains exploded from within, flying in all directions, creating towering water columns on the sea surface.
Xue Chenjing stood suspended amidst the splashing water, drawing a bow and shooting an arrow that pierced through the warship's barrier, embedding itself in the forehead of the spell array controller, exploding his head.
The headless body of the cultivator fell stiffly, his fingers still forming the seal, spiritual energy leaking rapidly from his grasp.
The arrow embedded in the deck, thick demonic energy rolling out from its tip, transforming into a massive serpent. Its tail swept across the deck, coiling around two cultivators, its scales breaking through their protective spiritual energy, crushing them into pieces.
Following the serpent, several other demonic creatures emerged from the arrow's spell array, bone demons, three-headed hounds, and countless giant red ants. Indistinct demonic shadows darted across the warship, tearing it apart and clashing with the sect members.
Xue Chenjing flew onto the warship, his right hand covered with snake-scale armor, clashing with Pei Jingchao's spirit sword. The two figures moved like flashes of light, exchanging blows in the blink of an eye. During their clash, Xue Chenjing heard Pei Jingchao whisper, "Where is Yu Yi?"
Xue Chenjing glanced at him, gripping the sword blade with his fingers, sparks flying as he slid from the tip to the hilt, and clawed towards his chest, "What does it matter to you where she is?"
"Of course it matters," Pei Jingchao dodged and pointed towards a direction, saying, "I know she's here. It was her sword aura that guided us here. If not for her, we wouldn't have found this place."
On the deck of the warship, a thick Sunken Yin Wood stood with intersecting sword marks, its residual sword aura familiar, belonging to the Green Bamboo Sword.
The sword marks glowed faintly, resonating with Yu Yi's sword realm within the spirit island, guiding the warship's direction.
Xue Chenjing glanced at it, his demonic spirit dispersing into the air, gathering towards the Sunken Yin Wood, intending to retrieve it. He sneered disdainfully, "Are you suggesting she infiltrated by my side to lead you here to kill me?"
Such a divisive tactic was so low-grade that it soiled his ears just to hear it.
Xue Chenjing glared darkly at Pei Jingchao, his figure as elusive as a ghost, striking directly at his face, "Too much talk. Mention her one more time from that foul mouth of yours, and I'll tear it apart."
Pei Jingchao raised his sword to block, but his mouth was still torn open by his sharp claws, a gash extending from his lip to his ear.
In the spray of blood, Pei Jingchao's eyes held an unusually feverish expression, saying, "She was meant to be mine. We once loved each other; she saved me, brought me home, and tended to my wounds."
Their figures moved through the ship, sword light and demonic energy tearing apart the hull, causing the ship to collapse with a thunderous roar, seawater surging in.
Under the deafening hum, Pei Jingchao's voice, as if possessed, penetrated Xue Chenjing's ears word for word.
He said, "She once sewed clothes for me under the lamp, shed tears for my wounds, endured the pain of forcibly opening her spiritual gate to walk the path of cultivation with me."
"We once danced with swords under the moon, admired plum blossoms in the snow, she washed my clothes, cooked for me, and offered her most passionate lover's blood to forge a sword. When I was trapped by miasma and injured my eyes, she dug out one of her own eyes for me..."
The system in Xue Chenjing's mind was shocked, "Ahhh, he's talking about the plot of 'Jingchao'! How does Pei Jingchao know this? Could the original male lead have awakened too?"
"Bulls*** plot," Xue Chenjing said, feeling the pain just by listening. He split the rolling waves, his sharp tentacles covered in snake scales, reaching towards his eye, "You want to dig out an eye, huh? I'll fulfill you!"
Pei Jingchao stood tall, holding a sword, looking at him with pity, and swung the sword down, "I can kill you once, I can kill you a second time."
Deep in the island, hidden under the boundary, the crescent bay spirit island.
Thunder pillars connecting the sky formed a grid of lightning. Yu Yi sat in the newly born layer of the sword realm, suddenly hearing a voice enter her mind amidst the wandering lightning.
"Yu Yi, hello."
Yu Yi tensed, alertly asking, "Who is it?"
"I am the main control system responsible for maintaining the balance and stability of the myriad worlds, also known as the main god system."
"System?" Yu Yi spread her divine consciousness in the sword realm, trying to trace the source of the voice, and asked, "If you're here to bind me, aren't you a bit late?"
The main god system said, "I am not here to bind you. In fact, a subordinate system numbered 073 has already been dispatched to this world to complete a task. As the main control system, I cannot personally visit each small world, only communicate with you briefly through the heavenly lightning of this world."
The system it mentioned being dispatched to this world is likely the one with Xue Chenjing.
Yu Yi looked at the thin lightning column connecting the sky, puzzled, "What do you want to communicate about?"
The main system said, "This world should originally have three realms: Heaven, Human, and Demon, so that all beings have their rightful place. On the Ascension Platform, you have seen the defects of this world, the sealing of the heavenly gate due to the Divine-Demon War, and the cutting off of the demonic path."
"Every step forward for cultivators should be accompanied by heavenly lightning trials, shaping their body and spirit under the might of the heavenly way, questioning the heavens and their own hearts. The sealing of the heavenly gate makes human cultivators no longer undergo lightning trials when advancing, leading to unrighteous hearts and full of selfish desires, unworthy of their status. The cutting off of the demonic path makes demons have no place to reside, only lingering in the human world, making this world chaotic, filled with hatred, and deteriorating day by day."
"However, the world also has a self-saving consciousness, so a pool of chaos was born. According to the predetermined fate, someone will split the pool of chaos, making the clear air rise to reopen the heavenly gate, and the turbid air descend to continue the demonic path, restoring order to the three realms, starting anew. The person destined for this task, you probably know who it is."
Yu Yi said expressionlessly, "Pangu."
Otherwise? Besides Pangu, who else has the ability to split chaos? Pei Jingchao? Does he deserve it?
The main system: "……"
The main system was choked for a long time, Yu Yi felt even the lightning column connecting the sky suddenly weakened, and after a long while, the main system said with difficulty, "After all, it's just a small pool of chaos, just a small defect in this world, needing a small patch, far from the extent of creating the world."
After all this, Xue Chenjing's birth was just to be this patch.
The main system seemed to be afraid that Yu Yi would say something hard to respond to, continued on its own, "According to the predetermined development, it should have been Pei Jingchao to complete this mission, and you came to this world, originally intending to use the luck from another great world you brought, to use your blood to temper his sword, helping him complete this mission."
"Unfortunately, the first attempt failed."
