That short blade composed of countless flowers had already risen with formidable might.

Young Master Ruhua only wanted to strike while the iron was hot, finishing off the black dragon in a few moves to avoid further complications.

How could he have expected Jian Chou to suddenly shout out like that?

His brow furrowed, and beneath his soft, languid eyes, several traces of coldness surfaced. He barely managed to forcibly withdraw this blade strike, turning back to look at Jian Chou: “Fellow Daoist Jian Chou…”

“Look.”

Jian Chou knew that normal people wouldn’t understand her, so she simply pointed directly at the sea surface.

Young Master Ruhua hovered in midair, following the direction of her finger. Upon seeing the situation clearly, his scalp exploded with shock.

The black dragon he had severed earlier—the front half with the head was still fleeing, while the remaining half that was about to fall into the sea was still struggling. But as it struggled, the severed wound continued to heal.

Before long, a new black dragon head actually grew from the break!

“This is…”

Young Master Ruhua’s voice carried an indescribable shock.

“It’s the earthworm’s immortality.” Jian Chou sighed and explained, adding, “Though this is a black dragon, it was originally transformed from an earthworm, so it might have retained some of the earthworm’s characteristics…”

At least that’s how it appeared now.

Heaven knows if Young Master Ruhua struck another blow, whether a third black dragon would appear.

The current situation was absolutely terrifying to the extreme.

With the earthworm’s immortality, they didn’t dare strike, but who knew how much of the earthworm’s regenerative ability it had retained?

What if it could only undergo one complete “resurrection”?

But…

No one could afford to gamble on it.

So far, this black dragon hadn’t shown its combat power, but its hundred-zhang body already inspired fear just by looking at it.

Dragon hunting, dragon hunting—it definitely wouldn’t be that simple.

If they kept slashing away and didn’t manage to hunt the dragon, but instead got surrounded and attacked by a group of dragons, that would be truly laughable.

Young Master Ruhua’s entire face had turned grim, unable to speak.

Jian Chou looked toward the sea and saw the black dragon that had regrown its head. Due to excitement, it soared into the air, its entire dragon body dripping with seawater. Scale by scale of black armor, under the sky’s light and sea’s colors, actually gave off a brilliant, shimmering sensation.

The originally fifty-zhang body, after the dragon head regenerated, suddenly expanded dramatically in the seawater!

“Roar—”

The dragon’s roar was terrifying, raising waves on the sea surface.

The fifty-zhang dragon body transformed into a hundred-zhang one, stretching out and rolling ferociously across the sea surface…

A pair of majestic dragon eyes, amid the surging waves, fixed themselves and stared straight at Young Master Ruhua hovering in midair.

It swished its tail, its long body arching up, one dragon claw pressing against the water surface, tensed to the extreme, presenting a posture of imminent attack.

In those eyes, there was clearly infinite hatred and fear.

Obviously, it remembered that the one who had struck it before was Young Master Ruhua!

Seeing the situation turning bad, Jian Chou directly controlled the sea island beneath her feet to approach, her voice steady: “Come down.”

“Come down?”

Young Master Ruhua laughed once, squinting his eyes. Countless rippling lights appeared in his eyes, giving him an absolutely stunning appearance.

His gorgeous robes had only the right sleeve completely without patterns, extremely plain, now fluttering in the wind with pure extremeness.

He looked back at Jian Chou: “Does Fellow Daoist Jian Chou know that not just anything is worthy of being my prey?”

Prey?

Jian Chou couldn’t quite understand what he was saying.

Young Master Ruhua was too lazy to explain, only readjusting his posture. With his other hand, he swept back his long hair that had fallen loose, immediately giving off an extremely soft, feminine sensation.

He stared intently at the black dragon ahead, and on the blade edge in his hand, points of light scattered, becoming petal after petal that overflowed with fragrance.

As he stared intently at the black dragon, the black dragon also stared intently at him.

The hundred-zhang long body coiled behind it, and it turned its massive dragon head, its eyeballs rotating, regarding Young Master Ruhua with complete wariness, as if seeking the right moment to pounce and deliver a fatal blow.

But…

This scene, falling into Jian Chou’s eyes, had an indescribable strangeness to it.

Perhaps because this black dragon was, after all, transformed from an earthworm, Jian Chou actually felt that its current confrontational posture with Young Master Ruhua had none of the legendary dragon’s majesty. Even when Zhou Chengjiang’s Dragon Scale Dao Seal activated, it seemed more imposing than this creature.

With this thought stirring her heart, Jian Chou quietly tightened her grip on the Ghost Axe.

The atmosphere was instantly tense.

The giant dragon continuously swimming on the sea surface actually gave off the feeling of a long snake—a rather cowardly one at that.

This thought appeared very strangely, even without reason.

Even Jian Chou felt this illusion of hers was absolutely ridiculous, but coincidentally…

The next instant, she and Young Master Ruhua witnessed the most miraculous scene in the entire Empty Sea.

Originally, one person and one dragon were in tense confrontation, as if the moment the other showed an opening, they would tear into each other. But unexpectedly, as that black dragon kept shaking its head, it lowered its gaze and actually saw a “towering” black shadow on the sea surface.

Roar!

What the hell is this!

In that instant, the entire black dragon violently shuddered, then began trembling violently.

Young Master Ruhua gripped that short blade composed of countless fragrant flowers, about to strike.

But the next moment, that black dragon seemed scared silly. After violent trembling, it swung its dragon head and let out a terrified dragon roar with a “roar,” then actually swished its long dragon tail, slapping the sea surface with a tremendous sound, before turning around and fleeing madly!

Monster, there’s a monster! Such a big monster at the bottom of the water! Wah wah wah, don’t chase me!

Splash, splash, splash…

A black shadow shook off Jian Chou and Young Master Ruhua, its tail creating infinite waves as it swished, extending a snow-white line across the sea surface, exactly like a scared silly child.

Before long, the black shadow had disappeared from their field of vision.

Young Master Ruhua stiffly lowered his head to look at his sea disc: the long line that originally represented one black dragon had now become two, one ahead and one behind, both heading northwest together, as if…

Fleeing for their lives.

Why did something feel wrong?

Even though Young Master Ruhua considered himself well-traveled, he really couldn’t think it through right now.

Earlier, when Jian Chou mentioned the earthworm’s immortality, he recalled some details about earthworms from the classics, saying that earthworms remain alive even after being severed, and other parts of their bodies can still become new earthworms.

But what about now?

What was this perfectly good black dragon fleeing madly for?

When he first saw the black dragon fleeing, he thought there was something terrible in that place, but what about now?

Could that terrible thing still be following them?

The weapon formed by flowers in Young Master Ruhua’s hand suddenly scattered, transforming back into countless flowers that flew back to his sleeve opening, condensing into exquisite flower patterns one by one.

Thus, his plain white sleeve robe immediately returned to its previous gaudy appearance.

But Jian Chou no longer dared to underestimate this garment.

Young Master Ruhua said puzzledly, “This black dragon seems somewhat off.”

He looked at Jian Chou. After thinking for a moment, she revealed a smile and said, “I actually have an idea in my heart, but I don’t know if it’s right or wrong.”

“I’m all ears.”

“Young Master is well-traveled and knowledgeable. Have you ever imagined what would happen if one day an ant became an elephant?”

An ant becoming an elephant?

Young Master Ruhua suddenly had a strange feeling. He looked at Jian Chou, but saw her face bearing a faint smile, as if she had already seen through all the mysteries.

In that instant, he felt that this prey he had chosen was quite remarkable.

The Central Domain had always been a place where talents emerged in abundance, let alone Yashan? Let alone Yashan’s eldest senior sister?

After brief consideration, Young Master Ruhua also understood the key point: “It’s afraid of itself?”

“I can’t be certain, but that’s about right.”

Jian Chou nodded, acknowledging Young Master Ruhua’s guess.

Looking at the sea disc, that black dragon had long since disappeared to who knows where.

Jian Chou said, “We just fought here with quite a commotion. Now, aside from the one who can teleport and the one who can hide, we still don’t know what abilities the others have. For safety’s sake, I’m afraid we can’t linger here much longer. As for which direction to go now, does Young Master have any opinions?”

Opinions?

What opinions could he have?

Young Master Ruhua suddenly felt that the female cultivator standing before him possessed a natural leader’s charisma.

This train of thought was thoroughly considered. While seeming to let him choose, she had actually set the overall tone: their previous commotion was too great, they couldn’t linger here to avoid being discovered. But coincidentally, what she asked him was “which direction to go,” meaning they had to leave.

What a “do you have any opinions.”

Logically, he should be displeased and angry about this, since no matter where he went, places with his presence were generally under his control, and no one dared make decisions for him. Jian Chou was the first.

But coincidentally…

He actually felt what she said made perfect sense. Though she had made the decision for him, it wasn’t annoying, and even gave him a feeling like being in a spring breeze…

What kind of person had Yashan produced in this year’s small assembly?

Young Master Ruhua felt an indescribable emotion in his heart. He looked at Jian Chou for a long moment, finally raising the corners of his mouth in a bright yet languid smile: “Where there are dragons, there are wind and clouds. Whether we hunt dragons or not, we should generally follow the dragons—we won’t be wrong.”

“That makes sense.”

Jian Chou showed an approving expression, as if Young Master Ruhua had said something tremendously profound.

Next, with a thought, the entire sea island immediately moved from stillness, once again breaking through the deep sea, stirring up layers of waves as it pursued toward the northwest.

Young Master Ruhua also directly descended from midair, standing beside Jian Chou.

Amid the rising endless waves, he couldn’t help but turn his head to look at Jian Chou: wearing a moon-white long robe, without the delicacy of ordinary women, only her features still carried a moving elegance. Standing on the deep black reef, facing the countless giant waves rushing toward her, her eyes were bright, with only an indescribable dignified beauty.

Few people gave him this feeling—standing before these giant waves, yet giving off a sense of towering like a high mountain.

Wise, alert, yet still maintaining benevolence…

How rare in these Nineteen Continents?

He looked down at the countless flowers on his own robe front, then suddenly sighed helplessly: “Fellow Daoist Jian Chou, I really don’t know whether traveling the same path and fighting on the same stage with you is fortunate or unfortunate?”

Jian Chou didn’t turn around. The oncoming waves splashed up endless spray, but her gaze was on the high, distant sky.

Her face also bore a slight smile, though not very obvious.

“For Jian Chou, being able to travel the same path and fight on the same stage with all you heroes is also fortunate.”

Fortunate indeed.

This voice was quickly scattered by the wild wind rising from the sea, yet it was deeply engraved in Young Master Ruhua’s heart, and deeply engraved in the hearts of countless people at the foot of Kunwu Mountain who heard these words.

Countless fish in the sea were startled by the sudden arrival of the sea island, frightened into scattering in all directions.

Along the route where Jian Chou controlled the sea island’s passage, there was also a scene of magnificent waves.

Not long after she and Young Master Ruhua left, a figure suddenly appeared out of nowhere on this stretch of sea surface.

Wearing a beast-hide vest, Xiao Jin looked at the sea surface that had nearly returned to calm, puzzledly scratching his head: “Strange, I clearly felt there was commotion here just now…”

As he spoke, he seemed to suddenly sense something, stopping and raising his head to look south.

A brilliant maple-leaf red stood quietly on this stretch of sea surface.

Jiang Wenchao of the Tongling Pavilion showed no expression as he looked at Xiao Jin.

“There’s, there’s someone…”

There’s actually someone!

Xiao Jin hugged the large watermelon in his arms, standing barefoot on the sea surface. It took him quite a while to react, and he even smiled cheerfully as he greeted: “Hey, hello there! I’m called Xiao Jin! Did you just see a black dragon pass by?”

Jiang Wenchao looked at him with a strange expression. After brief consideration, he walked through the air toward Xiao Jin.

Huh?

Why isn’t he answering?

Xiao Jin found it somewhat strange, but when Jiang Wenchao took his third step, he suddenly came to his senses, quickly hugging his large watermelon and crying out strangely: “Oh my! I don’t want to fight you! Don’t hit me!”

After speaking, he didn’t hesitate and, as if afraid Jiang Wenchao would rush over to hit him, turned and ran!

Bang, bang, bang!

Waves splashed up!

Step after step, he ran barefoot on the sea surface, actually as if on solid ground.

Even more terrifying was…

After each step he took, the sea surface where he had been would instantly explode, raising frozen icebergs one after another, blocking Jiang Wenchao’s path in the blink of an eye.

“This is…”

Jiang Wenchao couldn’t help but be surprised.

But next, he understood: previously, he had only heard that Xiao Jin knew one move to defeat enemies and no other techniques, but now real supernatural arts appeared under his feet.

Was this…

A new ability granted by the Empty Sea?

Rather interesting.

However…

Jiang Wenchao immediately smiled bitterly: Did he really look that fierce?

“Fellow Daoist Xiao Jin, please don’t misunderstand. I have no intention of fighting, but thought we two might travel together…”

Still running, Xiao Jin heard these words and was immediately dumbfounded: “Huh? You’re not going to hit me?”

“…No.”

For the first time, Jiang Wenchao doubted his personal charisma.

Xiao Jin patted the watermelon in his arms and finally breathed a sigh of relief, grinning broadly to show his bright white teeth: “You should have said so earlier. As long as you don’t hit me or steal my watermelon, let’s go together!”

After speaking, he showed no suspicion whatsoever and walked directly toward Jiang Wenchao.

Jiang Wenchao was momentarily speechless.

This child is so pure and innocent.

At the same time.

Northern Empty Sea.

Wei Lin, who had gained “Deep Sea Binding,” hadn’t found the black dragon at his original location, so after thinking, he headed south.

Seeing he was about to reach a sea island ahead, Wei Lin was thinking: This vast ocean has no boundaries, and after so long, I haven’t encountered a single person or seen any trace of the black dragon. Could I have missed something?

He wanted to land on the sea island to analyze the situation properly.

But unexpectedly, just as he was about to descend, the air in front of him suddenly rippled.

The air rippled like a water surface, creating waves.

A figure suddenly appeared from the center of these ripples, without any warning!

Wei Lin was startled, but after just a moment’s daze, he immediately slapped the string of Thousand Mechanisms Iron Talismans at his waist.

Ding-ling-dang-lang, a series of sounds.

In just an instant, three iron talismans were already gripped in his palm.

But there was no longer any opportunity…

The one appearing in the center of those ripples was precisely Tang Buye, who had previously boldly defeated Zhou Chengjiang!

Upon seeing Wei Lin, his eyes also showed some surprise.

After all, he had only casually teleported in one direction, never expecting to encounter another person here, but this was good too!

In the Empty Sea, everyone was an opponent!

Meeting someone was “fate.”

So, as Wei Lin attacked, he also directly pressed forward, his form flashing and actually vanishing, reappearing behind Wei Lin!

What a ghostly affair!

Wei Lin truly never expected this!

In just that instant, Tang Buye in his cold black robes, his facial features carrying the depth of a foreign land, raised his hand in what seemed like a casual palm strike, but surging palm power had already transmitted from his palm center, the next moment imprinting on Wei Lin’s back!

Immediately, Wei Lin felt his body violently shake, and his internal meridians actually had an icy cold sensation, bursting inch by inch.

His hands could no longer grip those three Thousand Mechanisms Iron Talismans firmly.

Wei Lin’s mind went fuzzy as he fell head-first toward the endless seawater below, landing with a “splash” that sent waves flying.

Tang Buye withdrew his palm, standing on the sea surface, only seeing Wei Lin’s figure swallowed by the seawater and disappearing in an instant. After careful consideration, he knew his palm strike had eliminated Wei Lin from the competition.

Water-space teleportation with a thirty-li range was comparable to instantaneous travel.

For traveling, this escape method might seem too taxing, but in battle, it often had effects others couldn’t anticipate.

Thinking this, Tang Buye’s lips revealed a trace of smile, giving off a lofty feeling.

He turned around, wanting to leave as if he had done nothing.

But just as he was about to turn, a ghostly white light actually rose from the seawater.

Stopping in his tracks, Tang Buye stared at this white light, feeling it looked somewhat familiar.

Wasn’t this exactly the same as the white light that had drilled into his brow earlier?

It was like a thin worm, slowly floating up to the sea surface, then flying up and attaching to Tang Buye’s brow, disappearing instantly like a snowflake falling into boiling water.

A gentle light once again exploded in Tang Buye’s mind.

The sea breeze stirred his robes, and waves lapped past beneath his feet.

After a long while, he finally opened his eyes. The trace of smile at his lips immediately deepened, and his eyes brightened: “I see…”

“Boom!”

Raising his hand, Tang Buye cast a finger technique, and a silver light ring spun out, immediately falling onto the vast sea surface and encircling a hundred-zhang radius of water.

Then endless silver light spread out and interwove, actually forming a giant net!

The moment it formed, all the fish, shrimp, and sea creatures within this range, regardless of size, were without exception completely caught by this giant net!

“Hahahaha!”

Seeing this, Tang Buye couldn’t help but laugh heartily.

“I’m suddenly starting to look forward to encountering other people…”

There was actually a hidden rule in the Empty Sea—

Eliminate an opponent and make them exit the competition, and you could obtain the ability they possessed in the Empty Sea!

So what kinds of abilities did the others each possess?

Tang Buye narrowed his eyes slightly and directly flashed, disappearing from his original spot!

A white seagull spread its wings, gliding across the endless deep blue sea surface. In that instant, it dipped its head toward the sea and picked up a small fish in its beak.

It flapped its wings and quickly flew away, becoming a white dot on the horizon before disappearing from sight.

Jian Chou watched the bird fly away with its fish from afar, then finally lowered her head to look at the sea disc again.

The two light spots representing her and Young Master Ruhua remained together, while the two black lines representing the black dragons ahead had now become intertwined—they had probably met up ahead and collided, becoming a case of “fellow villagers meeting fellow villagers, both with tearful eyes.”

“Do you think there might be other hidden rules in this Empty Sea that we haven’t noticed?”

Jian Chou suddenly asked.

Young Master Ruhua was mentally calculating the distance between them and those two black dragons when he suddenly heard Jian Chou’s question. He paused, then casually touched his sleeve and actually pulled out a light blue small flower, flicking it with his hand so that it landed by Jian Chou’s temple.

Jian Chou immediately looked over.

Young Master Ruhua spread his hands: “I just feel your attire is really too plain. You should be as gorgeous as this young master to have some interest.”

As he spoke, he actually plucked another gorgeous peony from his sleeve and placed it on his own head…

“…”

Jian Chou suddenly didn’t feel like talking.

She slowly withdrew her gaze, treating the previous conversation with Young Master Ruhua as if it had never happened, pulling the topic back on track: “The most unpredictable thing in the Empty Sea is the rules themselves. Is there any way to detect the rules?”

“The ability I gained is to detect the Empty Sea, but that doesn’t include rules. If you ask me, rather than worrying about rules, we should think more about how to kill that black dragon.”

How truly pitiful when you think about it.

Young Master Ruhua simply lay down lazily at Jian Chou’s feet, and countless fragrant flowers immediately spread across the reef beneath him the moment he lay down.

“Think about how miserable we are—we’re supposed to be prominent figures among the new generation in the Central Domain, right? Now we’re all chasing after an earthworm and worrying about how to kill it…”

“…”

Well, that’s true…

Alright, it really doesn’t seem very glorious.

Who knows what kind of sensation would be caused if the details of this year’s small assembly were to spread to other places?

Jian Chou sighed helplessly and finally stopped thinking about this topic, saying: “We’re already very close to those two black dragons, but controlling the island creates too much commotion and might alert them. Should we perhaps…”

“Can controlling the island only run in the sea, not fly in the sky?”

Young Master Ruhua suddenly asked with great confusion.

In that instant, Jian Chou was stunned. A flash of inspiration immediately burst from her eyes, and her gaze toward Young Master Ruhua was suddenly filled with vibrant interest: “If Young Master hadn’t mentioned it, I would never have tried.”

That’s right—if controlling artifacts can fly in the sky, why can’t controlling islands?

It was just that she had previously assumed they were in the sea and never thought about it.

With a thought, Jian Chou recalled the incantation for controlling artifacts, casting a hand seal. In that instant, the thread connecting Jian Chou and the sea island suddenly turned completely brilliant gold!

Boom!

The entire sea island trembled.

Young Master Ruhua, who had been lying lazily on the reef, also stood up immediately.

Then, an shocking scene appeared.

The sea island that had been continuously advancing through the deep sea actually rose from the water the moment this golden thread appeared!

Splash!

Endless seawater fell from the reefs.

The instant the sea island flew away from the sea surface, countless waterfalls actually hung around the entire island—patches of snow-white cascading down the deep ink-green sea island, creating the momentary appearance of an immortal mountain on the sea!

Jian Chou’s field of vision immediately broadened.

The sea surface beneath her feet grew increasingly distant, while the layers of white clouds floating above her head came increasingly close.

The waterfalls hanging from the seaside reefs quickly disappeared. Under Jian Chou’s control, this sea island broke away from the sea surface and soared upward, plunging into the layers of clouds in the blink of an eye.

Young Master Ruhua stood beside Jian Chou, appreciating the scenery that had finally changed colors before his eyes. Thinking that he no longer had to look at that deep blue sea surface, his mood immediately improved.

“It really is this young master who’s more clever…”

He held the sea disc in his hand, with dot after dot of phantoms continuously being outlined on it. Young Master Ruhua was casually pointing at them, about to inform Jian Chou of the current direction of those two black dragons, when his gaze suddenly paused as it swept over a certain point.

“Fellow Daoist Jian Chou…”

Jian Chou’s mind hadn’t completely settled yet.

Standing at the very front of this sea island, she was actually reminded of Fudao Shanren controlling the entire Lingzhao Peak as it flew to Kunwu.

What a heart-stirring scene that had been?

Controlling a sea island was already like this—who knows what it would feel like to stand on the Sword-Drawing Platform controlling Lingzhao Peak?

Hearing Young Master Ruhua call her suddenly, she was still somewhat unresponsive, turning to look: “What’s the matter?”

“There are two people not far ahead of us.”

Young Master Ruhua’s gaze fell straight on the sea disc, pointing with his finger: ahead of the two points representing Jian Chou and himself, very close, in positions almost overlapping, there were actually two more light spots constantly chasing and moving!

Nearly overlapping?

The moment she saw these other two light spots, thoughts in Jian Chou’s mind began colliding rapidly.

Because they had originally been flying on the sea surface, but later, due to Young Master Ruhua’s suggestion, Jian Chou had controlled the island to fly into the air. Now seeing these two light spots actually overlapping with theirs, there was only one possibility.

“Below us.”

Almost the instant Young Master Ruhua finished speaking, Jian Chou had already spoken decisively.

The next moment, a blazing purple-gold light had already pierced through the cloud layer, revealing everything that had been blocked by the clouds before Jian Chou and Young Master Ruhua’s eyes.

“Swish!”

A burst of purple-gold light slashed out, striking toward the dark red shadow flying directly toward them through the air.

Xiahou She!

The instant the purple-gold light reached him, a dao seal immediately appeared under his feet, and the phantom of a bronze shield instantly materialized. Without looking back, he directly reached out and grasped it. The moment his fingers touched the phantom, it immediately solidified into a genuine shield!

Xiahou She grabbed the shield and raised it in front of him!

“Bang!”

The rarely sharp purple-gold light struck the shield but couldn’t damage it at all, disappearing without a trace in an instant.

With a finger turn, the dark red robe on Xiahou She’s body immediately gave off a vivid, almost dripping sensation. Combined with the cold killing intent covering his face, it created an even more sinister feeling.

Only his eyes were always covered with a thin layer of ice, like the countless cold magical artifacts his fingers had touched—they might have a warm luster on the surface, but when touched, you’d know they were all the same.

No matter how spiritual, they wouldn’t give off a feeling of being alive.

Xiahou She was more like a killing weapon.

After the purple-gold light dissipated, his emotionless gaze fell coolly on the figure ahead of him.

Baiyue Valley, the medicine woman Lu Xiangleng.

Her white robes were already stained with blood, spots of desolate coldness carrying the feeling of red plum blossoms first blooming in snow.

The purple-gold light in her hand already showed signs of dimming, as if it might extinguish at any moment.

They had met a moment ago. Logically, even if medicine woman Lu Xiangleng had fully recovered her cultivation, she shouldn’t have lasted this long under his hand.

Xiahou She’s gaze fell on the three-zhang area around her that glowed with faint white light—

“It seems the Empty Sea gave you a good ability.”

Three-zhang Invincible Domain!

She had been able to fight him for so long relying on this.

Lu Xiangleng’s chest heaved. Even though she had swallowed several healing pills, the meridians in her body still ached terribly.

Too terrifying…

Only by fighting Xiahou She could one understand just how horrifying this person’s combat power had reached.

The spiritual power in her body was nearly exhausted. Even supplementing by swallowing pills was already useless—with damaged meridians, the spiritual power that could be stored was also affected. Now her body was like a broken bowl, unable to contain any more.

Seeing Xiahou She approaching step by step, she smiled bitterly in her heart.

In the end, her skills were inferior.

However…

Wasn’t this kind of exhilarating battle exactly what she had been hoping for?

Medicine woman?

So what if she was a medicine woman?

No one ever said she couldn’t raise a butcher’s blade!

Stretching out her hand, that purple-gold light began to gradually brighten. Lu Xiangleng’s eyes revealed an unprecedented brilliance, and a purple-black pattern faintly emerged from her arm, slowly extending to her wrist, showing a vaguely pointed curl.

Like…

Some creature’s tail.

One step, two steps.

Xiahou She casually spun the bronze shield, already reaching Lu Xiangleng’s front. Under her watchful gaze, his face showed no expression as he declared: “An Invincible Domain requires you to have the ability to maintain it. So-called invincibility simply doesn’t exist…”

Swish.

The bronze shield disappeared.

The dao seal under his feet flashed again, and a purple-black trident actually appeared beside his hand. The tip of each prong was coiled with a deep purple lightning bolt, unremarkable in appearance.

But when Xiahou She grasped it, the three lightning patterns immediately became bright!

Crack!

Three pale purple electric lights interwove and emerged, immediately making Xiahou She, holding this trident, seem like a deity controlling lightning!

“Desolate Thunder Halberd.”

While calmly announcing the name of this magical artifact, Xiahou She had already stepped forward.

Crack!

The three lightning seals immediately brightened again, actually projecting three electric lights simultaneously that converged together, forming a purple-black lightning bolt heading toward Lu Xiangleng. At this moment, that three-zhang Invincible Domain was already tottering!

Xiahou She wasn’t worried about failing.

It could be said that because of Lu Xiangleng’s Invincible Domain, he had already displayed the strongest combat power since participating in the Left Three Thousand Small Assembly, though still not his full strength—but already terrifying enough.

Who else could resist?

His Desolate Thunder Halberd swung out with an unstoppable momentum!

Swish!

There was a sound of cutting through air.

Xiahou She suddenly paused—this wasn’t the sound made by the Desolate Thunder Halberd!

A ghostly, bone-chilling feeling, accompanied by this explosive sound, suddenly came from his side!

Almost simultaneously, an extremely dangerous feeling struck his heart. His Desolate Thunder Halberd that had been swinging toward Lu Xiangleng was actually withdrawn at this critical moment, desperately blocking toward his left side!

Unfortunately, it was too late.

“Boom!”

A tremendous force had already surged forward just as the Desolate Thunder Halberd barely arrived!

Endless evil ghost phantoms suddenly flashed before Xiahou She’s eyes—they had green faces and sharp fangs, opening bloody mouths, ready to devour people.

This scene immediately awakened memories that had been sleeping deep in his heart for a very long time.

Those dark red pupils immediately became bright like they were dyed with fresh blood, and terrifying too!

The deep black axe shadow finally appeared.

It came so swiftly, so ghostly, and so—

Magnificent!

With an incomparable posture, wild and domineering, it smashed into Xiahou She’s Desolate Thunder Halberd.

“Pff!”

The purple-black lightning formed by the convergence of three electric lights shattered with a roar the moment the axe shadow arrived, turning into countless small electric snakes that disappeared.

“Clang!”

A light sound as the dark axe body struck the Desolate Thunder Halberd, immediately sending sparks flying.

Xiahou She’s hand trembled violently, his tiger’s mouth split open, and fresh blood immediately surged out, covering his entire palm.

The Desolate Thunder Halberd could no longer be held steady, flying from his hand, grazing past his neck and falling into the endless deep sea below, disappearing from sight.

A deep red mark immediately appeared on the left side of Xiahou She’s neck.

Blood dripped down—just a little more and it would have severed his entire head!

However, Xiahou She remained unmoved, his reddened eyes only staring intently at that axe shadow.

After knocking away the Desolate Thunder Halberd, the axe shadow actually drew an arc directly through the air, making a large turn and flying back toward its origin.

Faint golden light permeated the axe body, immediately adding a sacred dignity that commanded reverence to the ghostly aura.

A pale hand extended, five slender yet powerful fingers closing to grasp the handle of this giant axe tightly, then lightly turning it so the axe blade pointed down and the axe back faced up, angled toward the sea surface below.

The massive sea island slowly descended from the clouds, casting a huge shadow.

The owner of that hand also gradually revealed her full form.

Moon-white robes, much lighter than the colors of sky and sea, clearly not dazzling yet capturing all attention.

Jian Chou stood axe in hand on the highest reef at the front, beside her Young Master Ruhua with a “the show’s getting good” expression.

At this moment, Xiahou She stood in the middle, half his neck already dyed red, and half his dark red robes also stained. He remained motionless, clenching his fingers.

The pain in his tiger’s mouth had long since gone numb.

To his left was the equally surprised Lu Xiangleng, to his right the female cultivator who had just appeared and smashed down his attack with an axe—

Yashan’s Jian Chou!

“It truly is a beautiful axe…”

Jian Chou didn’t respond to this seemingly praising comment, only feeling the intense danger emanating from Xiahou She, unconsciously tightening her grip on the Ghost Axe.

She glanced at Lu Xiangleng, frowning even more.

Lu Xiangleng must have had bad luck, actually encountering Xiahou She in the Empty Sea, resulting in this fierce battle.

From a rough look, Lu Xiangleng’s current condition was clearly not good.

They couldn’t drag this out any longer.

With this thought, Jian Chou looked at Xiahou She and spoke: “The second trial is hunting dragons in the Empty Sea. Only by extracting dragon tendons can one pass. Fighting with people now is unwise and wasteful of energy. I ask Fellow Daoist Xiahou to show mercy. We have traces of the black dragon—why don’t we search together?”

In that instant, Young Master Ruhua behind Jian Chou twitched at the corner of his mouth, sighing deeply in his heart: She’s actually a big liar!

He had previously thought Yashan’s eldest senior sister was noble and upright, but now she was actually bullying poor innocent young Xiahou She.

We have traces of the black dragon, let’s search together?

Bullsh*t!

That black dragon was fundamentally an immortal monster. You’re asking people to search with you—what are your intentions? What are your intentions!

Shameless!

Of course, Young Master Ruhua only felt contempt in his heart. On his face, he wore a smiling expression, cooperatively displaying his sea disc.

But unexpectedly, Xiahou She’s gaze didn’t linger on the sea disc for even a second, only glancing over it before returning to Jian Chou.

“Since you think fighting people is wasteful of energy, why are you wasting energy fighting me?”

Jian Chou paused, somewhat surprised that Xiahou She would ask this question.

However…

It wasn’t a difficult question to answer.

Jian Chou smiled: “Xiangleng and I have a friendship of mutual understanding, a bond over wine. When moved by emotion, what’s wrong with standing by friends through thick and thin?”

In that instant, Young Master Ruhua was stunned, completely unexpected that Jian Chou would say something so free-spirited.

He couldn’t help but look toward Lu Xiangleng.

That white-robed medicine woman, always seen as unreachably high like a lonely moon in everyone’s eyes, now also stood there with some bewilderment, bright light with a hint of moisture floating in her eyes.

A friendship of mutual understanding, a bond over wine.

When moved by emotion, one could stand by friends through thick and thin.

This…

This was Lu Xiangleng’s friend.

In that instant, the purple-gold light that had dimmed flickered once, then again, actually gradually brightening again.

Lu Xiangleng clenched her fingers. The “tail tip” pattern on her wrist moved slightly.

She looked toward Xiahou She, who stood surrounded by the three of them, and steeled her heart again.

Attacked from front and back—this described Xiahou She’s current state perfectly.

Blood was still flowing from his wound. He casually raised his hand, pale fingers pressing against the wound on his neck, carrying an indescribable tragic and gloomy feeling.

Slowly drawing his hand back and bringing it before his eyes—full of red.

Xiahou She brought his fingers to his lips and lightly licked them. The moment the bloody taste spread between his lips and teeth, he revealed an indescribably brilliant smile—

“I said your axe was beautiful, and I also have a good one.”

This smile dispelled the gloom covering his entire body, actually giving off a very attractive feeling.

Even Jian Chou couldn’t help but pause, her heart stirring with admiration.

The next moment, Xiahou She had already transformed into a blood-red afterimage!

Heh.

Standing by friends through thick and thin?

“Since you want to, I’ll fulfill your wish!”

Jian Chou’s brow furrowed as she immediately felt that fierce killing aura, but what did she have to fear?

The Ghost Axe trembled as she also laughed.

Want to thrust two knives into her ribs?

“Let’s see if you have the ability!”