Chapter 360: Master of the Cyan Wilderness

Anyone else who discovered this hole beneath the Soul Spirit Pool would have turned back without a second thought upon arriving here.

After all, not even a mighty expert with immense Cultivation would dare to underestimate the power of the Necromancer’s Sea Water.

Yi Xiaoyao knew this as well, but the Heaven and Earth Fire Essence was worth the risk.

The deeper he went, the stronger the Devouring Power of the Necromancer’s Sea Water became. If he continued any further, Yi Xiaoyao would sooner or later have his Spiritual Power drained completely, and he would drown inside this hollow, giant tree.

As Yi Xiaoyao shot downward, a layer of Dark Spiritual Power suddenly materialized around his body.

Normally, releasing Spiritual Power into the Necromancer’s Sea Water would only accelerate the rate at which it was devoured.

However, the layer of Dark Spiritual Power Yi Xiaoyao released was not devoured by the Necromancer’s Sea Water. Instead, as it flared with a dark light, it began to seize Spiritual Power from the water itself.

This Dark Spiritual Power was his Devouring Spiritual Power.

With this, Yi Xiaoyao’s speed increased once again.

But as he descended deeper, the Devouring Power of the Necromancer’s Sea Water grew ever stronger, and Yi Xiaoyao’s Devouring Spiritual Power gradually became unable to contend with it.

But the stirring of the Heaven and Earth Fire Essence felt as if it were just within reach. How could he be willing to give up now?

Immediately after, Yi Xiaoyao poured the last of his compressed Spiritual Power into his Devouring Nascent Soul, which in turn converted it into Devouring Spiritual Power with a one-hundred-and-fifty-percent increase in potency.

BOOM!

The surrounding seawater churned as Yi Xiaoyao seized a considerable amount of Spiritual Power from it in that single instant.

And his speed surged explosively once more.

Yi Xiaoyao lost track of how far he had descended. Just as he felt his strength failing again, he finally saw the bottom of the hollow, giant tree.

‘A cage?’

Yi Xiaoyao was startled.

Just as he’d thought, at the bottom of the tree was a black cage, enveloped by countless thick roots.

And this black cage was submerged in the endless Necromancer’s Sea Water.

It went without saying that Yi Xiaoyao had passed completely through Sunken Spirit Island and had now reached the Sea of the Dead that lay beneath it.

At that moment, the stirring of the Heaven and Earth Fire Essence within him reached its zenith.

This compelled him to slowly approach the cage below, wanting to see clearly what was inside.

But as he drew closer to the exit of the tree’s hollow trunk, an immense Devouring Power—one Yi Xiaoyao couldn’t resist in the slightest—erupted from the Sea of the Dead and yanked him out.

HUMMM!

Yi Xiaoyao felt his Spiritual Power instantly drain away. Even the compressed Spiritual Power he had amplified to one hundred and fifty percent of its might offered no resistance whatsoever against this Devouring Power.

It was then that Yi Xiaoyao finally saw what he had been trying to see.

A person was trapped inside the cage.

Countless tendrils from the thick roots had pierced into the person’s body.

But Yi Xiaoyao himself had fallen into the Sea of the Dead. He finally understood its horror. The Devouring Power of the water here was hundreds, even thousands of times stronger than inside the hollow tree!

In a brief moment, the Vitality was madly drained from Yi Xiaoyao’s body. The flesh on his limbs was devoured, exposing stark White Bone.

But just then, the person in the cage opened his eyes. They were filled with an ancient weariness. He raised a finger and pointed it toward Yi Xiaoyao.

A jade-green shield materialized around Yi Xiaoyao, blocking the Devouring of the Necromancer’s Sea Water.

“I’ve waited for so many years, only to be met by someone who is not of my people.”

The man in the cage opened a mouth that seemed as if it hadn’t moved in centuries, shaking his head and sighing with that same endless, ancient weariness.

Still reeling from the shock, Yi Xiaoyao looked down at his own mangled body, then stared in amazement at the man in the cage. ‘This person can actually survive in such a terrifying place as the Sea of the Dead!’

“This junior, Yi Xiaoyao, thanks Senior for saving my life.”

Yi Xiaoyao collected his thoughts and expressed his gratitude.

The man in the cage’s ancient voice continued, “To have wrested the Soul Spirit Pool from the people of Great Yu’s Eight Desolates and made your way here… your talent and strength are rare indeed. It is a pity you are not a descendant of my Cyan Wilderness.”

“Senior, you are from the Cyan Wilderness?”

Yi Xiaoyao said in surprise, “There is a friend of mine from the Cyan Wilderness in the Soul Spirit Pool right now, but I fear he would be unable to pass through the Necromancer’s Sea Water to get here.”

“Do you think I don’t know that?” the man in the cage sighed. “I have been trapped in this place for five hundred years. You are the first to reach me.”

Yi Xiaoyao was stunned once more. ‘This person has been trapped beneath the Sea of the Dead for five hundred years? Who could be so vicious and merciless as to imprison him here?’

“Senior, I can go out and notify the people of the Cyan Wilderness to come and help you break free,” Yi Xiaoyao offered.

The man in the cage said, “No one can save me. I am not waiting to be rescued. I am waiting for someone to rescue the Cyan Wilderness!”

‘Rescue the Cyan Wilderness?’ Yi Xiaoyao mused.

Just then, the man in the cage let out a long sigh. “So be it! I can wait, but the Cyan Wilderness can wait no longer. If I continue to wait, the Cyan Wilderness may well be destroyed before one of its descendants ever reaches me.”

Upon hearing this, Yi Xiaoyao’s heart filled with anticipation.

The meaning was obvious: the Senior before him was about to choose him.

In situations like this, the Senior would typically bestow some great fortune upon him, like an inheritance or a treasure.

Sure enough, the man in the cage said, “Junior, I wish to entrust you with a great responsibility. If you accept, you will most likely suffer the same fate as me. Do you dare?”

Upon hearing this, Yi Xiaoyao’s heart sank.

A fate like that was worse than death.

“And if I refuse?” Yi Xiaoyao asked with a wry laugh.

“You die here, immediately.”

The man in the cage added, “And if you accept but fail to complete the task, you will still die.”

Yi Xiaoyao’s heart sank to the abyss. This wasn’t some great fortune; it was a choice between two paths to death.

One path meant certain death.

The other, while a path to life, was more terrifying than death itself.

“I accept.”

Yi Xiaoyao said in a heavy voice. He did it for one reason and one reason only: Yun Mengling was waiting for him up above.

“Good!” The man in the cage nodded, seemingly unconcerned about Yi Xiaoyao’s sincerity.

“Your mission is to save the Cyan Wilderness and lead it to glory! Your enemies are far greater than you can possibly imagine. I could not walk this path to its end, so I can only entrust it to you now,” the man in the cage said.

Yi Xiaoyao took a deep breath. He didn’t know what crisis the Cyan Wilderness faced, but he knew this path offered only the slimmest chance of survival.

“Then, Senior… who are you?” Yi Xiaoyao asked, his heart incomparably heavy.

The man in the cage slowly raised his head, and for an instant, a light flashed in his ancient, weary eyes.

“I am the Master of the Cyan Wilderness, the Cyan Emperor!”

At these words, a shock went through Yi Xiaoyao’s heart.

The Cyan Emperor… Master of the Cyan Wilderness… That meant he was the strongest expert in the Cyan Wilderness—its emperor!

If even an expert of his caliber had been reduced to this state, how could Yi Xiaoyao possibly survive this path, one even more hopeless than a long shot at survival?

…

(PS: Third chapter of the day. The blood-pumping journey begins now!)