Chapter 42: Leaving the Secret Realm

Jiuyou led Gu Qing and Blood Withered as they swiftly raced northwestward.

Along the way, Jiuyou kept his divine sense fully extended, like an invisible net enveloping an area two hundred li in radius, not daring to relax for even a moment. With so many sudden changes happening in this secret realm, who knew what might pop up next.

The three charged out of the canyon’s depths, and before them, the view suddenly opened up—a dead, silent desert stretched into sight.

Yellow sand covered the ground as far as the eye could see. Waves of heat rolled toward them, the air slightly distorted by the scorching temperature. Not a single cloud hung in the sky; only the blazing sun shone straight down, baking the sand until it was scorching hot.

“Fellow Daoist Jiuyou, it’s that direction.”

The Blood Withered old monk pointed northwest without stopping, flying straight ahead.

Jiuyou hurried to follow, while Gu Qing gritted his teeth and pushed his streak of light forward, clinging close behind the two. If not for Jiuyou occasionally supporting him with a puff of mist, he would have been left in the dust long ago with his slower speed.

After flying just a few dozen li, Jiuyou’s divine sense suddenly twitched at its edge.

About two hundred li ahead, the space was actually distorting slightly, like air shimmering over a flame. Golden runes flickered in and out of view from within the distortion, appearing and vanishing, mysterious and unpredictable.

Jiuyou’s heart stirred, and he sped up his flight.

As they drew closer, his divine sense passed straight through the warped space. Fortunately, there was no obstruction; it easily probed inside.

Beyond the twisted space stood a towering stone platform. The platform was ancient and heavy, its surface covered densely with intricate runes. Those elusive golden runes were drifting down from this very platform. Around the platform, eight towering stone pillars stood majestically, forming a ring that guarded it in the center.

It was identical to the teleportation array they had seen behind the Heavenly Abyss Sacred Tree.

Jiuyou’s ghostly light slowly receded in his eyes, his expression unchanging, but his speed suddenly increased again.

The three ventured deeper into the desert.

The surroundings grew quieter and quieter.

At first, the wind howled, but gradually, even the sound of the wind disappeared. Waves of heat surged, and yellow sand filled the air, yet there was not a single sound, as if the entire world had been muted.

And for some reason, the spiritual energy around them suddenly became chaotic, as if something had stirred it up. It was unsettling.

Gu Qing couldn’t help glancing around, a vague sense of unease rising in his heart. Subconsciously, he touched the spirit insect pouch at his waist and quietly tightened his grip on the golden long spear.

The Blood Withered old monk also sensed the anomaly. The blood bead in his hand spun faster, his gaze sweeping the surroundings constantly.

Jiuyou frowned slightly, his divine sense scanning the sand beneath their feet over and over again, but finding nothing.

Why had the spiritual energy in this area become so chaotic? Was it a feature of this secret realm? Or was it something else…?

“Fellow Daoist Jiuyou, this place seems a bit strange,” Blood Withered said in a low voice, a note of gravity in his tone.

Jiuyou nodded slightly but said nothing. Instead, he quietly held the Heavenly Light Mirror hidden in his sleeve, the Nether Capital Ghostfire ready to burst forth from his palm at any moment.

The three continued forward.

The distorted space drew closer—two hundred li, one hundred and fifty li, one hundred li…

Just as they were less than eighty li from that space.

Suddenly, disaster struck!

Boom—!

The sand beneath their feet exploded violently!

Countless grains of sand were flung into the air like a giant force had overturned the earth. A massive, suffocating figure burst out from underground, kicking up a blinding cloud of dust that blotted out the sky and sun.

It was a giant sandworm, its body the color of earth, hundreds of zhang long, covered in a hard carapace. Its gaping maw was lined with countless circular rows of razor-sharp teeth, emitting a nauseating stench.

Sand filled the sky; the momentum was terrifying. This was clearly a ninth-tier demon beast!

“No! Th-this is… a ninth-tier demon beast? How is that possible?”

The Blood Withered old monk’s face changed dramatically as he rapidly retreated.

Jiuyou’s expression also darkened. The Nether Capital Ghostfire in his hand flared to life, and a beam of ghostly blue light shot toward the giant worm.

Boom—!

The beam struck the worm’s carapace, exploding into a ball of blue flame. The giant worm screamed in pain, its massive body writhing wildly in the sand, kicking up an even larger sandstorm.

But that wasn’t the end.

Beneath the sand, countless more cracking sounds rang out in succession.

One after another, smaller sandworms burrowed up from underground, densely packed—at least several dozen of them. The smallest were a few zhang long, while the largest reached thirty to forty zhang. Their auras ranged from foundation-establishing to late Golden Core.

As soon as they appeared, they charged madly at Jiuyou and the others like a swarm of frenzied beasts.

“What’s wrong with these beasts? Even if they lack intelligence, they shouldn’t be this berserk!”

The Blood Withered old monk’s face twisted in frustration as he suddenly hurled his blood bead. The bead grew as it caught the wind, instantly transforming into eight blood-red orbs the size of human heads. They spun rapidly around him, smashing the smaller worms away one by one.

Jiuyou snorted coldly. Nether Capital’s Frozen Domain expanded instantly.

The chill spread outward from him, freezing the yellow sand beneath his feet into ice. Within a few hundred zhang, the temperature plummeted. The smaller sandworms that charged into the domain immediately slowed, their bodies gradually coated in thick layers of frost.

But the ninth-tier sandworm was completely unaffected. It roared, swinging its massive body like a giant whip, slashing toward Jiuyou horizontally.

Jiuyou swayed, barely dodging. The ground where the tail swept by was gouged into a tens-of-zhang-long trench, sand flying everywhere.

“Fellow Daoist Jiuyou, these beasts seem endless! Who knows how many there are! Don’t linger—pull back toward the teleportation array!”

The Blood Withered old monk bellowed, producing a large blood-red bowl. The bowl’s mouth faced outward, surging with blood light as a pillar of blood shot out, blasting the incoming small worms into pieces.

Jiuyou had already made up his mind. With a wave of his sleeve, countless cyan chains burst from the mist, coiling around the ninth-tier sandworm like spiritual serpents. The chains wrapped around the giant worm’s body but only held for a moment before snapping.

The brute strength of a ninth-tier demon beast was far beyond that of an eighth-tier.

“Move!”

Jiuyou didn’t linger to fight. He flickered, turning into a pitch-black streak of light as he sped toward the teleportation array. Nether Capital’s Frozen Domain was pushed to its limit. Wherever he passed, sand froze and frost paved the way. The cyan flames froze the smaller sandworms in their tracks in the blink of an eye, leaving them unable to move.

The Blood Withered old monk followed close behind, the eight blood orbs spinning behind him, knocking back the pursuing small worms. The blood-red bowl hung above his head, mouth facing down, casting a blood-red curtain of light that enveloped the three of them, blocking the venom and sand spines spewed by the sandworms.

Gu Qing was protected by that blood-red curtain. All he could hear was the deafening roars and crashing sounds outside, with massive shadows occasionally passing overhead. His heart was already terrified to the extreme.

This was the first time he had faced a ninth-tier demon beast from such a close distance. That oppressive pressure, that brute force, made it hard for him even to breathe. For a moment, he forgot he was still alive.

If not for Jiuyou and Blood Withered shielding him in front, a cultivator like him at the Golden Core stage probably wouldn’t have lasted half an encounter.

As Jiuyou flew, he glanced back.

The ninth-tier sandworm was chasing madly behind them, its massive body gliding through the sand at a speed not much slower than a Nascent Soul cultivator. It opened its enormous mouth, releasing a thick, rancid stench, and a faint yellow light began gathering inside.

“Watch out! It’s charging!”

Jiuyou shouted, the Nether Capital Ghostfire flaring up in his hand again, ready to fire.

The Blood Withered old monk clapped his hands together, muttering under his breath. The eight blood orbs suddenly merged into one massive blood-red sphere and smashed viciously toward the giant worm’s mouth.

Boom—!

The blood sphere collided with the yellow light beam that had been building, creating an earth-shattering explosion. The yellow beam was knocked off course, slanting into the distance and flattening a sand dune several li away.

The Blood Withered old monk grunted, his body swaying slightly—clearly, this attack had drained him significantly.

Jiuyou seized the opportunity. Pushing the Nether Capital Ghostfire to its fullest, a beam of ghostly blue light as thick as a tree trunk shot from his palm, slamming straight into the giant worm’s head.

The giant worm screamed in agony, its huge body thrashing wildly in the sand, momentarily too distracted to pursue.

“Move!”

Jiuyou growled lowly, grabbing Gu Qing by the shoulder and flying at full speed toward the teleportation array.

Sixty li, forty li, twenty li…

The teleportation array grew closer and closer, and the screeching of the sandworms behind them faded further away.

The ninth-tier sandworm—whether unwilling to leave its territory or afraid of the distorted space—stopped after chasing them for several dozen li. It slithered back and forth in the sand, letting out an unwilling cry. The smaller sandworms also halted, gradually retreating into the depths of the sand.

Jiuyou didn’t let his guard down until he stepped into the warped space and landed on the stone platform. Only then did he breathe a slight sigh of relief.

The Blood Withered old monk landed right behind him, his face a little pale. The spiritual energy of the blood bead in his hand had dimmed considerably—clearly, his consumption had been great.

“These beasts… something must have affected them to make them so berserk,” the Blood Withered old monk said with a sigh, shaking his head. “In my several hundred years of life, this is the first time I’ve seen a ninth-tier demon beast like this.”

Jiuyou didn’t respond. Instead, he looked up at the eight stone pillars. The runes on them were slowly lighting up—the teleportation array had sensed their arrival and was activating on its own.

“Let’s go. It’s not safe to stay here.”

Jiuyou stepped into the center of the array. Gu Qing quickly followed, standing close behind him, his eyes nervously scanning the surroundings.

The Blood Withered old monk also stepped in, retracting his blood bead into his sleeve. He took a deep breath, clasped his hands together, and closed his eyes to regulate his breathing.

The white light grew brighter and brighter, gradually swallowing their figures.

When Jiuyou felt solid ground beneath his feet again, the white light before his eyes slowly faded.

A fresh sea breeze hit his face, carrying a faint salty smell. Above them was a blue sky with white clouds; below, solid reef rocks. They had returned to the Tianyuan Sea.

Jiuyou took a deep breath, and his divine sense spread out instantly.

Suddenly, his brows lifted slightly.

The communication jade slip on his waist, which was linked to Canfeng, had actually reacted.

Canfeng was nearby.

A faint smile tugged at Jiuyou’s lips, and he nodded to himself. That kid was lucky to have made it out on his own.

Just as he was about to move, his divine sense twitched, and he turned his head.

In the distance, about a hundred li away, two white-robed cultivators glanced in their direction before quickly looking away, scanning other areas as if searching for something.

“Heaven and Earth Alliance’s Nascent Soul cultivators. I didn’t expect them to get out this quickly either.”

---