C417 A Strange Blue Light

Lau Ying, wielding the might of the Fallen Star Eyes, had already reached the spot where she had parted ways with Yu Yuan. Her consciousness intertwined with the Fallen Star Eyes, she hovered over the water, attuning herself to the subtle energies around her.

The Fallen Star Eyes, radiant as crystals, shone brilliantly, resembling a divine eye capable of illuminating heaven and earth. Nestled within her chest, their gaze reached every corner of the world. The massive island corpses, the debris of celestial warships, and the shattered bones of alien races—all were revealed in the light of the Fallen Star Eyes.

Even the colossal sunken ship that Yu Yuan had boarded came into view. But in a fleeting moment, Lau Ying dismissed it. No unusual stirrings, no breath of life, no distinctive energy pulses emanated from it. And the stern of the ship, where Yu Yuan had ventured, aroused no suspicion in the Fallen Star Eyes, thus escaping Lau Ying's concern.

With the Fallen Star Eyes, Lau Ying meticulously surveyed the surrounding ancient region. Finding nothing, she shifted her focus elsewhere. Time passed, and still, the Fallen Star Eyes unveiled no secrets.

"How odd," she mused silently. "This is the oldest region, where celestial fragments once plummeted to earth. If Yu Yuan were nearby, the Fallen Star Eyes would surely have detected him. If he's not here and hasn't gone to the site of the recent meteor shower, where else could he be?"

A shiver ran through her. "Could it be that... he's broken the rules and ventured beyond the Ember Waters?"

The thought sparked worry in Lau Ying. Knowing Yu Yuan, he was indeed capable of such recklessness, disregarding the edicts of the Devil Palace and Demon Palace, acting on his own whims.

But what if that made him a target for Tang Cann? Lurking in the ocean's depths, beyond the watchful eyes of the Devil Palace and Demon Palace, if Tang Cann decided to pursue you, could you truly escape?

Her unease deepened.

"Sister Liu, Sister Liu..."

Suddenly, a piercing cry resonated within the crystal-like Fallen Star Eyes, audible only to her. It was the voice of Li Yue'er, a senior sister from the Silver Moon Sect, who had used the Star Sound Stone to reach out. The Star Sound Stone, a fragment chiseled from the Fallen Star Eyes and later refined, enabled this unique form of communication between the stone and the Fallen Star Eyes.

As the scream pierced the air, the starlight encircling Liu Ying shattered explosively.

"Senior Sister Li, what's the matter? What's happened?"

Liu Ying pressed urgently, aware that without a real emergency, Li Yue'er, with her composure, would never resort to the Star Sound Stone's alarm.

"Senior Sister Li? Senior Sister!"

Her questions echoed unanswered; Li Yue'er, the bearer of the Star Sound Stone, had gone silent.

Liu Ying's expression grew stern; she abandoned her search for Yu Yuan as the Fallen Star Eyes, diminished a millionfold, morphed into a crystal board.

She descended swiftly, releasing the Fallen Star Eyes into the air.

...

Within the desolate Withered Bone Pavilion on the island, Raven Lord, hounded by the incessant inquiries of Python Queen Xu Zixi, extended his claw-like left hand with impatience and flicked it dismissively.

Xu Zixi's form was instantly immobilized, suspended in the pavilion's corner.

Her clamor and outbursts were utterly stifled.

Raven Lord's fingernail sprouted sharply. Only when it reached nearly half a meter did he nod in approval, leisurely using the elongated nail to clean his ear.

"Xu Zixi, enough with your prattle and endless questions," he said, his tone dripping with indolence, not sparing Xu Zixi a glance. "What I discuss with Heixun, what the sea conceals—what concern is that of yours? The Demon Palace's steward in the Ember Waters is me, not you."

"There are matters you simply aren't qualified to be part of, and that's that!"

Raven Lord continued, retrieving the ice-blue crystal and peering nonchalantly at the activity within.

With his status and the demon clan's hierarchy, he could easily master the subtle undulations and skirmishes across the Ember Waters' islands with a mere focus of his will.

Yet, to do so would require his constant vigilance beneath the waves.

Maintaining such focus was mentally draining, a commitment he was unwilling to make.

Using the ice-blue crystal, he could spare himself the effort, keeping an eye on the sea's anomalies with minimal exertion—a convenient but undeniably negligent approach.

He rationalized that Heixun of the Devil Palace should be the one to shoulder the responsibility.

He entrusted all his hopes and the heavy burden to Heixun.

"Hmm."

Abruptly, he ceased his ear-picking.

With a flick of his nail, a piece of earwax shot out. His hand gave a slight tug.

In an instant, Xu Zixi materialized before him.

Beside the ice-blue crystal at the Raven Lord's feet, the Python Queen floated, her expression one of disgust. "What do you want with me this time?" she demanded coldly.

"Take a look at this."

The Raven Lord gestured towards the ice-blue crystal. The region it illuminated emitted a soft blue glow, rendering the crystal opaque.

"What's happening? Why is there a blue glow at the bottom of the sea?" Xu Zixi inquired, puzzled.

"I can't see or sense anything with my Demon Eyes or spirit." The Raven Lord's face took on a mix of confusion and concern. "Strange occurrences sometimes happen on the islands of the Ember Waters. There are areas that defy exploration. But..."

"But what?" pressed Xu Zixi.

"The blue glow is near something, something that..." The Raven Lord's frown deepened, and he abruptly stood, calling out, "Heixun!"

The name "Heixun" transformed into a streak of lightning, racing towards the Devil Palace in the Jin Sea.

But there was no response from Heixun.

The Raven Lord's expression grew increasingly grave. "Something's amiss."

...

Whoosh!

Fallen Star Eyes, with Lau Ying in tow, arrived at the location Li Yue'er had communicated from. They observed the drifting blue light.

The glow was eerie, its cause unknown.

Upon her descent, Lau Ying's gaze fell upon the seabed, and her face blanched. "Senior Sister Li!"

The bodies, all clad in the Silver Moon Sect's attire, were fellow sect cultivators.

Li Yue'er, clutching the Star Sound Stone, lay just ahead.

Each corpse was reduced to a skin-wrapped skeleton, the flesh and organs vanished.

They were all dead, their belongings intact.

This was no inter-cultivator plundering; the perpetrator was neither from the Filthy Spirit Sect nor the Blood God Cult.

Disciples of the Blood God Cult, after taking a life, would only extract and refine the essence of the blood. The flesh, organs, and viscera were of no use to them.

"Such horrific acts should not be the work of ordinary people, nor should they be perpetrated by our own kind!" Lau Ying suppressed the sorrow in her heart, striving for clarity of thought.

She didn't pursue the fleeting blue light. Instead, she maneuvered the Fallen Star Eyes and surged toward the sea's surface. She was certain that the assailant who had targeted her Silver Moon Sect brethren was no rival in competition. It was an extraterrestrial entity!

Only beings that loathe the Boundless Land, those who regard its inhabitants as mere food or cattle, would employ such brutally bloodthirsty tactics!

With a loud thud, Lau Ying, guiding the Fallen Star Eyes, had barely ascended a few dozen meters when she collided with a shimmering blue barrier and was violently repelled.

Her face drained of color, Lau Ying realized that a significant event must have transpired on the islands within the Ember Waters.

...

The Alien Realm within the belly of the fish quaked with increasing frequency and ferocity. Yu Yuan could no longer use the Glorious Heavenly Wheel to draw in the Sun Essence Fire for the Yellow Court Stage refinement. His cultivation was abruptly halted.

The thirty-six towering peristele swayed with each tremor, releasing beams of light that sought to subdue the fish bones materializing in the heavens. The Spirit Stones scattered across the ground shattered into dust, layer by layer.

Yu Yuan rose from his seated position, standing now as he gazed thoughtfully at the sky. He began to seriously contemplate whether to call forth the scabbard and exit the Alien Realm by different means, to escape this increasingly uncontrollable place.

He had come to realize that the restraining power of the thirty-six stone pillars on the great fish was waning. The ancient, suppressed creature, an alien from a distant galaxy, might soon break free, regaining its consciousness and intelligence. Would he not be the first to perish, trapped within its belly?

"Forget it, forget it," Yu Yuan chuckled wryly, shaking his head. "I finally found a place conducive to focused cultivation, yet before I could refine much Sun Essence Fire, chaos erupts in the Alien Realm. No matter, if there's an issue with one of the three great wonders, I'll simply seek out another."

With that thought in mind, he once again drew the scabbard, only to be taken aback by a sudden shock.

…