C419 Eighth Rainbow!

Su Yan's face was etched with panic as the Fallen Star Eyes approached, resembling a drowning person grasping at a lifeline.

"Where are the rest of your Taiyuan Sect's cultivators?"

The Fallen Star Eyes halted, and Lau Ying, enveloped in a cocoon of starlight, expressed her astonishment, "Why are you the only one left? I haven't detected any other presences nearby."

"Their fate is unknown to me," Su Yan replied, her green dress billowing around her like the graceful leaves of seaweed, yet her brows were knit with worry and sorrow. "It might sound foolish, but my fellow cultivators were lured to a dark blue stone radiating a soft blue glow, and they hurried over to it."

"And then?" Lau Ying felt a sense of foreboding.

Before she had encountered Li Yue'er from the Silver Moon Sect, she too had seen an eerie blue light that had vanished.

"And then?" Su Yan continued, channeling the spiritual power from her Yellow Court dantian, enveloping herself in a dazzling aura of energy, regardless of the drain. "There was no 'and then.' That stone, casting its dim blue light, wasn't still; it was shifting position."

"They reached it and vanished within, taken away along with the stone."

Su Yan hung her head, a touch of embarrassment in her voice. "I sensed danger. And with my level of cultivation, I'm not as powerful as the senior brothers and sisters from other sects. Had I charged in after their demise, it would have been a death wish, a needless sacrifice."

"You made the right call," Lau Ying affirmed.

Bolstered by her validation, Su Yan looked up sharply, her hands clenched tightly. "My immediate reaction was to break for the surface after the blue light receded! I believed the most prudent action was to alert the overseers above about the anomalies occurring at the sea's depths!"

Lau Ying let out a soft sigh, "Sadly, there's no way up now."

"You're aware of it too?" Su Yan exclaimed, startled.

Lau Ying nodded gravely. "All the Silver Moon Sect cultivators, save for myself, have been confirmed dead." Observing Su Yan's relentless expenditure of spiritual energy within her protective energy barrier, she suggested, "Come inside, then we'll talk."

A dazzling streak of starlight unfurled towards Su Yan like a ribbon.

Moments later, Su Yan was enveloped by the Fallen Star Eyes' range, standing shoulder to shoulder with Lau Ying.

The light screen of the Fallen Star Eyes expanded slightly as a result.

"My artifact is brimming with star energy. To avoid accusations of cheating from the Demon Palace and the Demon Palace, I refrained from unleashing its full potential," Lau Ying explained. "Times have changed. Fei Yi from the Demon Palace has lost contact with Lord Heixun, which confirms that something has definitely gone wrong down below."

"Up above..."

Lau Ying let out another soft sigh.

"Something is certainly amiss up there too!"

Fei Yi, Yan Lu, and the rest finally caught up at this point.

Fei Yi declared, "There's trouble at sea. Neither Lord Heixun nor the Raven Lord have made a move; they must be facing issues as well!"

Lau Ying nodded, "I'll use the Fallen Star Eyes to gather as many survivors as possible. Let's all come together!"

"Agreed!"

...

Across the sea's islands.

"What's happening?"

"Is there a problem under the sea? Why can't my soul's awareness penetrate?"

"I can survey the heavens and the earth, yet the sea's depths remain hidden from me!"

"What are the Demon Palace and the Demon Palace up to?"

"Where's Heixun?"

"And Raven?"

The practitioners from the seven lower sects, the Blood God Cult, the Filthy Spirit Sect, and the Fiend Sect couldn't stay put any longer.

It all started when an elder from the Thunder Sect attempted to use an artifact to communicate with a trial participant below, only to find it ineffective.

The elder then soared from the island, hovering above the sea to peer down.

All he saw was a swath of dark blue.

Even when he tried to send his soul's awareness deeper, it was repelled by the dark blue barrier, prompting a sense of unease. He shared his concerns with nearby cultivators.

It was like a pebble sparking a thousand waves!

The leading figures of the major sects, previously meditating and oblivious to the sea's anomalies, began their inquiries.

Shockingly, not one could penetrate the enigmatic dark blue veil with their artifact, soul's awareness, or eyes to see the abnormalities beneath the sea.

Thus, the elders, entrusted by their sects and leading their disciples in trials, immediately sought out the two large islands where the Demon Palace and the Demon Palace resided.

It was peculiar that Heixun, who was expected to be on the Demon Palace Island, was conspicuously absent.

This implied that the Devil Palace's guardian was not present on the island.

Every gaze shifted simultaneously toward the Demon Palace's desolate Withered Bone Pavilion.

With a grim expression, Raven Lord emerged at a leisurely pace amidst the clamor, surveying the dozens of elders and leaders from various sects floating above. "The dark blue light barrier at the sea's bottom isn't our doing at the Demon Palace. As for that scoundrel Heixun, I'm clueless about his whereabouts—I can't reach him either."

Python Queen Xu Zixi stood anxiously behind him near the entrance of the Withered Bone Pavilion.

"What on earth is the Devil Palace up to?"

"Has Heixun dived into the sea? Aren't there established rules in the Ember Waters? Neither he, you, nor the leader are permitted to enter the sea during the trial!"

"Heixun's descent into the sea has severed our vision and soul sense. What is he planning?"

"The Devil Palace's brazen actions are shattering millennia-old rules. They owe us an explanation!"

The crowd's uproar was relentless.

Raven, standing on the Demon Palace island, listened to their roars before turning to inquire, "Has anyone reached the Demon Palace?"

Xu Zixi shook her head, "We can't transmit the Soul Sound through any object."

Raven's face darkened further. "Without a space teleportation array in the Ember Waters, if Soul Sound can't be relayed through objects to the Demon Palace, then they'll remain oblivious to whatever transpires here."

"If Lord Heixun were here, we might attempt to use the Devil Palace's resources, but now..." Xu Zixi managed a wry smile.

"I'll expend a drop of my lifeblood to try once more to locate Heixun," Raven declared, inhaling deeply. "If that fails, I'll attempt to break through the dark blue barrier by force. Should that prove impossible, you must leave the Ember Waters at once and rush to the Demon Palace to inform them of the situation."

"Understood!" Xu Zixi responded promptly.

The anomalies within the Ember Waters left both Raven and her with a profound sense of disquiet.

In the Alien Realm, a single strand of Sun Essence Fire, transformed by the Glorious Heavenly Wheel, coalesced into a beam of fiery light and slipped into Yu Yuan's Yellow Court Little World. In the upper reaches of this realm, the eighth rainbow at last materialized!

Each rainbow was a streak of crimson lightning, each a tuft of Sun Essence Fire. Eight marked the current pinnacle. The emergence of the eight rainbows signified that Yu Yuan's Yellow Court Little World had achieved its eighth successful refinement—a feat of extreme rarity among the vast expanse of the Boundless Land, reserved for the most exceptional of geniuses.

Reincarnated, Yu Yuan was born into a modest family within Darkmoon City of the Silvermoon Empire. After the return and awakening of his Heavenly Soul and Earth Soul, he had never dared to dream that his cultivation aptitude in this life could ascend to the eighth refinement of the Yellow Court. Such a level of the Eight Refined Yellow Court was unparalleled on both the Quietus and Heavenly Source Continents, and on the Profound Sky Continent, it was a one-in-a-million phenomenon.

Cultivation talent is a gift from the heavens, and the initial breadth of the Yellow Court Stage is predetermined and measurable. Yet, the number of times one can refine the Yellow Court Acupoints remains a mystery. This elusive gift often sets the upper limit of a cultivator's potential and decides whether they might one day reach the pinnacle and surge into the Primordial Spirit Stage. The seventh, eighth, and ninth levels serve as the primary benchmarks for judging the potential to achieve the Primordial Spirit Stage.

Having attained the Eight Refined Yellow Court, Yu Yuan could now be certain that in this lifetime, he was destined to reach the ultimate shore—the Primordial Spirit Stage.

With a deep exhale, he continued to draw in the Sun Essence Fire, allowing the blaze to burst forth and integrate into the little world beneath the Yellow Court. Time passed unmeasured until, at last, the spiritual and fiery energies within the Yellow Court Little World hit their threshold.

His body jolted sharply, pulling him out of his meditative state. In that moment, he realized that his cultivation level had smoothly transitioned from the Middle to the Late Period of the Yellow Court Stage. Following the eighth refinement, the Yellow Court Little World ceased its outward expansion and its capacity remained unchanged. Instead, like water naturally flowing along its course, his cultivation level had been nudged one step further.

The Eight Refined Yellow Court represented the ultimate capacity of the dantian in this lifetime.

Yet, he had not reached the mythic pinnacle — the Ninth Refinement.

"Attaining the Eighth Refinement marks one as a rare genius, a feat to take pride in! Beyond the Yellow Court, further challenges await at the middle dantian, the upper dantian, and the Niwan Acupoint! The journey of cultivation is boundless; we must advance at a measured pace."

Far from being disheartened, he was invigorated with boundless enthusiasm and longing, abruptly rousing from his meditative state.

It was at this moment that a faint consciousness emerged from the crescent moon hanging in the sky.

"I am the Chaos Roc, born of the Outer Star River."

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