Chapter 158 – Fog Turns into Sea
The inn suddenly fell silent. Everyone’s eyes were fixed on the green-robed old man. The old man held the young man in his arms and stared at everyone coldly.
“Eyes like lightning.” These three words appeared in the minds of the surrounding cultivators. They felt as if their entire existence was being seen through and a bucket of cold water was being poured over their heads at the same time.
An early-stage Core Formation cultivator’s cup instantly fell to the ground as he quickly lowered his head, his eyes filled with fear. He groaned quietly, “This feeling, it should be the Nascent Soul…”
The old man averted his gaze and relaxed his hands. The young man’s neck was covered in black bruises.
The old man poured him a drink, took a sip, and said slowly, “Speak, how did all this happen?”
The young man didn’t even dare to breathe too loudly. With his late Foundation Establishment cultivation, he couldn’t see through this old man at all. However, with his years of experience, he knew that this old man was at least a mid-stage Core Formation cultivator, or even a late-stage Core Formation cultivator.
“That person suddenly appeared half a month ago, killed ten elders of the Fighting Evil Sect, and for some reason was labeled a kill order…” The young man explained everything he knew in detail.
The old man closed his eyes and waved his hand casually. The young man’s eyes widened as his entire body turned into a mist of blood, and then a strange wind came and carried the mist away.
The cultivators in the inn were all terrified. They wanted to leave, but no one dared to make the first move.
The old man pondered for a moment. He opened his eyes as he looked at the early-stage Core Formation cultivator and said, “You, come here.”
The Core Formation cultivator’s body trembled as he immediately stood up and arrived within a foot of the old man. With a trembling voice, he said respectfully, “Junior Xu Mu greets Senior. Please ask for anything Senior needs. Junior swears on my own Golden Core that everything I say is true. Please have mercy.”
The old man poured a cup of wine. After drinking it, he said, “Ever since I entered the inn, every time that person appears, the spiritual energy in your body goes out of control. I assume you’ve seen him in person.”
Xu Mu took a deep breath. Fear was still visible in his eyes as he whispered, “Junior has indeed seen the demon in person.”
“What’s his cultivation level?” A mysterious light flashed in the old man’s eyes as he asked this question. He was extremely curious about this. That was why he had killed the young man. The young man had said many useless things but had never revealed his cultivation level.
“Early Core Formation stage!” Xu Mu felt a little uneasy, so he quickly added, “Senior, that person seems to be only at the early Core Formation stage, but he has two treasures…”
Hearing the words “two treasures,” although the old man’s expression remained the same, he became alert.
“One of them is a flying sword that can teleport…”
The old man felt a little disappointed as he poured a cup of wine and drank it.
Xu Mu studied the old man carefully as he said nervously, “There’s one more thing. It’s… this junior doesn’t understand what it is either. I only saw a red light, and there was something within that red light. However, anyone touched by that red light will die, and their bodies will turn into skeletons.”
The old man pondered for a moment, then stood up, dropped a piece of low-grade spirit stone, and grabbed Xu Mu. The two of them instantly traveled over 1,000 kilometers.
As soon as he left, all the cultivators in the inn were filled with fear. The three words on everyone’s mind were “Nascent Soul Cultivator!”
Under Xu Mu’s guidance, the old man teleported to the Evil Fighting Sect in just half an hour. He spread out his powerful divine sense and found Shang Guanmo.
Shang Guanmo was shocked. The old man had managed to extract another drop of his soul essence blood and use the connection between the two drops to track Wang Lin. He then threw Xu Mu down and immediately left.
As for Wang Lin, he moved extremely fast while carrying Li Muwan. The flying sword tore through the thick fog of the Sea of Devils.
The Sea of Devils was surrounded by mist all year round, but only for one month out of the year did the mist turn into water. During the many years that Wang Lin had lived in the Sea of Devils, due to his closed-door cultivation, he had never encountered this phenomenon.
A month after he entered the 14th valley, the mist turned into a sea. This had happened every year for the three years he had lived there, and now it was about to happen again.
Li Muwan was different. She experienced it herself every year. With the formation’s protection, seawater couldn’t enter the cave, but she could clearly see the deep blue ocean outside, along with some rare spirit beasts swimming by.
Nearly four years meant the mist had turned into an ocean four times. Each time, Li Muwan would personally set up the formation and only relax after it was over.
The fog was now even thicker than when they first arrived at the Devil’s Sea. Some parts of the fog had turned to water.
As the two flew higher, the fog grew thicker, until they felt like they were swimming in water.
Li Muwan whispered, “It will turn into a sea…”
Wang Lin didn’t answer. He suddenly stopped, looked back, and began observing the fog around him. He could see that the slowly moving fog was moving faster than before. It was as if it was being pushed forward. Even some of the creatures around him were moving in all directions except forward.
Li Muwan saw Wang Lin’s expression and whispered, “What’s wrong, senior brother?”
“Nothing.” After Wang Lin finished speaking, he flew forward even faster. He felt extremely uneasy. From the movement of the fog, it was clear that someone was flying toward him at an extremely fast speed. The person chasing behind him must be an extremely powerful cultivator; otherwise, it would be impossible to produce such a pushing effect on the fog.
The surrounding creatures also scattered in all directions except forward. This made Wang Lin even more certain that someone was approaching from behind.
This is actually quite easy to explain. If a school of small fish were swimming in the water and a very fast sword were to whiz past them, they would immediately scatter in all directions except forward.
Wang Lin often played in the river near the village with other children when he was a child. After witnessing this incident, he was able to connect the dots and detect abnormalities.
Wang Lin’s gaze turned cold as he took out the spirit liquid and took a deep gulp. The golden core in his body rotated rapidly as it absorbed the spiritual energy within the liquid, allowing him to release even more spiritual energy. This caused his speed to increase.
Li Muwan could sense Wang Lin’s nervousness. She immediately took out some materials and created a few simple formations to cast behind her.
Wang Lin looked behind him and revealed a look of admiration. Li Muwan felt a sweetness in her heart, but she had used too much energy earlier, so she now felt like she had no strength left. When she saw Wang Lin’s speed increase after drinking the spirit liquid, she hesitated for a moment before taking out the bottle of spirit liquid Wang Lin had given her. She drank a few drops and was immediately shocked. She carefully put it away and continued to create the small formation.
As the two of them flew higher, an invisible force finally appeared. This was the unique sea pressure of the Devil’s Sea. Anyone who tried to leave would have to face this pressure.
70,000 kilometers behind Wang Lin, the old man patted his bag of holding and took out a green gourd. The gourd instantly expanded to 100 times its original size. The old man sat leisurely on the gourd as it flew forward. Thanks to the gourd, his speed had at least doubled.
As Wang Lin moved, he could feel the fog’s pushing force growing stronger. Although this was partly due to his own speed, it was clear that the person chasing him had increased their speed through some unknown method.
The fog over the Devil’s Sea has thinned as the water begins to rise. If one looks from above the Devil’s Sea, they will see that the fog is thin enough to see into it.
Under the moonlight, the Devil’s Sea shimmered. It was as if a layer of water had formed. The water rapidly spread as time passed, and waves roared as they crashed onto the shore.
The old man frowned from his seat on the gourd. Before him were the well-placed and active formations. Although they were weak and he didn’t mind them, if he continued to smash into them one by one, they would still hinder him.
The old man snorted as he waved his hand and slapped the gourd. The seal on the gourd broke, and a powerful force erupted forth.
Ripples began to spread from the mouth of the gourd. All formations touched by the ripples were instantly shattered. Even the mist and seawater were pushed aside, creating a tunnel leading forward.
The old man sat on the gourd as he hurried into the tunnel.
Wang Lin’s body was already soaked in water. He took another sip of the spiritual liquid and quickly ran towards the receding sea.
He hugged Li Muwan and pushed her forward. Her body moved in the water like a fish. Soon, he could see the surface. His eyes turned cold as he pointed forward, and the flying sword suddenly disappeared.
Then Wang Lin dragged Li Muwan out of the water like a sword piercing the sky. As the two of them emerged from the water, they disappeared in a trail of light.
The crystal sword moved in rhythm with the waves, waiting for the right moment to strike.
Half an hour later, a large vortex appeared in the sea. The vortex was about 100 meters wide and was moving in one direction.
A black tunnel connected to the bottom of the Devil’s Sea in the center of the vortex. A green gourd slowly emerged from within the tunnel.