Chapter 501: Slipped Away Slipped Away

"Master, it seems Senior Sister is being ensnared by this demon's wiles!"

"She went that way..."

"Oh, how utterly mortifying!"

"Shouldn't the line be: 'Even the Shushan Sect's heart-law is useless, what a terrifying fiend'?" Several disciples of the Nanhua Sect pointed toward a distant quarter, whispering among themselves in the rear.

Before their words could settle, a furious roar rent the air: "What manner of evil beast dare show its face? Taste my Haotian Mirror!"

With that, a circular mirror, appearing half of gold and half of jade, went flying into the void.

A shaft of white brilliance shot forth, autonomously locking onto a specific expanse of the distant sea.

Everyone’s face darkened in unison; they hadn't even caught a glimpse of the creature, and he was already hurling the Haotian Mirror directly at its face?

"Fellow Daoist Duan... could you perhaps be a trifle more sparing with your spiritual energy?" Daoist Master Xichi was rendered momentarily speechless, well aware that the consumption of spiritual essence by the Haotian Mirror could only be described as horrific.

"No matter, this seat's replica of the Haotian Mirror possesses only two functions: immobilization and locating objects! It is of no consequence!" Duan Yue laughed heartily. "I have already bound it in place!"

"Behold this seat's Fiend-Slaying Sword!" A crimson sword-light, massive as a monolithic mountain, clove through the air, and in an instant, beneath the waters illuminated by the white light, plumes of dark red blood surged upward.

"Splendid swordplay!"

"A magnificent dharma treasure!"

A wave of mutual commercial adulation ensued, born of supreme vanity.

Presently, the carcass, severed into two distinct halves, floated to the surface. A single glance revealed a serpent-like form, yet its head was crowned with long, slender, jet-black strands of hair that drifted upon the waves like the tentacles of an octopus.

"This is...?!"

"What manner of thing is this?!" Everyone exchanged bewildered glances.

This was assuredly no ordinary monster. Among the Divine Sea Realm cultivators present, scarcely anyone had ever beheld its like. Most crucially, the aura emanated by this monstrosity actually resided above the Divine Sea Realm; had Daoist Red Wing not drawn his blade with such blistering speed, it might well have broken free just now.

And at that very moment, the song rising from the great ocean grew dark and sinister, the voices multiplying and tangling in a chaotic, overlapping din. At this juncture, even while reciting the Clear Heart Verse, some of the lower-cultivation disciples began to lose their mental composure.

"Ill tidings! There are more!"

"The creature isn't dead!" The beast that had just surfaced took the opportunity to plunge once more into the briny depths.

"There is more than one, everyone guard yourselves!"

This bizarre chorus echoed from all four directions, its notes laced with boundless malice and murderous intent.

Let alone those of the True Lake Realm, even the Divine Sea Realm cultivators now felt a wave of restless agitation washing over their minds.

"By his mother's bones!" Black Demon, possessed of a famously explosive temper, could bear it no longer. "Fucking cover your ears, all of you!"

In a flash, he struck a hand-seal, and a shroud of black, malevolent aura erupted into the sky, abruptly manifesting a somber and terrifying crimson phantom.

As that blood-red specter materialized, everyone felt an innate, primal terror lingering within their hearts.

"Behold this seat's Blood Demon Roar!" This was a novel technique he had forged by condensing vast stores of magical power, mimicking the artistic conception of the Blood Demon's roar from *Shushan*; it had clearly neared absolute perfection by now.

Roar—!

Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom—!

The mountain-toppling, ocean-splitting roar pushed the surrounding waves outward in all directions, exploding the waters below into towering, monstrous crests. Every sound between heaven and earth was utterly crushed by this singular, furious bellow, and beneath the sea, several mists of blood instantly erupted and scattered.

"By his mother's bones!" Black Demon withdrew his technique and exhaled a long plume of turbid air. "Now it is far quieter!"

Daoist Red Wing and Duan Yue exchanged a glance, their faces twitching in unison. "..."

To think one could actually handle it in such a fashion?!

"Not good! A great many more are surging up!" The blood seemed not to have deterred these monsters; instead, it appeared to have provoked their feral savagery.

Beneath the surface, the sea boiled as if heated by subterranean fires, turbid waves churning as countless dark shadows swam and darted through the depths.

"Look quickly beneath the waves!"

Vaguely, it seemed that deep below the sea, a colossal dark shadow was slowly gliding upward.

"Halt! Behold my

"Me, me, me! And me!" the Great White Deer bellowed as he charged outside, utterly ecstatic. He had never imagined that after gritting his teeth and spending the money to activate it, simply finishing the read would suddenly flood his mind with an intimate familiarity of so many essential swordplay principles and techniques.

Gesticulating wildly with joy, he dashed out the door. "I know swordplay too! Watch me perform it for you!"

Yet, the moment he raised his two front hooves, he looked at the others holding their swords with both hands, and then looked back down at his own pair of hooves...

"Wah—!" With a sudden wail, he burst into tears.

...

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