Chapter 243

Chapter 243

The two brothers went back and forth, speaking in vague, cryptic terms, but I was beginning to realize what they intended to do.

I had just opened my mouth to say something when Lord Xiao cut me off. “Sister-in-law, don’t feel burdened by this. What Seventh Master is going to do tonight is something he would have had to do sooner or later. All you need to do is follow my lead.”

With that, he gave Liu Junyan a look.

Liu Junyan got out of the car, circled around to the passenger side, and opened my door. He reached in and hugged me. “Xiao Jiu, don’t be afraid. Keep moving forward, and trust me.”

Then he released me and strode toward the Forbidden Zone.

My heart pounded as I watched his resolute figure disappear into the distance.

I instinctively wanted to follow him. Panic was welling up inside me.

But Lord Xiao stopped me. “Sister-in-law, unless we resolve your problem, Seventh Master won’t be able to devote himself fully to his own task. Tonight, we can only succeed. Failure is not an option.”

“He’s going to move the sword in the Forbidden Zone, isn’t he?” My voice trembled as I asked. “But he hasn’t recovered every last Golden Scale yet. Something will go wrong!”

“He’s only going to move it a little. It will be fine.”

Lord Xiao gazed out the window at the dark night and murmured, “It is time this Sea-Stabilizing Divine Needle was moved. Otherwise, the Linghai Dragon Clan might forget the sins they once committed!”

With that, a sinister smile spread across his face.

That smile seemed steeped in poison, brimming with bloodthirsty killing intent.

I got out of the car and walked around to the hood, looking toward the Forbidden Zone.

Before long, a damp, briny mist came rolling through the darkness and struck me head-on.

Lord Xiao also got out. As he strode past me, he said, “Sister-in-law, stay close.”

His strides were long and steady, and I had to jog to keep up.

I had been here before.

The first time, Li Qingying had brought me here. The second time had been in a dream, when Liu Junyan’s mother summoned me.

But back then, I hadn’t known that an undercurrent had once appeared in the Forbidden Zone beneath Broken Cliff and swept away more than a dozen of Li Qingying’s horned brothers and sisters.

Now, across the waters below Broken Cliff, countless huge bubbles spread over the surface, which should have been pitch-black.

The entire expanse churned like boiling water, covered in a layer of white froth.

The Water Ripple on my middle finger, which had been dormant for so long, suddenly grew restless. It spun ceaselessly around the base of my finger, as though it might shoot free at any moment and plunge into the water.

Then the ground began to tremble. Whirlpools of every size gradually formed across the water. A disturbance this great was bound to alert the Linghai Dragon Palace.

Just as I wondered what I was about to witness, a column of water shot into the sky. Powerful Sword Qi cleaved outward from within it, seeming to split the waters of Linghai clean in two.

Lord Xiao turned and shouted at me, “Sister-in-law, don’t just stand there! Jump with me!”

What?

Jump?

Into the sea?

While I was still frozen in shock, Lord Xiao charged forward and leaped straight into the passage through the water that the Sword Qi had opened.

Liu Junyan had told me that I had to cooperate with Lord Xiao tonight. He had already fought so hard to take the first step. I couldn’t be the one to let him down now.

So I didn’t hesitate for long. Gritting my teeth, I followed Lord Xiao and jumped.

The wind howled around me, heavy with moisture and slicing across my cheeks like knives. My body plummeted straight down. With a splash, I plunged into the passage through the water, but I continued falling.

Thud.

The muffled sound wasn’t from me landing on anything. It came from passing through the Sword Qi.

The next moment, I managed to steady myself.
To my utter disbelief, the space I was in now seemed to be somewhere within the waters of the Forbidden Zone.

I could see the seawater churning all around me, the fish floating belly-up, and even… the Sword Tomb far below my feet!

I had been down there before. I knew just how deep the Sword Tomb was.

There was no way any of this should have been visible to the naked eye from this distance.

Yet somehow, I could see it all now.

Inside the Sword Tomb, Liu Junyan had both hands wrapped around the hilt of a sword, his entire body suspended in midair.

He was exerting every ounce of strength he had. Veins bulged across his forehead, and cold sweat poured down his face.

The veins stood out on the backs of his hands and snaked all the way up his arms…

Just as I had thought, Liu Junyan was pulling out his Lifebound Artifact.

But he wasn’t pulling it straight up. He was tugging it at an angle… He was shifting and turning the blade!

“Stop looking. We need to move faster,” Lord Xiao warned. “The Dragon Clan Guard will be here soon. We need to get as far as we can before the Sword Qi fades.”

Lord Xiao broke into a run as he spoke. I glanced back at Liu Junyan one last time, then hurried after him.

As we ran, I saw people outside the Sword Qi attacking the barrier.

Its white glow was gradually dimming.

I had no idea what lay ahead or how much farther we had to go. All I knew was that I had to stay close to Lord Xiao and keep running.

The Sword Qi faded from white until it was nearly transparent.

I had no idea how long I had been running. Fortunately, my modest cultivation foundation was enough to keep me going.

The instant the Sword Qi vanished completely, Lord Xiao spun toward me and drew a talisman in the air.

Before the seawater could engulf me, a barrier suddenly appeared around my body.

It resembled a huge bubble with me trapped in the center. Lord Xiao thrust out his palm, sending the bubble — and me — hurtling forward.

The resistance of the seawater battered against the bubble, sending it tumbling over and over until the world spun before my eyes.

Just then, more than a dozen people with pointed horns on their heads closed in around Lord Xiao.

But Lord Xiao moved faster. He swept out a palm, and his powerful inner force churned the seawater around him.

The water instantly condensed into sheet after sheet of thin water blades that shot toward the group.

Lord Xiao had no intention of prolonging the fight. He caught up with me and released another surge of inner force, propelling me farther ahead.

I never would have imagined he would send me away like this.

I had no idea how many times I tumbled. Just as the world was spinning so violently I could no longer tell up from down, I suddenly heard a clear, beautiful voice as sweet as silver bells.

“Xiao, is that you?”

The instant the voice rang out, the surrounding waters trembled.

Lord Xiao froze in the middle of the fight. The huge bubble around me also slowed to a stop, bobbing gently in the seawater.

I watched his body go rigid.

Then I watched as he slowly turned around.

In the distant water, a faint silhouette gradually took shape, becoming a beautiful young woman.

She looked only a few years older than me and was extremely thin.

Unnaturally, sickly thin.

Iron chains bound her wrists and ankles. Their other ends vanished into the water, stretching an unknown distance away.

The girl floated in the sea, so frail that it seemed a single wave could scatter her into nothing.

Softly, she called out again, “Xiao…”

Lord Xiao looked at me, then turned back to the girl.

As he hesitated, she spoke again.

With a pitiful expression, she said, “Xiao, you’ve finally come to take me home… haven’t you?”