226: The Four Seas Alliance, subdued with a single sword.

At the edge of the Bewitching Mist Sea, the wind whined, carrying a unique salty dampness and chill.

The giant tower ship, forged entirely from Black Profound Iron, silently cut through the waves like a Steel Demon Whale emerging from the deep sea purgatory. The Water Controlling Runes shimmering on its hull allowed it to move forward with uncanny speed as it broke the surf.

It silently spanned the sea before Shen Yuanmo. The hideous, protruding Ramming Horns on its hull, along with the Giant Ballistae that gleamed with a dark, cold light, silently proclaimed its dominance and power.

On the foredeck, a dozen or so Cultivators with fierce auras stood with their hands behind their backs.

Their gazes, sharp as falcons, were fixed tightly on the solitary figure in green robes standing on the sea surface.

Leading them was a middle-aged Blue-Robed Cultivator wearing luxurious robes. His Nascent Soul Mid-stage cultivation aura was fully unleashed, causing the surrounding air to slightly distort and emit a low hum due to his surging magical power.

He looked down upon Shen Yuanmo from above.

"Who are you?"

The Blue-Robed Cultivator's voice was icy, carrying the indifference of someone long accustomed to high status, echoing across the sea.

"This notorious Bewitching Mist Sea requires even our Four Seas Alliance to travel in groups, proceeding with utmost caution just to pass through."

"Yet you were actually able to walk out alone, unharmed, from its deepest part?"

The ill repute of the Bewitching Mist Sea was known to everyone in the Endless Sea.

Every year, countless overconfident Cultivators, and even Nascent Soul Old Monsters, lose their way inside, eventually turning into withered bones.

Yet this young man before him appeared to be no more than a hundred years old in Bone Age, and his cultivation base was instantly seen through: merely Early Golden Core Stage.

A Loose Cultivator at the Early Golden Core Stage, walking out of the center of the Bewitching Mist Sea completely unscathed?

If those words were spoken aloud, not even ghosts would believe them!

The only explanation was that this person must be hiding some kind of Exotic Treasure capable of bypassing the Mist Sea Illusions!

Upon thinking of the words "Exotic Treasure," the eyes of the Nascent Soul Cultivators behind the Blue-Robed Cultivator instantly lit up with greedy light.

Shen Yuanmo stood at the crest of the tide, allowing the snowy white waves to crash at his feet, yet his figure remained as steady as an immovable ancient reef.

He did not even raise his eyes to look at anyone on the ship; his profound gaze was still fixed on the far horizon where the Endless Sea met the sky.

"Passing through."

He only uttered two words. His voice was flat and soft, like the whisper of the sea breeze, yet it clearly entered everyone's ears.

"Passing through?!"

Behind the Blue-Robed Cultivator, a Nascent Soul Initial-stage Cultivator with a fleshy, aggressive face and a restless, brutal aura sneered.

He suddenly took a step forward, and the terrifying pressure belonging to an Immortal Master of the Nascent Soul stage surged toward Shen Yuanmo like a mountain collapsing and a tsunami roaring!

"Brat, who the hell are you talking to! You ungrateful bastard!"

He stretched out a thick finger, pointing vaguely at Shen Yuanmo across the air, spittle flying as he roared.

"Looking at your skin, so fair and tender, you must be some ignorant fool who ran away from a Family on the mainland, right?"

"You truly don't know the rules! Don't you know that this Bewitching Mist Sea, along with the sea area spanning Ten Thousand Li around it, is the territory of my Four Seas Alliance?"

"Now, I'll give you a chance to live. Hand over that Treasure on you that can pass through the mist sea, along with your Storage Magical Artifact, everything!"

"Otherwise, your little life will be left here today to feed the beasts in the sea!"

These words were naked and undisguised.

In the lawless lands of the Endless Sea, Killing People and Seizing Treasures was the most common Law of survival.

Moreover, the opponent was merely an Early Golden Core Stage "Fat Sheep" who seemingly had no background.

The Blue-Robed Cultivator folded his arms across his chest, a cruel and playful smile hanging at the corner of his mouth, tacitly approving his subordinate's outrage.

In his eyes, this Junior, whose Bone Age was only around a hundred and whose cultivation was vaguely obscured by the mist—at most a mere Golden Core—was already a guaranteed capture.

Shen Yuanmo finally reacted.

He slowly turned his head, his gaze falling upon the tower ship for the first time.

There was no anger, no killing intent in his eyes, only a feeling akin to indifference... disappointment.

He had come to the Endless Sea to verify his own Dao and seek higher levels of scenery.

He originally did not want to waste even a shred of his concentration on these ants who couldn't even touch the threshold of Soul Transformation.

But there are always ants who willingly crawl to your feet, presumptuously trying to shake your existence.

His gaze bypassed the shouting, fleshy Cultivator and finally settled on the face of the leading Blue-Robed Cultivator.

"Your Excellency, is this also what you mean?"

Stared at by Shen Yuanmo's ancient, unmoving eyes, the Blue-Robed Cultivator's heart inexplicably clenched, and he felt a sudden panic, as if his Physical Body and Divine Soul had been completely seen through.

An illusion! It must be an illusion!

What methods could a Golden Core Junior possibly possess?

He forcefully suppressed that inexplicable unease and spoke arrogantly.

"My Four Seas Alliance has dominated this area for several millennia, establishing order in this sea region. Since you have enjoyed the tranquility brought by our order, paying a Toll is only right."

He slowly and deliberately extended two fingers, as if granting a lofty favor.

"Leave that Exotic Treasure and half the wealth in your Storage Pouch, and also make a copy of the Exotic Treasure's Control Method."

"Then, you may scram."

On the tower ship, all the Four Seas Alliance Cultivators displayed cruel smiles, as if they had already seen the miserable sight of this ignorant young man kneeling and begging for mercy while offering up his treasures.

Hearing these words, Shen Yuanmo finally stopped speaking.

For a group of idiots who couldn't recognize reality, any words were superfluous.

He simply raised his right hand slowly.

Then, he brought his index and middle fingers together, forming a slender, jade-like Sword Finger.

There was no earth-shattering Sword Light.

There was no world-destroying aura.

He didn't even trigger the slightest Spiritual Power Fluctuation.

Just like that, he casually pointed lightly toward the Nascent Soul Initial-stage Cultivator who had the fleshy face and was shouting the loudest.

On the deck, the fleshy Cultivator’s sneer had not yet faded, and his eyes revealed the greed and excitement of imminent success.

But the next instant.

All his expressions froze.

"Uh..."

He lowered his head, staring blankly at his chest.

There was nothing there.

No wound, no bloodstain, utterly empty.

But his body was silently and inch by inch turning into the finest dust from the inside out.

It was not combustion, nor decomposition, but a more terrifying phenomenon... Annihilation.

His Daoist Robe, his Physical Body, and his bones silently dissipated in the sea breeze, like a handful of sand art being blown away.

His Nascent Soul didn't even have time to let out a scream before it was erased along with his Dantian and Qi Sea, turning into complete nothingness.

A living Nascent Soul Initial-stage Cultivator, who just moments ago possessed overwhelming might and was swaggering proudly, simply evaporated into thin air the next second.

As if he had never existed.

The laughter on the deck was utterly choked in their throats by this bizarre and incomprehensible scene, turning into strange gasps.

"Laosan... Laosan?"

Someone called out, trembling and disbelieving.

However, there was no reply.

The wind blew past, leaving behind only an empty stretch of deck.

Everyone had yet to recover from this fear that surpassed understanding.

Shen Yuanmo's joined Sword Finger casually slashed downward, pointing toward the seemingly boundless blue sea a Hundred Zhang away.

With this slash.

The world fell completely silent.

The wind stopped, and the waves subsided.

The entire sea around the steel behemoth seemed to have had its pause button pressed by an invisible giant hand; even the smallest ripples were instantly smoothed out.

Immediately afterward, within everyone's pupils, which had suddenly constricted due to extreme terror.

A Terrifying Sword Mark, Ten Thousand Zhang long and bottomless, appeared out of thin air!

On both sides of the Sword Mark, the seawater seemed to be forcibly separated by a supreme Law, standing up like walls standing a thousand ren high, smooth as a mirror!

The most terrifying thing was that the separated seawater was unable to close up again for a long time!

It was as if this piece of the sea had been severed into two parts by that single finger, ripped apart at the level of the world's rules!

Deathly silence.

A deathly silence sufficient to freeze one's Divine Soul and shatter one's Dao Heart.

On the tower ship, including the Nascent Soul Mid-stage Blue-Robed Cultivator who had always been calm and claimed to control the situation, everyone's face was drained of color, pale as paper.

Their bodies shook violently like sifting chaff, and their teeth chattered uncontrollably, producing a grinding, teeth-jarring crunch.

Their Nascent Souls, within their Dantian Qi Sea, were screaming and warning frantically!

What kind of power is this?

What the hell kind of power is this?!

A single point across the air, and a Nascent Soul Cultivator evaporated on the spot!

A casual slash severed the Ten Thousand Zhang Vast Sea; Law retreated, and the water refused to merge!

Is this human power?

Is this power that a Cultivator can possess?

Forget Nascent Soul! Even if their Four Seas Alliance Leader—who was said to be elusive as a Divine Dragon Seen Head But Not Tail and had long stepped into the Soul Transformation realm—came personally, he absolutely could not achieve this with such ease!

A monster!

"Gulp."

The Blue-Robed Cultivator swallowed with difficulty, his Adam's apple bobbing, the sound dry and raspy.

When he looked at the figure in green robes again, where was there any trace of arrogance or greed?

Only reverence and despair remained... feelings capable of utterly grinding his lifelong cultivation and entire Dao Heart into dust!

He finally understood.

He, and this group of arrogant fools, had provoked a terrifying existence that was simply unimaginable!

"Thump!"

The Blue-Robed Cultivator could no longer withstand the terrifying, Mount Tai Crushing the Top pressure deep within his Divine Soul.

His knees went soft. Using all his strength, he performed the Five Limbs Throwing to the Ground kowtow, slamming his forehead heavily onto the cold Black Profound Iron deck, producing a dull, despairing crash!

He used the greatest strength of his life to squeeze out fragmented syllables from his throat, which was spasming with fear.

"...Ju...nior... de...serves... ten... thou...sand... deaths..."

His voice was thick with sobs, and his Divine Soul was trembling.

"This Junior was blind! I offended your Supreme Immortal Might! We beg Immortal Venerable to spare the lives of ants like us! We beg for Immortal Venerable's grace!"

The Nascent Soul Cultivators behind him were already Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering, and seeing this, they awoke as if from a dream.

They scrambled to kneel down, kowtowing frantically, wishing they could embed their heads into the deck, just to beg for that sliver of survival.

"Immortal Venerable, spare us!"

"We are pigs! We are dogs! We were Having Eyes But Not Recognizing Mount Tai! We would never dare again!"

On the sea surface, Shen Yuanmo slowly retracted his Sword Finger, his expression remaining completely unchanged from beginning to end.

He looked at the Four Seas Alliance Cultivators who were kowtowing like pounding garlic on the deck, completely broken, his gaze still like a deep, ancient well that held no ripples.

It was as if he had just crushed a bug and, incidentally, drawn an insignificant mark on the ground.

"Now, may I leave?"

Shen Yuanmo's voice was still so flat.

But this flat voice, upon reaching the ears of the Blue-Robed Cultivator and the others, was no less than the Imperial Pardon of the Heavenly Emperor, making them feel as if they had received a great amnesty!

"Yes! Of course, you may!"

The Blue-Robed Cultivator scrambled to his feet, bowing and clasping his hands frantically toward Shen Yuanmo.

"Senior, please! Please! It was this Junior and the others who blocked your path! This Junior deserves death! Deserves death!"

Shen Yuanmo did not spare them another glance.

His figure flickered, leaving a faint Afterimage in place, and instantly vanished between the vast sea and sky.

Only that Ten Thousand Zhang Sword Mark, spanning the sea surface and unable to heal for a long time, remained.

As well as the entire ship of Four Seas Alliance Cultivators, who were sprawled weakly on the deck, having forgotten how to breathe, like drowning victims dragged ashore.

A long, long time later.

A young Nascent Soul Cultivator finally trembled, pointing at the Ten Thousand Zhang Sword Mark, his voice thick with sobs.

"Senior... Senior Brother... what... what exactly was that?"

The Blue-Robed Cultivator stared blankly at the Sword Mark, feeling that his worldview had been utterly shattered by that single sword strike.

He muttered to himself, his voice filled with fear that would never be erased throughout eternity.

"That wasn't a sword..."

"That was... the Dao."