154: Chapter 154 Broken Cliff and Destroyed Boat, Burying Emperor Island!!

"Mm!"

Su Yuxi's expression became cautious.

She took the miniature version of the immortal burial coffin and sent her Divine Sense into it. The moment she touched that strand of sickness, her body trembled slightly.

A black sea, a ruined boat, a broken cliff.

A path to the shore paved with white bones.

Fragments of scenes suddenly exploded within her Sea of Consciousness.

That world was incredibly grey and gloomy, yet terrifyingly fierce.

Fine sweat broke out on Su Yuxi's forehead, her fingers tightened bit by bit, and her body trembled slightly.

Lin Yi took half a step forward, pressing one hand on her wrist and supporting her back shoulder with the other.

"Yu Xi."

Su Yuxi closed her eyes, suppressing the churning memory fragments in her Sea of Consciousness.

When she opened her eyes again, they held a layer of extremely cold color.

"That's right! This aura... I have indeed seen it before."

As soon as these words were spoken...

Shen Qingyue, Chu Wanqing, Xu Chen, along with the Holy Mother of Yaochi and Ji Yaoguang, all looked over.

Lin Yi was very patient, looking at Su Yuxi and waiting for her to finish what she had to say.

"No rush, take your time!"

Su Yuxi stared at the strand of sickness, her voice chillingly low.

"Burial Emperor Island!"

As these three words landed...

Even the wind in the center of the lake seemed to skip a beat.

The ancient seal in Shen Qingyue's palm suddenly trembled, the vibration making her knuckles ache slightly.

The smile on Chu Wanqing's face completely vanished as her grip on the imperial zither tightened bit by bit.

Xu Chen's mouth hung open, and after a long while, he squeezed out a sentence.

"No way..."

"Those old fogies tossed and turned for so long, and it's actually for that legendary forbidden zone?"

Lin Yi slowly raised his head, gazing toward that distant world beyond the Eastern Desolation.

The Wang Family.

The Shen Family.

The Heaven and Earth Gate.

And Burial Emperor Island.

In this game of chess, the threads have finally been exposed.

Next, it remains to be seen who will lose their composure first.

...

Night fell over the surface of Yaochi Lake. Wind blew through the Peach Orchard, the leaves rustling with a hint of sweet fragrance.

The turmoil of the day had dissipated, yet not many in the lakeside palaces could sleep.

The palace was brightly lit.

Lin Yi sat in the main seat, flicking his sleeve as the half-scroll marriage contract landed on the table.

Chu Wanqing leaned to the side, staring at the marriage contract and curling her lips first.

"This scrap of paper is annoying just to look at."

"If you ask me, Revered Master's sword strike today was still too light."

"It should have been sliced directly into ash, and while she was at it, she should've given Xu Tian's face a good scraping too."

Xu Chen squatted by the low table, clutching a Flat Peach. With a loud crunch, juice almost splattered out.

"I agree."

"This thing is a piece of filth."

"Just touching it once means you have to go back and wash your hands three times."

Lin Yi glanced at the little fatty.

"Filth? You seem to be eating quite happily!"

Xu Chen looked up while chewing the fruit, his expression very innocent.

"Big brother, this is called post-battle replenishment."

"I was almost pressed into the floor tiles by Quasi-Emperor imperial might today; I have to eat two Flat Peaches to recover some blood."

With these words, the atmosphere in the hall lightened slightly.

Only Shen Qingyue did not smile.

She sat to Lin Yi's right, her fingertips pressing against the edge of the marriage contract, her expression cold.

Lin Yi pushed a teacup toward her hand.

"If you want to say something, say it."

Shen Qingyue lowered her eyes, remained silent for a moment, and then slowly spoke.

"In the Ancient Era, the Shen Family and the Heaven and Earth Gate did indeed have a history."

She pressed her fingertips down slightly, flattening the half-scroll marriage contract a bit more.

"But the content of the old covenant was never to use the Shen Family Saintess as a bargaining chip."

Chu Wanqing's eyebrows shot up as she sat up straight.

Xu Chen also stopped gnawing on his peach, listening with rapt attention.

Lin Yi's expression remained steady, simply looking at her and waiting for her to continue.

Shen Qingyue took a breath and began to tell the story, venting the coldness she had suppressed in her heart.

"The true agreement was for the Shen Family Saintess and the Heaven and Earth Gate successor to be Dao Protectors for each other."

"The two families were to guard a certain place together."

"That place cannot be leaked, cannot be easily opened, and cannot fall into the hands of outsiders."

At this point, she looked up at Lin Yi.

"The words 'marriage contract' are just the outer shell."

"What is truly written inside is mutual consent."

"If either party is unwilling, the old covenant is automatically voided."

The hall fell silent for a moment.

Xu Chen's mouth moved, and he blurted out a sentence.

"Holy moly."

"So Xu Tian showing up today wasn't just shameless, he was also totally faking it!"

Chu Wanqing immediately followed up.

"And he was really committed to the act."

"That face of his... it's like he picked up a chicken feather and tried to pass it off as a Phoenix plume."

A flash of coldness appeared in Shen Qingyue's eyes as she continued.

"The real trouble lies ahead."

She flipped the marriage contract over, revealing several extremely faint ancient runes on the back.

"Before the Shen Family was destroyed, there were people within the Heaven and Earth Gate who were constantly asking for information about that place."

"They asked with increasing urgency, and their attitude became stranger and stranger."

"When I was young, I heard the elders in my family mention that a group of people within the Heaven and Earth Gate had already lost their way."

"Even though they were guarding the gate together with the Shen Family, they wanted to open that gate even more."

Lin Yi's fingertips lightly tapped the tabletop.

"Later, when something happened to the Shen Family, the Heaven and Earth Gate disappeared very quickly."

Shen Qingyue nodded.

"Too quickly."

"It was as if they knew something was going to happen and withdrew in advance."

"I've been thinking these past few days whether the Heaven and Earth Gate knew about the destruction of the Shen Family."

She paused, her palm slowly clenching.

"Looking at it now, even if they weren't the primary culprits, they certainly can't wash their hands of it."

The lights in the hall flickered.

Chu Wanqing bit her red lips, setting aside her previous playful air, and cursed in a low voice.

"Those old bastards are truly filthy."

"Sister Qingyue, don't be sad, we're standing right here with you!"

Su Yuxi had not interjected from beginning to end.

She sat by the window, her gaze fixed on a spring eye placed nearby.

That was a Divine Spring eye just sent by Yaochi; the spring water was clear, surrounded by mist, and its Spiritual Qi was astonishingly abundant.

Lin Yi glanced at her.

"Got an idea?"

Su Yuxi gave a soft 'mm'.

"That strand of sickness and the old aura in the marriage contract are somewhat similar."

"I want to try something."

Lin Yi nodded and handed the strand of sickness to her.

"Be careful."

Su Yuxi said no more, raising her hand to slowly place the strand of sickness into the spring eye.

The moment the black Qi touched the spring water, a ripple immediately spread across the surface.

The black line, originally as thin as a hair, began to stretch out bit by bit in the spring water.

Like an old bloodstain being soaked open, it exuded a bone-chilling cold that made one's scalp tingle.

Xu Chen instinctively shrank back a little.

"This thing is really sinister."

"Just one look makes me want to eat all of Yaochi's Flat Peaches."

Chu Wanqing gave him a disdainful glare.

"Xu Chen, can you not always think about eating at a time like this?"

"You're ruining the atmosphere!"

Xu Chen felt very wronged.

"I'm doing this to ease the tension."

"Besides, it's only natural to want to eat something when you're nervous."

No one continued to pay him any mind.

Everyone's eyes were fixed on the spring eye.

The strand of sickness slowly dispersed in the spring water, a layer of black fading away to reveal a very faint grey-white pattern underneath.

First, a corner of a coastline.

Then, a section of a broken cliff.

Following that was a crooked ancient path leading into the depths.

Both sides of the path were a vast expanse of white. One glance was enough to tell what they were.

Bones!

They were everywhere!

Chu Wanqing's arms broke out in goosebumps, and she turned to throw her arms around Lin Yi.

"Brother Lin Yi, I'm scared!"

"This place... it looks so terrifying!"