110: The resurgence of the Demon Whale and the final "Dragon-Slaying Stone"

Zhenhai City, Third Defense Sector, Stone Tower Secret Chamber.

The rumbling sound exploded underground like muffled thunder. It wasn't just a vibration; it felt as if the entire earth was groaning in pain. On the sturdy walls of the stone tower, shocking cracks were rapidly spreading, with gravel and dust falling like rain.

"Quick! Everyone inside!"

Zhou Wannian stood before the dark, newly opened entrance in the corner of the secret chamber. His voice was steady and powerful, serving as the only stabilizing force amidst this chaotic apocalyptic scene.

Li Feiyu led over twenty brothers from Tingfeng Tower, carrying large bags of supplies. Although everyone's face was pale and their eyes were filled with unconcealable terror, they maintained incredible discipline, jumping into the unknown opening one after another.

Young Master Ling no longer cared about his image as the Young City Lord. He tucked the precious mermaid skin close to his body and glanced back outside.

He saw that the originally brightly lit Zhenhai City was now shrouded in a towering Devilish Qi.

It wasn't ordinary black mist; it was materialized corpse baleful energy, thick as un-dilutable ink, carrying a nauseating scent of decay.

In the very center of the city, where the City Lord's Mansion was located, the ground shattered like a fragile eggshell. An indescribably massive whale head, covered in rotting flesh and white bones, slowly emerged from the ground.

Its eyes were two giant black holes, within which burned eerie green ghost fires, resembling a gaze from the depths of Hell.

Ang—!!!

A cry from an ancient whale, carrying endless resentment and deathly intent, instantly swept across the city.

The light screen of the city's protective array shattered completely like glass struck by a heavy hammer, dissipating into a sky full of flowing light.

"It's over... everything is over..."

Young Master Ling murmured to himself, his eyes full of despair.

"Stop looking! Do you want to die?"

Zhou Wannian shoved him into the opening, his tone cold. "That thing is no longer something we can handle. Even a Nascent Soul Old Ancestor would have to run!"

He took one last look at the stone tower he had managed for several months.

"What a pity, that spirit gathering cannon I didn't have time to dismantle."

Zhou Wannian sighed, but his hands didn't hesitate for a moment.

He pulled out several specially made sealing Talismans and quickly stuck them around the entrance.

Then, he leaped into the hole and reached back to press a extremely well-hidden mechanism.

Boom!

A Dragon-Severing Stone weighing ten thousand catties fell with a crash, sealing the entrance tight and cutting off the apocalyptic scene outside.

But that wasn't enough.

Standing in the narrow passage, Zhou Wannian used the faint light of a night-luminescent pearl to quickly trace his fingers, drawing a complex self-destruct Talisman array on the inner side of the Dragon-Severing Stone.

"If anyone tries to forcibly break this stone from the outside, the Talisman array will detonate the surrounding earth veins, completely collapsing this section of the tunnel."

"This is called... welding the door shut."

Having finished this, he turned around to look at the deep, damp, and unknown Dark River passage ahead.

"Let's go."

Zhou Wannian held up the night-luminescent pearl, illuminating the path ahead.

"This is our only way to survive."

...The Dark River, the path of escape.

This was not a smooth road.

Although Zhou Wannian had cleared it once before, with the awakening of the Devil Whale and the shaking of the earth veins, the once stable passage had now become precarious.

Gravel fell from above from time to time, and black corpse water constantly seeped from the walls on both sides. The air was filled with a suffocating stench.

"Everyone stay close! Don't fall behind!"

Li Feiyu led the way, holding a top-grade Dharma sword he had picked up from somewhere, warily scanning the surroundings.

Young Master Ling was supported by two guards, stumbling along in the middle.

Zhou Wannian brought up the rear.

His Divine Sense constantly covered the rear, sensing the status of the Dragon-Severing Stone.

Thump! Thump!

Even from several hundred yards away, he could still feel that someone was frantically battering that Dragon-Severing Stone.

"It seems that Deputy Commander didn't die completely, or the Golden Core Elder's people have caught up."

Zhou Wannian sneered.

They must have discovered the anomaly here and wanted to use this path to escape.

"Pity, this way is closed."

He ignored it and continued forward.

Just as the group reached the halfway point.

Squeak! Squeak!

Wangcai, who had been perched on Zhou Wannian's shoulder, suddenly bristled and pointed frantically at a corner ahead, screaming.

"Stop!"

Zhou Wannian barked softly.

The team stopped instantly.

At the corner ahead, what should have been a Dark River leading straight to the deep sea was now blocked by a massive, writhing lump of black flesh.

The flesh was covered in countless eyes that blinked incessantly, emitting a nauseatingly evil aura.

"Is this... a tentacle of the Devil Whale?!"

Young Master Ling cried out in alarm. "How can it be here? Isn't this the sewage outlet?"

"It's growing."

Zhou Wannian's expression was grim. "After this Devil Whale awakened, its flesh is expanding frantically, trying to fill the entire underground space and turn all living beings into its nourishment."

"Then what do we do? The road is blocked!" Li Feiyu asked urgently.

"Blast it open."

Zhou Wannian didn't waste words.

He stepped forward and took out his ultimate trump card from his Storage Pouch—the palm thunder tube Prototype No. 7 Enhanced Version.

This time, he didn't use ordinary Yin Thunder.

Instead, he loaded a thunder sac that had just been carved out from that Thunder Whale, still carrying a warm aura.

This thunder sac itself was an extremely unstable explosive, containing the most violent lightning-attribute spiritual power of a Rank 3 Yao Beast.

"Everyone back up! Press against the walls! Activate your shields!"

Zhou Wannian roared.

Everyone immediately complied, pressing tightly against the stone walls on both sides and activating all their defensive Talismans.

Zhou Wannian took a deep breath, raised the thunder tube, and aimed it at the writhing mass of flesh.

"Get... out of my way!"

Boom—!!!

A dazzling purple lightning bolt, like an angry thunder dragon, roared out from the tube's muzzle.

The narrow passage was instantly filled with intense light.

The moment the terrifying mass of flesh touched the lightning, it was like snow meeting boiling water, instantly melting and vaporizing.

Aow—!!!

A shrill scream came from deep within the flesh, as if connected to the Devil Whale's main body. Immediately after, the mass of flesh contracted violently, revealing a scorched passage just wide enough for one person to pass.

"Go! Move fast!"

Zhou Wannian's face was pale; this strike had consumed a great deal of his energy, but he still shouted loudly.

Li Feiyu and the others didn't dare delay, rushing through the still-smoking passage like madmen.

When the last person had rushed through,

the mass of flesh expanded again, blocking the passage once more.

"Whew... that was close."

Zhou Wannian leaned against the wall and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

In that moment just now, he had even felt the Devil Whale's terrifying Divine Sense sweep over this place. Fortunately, the aura of the thunder sac had a natural shielding effect, allowing him to escape disaster.

"The exit is right ahead!"

Li Feiyu's surprised voice came through.

A glimmer of eerie blue light appeared ahead.

It was the light of the deep sea... the moment they rushed out of the pressure relief outlet.

A surge of bone-chilling seawater instantly enveloped everyone.

But Zhou Wannian was already prepared.

"water repelling token, activate!"

A blue light shield instantly expanded, protecting everyone within it.

They looked back.

They saw that behind them, the once majestic Zhenhai City had now completely sunk to the seabed.

Above those ruins, a bone whale with a size that blotted out the sky, emitting a towering Devilish Qi, was rampaging through the seawater. Countless Cultivators were swallowed like ants, and even the escape lights of Golden Core Stage Elders appeared so weak before it.

"This is... ancient demonic might."

Watching this scene, Zhou Wannian felt not only shock but also a sense of relief at having survived a disaster.

"If we had left one step later, we would be its snacks by now."

"Let's go."

He activated the water repelling token, leading everyone to dive into the darkness of the deep sea.

"Zhenhai City is gone, and the Outer Sea is gone too."

"The world is likely going to fall into great chaos."

"However..."

Zhou Wannian touched the mermaid skin in his bosom, his fingers gently tracing the lines on it, which faintly depicted a safe navigation route to even deeper waters.

"As long as the people are here and the money is here,"

"one can live anywhere, and anywhere... one can rebuild another 'Wannian Talisman Array Shop'."

The blue points of light gradually receded, disappearing into the vast deep sea.

Leaving behind only that boiling devil sea, narrating the end of an era.