112: underground river

The deep, dark underground river was like a path to the Yellow Springs leading to Hell.

Deathly silence surrounded them, broken only by the faint sound of water flowing past the light barrier of the water repelling token. The river water here was an eerie ink-blue color, bone-chillingly cold. Even through the barrier, the frigid chill seeped through their pores and into their very bones.

Zhou Wannian walked at the rear of the group, clutching three top-grade Second-Tier Water Shield Talismans ready to be activated at any moment.

His gaze never left the captive carried by Li Feiyu at the front—the Deputy Commander of the First Defense Zone.

The Deputy Commander was now stuffed into a specially made Spirit Beast bag, only his head exposed, his mouth gagged with a Silencing Talisman, his eyes unfocused. He was like a hound used to detect landmines, always ready to offer the last of his usefulness to this fleeing team.

"Old Man Han, the current ahead is slowing down."

Li Feiyu's voice came through a secret transmission technique, carrying a hint of suppressed excitement, "And... there's light."

Zhou Wannian extended his Divine Sense.

Sure enough, about five hundred zhang ahead, the pitch-black river channel ended. A soft yet desolate, ghostly light shone up from the riverbed, illuminating a vast expanse of water.

"Be careful."

Zhou Wannian whispered his instructions, "Although the Mermaid Race is extinct, ancient royal courts like this usually have guardian Spirit Beasts or automatically triggered Restrictions."

The group slowed their pace, drifting slowly with the current towards the source of the light.

When they finally passed through the last narrow rock crevice, the sight before them stole everyone's breath.

It was a city slumbering at the bottom of the water.

Countless structures, built from massive white coral and unknown beast bones, were arranged in an orderly fashion across the riverbed. The walls were inlaid with luminous pearls that had long since lost their brightness, emitting an eerie, ghost-fire-like green glow.

The streets were wide, but empty. Only a few strands of waterweed, drifting like ghosts, floated among the ruins.

Dead silence. Desolation.

Yet it still exuded a sense of past, glorious majesty.

"This is... the Mermaid Royal Court?" Young Master Ling stared at the scene before him, speechless with awe.

"Don't just stand there gawking."

Zhou Wannian coldly cut short his reverie, "This isn't a tourist spot. Find the teleportation Formation."

He took out that piece of mermaid skin, comparing the patterns on it.

"At the end of the central axis, the Priest's Hall."

Zhou Wannian pointed towards the tallest, most magnificent structure in the distance, supported by an entire whale skeleton.

The team cautiously swam towards the hall.

"Wait."

Just as they approached the edge of the hall's plaza, Zhou Wannian suddenly halted.

Wangcai squirmed uneasily on his shoulder, its little nose twitching frantically towards the plaza ground ahead.

"There's something."

Zhou Wannian narrowed his eyes.

The plaza appeared smooth, paved with pristine white jade stones. But under his Spiritual Sight Technique, he could see faint, extremely obscure threads of spiritual power flowing within the cracks between the stones.

It was... a killing Formation.

And specifically, a 'Soul-Snatching Ancient Formation' targeted at the Divine Soul.

"The path is blocked."

Li Feiyu looked around, "Old Man Han, do we force our way through?"

"Force our way? With our lives?"

Zhou Wannian shook his head, his gaze falling on the Deputy Commander, who was still pretending to be unconscious and playing dead.

"Wake him up."

Li Feiyu understood. He slapped the Deputy Commander across the face and tore off the Silencing Talisman.

"Mmph..."

The Deputy Commander groggily awoke. Before he could even see his surroundings clearly, Li Feiyu yanked him up.

"Commander, your chance to atone for your crimes and earn merit has arrived."

Zhou Wannian looked at him with a kindly expression, "There might be a little mechanism on the plaza ahead. This old man's eyes are failing him and I can't see clearly. Could you trouble yourself to scout the path for us?"

"What?!"

The Deputy Commander glanced at the sinister plaza and was scared Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering, "I won't go! That's a Soul-Snatching Formation! Entering it means death!"

"See, you recognize it after all!"

Zhou Wannian smiled, "Since you recognize it, you must know how to navigate it. Go on, don't keep everyone waiting."

"I won't..."

"If you don't go, you die right now."

Zhou Wannian flicked his finger, and a sharp Gengjin Sword Qi materialized, hovering right between the Deputy Commander's eyebrows, "Choose one."

The Deputy Commander looked despairingly at this old man who seemed more like a demonic cultivator than any actual demonic cultivator. He knew he had no choice.

Li Feiyu loosened some of the Restrictions on his legs, allowing him limited movement.

"Walk!"

Shoved forward, the Deputy Commander staggered like a drunkard, step by step, towards the plaza.

One step, two steps, three steps... When he reached the center of the plaza.

*Hum!*

The jade stones on the ground suddenly lit up with a bizarre red light.

"Ahhh—!!!"

The Deputy Commander let out a piercing scream, clutched his head, and began writhing and rolling frantically on the ground. Black blood flowed from his seven orifices—a sign of severe damage to his Divine Soul.

"As expected, it's still operational."

Zhou Wannian calmly observed the Formation's changes, his turtle spirit brush swiftly recording the nodes of spiritual power flow in the Void Realm.

"Three left, seven right, the Qian position is the life gate..."

He used the Deputy Commander as a stone to trigger the trap. Through his screams and the Formation's reactions, within a mere ten breaths, Zhou Wannian deciphered the safe path through this ancient, broken Formation.

"That's enough."

Zhou Wannian put away his brush and waved his hand.

An invisible thread of spiritual power wrapped around the now foaming-at-the-mouth, unconscious Deputy Commander and dragged him back like a dead dog.

"Not dead yet. His life is tenacious."

Zhou Wannian shoved a low-quality Soul-Nourishing Pill (to keep him alive) into his mouth and tossed him back into the Spirit Beast bag.

"Follow my footsteps exactly. Don't take a single wrong step."

Thanks to the sacrifice of the 'mine detector,' the group passed through the plaza with bated breath and arrived before the magnificent whale-bone hall.

The great doors were shut tight.

Zhou Wannian didn't rush to push them open. He first had Wangcai investigate, and after confirming there were no mechanisms, he signaled Li Feiyu to push them open with force.

*Rumble—*

The heavy bone doors made a dull grating sound in the water as they slowly opened.

The interior of the hall was vast and empty.

In the very center stood a quiet, circular stone platform three zhang in diameter. The platform was carved with intricate spatial runes. Though covered in the dust of ages, one could still feel the faint, lingering spatial fluctuations.

"A teleportation Formation!"

Young Master Ling was so excited he almost cried, "There really is a teleportation Formation!"

Activate it, and they could escape this damned place, escape that terrifying demonic whale!

The group cheered, eager to rush forward immediately.

"Halt!"

Zhou Wannian suddenly barked a low command, his voice carrying a bone-piercing chill.

Everyone froze, turning to look at him.

They saw that Zhou Wannian wasn't looking at the teleportation Formation. Instead, he was staring fixedly at a corner beside it.

There, curled up, was a corpse.

Not the skeleton of a mermaid.

But a human corpse wearing deep blue robes, with a Star Palace token hanging from its waist!

The corpse wasn't fully decomposed, clearly having died not long ago. Its hand clutched a Jade Slip tightly, its face twisted into an extreme expression of horror, as if it had seen something terrifying before death.

"This is..." Young Master Ling's face paled, "Could this be that... Sea Prospector who disappeared a hundred years ago?"

Zhou Wannian didn't speak.

He walked over, carefully wrapping his hand in spiritual power, and gently took the Jade Slip.

He probed it with his Divine Sense.

A fragmented, despair-filled message flooded his mind:

[Do not teleport... the other side... is a death zone... spatial turbulence... coordinates altered... going means... death...]

Zhou Wannian's hand trembled, nearly dropping the Jade Slip.

"What's wrong, Old Man Han?" Li Feiyu asked nervously.

Zhou Wannian took a deep breath, his face turning frighteningly grim.

"This teleportation Formation is broken."

"To be precise, the receiving end on the other side has a problem. Maybe due to tectonic shifts, maybe other reasons. As it is now, it's a meat grinder leading straight into spatial turbulence."

"Anyone who steps onto it will be torn to shreds."

These words were like a bucket of ice water, instantly dousing the hope that had just ignited in everyone.

"Then... then what do we do?"

Steward Liu slumped to the ground, "Dead end ahead, pursuers behind. Are we... trapped here to die?"

Dead silence filled the hall.

An aura of despair began to spread.

Zhou Wannian ignored the group's despair. He walked to the teleportation Formation, crouched down, and carefully examined the runes on it.

"Although I'm not proficient in spatial Formations, the principles are the same."

"As long as we fix the coordinates, it can be used."

"But..."

He glanced at the water clock.

Unconsciously, they had been fleeing underground for a full day and night.

The hour of Zi had arrived.

Zhou Wannian touched the Heavenly Secret Dao Disk in his robe.

In this desperate situation, only Heavenly Secrets could contend for that sliver of hope.

"Everyone, step back. I need to deduce the Formation."

Zhou Wannian set up a simple isolation Formation, enveloping himself within it.

He took out his turtle spirit brush, pretending to calculate, while secretly activating the Heavenly Secret Dao Disk.

"I dare ask the Heavenly Secrets."

"Is there a way to repair this teleportation Formation? Where does the path of survival lead?"

*Hum—*

The Heavenly Secret Dao Disk spun wildly within his Sea of Consciousness, golden light intertwining with black energy.

A moment later, the divination result appeared.

[Deduction Result: Minor Misfortune (Survival from Peril)]

[Current Situation: Original designated coordinates (deep in the Outer Sea) are destroyed. Forced teleportation means certain death.]

[Variable: Detected an extremely faint, yet still stable, ancient spatial node nearby (three thousand li away). Suspected to be an abandoned Yao Beast lair in the 'Chaotic Star Sea · Outer Star Sea.']

[Path of Survival: Use the 'thunder spirit pearl' as the core energy source, forcibly modify the teleportation Formation's frequency via 'overclocking' means, enabling a one-way random teleportation.]

[Cost: The teleportation Formation will self-destruct completely after use. Furthermore, during the teleportation process, the blood essence and soul of one Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator must be sacrificed to act as a 'path guide,' stabilizing the spatial channel.]

Zhou Wannian stared at the last line, his pupils constricting sharply.

Sacrifice one Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator?

He looked up, his gaze sweeping over the people present.

Young Master Ling? No, he's the young palace master, more useful alive than dead. Plus, he has heavy treasures protecting him; the sacrifice might not succeed.

Steward Liu? Qi Refining Stage, not qualified.

Li Feiyu? That's a trusted aide, can't touch him.

That left... Zhou Wannian's gaze slowly shifted towards the corner, where the Deputy Commander of the First Defense Zone, still clinging to life in the Spirit Beast bag, had been tossed.

"Late Foundation Establishment Stage, abundant blood and Qi. Although his Divine Soul is damaged, the foundation is still there."

"This is called... making use of waste."

Zhou Wannian put away the dao disk and dispelled the isolation Formation.

The grimness on his face vanished completely, replaced by a resolute and frenzied look.

"There's a way."

He looked at the group, his voice hoarse.

"I can forcibly modify the coordinates and send us out."

"However, this Formation is old and worn. Activating it requires an enormous amount of energy to stabilize the spatial channel."

"We don't have enough Spirit Stones."

Zhou Wannian pointed at the Spirit Beast bag in the corner.

"Bring out that Commander."

"For everyone's chance to live, we can only ask him... to make a sacrifice."

Young Master Ling and Li Feiyu exchanged a glance, instantly understanding Zhou Wannian's meaning.

No hesitation. No pity.

In this underwater ruin thousands of zhang deep, morality was the most useless thing.

Li Feiyu strode over, dragged out the still-unconscious Deputy Commander, and threw him onto the Formation's central eye.

"Let's get to work."

Zhou Wannian took out that precious thunder spirit pearl, then pulled out an engraving knife, and began... carving runes onto the Deputy Commander's body.

They were the patterns of the 'Blood Sacrifice Spirit Guidance Formation.'

"Don't blame me."

Zhou Wannian muttered softly as he carved.

"If you must blame someone, blame that Golden Core Elder of yours for delivering you into my hands."

Inside the hall, the atmosphere was eerie and murderous.

Only the faint sound of Zhou Wannian's engraving knife slicing through flesh could be heard.

At this moment, this master of the Art of Survival finally revealed the... ferocious fangs he had always hidden beneath his worldly exterior.

To survive.

To survive by any means necessary.