121: The power to cleave the seas and the immense profit without any cost

Outer Sea, an unnamed desolate island.

The fierce midday sun scorched the sea surface, causing shimmering heat waves to rise.

Zhou Wannian (Old Man Han), Li Feiyu, and Ling Yunxiao, dressed in dark red leather armor marked with the "Blood Shark Squad" insignia and wearing ferocious shark masks, lay concealed like lifeless rocks within a pile of rubble at the island's edge.

"Old Man Han, is that divination accurate?"

Peering through the gap in his mask at the calm sea, Ling Yunxiao grew restless. "It's already high noon, and there's not even a ghost in sight. Will that spoiled Young Master really flee here?"

"Shut up."

Zhou Wannian's voice was hoarse, processed by a voice-altering Talisman to sound cold and piercing. "Heaven's secrets cannot be revealed, nor doubted. Wait as you're told."

He affixed a "Second-Tier Top-Grade Mirage Talisman" to a rock in front of them, perfectly blending their figures into the surrounding environment.

Right at that moment.

Bzzz—

The distant horizon suddenly swelled without warning.

Immediately after, a suffocating, terrifying pressure swept across from dozens of miles away. It wasn't at the Foundation Establishment Stage, nor the Golden Core Stage, but... the genuine aura of a Nascent Soul Stage overlord!

"It's here!"

Zhou Wannian's pupils constricted sharply.

At the distant horizon, the once azure sea instantly turned pitch black. A colossal, sky-obscuring tentacle emerged from the ocean depths. With a gentle stir, it whipped up hundred-zhang-high waves.

Amid those towering waves, a luxurious golden flying boat disintegrated instantly, like a leaf in a gale.

"Boom!"

The explosion from the flying boat seemed insignificant before the giant waves.

Several streaks of escaping light shot out from the wreckage, only to be swatted apart like flies by a sweep of that terrifying tentacle. Golden Core Stage guards were as fragile as Mortals before the Fourth-Tier Demonic Beast, the Sea-Splitting Beast.

"This is... a Fourth-Tier Demonic Beast?"

Li Feiyu swallowed hard, his palm gripping his sword slick with cold sweat. Even from this distance, the Soul-deep tremor made his legs feel weak.

"Don't look over there."

Zhou Wannian hissed a warning, "That's a fight between gods. What we're waiting for is the one who slips through the net."

Sure enough.

At the chaotic battlefield's edge, a streak of red blood light skimmed the sea surface, fleeing madly towards their location at the cost of burning its essence blood.

That was the Sixth Hall's Young Master's life-saving Blood Escape Technique.

The Sea-Splitting Beast seemed uninterested in this insignificant insect, or perhaps was busy devouring the flesh and blood of the Golden Core guards, and did not give chase.

The blood light stumbled and finally crashed with a heavy "thud" onto the sandy beach of the unnamed desolate island.

The dust settled.

Revealing a bloodied, ragged young figure.

It was precisely the arrogant, domineering brocade-robed youth from yesterday.

Now, there wasn't a trace of the Young Master's former majesty left. His left arm was gone, his top-grade Magical Artifact robe was shredded to ribbons, and his protective spiritual light was so dim it could extinguish at any moment.

"Cough, cough... I'm... I'm alive..."

The Young Master spat out a mouthful of black blood mixed with organ fragments, struggling to get up. "Damn it! How could we encounter a Sea-Splitting Beast... My guards... all gone..."

Trembling, he pulled out a bottle of healing Medicinal Pills from his Storage Pouch, about to pour them into his mouth.

Rustle, rustle, rustle.

A faint sound of footsteps came from the pile of rubble ahead.

"Who's there?!"

Startled like a bird, the Young Master jerked his head up.

He saw three red-clad figures wearing shark masks advancing towards him in a triangular formation. The old man in the middle (Zhou Wannian) was casually toying with a black Formation Flag, his eyes mocking.

"Blood Shark Squad?!"

The Young Master's face turned deathly pale. Having spent years in the Outer Sea, he naturally recognized this notorious Robber Cultivator symbol.

"Friends... I'm from the Six-Link Palace..."

"We know."

Zhou Wannian cut him off, his voice icy. "You were quite impressive yesterday in the black market."

"You... you've been following me?"

Despair filled the Young Master's heart, but then a flash of ruthlessness appeared in his eyes. "Trying to take advantage of my misfortune? Dream on!"

He frantically pulled out the "ancient treasure broken sword" he had bought for two thousand Spirit Stones yesterday.

"This is a damaged ancient treasure! Though broken, activating it is enough to kill a Late Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator! Die!"

He madly poured his remaining spiritual power into the broken sword.

However.

The expected earth-shattering Sword Qi did not appear.

Instead, a crisp "crack" was heard.

The rust-covered broken sword, unable to withstand the spiritual power infusion, directly... snapped into two pieces.

The "Illusion Array Pattern" inside flickered twice before extinguishing completely, revealing the dull gray-black color of ordinary iron.

"..."

The Young Master stared dumbfounded at the broken sword hilt in his hand, completely stupefied.

"Fake?!"

"Impossible! That ancient treasure aura on it..."

"I drew that on."

Zhou Wannian sighed, looking at him as if he were an idiot. "I scammed you for two thousand with a three-Spirit Stone cost. I considered the matter closed. Who knew you'd deliver yourself to my doorstep and even try to kill me with my own fake."

"With this kind of fate, I can't *not* collect."

"It's you?!"

The Young Master finally realized. This masked Robber Cultivator before him was the old man who sold the sword yesterday!

"You... you set me up!"

"Enough talk. Tiezhu, get to work."

Zhou Wannian didn't want to delay any longer. After all, that Sea-Splitting Beast was only dozens of miles away; delay could bring unforeseen trouble.

Boom!

A tall figure descended from the sky, landing behind the Young Master.

It was the modified "Greenwood Giant Spirit Guard, Tiezhu."

Its claw, inlaid with star gold, descended with a whistling sound, straightforward and without flourish.

"No—!!!"

In despair, the Young Master summoned a top-grade shield.

But before Tiezhu, with its Golden Core Corpse King skeleton and Flowing Silver Sand joints, the shield was as flimsy as paper.

Squelch.

The claw tore through the shield and, following through, smashed the Young Master's head into his chest cavity.

The fight was over.

Clean and efficient.

"Dispose of the body."

Zhou Wannian walked forward, deftly removed the three Storage Pouches from the Young Master's waist, then kicked the corpse towards Li Feiyu.

"Burn it thoroughly. Don't leave any traces of the Blood Shark Squad... oh wait, on second thought, deliberately leave some traces of the Blood Shark Squad."

He threw a deliberately shattered piece of a "Blood Shark Token" at the scene.

"That way, when the Six-Link Palace investigates, they'll only go after the trouble with the already annihilated Blood Shark Squad."

"This is called... letting the dead take the blame."

... One incense stick of time later.

On the flying boat, speeding away from this dangerous area at full speed.

Zhou Wannian sat in the cabin, forcibly breaking the Restrictions on the three Storage Pouches.

Clatter.

A large pile of Spirit Stones and Materials poured out.

"Whoa! Is this the foundation of a major power?"

Just the Mid-Grade Spirit Stones alone numbered twenty thousand. There were also various Medicinal Pills, Talismans, and even an intact top-grade defensive Magical Artifact, "Water Cloud Gauze."

But Zhou Wannian didn't even glance at those things.

His gaze was fixed intently on the final item: a map made from an unknown Yao Beast skin.

[Six-Link Palace Internal Sea Chart · Top Secret]

Unfolding the sea chart.

It not only detailed safe shipping routes around Qiyuan Island but, more importantly, marked three red "forbidden zones" and five green "resource points."

And within those three forbidden zones, one was conspicuously circled, with a line of small characters annotated beside it:

[Deep in the Abyssal Sea, suspected fluctuations of an ancient teleportation array. The Six-Link Palace dispatched three Golden Core Elders to investigate; none returned alive. Suspected to be a shortcut to the Inner Sea, but harbors great terror.]

"Found it."

Zhou Wannian took a deep breath, his fingers gently tracing the red circle.

This location vaguely pointed to the same area as the clues he obtained from the Baleful Corpse and the records on the mermaid skin.

That place was the true "Ruins of Tianxing City."

It was also the only path he must take if he wanted to leave the Outer Sea or seek his Opportunity to form a Nascent Soul.

"However, going there now would be suicide."

Zhou Wannian calmly put away the sea chart.

The current strength of the Green Robe Tower was still too weak. He himself was only at the Early Foundation Establishment Stage (though nearing the Middle Stage). Apart from Tiezhu, his major killing weapon, his subordinates were basically cannon fodder.

"Need to develop first."

"Use the green resource points on this sea chart to first raise my cultivation level and upgrade Tiezhu to its complete form."

He looked out the window.

The outline of Qiyuan Island had already appeared in view.

"After we return this time, we should change our approach."

"Before, we were trash-collecting cleaners."

"Now, with this map..."

"We'll be the Outer Sea's most professional 'guides'."

"Of course, the kind of guide... who only leads the way, and doesn't handle the burying."