247: Chapter 247 The Cleansing Pool Baptism and the Countdown to an Unexpected Event

As the footsteps of Yin Hua and Shi Zhanfeng faded into the distance, the air on the seventh floor fell back into a deathly silence.

Zhou Wannian slowly stepped out from the shadow of a dragon bone pillar, his gaze passing through layers of black Restrictions to land on the center of the hall.

There, the pond he had imagined did not exist.

Instead, there was a massive, funnel-shaped deep pit. The pit was filled with a liquid as viscous as ink, its surface showing no ripples; instead, countless tiny crystal fragments emitting multicolored fluorescence floated upon it.

These fragments flickered from time to time, and with every pulse, the surrounding gray mist would produce an extremely faint sensation of 'retreating' or 'stagnating.'

"Are those... fragments of the Time Law?"

Zhou Wannian's heart skipped a beat. The true word treasure wheel within his body seemed to sense a kindred aura, unexpectedly vibrating slightly behind his back beyond his control.

"Warning. Detected an extremely high concentration of 'Temporal Evil Qi.' This Evil Qi can erode a Nascent Soul, but for a host whose Physical Body has reached the Taiyi level, it is an excellent medium for replacing the Impurities within the immortal apertures."

Tie Zhu's voice rang out urgently.

"Suggestion: Enter immediately. Since the core balance of the Xisha Pool is extremely fragile, the host is estimated to have only a half-hour 'incubation period.' Beyond this time limit, a Daluo Realm powerhouse will certainly notice."

"Half an hour? That's enough."

Zhou Wannian no longer hesitated. With a flicker of his body, he produced no sound of splashing water, instead sinking silently into the black liquid like a feather.

"Gurgle—"

The moment he entered the water, Zhou Wannian felt as if every pore on his body was being violently pierced by countless red-hot steel needles.

It was an extreme agony.

The 'water' in the Xisha Pool was no ordinary water, but liquid energy formed from the highly compressed Evil Qi accumulated over ten thousand years in the Nine Nether Domain. This energy drilled frantically into his Meridians, reacting with a violent repulsion against the immortal spiritual power in his body.

"Ah—!!"

Zhou Wannian gritted his teeth, letting out a low growl in the depths of his heart.

"Great Five Elements Illusory World Art, rotate for me!"

"true word treasure wheel, Devour!"

Buzz—

The golden wheel manifested behind him. Though suppressed by the pool water to only an inch in size, its seventy-two clusters of Dao patterns erupted with unprecedented suction.

The multicolored fragments in the pool—those temporal fragments—began to surge frantically toward Zhou Wannian, sinking into his skin and washing through every one of his shriveled immortal apertures.

With every wash, a stream of black, viscous Impurities was expelled from his body's surface, instantly dissolved by the surrounding pool water.

His Physical Body was undergoing a change akin to 'remodeling'... Meanwhile.

Beneath the Netherworld Pagoda, within the Shi family's temporary residence.

Stone Breaking Void, who was resting with his eyes closed, suddenly had a change of expression. He snapped his eyes open and clutched his head tightly with both hands.

"Ugh... Argh!"

He let out a groan of pain, feeling the golden hourglass mark at the center of his Nascent Soul's brow becoming scalding hot, its rotation speed a hundred times faster than usual!

"This resonance... He's... He's nearby?!"

Stone Breaking Void was terrified.

There was a Divine Soul mark connection between him and Zhou Wannian. This connection was originally used by Zhou Wannian to monitor him, but now, because Zhou Wannian was voraciously Devouring Law fragments in the Xisha Pool, his Divine Soul fluctuations were leaking out violently, actually stimulating Stone Breaking Void in reverse.

"That lunatic... this direction of fluctuation..."

Stone Breaking Void looked up at the black tower not far away that pierced the clouds.

"He's in the tower! He's secretly using the Xisha Pool!"

Stone Breaking Void's heart leaped into his throat.

Should he report it?

If he told his Third Uncle, Lord Yin Hua would certainly take action. But the hourglass at his brow was frantically counting down, which meant that with a single thought from Zhou Wannian, his Divine Soul would be extinguished right now.

Should he not report it?

Once something went wrong with the Xisha Pool and Lord Yin Hua settled the accounts later, discovering he had withheld information, he wouldn't survive either.

"Damn it... Damn it! Why am I always the unlucky one!"

Stone Breaking Void's face was contorted as he watched the golden hourglass, which had already lost half its sand.

It was a countdown to death... At the bottom of the pool on the seventh floor of the Netherworld Pagoda.

Zhou Wannian had already sunk to the deepest part of the Xisha Pool.

The liquid here was no longer black, but presented a bizarre silver color—the hue of interwoven spatial and temporal Laws.

He felt his immortal apertures opening to a critical point.

One, two, three... "Boom!!!"

A series of sounds like muffled thunder echoed from within his body.

"Congratulations to the host. Due to the absorption of a large number of temporal fragments, the true word treasure wheel has advanced, and the Dao patterns have increased to eighty-one clusters."

"Physical Body strength has completely stabilized at the Middle Stage of the Taiyi level, even touching the threshold of the Late Stage of the Taiyi level."

Zhou Wannian opened his eyes. In his gaze, there were now faint hints of the changing of ten thousand years.

"That's about enough."

He sensed several powerful auras gradually approaching from above.

Clearly, the violent fluctuations of the Xisha Pool's energy had triggered the alarms of the tower's Formations.

"Golden Child, have you eaten your fill?"

"Squeak squeak!"

Golden Boy poked her head out from his collar. On her originally golden shell, several silver silk lines had appeared—a sign of having devoured too many spatial fragments.

This fellow was clearly stuffed and was letting out satisfied burps.

"Withdraw!"

Zhou Wannian struck out with the heaven measuring ruler, carving an emerald arc of light.

Just at the moment he prepared to travel through the void.

"Bastard! Who dares touch this seat's Origin!"

A roar powerful enough to shatter the Divine Soul, accompanied by a world-destroying Grand Unity pressure, crashed down from the top of the tower.

The Grand Unity Gray Immortal, Yin Hua.

He discovered that the Xisha Pool he had painstakingly refined for ten thousand years had actually been one-third consumed by someone!

The runes of the entire Netherworld Pagoda turned from gray to red in an instant.

"Seal the Heavens and Lock the Earth!"

Yin Hua's figure appeared by the poolside, his right hand pressing down violently.

The space of the entire hall was instantly frozen, as hard as iron.

The heaven measuring ruler in Zhou Wannian's hand actually let out an overburdened wail.

"A Grand Unity Golden Immortal's Domain lock..."

Zhou Wannian's expression darkened.

He knew that leaving silently was no longer possible.

Since he couldn't leave quietly...

Zhou Wannian slowly rose from the pool, completely naked, but his body of perfect muscle, cast like colored glass, emitted a Law pressure that would make even a Golden Immortal feel fear.

He casually summoned a green robe to put on and looked up at the Yin Hua, whose face was distorted with rage.

"Lord Yin, thank you for your 'tonic soup.'"

"Though the taste was a bit strange, the effect was quite good."

When Yin Hua saw Zhou Wannian's face clearly, especially sensing that dense aura of the Time Law on him, the anger in his eyes instantly transformed into extreme greed.

"A cultivator of the Time Law..."

"So it was you, little mouse."

"Just right, by devouring you, this seat's 'Great Nether Sha Art' can reach Perfection!"

Yin Hua didn't waste words; the black sickle in his hand turned into a black light that cut through eternity, aiming straight for Zhou Wannian's head.

This strike was fast to the end of time.

However.

Zhou Wannian merely raised his right hand lightly, his fingertip pointing toward the void.

"True Word · Instant Stasis."

Buzz—

Eighty-one clusters of Dao patterns fully opened!

The originally lethal black light of the sickle suddenly paused for a thousandth of a second, three inches from his brow.

And in that thousandth of a second.

Zhou Wannian had already appeared behind Shi Zhanfeng.

He wasn't trying to flee, but to grab a 'shield.'

"Captain Shi, save me."

Zhou Wannian's ghost-like voice rang in Shi Zhanfeng's ear.

Simultaneously, the heaven measuring ruler in his hand slammed hard against the back of Shi Zhanfeng's heart!

"Boom!!!"

Shi Zhanfeng never expected that he, a Late Golden Immortal Stage, would be ambushed by an Early Stage Golden Immortal.

He was thrown like a cannonball by Zhou Wannian directly toward Yin Hua's sickle.

"Stone Breaking Void! Run!"

Zhou Wannian didn't forget to shout loudly, his Divine Soul mark trembling violently.

At this time, Stone Breaking Void, who was stumbling to the doorway, saw this scene and felt his liver and gall split with fear.

"Third Uncle—!!!"

"Li Feiyu! I'll kill you—!!!"

Chaos erupted completely.

And Zhou Wannian, taking advantage of this brief gap, brought out the heaven seizing bottle.

"Bottle Spirit, show the way!"

"The exit is... to the northeast!"

A flash of green light.

Zhou Wannian's figure completely disappeared from within the Netherworld Pagoda.

Leaving behind a mess and two crazed figures—a Grand Unity and a Golden Immortal.

As well as a Stone Breaking Void, sitting on the ground in despair, the hourglass at his brow with only the last three grains of sand remaining.