250: Chapter 250 The Eye of Return to the Ruins

Deep within the Yunmeng Great Marsh.

The sky was gray, the water was black, and even the wind carried the aura of decay and deathly silence.

The Qianjiao Cliff army had been traveling here for three days.

Gao De stood atop the back of a thirty-zhang-long giant crocodile—it was the Iron-Spined Dragon Crocodile he had tamed when he first entered the Fourth Rank, and it was now at the Third Rank Late Stage, its scales like iron, its fierce might renowned.

Behind him, Ao Xue’s Blood Dragon True Form coiled within the black clouds, her blood eyes like lightning, scanning all directions.

Further back, Mysterious Turtle led three hundred elite Demon Soldiers in forming a Water Element Great Formation, while Dragon Peach maintained the vitality and concealment of the entire troop using yimu spiritual qi.

They were traveling by water.

It wasn't the surface of the Lake, nor the bottom of the water, but rather an underground “Water Vein Secret Path” formed by countless interwoven subterranean rivers deep within the Yunmeng Great Marsh, which even the Heavenly Demon Cult might not know about.

This was Mysterious Turtle’s old trade—using the water patrol token as a guide, he found a nearly lost ancient waterway between the Eight Hundred Li Dongting Lake and the Yunmeng Great Marsh.

“A hundred li ahead is the ‘Soul Severing Marsh’,” Mysterious Turtle's voice transmission echoed through the water veins. “After passing the Soul Severing Marsh and traveling another eight hundred li, we will reach the edge of the Gui Xu Eye—the ‘Lost Trace Sea’.”

Soul Severing Marsh.

Lost Trace Sea.

Gui Xu Eye.

These three place names, in the legends of the Yunmeng Great Marsh, each represented a point of no return.

Gao De did not respond, only nodding slightly.

He was waiting.

Waiting for the Heavenly Demon Cult's pursuers.

Or rather—waiting for the Cult Master to show himself personally.

---

Bewitching Ghost Swamp, Main Hall.

Bone Demon knelt on the ground, his aura weak, his gray-white sackcloth covered in scorched cracks.

The Magical Robe that had followed him for nearly a thousand years was almost ruined under the twelve Dragon Breaths of the Dragon Lord's Restriction.

Ten zhang in front of him, black mist surged.

The blurred figure in the mist stood silently.

It did not speak.

It made no movement.

Only its pair of faint green eyes stared down at him through the thick mist.

Bone Demon's forehead touched the ground; he dared not look up.

After a long time.

“Rise.”

A hoarse voice sounded, revealing neither joy nor anger.

Bone Demon felt as if he had received a great pardon, but still dared not stand straight, only changing from kneeling to bowing.

“The guixu token... is truly in the hands of that young jiao?”

“This subordinate saw it with my own eyes.” Bone Demon's voice was dry. “He obtained the guixu token in the Prison Hall, and furthermore...”

He paused.

“Furthermore, within that Prison Hall, there were Restrictions left behind by the Dragon Lord of Dongting. This subordinate... was injured by that Restriction.”

“Dragon Lord of Dongting.”

The Cult Master softly repeated these four words, his tone revealing neither mockery nor apprehension.

“Something that died ten thousand years ago can still leave behind such a mark... Truly worthy of being the eldest son of the Dragon Lord of Yunmeng.”

He slowly raised his hand.

Within the black mist, an ancient mirror the size of a palm emerged.

The mirror surface was jet black, the back engraved with twisted runes, and a gem resembling an eyeball in the center emitted a strange luster.

The reincarnation mirror.

“The ding xu stone and the guixu token are both in the hands of that young jiao.” The Cult Master's faint green eyes narrowed slightly. “Two of the Three Keys are gathered. Only this mirror is missing—”

He closed his five fingers, gripping the ancient mirror.

“—and the Gui Xu Eye can be opened.”

“Where is that Flood Dragon now?” he asked.

Bone Demon hurriedly replied: “Scouts reported that three days ago, he led the Qianjiao Cliff elites away from the Lake, heading north. Judging by his path... this subordinate guesses he is heading toward the Gui Xu Eye!”

“Heading toward the Gui Xu Eye?”

The Cult Master was slightly stunned, and then—

He smiled.

The laughter was hoarse and low, yet it made Bone Demon shiver all over.

“Good child.” The Cult Master whispered. “I haven't gone looking for him yet, but he's already seeking death.”

He rose.

As the black mist surged, the terrifying pressure of a Half-Step Fifth Rank spread out like a tide, causing the entire Main Hall to tremble slightly.

“Order Shadowy Evil and Poison Dove to lead the Holy Infant Guard to seal off the perimeter of the Gui Xu Eye.”

“This Seat... will personally go meet that young jiao.”

He stepped out, and his figure vanished into the black mist.

Only a faint, lingering whisper echoed in the hall:

“The Gui Xu Eye... the Nine Nether Dragon Tomb... that thing suppressed for ten thousand years...”

“This Seat has waited so long, finally...”

---

Soul Severing Marsh.

The Qianjiao Cliff army encountered the first wave of interception here.

That was the Heavenly Demon Cult's vanguard—thirty elites from the Holy Infant Guard, led by a Fourth Rank Early Stage “Blood Sacrifice Envoy,” ambushing them in the narrowest choke point of the Soul Severing Marsh waterway.

What they waited for were not exhausted Demon Soldiers hurrying on their way.

But Gao De.

Purple-Gold Lightning erupted from the bottom of the water, and one halberd strike split the Blood Sacrifice Envoy, his person, and his Magical Artifact in half!

lightning flames surged like a tide, instantly engulfing ten Holy Infant Guards!

The remaining twenty didn't even have time to flee—Ao Xue's Blood Dragon True Form descended from the sky, her Dragon Claws tearing the Void Realm and crushing the entire Guard into a bloody mist!

The whole process took no more than ten breaths of time.

The enemy was completely annihilated.

Gao De stood within the bloody mist, expressionless.

He didn't ask, “Where is your Cult Master,” nor did he leave a survivor to search their soul.

Because he didn't need to.

He knew that the Cult Master would arrive soon.

To personally intercept and kill him.

“Continue forward,” he said.

---

Three days later.

Lost Trace Sea.

This was not a true sea, but a swampy water region spanning hundreds of thousands of li, enveloped in thick mist.

The mist was grayish-white and so thick it couldn't be dispersed; Divine Sense entering it was swallowed up after barely a hundred zhang.

There seemed to be no living creatures beneath the water.

There were no flying birds above the water either.

Not even wind.

Only endless deathly silence.

“The Gui Xu Eye is deep within this mist,” Mysterious Turtle said, holding the water patrol token. Its blue light appeared particularly faint in the grayish-white death mist. “But this old man's water patrol token... cannot sense any water veins here.”

“It's not that there are no water veins,” Dragon Peach said deeply, “it's that the earth veins here... are dead.”

Dead.

Gao De understood her meaning.

If the earth veins die, Spiritual Qi is exhausted.

If Spiritual Qi is exhausted, nothing can live.

This was a deadly ground whose vitality had been drained dry.

And the only thing capable of doing this—

Was the Gui Xu Eye.

That abyss rumored to connect to the Nine Nether and bury the Dragon Clan's sins.

“Ao Xue,” Gao De said.

“Yes.”

“You and I will go in first. Mysterious Turtle and Dragon Peach, lead the army to guard the perimeter. If you encounter the Heavenly Demon Cult—”

He paused.

“No need to fight to the death. Focus on trapping and delaying the enemy. Wait for me to come out.”

Ao Xue's blood eyes narrowed slightly: “What if you don't come out?”

Gao De glanced at her.

“Then you retreat.”

“Retreat back to the Lake, retreat back to Qianjiao Cliff, retreat to any place you can retreat to.”

“Live.”

He said no more.

His figure flashed, disappearing into the grayish-white mist.

Ao Xue gazed at the disappearing silhouette, silent for a moment.

Then—

She stepped out, following closely behind him.

The mist swallowed the two figures.

Mysterious Turtle and Dragon Peach stood where they were, silent for a long time.

After a while, Mysterious Turtle whispered, “This old man has lived for over two thousand years, and I have seen countless Demon Kings, Overlords, and Prodigies.”

“I have never seen one like him.”

Dragon Peach did not reply.

He merely drove his root system deep into the dead earth, silently sensing the two gradually receding auras using yimu spiritual qi.

Further and further away.

Weaker and weaker.

Finally—

They completely vanished from his perception.

Immediately afterward, a flash of green light flickered and disappeared in his peripheral vision.

---

Deep within the mist.

Gao De and Ao Xue had been walking for one hour.

The surroundings remained the same grayish-white, the same deathly silence, and Divine Sense was swallowed up just the same.

There was no direction.

There were no reference points.

Nor were there any living creatures.

But Gao De did not stop.

He held the guixu token in his palm.

The blue light emitted by the token became the only directional guide in this death mist.

As the token grew brighter.

The blue light grew stronger.

Finally—

The mist ahead suddenly dispersed!

The view instantly opened up!

It was a massive abyss—suspended in the Void Realm.

Yes, suspended.

It was not a pit in the ground, nor a rift valley between mountains.

It just hung there in mid-air, a jet-black fissure a hundred li in diameter.

Inside the fissure was endless darkness.

Outside the fissure was grayish-white mist.

Between the darkness and the mist was a layer of pale blue light membrane, thin as a cicada's wing.

Countless runes Gao De had never seen flowed across the light membrane—they were older than Dragon Script and stranger than Sorcerer Script.

The Gui Xu Eye.

“This is...” Ao Xue's blood eyes contracted, and her Dragon Might involuntarily surged—this was an instinctive reaction to danger from deep within her Bloodline.

Gao De did not reply.

He merely stared silently at the abyss.

Staring at that layer of light membrane.

Staring at the countless runes flowing across the light membrane, and faintly visible beneath them—

A door.

A tightly closed stone door, entirely jet black.

There were no handles or seams on the door, only three massive indentations.

One indentation was shaped like a token.

One indentation was shaped like a crystal stone.

One indentation was shaped like a mirror.

The guixu token.

The ding xu stone.

The reincarnation mirror.

Only when the Three Keys are gathered can the door be opened.

Gao De took a deep breath.

He took out the guixu token and pressed it into the token-shaped indentation.

Buzz—

Blue light surged!

The layer of light membrane trembled violently!

He then took out the ding xu stone and pressed it into the crystal stone-shaped indentation.

Grayish-white light intertwined with blue light!

The light membrane trembled even more fiercely, and the runes flowed wildly!

Only the last key was missing—

The reincarnation mirror.

And the reincarnation mirror—

“Young friend.”

Behind him, that hoarse voice sounded once more.

This time, it was no longer Bone Demon.

Gao De slowly turned around.

A hundred zhang away, within the grayish-white mist, a blurred figure stood silently.

Black mist surged around the person; their face and figure were obscured, only a pair of faint green eyes looked down upon him through the mist.

He held an ancient mirror in his palm.

The mirror surface was jet black.

The reincarnation mirror.

The Cult Master of the local branch of the Heavenly Demon Cult.

Half-Step Fifth Rank.

Gao De and Ao Xue stood side by side.

Behind them was the Gui Xu Eye.

Before them was a ten-thousand-year-old Demon.

There was no path of retreat.

No one could offer aid.

Only—

A fight.

Gao De gripped the thunder calamity law-breaking halberd tightly.

Purple-gold lightning flames soared into the sky!