123: Ten thousand years! The king awakens!

Lu Chen tossed the key to Ning Xiwei, his skeletal palm crushing the Void Realm: "Prepare the hangover soup—"

The scent of sulfur wafted from the rift, "Let me finish this endgame first."

As the crowd chased him out of the alleyway, the sunset was turning into a torrential downpour of blood.

The phantoms of twelve bronze giant gates loomed over the city, while Lu Chen, treading upon an unfinished poem, had already vanished into the blood-red clouds!

Between heaven and earth, Lu Chen's wild and arrogant voice rang out:

"Once I borrowed the Heavenly River to wash the dust from my sword,"

"Today I test the blade again, as sharp as new."

"Let the Heavenly Dao play its hand of Reincarnation,"

"It is but a player placing pieces on a chessboard!"

The bronze key shimmered with a ghostly light in Ning Xiwei's palm, reflecting the flickering phantoms of the twelve giant gates where the sea met the sky.

"Let's follow him!"

Ning Xiwei took the lead.

Leading the girls, she followed closely behind.

Lu Chen was already standing on the cliffs of the East Sea, the waves beneath his feet condensing into the seal script of the classic of mountains and seas, every character weeping blood.

"Xu Fu once carved a mark on his boat to find his sword here..." He chuckled softly, his skeletal knuckles tapping the golden compass at his waist, "Little did he know the sword is in the boat, the boat is in the waves, and the waves are in—"

"In your mouth!"

Ignis's voice came from within the spatial gate.

The girls caught up.

They didn't seem to be afraid at a time like this.

They followed Lu Chen without the slightest hesitation.

Ignis's lava armor steamed the incoming spray dry. "Can you stop with the flowery language? My feather robe is getting damp! It's so sappy!"

Amidst the group's laughter, Shelley's ice crystal earrings suddenly brightened.

On the sea chart projected by the Polaris Compass, the coordinates of the Chu Clan fleet and the Holy See's airships emerged, surrounding the entrance to the Returning Abyss in a pincer Formation.

Clearly, they had arrived as well.

Just as the East Sea Secret Realm was opening.

They had already been preparing here for several days in advance.

Lu Chen gazed at the Secret Realm, which had not yet fully opened.

He wasn't in a hurry.

He led the girls to a fishing village on the shore of the East Sea to rest.

Waiting for the Secret Realm to open completely.

An old man in the fishing village was scooping up salty seawater to wash his feet, his cloudy eyes reflecting the figures of Lu Chen and the others as they landed.

He seemed unfazed by these extraordinary people.

After all, who didn't have someone in their family apprenticed at a magic academy or a School these days?

The fisherman asked with a smile, "Sir, if you're looking for a place to rest, you can come to my farmhouse stay!"

"Thank you."

Lu Chen nodded with a smile.

Seeing Lu Chen's gaze fixed on the Secret Realm, the old man smiled and said, "Young man, do you know the meaning of 'Returning Abyss'?"

The old man traced ancient seal characters in the sand. "'Returning' means to return; 'Abyss' means to bury. This sea has buried three eras of spring and autumn, and entombed 129,600 kalpas... This is the lore passed down by our ancestors. Every time the East Sea Secret Realm opens, many guests like you go in but never return!"

Ning Xiwei cast a spell, projecting a star map over the sand drawing. She asked curiously, "Are you speaking of the Book of Supreme World Ordering? One cycle of twelve eras, one era of thirty cycles? That's content from our ancient Chinese classics."

"Smart girl." The old man kicked over his fish basket. What tumbled out weren't fish or shrimp, but tortoise shells covered in oracle bone script. "Heh heh, I fished up quite a few of these treasures from the sea today. I can sell them in the city for a good profit in no time!"

As the old fisherman gathered his harvest, he said to Ning Xiwei, "But that book didn't record everything—"

The old man suddenly smashed a tortoise shell against a reef and laughed, "Our elders used to say that this sea buries everyone's Reincarnation!"

The ghostly fire in Lu Chen's pupils flared up, and the phantom of a primordial battlefield appeared behind him.

The old man hummed a fishing song as he walked into the twilight, his tattered straw raincoat flapping in the wind like a battle flag. "At the third mark of the hour of the Tiger, the tide rises at the Xun position. If you want to seek death, do it early! Every time the East Sea Secret Realm opens, it's always like this, dear guests."

Lu Chen and the others were waiting.

So was everyone else guarding the East Sea Returning Abyss Secret Realm.

At midnight, Chu Jian stood at the bow of his ship, sneering.

He looked at Lu Chen, who was standing in the Void Realm.

His eyes were filled with jealousy!

"Lu Chen, why don't we cooperate this time?"

Chu Jian shouted at him!

At the same time, he brought out a bronze tripod!

Using it as his trump card!

"Noisy—!"

Lu Chen flicked his finger against the tripod, a cold rebuff filled with disdain.

Suddenly, nine bronze chains that had existed for a hundred thousand years burst out from the sea!

Lu Chen dodged quickly and waved his sleeve, whisking the girls away to the distant sky!

But the giant ships remaining in the sky weren't so lucky!

They were massive, and occupied a lot of space!

The chains went straight for these giant ships. The moment they locked onto them, they began dragging them toward the deep-sea vortex.

The holy relics the Bishop scattered from the airship turned into angel phantoms, but before they could even solidify, they were shattered by the powerful force.

Seeing this, Lu Chen's expression shifted slightly!

He murmured, "Is this the Heaven-Trapping Formation? So the legends of ancient times were all true!"

Boom!

A thunderous roar resounded through heaven and earth.

The twelve bronze giant gates swung open. What gushed out from within wasn't seawater, but a brilliant river of stars.

The key hidden in Ning Xiwei's bosom grew hot!

She took it out and saw it was the one left by the old man from the ancient alley!

At this moment, it seemed to sense something.

Ignis threw her lava twin blades, plunging them directly into the eye of the sea!

She snorted in defiance, "Stop playing tricks and come out!"

Instantly, the flames steamed up a hundred-fathom mist, from which a clear, melodious voice reciting poetry emerged:

"Once I discussed the profound Dao with the saints; today the vast sea has turned into mulberry fields."

"When we meet, do not ask of the calamities; just listen to the first string of Longhan."

As the mist dispersed, an old man in hemp clothing sat on a reef, a paulownia zither on his lap missing seven strings.

He plucked the remaining five strings, and the sound waves condensed into the phantoms of the He Tu and Luo Shu: "Little friend Lu Chen, do you recognize this Formation?"

Lu Chen's eyes reflected a scene as he saw through the Formation!

His memories became clearer and clearer.

A hundred thousand years ago, he and Northern Abyss used ice as strings to set up the God-Slaying Zither Formation in the North Pole.

Now the remnant Formation had reappeared, but it had an extra, eerie Biangong note—it was the melody of a Holy See hymn!

"Nonsense playing." Lu Chen cut the sound waves with a flick of his fingers, and the Ice Emperor's sword appeared in his skeletal palm. "Northern Abyss left five strings back then, but you've added some filthy things."

Morning Dew watched this scene, remembering the prophecy the Great Nun had given her!

—[When the Seventh Seal is opened, the twelve crowns of the false god shall rise from the sea].

Before Lu Chen's voice could fade, an ice crystal throne emerged from the vortex of the Returning Abyss. It was the corpse of the Ice Emperor, Northern Abyss, from a hundred thousand years ago!

This Emperor-level corpse actually began to open its eyes slowly!

But he was clearly a dead thing!

"Watch out!" The Polaris Compass in Shelley's hand shattered, and ice crystals formed a wall in the air. "Little Skeleton! That's..."

"It's an old friend of mine."

Lu Chen interrupted Shelley and reached out to stop her!

Lu Chen walked toward the throne to the notes of Guangling San. "A hundred thousand years! I remember now, I'm slowly remembering! Northern Abyss, you were the first expert in the world to discover the lies of the heavens back then. Are you gone now too?"

Northern Abyss's corpse suddenly spoke, but the voice was that of the old man: "Brother Lu, you said back then that there are heavens beyond the heavens..."