Chapter 119: The Great Whirlpool of the Black Sea
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Jade Zhi Immortal Aunt was an ancient female immortal of profound cultivation, already on the verge of touching the Mystical Realm. By the time Qinghong arrived, her battle was already drawing to a close.
Two dragons coiled through the sky amid billowing auspicious clouds, while the female immortal severed a demon in two with a pair of scissors.
“So I am not the only one fond of the Yin-Yang Dragon-Whisker Shears,” Qinghong thought with amusement. He too practiced the Yin-Yang Dragon-Whisker art, and liked to transform it into scissors that snipped and severed. This art targeted the yin and yang within all living things; so long as a creature possessed those two vital energies, it could not escape the shears.
Seeing that the situation was turning against him, the other demon plunged into the water, hoping to flee along the sea.
The Immortal Aunt watched the direction in which he escaped and said quietly, “Though I am not skilled in water spells, the principle of Primordial Unity is part of the Great Dao. How could I possibly let you escape before me?”
A Taiji halo slowly rose behind her head. With a sharp whoosh, the treasured wheel transformed into a long scroll and swept downward. The demon fell into the Taiji Diagram and was reduced to ashes in an instant.
Qinghong raised an eyebrow. He could naturally see that the Dao-fruit power his nominal senior sister had cultivated was precisely the Taiji treasure wheel behind her head.
After effortlessly destroying the two demons, the female immortal descended into the spirit vessel. “I imagine you succeeded even sooner, Junior Brother. Surely you have already learned what these people intend to do.”
“These people mean to destroy the Demon-Subduing Treasure.” Qinghong took out his Azure Cloud Banner and handed it to her. “Senior Sister, this banner consists of nine flags. They intend to use the great vortex of the Black Sea to crush this immortal treasure.”
The Immortal Aunt had heard from Fu Yutang that Qinghong had obtained the Demon-Subduing Treasure. She cast a brief glance over it. Endless emerald radiance shimmered across the banner, while countless profound and archaic talismans from the primordial age flowed ceaselessly upon it.
“This is an ancient supreme treasure. It can establish a great demon-annihilating formation, and we cannot allow the demons to destroy it so easily. I suggest that the three of us go there for now and intercept them.”
As she spoke, the Immortal Aunt looked toward the Dragon Maiden.
The Dragon Maiden’s cultivation was shallow, and she was still struggling to adapt to the chaotic primordial energy of the Black Sea.
The female immortal stepped forward and touched the center of her brow with a slender jade finger.
“Guard stillness and emptiness alone. Do nothing, think of nothing. Hold purely to the true, and let the Dao return to its primordial state.”
With that touch of enlightenment, a vermilion mark flashed between the Dragon Maiden’s brows. A Taiji Dao seal then burst open her upper elixir palace. Using the power of her own Dao fruit, the female immortal shattered the delusions within the Dragon Maiden’s heart, allowing her to awaken to the Great Dao and comprehend its mysteries here.
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A streak of white radiance shot into the heavens from above the Dragon Maiden’s head, while a petite silver dragon danced without cease. Within the span of a few breaths, the silver dragon grew by a foot, and a fourth toe sprouted beside the three toes on each foot.
“Senior Sister, what incredible skill. You have saved her fifty years of arduous cultivation and brought her to the threshold of maturity.” Among the dragon race, possessing four claws was the mark of adulthood.
“Many thanks, Immortal Aunt.” The Dragon Maiden finished her cultivation. Though her combat strength remained suppressed, her complexion was better than before.
The Immortal Aunt nodded. “There is no need to thank me. Your opportunity had simply arrived.”
She then told them what the two of them had discovered.
After hearing them out, the Dragon Maiden silently put away the conch at the bow of the vessel.
The conch had come from the Black Sea, and a thousand-year pearl was paired with it. By placing the conch at the bow, the Dragon Maiden could use the attraction between the two to search for the pearl. Naturally, finding the matching pearl would be best. If she could not, she would search for another.
After stowing away the conch, she said softly, “I came to the Black Sea only to find a pearl with which to refine a treasure. I had no reward to offer either of you in the first place. If such an opportunity has now arisen for you both, I will naturally lend my aid.”
Thus, the three turned the vessel around and went in search of the people from the Eastern Demon Cult.
The Four Demon Cults had inherited the legacy of an ancient supreme sect. Now, after years of clan and factional struggles, their four branches had scattered across the barbarian lands, each occupying a different corner of the world.
The Southern Demon Cult was known as the foremost demonic power of the southern frontier. It secretly supported the southern barbarian tribes in their struggle against the Great Harmony Imperial Dynasty. The Northern and Western Demon Cults dwelled in uninhabited snowy wastes and deserts. As for the Eastern Demon Cult, its members had fled to the sea, occupying the border between the overseas cultivation world and the Central Lands.
Apart from occasionally causing trouble in the Central Lands to remind everyone of their existence, they often dealt with overseas immortals as well. Yet the dragon race was too powerful for them to remain long in the Dragon Domain. Instead, they frequented the Black Sea, which lay farther from the Dragon Domain.
At that moment, several disciples of the demon cult stood upon a reef, accompanied by a gigantic blood shark. Farther away, an endless white vortex churned within the black ocean.
The blood shark spoke in a human voice. “Your senior brother is quite something. He left all of you here while running off on his own.”
One of them replied respectfully, “Grinding the Demon-Subduing Banners to pieces is hardly a difficult task. Why should Senior Brother remain here to stand guard? Once the time comes, all we need do is have Your Excellency take us back.”
The blood shark was a sea monster of the Black Sea. It had cultivated for a thousand years, and its strength was not to be underestimated. Without an Earth Immortal to guide them, the demons could travel unhindered through the Black Sea only because they relied upon it to lead the way.
After speaking, the demon looked toward the distant vortex. Within the vast white whirlpool, a thread of azure light appeared and vanished intermittently. Under the immense force of its tearing currents, however, that glimmer was almost imperceptible.
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This great vortex was one of the few places of extreme danger in the Black Sea. The Eastern Demon Cult had thrown the banner into the vortex, relying on the power of heaven and earth to crush it bit by bit.
The blood shark lashed its tail, raising a layer of waves through the water. It said coldly, “Hmph. The vortices of the Black Sea are no pleasant places. They contain many treasures, but they are just as full of danger.”
A trace of fear entered its voice. “Your senior brother knows no sense. He went in there, and when he returns, he will likely have to shed a layer of skin.”
The Black Sea was much like the astral wind layer in the sky: both were exceedingly dangerous, yet both held countless opportunities. The astral wind layer often contained mysterious iron meteorites scattered from beyond the heavens, along with the essences of the sun and the luminous radiance of the moon.
The Black Sea, by contrast, was filled with countless vortices that revolved without end. These whirlpools surged through the ocean as though heaven and earth had only just begun to take shape. Once a vortex expanded to a certain size, naturally formed treasures, spirit medicines, and even entire islands blessed with spiritual abundance might emerge within it.
These vortices were the foundation upon which the sea clans of the Black Sea survived.
Yet they were incomparably perilous. The slightest misstep could cost one’s life.
The demon gazed at the great vortex before him. “Your Excellency, tell me—if this great vortex enters its next stage, what sort of treasure might it produce?”
The blood shark pondered for a while. “This vortex has existed for three thousand years, and it is still continuously absorbing matter from the outside world. If it were to erupt violently and begin reversing its flow to spew out spirit treasures, it would at the very least become a naturally formed paradise-cave. It might even create another overseas continent.”
This was the largest vortex in the Black Sea. According to past records, a vortex half its size had already been capable of raising an immortal island no less splendid than Everlight Island. If this great vortex were to produce treasures, the island it gave birth to might well rival a continent.
“Stop dreaming. This vortex is far too powerful. We do not even dare approach it now. Besides, it will require at least another thousand years before it can reverse its flow and release its treasures. If you truly want what lies within a vortex, go find your senior brother later. The vortex he entered is dangerous, but with all of you joining forces, you should be able to obtain something. It is not large enough to give birth to an island, though.”
The dragon race swept the accumulated filth of the oceans into the Black Sea. Yet the Great Dao of heaven and earth had its own laws. Within the Black Sea, that filth underwent transformation. After settling within the great vortices for thousands of years, it ultimately turned from waste into treasure.
Islands, divine trees, spirit treasures, and other marvels were spewed forth from the vortices. That was the true objective of the Earth Immortals who came to explore the Black Sea.
Qinghong and Jade Zhi arrived aboard the spirit vessel and saw the demons standing upon the reef.
“The vortex in the distance must be the legendary Death Vortex of the Black Sea,” the Immortal Aunt said to Qinghong. “In a moment, you and I will charge over together and suppress the demonic cultivators. Then we will enter the vortex and retrieve the Demon-Subduing Banner.”
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