Chapter 123: Three Lights Like Rain, Arrows Flying Swiftly

The Blood Shark slipped into the deep sea, seeking out a certain dark cultivator by a whirlpool’s edge.

The man sat upon a jagged reef, his gaze fixed unwaveringly on the swirling vortex nearby.

Within the whirlpool, composed of white bubbles, flickered a jade light—signaling the final stage of “treasure expulsion.”

“Soon, the treasure within this whirlpool will emerge,” he murmured, eyes locked on the shimmering waters. Suddenly sensing something, he glanced toward the spreading blood-stained water on his left. “Blood Shark, how did you come by such grievous wounds?”

“Someone seized the Demon-Subduing Banner. All your junior disciples were slain,” the Blood Shark replied bitterly.

The man’s gaze sharpened briefly but then returned to calm. He inclined his head in thanks. “I appreciate your warning, Blood Shark.”

Noticing the man’s indifferent demeanor, the Blood Shark continued, “I left a mark on the Demon-Subduing Banner earlier. With my power alone, I can locate them. This whirlpool will take some time yet; perhaps we should first retrieve the banner?”

“No need,” the man said, smiling faintly. The Blood Shark’s heart tensed; recalling the treacherous ways of the Eastern Demon Sect, it dared not linger. “Very well, I shall return to heal. When you’ve secured the treasure here, come find me.”

With a flick of its tail, the Blood Shark turned to leave.

“Why the rush?” The man rose slowly, a sinister aura rising around him.

Alarmed, the Blood Shark fled.

But it was no match in cultivation level. Not far from the whirlpool, the currents reversed, surging behind it, preventing its escape.

“I have cultivated to the Profound Realm, with the Earth Immortal Dao Fruit nearly within reach. Yet the five energies have not converged; I cannot forge the true Earth Immortal Demon body. Might you teach me?” the man asked calmly.

Behind him, a colossal whale-shaped magical form surged, swallowing the ocean’s depths. The great beast opened its mouth wide, drawing in the sea itself. Under its power, the Blood Shark’s form shrank uncontrollably, pulled toward the whale’s maw.

“What… what are you doing? We of the Eastern Sect are allies!”

“Allies?” The man’s smile gleamed coldly. “You don’t understand: ‘allies’ are simply knives meant for stabbing in the back.”

Already severely wounded, the Blood Shark’s resistance waned as its blood seeped away. It gasped, pleading, “I can help find those three. If you kill me, how will you reclaim the Demon-Subduing Banner? Besides, we’ve known each other for years. Didn’t you once guide my cultivation? Would you truly kill me?”

“I will devour your cultivation, but I can still track them,” the man said leisurely. “Moreover, since you are gravely injured, better I grant you rebirth than have you killed by others. Consider it a favor between us. And since you once guided me, I trust you won’t mind handing over your power now.”

His carefree demeanor sent chills through the Blood Shark’s heart.

“Besides, though you die, your power will live on in me in another form. Rest assured, when I succeed in forging the true Earth Immortal Demon and ascend the Heavenly Immortal Path, your contribution will be remembered.”

With a final struggle, the demon whale swallowed the Blood Shark. The man sat back, silently absorbing its essence into his own cultivation.

“The coming calamity will be fierce. If I am to avoid replacement by senior sect elders, I must raise my cultivation and break through the Earth Immortal boundary.” He looked up to the Taiji diagram in the sky, sighing. “Our Eastern Divine Sect barely evades the constraints of the Pure-Turbid Taiji Diagram overseas. This calamity has arrived suddenly; I must send someone as a token gesture. Hopefully, they won’t find me.”

The Blood Shark’s death stirred thoughts far away, where Qing Hong turned to gaze toward that direction.

***

“What is it?” At that moment, the Immortal Maiden and Qing Hong were protecting the Dragon Maiden’s guardian, ensuring her focus on refining the Sea-Calming Pearl.

“I released the Blood Shark. Though it was a lapse in judgment, I intended it as bait to trap the demon cultivator,” Qing Hong frowned. “From what I’ve learned, a high-ranking figure heads the Eastern Demon Sect. I predict the Blood Shark will contact him. But, wounded as it is, it will surely be ambushed. The Demon Sect… bah! Backstabbing tricks like this are all too common.”

Within the Demon Sect, treachery and betrayal are rife; harming one’s benefactors is nothing unusual. Having spent years among demons, Qing Hong was well aware.

The Immortal Maiden asked, “So you left a hidden trap in the Blood Shark?”

“Exactly. I implanted a secret force within it. It just activated; the Blood Shark is likely doomed.” Qing Hong’s cunning had prepared for this, aiming to ensnare that demon cultivator.

With a flick of his hand, the distant man’s body suddenly burst with immortal energy.

“Ah—” The cultivator winced in pain as the immortal energy surged backward within him. Golden streams disrupted his demonic cultivation, causing a backlash; for a time, he lost control over his power.

Fortunately, Qing Hong was a Qi Refiner. Any other pure-immortal cultivator would be fatally poisoned by even this trace of pure immortal energy.

Pure immortal energy is a deadly toxin to demon cultivators—contact causes injury, especially at such a critical moment. If an immortal had truly acted, the demon would never have swallowed the Blood Shark outright; precautions would have been made. Only a Qi Refiner’s balanced and subtle power would avoid detection.

Elsewhere, Qing Hong smiled quietly at his success.

The Immortal Maiden glanced at the Dragon Maiden, who was in a crucial moment and could not be disturbed. The three could not travel quickly. She asked, “How long can your hidden strike hold?”

“Just for a short while.” Qing Hong sat in the boat, quietly urging his divine essence to activate the Dao Fruit. “He who stabs the Blood Shark in the back is surely no good. Sister, please guard me while I see if I can kill him outright.”

With this thought, Qing Hong entered the cosmic Dao through his Dao Fruit.

In this dazzling, multicolored fantasy realm, countless immortal and demon cultivators condensed the true forms of their Dao Fruits. Suddenly, the form of the Supreme Emperor stirred to life. He snapped his fingers; from the Milky Way above emerged three streams of divine light.

The celestial river flowed grandly, radiant and resplendent, forming palaces of sun and moon, starry towers, magnificent and towering. The Emperor rubbed his hands, condensing a pill-sized elixir in his palm, then unleashed a profound technique, shooting it through the void.

Legend says the Sword Immortal possesses great power, capable of striking a foe from a thousand miles away.

Originally, such was the method of Earth Immortal masters. But with the expansion of the immortal path, many cultivators now form Dao Fruit vows as shortcuts, allowing them to condense Dao Fruits within the Celestial Immortal realm and gain insight into the Heavenly Dao—enabling similar remote attacks.

Countless immortals and demons use their Dao Fruits to connect with heaven and earth. Attacks, then, rely on tracking the opponent’s trace and manipulating heavenly Dao trajectories. This is the true mystery of the immortal way.

The man, refining the power secretly implanted by Qing Hong, adjusted his breath.

Suddenly, he sensed a homogenous force tearing through the void ahead. The space before him shattered, flashing red, yellow, and blue lights, all aimed straight at his brow.

If struck, he would die instantly, his soul cast into the nether realms, unable to return.

Qing Hong had injected the Three Radiance Divine Water into the Blood Shark’s body—light from the sun, moon, and stars, sharing the same vitality energy—so neither man nor Blood Shark sensed anything amiss. But when Qing Hong struck again, the Three Radiance essence became a coordinate, attracting the pill to the man.

The man reacted swiftly, twisting his form as dark demonic clouds surged up to shield him from the pill. He retreated, though the clouds could not fully neutralize the Three Radiance Elixir, they bought time to evade the most vulnerable spot between his eyebrows.

Bang—the Three Radiance Elixir struck his chest, and he tumbled from the reef.

With a splash, he fell into the water, soaked and disheveled.

“Damn! What a sinister immortal!” he growled, struggling to climb back onto the rocks. A spatial disturbance erupted again in the distance.

The Supreme Emperor stood within the heavenly Dao realm, drawing his bow to release three arrows from afar. One condensed the sun’s essence, capable of incinerating body and spirit. Another held the moon’s soul, able to freeze the soul. The third contained the power of the stars, killing invisibly.

The triple shot wielded the power to slay immortals and demons alike.

“You’re not finished yet!” The man recovered, drawing his treasure to retaliate. As he blocked Qing Hong’s attack, he expelled the Three Radiance Divine Water from his body.

“Pfft—” He spat black blood, forcing the radiant water free. Then he summoned the Dao Fruit form; the giant whale behind him churned the heavenly machinery, completely obscuring his location.

Yet, after two clashes, Qing Hong had roughly pinpointed his whereabouts. Even as he concealed himself, a barrage of luminous arrows rained down, striking the sea.

Boom—

Countless splashes erupted, mist and light enveloping the ocean.

In the distance, the whirlpool was battered by the radiant rain. The waves roiled violently, interrupting the treasure’s emergence, which sank back into the depths to continue gestation.

The man’s face darkened with fury. “Fine! Fine! So be it, Daoist scoundrel! Today I’ll fight you to the end!” He sat on the reef, gathering the Three Radiance Divine Water in hand, attempting to trace Qing Hong’s location.

But Qing Hong was cautious. The Supreme Emperor form in the heavenly Dao had activated the “Dao Capital Diagram.” The Three Radiance Divine Water dissolved into essence without a trace.

“Too bad!” Qing Hong dispersed the divine water, retracting the Dao Capital Diagram and bow. “Unfortunately, in this Black Sea domain, the sky’s light is dim. Had this been the Central Plains, the Dragon Domain, or near the coast, he’d be dead.”

The Dao Capital Diagram, one of the twenty-four diagrams, channels the power of the sun, moon, and stars. As long as the sun shines by day and the moon and stars gleam at night, Qing Hong can continuously replenish his power and harness the Three Radiance force to strike others.

Yet the Black Sea’s tumultuous waves obscure the sky, diminishing his killing power. Otherwise, that last blow would have ended the man’s life.

Returning to his true form, Qing Hong spoke to the Immortal Maiden, “Sister, he’s not dead. Please help me conceal our heavenly machinery to prevent his pursuit.”

Together, they invoked the “Yin-Yang Dragon Whiskers,” swirling mysterious white and black energies around them, forming a Taiji diagram to mask their presence and evade the demon’s tracking.

The Immortal Maiden adjusted the heavenly scheme, and Qing Hong sighed in relief. “For now, we needn’t worry. Still, our mission is complete. We should return to the Dragon Domain early, lest more trouble arises.”

The Eastern Demon Sect dares to act brazenly in the Black Sea, but would never dare pursue the Dragon Maiden into the Dragon Domain. Once inside, the deep-sea dragon clans provide natural protection.