A crisp sound, sharp and sudden.
Perhaps, it was but a whisper louder than a needle dropping.

Jiang Wang gripped his sword tight, yet not an inch more could he push it down.

Sharp teeth interlocked, reflecting the cold gleam of steel. The Huo Dou King Beast, moving with a speed that defied sight, had twisted its head and clamped down precisely on the sword’s tip. It simply stared at Jiang Wang with chilling eyes. That wisp of frost-white wind, the breath of his intent, was also halted, blocked by the dim light shimmering on the beast’s teeth.

In that instant, the speed with which Jiang Wang had driven his sword towards the beast’s skull seemed to falter, then slow, and finally halt abruptly. When the Huo Dou King Beast truly grew serious, it exhibited overwhelming power at every turn. This was a being that transcended even the Shen Lin realm, verging on the divine!

Long Xiang Si, a wisp of frost, hung frozen in the air, connecting the Huo Dou King Beast to Jiang Wang, who was poised high above. Alas, the one in the heavens felt lighter than a goose feather, while the one below was as weighty as a mountain. What a contrast in lightness and weight!

Long Xiang Si, that world-renowned sword, trembled with a sound of unbearable strain. Jiang Wang exerted force, using the sword’s body as a rope, as if in a tug-of-war. This struggle, however, merely pulled him closer, almost bringing him eye-to-eye with the Huo Dou King Beast.

With a sudden opening of its maw, the beast spat. Its divine ability seed fully unleashed, crimson flames surged forth! Samadhi True Fire, capable of incinerating all things! This was the first divine ability Jiang Wang had awakened since opening his Inner Mansion, the one he had cultivated the longest. While it wasn’t as potent as the Bu Zhou Feng, which had surpassed it after devouring countless Yan Xiao beaks, the accumulated power within this Samadhi True Fire was the most immense.

At this moment, Jiang Wang pushed that crimson divine ability seed to its absolute limit, unleashing it with the might to burn the heavens and extinguish the earth. The Huo Dou were known to consume fire, so he would test whether it could devour this divine ability flame, and how much it could withstand!

Facing Jiang Wang’s gaze, the Huo Dou King Beast clearly sensed his resolve. Biting down on Long Xiang Si’s tip, it suddenly flung its head! An overwhelming, irresistible surge of colossal force lifted Jiang Wang, person and sword together, high into the air.

Meanwhile, the Huo Dou King Beast’s furiously opened maw remained, omnivorously and fiercely sucking! The dim light transformed into a vortex, as if connecting to another world, and in a single gulp, it swallowed all the surging Samadhi True Fire! The dazzling divine ability flames were instantly emptied.

The Huo Dou King Beast’s mouth bulged significantly, and then its entire body emitted a red light, as if it were on the verge of exploding. But the black fur above, with its waterfall-like flow of dim light, seemed to wash away that layer of redness. Only then did the color fade, and the beast returned to normal.

Having been flung away, Jiang Wang, person and sword in tow, couldn’t even spare a thought to check the result of his Samadhi True Fire. In mid-air, he stepped onto Qing Yun, flying away with even greater speed, desperate to seize an opportunity to break through the encirclement of the Huo Dou Beast group.

But in the next instant, before his eyes could even fully adjust, the Huo Dou King Beast was once again blocking his path, launching a head-on claw strike. Jiang Wang exhaled lightly, and a wisp of frost-white Bu Zhou Feng drifted out, directly confronting the opponent with the force of a Killing Nail.

The Huo Dou King Beast’s claw, covered in dim light, actually slapped the Killing Nail forcefully aside from the flank, then slammed down onto Jiang Wang’s body, directly blasting him downwards!

The frost scattered, the flowing fire vanished, and the immortal red-gold hue in his eyes also dimmed. His Sword Immortal state was forcibly shattered! The light of his five fused divine abilities separated, each flowing its own course. The brilliant, dazzling Tian Fu Five Wheels in his chest and abdomen gradually extinguished.

A set of blue robes floated down, like a bird with broken wings, falling powerlessly towards the sea surface. Looking up at the sky from this inverted position, the clouds and smoke filling the dome of the Shan Hai Realm were truly breathtakingly beautiful. The sound of his body entering the water was also very gentle. This azure blue sea seemed to cradle him softly, cushioning a large part of his fall.

His muscles and bones felt as if they were all broken. Every part of him ached, and exhaustion weighed him down. He longed to… just lie there, and close his eyes. But his hand could still move, and a sword was still in his grasp. His Five Mansions had yet to collapse, and his Tong Tian Palace still held Dao Yuan. The battle was not over!

A massive surge of Dao Yuan instantly rushed to his four limbs and hundred bones, bringing with it an incredibly heavy power. Thus, his body began to sink at an alarming speed, descending deeper into the sea towards the seabed. Did this boundless sea have an end? Were there evil beasts within its depths? All potential accidents, at this moment, were opportunities!

A violent splash erupted, sending water dozens of *zhang* into the air! The Huo Dou King Beast, with an incredibly savage posture, completely smashed downwards, breaking the water’s surface and plunging into the sea. Even falling in such a manner, it encountered the greatest resistance from the seawater, yet it still rampaged straight downwards, as fast as lightning. When it crashed down before Jiang Wang, it executed a swift turn, bringing it face-to-face with him. The water pit it had created on the surface was only just beginning to recover… such was its speed!

Now, in this ice-cold seawater, the Huo Dou King Beast once again faced Jiang Wang. Without hesitation, it unleashed another claw strike! This claw, striking downwards, tore through the seawater. The water, of course, resisted it, yet could not impede its progress.

Jiang Wang’s left hand, still strangely twisted, saw a circle of star light suddenly illuminate around his wrist. The starlight leaped forth, transforming into a solemn Buddha tower. It was the star tower gifted by Guan Yan Star Lord, which now collided with the Huo Dou King Beast’s claw with incredibly dense, heavy power.

A muffled sound echoed from the seabed. This star tower was instantly slapped apart, returning to his wrist, leaving only an imprint. Its power was not originally meant for defense; mysterious as it was, it should have been roaming the starry sea. But Jiang Wang had no other choice. He had exhausted all his imagination, and only this could possibly offer a sliver of hope.

Just as the star tower collided with the Huo Dou King Beast’s claw, Jiang Wang had already drawn his sword. He had practiced underwater swordplay more than once in the Shan Hai Refining Hell, where the water refining hell was one of Zuo Guangshu’s most favored training grounds. He had learned from Zuo Guangshu how to merge with the water. Long Xiang Si, its frost light subtly concealed, traced a beautiful arc, completely unhindered by the water’s flow. Instead, it borrowed the current’s momentum, instantly reaching for the Huo Dou King Beast’s heart.

But before his eyes, there was only a blur. That vital point, the heart, was lost to him. The sword tip was bitten once more. Jiang Wang told himself he had been incredibly mindful of the Huo Dou King Beast’s movements, and his sword strike could certainly be called sudden, yet this one bite was utterly unavoidable!

The Huo Dou King Beast made no attempt to conceal its savagery. It simply intended to crush him with overwhelming power, with crushing speed, to subject him to merciless suppression. Let you be heaven-bestowed with talent, let your technique and sword both be excellent, let your divine abilities be outstanding. One claw, one bite, one swallow. All broken!

Long Xiang Si entered the Huo Dou’s mouth once more. In this instant, Jiang Wang’s left eye turned crimson. Qian Yang Pupil, a divine soul killing technique, named Zhui Xi. He had never intended to contend with the Huo Dou King Beast on the divine soul level, as it was the most unwise choice for battle. The Huo Dou King Beast was an exotic beast of the Shen Lin realm. Its divine soul had returned to Yuan and transformed into a god, refining spiritual awareness. Within the range covered by its spiritual awareness, it was naturally like a god. To collide his Wai Lou realm divine soul power with the Huo Dou King Beast’s spiritual awareness was no different from an egg striking a stone.

However, at this moment, what other means did he possess? Almost all his trump cards had been easily cracked. All his struggles had been wiped away. He simply refused to give up. Nothing more than using all his strength, exhausting all possibilities, to struggle, to fight—just as he had done on this path he had walked, facing every desperate situation.

On the divine soul level, a magnificent, great sun, a single wheel, shone high in the sky, burning intensely, then crashing downwards with a resounding roar. It seemed a flame of extinction, with the might to burn the sea. The Single Rider Breaking Array Diagram unfolded. The Huo Dou King Beast was imprinted upon it, looking around this falling sun divine soul environment, clearly somewhat surprised. After all, such powerful divine soul power, it had almost never felt on any existence below Shen Lin.

But it was only surprised. In the next moment, it leaped up. Its body expanded infinitely. Its momentum expanded infinitely. Jiang Wang had personally opened the divine soul struggle, yet the beast possessed an even more dominating battlefield momentum. Like a black dog tearing through heaven and earth, it swallowed that wheel of burning great sun in a single gulp, and roared! At this moment, the Huo Dou truly resembled a Tian Gou! As if myth had shone into reality. This resplendent, scorching divine soul world… was extinguished.

Extreme pain surged like a mad tide, instantly destroying all will. The last feeling left in Jiang Wang’s heart was a void. Deep darkness swept over him. For this round, the curtain had fallen.

“Jiang Wang’s trace has disappeared.” On a lone reef, Tai Yin took one last look at the Seven Stars Compass before putting it away.

“Has he?” Xiang Bei sat in meditation, regulating his breath, his World-covering Halberd resting horizontally on his knee. A faint sensation, like ripples in a heart lake, spread within him. Unclear whether it was regret, or relief. Expelling Jiang Wang was, of course, a good thing, but he hadn’t personally defeated him after all. And severing three percent of his divine soul origin was an almost unbearable loss for cultivators with such powerful divine souls as them. Compared to the disparity in divine soul power between him and Jiang Wang, this loss weakened him to the point where he could directly invade his opponent’s Tong Tian Palace.

In other words… the mountain that had always stood before him had collapsed.

Truth be told, although he had agreed to Tai Yin’s plan, he hadn’t actually foreseen Jiang Wang’s departure. He had always felt that such a person would continuously create miracles. But then he thought again, where were the eternal protagonists? Even figures like Xiang Long Xiang, the pillar of the Xiang Clan, who had shown his edge from a young age and enjoyed a glorious lifetime, hadn’t he also met defeat in the river valley?

“The trace was destroyed in an instant, just as that Huo Dou King Beast wiped away my array…” Tai Yin’s expression was somewhat grave, not, of course, because Jiang Wang’s trace had been wiped away, but because of this Shan Hai Realm itself: “Didn’t they say this place was only an illusory world? But from entering until now, the feeling this place gives me is completely different from the Tai Xu Illusion Realm.”

“I emphasized, this place being illusory is just one saying. You just believed that saying more strongly before.” Xiang Bei said, “Nine hundred years have passed, and the truth of the Shan Hai Realm remains unraveled. What you and I have seen, could it be the truth?” A profound light flickered in his Tian Heng Double Sun Heavy Pupils: “Perhaps it is only a cross-section.”

Tai Yin pondered, “At the very least, the power and wisdom of the Huo Dou King Beast are real. Absolutely not some illusory imagination.”

“I have also entered the Tai Xu Illusion Realm to experience,” Xiang Bei said suddenly. “You say, if the creator of the Tai Xu Illusion Realm were willing, could they not directly create powerful beings in the Tai Xu Illusion Realm that don’t exist in the present world? If they truly created them, could we then discover them?”

As everyone knew, the participants within the Tai Xu Illusion Realm were all cultivators from the present world. Xiang Bei’s words, at first hearing, were abrupt, even baffling. But if one thought deeply, it was somewhat unsettling.

Tai Yin suddenly felt a chill run down his spine, stunned for a moment, then forced a laugh: “The Tai Xu Illusion Realm has its own rules, and once formulated, no one is allowed to change them arbitrarily. Even if there is a genuine need to adjust the rules due to environmental development, it must be done after coordination and supervision by all parties… All the world powers participating in the Tai Xu Illusion Realm have a share in its governance, and also take turns supervising.” Sentence by sentence stating facts, and also sentence by sentence comforting himself. Relative to the grand structure of the Tai Xu Illusion Realm, he, Tai Yin, and Xiang Bei were actually insignificant. At least, currently, they were still very insignificant.

Xiang Bei thus turned and asked, “Are you sure Jiang Wang is already out?”

“If I were him, I would also have no other way. That Huo Dou is too strong.” Tai Yin’s heart was still palpitating. “Completely relying on overwhelming power, it burst my array… I left a part of its trace. Next time we approach, the Seven Stars Compass will warn us, but I don’t know if it will be useful, if it will come in time. Regardless of true or illusion, this Shan Hai Realm is much more terrifying than you previously said.”

“I also didn’t think the Shan Hai Realm would be like this…” Xiang Bei said, suddenly stopping. He stood up, lifted his World-covering Halberd, and looked up at the sky.

From above, violent sounds transmitted downwards. It sounded like muffled thunder, like the sky had been torn open. So abrupt, so impossible to ignore. That group of continuously enlarging black shadows in the sky, like a falling meteorite from outside the realm, whistled and smashed towards the sea. Only after another breath or two could they finally see clearly. It was a burly giant, with muscles like mountains, smashing down from the distant high sky. Terrifyingly strong muscles, bulging against a set of military uniform of unknown force standard. Not an ounce of dao technique power was visible on his whole body; it was purely the extreme friction between his flesh and the air that emitted the terrifying sound similar to a meteorite’s whistle.

Xiang Bei’s physique was already quite tall and sturdy; compared to Tai Yin, he was almost a head taller and a round sturdier. But compared to this rapidly falling giant, he was a full round smaller. That surging blood energy, the performance of purely physical body breaking through the air, all indicated this was a powerful martial artist.

Who was this person? Why had he come? Xiang Bei had already lifted his halberd to face him, while Tai Yin watched ahead with a serious expression. At the edge of their vision, above the azure blue sea surface, there was also a person, treading the waves and approaching. Black hair, like thick ink, blurred in the air. His slightly raised chin line was sharp, as if it possessed a wounding edge. In his silence, he perfectly displayed his pride. He held a long spear inverted. The person in front, the spear behind. The spear tip only entered the water by half an inch, leaving a shallow water furrow. But it did not disappear for a long time. Thus, from an unseen distance, it always extended to here—that was the unintentional but terrifying, condensed and not dispersing spear energy!

The spear passed, leaving a mark. This must be a world-renowned spear. This should be a world-shaking hero. But Tai Yin recognized neither this person nor this spear. He only saw clearly that beneath the water, at a place clearly still a long distance away from the spear tip, a large fish swam past. Yet, in an instant, it was riddled with a thousand holes, utterly dead. Its wounds were translucent.

This man, so sharp, just walked forward from the end of the azure sea, dragging his long spear inverted like that. He said nothing, but it seemed nothing needed to be said. Life and death. Always one side, choose one.