"Indeed, because regarding the Ghost Martial Holy Monarch, this peerless Supreme Immortal, a great almighty of the God Race who could be considered a Half-step Heavenly Monarch, I do not know very clearly about him. However, the core disciples of several major sects possess some subtle clues. I absolutely must rely on them to be able to enter the tomb of the Ghost Martial Holy Monarch."
Seeing Fang Han's puzzled gaze, Xu Muyun knew what he was thinking in his heart.
"Of course, those core disciples of several major sects trying to rope me in is also to use my strength to explore for them. So I am asking you to be a bit careful and adapt to changing circumstances. Do not be used as a stand-in by them."
"So it is like this." A sneer appeared on the corner of Fang Han's mouth: "A person who would use me as a stand-in and attempt to utilize me has not yet been born. Now that you have said this, I understand. Let's go."
"Go!"
Swish!
Both were outstanding figures among the peerless Golden Immortal level. In an instant, traveling along a set trajectory, they left the Yuhua Heavenly Kingdom and arrived at the ancient city of Zhongzhou outside.
They each concealed their auras, making continuous and repeated turns through the teleportation formations of the Zhongzhou ancient city. Within a day's time, they passed through over ten major provinces and arrived in a province city bordering the ocean.
This city was called Haizhou, an ancient province city near the sea. However, it was not occupied by a single unified major sect, but jointly governed by over ten sects. Every single sect occupied a first-grade spirit vein.
Because in the ocean, spirit veins were exceedingly numerous, and their sources were distant and flows long. The cultivators in the sea were countless times more numerous than those inland. However, the sea was also extremely dangerous. Because the ocean of the Heaven Realm was unpredictable, countless powerful demonic beasts, immortal beasts, and magic beasts grew within it. Some demonic beasts were even comparable to Golden Immortals, and there were exceedingly rare existences that surpassed Golden Immortals. Moreover, they moved in flocks and herds, ferocious and unafraid of death, assaulting some islands where cultivators resided to plunder spirit veins.
Every day in the ocean of the Heaven Realm, countless sects were extinguished, and countless sects were born.
Of course, there were also some experts who delved deep into the sea to hunt demonic beasts, seizing the laws, essence blood, and fur from their bodies to refine magic treasures and sell them to make a massive fortune. However, these experts were all lone wolves, at the very least powerhouses at the Half-step Golden Immortal level and above. Otherwise, going deep into it would result in dying without a burial site.
Emerging from Haizhou City, Fang Han and Xu Muyun immediately displayed their strength as Golden Immortals, tearing through the void over the sea and diving into the depths of the ocean. After flying for who knows how many trillions of miles, reaching a place devoid of human presence where even Half-step Golden Immortals could not enter deeply, island after island appeared.
"This is Xingluo Island. We agreed to meet the core disciples of several sects here, and then head to the Sea of Deranged Gods together. The Sea of Deranged Gods is a long journey away; even at our speed of tearing through the void, it will take at least three days and three nights. Along the way, we will encounter ocean areas where many ferocious demonic beasts exist. It is extremely dangerous."
Xu Muyun led Fang Han to land on an island.
Fang Han looked at this island. It was about hundreds of thousands of miles in circumference, equivalent to a small continent. In the mortal world, this would already be considered a continent, but in the Heaven Realm, it could only be counted as a "small island."
Islands like this were scattered like stars on a chessboard across this ocean, everywhere to be seen. Ocean turbulence shuttled among them. Beneath those fierce ocean currents, Fang Han even sensed some ferocious auras lying dormant within.
Sweeping his gaze out, he saw that in the sea region about millions of miles deep, within countless mountain caves, schools of True Immortal level fish-type immortal beasts were slaughtering and devouring each other, numbering in the thousands or tens of thousands at any given moment. Even deeper, Fang Han even saw contingents of Heaven Immortal demonic beasts appearing and disappearing in the numerous ocean currents, their physical bodies powerful and adapted to the water.
In the Heaven Realm's ocean, no one knew how deep it was, layer upon layer. The water of the Heaven Realm was uniquely natured water; if a single drop fell into the mortal world, it would be a treasure that cultivators would fight to the death over.
Even the shallow parts of the water were hundreds of miles, or tens of millions of miles deep. Where the water was deep, hundreds of millions, tens of billions, hundreds of billions, or even trillions of miles were not uncommon. Beneath the surging massive ocean currents, countless natural kingdoms formed, bringing along the spiritual qi and spirit veins from the eternal earth veins.
Many experts would arrive at the depths of the ocean to harvest spirit veins.
However, even more experts were buried in the ocean.
"This is still a relatively safe area, belonging to the edge of the sea. If we enter the depths of the sea, the demonic beasts inside are absurdly perverted. A core disciple of our Yuhua Sect, with a Golden Immortal cultivation base, entered the sea to complete a mission, and as a result, encountered a flock of Glazed Exquisite Birds that had cultivated to the Half-step Golden Immortal level, and was directly besieged to death."
As Xu Muyun landed and waited with Fang Han, she recounted the various perils on the sea.
"Glazed Exquisite Birds?" Fang Han knew that kind of divine bird had better aptitude than humans. It was a major species that also occupied spirit veins to cultivate, and whenever they moved out, it was in thousands or tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands.
Although a peerless Golden Immortal had an absolute advantage over Half-step Golden Immortal almighties—a hundred Half-step Golden Immortals could be swatted to death by a single Golden Immortal—but a thousand Half-step Golden Immortals, ten thousand! Swarming forward, they could still tear a Golden Immortal apart. The torrent of a grand army was unstoppable.
"Such things happen? We indeed must be careful. We are not afraid of individual demonic beasts no matter what, but encountering flocks of them is truly difficult to deal with." Fang Han visualized it for a moment.
Splash!
Right at this moment, the void in the sky trembled. Countless white clouds were shattered into powder as a sword qi resembling a long rainbow descended. Its momentum was so fierce that it made Fang Han's clothes flutter noisily.
The sword qi was like a tide, surging like a torrent, rolling eastward like a great river, mighty and vast. But upon landing on the ground, it suddenly retracted, revealing a silver-clothed man.
This man wore sword sleeves and riding boots, carrying a precious sword on his back. His heroic bearing radiated brightly, and facing the great sea, he possessed an imposing manner that made him seem like a leader among peers.
Upon landing, the silver-clothed man saw Xu Muyun and nodded, showing a trace of smugness. But immediately after, he noticed Fang Han beside her, his expression sinking as a sharp glint flashed in his eyes.
Fang Han keenly caught this point, but remained steadfast and calm.
"Feng Yuan, this is Su Feiyang of the Myriad Beginnings Sword Sect, whose sword qi is renowned in all four directions. A peerless Golden Immortal!" Xu Muyun introduced him to Fang Han.
"Su Feiyang, this is the newly advanced core seed disciple of our Yuhua Sect, Feng Yuan."
"Oh?" Su Feiyang's eyebrows twitched, "A newcomer? Xu Muyun, our expedition to find the tomb of the Ghost Martial Holy Monarch this time is fraught with danger, and we cannot afford burdens. Ordinary Golden Immortals are everywhere. Moreover, we agreed not to bring other people into the team. If they harbor ulterior motives, the consequences would be hard to predict."
"Rest assured, this is a powerful helper I called over. Our sect's Gu Changfeng, the Bare-handed Heavenly Venerable, as you know, had a conflict with Feng Yuan, yet both sides matched evenly." Xu Muyun hastily said.
"Matched evenly with the Bare-handed Heavenly Venerable Gu Changfeng?" The silver-clothed man Su Feiyang's gaze suddenly turned sharp, like flying swords. One could see myriad swords launching simultaneously and phantom images of various sword mounds within his pupils. This person's cultivation, especially his mastery of sword arts, had simply reached the peak of perfection.
Fang Han nodded, his demeanor composed.
Rumble!
Right at this time, on another island, space suddenly exploded, and a golden divine kingdom slowly materialized. Then, a woman walked out from it. Dressed in yellow, she was actually an unfathomably deep super Great Golden Immortal as well.
"Bi Yu'er, you finally came. We have waited for you for quite a while." Looking at this yellow-clothed woman, Xu Muyun smiled, transmitting a thought into Fang Han's sea of consciousness: "This is the core Eldest Senior Sister of the king-level major sect, Expanding God Marquis Gate, Bi Yu'er. She is an existence on the same level as Gu Changfeng, Xiang Yizhen, and the others, belonging to the peerless monstrous geniuses."
"I arrived long ago, but saw a Great Desolate Nether Fish that had cultivated to the Golden Immortal level lurking in the deep sea. So I went there, killed it, and took its inner core and Golden Immortal laws, which took a little bit of time." This Bi Yu'er smiled, stepped forward, and took a deep look at Fang Han, yet asked nothing.
However, Fang Han felt that this woman indeed possessed an intimidating coercive pressure originating from the depths of the soul.
The woman playfully turned a pure golden bead in her hand. The bead was entwined with thick Golden Immortal laws, emitting a tyrannical magic power fluctuation, its value immeasurable. It was evidently the inner core and Golden Immortal laws of the Great Desolate Nether Fish she had just killed.
The Expanding God Marquis Gate was a king-level major sect that was not inferior to the Yuhua Sect in the slightest, possessing exceedingly strong forces in the Heavenly Court as well. The fact that this woman casually sought out and killed a Golden Immortal demonic beast clearly illustrated her tyrannical strength.
"Why haven't Wei Dongsheng of the Taiyi Sect and Fan Chen of the Brahma Cloud Sect arrived yet? Also, the Jade Palace Crown Prince of the Heavenly Court who accepted this mission regarding the Ghost Martial Holy Monarch's tomb, Murong Shi, hasn't appeared either. Are they making us wait here?"
Su Feiyang violently shot a streak of sword qi into the air, seemingly to send a message. As the sword qi permeated into the void, it suddenly exploded, followed by the scattering of countless sword intents.
"Su Feiyang, don't be so impatient, we have already arrived!"
Three people walked down soundlessly from the sky. The leading figure had hair with a faint purple luster drifting behind his back, displaying an aura of nobility, like purple qi arriving from the east. It was a man, the Crown Prince of the Heavenly Court's Jade Palace, Murong Shi! The other two individuals, one carried the aura of disaster and was actually a disciple of the Heaven Realm's Taiyi Sect. The other, wearing silk robes, was also a cultivator from a king-level major sect, Fan Chen of the Brahma Cloud Sect.
"Feng Yuan, among us, the leader right now is that Murong Shi. He is an insider of the Heavenly Court, the Jade Palace Crown Prince. The Jade Palace is an important institution within the Heavenly Court. Its Palace Master holds a high and powerful position and is an existence that surpasses a Golden Immortal. It is rumored that he is a major figure who has the opportunity to occasionally meet the several governing Heavenly Monarchs. The information regarding the Ghost Martial Holy Monarch's tomb in the Sea of Deranged Gods this time was obtained by him, hence he united us to go." Xu Muyun explained to Fang Han again: "This person absolutely must not be offended."
"Why is there an outsider?"
That Jade Palace Crown Prince with purple-lustered hair, Murong Shi, suddenly caught sight of Fang Han, his expression displeased.