Gentlemen, it's time to enter the Banner of Ten Thousand Souls.

Chapter 434 Finally meet
No living being is unafraid of death, and these sea creatures that have just awakened their intelligence are no exception.

Faced with the extremely cruel methods and unmatched power of the Demon Lord Feilian, these sea beasts had no choice but to obey.

Under the shadow of death, the sea beasts disregarded the injuries they sustained from breaking through the barrier. With a series of terrified roars, the massive horde instantly turned around.

These colossal beasts surged wildly towards all parts of Guixu, like a turbulent torrent.

The vortex formed during their hasty escape even swept up the broken walls and ruins.

The Demon Lord Feilian remained seated on the flesh and bone throne, his eyes closed in meditation.

Having served as the Demonic Sect Master for so many years, he had become accustomed to having his subordinates do things for him, and if they didn't do a good job, he would just kill them and replace them.

Within the Void, there is no distinction between day and night, but the sea creatures all have their own methods for calculating time.

Calculate heart rate.

With their enormous bodies, they need to circulate massive amounts of blood throughout their bodies every moment.

Their heartbeat was their clearest sensation, but the more they searched, the more anxious they became, the faster their heartbeats became, the faster time seemed to pass, and the more anxious they became.

This vicious cycle continued, with the sea creatures turning the nearby seabed upside down, smashing countless rocks that had been dormant for thousands of years, and disturbing countless schools of fish, yet they still gained nothing.

Just as some sea creatures were beginning to despair and were on the verge of going mad and killing each other, a saber-toothed shark, in its panic, crashed into a giant coral forest and finally discovered the anomaly.

The coral appeared as an illusion; once you stumbled into it, you were greeted by a completely different world.

As soon as it rushed into the illusion, the saber-toothed shark saw a colossal creature that terrified it.

Its body is winding and hundreds of feet long, covered with a layer of fine blue scales, each scale seemingly shimmering with water, sparkling in the seawater.

Without a doubt, this is a Jiaolong.

Even though he had never seen a dragon, his bloodline seemed to carry the memory of this creature, and he could recognize it at a glance.

"Found it! Found it! There really is a dragon!"

Unable to contain its elation, the saber-toothed shark let out a tremendous roar, which quickly spread throughout the entire pack.

"Roar!!"

Upon receiving the news, the sea creatures instantly erupted in excitement. They no longer hesitated and transformed into turbid waves that tore through the seawater, surging towards the coral forest from all directions, fearing that if they were a step too late, this tremendous achievement would be stolen by someone else.

The dragon seemed startled by the sudden commotion. Its azure eyes glanced indifferently at the saber-toothed shark that had appeared first, then it gracefully flicked its tail. Its slender body instantly transformed into a streak of azure light, disappearing into the depths of this illusory space.

"Don't let it get away! Catch it! Give it to its owner!"

The saber-toothed shark let out a ferocious roar and was the first to give chase. It had only one thought at that moment—although this dragon possessed a terrifying aura, the fact that it could run proved that it was also afraid! And an enemy who could be afraid was far less terrifying than the Demon Lord on the throne, who would annihilate everything at the slightest provocation!
The will to survive overcame the suppression of bloodline!

Countless sea beasts rushed to the scene upon hearing the commotion, closely following the dragon and forming a pursuing force that blotted out the sky. Their speed was extreme, leaving thick white trails in the seawater—vacuum marks created by the seawater being instantly compressed, stretched, and vaporized by terrifying speed and force!
The saber-toothed shark was the closest pursuer, its eyes gleaming with madness and greed. Just as it was about to catch up, it suddenly opened its gaping maw, filled with serrated fangs, and lunged down at the dragon's flowing tail!
This bite, gathering all its strength, is enough to turn a small mountain into powder!

However, a bizarre scene unfolded!

Those sharp teeth, capable of crushing even top-grade magic treasures, seemed to bite into nothingness!

"Boom——!"

A sickeningly crisp sound!

The jaws snapped shut without any resistance, and the terrifying biting force was applied to the shark! The saber-toothed shark felt an indescribable pain coming from its mouth, and immediately spat out several broken teeth and a large amount of blood.

It was confused.

It wanted to open its mouth to warn its companions behind it, but for the huge herd of beasts behind it, this dragon was the only lifeline and the only hope for survival!
"Roar!!"

Before anyone could warn them, the other sea beasts swarmed in like madmen, their jaws agape and claws waving as they lunged at the azure dragon shadow, as if they wanted to tear it apart and devour it alive!
Immediately, a series of crashing sounds, cracking bones, and painful screams echoed throughout Guixu.

Without exception, all the sea beasts passed right through the dragon's body and then slammed into their own kind. Their gaping maws, powerful enough to split mountains and shatter rocks, bit right into their own men!
The excruciating pain and bloodshed instantly ignited the ferocity inherent in these behemoths.

The bitten sea monster roared in pain and instinctively began to fight back; the sea monster that missed its attack was dizzy from the impact and thought it had been ambushed by its companions, so it also opened its mouth and bit without hesitation!
In an instant, the situation completely spiraled out of control.

This massive herd, which had just been coordinating a pursuit, instantly transformed into a self-destructive meat grinder. They frantically tore at each other, caring nothing for what they were biting; if they were in pain, they would make sure their companions suffered too!
Chaos and bloodshed spread like a plague among the beasts.

Meanwhile, the phantom of the dragon continued to weave through the horde of beasts, attracting more sea creatures into a frenzy of infighting.

However, not all of these sea beasts were insane. After the initial chaos, a few stronger and more intelligent sea beasts realized that something was wrong.

A colossal abyssal octopus, with its hundreds of scarlet eyes, possessed a vision far surpassing that of its kind. It could see that the lifelike dragon was actually an illusion, and no matter how they pounced and bit, it would have no effect.

"Roar--!"

The giant octopus let out a high-pitched, sharp cry that made all the sea beasts convulse, but they also regained their senses in an instant.

But the phantom of the dragon sensed something was wrong and immediately fled into the distance.

The giant abyssal octopus roared again: "Stop fighting! This dragon is fake! Report to our master immediately! The rest of you, follow me and pursue them!"

The phantom of the dragon seemed to still be ahead, with the giant abyss octopus leading the chaotic army in relentless pursuit.

Although the giant octopus's not-so-bright head sensed something was wrong, it dared not let the dragon escape, fearing that it too would have its head ripped off and be turned into a puppet.

They chased each other relentlessly, their wounds constantly bleeding, leaving a dark red, bloody trail behind them.

Finally, when they entered an area composed of countless giant jellyfish emitting a ghostly glow, the surrounding scenery suddenly changed!
The clear dragon shadow in front suddenly became blurry, and then with a "bang", it transformed into thousands of identical, more solid cyan dragon shadows, which swept across the sky!

In an instant, hundreds and thousands of "dragons" appeared before the eyes of every sea beast, surging in from all directions, each exuding a dragon's might that was indistinguishable from the real thing.

"It's a trap!"

The thought had barely crossed the mind of the giant abyss octopus when it was engulfed by countless "dragon shadows." Its hundreds of eyes simultaneously saw countless open dragon mouths and countless outstretched dragon claws!
The Abyss Giant knew these were all illusions; its eyes could see the many phantoms, but the other sea creatures could not.

At that moment, all the sea beasts that had intruded into this place completely lost the ability to distinguish friend from foe. In their perception, every one of their companions had transformed into that damned, cunning dragon! "Kill!!"

Their ingrained ferocity was completely unleashed. Without any further hesitation, they launched their most ferocious attack on the densest cluster of dragon shadows around them.

A sharp-toothed shark bit off the spine of a nearby orca.

A giant, armored turtle pierced through a giant abyss octopus.

Countless smaller sea creatures were easily crushed into mincemeat by the aftershocks of the giants' frenzied attacks.

This place had been completely transformed into a gigantic, bloody meat grinder. Every second, a colossal beast let out a mournful cry and collapsed, its corpse not even having a chance to sink to the seabed before being torn to pieces by its crazed companions.

……

On the throne of flesh and blood, the Demon Lord Feilian, who had been resting with his eyes closed, gradually frowned.

He could sense that the soul imprints of the sea beasts under his command were being extinguished one after another at an abnormally rapid pace.

It's not just one or two, but entire swathes of them disappearing!
"Ok?"

He finally opened his eyes, a hint of displeasure flashing in his deep, demonic pupils. The Flying Demon Lord tore through the void and arrived in this bloody battlefield.

The restrictions of the Ruins of Return only trapped him inside, preventing him from escaping, but the effect of void teleportation could still be used within the Ruins of Return.

When the figure of the Demon Lord Feilian reappeared, he had already descended upon this bloody battlefield.

As far as the eye could see, there was a massive, murky vortex filled with countless fragments of flesh and blood. His army of sea monsters, their eyes bloodshot, were fighting each other in a frenzied manner, completely engrossed in a deep hallucination.

The Demon Lord Feilian snorted coldly in dissatisfaction, his thin lips parting slightly to utter only one word:

"Certainly!"

Follow your words!
A visible ripple spread outwards from him in all directions. Wherever it touched, time seemed to freeze, and space was completely locked. The raging vortex of flesh and blood instantly stopped, and every drop of water and every piece of flesh was suspended in mid-air.

Even those sea monsters whose bodies had been bitten off most of their way off and who were still struggling in their death throes could only maintain their final posture, stiffly suspended in the seawater, unable to move, their thoughts seemingly frozen in place.

The Demon Lord Feilian was too lazy to even glance at these foolish tools. His terrifying divine sense spread out like a tide, attempting to find the root of this illusion in one fell swoop.

However, he soon sensed that his divine sense had struck a soft yet resilient membrane, twisted and deflected by a strange and immense force, making it impossible to perceive the true scene within. What entered his mind was still the endless, indistinguishable dragon shadows.

"Interesting..." A hint of surprise flashed in Fei Lian Demon Lord's eyes. "So you actually used the power of the water veins of this Ruins of Return to set up an array in order to interfere with my divine sense?"

Instead of getting angry, he slightly raised the corners of his mouth and opened it again.

"All illusions are but bubbles!"

The supernatural power of words becoming law was displayed once again!
This time, it was no longer an invisible ripple, but transformed into a visible shockwave containing immense power, like a boulder thrown into a lake, creating towering waves that crashed fiercely towards the source of the illusion array.

This force ignored the illusion and the spatial barrier, and crashed directly into the hidden essence of the formation.

"Boom——"

A soft sound, like a giant bubble bursting, echoed throughout the entire sea.

The massive illusion array that covered an area of ​​hundreds of miles and caused tens of thousands of sea beasts to kill each other was truly reduced to a rootless bubble by Fei Lian Demon Lord's words, shattering inch by inch in an instant, and the array completely collapsed.

All illusions vanished in an instant.

The surviving sea creatures, frozen in place, jolted awake, their crimson eyes regaining their clarity. When they saw the scene before them, they all let out a terrified scream from the depths of their souls.

Their companions, those "comrades-in-arms" who had fought side by side not long ago, now lay at their feet, covered in blood and their limbs mangled, the seawater stained a thick, indissoluble dark red. Some were already reduced to ashes, while others remained in their attacking stances, perishing together with their former comrades.

The once mighty sea monster army has now suffered heavy losses, with its numbers reduced by nearly 30%! Moreover, the survivors are all wounded, their morale completely shattered, and only the fear of surviving a catastrophe remains.

The restrictions imposed on the Demon Lord Feilian were lifted, but this time, not a single sea beast dared to move an inch. They simply lay prostrate in place, trembling under the Demon Lord's oppressive aura.

The Demon Lord Feilian had no interest in even glancing at them. His gaze passed over the bloody battlefield and landed ahead.

After the illusion array shattered, what was revealed was an underwater Great Wall built from countless ruins!
Those unnamed, broken walls formed the base of the fortress, and the massive coral reef served as natural walls.

Several exceptionally large black tortoises, like miniature mountain ranges, lay prostrate at key points of the Great Wall. Their shells were engraved with complex and profound runes, continuously drawing upon their own power to drive a massive water formation, forming a perpetually flowing protective barrier.

Behind the crumbling Great Wall, looming in the shadows, was an equally massive army of sea monsters.

They stood ready, their eyes filled with fear, yet they still channeled their spiritual power into the formation, hoping to restore its effectiveness.

The Demon Lord Feilian's gaze slowly swept over the area. It was clearly a hastily constructed yet well-organized array. A flash of surprise crossed his eyes, replaced by an almost gleeful excitement.

"Using a giant beast as the array's core, drawing upon the Guixu Water Vein... What a grand scheme, what an exquisite array."

His smile deepened. He didn't care about the loss of these sea beasts at all; on the contrary, this great formation had given him a more interesting prey.

"Such a method of array formation could not have been conceived by a bunch of ignorant beasts." He muttered to himself, his gaze seemingly piercing through the protective barrier. "Such mastery of water vein array formations is something only Tianxin Island in the world could achieve."

A thought became incredibly clear in his mind.

Are there cultivators from Tianxin Island behind this formation?
When and how did they get in?

If we can get in, is there also a way to get out?
Having been trapped here long enough, the Demon Lord Feilian was too lazy to waste any more time. He opened his mouth and called out, "Fellow Daoists of Tianxin Island, why don't you come out and have a chat with me?"

These words were spoken calmly, but their tone contained a strong killing intent. If the other party showed the slightest disobedience, the Demon Lord Feilian would directly dismantle the formation and slaughter all the sea beasts inside, and see if the cultivators of Tianxin Island would show up!
However, today's events are destined to shock Demon Lord Feilian once again.

A massive water mirror opened above the formation, reflecting the image of a young man.

Upon seeing this person's appearance, the Demon Lord Feilian immediately became cautious.

The person in the mirror politely cupped his hands to the Demon Lord Feilian and said, "Chen Ye of the Yellow Springs Sect greets Senior. We parted hastily last time. How have you been?"

(End of this chapter)