Chapter 676: Li Qianjun

On a lone island in the midst of a vast sea, unbeknownst to all, were three supreme cultivators recuperating from their wounds: Ao Canghai and two of his Martial Aspect confidantes.

Ao Canghai wasn't badly injured. The injuries he had sustained were largely from detonating his own relics when he attempted to flee. Although Xia Xingchen's two attacks had dealt him heavy wounds, they were largely superficial.

The bulk of those injuries had already healed up. Rather than leave the island, however, he was frowning, deep in thought.

"Eastern Aspect, our injuries have largely healed," one Martial Aspect said.

However, Ao Canghai didn't seem to have heard him. He was still deep in thought.

"What's the matter, Eastern Aspect?" the other Martial Aspect asked.

Ao Canghai shook his head as he came to his senses. "I'm trying to make sense of what happened back at the Southeastern Aquatic Palace, but something feels off to me."

"Oh?"

"Everything was too much of a coincidence. How could Xiao Nanfeng have been caught so easily? What's more, the branch current that Ao Zhou was talking about never existed at all. Right after we landed on the island, we were attacked by the Southeastern Aquatic Palace. There's something wrong with this series of affairs. Furthermore, if there really were a Boundless Immortal among those reinforcements, why didn't that Boundless Immortal chase me down, or the rest of you?"

The two Martial Aspects blinked. One asked, "Martial Aspect, do you think that this was a scheme against us?"

Ao Canghai nodded. "Xiao Nanfeng's a masterful planner. You've seen how he plans ten steps ahead—we've all faced him before. The fact that he was caught is exceptionally unusual."

"But what would have been his motive?"

"I suspect he took advantage of us," Ao Canghai said, his features contorted in a frown.

"What?!"

"Let's return and have a look," Ao Canghai suddenly commanded.

"Understood!" the two cultivators replied.

At the Southeastern Aquatic Palace, right in front of the black coffin, Blue Lantern murmured a mantra before invoking the coffin. "Ancient coffin, I, Blue Lantern, wish to sacrifice three recently deceased Golden Immortals in hopes of receiving a pill to ascend to the Golden Immortal realm. Please grant this request!"

The coffin vibrated before its lid cracked open. A burst of black smoke emanated from within, quickly shrouding Blue Lantern.

Blue Lantern stood immobile as the black smoke explored his body. After some time, the black smoke retreated and the coffin lid slid completely off.

A cloud of black smoke appeared on each end of the coffin, where head and feet would ordinarily reside. A radiant golden pill was at the center of one cloud; the other was empty.

Blue Lantern immediately tossed Long Yi's three corpses into that empty cloud of black smoke.

Countless black hands formed from the black smoke dragged the corpses into the coffin's depths.

Then, the two clouds of black smoke dissipated, leaving only the radiant golden pill behind.

"Your Majesty, it was a success!" Blue Lantern exclaimed.

He retrieved a jade bottle and carefully stored the pill within.

"It's that simple?" Xiao Nanfeng exclaimed.

"Indeed," Blue Lantern replied, nodding.

The coffin's lid slowly slid shut with a snick, as if nothing had happened.

"Good. Be careful with ingesting this pill. I don't want you to suffer any backlash," Xiao Nanfeng warned.

"Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty. I used to be a Golden Immortal in the past. With my clan's specialized techniques, I'm sure there won't be a problem."

"Good. Let's leave—people are on their way," Xiao Nanfeng said.

"Understood!" Blue Lantern nodded.

By then, everyone else had already departed. The two remaining cultivators left in haste.

Rather than depart, however, they instead swam to a secluded patch of seabed in the distance, where they hid themselves as they stared at the ruins of the Southeastern Aquatic Palace. Blue Lantern had previously prepared a specialized formation to hide themselves; no one would be able to detect them.

Mere moments after they had sequestered themselves, a group of cultivators rushed toward the Southeastern Aquatic Palace.

They were wearing black armor, and a hulking, middle-aged man was in the lead. His eyes were sharp, and a pitch-black nine-layered pagoda floated above his right hand. A devastating black aura emanated from him.

"That's Li Qianjun, from the Hongyue divine empire!" Xiao Nanfeng suddenly exclaimed.

"The divine empire of Hongyue?" Blue Lantern seemed perplexed.

"You must have heard about how a traitor was responsible for the downfall of the Taiqing Immortal Sect two centuries ago. The sect heaped him with treasure so that he could found the divine empire of Hongyue, but he later became a traitor to the sect. He killed much of the remaining disciples, leaving it a husk that was forced to flee to what is now Taiqing Island. The divine empire of Hongyue is the greatest enemy of the Taiqing Immortal Sect."

"The Southeastern Aquatic Palace is in cahoots with the divine empire of Hongyue?" Blue Lantern exclaimed.

Xiao Nanfeng shook his head. "Perhaps the Southeastern Aquatic Palace is subordinate to the divine empire of Hongyue and gets its hands dirty where Hongyue doesn't want to make a move directly."

"And that cultivator who wields that pitch-black pagoda is known as Li Qianjun?" Blue Lantern asked curiously.

"Indeed. His name is Li Qianjun. He serves as a city lord to an Immortal city of Hongyue, and he's the birth father of the Demon Child. He too used to be an elder of the Taiqing Immortal Sect, but he chose to betray the sect along with the Immortal Emperor of Hongyue. He deserves to die," Xiao Nanfeng spat out coldly.

Blue Lantern nodded. He was aware that Xiao Nanfeng was intent on avenging the Taiqing Immortal Sect.

In the distance, Li Qianjun's voice brimmed with anger. "How could this have happened to the Southeastern Aquatic Palace? I was only a moment late!"

"City Lord, the palace is in ruins. There's nothing of value left behind, and there are bloodstains in the vicinity. The blood hasn't yet dried, suggesting that whatever fighting took place recently concluded," one subordinate reported.

Li Qianjun rushed over to where the black coffin was and sighed in relief to find it still present.

Then, activating the black pagoda in his hand, he shouted, "Ghostfire Battalion, search the palace for any living beings that can talk. Go!"

The tiny doors on the topmost layer of his nine-layered pagoda opened wide as countless wisps of blue, ghostly flame emerged. Each flame seemed to contain a soul. They scattered in every direction.

None of these flames seemed to fear water. They passed through the barriers in the vicinity as they headed toward the depths of the sea, searching for any witnesses to explain what had happened.

The wisps of flame filled the air as they scattered. Some even passed by where Xiao Nanfeng was located, but Blue Lantern's formation was so strong that none of the flames noticed a thing.

Before long, screeches could be heard from a distance.

"Seize them and bring them over!" Li Qianjun shouted.

A group of black-armored cultivators behind him rushed off in the direction of the screeches. They quickly returned with a few sea spirits in tow.

The spirits were flung to the ground before Li Qianjun.

"Please spare us!" they cried out.

"Are you spirits from the Southeastern Aquatic Palace?" Li Qianjun demanded.

"I, I—" The sea spirits babbled in panic.

"Answer the question!" Li Qianjun demanded.

The sea spirits shuddered. They didn't dare hide anything. "We are."

"What happened here? How could the Southeastern Aquatic Palace have been uprooted? Where are its four draconic lords?" Li Qianjun asked.

The spirits quickly reported what they had witnessed.

"An army of tens of thousands of Immortals took them down? Xiao Nanfeng's, or Ao Canghai's?" Li Qianjun asked.

"W-We don't know, sir."

Li Qianjun's face turned dour. It was clear he had a rough idea of the situation before bringing his reinforcements over, but he clearly hadn't expected the Southeastern Aquatic Palace to be taken over so quickly.

He took a deep breath, then waved an arm over his pagoda. "Absorb!"

"Spare us, please!" the sea spirits begged, but Li Qianjun ignored them. All of them were sucked into the pagoda, as were the ghostly flames that had been sent out.

"Use your avatar to inform His Majesty about what's going on. We'll await his commands," Li Qianjun instructed.

"Understood!" a black-armored cultivator replied.

Li Qianjun waited patiently as beams of light arrived at the Southeastern Aquatic Palace, leaving huge waves of water in their wake.

Li Qianjun frowned and rapidly covered up the black coffin in a layer of fog.

"Who's there?" the black-armored cultivators behind him shouted, drawing their weapons.

"Don't make a move," Li Qianjun shouted.

"Understood!" The black-armored cultivators sheathed their weapons again as the newcomers showed themselves. They were led by Sage Green Lotus of the Yuqing holy land, and the few cultivators behind him were high-ranking members as well.

"Don't act rashly," Sage Green Lotus warned, raising an arm to his side to block any aggression from those to his back.

"Li Qianjun? What are you doing here?"

"What happened to the Southeastern Aquatic Palace?"

"Where are the four draconic lords?"

The high-ranking members of the Yuqing holy land were full of questions for Li Qianjun and his cadre.

Sage Green Lotus flew up to Li Qianjun and bowed. "Greetings, City Lord Li."

"Greetings, Sage Green Lotus." Li Qianjun nodded at his fellow cultivator.

"What happened here? City Lord Li, have you seen the Yuqing holy maiden Xia Yu'er?" Sage Green Lotus asked.

Li Qianjun shook his head. "We just arrived ourselves. This was what we saw: the Southeastern Aquatic Palace has been completely uprooted. We don't know where the four draconic lords are either, but we suspect they're likely dead."

"How could that be?" Sage Green Lotus exclaimed.

Li Qianjun sighed. "Ao Canghai and Xiao Nanfeng attacked the Southeastern Aquatic Palace together. By the time I received the news and headed over, it was already too late."

Sage Green Lotus and the group of cultivators with him frowned in unison.

"Junior Brothers, Xia Yu'er must be in hiding. She might already be within the purple moon illusory realm. Searching for them will be fruitless," Sage Green Lotus said.

"Damn it!" The cultivators in Sage Green Lotus's group cursed in frustration.

"City Lord Li, what lies behind that fog of yours? Is it the black coffin of legend?" someone suddenly asked.

Li Qianjun frowned, not wanting to reply.

"City Lord Li, the black coffin isn't a secret any longer. Why don't you show it to us?" Sage Green Lotus asked.

The Yuqing cultivators all stepped forward curiously.