"What?!" Hengsheng could not believe what he had just heard.
He quickly opened the Dimensional Traveler System Panel. Seeing that the Anchor Lock he had marked on Xiaorong still existed meant that he was still alive.
Then he opened the dimensional map to see what happened there.
What he saw was an unknown middle-aged man in dark blue robes, who flew across the vast sea at an incredible speed—faster than the True Body Realm should achieve—with no air resistance, no sound barrier while moving, or any other physical law limitation that seemed to affect his movement; this man was clearly a cultivator at the Spirit Integration Realm or higher.
On his back, an unconscious Xiaorong was being carried; his condition was worse, one of his arms was missing, and there was a large wound in his lower abdomen.
Hengsheng assumed Xiaorong's dantian must have been destroyed; fortunately, he had not been killed yet.
Seeing his cousin in this pitiful state, immense fury surged through Hengsheng's veins, his aura leaked, and his concealment to release.
'How dare you touch my people!' Hengsheng thought furiously; he was at the center, emitting a chaotic crimson aura that leaked outward.
The people on the street sensed his aura—the weak instantly unconscious and collapsed to the ground; the strong retreated in fear.
Noticing his reaction had caused trouble to common folk, he quickly withdrew his aura, and then he disappeared from his spot as he teleported back to his mansion.
Once he appeared at the Maker Mansion, he immediately spoke.
"How did this happen, Blue?" Hengsheng asked coldly, still filled with anger.
Blue sensed Hengsheng's anger and didn’t waste time with words. Instead, she conjured a display screen before her master, replaying the event before Lan Xiaorong became this pitiful state.
Hengsheng gazed at the display screen with a serious expression as it began to replay the event that had taken place.
"There is no place to run. You will fall here," Lan Xiaorong said coldly.
The situation seemed to be on Lan Xiaorong's side. The Hai Clan Patriarch, Hai Yi, was already on his last leg, being cornered, with nowhere to run anymore.
However, Hai Yi's grim expression suddenly turned into a wicked smile, as if he had a plan to get out of this situation—or even better, to turn the tide.
Seeing Hai Yi's reaction to this situation, Lan Xiaorong became more careful not to be close to the enemy, sending the Sword Qi attack from a distance.
With a flick of his hand, Green Wood Sword Qi burst forth, slicing the air and the sea below in half.
Hai Yi's wicked smile faded. He raised his sabre and performed the technique, summoning a Water Qi Sabre that formed a wall to defend against the incoming Sword Qi.
The Water Qi Sabre shattered immediately. Moreover, Lan Xiaorong's Sword Qi continued to move toward Hai Yi!
Hai Yi's face turned pale, and he shouted, "Senior, please help me!"
Lan Xiaorong became alert when he heard Hai Yi shout, as he suspected Hai Yi had a helper. His Divine Sense swept across the area, yet found nothing.
Then the Sword Qi slashed through Hai Yi, severing 30% of his left side, including his hand, leg, and chest, leaving him severely injured!
"AHHHHHHHH!" Hai Yi screamed in pain. As a Ninth Gate True Body expert, his lifeforce was powerful. Even when severely injured, it was still not enough to kill him.
Hai Yi's expression was filled with feelings of betrayal. He turned and resumed his escape attempt, slipping through the gap in the wooden cage wall that had been damaged earlier by the enemy's Sword Qi.
Lan Xiaorong, who expected the helper to appear and had been waiting in a fighting stance, was surprised when no one appeared to intercept.
Seeing Hai Yi about to escape, he did not let it happen—he executed the killing move. The Giant Verdant Qi Sword materialized before him and shot at Hai Yi with immense pressure!
"NOOO!" Hai Yi saw the powerful sword fly at him. He attempted to defend against it with everything he had, but nothing worked—everything was shattered under the might of the giant green sword.
When the Giant Verdant Qi Sword made contact with Hai Yi's body, his entire body was consumed by its power and disintegrated into countless pieces. Hai Yi was dead.
Lan Xiaorong saw that his mission was complete, but he did not relax, as he sensed a powerful presence appear within his Divine Sense range.
He turned to the powerful presence's owner, the unknown middle-aged man in dark blue robes descending from the cloud above.
Lan Xiaorong's brow furrowed as he sensed the other side's cultivation realm—a Spirit Integration expert!
He knew he was in big trouble now, and he did not know the other side's intention. Hai Yi thought this unknown expert was on his side, but somehow, this expert let him die.
"Are you the Endless Wealth Company's head?" the unknown expert in a dark blue robe asked.
"No. May I ask what offense my humble faction may have caused, senior?" Lan Xiaorong said, cursing inwardly at whatever Hengsheng had done to draw the attention of this unknown expert.
The unknown expert in a dark blue robe appeared disappointed after hearing that Lan Xiaorong wasn't the head of the Endless Wealth Company.
The unknown expert assumed.
After witnessing Xiaorong's fight with the Hai Clan's Patriarch, he learned that Xiaorong's strength was far beyond his actual cultivation realm, which meant that his cultivation base was solid—something hard to achieve without fine inheritance and resources.
Even if this one was not the head, he must be in a high position—he must know something. Ignoring Lan Xiaorong's question, he said:
"Tell me where the Divine Artifact is, and I will give you a quick death," the unknown expert said.
Lan Xiaorong gritted his teeth, cursing Hengsheng. How could that bastard make such a mistake and let others know about the existence of his Divine Artifact?
Knowing that a clash was hard to avoid, given the clearly hostile attitude of the other side.
"I don't know what senior is talking about," Lan Xiaorong said. He tried to get out of this one last time.
"Lie," the unknown expert said. Without more words, he disappears and reappears next to Lan Xiaorong.
Lan Xiaorong immediately noticed this, his body reacted, and he raised his wooden sword to swing at the unknown expert.
However, the power gap between the two cultivation bases was too vast.
Lan Xiaorong was at the Fourth Gate of the True Body Realm, but the other side was in the Spirit Integration Realm—and not at the early stage, but the peak stage!
The unknown expert flicked his hand, severing Lan Xiaorong's right arm—the arm that had dared to swing the sword at him—then placed his palm on Lan Xiaorong's lower abdomen, sending powerful Qi to destroy his dantian.
Lan Xiaorong's expression was confused. He was in shock, and he realized what had happened to him. Everything happened so fast that he could not even process.
Lan Xiaorong was coughing up blood. His body fell from the sky as the Spiritual Qi within his body was in chaos, then his neck was grabbed mid-air by the hand of an unknown expert.
With a weak body, his gaze turned to the one who had destroyed his dantian, ruining his cultivation path, with vengeful eyes.
The unknown expert, seeing Lan Xiaorong's reaction, snarled and said,
"Your sin is possessing what you should not."
After his words ended, he put Lan Xiaorong into a deep sleep, then placed him on his back and began moving toward the center of the Great Sea, intent on taking him back to the Palace for interrogation—to find where the Divine Artifact is and who possesses it, as per the Sea Lord's order.
Hengsheng gritted his teeth in frustration. How dare anyone treat his people —especially since what happened to Xiaorong was too brutal.
Hengsheng was about to activate the Anchor Lock to teleport Xiaorong back to Endless Wealth Peak, but he decided not to—not now.
He wanted to see where this man in dark blue was from, where he gonna take Xiaorong to, and how he knew about his Divine Artifact—something known only to a close circle consisting of Lan Clan and Wang Clan members. They couldn’t betray him due to the soul contract.
How did this man know about it, when aside from that close circle, everyone else who knew about it was already dead?
Hengsheng turned his gaze to the Dimensional Map, intently watching the man in a dark blue robe every movement, without even blinking, not intending to let this guy out of his sight.
One month had passed.
Hengsheng was still watching the Dimensional Map's display. The man in a dark blue robe was still traveling across the sea; he had not yet reached the destination, but was almost there.
The Great Sea was vast—even at the speed of a Spirit Integration Realm expert, it took a month to reach even half its radius.
As time passed, Hengsheng roughly guessed where the man in the dark blue robe was going.
It was the biggest island in this Seventh Heaven, located at the center of the Great Sea.
If this island were located on Earth, it would be large enough to be considered a huge continent, like all seven continents combined.
But in this Seventh Heaven, its size is only considered as one in a hundred of a continent.
The Great Azure Island.