Cao Yi and his two companions moved quickly. A quarter hour after Xun Kun and the others departed, they arrived at Yunxiao Sea.
As the trio appeared, they saw Divine Transformation cultivators from other regions watching from afar with no intention of approaching. A flying boat hovered steadily over the sea.
"That's Ran Xi Zūnzhě's flying boat," Zhang Lingrui recognized it at a glance.
The three flickered forward and leapt onto the flying boat. The onlookers did not intervene. The trio wore Haoran Sect robes and were all Divine Transformation cultivators. It was obvious Ran Xi Zūnzhě had summoned them. No one wanted to provoke trouble.
Once aboard, they found Ran Xi observing the waters below.
"Greetings, Ran Xi Zūnzhě."
All three cupped their hands in salute.
"There is no need for ceremony."
Ran Xi turned to Cao Yi. "This is where the evil god's body is sealed. You can lay down the final formation now. I will assist you. You must complete it before the second seal is opened. That is my only requirement."
Cao Yi's heart surged. The day had finally come.
He had originally thought it would take longer, which was why he returned to the sect for seclusion. While closed off, he had been rehearsing the placement of the final core formation on his formation disk. Fortunately, he had prepared in advance. He nodded immediately. "Zūnzhě, I will begin the arrangement now."
Lin Keyang and Zhang Lingrui exchanged a glance and spoke in unison, "We will act as guardians for Cao Yi."
Yunxi nodded. Wei Yunqing had been eliminated, yet a heavy unease still pressed on her.
In the next breath, the three leapt off the flying boat, hovering in the air as they began to arrange the final core formation.
Yunxi stored the flying boat and gripped Wei Yunqing's natal sword again. Her divine sense stabbed into the blade to lock onto the blade spirit's consciousness.
Long Ya's blade spirit shuddered. It stopped playing dead at once, dodging frantically through the body of the sword. It could not expose itself now. The old master's seal was about to be undone. At such a critical moment, failure was not an option.
A sharp light flashed in Yunxi's eyes. She sensed the blade spirit's evasive maneuvers, then pounced with her divine sense, suppressing its spiritual will and forcing her way into its consciousness. In the next instant, Yunxi cursed under her breath, "Damn it," and shredded Long Ya's blade spirit without hesitation.
The Tianqing Waterwood Sword shattered under the shock of thunder spiritual power in her hand and followed its master into oblivion.
Yunxi flashed into the sky. Only after distancing herself from the others did her expression change. She swore without restraint, "That walking disaster Wei Yunqing. Dead and still causing trouble. She did not even realize her heart's blood had been stolen."
So that was the upper realm evil cultivator's backup plan. It had been hidden in Long Ya all along. The thing had set its sights on Wei Yunqing from the start, yet the ultimate target was Yunxi.
Long Ya had disguised itself as a broken blade in a new guise, becoming Wei Yunqing's natal sword. After the sword's grade improved, Wei Yunqing nurtured it to awaken a sword spirit and to better attune to it. She refined the Tianqing Waterwood Sword once using a drop of her heart's blood.
The blade spirit secretly stored that heart's blood. Afterward, it cooperated quietly, making Wei Yunqing believe wholeheartedly in the awakening of her sword spirit.
Once it led Wei Yunqing into the place sealing the evil god's body, it waited. When Wei Yunqing undid the first seal and obtained the illusory "Immortal Tree," the new sword spirit placed Wei Yunqing's essence blood into the array of the second seal. It intended to use the Wei clan's bloodline souls as a sacrifice to unseal the old master's second seal.
The Wei clan did not only exist in the mortal realm. They had several hundred cultivator clansmen. Counting in-laws from Dao companion marriages, there were at least a thousand. Most crucially, her closest kin to Wei Yunqing by blood was her younger sister. Yunxi's soul as a Wei clansman was the strongest of them all. Opening the second seal was only a matter of time.
Yunxi no longer intended to let that strand of soul that left Wei Yunqing's body go. The other party had clearly planned this.
She drew a deep breath. Her consciousness entered the space, and she logged into the chat group at the fastest speed. She skipped any greetings and went straight to asking the "Sacred One" for help.
[Fleeting Cloud]: Senior, an evil cultivator is using bloodline power as a guide to forcibly draw the souls of my clan as sacrifices to fully undo the seal. What should this junior do?
[Sacred One]: What, your whole-realm ascension plan has not been carried out yet?
[Fleeting Cloud]: Plans cannot keep up with changes. I was tripped by my elder sister, and her soul origin belongs to someone else. I must kill her.
Yunxi was practically furious. One step more and her soul would have become a sacrificial offering.
[Sacred One]: You have quite the temper, little girl. Seal the Wei bloodline for now. As for yourself, you can strip that bloodline later. In a sense, you are not truly of the Wei clan.
Yunxi's eyes flashed, and she responded at once. "Many thanks for the guidance, Senior. I will act immediately."
She withdrew her divine sense from the space and began sketching a formation with spiritual power. This time it was a bloodline-tracking formation. Using it, she would precisely seal the Wei clan's bloodline.
Her formation had just begun to operate when a thunderous rumble rose from below. The sealed place of the evil god's body was clearly eager to surface.
"Ran Xi Zūnzhě, something beneath Yunxiao Sea is slowly rising," Zhang Lingrui reported immediately. Together with Lin Keyang, she guarded Cao Yi as he worked, slapping back the waves curling up into the sky and sweeping the surroundings with divine sense.
Yunxi's powerful divine sense felt a tug upon her very soul. She gritted her teeth. "The three of you, move aside!"
At the same instant, she grasped the Seven Stars Soul-Shattering Staff and poured most of her thunder spiritual power into it. She dove downward and hurled the staff into the churning Yunxiao Sea.
As she plummeted, the Seven Stars Soul-Shattering Staff swelled in size, thicker and longer, wreathed in countless bolts of thunder. It smashed into the rising ground with overwhelming force, driving it back into the depths.
Now standing atop the staff's tip, Yunxi pressed a palm to the shaft and pushed more thunder spiritual power into it. The Seven Stars Soul-Shattering Staff, now a towering pillar a hundred meters thick, slowly forced the emergent sealed land back under the waves.
All of Yunxiao Sea began to boil. The once blue waters darkened to pitch black, heaving more violently as they slammed against the staff. Sea and staff battled in a brutal deadlock.
Two suppressive sigils on Yunxi's robe burned out at once. The wrenching pull upon her soul grew stronger. She could not be everywhere at once.
Seeing this, Cao Yi raised his voice, "Ran Xi Zūnzhě, hold for one more quarter hour. The final formation will be complete!"
He flashed back to his position and continued his work. Lin Keyang and Zhang Lingrui guarded him, nerves taut. They could only watch anxiously as Yunxi fought to suppress the sealed place of the evil god's body. Their strength was not enough to help her hold it down.
Just as Ran Xi's brows knit tighter, Xiao He's voice sounded in her ear, "Zūnzhě, the evil cultivators hiding in the Weiyu Realm have entered the Western Region. They will reach Yunxiao Sea in a quarter hour!"