Chapter 767 - 768: The Banished Immortal in White

Chapter 767: Chapter 768: The Banished Immortal in White

Waves surged across the East Sea under a clear blue sky.

Chu Xingchen lightly held a jade token in his hand, a trace of regret in his expression.

The true purpose of the ship beneath his feet wasn’t for rest. The lowest cultivation among those present was Donggua at the Nascent Soul stage, but even that was sufficient for searching and lingering in the East Sea.

If he was truly tired, he could always go soak in the ocean for a while. He wouldn’t die either way.

The real reason this ship had been brought out was to receive these urgent jade tokens.

The Southern Zhanbu Continent arc had essentially drawn to a close.

Li Junzi’s Academy New Policy had been fully rolled out across Xuanwu Kingdom. There might still be some trivial complications, but Li Junzi had sorted through them all.

Riding the momentum, the new policy was now spreading beyond Xuanwu Kingdom’s borders.

Things were essentially settled.

But Li Junzi hadn’t achieved the Sub-Sage realm through this endeavor.

As expected—compared to the grand scale of things, what Li Junzi was trying to do was still too small in the Heavenly Dao’s eyes.

But progress was still progress. Some things, if you believed they were right, didn’t necessarily require any reward.

This ship had been drifting across the East Sea for over two months now.

During that time, he’d seen massive whales cresting through waves, schools of fish darting past, and even deep-sea demons emerging from the depths out of curiosity.

Those with shallow cultivation still resembled fish, but those with cultivation around the Nascent Soul stage had taken on humanoid forms—though they couldn’t speak human language.

When Chu Xingchen was curious, he’d even invited a couple of humanoid demons aboard for a look.

What was written in books was never as good as seeing things firsthand.

Though he wasn’t sure whether it was Xie Lingyu’s Integration realm presence that was so oppressive—the fierce sea demons described in books, when hauled aboard, behaved with perfect docility, not even baring their teeth.

Their docility rivaled even the dazed Donggua standing nearby.

However, these sea demons seemed to have an innate fear of human-shaped beings. Most would spot them from afar and flee without hesitation.

After some thought, Chu Xingchen figured the East Sea must have experienced its own bloody massacre back in the day.

Perhaps these sea demons had long since come to regard humans as their natural predators. Fear would be the first and only response.

That made sense, really. Normally, no Qi Refining or Foundation Establishment cultivators would venture to the center of the East Sea. The weakest who came here would be at least at the Spirit Transformation stage.

Moreover, most sea demons accumulated their cultivation purely through lifespan. ℯℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

A single Spirit Transformation powerhouse would be equivalent to at least eight hundred or even a thousand years of a sea demon’s life.

Sailing the East Sea had been entertaining at first.

But as time wore on, it grew somewhat tedious.

Xu Linglong was surprisingly patient—this provocation hadn’t elicited any response. Though he wondered how the sweep operation on Bai Xuanling’s end was progressing.

Chu Xingchen pondered for a moment, then put the jade token away. His gaze instinctively drifted to Donggua beside him.

Donggua noticed the look and immediately spoke up, almost reflexively:

"Senior Chu, I really am trying my best to search."

"Mm, I know." Chu Xingchen didn’t fully understand the intensity, but offered a casual acknowledgment.

Donggua felt a twinge of panic. He couldn’t explain why, but whenever he faced Chu Xingchen, he was struck by an instinctive dread—as if confronting an overwhelming natural predator.

Donggua also no longer believed Chu Xingchen was actually the patient, easygoing person he seemed.

After all, Chen Baiqing’s "heart-to-heart talk" was still ringing in his ears.

He spoke again, trying to defend himself: "I’m really not slacking. The East Sea is vast—Xu Linglong has probably long since fled in fear of your presence, Senior Chu. Why would she dare show her face in front of you again?"

Chu Xingchen lowered his eyes slightly, the corner of his mouth curling into a smile: "Donggua, sometimes I really do wonder—would you have more talent for the Tianyan Divination Art than Sect Master Lü?"

Xie Lingyu was sitting nearby. The next instant, she rose to her feet, her hand instinctively reaching for the spirit sword at her waist.

From the distant sea, a figure was hurtling toward them at tremendous speed.

Donggua hastily turned around, and the panic in his heart erupted on the spot.

Xu Linglong, clad in black, stopped a hundred zhang before the ship.

Donggua swallowed hard, simultaneously praying that his earlier words hadn’t actually been overheard by Xu Linglong.

But the next moment, Xu Linglong’s calm voice drifted over:

"As expected of Donggua—you’ve figured out my thoughts perfectly."

Donggua felt his vision go dark. He could no longer utter a single word.

Chu Xingchen remained seated in place, his gaze penetrating through Xu Linglong as he said with a light laugh:

"What a pleasant surprise—a clone, come to see me today? You’ve grown so timid it’s almost unbelievable. This time, you’re not afraid to die?"

Xu Linglong’s eyes fixed intently on Chu Xingchen. After confirming she still couldn’t read his situation, she spoke slowly:

"What I didn’t expect was that you truly aren’t afraid of death."

"With your injuries and depleted cultivation, do you really think relying on the Primordial Chaos Twin Spirit Beads will let you hold out until the Tribulation Transcendence cultivators on shore arrive?"

Chu Xingchen’s expression remained languid: "If you’d come in your true body, I’d say no. But with this remnant clone—naturally, yes. So—interested in testing which is real?"

Xu Linglong slightly raised her right hand, and the entire limb dissolved into Origin Blood that flowed into the East Sea. She smiled faintly as she spoke:

"Naturally. You humans occupy the five continents, while we crippled demonkind can only cling to survival in the sea."

"Guess—after a thousand years, how many things lurk in these waters that you know nothing about?"

Chu Xingchen rose to his feet with an easy grace: "Spare me. Do you think I don’t know? Back then, to be thorough, humans combed the Four Seas and the Endless Sea over and over again."

"Otherwise, why would these sea demons look at humans like they’re looking at the heavens themselves?"

Xu Linglong said nothing, only letting a faint smile play at her lips.

Behind her, a massive wave surged upward.

Numerous sea demons rode the swell, mastering the water as they advanced.

Amid the churning waves, a dense horde of Golden Core and Nascent Soul stage sea demons swept in like a tide.

A rough count put the number at well over a thousand.

Xu Linglong’s Origin Blood dripped down, rapidly dyeing the surrounding sea crimson.

The thousands of sea demons, riding the crimson-tinged waves, saw their auras surge another small stage.

The waves churned, and the sea demons encircled the ship entirely.

Dark clouds pressed down, fierce winds arose, and torrential rain began to pour.

"I’ll handle this." Xie Lingyu’s calm voice rang out.

Chu Xingchen didn’t hesitate. He nodded gently: "Don’t hold back."

Xie Lingyu acknowledged with a nod, then gripped her spirit sword tightly.

In that instant—

A streak of white light blazed to life.

The terrifying pressure of an Integration realm cultivator radiated outward in all directions.

It pressed the surrounding sea flat as land.

The gap in cultivation was like the difference between heaven and earth. The sea demons charging from a distance involuntarily slowed their advance considerably.

After all, anyone rushing headlong toward their own death would hesitate.

Xie Lingyu didn’t hesitate. Her sword gleamed cold, and her figure shot straight toward Xu Linglong’s clone.

Ten thousand swords of cold light flowed from behind her, like a scene of the heavens collapsing.

A single sword stroke descended.

It cleaved through ten thousand zhang of ocean waves, cleaved through the ten-thousand-zhang stretch of dark clouds and rain.

The sea demons riding the waves—wherever the sword light passed, they were all reduced to dust.

Xie Lingyu stood with sword held level, like a banished immortal in white.