Into The Sea

Threads of eerie blue demonic energy flowed from her body into the scroll, forming a faint, shimmering link. The more Lan Wu struggled, the faster her demonic energy drained. She looked around and saw many other contracted beasts in the same situation, some already half-swallowed by the painting.

Ji Lingyue was struggling to hold onto her, her feet slowly slipping forward. Behind her, a thick black mist began to rise from the ground, and soon, a pig-headed demon with tusks and a human body emerged. Its eyes, as large as copper bells, locked onto Ji Lingyue, and it silently raised its twin axes.

“Watch out!” Lan Wu shouted anxiously, pushing Ji Lingyue aside with all her might. Ji Lingyue stumbled, a gust of demonic wind rushing past her ear. She dodged the axe that had swung past her nose, lightly touching the ground with her fingertips to flip gracefully, landing several feet away.

When she looked up, Lan Wu was already far ahead, being pulled toward the scroll.

Ji Lingyue quickly tried to catch up, but found herself unable to move forward. Looking back, she saw the pig demon firmly gripping her ankle, roaring and swinging her towards the ground.

Her heart raced, but she reacted quickly, using her hands to brace against the impact, barely avoiding being smashed into the hard jade floor. In the next instant, she spun around, freeing herself from the pig demon’s grasp, and kicked his bulging belly, using the force to propel herself backward. She heard screams and roars. Looking around, she saw that the cultivators had been dragged into battle with demons. Countless black fog swarmed into the crowd, attacking from all directions, making it impossible to defend against.

In the chaos, a familiar voice shouted, “Disciples of Haochen Mountain, form a formation!”

Yu Shanye, holding a fire bow, stood on a high platform, loudly directing the others. “Disciples above the Nascent Soul stage, take the outer perimeter! The rest stay inside! Fellow senior brothers and sisters, protect your junior brothers and sisters!”

As soon as she finished speaking, she pulled back her bowstring and shot an arrow through a crow demon diving from the sky.

Ji Lingyue barely spared Yu Shanye a glance before urgently chasing after Lanwu. Floating mid-air, Lan Wu’s long hair whipped wildly in the chaos. Her thick eyelashes drooped heavily, casting shadows over eyes that flickered with despair. Ji Lingyue’s expression hardened, her movements growing more ruthless. She grabbed a fallen sword from the ground and charged recklessly through the tumultuous crowd, decisively cutting down anything blocking her path.

Limbs and corpses piled up behind her, her robes fluttering like a butterfly, flecked with splashes of crimson She thrust her blade through a demon’s throat, shook the blood from the sword, then raised it defensively as her sharp ears caught the whistle of a spiked club swinging toward her from the shadows. With a crack, countless cracks spread across the silver blade, making an ear-splitting screech.

Ji Lingyue’s eyes flashed, and just before the blade shattered, she released it and stepped back. The demon, caught off guard by the sudden lack of resistance, stumbled forward, only to meet Ji Lingyue’s raised knee. The impact sent stars exploding across its vision, blood gushing from its nose. With a pained roar, it lashed out with its clawed hands, grabbing Ji Lingyue by the waist and lifting her like a ragdoll.

Suspended in the air, Ji Lingyue gripped the demon’s wrist, preventing it from crushing her bones. As they struggled, a voice suddenly shouted from a distance, “Ji Lingyue!”

Ji Lingyue paused, looking in the direction of the voice. On a distant white jade pillar, the third-place winner was standing on a night pearl, her eyes burning. “Catch!”

A silvery flash hurtled toward Ji Lingyue. Ji Lingyue freed a hand to catch it, and a golden light exploded around her, countless sword shadows appearing, slicing the wolf demon’s arms to pieces. She landed on the ground, and while the demon was howling, she severed its head with a single strike. Turning back to the pillar, she found that the person was gone.

High above, the painting shifted silently, the flowing water replaced by a dense, lush forest.

Lan Wu’s legs were completely submerged in the scroll. She barely managed to open her eyes. Not far away, the woman who had been impersonating Xuan Yu was standing in mid-air.

Xuan Rulin, as expected of the master of Yunxiao Pavilion, had initially been stunned by the unexpected betrayal and loss of the Hundred Demon Scroll, had been relentlessly pushing forward. The demons that tried to stop him were effortlessly killed, as easily as crushing an ant.

Yet even his immense strength couldn’t immediately overcome the sheer volume of demonic attackers.

The imposter glanced at the contracted beasts being sucked into the scroll, bit her finger, and drew a complex formation in the air. Crimson light flickered ominously. Leaving four corners of the formation empty, she frowned and forced out more blood, swiftly inscribing characters—writing “north” in the south, and “east” in the west, quickly completing all four corners.

Lan Wu’s lashes fluttered. She finally recognized what she was drawing.

A counter-spell.

She groaned, now only her upper body remaining outside the painting. Her demonic strength drained away rapidly. No matter how fiercely she struggled, she sank deeper, the painting soon swallowing her up to her chest.

Just as despair overtook her, a white figure soared upward, riding a sword directly into the swirling demonic energy. Ji Lingyue burst into the chaotic cage, her robes instantly torn, blood seeping from fresh wounds, but she ignored everything, desperately grasping Lanwu’s hand.

“Ah Yue,” Lan Wu gasped, her voice hoarse, “Let go… you can’t pull me out…”

“No.” Ji Lingyue refused, straining with all her might. When it became clear she couldn’t pull Lan Wu free, she suddenly raised her sword and lunged at the imposter. The imposter flicked her sleeve, sending a gust of wind that hurled Ji Lingyue backward. She tumbled through the air before barely regaining her balance.

The imposter studied Ji Lingyue for a moment, then said, “If she’s your contracted beast, why go through all this trouble? Just summon her back to your side.”

Ji Lingyue froze, her eyes narrowing as she stared at the imposter in silence.

The imposter continued, “If you don’t summon her now, it’ll be too late.”

Ji Lingyue’s heart raced. She looked at Lan Wu, who was only left with her shoulders above the painting, about to be completely swallowed. Although she knew it was likely a trap, she didn’t have time to think. She gritted her teeth and finally formed a seal, reciting the spell she had chanted countless times.

“Mighty divine ritual, solemn and pure, the six directions of yin, command all spirits…”

The cold, solemn voice reached her ears, seeming to dispel some of the dizziness. Lan Wu groaned, shaking her head. In a flash, something clicked in her mind.

A counter-spell!

She suddenly realized, opening her eyes wide, and cried out, “Ah Yue! Don’t…”

She didn’t even get to say the word “summon” before a golden light flared, and Ji Lingyue appeared beside her, half her body sinking into the scroll along with her. Lan Wu opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, she was completely swallowed.

“Lan Wu!”

Ji Lingyue looked back in panic, finding herself in the same situation as Lan Wu. Sadly, even with her spiritual power, she couldn’t resist the immense force of the scroll. Moreover, Lan Wu had already been sucked in.

After a moment of hesitation, Ji Lingyue stopped struggling and allowed herself to sink. Just then, a familiar figure appeared in her vision, rushing toward her. Yu Shanye’s face was a mask of shock as she screamed, “Ji Lingyue, what are you doing here?!”

As she shouted, she desperately grabbed her hand, but Ji Lingyue shook her head. “Don’t worry about me. Protect yourself. I need to find Lan Wu.”

“This is insane!” Yu Shanye, refusing to give up, tried to pull her out. “Who knows where you’ll end up!”

“It’s no use.” Ji Lingyue gasped, tilting her head. Suddenly, she remembered something, struggling to pull out the jade token from her waist, shoving it into her hand. “Find Ah Li. She’s still in Fenyin—”

Before she could finish, her body vanished. The scroll, now depicting a dense forest, rippled briefly before rolling itself up and returning to the imposter’s hand.

The imposter glanced at Yu Shanye, then turned and left. The demons below, as if receiving a command, dissolved into black mist and retreated like a receding tide. As the cultivators stood in stunned silence, the imposter’s cold voice echoed from above, reaching everyone’s ears.

 “The Demon Queen sends her greetings—”