153 Fallen Immortal Island

None of the five expected that after waiting for so long, what awaited them was the head of the Dragon-Transforming Sword Yang Wujiu!
Who on earth was the cultivator inside the jade tower?
Young Master Yu's expression shifted drastically. Suddenly, he bit down hard, his figure blurring as countless afterimages flickered into existence, and he rapidly bolted toward the distance.
Without uttering a single word, he chose to flee.
The decisiveness of his temperament and the swiftness of his reaction could only be described as astonishing!
However...
Suddenly, a willow leaf condensed entirely from frost manifested in the sky.
The willow leaf spun lightly, dancing through the air.
In an instant, it sliced right through the afterimages left behind by Young Master Yu.
At the distant horizon, Young Master Yu, who had already fled dozens of miles away, saw his escaping light flash once and instantly extinguish.
Then.
A single head, with eyes wide open in dying disbelief, flew back, finally landing on the deck of the jade boat and coming to rest parallel to the head of the Dragon-Transforming Sword.
Young Master Yu had fallen!
This entire sequence of events happened as swiftly as a falcon diving on a hare, taking less than three breaths of time.
Yet, in that fleeting moment, a companion whose escaping speed was no less than that of a late Golden Core cultivator was ruthlessly and utterly decapitated.
Danchenzi and the other three found it somewhat hard to credit.
"Who on earth are you?"
Danchenzi vaguely guessed that the other party must be a cultivator from the Demon Talpet Sect, but he still asked instinctively.
"You are not worthy to know."
That soft, tender yet bone-chilling voice sounded once more.
Just hearing this voice was enough to evoke the image of an peerlessly breathtaking and stunning beauty residing within the jade tower.
Grandma Pear Flower suddenly spoke: "Could you be the Master of the Ice Demon Palace in person?"
She stared fixedly at the jade tower atop the Frost Peacock as if facing a formidable enemy, her magical power surging violently!
Inside the white paper lantern held by the cane in her hand, a crimson glare suddenly flared intensely, resembling an ancient and ferocious beast slowly awakening from its slumber.
If this truly was the person she suspected... then fleeing was entirely pointless.
Only by fighting desperately to the death would there be a sliver of a chance of survival.
Among the five, Young Master Yu possessed the fastest escaping art, and yet he had perished so cleanly and decisively...
"Have only a few of you come from the Profound Mystery Island and the Taiqing Sect?"
The person inside the jade tower asked again.
"Attack together!"
Goldfiend and Silverfiend let out a low shout. Spiritual light surged over the bodies of the two brothers, and they instantly shot forward, transforming into two streams of golden and silver light that charged straight toward the jade tower.
Danchenzi and the old woman also made their moves without delay.
From the white paper lantern of the old woman, a streak of scarlet chain suddenly burst forth, lashing toward the jade tower.
Danchenzi waved his sleeve, scattering a handful of spiritual pills.
These spiritual pills burst apart in mid-air, transforming into towering Yellow-Turban Warriors that stepped through the void and fiercely charged at the Frost Peacock.
Every single Yellow-Turban Warrior possessed the cultivation realm of a consummate Foundation Establishment!
Heaven and earth suddenly fell utterly still!
A bone-chilling intent capable of freezing the entire cosmos began to pervade the surroundings.
Before the eyes of the four individuals, a towering and majestic giant frost willow tree abruptly manifested.
Ten thousand strands of icy silk weeping downwards!
The crystalline giant willow shimmering with frost swayed gently, and countless long, slender willow leaves reflecting dazzling and brilliant crystalline radiances flickered coldly.
First, the brilliance of the Golden and Silver Fiends was swiped away by a single willow branch.
The moment the Golden and Silver Fiends were sent flying backward, their bodies began to disintegrate and shatter, transforming into pairs of rice-grain-sized ice crystals that dispersed and vanished in the wind.
Next was the scarlet chain of Grandma Pear Flower, which was likewise entangled by a willow branch. Amidst the flashing of the willow leaves, the scarlet chain shattered inch by inch.
From within the white paper lantern, a piercing and mournful shriek suddenly rang out.
As for the Yellow-Turban Warriors unleashed by Danchenzi, before they even reached the vicinity of the giant willow, they were frozen into solid blocks of ice and plummeted downward into the sea.
The next moment.
Two frost willow branches suddenly shot outward, thrusting forward!
In an instant, they pierced right through both Danchenzi and Grandma Pear Flower.
The protective spiritual lights shielding their bodies were as fragile as paper, failing to obstruct the attack for even a fraction of a second.
With a flick of the willow branches, both individuals were instantly torn to pieces, dying a death as thorough as possible.
The sky returned to tranquility.
The giant frost willow quietly vanished.
Yet the biting cold between the sea and the sky still lingered behind.
In mid-air, frost condensed, appearing breathtakingly magnificent under the illumination of the sunlight.
The jade tower fell silent for a brief moment, followed by the sound of a deep, mellow, and warm male voice—
"Is that it?"
The gentle and soft voice laughed and said, "What else did you expect? What formidable figures could Profound Mystery Island possibly produce... But after all, that Dragon-Transforming Sword Yang Wujiu was personally slain by your own hand, so you didn't make this trip for nothing."
The man chuckled dumbfoundedly: "Palace Master, it seems your fatal tribulation truly lies within this Primordial Secret Realm."
Inside the jade tower.
Ye Bing's beautiful eyes gazed at the colorful vortex in the sky, a look of complexity crossing her face: "It seems to be truly the case. Pang Yue, wait here for a moment; I will go inside and take a look. Take this life-lamp of mine—if the life-lamp extinguishes, you should return to the sect!"
With that, she retrieved an ancient bronze lamp from her storage bag. The flame flickered, dancing with a lively and agile glow.
Pang Yue said with a solemn expression: "Palace Master, I believe it would be best for me to accompany you inside. Taking this opportunity, I also wish to witness what exactly a fatal tribulation entails."
Ye Bing smiled and shook her head, putting away the life-lamp, and said, "Then as you wish."
The Frost Peacock flapped its wings and plunged headfirst into the colorful vortex.
Following that, an invisible giant hand seemed to sweep across the sky, instantly erasing the colorful vortex into absolute nothingness!
...
To Danchenzi, the extremely perilous spatial turbulence was as smooth and peaceful as a gentle stream in the eyes of Ye Bing and Pang Yue.
Passing through the spatial turbulence, the view before them suddenly broadened.
The phantom of a magnificent and colossal island lay suspended across the horizon.
A corner of this giant island had collapsed, shattered, and fallen away.
Looking from afar, it resembled countless island fragments, scattered and falling downward in a grand cascade.
Each island fragment ranged from a hundred miles at the smallest to a thousand miles at the largest.
The island was astonishingly massive, with undulating mountain ranges piled upon it, solemn and heavy. Standing before it, a human felt as minuscule as a speck of dust.
Beyond the island lay the endless dark void.
Upon one of the island fragments that had broken off and descended, two figures quietly materialized!
A trace of surprise flashed across Ye Bing's beautiful eyes, and she immediately swept her hand backward, causing the spatial fluctuations to vanish entirely.
"I have concealed the spatial coordinates of this secret realm."
Seeing Pang Yue looking over with curiosity, she offered a brief explanation.
"The Palace Master possesses remarkable methods... This secret realm is exceedingly bizarre!"
Pang Yue gazed at the surroundings and frowned.
From his and Ye Bing's perspective, looking up at the sky revealed the sight of that single corner of the giant island shattering and tumbling down.
Yet everything was completely stationary!
The "island fragment" they stood upon was a full thousand miles in circumference.
Outside the "fragment," everything remained still, resembling a mere illusion!
Only the entities upon the "fragment" itself possessed motion.
What met the eye was a boundless expanse of yellow sand and desolate Gobi desert.
Countless giant rocks weathered into bizarre shapes were scattered across the Gobi.
The earth was crisscrossed with deep ravines, and fierce gales raged across the sky.
This primordial secret realm seemed to conceal some profound secret.
Ye Bing gazed at the colossal island beyond the heavens and sighed, "To think it is actually... the Immortal-Sinking Island."
"The Immortal-Sinking Island?"
Pang Yue was taken aback.
Ever since his transmigration, he had heard of the Immortal-Sinking Island on more than one occasion.
The sect-鎮宝 of the Demon Talisman Sect, the eighth-tier magical treasure Chaos Demon Talisman, originated from the Immortal-Sinking Island.
The sect-鎮宝 of Hundred Flowers Island, the Primordial Immortal Vine comparable to the eighth tier, originated from the Immortal-Sinking Island.
Even the supreme magical treasure of the Heavenly Sword Sect, the ninth-tier Ten Thousand Sword Diagram, also originated from the Immortal-Sinking Island!
The Purple Radiance Sword he carried was similarly acquired by that Golden Core expert of the Profound Heavy Sect on the Immortal-Sinking Island in his early years.
The founding patriarch of the Demon Talisman Sect, based upon the Heavenly Demon Myriad Transformation Mysterious Transformation Scripture and combined with the Chaos Demon Talisman, created the art of Heavenly Demon Seizing the Dao, and the Chaos Profound Mysterious Demon Talisman Secret Canon was born from that.
The sages of the Heavenly Sword Sect comprehended supreme sword techniques from the Ten Thousand Sword Diagram, laying the foundation for the Heavenly Sword Sect.
The cultivation world of the Eastern Sea seemed, to a greater or lesser degree, to be intertwined with the Immortal-Sinking Island.
Where was the Immortal-Sinking Island?
According to the records in the sect scriptures of the Demon Talisman Sect, the center of the four seas was precisely the Immortal-Sinking Island!
Ye Bing withdrew her gaze and said, "This place is merely a Chrono-fragment of the Immortal-Sinking Island."
"Perhaps at some moment in antiquity, when the Immortal-Sinking Island shattered, one of its island fragments fell into the spatial turbulence, condensing into this primordial secret realm."
One could say that this place was merely a thousandth, or perhaps a ten-thousandth, of the Immortal-Sinking Island.
Pang Yue asked curiously, "Has the Palace Master ever been to the Immortal-Sinking Island?"
Ye Bing nodded and said, "Among the great Golden Core cultivators of the present age, places one must visit in a lifetime certainly include the Immortal-Sinking Island. This island is the origin of the heritage of the four seas; upon it lie countless ancient mighty figures' abandoned mansions and inheritances. The vast majority of sects in the Eastern Sea came into existence because of the Immortal-Sinking Island."
"Back then, I obtained the Myriad-Year Ice Essence on the Immortal-Sinking Island, causing my divine abilities to advance by leaps and bounds, which is how I ascended to the position of Palace Master of the Ice Demon Palace."
Pang Yue gazed at the phantom of the giant island beyond the heavens, unable to help his yearning and longing.
According to legends, that was the battlefield where ancient cultivators fought against heavenly demons.
There were also records stating that it was the initial landing point for extraterrestrial cultivators invading the Scarlet Firmament Heaven.
Yet one point remained consistent.
That was the Immortal-Sinking Island buried the secrets of the previous era!
And it had also inaugurated the current cultivation era!
The primordial secret realm before them was merely a thousand miles in circumference.
With the spiritual sense cultivation of the two, they could survey the entire secret realm in an instant.
Across the entire desolate Gobi, there were three peculiar locations.
All three sites bore the lingering aftermath of ancient array restrictions, appearing to be ancient ruins.
Within the secret realm, there were no concepts of east, west, north, or south.
Three hundred miles to the front-left of where the two had descended stood a thousand-zhang-tall giant Buddha statue, which was the first of the ruins.
Seven hundred miles to the rear-left lay a rift valley shrouded by a dilapidated grand array, marking the second ruin.
A thousand miles to the right lay a cluster of chaotic and disordered primordial Qi turbulence, twisting into a violent storm—the third ruin.
The two of them moved first toward the nearest giant Buddha statue!
...
A towering stone Buddha stood, over a thousand zhang tall.
Its lower half was deeply embedded in the ground, leaning crookedly.
The stone Buddha wore a compassionate expression, its hands forming a seal, while a little under half of its body was shattered and scattered across the ground.
In the void surrounding the stone Buddha, countless golden Buddhist characters flickered, appearing and disappearing intermittently, branded into the void itself.
These Buddhist characters formed a most concise scripture, yet they emanated an artistic conception of eternal indestructibility, serene and everlasting.
Pang Yue employed his pupil techniques and discovered that these scriptures continuously drew Qi from the void to nourish and sustain themselves, which was how they managed to survive to this day.
As for the Buddhist seal formed by the stone Buddha's hands, it seemed to conceal endless transformations, prompting Pang Yue to linger his gaze for a moment longer.
Subconsciously, he secretly urged the Primordial Wuji Stele, attempting to deduce its mysteries.
"Oh?"
Inside Pang Yue's sea of consciousness.
A majestic and towering golden Buddha suddenly manifested.
The golden Buddha formed a seal with one hand while tracing talismans in the void with the other.
Immediately, a talisman composed of countless dragon-shaped patterns flew out!
That talisman expanded in mid-air, transforming into a golden heavenly dragon that soared gracefully, emitting a deafening dragon roar.