Splash—

As soon as that was said, a seawater giant at least three hundred meters tall stood up from the waves. It seemed to direct a real pair of eyes at Qing Han and was the image of a dao immortal.

“No more trouble, child. Come home with me.” Its words rumbled in the sky like thunder, causing the surrounding waters to whip up calamitous tides. Many nearby boats and monster spirits who couldn’t escape in time were torn apart by the prodigious waves.

The skiff that Lu Yun and Qing Han sat in was only about a meter and a half long, but it remained safe and stable despite the tempest. Stretching languidly at the boat’s stern, Qing Han squinted with thoughtful curiosity. “Wasn’t I branded a traitor to be killed on sight?” he asked. “Why are you now telling me to go back?” His expression was fearless, even a little derisive.

The saltwater giant raised its aqueous eyebrows at the response. After a moment, it reached out with a silent grab.

Boom.

The surrounding seawater exploded into a flurry of crests and swells, surging toward the small boat.

Sploooosh.

An even bigger wave whipped up, smashing the giant’s hand and surrounding surges into a million droplets. A silver-haired man in a cerulean robe walked out from the void.

“Qing Quan, you disgusting exhibitionist! Don’t think I don’t recognize you from behind that facade!” He cackled with insolent disdain as he threw a straight jab at the giant. The punch seemed to carry a hundred million newtons of force behind it, destroying the giant in an enormous big geyser of brine.

“Wellspring, how dare an old demon like you interfere in the Qing Clan’s affairs? Do you not fear our reprisal?” His seawater giant broken, Qing Quan showed his true form. He was the dao immortal who’d appeared in Dusk Province the last time, attacking Lu Yun and nearly causing Qing Han’s death from a mixture of new poisons.

In return, he’d become the laughingstock of the world. Apart from losing the Qing ancestral treasure, he’d gotten his clothes ripped off by a cultivator junior, forcing him to run nude through the streets. Because of this, he desperately wanted to kill Lu Yun and capture Qing Han to redeem his name.

“Hahahaha, the Qing Clan’s affairs?” The silver-haired Wellspring roared with laughter. “I can afford to anger a clan of your caliber.”

Hum...

A ripple flared out from Wellspring, gathering power from the seawater for leagues around. A cerulean ball of light three hundred meters across appeared in front of him. Lightning snaked across the ball’s surface, thundering toward Qing Quan with lethal force.

“I’ve hooked him. Show yourselves!” Qing Quan suddenly roared with laughter.

Boom, boom, boom!

Three great figures stepped out from wrinkles in space, firing off terrifying attacks in unison. Wellspring’s ball of light was annihilated in the blast.

“You think far too little of the Qing Clan, Wellspring! Let me see if you really can afford to offend us!” A tall, broad-shouldered dao immortal grinned angrily.

“You’re from the Skandha Range too, eh, Wellspring? Tsk tsk tsk, is Lu Yun really your master’s bastard son? Is that why you protect him like this?”

Although the current Skandha Range appeared rather pedestrian—presently, it was only inhabited by a group of monster spirits who’d sealed their cultivation—it had an infamous history of serving as a safe haven for all kinds of monster spirits and other villains.

When the divines ruled the world, even they dared not cross the Skandha Range. At its peak, the Range was capable of facing any of the imperial courts head on and indisputably the foremost sacred land of evil.

Despite its decline in recent years, it still commanded considerable influence. The scoundrels and devils who’d lived there in the past would gather at a single word from the desolate willow.

Those who left the Range tended to lead singular lifestyles. Some hid their identities and lived among the world with little regard for their reputation, while others ruled their own domains of evil among the greater facets.

It was quite inexplicable, really, why the Skandha Range’s evildoers were coming together on Lu Yun’s behalf to oppose three great clans and a sect, among other important factions in the world. He’d nearly flattened the Skandha Range, once upon a time. Shouldn’t they be hostile toward him instead?

In many places, the popular rumor that Lu Yun was the illegitimate son of the Skandha Range’s master had begun to circulate. It was patently absurd, but there was no shortage of believers nevertheless.

……

Lu Yun had expected the Qing Clan to show up on his trip into the North Sea. Their blood flowed through Qing Han’s veins, after all, and they had a thousand ways to figure out where he was. That was why Wellspring, a dao immortal demon, was here to protect them. When Qing Quan showed himself, Wellspring had followed suit.

Alas, the arrival of three more dao immortals was too much for them to handle. Lu Yun and Qing Han weren’t the Qing Clan’s sole objectives. They wanted to kill the Skandha Range expert who was with them!

This was both a threat and a warning to the rest of the world!

Hum.

The four dao immortals instantly sealed off their patch of sea, and even froze the sky. Wellspring wouldn’t be able to fight them alone.

“Wellspring, you old monster! It’s time for you to die!” one of them laughed as he attacked.

Wellspring remained undaunted by the number of enemies he faced. His average-framed figure soared into the sky on a huge waterspout in a direct attack.

Wham. Wham. Wham. Wham!

A momentous battle broke out, though it was rather one-sided. Four against one was bad enough, but the Qing Clan immortals had a supreme-grade treasure with them as well. Qing Quan was the weakest of the lot, while his three comrades individually rivaled Wellspring in strength, having plucked three aether dao fruits each.

Wellspring roared in frustration. His body broke and reformed four times in the clashes; the effort had drained the rosiness from his cheeks.

“I’m… taking… you… with me!!” After his fifth reconstitution, Wellspring’s face contorted with madness. He spat a blue orb from his mouth that began glowing with tremendous power.

“Careful! He’s going to detonate his life sphere!” Qing Quan’s hairs stood on end in horror. He shrieked with terror, abandoning his readied attack to flee as quickly as he could. The other three dao immortals silently followed suit.

Wellspring was an otherkind cultivator. His life source was a life sphere, rather than a nascent immortal soul. Monster spirits, especially ones as unique as Wellspring, could cause incredible amounts of devastation when they detonated their life spheres, and the four dao immortals would have no chance of survival. It was a double-edged sword, however; the user would be annihilated in the blast as well, leaving absolutely nothing behind.

Boom!

A storm of cerulean light appeared over the ocean, accompanied by a cacophonous clamor of explosions. Tons and tons of seawater were evaporated by the energy and the commotion was more than enough to convince the Qing immortals to abscond without hesitation.

“Let us hurry, young lords!” Suddenly, Wellspring’s body reappeared on the skiff that Lu Yun and Qing Han were riding. He summoned a jet of water that propelled them deeper into the North Sea.