In the deep black sea water, mixed with crimson blood, the area of several miles around suddenly became viscous and blood-stained.

"Ah, it seems I may have overdone it a bit!" Yang Jian, having reverted from his Chaos Demon Ape form due to excessive consumption, stumbled and almost fell into the depths of the sea.

Looking at Yang Jian, whose face was pale and completely drained of blood, Li Qingming shook his head and said, "I've told you before, don't use the Demon Ape form unless it's absolutely necessary. The toll it takes on oneself is enormous; overusing it once, it takes a long time to recover! From now on, just watch obediently!"

Yang Jian's handsome face blushed, and he said with some embarrassment, "Yes, Master!"

Shaking his head, Li Qingming said, "Alright, the guards have already discovered us, they must have gathered the cultivators by now, waiting for us at the bottom of the sea! Let's go, don't make them too anxious!"

Saying that, Li Qingming couldn't be bothered to cast the water-splitting spell again, transformed into a ray of light, and like a green fish, shot straight towards the sea bed.

"Let's go!" Li Qingquan turned his head to look at the others, his body also flickering with the same green Yuqing True Essence. He wrapped Yang Jian with it and followed the trail.

...

Deep within the Sea of Death God, hundreds and thousands of Taoist cultivators and warriors of the Netherworld God Clan converged from all directions. They heard the Netherworld God's call, knowing that something big must have happened in the Sea of Death God, otherwise, the Netherworld God's horn would not have been sounded.

"Quick, quick, quick, all under the guidance of Ziwei Palace, assemble immediately in front of the Water Prison!"

"Children of the Netherworld God Clan, there are alien invaders who have forcefully breached the Water Prison. We must find them, stop them, and kill them!"

All guards, regardless of race, held the same thoughts, moving rhythmically through the Water Prison, each one tense, as if facing a formidable enemy.

"Splash!"

At this moment, three bloodied and embarrassed figures fell from the pitch-black curtain of the sea and heavily crashed onto a spacious plaza in front of the Water Prison.

The plaza floor, paved with hard, thick sea-blue rock, emitted a series of ear-piercing "crack" sounds. Three enormous craters, each five zhang in diameter and hundreds of zhang deep, appeared on the small plaza, black and chillingly cold, terrifying to behold.

"What's going on? Go and check it out!" A young cultivator, no more than seven feet tall, wearing a plain hemp Daoist robe with bare feet and hair tied up in a bun, frowned slightly and instructed two young Taoists following him.

"Yes, young master!" The two calm-faced young Taoists respectfully saluted the cultivator and moved forward over the waves.

Just as the two young Taoists just flew near the first pit, the figure within suddenly expanded drastically, with a terrifying aura erupting forth.

"Not good!"

With a shock in their hearts, the two young Taoists fled backward like arrows. At the same time, the figures in the other two pits also began to swell and grow.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Three loud explosions, and the figures in the three pits were blown to pieces, chunks of flesh with streaks of blood and a pungent stench flew towards the two young Taoists.

Following it came a surge of energy fluctuations. That terrifying energy turned the seabed of the Sea of Death God upside down; amidst the water waves, the two first-hit young Taoists were instantly killed, and many guardians with Cultivation below the Quasi-Saint Middle Stage Realm were torn to shreds by the raging underwater currents.

"Rumble!"

As the current, carrying enough momentum to obliterate Heaven and Earth, swept towards the Water Prison, rings of golden halos erupted from the walls of the Water Prison. An invisible force battered the violent current to the mountainous seafloor thousands of miles away.

"Boom!"

The current, having met the Prohibition on the walls, seemed even more terrifying; entire mountains collapsed in an instant, and endless dust mixed with vapor darkened the already pitch-black seabed further.

The hemp-robed cultivator looked angrily at the devastated seabed of the Sea of Death God and roared furiously, "You all, who can tell me what exactly is going on?"

A Black Robed Man of the Netherworld God Clan, holding a pair of heavy hammers, looked at the hemp-robed cultivator with a bit of fear and shivered as he approached him, "Reporting to the young master, Lord Thanatos had found invaders forcibly entering the Sea of Death God and took some of his men to intercept them. Presumably, they must have failed..."

Upon hearing this, the face of the hemp-robed cultivator stiffened, and he cursed loudly, "Who allowed him to act on his own and deploy his men, dead is dead! Disobeying the Lord's order, mobilizing cultivators on his own, he is truly an ungrateful wretch, a dog that can't be fed enough!"

The warrior of the Netherworld God Clan trembled and said nothing...

"Alright, hurry down and prepare!" The hemp-robed cultivator waved his hand impatiently at the Netherworld God Clan's warrior before him to keep doing his defensive work.

...

Time hurried by, and after a quarter of an hour, a dozen dazzling lights slashed through the pitch-black sea water, appearing above the place where the explosion had occurred earlier.

Looking at the mess all over the small plaza, Long Xuhu's face showed utter shock as he said, "Shit, what's going on here? Could it be that someone else has also come to the Sea of Death God?"

Li Qingming smiled upon hearing this and said, "Those three guardians of the Sea of Death God, when they were knocked down to the seabed by Erlang, I planted a Bursting Yuan Talisman in each of them. As soon as they hit the ground, the Bursting Yuan Talismans inside them would naturally explode!"

"Ha?"

Everyone was slightly startled upon hearing this, then came to an understanding. When dealing with enemies, who cared about the so-called way of the gentleman? In warfare, deception was common. It was just a mere Bursting Yuan Talisman anyway; there were much crueler methods available, but Li Qingming simply couldn't be bothered to use them.

"Thump thump thump..."

Just as everyone was preparing to leave and intended to investigate the entire Water Prison, a series of deafening footsteps approached.

The guardians, with unsightly expressions and powerful True Yuan and Divine Power surging around them, quickly emerged from the Water Prison and stood in the eastern part of the small plaza, directly across from Li Qingming and the others. The tense atmosphere made even the currents at the bottom of the Sea of Death God seem to freeze.

A young man in a hemp robe stepped forward, holding a beige flag. He examined everyone and said, "Where did you unruly fellows come from to dare barge into the Sea of Death God so brazenly?"

Li Qingming heard this and chuckled without responding, instead asking, "And who might you be? Does the Sea of Death God belong to you?"

The young man in the hemp robe arrogantly laughed and said, "I am Jiang Jili, with the honorable title of Ding Gong."

"Jiang Jili..." Li Qingming frowned, feeling as though he had heard this name somewhere before, but after scouring all of his memories, he couldn't recall even the slightest detail.

"Intruders, I see that your cultivation is strong and your bloodline powerful. If you are willing to bow down and serve my father, I can take charge and absolve you of the crime of forcefully intruding into the Sea of Death God!" Jiang Jili made this particular offer, struggling to see through the cultivation levels of Li Qingming and Xuan Tian.

"Your father, who is your father?" Everyone was astonished and pressed for an answer.

Before Jiang Jili could respond, Hephaestus stepped forward and whispered, "His father is the Black Robed Man that Apollo brought back in the day, Emperor Jiang!"

Although Hephaestus spoke softly, everyone present was a cultivator of the Sub-Saint Realm or above, and they heard his words clearly.

"Ha ha ha, at least there are some sensible people here!" Jiang Jili burst out laughing and said, "How about it? As long as you are willing to submit, when my father leads his armies to conquer the Central Heaven World and tramples Pangu's Great Thousand World underfoot, you will be heroes with fiefs to rule and blessings that last forever!"

"Conquer the Central Heaven World, trample Pangu's Great Thousand World underfoot..."

A silence fell over the crowd; they simply couldn't believe that Emperor Jiang harbored such grand and... unattainable ambitions!

Moments later, the plaza was pierced by two pieces of ear-piercing laughter.

"Pfft... Hahaha... I can't hold it anymore! This is too hilarious!" Long Xuhu jumped around, fixing Jiang Jili with a peculiar gaze.

"Ha ha... conquer Central Heaven... trample... hahaha..." Man Niu couldn't even handle it; he just lay on the seabed, holding his belly, laughing until tears poured out.

Silence, a deadly quiet!

All the guardians looked at the laughing Long Xuhu and Yang Jian with shockingly pale faces, trembling all over, as if something terrifying was about to happen.

Sure enough, after Jiang Jili was stunned for a while, a furious surge of True Yuan erupted from within him. His eyes reddened as he roared viciously, "You damned intruders, how dare you mock me! I will have your lives!"

With that, he waved the small flag in his hand and shouted at the surrounding guardians, "What are you waiting for? Set up the formation, set up the Complete Heaven God and Ghost Kill Array!"

Thousands of guardians shivered, rapidly moving their feet, and in a few flashes, they had already encircled Li Qingming and his companions in the center.

Their positions were set in the formation of a nine-square grid, stepping with the Eight Diagrams Shuntian Step, as they threw the pre-prepared jade stones towards the sea above everyone's head.

Jiang Jili was not idle either. He recited spells, and golden Tao Runes spilled out of his mouth. Then with a wave of his hand, the beige flag was raised, and with a "swoosh," it flew above everyone's heads.

A ring of hazy yellow light radiated outward from the flag, washing over all directions.

Inside the Complete Heaven God and Ghost Kill Array.

"Big brother, are we just going to do nothing? Just watch them complete the Array?" Li Qingquan looked at Li Qingming with some puzzlement. His brother, always ahead in strategy, seemed off today.

Li Qingming looked at the ever-changing environment around them and said, "No rush! After all, we're already in the Sea of Death God, and we're not afraid of whatever tricks they might try to pull. But this Jiang Jili, why do I sense a trace of Yuqing True Essence within his True Yuan? Let's clear that up first!"

Li Qingquan and Yang Jian, puzzled, turned their gazes toward Jiang Jili outside the Array and indeed saw traces of Yuqing True Essence Power fluttering around him.

The two of them, filled with doubts, had no choice but to patiently wait for Jiang Jili to activate the Array.

(To be continued. If you like this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your votes and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)

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