Lu Hongyan gritted her teeth and swung her sword to block Lord Lanshan, charging towards the whirlpool below. However, the sword edge struck a layer of thick, hard energy, like mortal iron chopping into a boulder, numbing her sword-wielding hand.

Lu Lanshan ignored her and said, "Raise the formation, one-seventeen."

The disciples and elders beside him continued to stimulate sword shadows with their sword energy.

Seventeen sword shadows hummed and shifted horizontally, arranging themselves with countless profound patterns intertwining, carrying an irresistible sword energy, pressing down on the whirlpool layer by layer.

The rotation of the whirlpool did not stop, but its scope no longer continued to expand. A layer of energy separated the whirlpool from the sea island, the sea waves surging in vain, unable to harm the people outside that energy layer.

An elder said, "This is..."

"Unable to suppress it, only temporarily hold it down. The thirty-four swords of the Sword Tomb are our last resort. If Guixu continues to stir, then draw the swords again." Lu Lanshan's eyes were solemn. "Once all thirty-four swords are exhausted, there will be no power to turn the tide."

"In the past, although Guixu was turbulent, it was still under our control. How did it come to this?"

"Just now, that was Swordmaster Ye and his chief disciple?"

"The entrance to Guixu has been sealed by a myriad-zhang energy barrier. How will Swordmaster Ye get out?"

Hearing the young disciples around him asking one question after another, Lu Lanshan did not answer, his tone calm: "Form the formation."

The sword energy rose again, and the formation was fully formed, encasing the entire whirlpool, unbreakable. Outsiders could no longer enter, and things inside could not come out either.

Lu Hongyan glared at him resentfully.

"Apologies, Lady Canlong." Lu Lanshan bowed to her and closed his eyes to focus on presiding over the formation.

The water was cold and very dark.

Young Master Chen couldn't swim, which made him feel very frightened.

He could only cling tightly to Ye Jiuya's waist, his entire body wrapped around him.

When they sank to the deepest part of the sea, he felt the cold seawater from all directions fiercely squeezing his limbs and bones. His ears rang, his head ached as if it would split. His whole body felt like it had been thrown into a millstone to be ground.

Then suddenly, there was emptiness. The viscosity of the seawater disappeared, and his whole body felt light, as if thrown high into the air - but unfortunately this only lasted for a moment. Immediately, the world spun, and after the suffocation, he instinctively took deep breaths. The cold air rushed into his lungs, a searing, chaotic sensation that was truly indescribable.

- Then he crashed hard on the solid ground a few times before finally coming to a stop.

Even though Ye Jiuya had shielded him quite a bit during that final landing, Chen Weichen still felt pain all over his body. He groaned uncomfortably a few times before Ye Jiuya pulled him up from the ground.

His vision was all blurry, and he could only vaguely see a figure in white. Dizzy and lightheaded, it took a long time before he could see clearly what was in front of him.

He and Ye Jiuya stood on a grotesque cliff - or perhaps on an irregular platform in the cliff face. There were cold black rocks above them, and more below. The craggy black stones extended upward along the cliff, with no end in sight.

Below the cliff was an expanse of hazy gray mist. Standing at the edge of the cliff and looking ahead, there was only a vast emptiness.

Nothing at all.

It wasn't the hollow emptiness of being destitute, but a thorough, boundless void.

Chen Weichen untied the exquisite jade pendant from his waist and threw it down the cliff.

The jade pendant disappeared without a trace in an instant.

First the pure white drop, then the fine tassels, gradually vanishing, silently devoured by the void.

The sea has great chasms, bottomless below.

Those who return, end here.

He was staring blankly when he suddenly heard a series of "Ah ah ah ah—" sounds from above, and a disheveled figure plummeted down at high speed.

Chen Weichen immediately recognized the owner of the voice: "Ah Hui!"

Ye Jiuya's sword energy supported him from below, slowing Wen Hui's falling momentum. He crashed ungracefully but fortunately avoided serious injury.

A round black shadow darted out from his arms, meowing discontentedly a few times, its green eyes glaring at Chen Weichen.

Chen Weichen respectfully greeted, "Lady Qingyuan is here too."

Then he looked up: "Lady Lu and the little Daoist priest haven't come down yet?"

Wen Hui came back to his senses from the shock, gasping for breath. Finally able to speak - his voice still shaky: "Lady Lu was blocked outside by Lord Lanshan!"

Chen Weichen clicked his tongue.

The servant picked up the black cat and swung it at the young master: "You're courting death again! What kind of ghostly place is this!"

The black cat was extremely cooperative at this moment, its sharp claws gleaming, ready to add a few scratches to the young master's handsome face.

Chen Weichen hid behind Ye Jiuya, then dodged behind Wen Hui and hugged his shoulders, coaxing, "I was wrong, I was wrong—next time I jump into the sea, I will definitely tell Ah Hui first."

After admitting his mistake, Chen Weichen asked, "They couldn't come down - how did you bring Qingyuan with you?"

The servant muttered gloomily, "I don't know either. At that time, Lady Canlong and Lord Lanshan were fighting fiercely, and everyone else was focused on manipulating their sword energy. Daoist Xie said it was dangerous below and pulled me, not letting me go down. His strength is great, and I definitely couldn't break free. But I felt something tugging from below, a light pull, and Daoist Xie's grip on me somehow loosened—his cat was still in my arms. Who knows how anxious he must be up there."

It was understandable for Lord Lanshan to intervene and stop Lu Hongyan, but Wen Hui being pulled down - that was strange.

Although Xie Lang appeared ordinary and even had a bit of a talkative, cheap air about him, he was still the master of the Qingjing Temple, inheriting a set of exquisite Daoist teachings. As the saying goes, "The phoenix perched on a soft branch, the dragon's form already vaguely taking shape"; he was a future figure akin to the head of his sect. For someone to silently snatch a person from his hands in front of everyone was truly perplexing.

Moreover, Wen Hui was just an ordinary mortal. What use could he have?

They pondered on the spot for a while but couldn't come up with any reason.

Ye Jiuya: "The energy of Guixu is abnormal, perhaps a coincidence."

Chen Weichen recalled the scene of the stars above the whirlpool seeming to collapse and nodded.

Seeing this, Wen Hui also put his mind at ease a little.

Ahead was the abyss, behind was the cliff, truly a dilemma of nowhere to advance or retreat. Wen Hui was puzzled: "Young Master, Swordmaster Ye, what are we doing?"

Ye Jiuya answered him: "Looking for someone."

"Someone?" Wen Hui was surprised, unable to imagine how there could still be people in such a ghostly place.

Chen Weichen's peripheral vision swept over a section of the rock wall and said, "There are words there."

They looked and saw fierce strokes deeply engraved in the black stone:

The mountains are high and the waters vast, who comes here to chisel open the chaos

The earth is far and the sky is long, I too wish to shatter the universe

The tone could be said to be extremely arrogant.

His gaze swept back and forth around the calligraphy, and indeed discovered a hidden cave nestled among the rugged rocks.

Ye Jiuya entered the cave alone. After passing through a stone corridor, he arrived at a spacious stone chamber. Many characters were engraved on the walls, written by the same hand as the two sentences outside. The silver-hook iron strokes were certainly beautiful to behold, but when there were too many, they inevitably resembled a frenzied dance of demons, dazzling to the eyes.

However, a person sat upright on the central stone platform, clad in gray, suppressing the frenzied dance of demons in the room.

It was a woman, motionless. Without wrinkles, her appearance did not reveal her age. Her hair was snow-white, hanging loose, like a stone statue, but lacking the compassion and mercy of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas worshipped by mortals.

She slowly opened her eyes: "You are Ye Jiuya of Sword Pavilion."

Ye Jiuya bowed to her: "Greetings, Senior Chi."

Her smile was filled with unspeakable cruelty and killing intent: "Has the time come?"

Ye Jiuya: "Yes."

The woman laughed: "I opened up this space in the void and sat in meditation for nineteen years, just to see what the Heavenly Dao truly is -- Ye Jiuya, have you come to invite me out?"

Ye Jiuya met her gaze and said, "To open the Platform of Life and Creation, I request Senior's assistance."

"Very well." She stood up and stepped down from the stone platform. "Back then, playing against the Heavenly Dao, I ultimately lost by one move. If my named disciple can be resurrected and a new game of fate begun, the outcome is still unknown."

She looked at Ye Jiuya and added, "But when did your Sword Pavilion have a change of heart, wanting to row against the current with me?"

"The Sword Pavilion has no such intention. This junior has come only to resolve a fixation."

She said coldly, "So you're still a running dog of the Heavenly Dao."

Ye Jiuya did not speak, his expression still unperturbed and calm.

"Having the courage to come here, you must have cultivated the Dao of the Sword to the pinnacle, able to slash through the void. Since that's the case, you lead me out of Guixu, and I'll help you open the Platform of Life and Creation. Consider it even."

She arrived at the cave entrance, gazing out at the vast void.

They flew out from the cave mouth. When they landed on the platform below, Chen Weichen was shaking Wen Hui: "Ah Hui, Ah Hui!"

Wen Hui responded in a daze: "Young Master..."

The white-haired woman stepped forward to take a look at him: "Soul-scattered?"

Chen Weichen patted Wen Hui's cheeks and seeing no reaction, said, "He stared blankly at the abyss ahead for quite a while and turned into this state."

Having said that, he glanced cautiously at Ye Jiuya: "Master, this person is..."

"My name is Chi Juntian." The woman's voice was cold and hard.

Chen Weichen respectfully said, "Greetings, Senior Chi."

Chi Juntian could barely be considered Emperor Yan's master -- this person's memories clearly should have contained this, but he pretended not to know her. Ye Jiuya recalled Chen Weichen usually being like this in front of Lu Hongyan as well, and did not say more.