Chapter 235: The Fish Demon Awakens – I Didn’t Mean for Her to Actually Die

“Junior Sister, we’re here.”

Ye Minghe and his group had arrived at the Fish Demon Skeleton, located at the border between the Flat Earth Circle and the Abyssal Circle. The boundary was marked by the Mist Sea Cliff.

Elder Lu continued ahead into the depths of the Flat Earth Circle, leaving the group to temporarily hide nearby.

Among the Five Dire Grounds, the Fish Demon Skeleton was the only one considered physically safe. The lingering might of the Thousand-Eyed Fish Demon still intimidated nearby demonic creatures, preventing them from approaching. This place was classified as one of the Five Dire Grounds not because of the skeleton itself, but because of the nearby Mist Sea Cliff.

The Mist Sea Cliff was once the dwelling of the Thousand-Eyed Fish Demon. It had hidden beneath the cliff for centuries, preying on anyone or anything that passed by. The base of the cliff was shrouded in dense mist, concealing whatever lay beneath. The demon would leap out from the sea of fog whenever prey approached.

These days, the top of the Mist Sea Cliff was safe to traverse, but the bottom remained perilous. No one knew what still lurked below. Those who accidentally fell in either never returned or came back insane.

Lian Mu finally laid eyes on the legendary Fish Demon Skeleton and couldn’t help but marvel. “It really is huge. Was it the most powerful demonic creature in the Abyssal Circle?”

Ye Minghe’s gaze flickered. “That’s right. This whole region used to be off-limits. But after our Sect Master slew it, the area became a place of refuge. Unfortunately, the Sect Master perished along with it…”

Lian Mu blinked. “But isn’t our Sect Master still alive?”

“It was the previous Sect Master,” Ye Minghe explained. “He was also the only talisman cultivator to ever lead the Returning Immortal Sect since its founding. You’ve only recently joined, so it’s normal you wouldn’t know. His name was Fu Shaozhou. Back then, he was a talisman cultivator even more talented than Sect Master Shen.”

Lian Mu nodded. “I’ve heard people mention him before.”

“Though the Thousand-Eyed Fish Demon is dead, the Mist Sea Cliff is still dangerous. Just to be safe, we shouldn’t wander around until the next elder arrives to relieve us,” Ye Minghe said.

They had fought through many demonic creatures along the way. Ye Minghe’s eyes showed a trace of fatigue, but as the senior disciple, he didn’t complain. Instead, he silently moved to the side to meditate and recover.

Baili Que stood still, staring at the massive fish bones.

Lian Mu dragged Shen Wuxie and the others down from the silver kite. Seeing Baili Que’s silence, she tried to comfort him. “It’s just a dead fish. What’s there to be scared of?”

Baili Que replied, “…Who said I’m scared?”

Lian Mu teased, “Aren’t you afraid of seafood? Back when we were at Crimson Sky Sect, you couldn’t even look at fish without half-covering your eyes.”

“Bullshit,” Baili Que snapped.

With that, he walked straight under the fish bones.

“I’m not afraid of this thing at all,” he said flatly.

Shen Wuxie was stunned. “Baili Que, did you just curse? I’m telling your dad!”

Lian Mu: “…”

Baili Que: “…”

“What’s the point of bringing him along?” Baili Que asked.

Lian Mu replied, “To entertain us.”

Without another word, Lian Mu stuffed something into Shen Wuxie’s mouth and tossed him aside.

Shen Wuxie rolled on the ground, his clothes now dirty. He rolled his eyes but didn’t resist, instead finding a comfortable position to lie down.

But when he turned his head, he found a dead fish eye on the ground staring straight at him.

His eyes widened instantly. “Mmm! Mmm!”

Neither Lian Mu nor Baili Que paid him any attention. Lian Mu was squatting by the fish bones, studying a map, while Baili Que tried once again to contact Ji Mingyue.

“It’s been half an hour. No new markers have lit up, and there’s no movement from Crimson Sky Sect either,” Lian Mu said.

Baili Que asked, “Why did you suspect the problem was with the Red Scorched Rift?”

“Because I’ve encountered something similar before,” Lian Mu explained. “When I first came in, a demonic creature altered the environment to confuse us. Luckily, Senior Sister Pei was with me.”

“By the way, this is your first time entering the Shifang Nether Soil, right? You actually dared to dive straight into a demonic creature’s mouth. When Senior Brother Qu told me, I was shocked.”

Lian Mu shrugged. “I didn’t have a choice. But I got lucky. It couldn’t digest me.”

Still, the experience in the Blood Butterfly Meat Pool left her feeling queasy just thinking about it.

She glanced at her hand, then after a moment of thought, said, “Do you smell anything strange?”

Baili Que sniffed. “No.”

“Come closer,” Lian Mu said.

Baili Que leaned in and sniffed again. “Just smells like blood.”

She had fallen into the Blood Butterfly Meat Pool, and a large chunk of skin was missing from her arm. Her entire body reeked of blood.

“You should probably treat your arm first,” Baili Que said. “It’s pretty horrifying.”

Judging by the wound, it didn’t look like a demonic creature’s bite. It seemed more like it had been sliced cleanly with a sword. Just looking at it made Baili Que wince. Lian Mu truly was ruthless, even to herself.

“It already hurt. It’s fine now,” Lian Mu said. “Once we get out, I’ll take some medicine. It’ll heal in a day or two.”

That demon race person in the Blood Butterfly Meat Pool had said she carried “his scent.”

If only demon race beings could detect it, then “he” must be Xuan Che. After all, he was the only demon race person she had come into contact with.

Lian Mu couldn’t shake the feeling that today’s events were somehow connected to Xuan Che.

She instinctively touched her spatial pouch. The Thousand Mechanisms Pagoda was with her. Since it wasn’t convenient to leave it at Azure Profound Sect’s residence, she had brought it along.

If this had anything to do with the Shifang Nether Soil, Xuan Che would probably know more than anyone.

If Ye Minghe and Baili Que weren’t here, she would’ve dragged him out for answers already.

Back during the Illusion Realm at Clear Thought Sect, he had been able to see her actions, which meant he could sense changes in the outside world.

The Black Moon had been here for some time now. He probably already knew.

Lian Mu thought for a moment, planning to find a chance to question him in secret. Just as the thought crossed her mind, something nudged her foot twice.

She stepped back and saw a fish fin twitching on the ground.

Lian Mu: “?”

She didn’t remember stepping on anything just now.

She backed up two more steps, only to bump into a wall.

Turning around, she realized it was a massive heart.

Baili Que also sensed something was wrong. The red worms at his feet had melted into pools of blood, and from within the blood, one fish eye after another began to emerge.

The two exchanged a look and quickly retreated from beneath the skeleton.

“Senior Brother, we need to go! Something’s wrong here!” Lian Mu shouted as she grabbed Shen Wuxie and called out to Ye Minghe.

Ye Minghe opened his eyes and immediately sensed the surge of demonic qi behind him. He sprang to his feet.

Beneath the Fish Demon Skeleton, the red worms had transformed into scattered entrails and eyeballs. They flowed with the blood, and a fish fin slid beneath the bones, attaching itself to the skeleton.

Shen Wuxie mumbled frantically. Lian Mu casually tore off the seal on his mouth, and he shouted, “What took you so long to notice?! This thing’s coming back to life!”

Just as he finished speaking, the tailbone of the Fish Demon Skeleton twitched. The blood and flesh on the ground clung to the white bones, beginning to regenerate, twitching with life.

Baili Que: “?”

Ye Minghe frowned. “How is the Thousand-Eyed Fish Demon… It was clearly dead…”

There was no time to think. Ye Minghe pushed them behind him. “Junior brothers and sisters, get back.”

Lian Mu said, “Senior brother, you can’t beat it. Let’s just run together.”

Even the former sect master had only managed to perish alongside it. How could Ye Minghe possibly stand against it?

Baili Que said, “No, this isn’t the real Thousand-Eyed Fish Demon.”

He cast a talisman at the Fish Demon Skeleton. The spiritual energy passed straight through the blood and flesh.

“It really is dead,” Baili Que said. “But someone forcibly stitched its corpse back together. This is a living corpse.”

Baili Que could only make a rough judgment. To animate such a massive corpse, a formation must have been used. But the person who set it up had a higher cultivation than him and had deliberately concealed it. He couldn’t sense any trace of the formation’s spiritual energy.

The Fish Demon Skeleton reassembled at incredible speed. Just as Baili Que had said, there was no light in the fish demon’s eyes—just the lifeless stare of a dead fish.

Thousands of fish eyes swiveled blankly, but for some reason, one of the two largest eyes on its head was missing, leaving only an empty socket.

The fish demon’s fins flared, and its massive body lifted into the air. With a sweep of its tail, it struck straight toward them.

Ye Minghe blocked the blow with his sword, but the impact forced him back a step, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

The former overlord of the Abyssal Circle, even in death, was no opponent for ordinary cultivators.

Lian Mu and Shen Wuxie were thrown aside by the shockwave. As the fish demon’s tail swept toward them, Lian Mu kept retreating until she was forced to the edge of Mist Sea Cliff, splitting her off from Baili Que and the others.

Lian Mu: “…”

Why is it always me who gets the worst luck?

Seeing Ye Minghe barely holding on, Shen Wuxie cursed, “I knew you people were unreliable. Good thing I sent a talisman message to my aunt ahead of time.”

Lian Mu smacked him on the head. “You did it behind our backs and still dare to brag?”

Shen Wuxie: “You hit me?!”

Lian Mu: “When will Elder Mei get here?”

Shen Wuxie: “How should I know? It’s not even certain the message reached her. This is all your fault for dragging me to this cursed place! Untie me already!”

Seeing the fish demon about to turn their way, Lian Mu slashed the ropes binding Shen Wuxie. “Figure out a way to contact Elder Mei. If you don’t, I’ll toss you out there as bait.”

Shen Wuxie kicked off the ropes in a few quick moves. “You think I don’t want to? Even if the message reached her, she has no idea where we are unless…”

Lian Mu: “Spit it out.”

Shen Wuxie frowned, hesitating.

As the son of the top talisman cultivator clan, he had come into contact with some rare and specialized talisman techniques. Even without Talisman Paper, he could draw directly on the ground to transmit messages—but the cost was enormous.

He had no idea where Mei Chengyu was in the entire Abyssal Circle. He could only broadcast the message as widely as possible.

With his current strength, he’d probably die on the spot after sending it.

Seeing his long silence, Lian Mu gave up on him. “Useless. You really are inferior to your little brother. Go play somewhere else.”

With that, she raised her sword and charged at the fish demon.

“I’m worse than Shen Wusang?” Shen Wuxie exploded with rage. “What gives you the right to look down on me?!”

Gritting his teeth, Shen Wuxie looked at the fish demon turning toward them. He made up his mind, flicked his finger to release the spikes on his ring, and slashed his brow.

Screw it. Dead either way—might as well gamble.

He formed hand seals. Blood flowed from his brow down his face. Water spiritual power burst from his palms. “Lian Mu, when this is over, you owe me a hundred bottles of high-grade Blood-Nourishing Pills!”

Lian Mu pulled back her foot mid-step. Seeing he was actually going all in, she thought, Guess the provocation worked.

She never intended to fight this thing head-on. Only an idiot would do that.

Lian Mu slid low under the fish demon’s tail, dodging its attack.

The tail slammed toward Shen Wuxie. He dodged sideways, nearly avoiding it completely, but suddenly stepped on something slick. Caught off guard, he slipped and fell backward.

Right off the edge of Mist Sea Cliff.

Only after his foot missed the ledge did Shen Wuxie realize how serious it was. He scrambled to grab the cliff’s edge, dangling by one hand, while the other continued channeling spiritual energy outward.

When he saw what had tripped him, he nearly cursed aloud.

“Who the hell left an ice crystal right next to a cliff?!”

Lian Mu was speechless for a moment, then rushed over, kicked the ice crystal off the cliff, and grabbed Shen Wuxie’s arm.

She was just about to pull him up when the fish demon’s massive body turned toward them. With its size, it could crush this entire section of the cliff.

Lian Mu was silent for a moment. “Once you’re up there, you must bring Elder Mei here.”

Shen Wuxie climbed frantically. “No kidding! Now pull me up already!”

“Brace yourself. It’ll only hurt for a second.” Lian Mu gathered spiritual energy in her arm and hurled him upward.

Then, channeling power into her foot, she kicked him hard, launching him across the gap.

Shen Wuxie hadn’t even processed what happened. He just felt a sharp pain in his waist, followed by the sound of bones cracking. He flew through the air, hit the ground hard, and broke a few more bones on impact.

He was in so much pain he could barely speak, coughing up blood, but his survival instinct kept him from breaking the spiritual link.

“Lian Mu, I swear… I’ll kill you for this…”

But when Shen Wuxie looked up, he saw Lian Mu leap off the Mist Sea Cliff.

The fish demon’s body fully turned, crushing the cliff edge. The rocks shattered under its weight, leaving no space behind.

Shen Wuxie stared, dumbfounded. “?”

He was just venting! He didn’t mean for her to actually go die!