Chapter 227: Black Tide Responsibility

Demon Nurturing River.

“Why should we help you?”

On either side of the river, Qiu Heng and Master Lu remained locked in a standoff.

When Wen Yun suggested leaving first, the Crimson Sky Sect team sensed something was off. They blocked the path and demanded cooperation before allowing anyone to pass.

Qiu Heng’s team was on the narrow eastern bank. To reach any other group, they would have to cross the Demon Nurturing River and head west.

They weren’t afraid of the demonic creatures in the river. After all, Wen Yun had a water spiritual root and could easily build a bridge of pure water.

But Master Lu had no intention of letting them go. “You want to cross? Fine. But you have to come with us. Otherwise, forget getting across. Wen Yun, you may be the strongest chief disciple, but you’re still a newcomer. Qiu Heng might be able to hold me off, but you? You can’t. Your water bridge, I can destroy it with a single strike. Then we’ll see how much spiritual energy you have to waste on me.”

Wen Yun crossed his arms, expression calm. “And what if we make it across anyway?”

Master Lu sneered. “Impossible.”

Meanwhile, Changsun Li was still entangled with the demonic creatures in the river, locked in a stalemate with no way to break free.

“Senior Brother Lu, help me get this thing off!”

A talisman cultivator next to Master Lu was about to rush to help, but Master Lu stopped him. “What’s the rush? A little recklessness might teach you a lesson. I saw your Illusion Realm Image Projection. You disobeyed Shuang’er’s orders more than once, didn’t you? If she won’t discipline you, I will.”

Changsun Li frowned. “Senior Brother…”

Wen Yun was just about to mock him when he suddenly caught sight of a swarm of black shadows rushing toward them in the distance. He paused slightly.

At that moment, a talisman cultivator in their team received a message from another squad of their sect.

“Senior Brother, get your team over here immediately. Something’s gone wrong in the exploration zone. The Black Tide is about to erupt!”

Everyone on both banks froze. Qiu Heng and Master Lu especially were stunned. As long-term residents of the Shifang Nether Soil, they knew exactly what the Black Tide meant.

Looking up, they saw that part of the red moon in the sky had indeed turned black.

The reason the nights in the Shifang Nether Soil remained calm was entirely due to the Heavenly Return Palace among the stars. The twelve pearls before the palace were personally placed by the former lord. Within each pearl lingered a trace of the lord’s sword aura. His sword, named Moon Splendor, only emitted its full deterrent power when it shone in harmony with the moon.

The red moon weakened the pearls’ power. A black moon, however, would strip them of their light completely, rendering them useless and triggering a demonic uprising known as the Black Tide.

The red moon appeared every ten months. The black moon came once every five years.

How could the disciples’ exploration period have coincided with both events—and on the same night?

Qiu Heng’s heart began to sink. Across the river, Master Lu’s expression was equally alarmed.

Master Lu’s face showed clear panic. “We’re leaving. Forget them.”

A disciple from the Crimson Sky Sect protested, “But our chief disciple is still trapped by the demonic creatures. Senior Brother, we have to save him!”

Master Lu’s eyes widened in fury. “Do you have any idea how dangerous the Black Tide is?! Demonic creatures are already heading this way. Soon, the Demon Nurturing River will erupt with them too. Stay here one moment longer and you’ll die!”

The disciple shrank back under the scolding. “Won’t you protect us, Senior Brother?”

Master Lu snapped, “Even the elders struggle against demonic creatures under the Black Moon. What can we do?”

Then he cursed, “Damn that Azure Profound Sect sect master. What a day to pick!”

Just as he finished speaking, the black water of the Demon Nurturing River began to churn. Skeletal hands emerged, clawing at the riverbank.

Another foot of Changsun Li’s was grabbed.

Now he really couldn’t be saved.

Master Lu gritted his teeth, summoned his silver kite, and leapt onto it. “If you want to stay here and die, be my guest.”

Releasing his spiritual power, he flew off on the silver kite, pulling out every defensive spirit artifact he had to dodge the demonic creatures in the air.

The few new disciples left behind were stunned. Even Changsun Li, still struggling in the river, was momentarily dazed.

Qiu Heng cursed, “Lu Danu, you’re still the same coward you’ve always been.”

She looked across the river at the Crimson Sky Sect disciples, a bit helpless. If Lu Danu were still here, she wouldn’t have cared what happened to disciples from another sect. But now that he’d fled, she couldn’t just stand by and watch them get devoured by demonic creatures.

After all, she was still their senior.

“Prepare to cross,” Qiu Heng ordered.

Wen Yun activated his spiritual power and passed it to the nearby talisman cultivator. The cultivator rubbed a talisman, converting the energy into a tangible form and constructing a bridge of pure water across the river.

The bridge, made of pure spiritual energy, could temporarily mask their presence from the demonic creatures in the water.

Qiu Heng led a few teammates onto the bridge. Halfway across, the demonic qi beneath the river suddenly surged, and a new demonic creature was born.

“Move!”

They quickened their pace.

The new demonic creature surfaced—it was a toad covered in human eyes. Its gaze immediately locked onto Changsun Li, who was still struggling on the water’s surface. It opened its mouth and swallowed the fish demon that had been holding him, then followed the fish’s arm upward, trying to swallow him too.

Half of Changsun Li’s leg was already inside its mouth.

Unable to shake it off, he struggled and tried to fly upward, attempting to pull his leg free.

Sensing his intent, the toad kicked off hard, leaping from the water in an attempt to swallow him whole.

Changsun Li’s eyes widened. In the next instant, someone grabbed his collar. A lightning-fast figure flashed by, landing a punch on the toad that sent it crashing back into the water.

Caught off guard, the toad loosened its grip and fell beneath the surface.

Countless skeletal hands stretched up, trying to grab the person in the air.

Changsun Li turned his head in shock. “Wen Yun? You…”

Wen Yun dodged the skeletal hands, hoisted him up, and flew to the opposite bank.

Changsun Li was flung to the ground, landing face-first. But he quickly rolled over. “Why did you save me…?”

Wen Yun looked down at him from above. “Don’t call me by name. Right now, you should be calling me ‘Dad.’”

Changsun Li snapped out of it and shouted angrily, “Don’t think you can take advantage of me with that!”

Wen Yun shrugged. “Just kidding. If I had a son like you, I’d hang myself in the middle of the night.”

Changsun Li: “…”

Qiu Heng glanced at him. “You’ve got quite the mouth for someone so young. Can’t even say thank you after being saved?”

Changsun Li’s face turned bright red. “I… I didn’t need his help.”

“Enough nonsense. Let’s figure out how to break through this swarm of demonic creatures,” Qiu Heng said.

There were seven of them in total. The scent of humans was too strong, attracting a massive number of demonic creatures. They were now completely surrounded. Judging by the shadows, there were over a hundred of them, all different types.

The grotesque demonic creatures formed a dense wall, closing in on them.

A swarm of flying Demonic Creatures circled in the sky, while a fresh horde from the Demon Nurturing River slowly crawled ashore.

“There are so many. There’s no way we can kill them all,” Luo Qianxue said.

Even Master Lu, the team leader of the Crimson Sky Sect, was so wary of the Black Tide. If he was afraid, then they probably didn’t stand a chance either.

These Demonic Creatures were not only ferocious but also overwhelming in number, and they only had seven people.

A talisman cultivator from the Returning Immortal Sect said, “I have a Teleportation Talisman, but I’ve never been to this part of the western shore. I can’t guarantee where it’ll take us. We’ll have to rely on luck.”

“Just send us far, as far from these Demonic Creatures as possible. Can you do that?” Qiu Heng asked.

The talisman cultivator replied, “I’ll try for a hundred-li jump.”

He pulled a high-grade Teleportation Talisman from his sleeve and was just about to activate it when a claw suddenly shot out from the mud beneath his feet and dragged him away.

Qiu Heng’s pupils contracted. She quickly grabbed his hand and tried to use her spiritual power to shake off the claw.

At that moment, a three-headed bat dove from the sky and sank its claws into the talisman cultivator’s shoulder, yanking him upward. Three more three-headed bats swooped in after it.

“Everyone, be careful not to get contaminated by the Demonic Qi!”

The group quickly retreated. The talisman cultivator struggled but couldn’t break free. He shoved all the talismans in his hand toward Qiu Heng. “Senior Sister, you all go first!”

Qiu Heng refused to let go. She was about to summon her withered vine when another claw from underground grabbed her robe, and her feet sank into the mud.

Wen Yun struck the claw away with a punch. Luo Qianxue raised her sword and slashed at the bat’s wings. One wing was severed, but black mist quickly gathered and formed a new one. With a powerful tug, the bat dragged the talisman cultivator away.

Luo Qianxue muttered, “How is that possible…”

Its regeneration was too fast.

Qiu Heng stared blankly at the talismans in her hand, then finally lost control. “Damn these Demonic Creatures… You all go. I’m going after him.”

Wen Yun said, “Senior Sister, let me go.”

Qiu Heng replied, “You’re just a new disciple. You can’t beat them.”

“Senior Sister, I’ve at least been to the Shifang Nether Soil before,” Wen Yun said. “You take them and find another team to regroup with. I’ll go after that Demonic Creature.”

Qiu Heng hesitated. “But…”

“If you go, we’ll have no one left to lead us. That would be even more dangerous. If I go and don’t make it back, it’s only two of us lost.”

With that, he rose into the air, locking onto the direction the bat had flown.

Changsun Li shouted, “Are you insane? Even if you can fight the ones that can fly, what if more show up? By the time you get there, your fellow disciple might already be in a Demonic Creature’s belly. You’d be going for nothing!”

“Even if it’s just a corpse, we have to bring him back. He’s one of us from the Returning Immortal Sect,” Wen Yun said.

Changsun Li was stunned for a moment, then let out a bitter laugh. “I really underestimated you. Fine, you win this time. It’s just a bunch of Demonic Creatures. If you, Wen Yun, have the guts to go, then I, Changsun Li, won’t be a coward. I’m going with you.”

Wen Yun said, “I don’t need you. Save your life for the tournament so you can keep bickering with your team leader.”

Changsun Li replied, “You think I’m risking my life for your people? I just don’t want to owe the Returning Immortal Sect any favors. A life for a life. I don’t owe you, Wen Yun, anything.”

He took to the air as well, even faster than Wen Yun. Having learned from his previous mistake, he was much more cautious this time, staying alert in all directions and dodging any Demonic Creatures that came his way.

“Senior Sister, I should go too,” Wen Yun said.

Qiu Heng frowned, her voice low and hoarse. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t protect you all.”

Wen Yun replied, “Just get them out safely. You can’t do everything alone.”

Qiu Heng tossed him two talismans. “Be careful. If it gets too dangerous, don’t force it. Use the Teleportation Talisman and get out.”

“Got it. We’ll bring our senior brother back.”

Wen Yun caught the talismans, then turned and flew off into the distance.