Chapter 117: Awakening of Ju Ying

"Captain, you've been poisoned," Xu Qing said, glancing at the captain.

"Poisoned? Me? No way! I'm so strong, how could I get poisoned?" the captain replied, raising an eyebrow in surprise.

"You really are poisoned, Captain." Xu Qing looked intently at the captain's face, which was a bluish-black, almost indistinguishable from the dark seawater, and spoke seriously. The captain's expression turned grim upon hearing this.

"Vice-Captain Xu, don't talk nonsense; you need evidence for such claims! I just saw a sea fruit that looked rather appealing and ate it. Perhaps I just caught a bit of a chill; it seems sea fruits shouldn't be eaten carelessly." As the captain spoke, his face seemed to feel a bit numb. He quickly pulled out a handful of detoxifying pills, popping them into his mouth like candies, crunching and swallowing them. Internally, he felt quite dejected, muttering to himself that he had only hidden after falling into the water earlier, intending for Xu Qing to scout ahead while he followed behind. He never expected this kid to be spreading poison the whole time!

Seeing Xu Qing about to speak again, the captain hastily scanned his surroundings, then suddenly pointed at Zhang San, who was disguised as a corpse in the distance. "Hey, who's that? Isn't that Zhang San?" With that, the captain swayed and darted away from Xu Qing, sprinting towards Zhang San. Upon reaching Zhang San, he aimed a kick, but Zhang San, still playing dead, swiftly dodged it, then lay on the ground, looking up to see the captain and the approaching Xu Qing.

"Captain, you're poisoned!" Zhang San exclaimed, looking at the bluish-black on the captain's face in surprise.

"Shut up," the captain quickly interjected with a cough. "Don't be so useless; what good things could you possibly find pretending to be a corpse here? Come with me, I know where the good stuff is." With that, the captain immediately surveyed the surroundings and then charged rapidly in one direction.

Zhang San didn't hesitate, jumping up from the ground, waving at Xu Qing, and immediately following.

"Vice-Captain Xu, the place I'm going has the Foundation Establishment Pills you need! Hurry!" From a distance, the captain waved to Xu Qing while running. Xu Qing's gaze was contained as he scanned the chaotic battle around them, then looked towards the direction the captain had headed. That place... was also indicated by the Spirit Breath Lamp. Without further hesitation, he quickly followed the captain and Zhang San.

And so, the three of them swiftly departed from the Merman race's underground battlefield. Being powerful themselves, they easily overcame any obstacles they encountered during their exit. The captain was clearly in a hurry; his attacks consistently released a chilling aura, instantly turning any Merman cultivator he touched into an ice sculpture. Zhang San's style differed from the captain's; he possessed numerous varied gadgets, all designed to explode on contact with considerable destructive power. He threw them around as they advanced, preventing the Merman race from approaching from the sides.

Additionally, he frequently used a nearly invisible thread that wrapped around him as he moved, incredibly sharp. Often, after the captain froze enemies into ice sculptures, Zhang San would swiftly approach and cut through them. It was clear the two had collaborated more than once and were highly coordinated, thus their speed of advance steadily increased. Xu Qing even noticed that Zhang San had tied one of his threads to the captain, which made Zhang San's own movement effortless. As for Xu Qing, his method was different from both the captain's and Zhang San's. To be precise, he didn't attack at all; instead, he deployed a colorless poison powder he had developed specifically for the Merman race. This powder dissolved into the water, spreading around his body.

Consequently, as he moved forward, any Merman approaching him would find their bodies melting. Even rapid retreat couldn't halt the corrosive effect, leading to horrific screams and immense fear in their eyes.

Witnessing this, Zhang San's expression drastically changed. He quickly pulled out a handful of antidotes, swallowed them, and then rushed forward at full speed, trying to maintain distance from Xu Qing behind him. As for the captain, he had already consumed detoxifying pills one by one. And so, the three of them sprinted onward, gradually leaving the battle area near the exit. Xu Qing also realized that the direction the captain was heading was precisely where the divine officials had come from earlier in the battle, which made him thoughtful.

Half an hour later, as the trio sped onward and the distant roar of the battlefield significantly faded, a peculiar cluster of buildings appeared before them. Though these structures were also made of coral, their color was an intense black, forming towering, circular temples one after another. Their architectural style bore a resemblance to the divine temple complex Xu Qing had seen in the Scavenger's Camp.

"A divine temple," Xu Qing thought, his eyes narrowing. He sensed that the Spirit Breath Lamp's guidance was indeed pointing to this location, but it was inconvenient to confirm it at the moment, so he didn't act rashly.

"This is the place!" the captain's excited voice came from ahead, and he abruptly accelerated, heading straight for the temple. Their arrival immediately alerted the Merman guards within the temple, who rushed out to intercept them. However, there weren't many guards. Ordinarily, this place would have been heavily guarded, but with the Merman catastrophe ongoing and battles raging in multiple locations across this underwater world, most of the divine officials had departed, significantly reducing the number of guards here. Coupled with the captain's formidable strength, Zhang San's numerous gadgets, and Xu Qing's colorless poison, they quickly blazed a trail, directly fighting their way into the core of this temple complex. During their advance, Foundation Establishment cultivators, whose cultivation had been suppressed to the Great Circle of Qi Condensation, also appeared. Yet, the captain's might erupted at this moment, turning everything in his path into ice. Regardless of their cultivation level, anyone facing him met the same fate, instantly becoming an ice sculpture.

This sight shook Xu Qing's mind. While wary of the captain's combat prowess, he also confirmed that the captain had a very strong objective in coming here. From beginning to end, the captain seemed to have taken no wrong turns, heading directly for this spot.

"Could the captain have the same objective as me?" Xu Qing grew more vigilant, silently following, his guard intensifying within his heart.

A moment later, the three of them fought their way to the central area of the temple complex, stopping before a blue temple. Here, the captain quickly spoke. "Zhang San, set up your traps around here. Bring out all your good stuff; I'll reimburse you when we get back."

"Xu Qing, deploy plenty of your poison here, don't be stingy! I'll reimburse you too when we return!"

Hearing this, Zhang San immediately got to work, quickly setting up numerous touch-and-explode traps around the area. Each one was designed with significant deception and camouflage, placed at extremely tricky angles. For example, one trap was buried in a pit he dug, a little deeper than other spots, and its trigger mechanism was likely a step. "The first one to walk over it will be fine, but the second one will go 'bang!'" Noticing Xu Qing looking at him, Zhang San grinned a simple, honest smile. Xu Qing remained silent. He recalled the location indicated by the Spirit Breath Lamp's fluctuations and realized that while it was in this general area, it didn't seem to be in this specific direction; it should be deeper inside. This made him feel a sense of relief. After Zhang San finished setting up, Xu Qing also released a significant amount of poison powder, making the surroundings of the temple even more perilous.

Then Xu Qing looked at the captain. The captain, quite pleased, pushed open the temple's main door and gestured for Xu Qing and Zhang San to enter. Inside the temple, it was empty; there appeared to be no treasures, only a solitary statue of a deity named Ju Ying standing there.

"Captain, what exactly are you doing? There's nothing here, and what I need isn't here!" Zhang San exclaimed anxiously, seeing the empty surroundings. Xu Qing remained silent, also watching the captain.

"Don't you two worry," the captain said, squatting down with a smile. "Just wait a bit, I promise you'll get what you want soon." As he spoke, he took out a withered eye from his person. This eye didn't appear to be human. After placing it aside, the captain formed a hand seal and pointed. Instantly, the withered eye snapped open, revealing a blurry image from its pupil, seemingly showing the world outside the island.

"Let's watch the show first," the captain said, a hint of excitement in his expression.

"The Eye of Spiritual Connection? That thing is really expensive, how did you get it?!" Zhang San gasped, quickly approaching to inspect it. Xu Qing pondered, examining the eye carefully, finding it quite peculiar. He then glanced at the captain, retreated a bit, and began observing the surrounding environment. Apart from the statue, there was truly nothing else here. Even the statue itself was merely made of coral, lacking any divine fluctuations. Yet, Xu Qing didn't relax; he remembered the divine temple in the Scavenger's forbidden zone, where the stone carving holding a knife also seemed utterly unremarkable. However, he didn't intend to stay here long and planned to find an opportunity to leave.

Just as Xu Qing was observing, the ground suddenly vibrated violently, and a thunderous roar echoed from a distance, like a sweeping storm encompassing all directions. Along with the earth's tremor, a piercing sound emerged from afar, seemingly able to penetrate all obstacles and spread throughout the entire underwater world. The source of this roar and piercing sound was precisely the battlefield Xu Qing and his companions had just left. Corpses now littered the ground there, with countless dead. The dozens of divine officials were in a disheveled state. Most of the strange beasts conjured by their divine arts had also perished. Driven to madness, each official began emitting a piercing sound. As this sound resonated, their bodies rapidly ignited, seemingly using the burning of their life force to unleash a world-shaking divine art. Simultaneously, following their piercing cries, divine officials across multiple battlefields in this underwater world, though few in number, also began to burn themselves, emitting shrill sounds. These voices merged, growing stronger and stronger, their penetrative power becoming astonishingly potent.

As hundreds of divine officials across Ju Ying Island frantically burned themselves, the piercing sound directly escaped Ju Ying Island, penetrated the outer formation, and continuously spread deeper into the ocean, as if a summons. Soon, a roar from the deep sea echoed thunderously from the ocean floor. This sound seemed to be the voice of heaven and earth, containing an indescribable deterrent. The moment it emanated, it caused colossal waves to surge across thousands of miles of ocean, continuously rolling and roaring. The sky changed color, and winds stirred. Deep beneath the sea... a gigantic figure indistinctly appeared! This figure was tens of thousands of feet tall, astonishingly massive, like a deity. Each movement seemed to be a struggle, yet similarly, every step it took caused the seabed to rumble, creating a tsunami. A terrifying pressure erupted at this very moment. Countless sea beasts nearby, regardless of their cultivation level, trembled under this pressure. A suppressing force, usually enough to make the souls of all Seven-Blood Eyes cultivators gasp, burst forth from the god-like figure at the bottom of the sea.

A beautiful sound continuously propagated. If one were to observe from high above, with eyes capable of penetrating the ocean depths, they would now see an old woman, clad in a long robe woven from countless fish bones and with numerous tentacles growing from her body, walking step by step towards the Merman race's island in the boundless depths of the ocean. Her face was covered in wrinkles and largely decomposed, but her golden eyes radiated profundity, devoid of any emotion. Her breath carried a dense foreign essence and a strong divine aura. Each of the tentacles on her body had an eye, also golden, and at this moment, they were partially open, all gazing towards the distant Merman race's island.

Moreover, behind this old woman, as her fish-bone robe fluttered, a colossal crimson tongue stretched out, covered with innumerable undead souls. Upon closer inspection, these souls were unmistakably in the form of Merman divine officials, all emitting piercing sounds, seemingly responding to Ju Ying's voice. This scene caused the formation fluctuations on Ju Ying Island, one of the Merman race's four islands, to seemingly dissipate somewhat, becoming transparent, allowing the cultivators on the island to finally see the outside world clearly.

This figure was none other than the deity worshipped by the Merman race... Ju Ying!