Chapter 161: Mysterious Summons

A month passed.

During this month, the war between the Seven Blood Eyes and the Sea Corpse Race saw many astonishing developments. Firstly, the Sea Corpse Race's numerous counterattacks failed to retake the Merman Race's island. They could only watch as the Seven Blood Eyes continuously fortified the Merman Race's island, simultaneously teleporting more magical artifacts and all their allies. This posed too great a threat to the Sea Corpse Race.

However, the Sea Corpse Race was not without gains. With their forces divided, they finally seized the Pearl Island chain, occupying it as their command center. All forbidden pills buried there by the Seven Blood Eyes were removed by powerful Sea Corpse Race individuals, and the entire Pearl Island chain was thoroughly searched multiple times to ensure its safety before they felt at ease. For the Sea Corpse Race, this was a strategically significant victory. For the Seven Blood Eyes, it meant a critical vulnerability had appeared in a nearby location.

Moreover, this vulnerability proved extremely fatal, rendering the Seven Blood Eyes very passive for over half a month. On two occasions, they were nearly on the verge of losing the Merman Race's island due to being attacked from both front and back. Even the Third Peak Master was ambushed and nearly killed by multiple Sea Corpse Race powerhouses during one engagement, barely escaping with severe injuries by using a bizarre substitution technique. The Sixth Peak Master was also ambushed and gravely wounded.

Furthermore, over a dozen Golden Core elders were on the verge of death. This incident severely impacted the morale of the Seven Blood Eyes, causing the number of participants in missions to sharply decline for a time. This, in fact, highlighted a drawback of the Seven Blood Eyes' rules: while they could be fierce and formidable when things were going well, once they were at a disadvantage, morale could easily collapse and be extremely difficult to recover. And just as the Sea Corpse Race intensified its strategic deployment on the Pearl Island chain, the Seven Blood Eyes' counterattack arrived.

It was half a month ago, at night. With an earth-shattering roar, Xu Qing, who had just completed a small mission and returned to Restful Isle, witnessed mountains appearing on the sea surface.

These mountains linked together, gradually forming a vast mountain range.

As the sea churned, this mountain range slowly emerged, appearing like a massive back. Xu Qing, controlling the Forbidden Sea plesiosaur, was horrified to see a colossal beast existing beneath the sea. Xu Qing vaguely felt a sense of familiarity with this giant beast and quickly recognized it: it was a sea lizard! The emerging mountain range was precisely its back!

It was immeasurably vast and awe-inspiring in its presence. Compared to its body, the Pearl Island chain seemed as insignificant as ants. The sea lizard merely arrived and casually turned over, causing the entire Pearl Island chain to collapse, rumble, and shatter. After it had splintered into pieces, the sea lizard, which had only revealed a small portion of its back throughout, leisurely departed.

This intervention by the sea lizard completely shocked the Sea Corpse Race, filling them with extreme dread. Such a being had truly surpassed a certain level, one that the Seven Blood Eyes could not easily command for assistance.

Yet it appeared, and its target was clearly the Pearl Island chain.

Xu Qing was also astonished by this event. The Seven Blood Eyes quickly announced an explanation to boost morale, even revealing some partial details about the Fourth Peak Master in their statement. The announcement informed all disciples that the sea lizard's intervention was due to the Fourth Peak. The Fourth Peak Master had an old connection with this giant lizard and had requested its help to destroy the Pearl Island chain.

It also told the disciples that this matter had been prearranged. All previous arrangements on the Pearl Island chain were merely a disguise, intended to lure the Sea Corpse Race into attacking, and the so-called forbidden pills on it were nothing but a diversion. The entire Pearl Island chain was a massive trap prepared for the Sea Corpse Race.

This news temporarily boosted the morale of the Seven Blood Eyes. However, the Seven Blood Eyes members were not foolish, and among the Sea Corpse Race, there were also shrewd individuals. Various analyses suggested that the Seven Blood Eyes' high-level explanation might be true, but only partially. If the Fourth Peak Master could truly enlist the giant lizard's help, there would be no need for the target to be the Pearl Island chain. Both the Sea Corpse Race's guard islands and main island would clearly be better choices. Therefore, there were various speculations about the true nature of this event, with some even believing it was related to the Seven Blood Eyes' Old Ancestor. But what the truth actually was, no one outside the Seven Blood Eyes' high command could know. The fact remained: the Pearl Island chain was no more, and the Sea Corpse Race suffered significant losses.

At the same time, the Seven Blood Eyes capitalized on this blunder by the Sea Corpse Race to launch a general offensive. They shattered the Sea Corpse Race's encirclement of the Merman Race, simultaneously sounding the horn for the first decisive battle. Under this heavy blow, the Sea Corpse Race's army continuously contracted, resisted, and retreated, while the Seven Blood Eyes relentlessly pursued, breaking through layers of defenses. They shifted the battlefield away from the Merman Race's island, pushing it all the way to the edge of the Sea Corpse Race's territory.

Only seven guard islands separated them from the Sea Corpse Race's mainland, which served as their final line of defense.

Such close proximity exerted even greater pressure on the Sea Corpse Race. At this point, the war entered a stalemate due to the Sea Corpse Race's tenacious counterattacks. As for casualties, both sides suffered losses, but relatively speaking, the Sea Corpse Race had more.

However, the Seven Blood Eyes' casualties were still shocking, leading to the first batch of individuals applying to withdraw from the war. The Seven Blood Eyes did not refuse, agreeing to the withdrawal for all who met the conditions. However, while approving withdrawals, the Seven Blood Eyes also offered more in terms of war rewards and distributed the first batch of Golden Core opportunity rewards. Additionally, two trump cards were revealed. The first was the Seven Blood Eyes issuing fifty slots for using magical artifacts. Each disciple in the top fifty of the war points ranking would receive one opportunity to borrow a projection of a sect's foundational magical artifact.

Magical artifacts were legendary items; the power of any single one was earth-shattering and far beyond imagination. The entire Seven Blood Eyes only possessed a few.

Therefore, even a mere projection would wield breathtaking power. This news immediately caused a sensation among all disciples participating in the war. The second trump card was even more astonishing: the Old Ancestor taking disciples! This time, after the war, the Seven Blood Eyes' Old Ancestor would take ten Foundation Establishment cultivators as inner disciples and three Golden Core cultivators as personal disciples to inherit his mantle! Disciple selection would be based on mission completion and the number of Sea Corpse Race members killed.

As soon as this news broke, most Seven Blood Eyes disciples were shaken, and even some who had intended to withdraw from the war abandoned their plans, choosing to remain on the battlefield.

This was because the Seven Blood Eyes' Old Ancestor had not taken any disciples for many years. Now that he had broken through in cultivation, his decision to take disciples meant that, once selected, one's status and benefits would reach an extremely high level. Becoming an inner disciple would be like a carp leaping over the dragon gate, putting one's status just below a Peak Master and above an elder. As for becoming a personal disciple, just thinking about it could make one's breath quicken and eyes turn red with excitement.

Not to mention Foundation Establishment cultivators, even the Golden Core cultivators from various peaks were moved. Clearly, even they hadn't known the sect would release such an enticing offer at this time. This also indicated that in this war, the Seven Blood Eyes were determined to achieve victory against the Sea Corpse Race.

Xu Qing was also immensely tempted, but he quickly suppressed his thoughts. Although this matter seemed extremely alluring to him, he knew that the sect had many powerful individuals. Among Foundation Establishment cultivators, he was not the strongest; every peak had cultivators who had ignited three flames of life.

With such people around, he feared it would be difficult to contend for those spots, even if he risked his life.

However, for the fifty magical artifact slots, Xu Qing checked his ranking and felt he could secure one.

After all, although this war points system was different from battle achievements, it was a comprehensive ranking that included both missions and kills, while also having high requirements for mission quality. But because Xu Qing had previously frantically taken missions and accumulated achievements, his ranking was not low. "Seventy-three," Xu Qing muttered, and continued to take on missions.

Time passed, and another half month went by. Xu Qing's ranking continuously improved as he took on more missions and kills, reaching fifty-ninth place. His Dharma apertures also opened up further through killing Sea Corpse Race members, reaching forty-four. The further he progressed, the more souls he would need.

As he was frequently taking on missions, one day, Xu Qing, who had just accepted a reinforcement mission, suddenly saw a summons specifically for him appear on his identity token amidst a scrolling list of numerous tasks.

The appearance of this order clearly indicated an extremely high authority. It instantly erased all other tasks from Xu Qing's identity token, making it the sole entry. Even the mission he had just accepted was marked as completed, allowing him to receive the reward effortlessly. "Foundation Establishment disciple Xu Qing of the Seventh Peak, report immediately to the Command Tent on Juying Isle. The Seventh Peak's Deputy Peak Master summons you!"

Seeing this message, Xu Qing was momentarily stunned. After a long moment of contemplation, many guesses and thoughts surfaced in his mind, but none provided any clear direction. He did not know this Deputy Peak Master and had not even heard of them before. However, the information on the identity token was undeniably accurate. Even as Xu Qing pondered, the message reappeared multiple times, locking his identity token and preventing him from accepting further missions. After thinking it over, Xu Qing leaped into the air and headed directly for Juying Isle.

Despite not activating his Profound Radiance state, his speed was still very fast. It wasn't long before Xu Qing arrived at Juying Isle, heading straight for the location of the enormous eyeball at its center. This was the core of the Seven Blood Eyes' front-line command headquarters on Merman Isle.

Under normal circumstances, disciples were not permitted to approach this location without a summons; it was a top-secret area. As Xu Qing approached, terrifying divine senses immediately locked onto him. Even the enormous eyeball instantly scanned him with its gaze.

Xu Qing stopped advancing, took out his identity token, and spoke in a deep voice. "Disciple Xu Qing, summoned by the Seventh Peak's Deputy Peak Master, has come to pay respects."

As he spoke, his identity token glowed, and the eyeball on the ground rapidly blinked three times. A burst of teleportation power instantly appeared around Xu Qing, and before he could react, his figure had already vanished.

Only after Xu Qing was teleported away did the surrounding divine senses recede.

Meanwhile, inside the eyeball, in front of a magnificent hall, Xu Qing's figure was instantly transported. As he appeared, he quickly scanned his surroundings. The next moment, a woman's voice softly drifted from behind him: "You are Xu Qing?"