Chapter 697: Above the Murky River

Meng Chuan felt the surrounding scene change, and he found himself standing on a vast expanse of water.

The water was murky, so opaque that he couldn't see even a foot below the surface.

The surface stretched endlessly, wide beyond measure! To Meng Chuan, this "Chaos Turbid River" was more aptly called the "Chaos Turbid Sea."

"I'm only at the peak of the Six Tribulation Realm now; I can't grasp its full scope. If I were to reach the Eight Tribulation Realm, perhaps I'd understand why it's called a river," Meng Chuan mused. He thought of how powerful Tribulation Realm experts perceived the River of Spacetime as boundless, yet with the aid of the Space-Time Medallion, he could sense its entirety and knew it indeed resembled a river.

This Chaos Turbid River connected the inside and outside of the universe. "Chaos creatures" from beyond the universe were drawn in and could never leave, making the Chaos Turbid River itself inherently mysterious and unpredictable.

"The sky above is ethereal and elusive." Meng Chuan looked up, feeling the oppressive gloom of the sky. "According to the intel, flying a billion miles upwards would still lead to the Chaos Turbid River."

"Flying downwards, through the entire Chaos Turbid River, and continuing for another billion miles… it would still be the Chaos Turbid River."

Meng Chuan understood clearly.

No matter where one went, it would always be within the confines of the Chaos Turbid River, with no end ever found.

That's why forbidden creatures, from weaker Six Tribulation Realm to stronger Seven Tribulation Realm levels, were eternally trapped here.

"Whoosh."

Meng Chuan attempted to fly upwards. After leaving the water's surface, he felt an invisible force from the entire body of water attracting and dragging him down.

With a thought, he teleported a hundred million miles upwards.

"Boom." The vast expanse of water below exerted a terrifyingly strong pulling force. Meng Chuan's body was distorted and crumbled by the drag, causing him to plummet rapidly downwards. Only during this super-high-speed descent did his crumbling, distorted body stabilize.

"Only when touching the water's surface is flight easiest." Meng Chuan landed back on the water, walking upon its surface.

"Relying on the laws of space, I can sense an area a hundred million miles around, and my maximum teleportation distance is also a hundred million miles." Meng Chuan had already expected this; the intelligence reports were very accurate. Normally, he could cross an entire river region in a single step. Yet, in this Chaos Turbid River that trapped forbidden creatures, he could only teleport a hundred million miles. If an ordinary Six Tribulation Realm expert entered, their sensory range would struggle to even reach ten thousand miles!

"Time to find some prey."

Meng Chuan instantly transformed into three Essence Soul avatars.

The three black-robed, white-haired Meng Chuans flew off in different directions.

Searching for "forbidden creatures" within the Chaos Turbid River required some luck. The area was simply too vast, and both cultivators and forbidden creatures had limited sensory ranges. Therefore, Meng Chuan arranged for his three Essence Soul avatars to search separately.

It was Meng Chuan's second day in the Chaos Turbid River.

"Boom!"

One of Meng Chuan's Essence Soul avatars approached the water's surface, transforming into a lightning bolt and flying at super-high speed.

Meanwhile, deep beneath the murky river, several million miles away from Meng Chuan,

A shadowy mass slowly rose. This mass, spanning over a thousand miles, contained a single colossal eye that was fixed on Meng Chuan flying above the water.

It ascended slowly, but occasionally, as it rose, it would traverse a segment of space, steadily closing the distance with Meng Chuan.

"My luck is pretty good; I encountered a forbidden creature on my second day here." Meng Chuan, seemingly unaware, felt a surge of anticipation. As someone who had mastered the laws of space, his sensory range extended for a hundred million miles, allowing him to detect the forbidden creature long ago. After discovering it, he deliberately flew towards its area, ensuring it would notice him.

When the distance closed to over eight million miles, the forbidden creature sensed Meng Chuan and quietly began to approach.

"It only detected me from several million miles away, so it should be a top-tier Six Tribulation Realm forbidden creature," Meng Chuan speculated.

Just like in the Demonic Mountain ruins, some Five Tribulation Realm forbidden creatures also possessed peak Five Tribulation Realm strength.

The forbidden creatures in the Chaos Turbid River originated from beyond the universe; their methods were bizarre and unfathomable, making them inherently powerful. Within the Chaos Turbid River, these creatures would even devour one another, continuing to grow stronger. It was entirely normal for them to possess top-tier Six Tribulation Realm strength, and even stronger ones, including Seven Tribulation Realm forbidden creatures, were possible.

"It's coming, getting closer." Meng Chuan merely used the law of thunder to fly, appearing completely oblivious. Secretly, however, his other two Essence Soul avatars were scattered hundreds of millions of miles away, diving deep into the Chaos Turbid River to carefully sense their surroundings and search for the forbidden creature's life core.

The enormous shadowy mass approached further from the bottom of the water.

The distance between them rapidly diminished: a million miles, eight hundred thousand, six hundred thousand, five hundred thousand… then three hundred thousand miles.

At a distance of three hundred thousand miles, the shadow stopped approaching.

"Why isn't it getting closer?" Meng Chuan wondered silently, continuing to fly normally.

A wisp of pink mist abruptly entered Meng Chuan's Sea of Consciousness, assailing his Essence Soul.

The moment the mist encroached, Meng Chuan's Essence Soul was struck with intense pain.

Within his Essence Soul world, a beautiful woman in white appeared, exuding charm and attempting to sow chaos throughout the entire realm.

"The woman's appearance perfectly matches a human's; did she naturally evolve based on my thoughts?" Meng Chuan mused inwardly.

"Rumble!"

The forbidden creature's attack on the Essence Soul came without warning. It consisted of a direct assault on the Essence Soul combined with an attempt to bewitch Meng Chuan's consciousness. Under this pincer attack, even a Six Tribulation Realm Essence Soul, though it might not dissipate, would suffer a significant loss of strength due to its consciousness being affected.

As Meng Chuan stood on the water, a ghostly white face emerged beneath him, its mouth agape, ready to swallow him whole.

If Meng Chuan's consciousness had gone blank, he would have been swallowed.

"Forbidden creature!" Meng Chuan exclaimed, feigning shock and anger. With a wave of his hand, bolts of lightning struck the white face rising beneath him. Each lightning strike combined the profound mysteries of both 'Thunder' and 'Particle' laws. Just three bolts caused the white face to completely dissipate and vanish.

The moment it was obliterated,

The gigantic shadowy mass had already approached from the bottom of the water. Simultaneously, countless white faces flew out from this enormous shadow, manifesting by the thousands in an instant.

From the depths of the water, the white faces emerged—some grinning wildly, others snarling ferociously, some appearing eager, others aloof… In the blink of an eye, a vast number of these faces completely surfaced, swarming and encircling Meng Chuan from all directions.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!!!" Meng Chuan feigned panic, frantically unleashing lightning. Massive amounts of lightning slammed in all directions, yet they only annihilated a few hundred white faces before countless more completely overwhelmed Meng Chuan.

On the gigantic shadowy mass, its single eye watched everything with excitement: "An Essence Soul Tribulation Realm lifeform? Excellent food."

"Hmm?"

The shadow suddenly 'saw' a pair of dark, profound eyes.

The dark eyes gazed intently at it. The shadow felt its consciousness unable to resist; those eyes were like a bottomless abyss, devouring its very awareness.

"What a formidable Essence Soul Tribulation Realm expert." The shadow could barely perceive its surroundings and was unable to unleash any attacks. The thousands of white faces it had originally released all silently dissipated.

The shadow was greatly astonished because it was highly skilled in techniques related to mind and consciousness, yet it found itself powerless against this Essence Soul Tribulation Realm expert's move.

It didn't know that Meng Chuan's spiritual will was already exceptionally high. After mastering the laws of space, his secret art, the 'Eye of Darkness', had also reached a higher realm, manifesting with significantly greater power.

As the thousands of white faces swarming him all dissipated, Meng Chuan, feigning immense fury, waved his hand, condensing streams of Chaos Lightning Spears and angrily hacking them towards the shadow.

"I see, you specialize in Essence Soul secret arts." The shadow stared at Meng Chuan, showing no panic. It allowed the Chaos Lightning Spears to strike its body. Under the furious bombardment, within a few breaths, the shadow was completely annihilated.

At the same instant of its annihilation, several million miles beneath the water's surface…

The shadow reappeared, re-condensed.

A Six Tribulation Realm forbidden creature was immortal as long as its life core remained intact.