Thunder Pool Anomaly, Bixiao's Traces Vanish

Xuanwei transformed into lightning, pushing his newly comprehended Lightning Escape technique to its limit. Like a purple serpent tearing through the sky, he sped towards Three Immortal Island in the East Sea.

The wind howled past his ears, but his heart pounded even faster.

Bixiao was missing!

The lively, bright-eyed girl who would call him "Senior Brother Xuanwei" with a sly smile had vanished within the secret realm of her own dojo! And it was related to a fragment of the dangerous Nine Nether Demon Domain!

Xuanwei's mind involuntarily recalled the perilous scene in the Nine Nether Lands when he faced the Golden Immortal-level Demonic Qi. That corrupting, degenerate power that eroded all life still sent shivers down his spine. Although Bixiao was an elite of the Intercepting Sect with considerable cultivation, if she rashly got involved with matters related to that demon domain fragment, the consequences would be unimaginable!

"Senior Sister Yunxiao is always so composed. For her to use words like 'missing' and 'potential disaster,' the situation must be dire!" Xuanwei's brow furrowed. He poured all his immortal power into his body, propelling the lightning to accelerate again, leaving a lingering thunderous trail in the sky.

As he traveled, he forced himself to calm down and sort through the information Yunxiao had sent.

"The Thunder Pool is acting up, the Earth Veins are churning... The aura of the Nine Nether Demon Domain fragment is resonating with something deep within the Thunder Pool..."

He had heard of the Thunder Pool on Three Immortal Island before. It was said to have been established by San Xiao using a primordial lightning eye, serving as both a sacred place for cultivation and a hub for the protective grand formation. The Nine Nether Demon Domain fragment, on the other hand, was sealed beneath the island by Sect Master Tongtian himself after the last leakage of tainted qi. These two forces, one supremely yang and yang, the other supremely yin and yin, should have been mutually restraining. How could they resonate?

"Deep within the Thunder Pool... something?" Xuanwei seized upon this key point. For Yunxiao to mention it specifically, this 'something' must be extraordinary, and it seemed it hadn't been known to the outside world before. "Could it be that beneath the Thunder Pool of Three Immortal Island, besides the primordial lightning eye, there's another secret hidden? Is it this 'something' that has stirred the sealed demon domain fragment?"

Countless questions swirled in his mind, but the answers could only be revealed by reaching Three Immortal Island himself.

Under his full-speed flight, the vast East Sea was quickly left behind. The three islands, arranged in a triangular formation, shrouded in immortal light and swirling mist, were now in sight.

Before even getting close, Xuanwei keenly sensed something was amiss.

The usually peaceful and serene Three Immortal Island was now enveloped in an invisible atmosphere of tension. The spiritual energy flowing above the island had become chaotic and rapid, with faint sounds of wind and thunder emanating from its depths. The previously clear protective barrier of the island's grand formation flickered unstably, as if enduring some internal impact.

As Xuanwei reached the island's outskirts, a familiar, cool figure flew out from within. It was Yunxiao. She was still dressed in white, her demeanor peerless, but her usually calm, water-like eyes now held an undeniable trace of anxiety and exhaustion.

"Junior Brother Xuanwei, you've arrived!" Seeing Xuanwei, Yunxiao visibly relaxed, her voice tinged with urgency.

"Senior Sister Yunxiao, what's the situation? Is there any news of Senior Sister Bixiao?" Xuanwei asked immediately, his gaze sweeping towards the island's depths, where energy fluctuations made him uneasy.

Yunxiao shook her head, her delicate brows knitted. "No news yet. I tried contacting her with secret arts, even using the Primal Chaos Golden Dipper to sense her, but it was like casting a stone into the sea. Her last trace disappeared in the core area of the Thunder Pool secret realm."

As she led Xuanwei rapidly towards the island, she explained with great speed, "The incident occurred two hours ago. The island's Earth Veins churned violently without warning, causing the protective grand formation to shake. Immediately after, the aura of the demon domain fragment, sealed deep beneath the island by Master, became abnormally active and began to resonate strangely with something deep within the Thunder Pool."

"Qiongxiao and I intended to stabilize the formation first before investigating the source. But Bixiao, being impatient, sensed an unusual spiritual energy surge from the Thunder Pool's core. Fearing the seal had weakened, she rushed in to investigate despite our warnings... Who knew that once she went, there would be no more news."

As they spoke, they passed through layers of restrictions and arrived at the core forbidden area of Three Immortal Island – the entrance to the Thunder Pool secret realm.

It was the entrance to a deep cavern, surrounded by countless thick chains of lightning. Violent lightning power surged from within, forming a raging curtain of thunder at the entrance. Currently, this curtain was extremely unstable, its color no longer pure white and purple, but mixed with unsettling streaks of dark red and black qi, emitting a crackling, corrosive sound.

Qiongxiao was guarding the entrance, fully channeling her spiritual power to stabilize the agitated thunder curtain. Seeing Xuanwei arrive, her eyes were slightly red, and she said urgently, "Senior Brother Xuanwei! Please think of a way! When Big Sister and I probe the core area with our divine senses, they are shattered by a chaotic force. Something big must have happened inside!"

Xuanwei focused his senses on the chaotic energy at the cave entrance, a mixture of pure lightning, violent Earth Vein qi, and strange demonic energy. His expression was grave. He said solemnly, "Sisters, the priority now is to enter the core as quickly as possible and find Senior Sister Bixiao. This energy is incredibly chaotic; disaster may strike."

"I understand," Yunxiao nodded. With a flip of her jade hand, the Primal Chaos Golden Dipper, emitting primordial spiritual light, hovered in her palm. "Qiongxiao and I will stabilize the formation entrance from the outside, prevent the Demonic Qi from leaking, and provide support. Junior Brother Xuanwei, you carry the power of Chaos and that peculiar Torch Flame, giving you extremely high resistance to foreign energies. Perhaps you can withstand the erosion of the core area... Finding Bixiao is entrusted to you!"

Saying this, she handed Xuanwei a jade talisman shimmering with three-colored auspicious light. "This is the pass token for the core restriction of Three Immortal Island. It will help you bypass some restrictions within the Thunder Pool secret realm. Be extremely careful. If things become impossible, prioritize your own safety!"

Xuanwei took the jade talisman, still warm to the touch, feeling the heavy trust and responsibility placed upon him. He nodded firmly, "Don't worry, Senior Sister, I will bring Senior Sister Bixiao back safely!"

Without further words, Xuanwei took a deep breath. Immortal light surged around him as the Chaos Heaven-Opening Art circulated, enveloping him in a halo of chaotic color. Simultaneously, a wisp of Xuanhuang Torch Flame flickered at his fingertips, dispelling the approaching Demonic Qi. He took a step forward and plunged directly into the violent and unstable thunder curtain!

Boom!

Upon entering the Thunder Pool secret realm, it was like stepping into another world.

Unlike the chaotic resonance felt outside, the situation within the secret realm was even worse. The space, which should have been orderly and filled with yang lightning power, was now a mess. Enormous bolts of lightning, like runaway pythons, struck randomly at the void and mountain walls, leaving scorched marks. The ground trembled incessantly, cracks spreading. Fiery Earth Vein magma, mixed with the stirred-up Netherworld Taint Qi, erupted from the fissures, colliding with the lightning and triggering continuous explosions.

The air was filled with a pungent smell of sulfur, burnt matter, and that familiar, nauseating Demonic Qi. The scene before his eyes was apocalyptic.

Xuanwei erected his chaotic immortal light, spreading the power of the Torch Flame throughout his body. He carefully dodged the most violent energy currents, heading towards the secret realm's core area along the direction Yunxiao had indicated.

The deeper he went, the harsher the environment became. The dark red Demonic Qi and black Netherworld Taint Qi grew denser. They even began to actively erode and contaminate the violent lightning, turning the originally purple-white electric light into a dark purple, greatly increasing its power while adding a more sinister and corrosive property.

Xuanwei had to frequently activate the Torch Flame to burn away and purify any Demonic Qi that attempted to attach itself. His expression grew increasingly grave; the activity and corrosiveness of the Demonic Qi here far surpassed what he had encountered at the edge of the Nine Nether Lands last time.

"It seems the demon domain fragment has indeed been strongly stimulated... What is at the other end of the resonance?"

Along the way, he found no trace of Bixiao, nor any obvious signs of battle. This intensified his unease.

Finally, after traversing a forest of lightning-covered thorns that had been completely demonized, the scene before him suddenly opened up, causing Xuanwei to gasp.

Before him lay a colossal abyss. At the bottom of the abyss was a boundless, boiling Thunder Pool! But this Thunder Pool was entirely different from the Supreme Pure Thunder Pool he had just left. The lightning within was no longer liquefied essence, but a violent, chaotic primordial thunderstorm. Its color was a strange interweaving of dark red and black, filled with an aura of destruction and corruption.

And in the center of the Thunder Pool, a massive, semi-transparent green light barrier formed by countless runes flickered. Beneath the barrier, a distorted, foul spatial fragment could be vaguely seen struggling violently, emitting monstrous Demonic Qi—that was the Nine Nether Demon Domain fragment sealed by Sect Master Tongtian!

Currently, the sealing barrier was fluctuating violently, its runes flickering unstably, clearly under immense pressure from both internal and external attacks.

The source of the pressure, besides the constant impact from the boiling, demonized Thunder Pool below, came even more strongly from the opposite side of the abyss, the other end of the Thunder Pool!

There, a colossal pillar of light, condensed from pure dark purple lightning, shot up from the depths of the Thunder Pool. Within the pillar, an object could be vaguely seen floating. The object was neither stone nor jade, its entire body covered in natural, ancient, and complex lightning dao patterns, even more so than those displayed by Sect Master Tongtian during his lectures! It exuded a vast, ancient, terrifying lightning might that seemed to originate from the dawn of Chaos!

It was this ancient lightning might that had created a strange resonance with the Nine Nether Demon Domain fragment below. Their auras intertwined, stimulating each other, thus triggering the churning of the Earth Veins and the anomaly of the Thunder Pool across the entire Three Immortal Island!

"What is that... thing?" Xuanwei's pupils contracted sharply. From that ancient lightning object, he felt an aura as ancient as the Chaos Bead! It was definitely a treasure from the Chaos era, possibly even related to a Chaos Demon God!

However, he had no time to ponder the origin of the lightning object. His gaze was fixed on the boundary between the dark purple lightning pillar and the demonized Thunder Pool, on a relatively calm isolated cliff surrounded by two terrifying forces!

A familiar, slender figure in a goose-yellow dress lay there, unconscious—it was Bixiao!

She was protected by a faint golden light, laid down by the Primal Chaos Golden Dipper. But this golden light, under the erosion of the surrounding endless Demonic Qi and mutated lightning, was on the verge of collapse, its radiance extremely dim. Her own aura was also very weak, clearly having been struck unconscious by the chaotic forces upon entering this place.

"Senior Sister Bixiao!" Xuanwei's heart tightened.

He had to rescue her quickly!

However, just as he was preparing to rush towards the isolated cliff, another change occurred!

"Buzz--!"

The ancient thunderous object floating in the dark purple lightning pillar seemed to tremble violently because of Xuanwei, the "outsider," intruding, or perhaps it sensed the aura of the Chaos Bead and Torch Flame within him!

In an instant, the entire demonized lightning pool completely boiled! Countless dark red and black lightning waves surged to the sky! At the same time, the fragments of the Nine Nether Demon Domain sealed below seemed to have received the ultimate stimulus, and Demonic Qi surged, causing the green sealing light barrier to be covered in cracks!

What made Xuanwei's scalp tingle even more was that within the boiling lightning pool and the surging Demonic Qi, several demonic creatures condensed from pure Demonic Qi and mutated lightning, with distorted forms and fluctuations radiating True Immortal-level power, slowly took shape. Their gazes, filled with destructive desire, were uniformly locked onto Bixiao on the isolated cliff and Xuanwei, who had just intruded!

Ahead, the ancient thunder treasure was acting up; behind, the seal of the demon domain was about to break; beneath his feet was the boiling demonized lightning pool; and all around were menacing lightning demons, while Bixiao lay unconscious in the center of the storm...

The difficulty of the rescue instantly increased by several times!

Xuanwei's expression turned extremely grim. He clenched his fists, feeling the slight tremor from the Chaos Bead within his body and the unyielding flicker of the Torch Flame when facing the Demonic Qi.

He had no retreat.