News that Black Tooth Marsh had come back to life was like another stone cast into the deep waters of the Primordial Era.
The ripples it stirred were not as shocking as the destruction of the Dragon Palace's Water Army, yet they spread farther and lasted longer, touching the nerves of powers at every level.
Doubts Over the Cleansing of the Marsh, Tracing the Source
Xuanjizi led the Action Team back to the Academy in triumph, where they received an enthusiastic welcome from the disciples.
Yet when reporting the details of the expedition, Xuanjizi did not immerse himself in the joy of success. Instead, he raised a deeper concern before Sage Wanhua and the core disciples.
"Teacher, fellow disciples," Xuanjizi said gravely, "the core of the 'Source of Filth' within Black Tooth Marsh was a wisp of the Remnant Soul of an Ancient Demon God.
"This thing was sinister and tyrannical. It could not possibly have formed naturally, nor did it resemble something left behind by an ordinary ruin. This disciple suspects that its appearance... may have been unusual."
He described the remnant soul's traits in detail—it was not chaotic or disorderly. On the contrary, it carried a malicious will that had been deliberately twisted, one that devoured vitality.
The way it corrupted laws differed utterly from the mainstream cultivation paths of the current Primordial Era and even from known Demonic Dao methods. It was more like a fragment of some extremely ancient evil power, one long buried by time.
"Where did this thing come from? Did it emerge by chance, or was it... deliberately placed there?"
Elder Teng's aged vines swayed slightly, expressing the same concern. "If it was intentional, what was the purpose? Could it have been merely to pollute a patch of land?"
Wanhua sat quietly above them, his gaze profound as though it had pierced through endless time and space. He did not answer directly, merely saying, "The waters of the Primordial Era are unfathomably deep.
"The shadows of the old days may not have entirely dispersed. Since you have already attained Knowledge and Action, you must remain vigilant at all times. Investigating Things to Attain Knowledge also requires understanding their origins."
These words undoubtedly affirmed Xuanjizi's suspicions and hinted that the Source of Filth might be tied to even older secrets, perhaps ones predating the Dragon-Han Initial Tribulation.
It sounded an alarm for the Academy's disciples, making them understand that the path of putting principles into practice was not always smooth. It might also lead them to the deepest darkness buried within the Primordial Era.
Within the Academy, this incident sparked a small wave of interest in researching ancient texts and deducing long-lost secrets.
Within the Scripture Repository, jade slips manifested by Wanhua, containing vague records of the era when Heaven and Earth had first been created and gods and demons stood side by side, began to draw the disciples' attention.
Dragon Palace at the End of Its Rope, A Desperate Gamble
Meanwhile, the news that the Dragon Palace's envoys to the Phoenix Race and Qilin Race had suffered setback after setback was finally confirmed.
Within the Crystal Palace, the atmosphere was no longer merely oppressive. It was pervaded by a madness that bordered on despair.
"The Phoenix Race is arrogant, and the Qilin Race lives in seclusion... neither can be relied upon! Does Heaven truly wish to destroy our Dragon Race?!" A Dragon Race elder's eyes were bloodshot, and he was on the verge of losing his mind.
Dragon King Ao Guang sat upon the dragon throne, his expression so dark it seemed as though water could drip from it.
With outside aid cut off and internal morale low, the Dragon Race seemed to have truly reached the end of the road before Sage Wanhua's unfathomable might.
"No! There is still one way!"
Turtle Prime Minister's voice was hoarse, yet it carried a resolute determination to stake everything on one throw. An almost demonic light flickered in his eyes. "Your Majesty, do you still remember... the 'Chasm of Guixu' beneath the Sea Eye?"
"The Chasm of Guixu?!" Ao Guang's dragon body jolted violently, and a trace of utter terror flashed through his eyes. "Prime Minister, you... you mean... the fissure said to connect to... the 'Sea of Annihilation'?
"No! The ancestors left strict instructions that we must never touch such an existence! It is a source of destruction even more uncontrollable and more hopeless than the Dao Ancestor or Sage Wanhua!"
Return to Void was originally the end of Heaven and Earth, the place where all things returned to silence.
At the deepest point of the East Sea's Sea Eye, the Dragon Race had guarded a secret for generations—a tiny, exceedingly unstable fissure that would occasionally leak a trace of the Sea of Annihilation's aura.
It was a forbidden place that even the Ancestral Dragon, at the height of his power, had feared to mention and strictly ordered sealed!
According to ancient legends, the Sea of Annihilation existed in the gap between the Primordial Era and Endless Chaos, containing a terrifying power that could end all things and return all laws to nothingness.
"Your Majesty!" Turtle Prime Minister dropped to his knees with a thud. Tears streamed down his aged face, but his voice possessed a bewitching force. "The Dragon Race has now reached the brink of life and death!
"We have no powerful aid outside, and the danger of collapse within! That Wanhua is tyrannical. He sees us as ants, refining us at will and leaving no chance of life!
"Rather than sit and wait for death, we might as well... borrow power! Borrow the power of the Sea of Annihilation!
"Even if we cannot take revenge, we must let Myriad Dao Academy, let the entire Primordial Era know that our Dragon Race... is not something others can slaughter at will! Even if we turn to ashes, we must splatter him with filthy blood!"
His words were filled with desperate madness and the extreme thrill of vengeance. He meant to drag the entire Dragon Race, even the whole East Sea, into an abyss of eternal damnation!
Within Ao Guang's dragon eyes, struggle, fear, hatred, madness... every emotion clashed violently.
He thought of Ao Zhan and the countless aquatic clans that had been refined, and of the Phoenix Elder's mocking gaze.
He thought of Wanhua's indifferent eyes... In the end, the accumulated humiliation and hatred overwhelmed his fear of the unknown taboo.
"...What... must be done?" Ao Guang's voice was dry and hoarse, as though every word carried the stench of blood.
Turtle Prime Minister raised his head, an eerie light flickering in his eyes. "The Dragon Race's direct bloodline must serve as the catalyst, combined with the Sea Eye's source power, to temporarily tear open a corner of the ancestors' seal.
"Let a wisp of Aura of Annihilation seep out... not much, just a thread. With its formless and intangible nature, its ability to corrode all laws, it can quietly taint the Academy's wenhua foundation... then.
"Even if Wanhua notices, he will surely be overwhelmed. Perhaps... perhaps it can win our race a sliver of breathing room, or even..."
He did not even dare to utter the words "perish together," but every dragon in the hall understood their meaning.
This was a colossal gamble. They were wagering that the Dragon Race's bloodline and the Sea Eye's power could control that wisp of Aura of Annihilation.
They were wagering that Sage Wanhua could not easily dissolve this force of ending that came from beyond the world, wagering that they could seek a faint chance of survival amid destruction... or rather, the pleasure of revenge.
"Then... we shall do as the Prime Minister says." Ao Guang closed his dragon eyes, as though all strength had been drained from him in an instant, yet also as though he had made some sort of decision.
"This matter will be entirely under your command. It must remain absolutely secret... If it cannot be done..."
He said no more.
An undercurrent deeper, more despairing, and more dangerous than when the Water Army had been destroyed began to surge through the deepest reaches of the Dragon Palace.
They had abandoned the search for outside aid and instead turned their eyes toward a destructive force from beyond the world, one that even they themselves feared.
Storm Clouds Gather, Dark Clouds Press Upon the City
Within the Academy, Xuanjizi and the others were still investigating the origins of the demon god remnant soul, unaware that an even stranger and harder-to-guard-against crisis was quietly drawing near beneath the desperate madness brewing in the Dragon Palace.
The Heaven and Earth of the Primordial Era also seemed to sense this extraordinary undercurrent.
Over the East Sea, strange winds would occasionally rise, carrying a salty stench and a faint, almost imperceptible odor of decay;
The heavenly mechanisms grew even more chaotic and unpredictable, leaving even some Great Powers skilled in deduction uneasy in mind and spirit.
Within Chaos Space, Wanhua slowly opened his eyes. His gaze seemed to pass through layers upon layers of space and settle upon the deep East Sea Sea Eye, his brow faintly furrowing.
"The intent of annihilation... Can the rage of ants overturn even an anthill..."
He murmured to himself, then slowly closed his eyes again, as though everything was already under his control, yet also as though he were waiting for something.
The storm was about to arrive. This time, it would not be a frontal crushing blow of thunderous force, but a formless and intangible, sinister corruption aimed directly at the foundation.
The ever-growing ship of Myriad Dao Academy was about to face the strangest and most treacherous storm since its founding.
And the Dragon Palace, a wrecked ship on the verge of sinking, was trying to drag everyone down with it into the endless abyss of Return to Void.
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