Cold River Condenses into a Wall

Golden mist hung low, pressing down upon the ruined embankment of Blackwater Harbor. Zhao Canghai stood at the edge, his gray-white Daoist robe stirred by the wind, while a layer of frost armor condensed around its hem, frost patterns crisscrossing over it.

Only a faint azure-blue aura surrounded him, seeping from his collar, cuffs, and between his fingers, shrouding him in a dim haze as though his whole body were submerged in an invisible cold pool.

Within his Sea of Qi, [Sunken-Jade Cold-Pool Qi] floated silently. Upon the gray-white, stone-seal-like immortal platform, countless tiny holes formed a honeycomb, with azure-blue streams of water hanging from them.

Zhao Canghai raised his eyes toward the outside of the embankment. A hundred zhang away, golden mist surged like a tide. More troublesome still were the things within it.

With a sweep of his divine sense, Zhao Canghai sensed dozens of low, muffled hums resonating from the cracks between the reefs below the embankment. They were Bone-Eroding Snails, buried deep beneath the stones, their shells perforated. Their sound did not pass through the ears, but pierced straight into the organs.

Golden-Winged Sea Flies filled the sky, each as large as a fist, moving in swarms. When their wings vibrated, they scattered fine golden powder, which fell upon cultivators' protective Spirit Light like boiling oil splashed onto snow.

Thousand-Legged Dragon Centipedes also skimmed swiftly over the tidal flats, spraying hair-thin golden threads from their mouthparts. The threads grew upon meeting the wind; once they tangled around a body, they tightened straight into the bones.

The demonic tide came from every direction, above and below, leaving no place untouched.

Yet Zhao Canghai did not move.

The giant sea demon's mouthparts slowly opened, and a viscous golden slurry silently poured forth, like a cauldron of molten gold