A Thought Bestows Blessings, and the Crocodile Ancestor's Battle Armor Ascends to an Emperor Weapon

Above the East Sea, three streaks of light raced like lightning across the sky, raising three long white trails in their wake.

The three sisters, Yun Xiao, Qiong Xiao, and Bi Xiao, were frantic with worry, pushing their escape arts to the utmost.

Yun Xiao flew at the front, her expression cold and silent as she repeatedly calculated their bearings. When Zhao Gongming had left Golden Ao Island, he had told them he was going to find a secluded immortal island deep in the East Sea and enter seclusion. Now they needed to find the last place where their elder brother had appeared.

Qiong Xiao and Bi Xiao followed close behind. Their faces, too, were filled with grief and outrage.

"Eldest Sister, who do you think did it?" Bi Xiao finally blurted out, breaking the silence. "Could it have been those hypocrites from the Sect of Explanation? Our elder brother killed three of their Golden Immortals, so they held a grudge and asked Venerable Yuanshi to act?"

That was the most obvious guess. After all, during this tribulation, the conflict between the Interception Sect and the Sect of Explanation was the greatest.

Qiong Xiao gave a cold snort and gritted her teeth. "Who else could it be? Old Man Yuanshi is the most protective of his own, and he looks down on disciples of our Interception Sect more than anyone. He must have disregarded a Saint's dignity and secretly struck him down!"

"But Master said that a Saint from the Western Teachings intervened..." Yun Xiao's voice came from up ahead, slightly hoarse and bewildered. "I'm afraid this matter isn't that simple."

"The Western Teachings?" Bi Xiao was taken aback. "Those two bald donkeys never concern themselves with affairs in the East. Why would they suddenly try to kill our elder brother?"

"What else could it be?" A trace of disdain flashed through Qiong Xiao's eyes. "Those two are famous for their boundless greed and skins thicker than city walls. They must have coveted our elder brother's Sea Calming Divine Beads and Qiankun Ruler!"

That guess certainly fit the usual conduct of the Two Saints of the West.

"But even if it was them, why would the Sect of Explanation be involved?" Yun Xiao furrowed her brow. "I can't shake the feeling that there's an invisible net behind all this, drawing everyone into its scheme."

She had always been perceptive. Her instincts told her that her elder brother's death was shrouded in mystery and was far more complicated than it appeared.

"Who cares what schemes they have?" Bi Xiao said bitterly. "Once we get there and find some clues, whether they're from the Sect of Explanation or the Western Teachings, not one of them will get away! They killed our elder brother, so they'll pay with their lives!"

As they spoke, they had already flown countless millions of miles, deep into the East Sea.

The landscape around them had become a complete wasteland.

The once-calm sea was covered in towering waves and terrifying spatial rifts. Many immortal islands had been reduced to bare reefs, while others had been erased from the sea entirely. The air still held traces of a terrifying pressure that made their hearts tremble—the power of a Saint.

"This is the place..."

Yun Xiao stopped and hovered in midair, looking down at the stretch of sea that had been utterly destroyed. Her delicate body trembled despite herself.

This was where their elder brother had fought his final battle.

Just sensing the lingering fluctuations of magical power in the air was enough for them to imagine how brutal the battle had been.

"What incredible power... A Saint definitely acted here!" Qiong Xiao's expression grew grave.

Even though some time had passed, the pressure belonging to a Saint, one who stood above the Heavenly Dao, still made their souls tremble.

"Elder Brother..." Bi Xiao gazed at the desolate scene below, her eyes reddening again. She could imagine how helpless and despairing their elder brother must have felt here, all alone.

Yun Xiao forcibly suppressed her grief. Closing her eyes, she spread her divine sense and carefully sensed every trace of lingering aura in the surrounding world.

"There are... two Saintly auras."

A moment later, Yun Xiao opened her eyes, stunned.

"Two?" Qiong Xiao and Bi Xiao were startled as well.

"That's right." Yun Xiao's expression darkened. "One aura is solemn and dignified, yet carries a faint trace of opportunistic Dao. It must belong to Zhunti of the Western Teachings. The other aura is very faint, almost completely dissipated, but I can sense that it's the Jade Purity Immortal Light of our Eastern Mystic Gate... It's Uncle-Master Yuanshi!"

"What? Old Man Yuanshi came too?" Bi Xiao cried out.

The discovery sent the sisters' hearts plunging.

Two Saints!

Had their elder brother really faced two Saints at once?

How was that possible? Why would two Saints appear here at the same time to attack their elder brother?

"No... That's not right." Yun Xiao sensed the area carefully again and shook her head. "Uncle-Master Yuanshi's aura is extremely faint, and it vanished in an instant. It doesn't seem as though he acted in person. It's more likely that... one of his disciples used a treasure or talisman he bestowed."

"Hmph! It makes no difference!" Qiong Xiao said coldly. "It was definitely someone from the Sect of Explanation who got Zhunti to join them in surrounding our elder brother!"

That theory seemed to explain why two Saints had appeared at the same time.

"Let's go down and look."

As she spoke, Yun Xiao led the way down toward the largest bare reef on the seabed, which had been battered by the battle.

This was the very heart of the fight.

As soon as they landed on the reef, they caught the lingering scent of blood.

A pool of dried, dark-red blood remained on a smooth rock.

Yun Xiao reached out and gently touched the bloodstain. The familiar aura of a bloodline lingered within it.

It was her elder brother's blood.

"Elder Brother..." Bi Xiao could no longer hold back. She crouched down and burst into tears.

Yun Xiao and Qiong Xiao's eyes reddened as well, their hearts twisting like knives.

Just then, Yun Xiao's gaze was drawn to something nearby.

It was an ordinary-looking copper coin with a pair of wings. It lay quietly in a crack in the rock, a trace of blood still clinging to it.

"What is this?"

Yun Xiao walked over and picked up the coin.

As soon as it touched her hand, a peculiar innate Dao charm flowed into her palm, one that specifically countered all the magic treasures under Heaven.

"This treasure... is quite strange." Qiong Xiao came over to examine the coin. "It seems to hold the power of a law that can knock other magic treasures down."

"Treasure Dropping Golden Coin?" Yun Xiao had read widely, and a spark of inspiration flashed through her mind as she recalled an ancient legend.

"You mean the companion spiritual treasure of the Wuyi Mountain rogue cultivators, Xiao Sheng and Cao Bao?" Qiong Xiao realized as well.

"Exactly." Yun Xiao nodded. "But why would their treasure be here? And why is it stained with blood?"

The three sisters exchanged glances, each seeing the same trace of doubt in the others' eyes.

Could their elder brother's death have something to do with those two obscure rogue cultivators?

But with their level of cultivation, how could they possibly have taken part in a battle involving Saints?