Just then—
From the grandest central hall emerged a towering figure, broad as a mountain.
He wore heavy dark-gold scale armor, and with every step he took, the surrounding seawater seemed to congeal.
It was Sha Lu, a senior half-Venerable elder of the Black Spirit Tiger Shark Clan.
He did not linger among the palace complex, instead heading straight toward a secluded area at the rear.
There stood a solitary palace, smaller than the rest, yet far more secluded and profound.
A thin yet exceptionally resilient Formation Light Screen covered the palace's surface, shutting out all prying eyes and sounds.
Sha Lu halted before the screen. Without calling out, he merely flicked a finger, sending a condensed strand of demonic power—like a black needle—at the light screen.
Buzz...
A faint ripple spread across the screen's surface, like the silent water's surface disturbed by a tossed pebble.
Deep within the palace.
Sha Minghong, who had been in closed-door meditation amid boundless darkness, abruptly opened his eyes.
A bloody glint flashed through his pupils in the dark, and his brows drew together in displeasure.
He did not rise. His lips merely moved, his voice condensing into a single stream that pierced the palace barriers and exploded directly beside Sha Lu's ear like muffled thunder from the deep sea:
"What is it?"
"Didn't I say that unless it was urgent, no one was to disturb my closed-door meditation?"
The chill in his voice nearly froze the surrounding seawater.
Sha Lu's body trembled slightly. Not daring to delay in the slightest, he immediately drew a Jade Slip suffused with a faint bloody glow from his robes and respectfully presented it with both hands:
"Reporting to the Clan Chief, there has been a massive upheaval in the human Cultivation World...
The details have all been