Twelfth-Rank World-Destroying Black Lotus

No one spoke up to refute Hu Liena.

Perhaps some thought Hu Liena's assessment was overly sharp, but no one denied its most crucial judgment.

The Primordial World had resources, while Blue Star had a system.

That was precisely the foundation for establishing long-term cooperation between the two worlds.

Shen Qinghe pondered for a moment before quickly making a decision.

"Establish the Primordial World Cultivation System Translation Group."

"First, compile complete materials on Martial Soul Awakening, Soul Power cultivation, Soul Ring Advancement, Soul Bone Fusion, Soul Core Condensation, and Soul Beast Cultivation. List anything involving Divine Position Inheritance separately, and apply to the Transcendent Association for the highest level of authorization."

"Also, invite every academy and sect that has established long-term contact with Douzhe Continent to participate."

"We do not need to hand over any core inheritances in advance, but before the passage opens, we must organize a complete framework sufficient to demonstrate Blue Star's value."

The moment the order was issued, several academies responded at once.

No one wanted to miss the chance to become the first to establish contact with this new plane.

Hu Liena also activated her own authority privileges.

"Soul Hall Academy can provide complete teaching materials below the Titled Dou Practitioner level, along with some Martial Soul Evolution cases."

"Content at higher levels will have to wait for a decision from the Transcendent Association and Tang God-King's faction."

Shen Qinghe nodded, then brought the Dragon Race's name back before everyone.

"Once the passage is opened, the First Contact Sequence will remain unchanged for now."

"Compared with Qing Xuan, who traveled alone and had twice refused to join any faction, the Dragon Race possesses fixed territory, a complete organization, and clear leadership."

"Then the cultivation civilization Blue Star possesses may become our first stepping stone toward cooperation."

This decision was quickly approved.

From that moment onward, the Research Center was no longer discussing whether Blue Star could obtain anything from the Primordial World.

Instead, it was considering how much a mature cultivation path, proven over countless years, could exchange for from that yet-unexcavated treasury.

After Qiuniu left, Qing Yi took the opportunity to refine the twenty-four Sea-Calming Pearls.

Not long afterward, however, the two discovered through the Sea-Calming Pearls that a Water Vein in the East Sea was behaving abnormally.

The East Sea was unimaginably vast. A disturbance in a single Water Vein would be nearly impossible for any living being to notice amid the entire sea.

But the Sea-Calming Divine Pearls were different.

This set of spirit treasures was innately attuned to the sea's Water Veins.

When all twenty-four divine pearls operated together, that originally insignificant anomaly became like a sudden crack in a complete Great Dao, impossible to conceal any longer.

Several centuries later, in a stretch of sea.

A Sea-Calming Divine Pearl hung above the boundless waters, its deep-blue divine light pointing directly beneath the surface.

Qing Xuan and Qing Yi stood side by side, their gazes falling upon the waters below.

This sea region was unnaturally quiet.

There were no aquatic creatures in sight. Even the most ordinary marine plants had drawn in their branches and leaves, their vitality sinking into their roots, as though instinctively avoiding something.

The two did not linger on the surface, instead sinking directly into the sea.

The farther down they went, the darker their surroundings became.

Only when they neared the seafloor did a lingering trace of Blood Fiend Aura drift through the water.

Near the Sea Eye, countless corpses lay scattered in every direction.

Qing Xuan swept his gaze over the battlefield and identified the two sides from the lingering auras.

One side was made up of scaled aquatic creatures under the Dragon Race, while the other belonged to avian clans affiliated with the Phoenix Clan.

This place lay at the border between the East Sea and the eastern lands of the Primordial World. There was also a spirit vein beneath the seabed where water and fire converged, so it was not particularly strange for the two sides to clash over it.

What was truly strange was that not a single living being had escaped.

The two sides were evenly matched. If one side had been outmatched, they could have retreated entirely.

Yet judging from the traces left on the battlefield, neither the scaled aquatic creatures nor the Phoenix Clan's affiliates had shown the slightest intention of retreating.

Every attack had been made solely to kill the other side.

Even if they knew they would perish the next moment, they still wanted to drag their enemy into the abyss before dying.

This was not the kind of slaughter that should have occurred over a spirit vein. It was more as though, from the moment they met, both sides had already decided that only one could survive.

Qing Yi did not approach the corpses.

She raised her hand and pointed. The Sea-Calming Divine Pearl floating above slowly sank into the Sea Eye.

The instant the divine pearl descended, all seawater within ten thousand li froze in place.

The scales and feathers carried by the undercurrents also came to a halt.

Only then did what had been hidden beneath the corpses finally reveal itself.

Fine black veins, thin as hair, extended from the corpses and burrowed deep into the seafloor.

Whether it was the remaining magical power, or the Blood Fiend Aura and resentment that had accumulated after death, all of it was continuously drawn away by those black veins.

Countless veins eventually converged at the center of the Sea Eye, forming a black lotus that had yet to fully bloom.

Qing Yi frowned slightly as she looked at the Black Lotus. "It is devouring what these living beings left behind after death."

At that moment, Qing Xuan also recognized the deeply concealed aura, as well as the meaning represented by that lotus.

The Twelfth-Rank World-Destroying Black Lotus, a Supreme Innate Spirit Treasure and Luohou's companion treasure.

Qing Xuan's expression gradually darkened.

The Black Lotus Mark did not merely absorb death aura.

Its roots had long since fused into the nearby Water Veins, constantly magnifying the killing intent in the hearts of both sides whenever they clashed.

For every additional living being that died, the Black Lotus grew stronger. In the end, it sent everything produced by this slaughter along the underground Water Veins toward the distant west.

"Qiuniu said that in recent years, conflicts among the lower ranks of the three clans have become increasingly likely to spiral out of control."

Looking at the corpses still tangled together even in death, Qing Xuan finally understood what hand had been pushing matters from behind the scenes.

"Now it seems Calamity Aura is not the only thing influencing them."

Qing Yi followed the black veins with her gaze toward the west.

"Where do these powers ultimately flow?"

"The west."

Qing Xuan's gaze followed that black line buried deep within the Water Veins, continuing onward until even his World Dao could no longer trace it.

"And Luohou is using them to nurture something that has yet to truly take form."

As soon as he finished speaking, Qing Xuan prepared to sink his World Dao into the Sea Eye and first strip the Black Lotus Mark from the East Sea's Water Veins.

But just as his power was about to descend, the Black Lotus that had yet to fully bloom suddenly moved.

Pitch-black petals unfurled one after another.

The seawater that had been suppressed by the Sea-Calming Divine Pearl abruptly changed direction without warning.

The waters above plummeted madly into the depths of the Sea Eye, while the undercurrents on the seafloor surged upward, carrying endless Blood Fiend Aura.

The Dao traces remaining across the battlefield were also forcibly awakened by the Black Lotus.

Dragon shadows roared, and fiery feathers filled the sea.

The final strikes left behind by the two clans' living beings before their deaths were reforming within the Black Lotus.

It wanted to destroy this place.

Not only the Black Lotus Mark itself, but every trace that could prove Luohou had interfered in the conflict among the three clans.

Behind Qing Xuan, a vast world silently unfolded.

Qing Yi stepped forward.

All twenty-four Sea-Calming Divine Pearls rose at once, their deep-blue divine light piercing the seafloor and dividing the entire Sea Eye into twenty-four mutually isolated waters.

"You sever the Water Veins."

"I'll destroy it."