I Keep Guixu's Rules

Sea Swallower Remnant Soul's words plunged the entire altar into dead silence.

Take it to Guixu?

How was that possible?

Han Jue was the first to frown.

"You're the remnant soul of a ferocious beast, steeped in slaughter. Wouldn't taking you to Guixu invite disaster?"

Sea Swallower Remnant Soul gave a low laugh.

"You little junior, you've got some nerve."

"At my peak, I could swallow three thousand Golden Immortals like you in one bite."

Han Jue said coldly, "But now you're only a remnant soul."

Sea Swallower Remnant Soul narrowed its eyes.

"Are all Guixu people this stubborn?"

Ao Lie glanced at Han Jue.

"He's an especially stubborn kind."

Han Jue glared at him.

"Whose side are you on, exactly?"

Ao Lie could not be bothered to answer him.

Lan Shuang was not affected by Sea Swallower Remnant Soul's words.

She lowered her gaze to the Book of Cause and Effect.

On its pages, Sea Swallower Remnant Soul's karmic threads were so complex they were alarming.

Blood-red, black, and gray threads were tangled into a single mass.

They were the countless sins of slaughter accumulated during the Beast Tribulation.

If such a remnant soul were brought back to Guixu and lost control, the consequences would be severe.

But it knew certain secrets of Emperor's past.

That was equally important.

After pondering for a moment, Lan Shuang said, "If you wish to enter Guixu, you must be revealed by the Book of Cause and Effect."

Sea Swallower Remnant Soul gave a strange laugh.

"Reveal my karma?"

"Do you know how many living beings I have killed?"

Lan Shuang's expression remained calm.

"That is precisely why it must be revealed."

"Guixu has its own rules."

Sea Swallower Remnant Soul fell silent for a moment.

Then it suddenly laughed even harder.

"Rules."

"That old turtle has slept in Guixu for countless ages, yet he has raised a group of juniors who talk about rules."

"Interesting."

"Far too interesting."

Ao Yin said coldly from the side, "Fate Overseer Lan Shuang, if Guixu will not take it, why not hand it over to the Dragon Clan?"

Sea Swallower Remnant Soul abruptly turned toward him.

"The Dragon Clan?"

"Back then, even your Ancestral Dragon had to personally act to suppress me."

"What do you think you are?"

Ao Yin's face darkened at once.

But having suffered greatly just now, he did not dare act rashly again.

Lin Yue also spoke up. "This remnant soul is dangerous. Guixu should not take it away alone."

Yet Feng Li said nothing.

She merely watched Lan Shuang, seemingly wanting to see how Guixu would handle this.

Lan Shuang naturally knew that none of the three clans wanted Sea Swallower Remnant Soul to fall into Guixu's hands.

But she also knew that she could not bring it back herself.

Emperor's decree had said it clearly: if she could not obtain it, she was to flee; if she encountered a powerful enemy, she was to retreat; she was not to invoke his name.

Although Sea Swallower Remnant Soul's familiarity with him had already exposed some information about Emperor, she could not allow the risk to grow further.

Lan Shuang slowly said, "Guixu does not accept those whose sins of slaughter have not been cleansed."

Sea Swallower Remnant Soul's gaze turned cold.

"You reject me?"

Lan Shuang said, "If you wish to enter Guixu, you must first cleanse away your baleful sins of slaughter."

Sea Swallower Remnant Soul's laughter gradually faded.

"Cleanse away my sins of slaughter?"

"With this fragment of a soul, if I cleanse them away, what will remain of me?"

Lan Shuang looked at it.

"Perhaps the real you will remain."

Those words fell.

Sea Swallower Remnant Soul suddenly fell quiet.

Within the roiling Blackwater, its scarlet eyes flickered uncertainly.

It remembered something from a very distant past.

Before the Beast Tribulation, it had merely been a wisp of sea-devouring Sea Spirit in the Northern Sea.

Heaven and earth had only just opened, and all things were in chaos.

The Baleful Fiendish Aura eroded it.

Its instinct to devour overwhelmed its intelligence.

Later, it became a ferocious beast.

It devoured water veins.

It devoured living beings.

It devoured its own kind.

Until one day, it swam near Guixu.

At that time, a Black Tortoise of absurdly immense size slept in the depths of the Northern Sea.

Sea Devourer thought it was an unprecedented feast.

So it pounced.

Then, perhaps finding it too noisy, the Black Tortoise merely turned over.

An indescribable force came crashing down.

Its physical body shattered on the spot.

That day, Sea Devourer learned for the first time that in the Primordial World, some things appeared to be sleeping, yet touching them meant death.

Later, its remnant soul was suppressed by the Northern Dark Water Palace.

It guarded the Black Tortoise Sea-Calming Pearl for countless ages.

From the Beast Tribulation to the rise of the Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin clans.

It watched the Northern Sea change masters again and again.

Only the old turtle in the depths of Guixu had continued sleeping.

He slept until Sea Devourer had nearly forgotten his existence.

Until today, when Guixu's people arrived.

They carried the Book of Cause and Effect, guided Guixu Water Aura, and stood before it speaking of rules.

Sea Devourer suddenly found it absurd.

And deeply exhausting.

It stared at Lan Shuang and said, "If I am willing to disperse my sins of slaughter, can you guarantee that I will enter Guixu?"

Lan Shuang shook her head.

"I cannot guarantee it."

Sea Swallower Remnant Soul's gaze turned frigid.

Lan Shuang continued, "I can only guarantee that I will bring your soul pearl back to Guixu and let Emperor decide."

Sea Devourer was silent for a long time.

"Will that old turtle see me?"

Lan Shuang said, "Whether Emperor will see you is not for me to decide."

Sea Devourer suddenly laughed.

"At least you're honest."

Ao Yin could not help saying, "You really intend to trust her?"

Sea Swallower Remnant Soul shot him a cold glance.

"Even if I disperse my sins of slaughter, it is still better than being refined into a remnant-soul treasure by your Dragon Clan."

Ao Yin's expression turned ugly.

He had indeed intended to do that.

Sea Swallower Remnant Soul was dangerous, but if it could be refined into a Dragon Clan artifact, its power would certainly be considerable.

Unfortunately, Sea Devourer had seen through him.

Lan Shuang raised the Book of Cause and Effect.

"If you are willing to disperse your baleful sins of slaughter, the Book of Cause and Effect can help you."

Sea Swallower Remnant Soul looked toward the Black Tortoise Sea-Calming Pearl.

"The pearl is yours."

"I ask only for one chance."

After saying that, its enormous remnant soul began to contract.

Blackwater churned as the Baleful Fiendish Aura was continuously stripped from its body.

The entire altar began to tremble.

Countless blood-red karmic threads emerged from Sea Swallower Remnant Soul and were illuminated bit by bit by the Book of Cause and Effect.

The sight was profoundly shocking.

A vicious soul left behind from the Beast Tribulation was actually taking the initiative to disperse its sins of slaughter.

Ao Yin and Lin Yue both watched with dark expressions.

Feng Li's eyes, however, flickered.

Could Guixu's rules truly make a ferocious beast remnant soul willingly bow its head?

That was simply unbelievable.

Han Jue gripped his spear and said quietly, "Is it really willing?"

Ao Lie said solemnly, "It has guarded this place for too long."

"Sometimes, living too long is also a torment."

Han Jue glanced at him.

"You're rather good at sighing over life."

Ao Lie said blandly, "When you've guarded a gate for long enough, you naturally start thinking about things."

Ancestor Xuan Jia looked at Sea Swallower Remnant Soul and slowly sighed.

"Whether ferocious beasts, Dragons, Phoenixes, or Qilins, in the end, all are within the tribulation."

"To willingly disperse its sins of slaughter is no easy thing."

Lan Shuang activated the Book of Cause and Effect with all her strength.

Black-and-white radiance descended continuously.

Sea Swallower Remnant Soul grew smaller and smaller.

In the end, the immense Blackwater dispersed, leaving behind only a pitch-black soul pearl floating above the altar.

Within the soul pearl, a faint eye remained.

That eye looked toward Lan Shuang.

"Take me to Guixu."

Lan Shuang put away the soul pearl.

"I will petition Emperor."

At the same time.

The Black Tortoise Sea-Calming Pearl atop the altar finally broke free of Blackwater's restraints and slowly descended.

Lady Mingzhu raised a hand and caught it.

The instant the pearl landed in her hand, the water veins throughout the entire palace calmed.

"The Black Tortoise Sea-Calming Pearl is ours."

Before the people of Guixu could show their joy.

A Dragon claw suddenly struck from the side.

Ao Yin made his move.

This was the moment he had been waiting for.

Sea Swallower Remnant Soul had dispersed, the Black Tortoise Sea-Calming Pearl had just fallen into Lady Mingzhu's hand, and Guixu's people were still focused on the soul pearl.

This was the best chance to seize the treasure.

"Hand it over!"

A Dragon claw tore through the blackwater, reaching straight for Lady Mingzhu.

Ao Lie's expression changed drastically.

He was the closest, and the first to react.

Without the slightest hesitation, he stepped forward. Blackwater Dragon aura erupted from him as he forcibly blocked Ao Yin in front of Lady Mingzhu.

Boom!

Ao Yin's claw came crashing down.

Ao Lie was blasted back dozens of yards, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth.

Killing intent surged in Ao Yin's eyes.

"Ao Lie, you dare stop me?"

Ao Lie raised his head, his gaze icy.

"She is Lady Mingzhu, overseer of the Guixu Treasury."

"You dare lay a hand on someone from Guixu?"

Ao Yin laughed in extreme fury.

"Someone from Guixu?"

"Have you forgotten that you are the Dragon Clan's crown prince?"

Ao Lie fell silent for a moment.

Then, he slowly straightened.

"I remember."

"But today, I am upholding Guixu's rules."