Chapter 139: Cataclysm of the Azure Sea

When the red-faced elder finished speaking, his towering hundred-zhang body suddenly trembled. Waves of water-type divine power surged forth, instantly filling the entire firmament above.

The thousand-zhang demon watched the elder's transformation with a disdainful, cold sneer, ignoring him thereafter to focus single-mindedly on devouring the azure seawater.

As the divine power dispersed, the purple longsword in the elder's hand turned illusory, radiating a hazy purple glow. The elder's hundred-zhang body began to move slowly, tracing a series of bizarre trajectories to weave thousands of phantom images, every single one of which was composed entirely of divine power.

Gradually, as the elder continuously brandished the purple sword, a sword array formed from illusory sword shadows took shape directly above his head. Wisps of supreme azure sea essence qi broke free from the ocean below and surged into the illusory sword array.

Seeing that the sword array was complete, the elder tossed the illusory longsword in his hand directly into the center of the array. Then, his hands formed a complex, illusory seal, which he thrust into the sword array amidst a soft shout.

"Sword array, rise..."

The moment the elder uttered these words, the sword array above his head emitted a low hum, followed by a brilliant burst of dazzling light. As the array activated, the elder's hundred-zhang body unexpectedly began to shrink in size.

As the gigantic purple body contracted, gales of concentrated water-type divine power poured continuously into the sword array. With this steady influx, the array began to vibrate and hum intensely, and its resonant sword cries actually synchronized with the azure ocean itself. Every single time the sword array hummed, countless towering pillars of water erupted across the azure surface of the sea.

A massive torrent of essence qi rose from the azure sea, expanding rapidly from an initial radius of a few hundred meters to several thousand meters, and ultimately reaching a terrifying ten thousand meters. The dense streams of essence qi resembled a torrential downpour from the heavens, frantically pouring down into the sword array.

By this time, the red-faced elder had returned to his normal stature, though his complexion had shifted from a healthy rudeness to a deep, purplish red. Upon closer inspection, one could notice his entire body trembling uncontrollably, while heavy beads of sweat dripped from his robes down into the ocean below!

At this moment, under the massive influx of azure sea essence qi, the illusory sword array above the elder's head had begun to solidify into a tangible entity. The speed of this transformation was so rapid that even the demon opposite him could not help but frown slightly. Deep within the demon's eyes, however, a sinister smile flickered—a thoroughly malicious grin.

All thousand of the illusory sword shadows had become completely lifelike and substantial. Following the elder's command to merge, the thousand purple energy swords trembled in unison and converged toward the central master purple sword.

The convergence of a thousand energy swords triggered earth-shattering sword cries that set off successive explosions across the azure sea. The entire ocean surface seemed ready to flip upside down, and the deafening roars sent rolling, thunderous echoes reverberating through the sky.

The thousand substantial purple swords ultimately fused into a single colossal sword nearly seventy zhang in length. Faint laws of nature flickered across the blade, with concentric circles of purple halos overlapping along the sword body. Though it appeared slow, it was actually moving at absolute, supreme speed. Each time a ring of light rippled outward, the spatial fabric left behind minuscule fractures, though these cracks healed instantly upon appearance, leaving not a trace behind.

The red-faced elder's two junior martial brothers pressed their palms firmly against his back, continuously channeling vast reservoirs of genuine yuan into his body to sustain the immense depletion caused by manipulating the sword array.

Fueled by this injection of genuine yuan, the elder's purplish-red complexion began to improve, returning toward a healthy ruddiness. Supported by his two junior brothers, the internal genuine yuan was now sufficient for him to fully command the giant purple sword above his head.

Slowly, he raised his sweat-drenched arms all the way overhead and gripped the sword hilt with all his might. In an instant, the elder's momentum soared to its absolute peak. The suddenly erupted force blasted his two companions hundreds of meters backward.

A mighty, sweeping divine might surged into the heavens, whipping up winds and clouds that transformed the color of the sky. Wielding the colossal sword, the elder let out a prolonged roar, threw his arms downward with explosive force, and shouted, "Slash!"

As the elder brought the giant sword slashing down, the boundless sea behind him churned into raging, towering billows. Across a span of hundreds of miles, the ocean reared up into a peerless, thousand-zhang giant wave.

Accompanying the ascent of the thousand-zhang wave, an aura capable of crushing the firmament crashed toward the demon. The colossal purple sword descended with an earth-shattering crash, a seventy-zhang blade of divine power cleaving downward from the heights of heaven.

Rumble!

Amidst a muffled, thunderous explosion, the colossal energy sword struck squarely against the demon's body. The seventy-zhang divine power sword shattered violently, instantly swallowing the thousand-zhang demon in a cataclysmic flood of energy.

In a split second, space fractured into pitch-black void, and peerless, chaotic spatial turbulence surged like roaring torrents suspended within the dark, formless expanse.

The moment space shattered, the red-faced elder and his two junior brothers executed consecutive rapid teleportations, flashing a hundred miles away. Meanwhile, the thousand-zhang demon was battered deep into the abyss of the spatial turbulence by the divine sword, vanishing entirely from sight.

Panting heavily, the red-faced elder used his trembling hands to recall the dimmed purple longsword floating before him back into his body.

"We are still far too weak! If the three of us brothers had managed to comprehend even a single spatial law—even just a preliminary grasp—we would not be in such a sorry state today!"

The red-faced elder let out a long sigh and fell silent, quietly watching the spatial fractures slowly healing themselves before them.

That single strike had exhausted the genuine yuan within the elder's body, along with the divine soul inside the purple longsword, draining its divine power entirely dry. It would be impossible to use it again anytime soon!

Though the three elders were all supreme experts at the mid-stage of the Saint-Transformation realm, their advantages over those in the Mortal-Ablation stage lay merely in having dozens of times more genuine yuan and the ability to commune with space for teleportation.

As Saint-Transformation experts, their defining capability was the fusion of their spiritual consciousness with space itself, allowing them to execute spatial teleportation that all martial artists envied, overlap and compress space, and independently carve out small spatial ring realms to store items—the most iconic achievement being the creation of spatial rings.

This tier was called Saint-Transformation precisely because mortals, through their own cultivation, could begin to preliminarily grasp some of the seemingly miraculous abilities of nature. Among all things in the world, the most prevalent and vast was space itself. Space was infinitely large, containing countless profound mysteries, and all living creatures in nature dwelt within space.

All the elemental laws and forces of heaven and earth existed within space, and all rules had to operate within it. Therefore, if a martial artist wished to attain a higher realm of cultivation and master more divine skills, they first had to unlock the door filled with mysteries—and that door was space. Only by gaining a preliminary understanding of space could one proceed to master the higher energies, laws, and rules it contained.

However, the three red-faced elders had merely mastered a few preliminary techniques of spatial application; they could hardly be said to command space, and true mastery remained an impossibly distant dream.

Watching the shattered space completely heal, the three men finally exhaled a long breath. The elder who wielded supreme frigid power kept a worried expression as he said, "Is it over? I always feel as though the true storm hasn't even officially arrived yet!"

"Senior brother's strike had already surpassed the limits of what space can bear. Such a terrifying blow will undoubtedly inflict heavy trauma upon the demon!" the elder of supreme fire said with absolute confidence.

Hearing the conflicting thoughts of his two junior brothers, the red-faced elder could not help but smile bitterly: "With our level of cultivation, even we can easily fracture space, let alone this ancient demon! Ten thousand years ago, its strength was comparable to some of the most formidable divine beings and deities. The reason it allowed us to unleash all our attacks upon it today is simply thanks to ten thousand years of erosion, which finally granted us the chance for a balanced fight."

"You mean to say this old demon is very likely to counterattack and return?!" the elder of frigid power asked in alarm, his expression shifting drastically.

"That is a certainty. Within the endless spatial turbulence, it cannot devour the energy needed to restore its strength. The absolute best place for its recovery is none other than this Azure Sea Realm. Aside from the massive essence qi contained within the seawater, there are countless living beings, the countless demon clans of the lower realm, and the greater world—which is its favorite place to recuperate!"

At this point, the red-faced elder cast his gaze toward the distant horizon. "If Senior Zhuangzhuang were here, we could rest easy and no longer fear the catastrophe this demon brings."

At the mere mention of the name Zhuangzhuang, the expressions of the other two elders turned peculiar, involuntarily conjuring the image of that utterly vulgar yet terrifyingly powerful little bear in their minds.

"Hoping for that fellow to be here is less practical than wishing for Lord Space-God himself to descend in person!" the elder of frigid power said, his tone tinged with a trace of resentment.

"Heh..." The other two could not help but chuckle softly.

Just then, several piercing whistles of air broke the silence from behind them. Sensing the arrival of others, all three saints turned their heads to see dozens of figures flying toward them in streaks of light.

A few breaths later, those dozen streaks of light arrived before the three saints. They were led by Island Master Flame and other powerhouse figures from various factions, among whom were several formidable grand masters of the Mortal-Ablation stage.

After paying their respects to the three saints, the crowd eagerly inquired where the demon had gone and whether it had been sealed once again. The most anxious among them was clearly Hu Batian, Island Master of Flame Island, because the demon's escape was directly linked to his island, and his aged father had yet to receive any news, having lost all contact completely.

Seeing that the demon was nowhere to be seen, Hu Batian assumed it had been resealed by the three saints, and the stone hanging in his heart was about to drop. However, the subsequent words of the three saints filled him with a deeply ominous premonition.

On his way here, he had attempted to contact his father numerous times via communication talismans, but received no reply. His inner unease grew heavier by the second.

Just as everyone was listening to the three saints recount the battle, an exceptionally eerie shriek echoed from afar. Everyone's expressions startled, especially the three saints, whose faces changed drastically upon hearing the wail as they looked toward the source alongside the crowd.

Space several miles away shattered violently, plunging into pitch-black darkness. A thousand-zhang purple figure stepped forth from the void—it was none other than the demon, who had vanished only briefly before returning once again to the Azure Sea Domain.

"The demon..."

Multiple gasps of alarm rang out simultaneously. Upon laying eyes upon the demon's thousand-zhang-tall form once more, the complexions of these renowned human martial experts turned deathly pale. Such a colossal entity was simply beyond anything they could hope to shake!

"Saints, what should we do?" a Mortal-Ablation expert asked with a trembling voice.

At this moment, upon seeing that the demon had completely restored its pale-purple physique, the three saints understood that they were utterly powerless to stop it now. All they could do was flee as quickly as possible.

The red-faced elder gazed at the crowd of powerhouses looking at them with desperate eyes and shouted: "All of you, return as quickly as possible! Take everything you can carry and flee toward the various gateways to the Heavens! Go at once—the demon has recovered the majority of its strength, and no one can stop it now!"

Hearing this, the crowd felt as though they had been struck by a bolt from the blue. What did "no one can stop it" mean? The Azure Sea Domain was finished! This was the unanimous thought in everyone's minds.

"Why aren't you going?!" Seeing everyone standing there in a daze, the red-faced elder roared in burning anxiety.

Only then did the dozen-odd powerhouses snap back to their senses. They cast a terrified glance at the demon, whose towering form had fully emerged, and fled in a panic on their streaks of light, hastening back to their respective factions to prepare for escape!

"Let us leave as well! Staying any longer will accomplish nothing!" With that, the red-faced elder vanished in a spatial teleportation, while the other two cast one final backward glance and teleported away as well.

The entire Azure Sea Domain was on the brink of an immense catastrophe. For the human and demon races living here, this calamity would be an unprecedented, epoch-ending disaster; but for the demon, it was merely a delicious, lavish feast!

The Pinnacle of Martial Arts, Chapter 139: Catastrophe in the Azure Sea - Update Complete!