"Cloud Water Heavenly Palace, the turtle-snake Taiyi..."
Li Fan pondered for a moment, and a plan formed in his mind.
He would naturally never put himself in harm's way by heading to Taiyi Hall in person to test the power of the Heaven Fiend Sword.
Yet with the Formless Killing Intent, there was no need for him to venture into danger at all.
Dispatching his clone, he went outside and made a series of arrangements.
Meanwhile, Li Fan's true body quietly arrived outside the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace ruins, waiting like a hunter lying in ambush.
Before long, an exploration guide for the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace of mysterious origin circulated across the entire Congyun Sea.
At first, cultivators remained skeptical of the guide's contents.
However, once several cultivators risked their lives to test it and genuinely obtained heritage cultivation methods, the veracity of the guide was finally proven.
By mastering the patterns behind the anomalies, casualties could be virtually eliminated.
Consequently, the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace, which had already drawn a steady stream of explorers, grew even more bustling.
It was not just desperate rogue cultivators; even members of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals—who usually prioritized playing it safe to preserve their lives—could not resist the temptation once they were handed the "answer sheet."
They flocked to the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace to explore, each hoping to seize their own fortune.
Li Fan, having waited for this moment, picked out several individuals with exceptional luck and locked onto them with the Formless Killing Intent.
Using them as his eyes, he investigated the mysteries of the Heaven Fiend Sword.
At the very end of the guide, the method to approach Taiyi Hall and awaken the turtle-snake monster had been clearly explained.
Yet it made no mention of what fortunes could be obtained there.
Human greed knew no bounds.
By normal reasoning, the deeper one ventured into the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace, the more precious the opportunities were bound to be.
Among so many explorers, there was never a shortage of brave souls brimming with curiosity.
And so, under Li Fan's watchful gaze, more than a dozen cultivators—still unsatisfied after reaping benefits from various parts of the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace—advanced toward Taiyi Hall.
They made their way up to the Forest of Swords.
Though the pain of swords piercing the heart was agonizing, the thought of the treasures within arm's reach lessened the agony considerably.
Gritting their teeth against the excruciating pain, the group arrived on the plaza before Taiyi Hall, bordering on total exhaustion.
Following the guide's instructions, they began shouting at the top of their lungs.
"Disciples of the hundred and sixty-seventh generation of the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace request an audience with Patriarch Taiyi!"
"Patriarch Taiyi, please come forth and meet us!"
Their cries echoed through the skies above the grand hall.
*Rumble!*
The earth trembled, and Taiyi Hall rose into the air.
Under the frightened yet expectant gazes of the crowd, the turtle-snake monster truly appeared.
It gazed at the gathered cultivators with a hint of confusion, taking a long while to react.
A few clever cultivators among them quickly began circulating the heritage techniques they had acquired in the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace to prove their identity.
The others caught on at once and hastily followed suit.
For a moment, various lights from the circulating techniques flashed across the plaza, illuminating Taiyi's massive form.
"You..."
The sluggish turtle-snake monster finally came to its senses.
"Are all disciples of my Cloud Water Heavenly Palace?"
Its gaze swept over them, confirming each one.
Looking at the diverse array of cultivators before it, its cloudy eyes filled with emotion and joy.
"Our Cloud Water Heavenly Palace has not been this lively in so long.
"Ever since..."
"Wait, I seem to have forgotten something important."
The turtle-snake's tone shifted, its eyes suddenly turning bewildered.
Then, as if struck by a memory, its expression warped drastically.
The plaza trembled, and Taiyi Hall shook violently.
For some reason, the turtle-snake monster's colossal body began to shudder uncontrollably.
"Children..."
With a trembling voice, it let out a strained roar.
"Run!"
Before Taiyi Hall, the cultivators, who had been filled with immense anticipation, froze on the spot.
All of them thought their ears were playing tricks on them.
"What does it mean, telling us to run?"
They looked at one another, utterly baffled.
Yet as the shaking of the ground grew increasingly distinct and violent, they finally realized something was dreadfully wrong.
"Run!"
The desperate shout of the turtle-snake Taiyi rang out once more.
Following its cry, faint blue lights began to shimmer on the bodies of the cultivators—the exact same power as before, capable of instantly teleporting them out of the Cloud Water Heavenly Palace.
However, right before the blue light could fully coalesce, a broken sword, pitch-black throughout and radiating an overwhelming baleful aura, suddenly manifested.
This time, it did not summon the phantom silhouettes of ten thousand swords to pierce the turtle-snake monster.
Instead, it seemed to be tearing its way out from within Taiyi's body.
Amidst an ear-splitting, grating screech, Taiyi let out a wail of agony.
The spell channeling the teleportation light was instantly shattered.
*Hum!*
The broken blade of the Heaven Fiend Sword was about to break completely free from Taiyi.
"No!"
The turtle-snake monster roared in fury, its body suddenly sinking downward.
An inexhaustible suction seemed to generate from within it.
Inch by inch, the blade was drawn back into its body.
This action by the turtle-snake Taiyi appeared to infuriate the Heaven Fiend Sword.
Countless sword silhouettes fell like torrential rain, mercilessly piercing Taiyi's flesh.
Taiyi howled in excruciating pain, but refused to let go.
From the moment the Heaven Fiend Sword revealed its true form to the turtle-snake using its own body as a scabbard to restrain the weapon's rampage, only a split second had passed.
Amidst Taiyi's sorrowful cries, the cultivators on the plaza finally snapped back to reality.
Terror-stricken, they turned to flee.
Yet the Forest of Swords lay before them; crossing it on the way in had already been an arduous ordeal. How could they easily escape now?
Just as the group had barely made it halfway through the Forest of Swords, the Heaven Fiend Sword finally tore itself completely free from Taiyi's body.
*Hum!*
The ringing of the sword sounded once more.
As if disdaining to strike them down directly, the tip of the Heaven Fiend Sword did not point at the fleeing cultivators.
Instead, it pointed toward a distant area behind Taiyi Hall.
The sword's hum rippled outward.
*Bang!*
*Bang!*
*Bang!*
...
The heads of the fleeing cultivators burst apart like watermelons, one after another.
Their headless corpses eerily continued to sprint forward, collapsing only after covering a considerable distance.
At the same moment, Li Fan instantly lost his line of sight before Taiyi Hall.
He could only vaguely see through the perspectives of cultivators exploring other areas:
Just as the pitch-black Heaven Fiend Sword wreaked havoc, a colossal blue hand suddenly appeared behind Taiyi Hall.
It grabbed the sword in a single grasp,
then plunged it forcefully back into the body of the turtle-snake Taiyi.
A piercing screech immediately echoed throughout the entire Cloud Water Heavenly Palace.
At that moment, every cultivator exploring within the palace groaned, suffering injuries of varying degrees.
Horror showed on every face.
Accompanying the wretched sound of a blade scraping against a whetstone came the agonizing, bloodcurdling howls of the turtle-snake Taiyi.
"Hanhai..."
The voice rumbled like muffled thunder, sweeping across the grounds.
In the turtle-snake's pained cry, there seemed to be a sigh, a sense of relief—yet not a single trace of resentment.
With the Heaven Fiend Sword subdued once more, the sky full of sword silhouettes gradually faded away.
Amidst rumbling sounds, Taiyi Hall descended back into place, and the turtle-snake Taiyi sank into slumber once again.
Everything returned to peace.
Yet that giant blue hand slowly turned pitch-black, just like the Heaven Fiend Sword.
Chapter 241