Chapter 122: Collapse

"Are you an idiot?! What does the Ye family have to do with you? Did you get water in your brain to show mercy to this old man? Damn it! You deserve to die!" Gong Jiu lunged forward, wishing he could beat Sui Yi to death.

Neither Gong Jiu nor Hua Yaofei could understand why, in such a dangerous moment, Sui Yi would refuse to strike down this monster.

Clearly... it was not really her grandfather.

Ye Luanyun laughed until he could no longer laugh. He stepped onto the staircase, intending to take away his father... but then he saw Aguna.

The monster in the pool had been torn away by Gong Jiu and Hua Yaofei’s relentless kicks and blows, yet they never actually struck to kill it. Aguna rushed up from behind and restrained the maddened creature.

Then, he looked at Sui Yi.

Sui Yi’s chest was soaked through with blood... blood flowing down from her back.

However, the expressions of Gong Jiu and the others, and even Aguna, changed instantly. The expressions of the heavily wounded Lin Feng and his companions shifted as well.

What on earth was that?

Dense blood vessels were spreading from the ice coffin on Sui Yi’s back, creeping from one side across the entire surface.

Gong Jiu was incredibly nervous.

Damn, damn, damn!

Is this a blood-oath binding? If the entire ice coffin turns into a blood coffin, won't Sui Yi be turned into a dried corpse?

Just as he reached out to pull Sui Yi away, he was met with a roll of the eyes from her, even as she clutched her chest.

An eye roll!

Sui Yi, even you can roll your eyes?

Gong Jiu’s body shuddered, and he almost burst into tears. "It's over, it's over, it's over! This is the final flash of life before death!"

"..." Sui Yi took a difficult breath, looked down at her chest, and gave a bitter smile.

"Gong Jiu, you moron..."

Before Sui Yi could finish, and before Gong Jiu could react to her speaking, a deep hum echoed.

The ice coffin erupted with terrifying pressure, releasing an infinite chill. It was so bone-chilling that Gong Jiu, Hua Yaofei, and the others were frozen in an instant.

Sui Yi was startled, but she only felt as if the cold, rigid coffin behind her had suddenly vanished... Her body tipped backward, and then she saw strands of frigid air transform into cold currents, surging and rushing upwards...

And then... to the eyes of Ma Ge and the others below, the ice coffin, at a terrifying speed that defied physics, biology, chemistry, and quantum mechanics, transformed into nine pillars of ice. The coffin vanished, replaced by these pillars.

That wouldn't be so bad, but then those ice pillars took the form of dragons—that was insane!

Fine, so they turned into ice dragons; that wouldn't be so bad either—who hasn't seen a 3D movie before?

But!

There was an opening beneath the ice coffin, and it began to spew water... That was deadly! And the opening was growing larger and larger...

"Damn it, the center of gravity is lost!"

"That coffin was used for counterbalancing!"

"Damn, damn, damn!"

Ma Ge and the others turned green.

Just then... Boom! Boom! Boom! The nine-layered staircase began to shake, the ceiling trembled—or rather, the entire underground palace was quaking!

"Look!"

"The stone walls!"

Cracks—they were cracking completely!

Crash!

The area around the underground palace, or rather, the water surrounding the palace, finally breached the defensive walls. A surging, torrential flood poured in within the blink of an eye!

Three stone walls collapsed entirely. Only the headless man and the imperial stone relief remained intact, but it was too late. Ma Ge and the others at the lowest level were swept away in an instant by the massive volume of water that flooded the palace.

On the highest step, Lin Feng and the others, whose bodies were frozen but who still clung to a shred of life, watched as the stone ceiling cracked and began to plummet down!

Damn it! Better to jump into the water...

Splash, splash. One by one, they used their last ounce of strength to lean over and roll off the steps... rolling into the water.

The water quickly rose. Sui Yi, who should have been dead from her severe injuries, was the last to maintain consciousness. She saw the last, profound look Aguna gave her, and saw him charge toward Ye Luanyun. She also saw the two Dharma Protectors—one black, one white—at the entrance also moving toward Ye Luanyun...

Dharma Protectors... So there were three of them.

The first was the black-clad swordsman, the second was the white-clad swordsman, and the third was you, Aguna. An archer.

These three were the true guardians of the underground palace. As for the Seventh Great-Uncle and the others, they were hereditary guardians, but things had changed over time.

Some things, however, never changed. For instance, Aguna had known everything from the very beginning.

For instance...

Sui Yi slowly closed her eyes.

She did not see the nine dragon pillars diving down. She did not see those nine dragon pillars wrapping around her body. She did not see...

Boom!

Everything collapsed! Everything was swept away by the water!

In the underwater world, the chaotic, massive realm, Lin Feng and the others—slowly thawing from their frozen state—watched the collapse, including the palace above the underground chamber. It wasn't that the palaces were damaged; it was that they were sinking down entirely!

It was as if the person who built all this had intended from the start to sink this palace into the depths of the earth.

Leng She gritted his teeth. Previously, they had tried to inspect all the palaces, only to find that none could be entered. Only the front hall where Sui Yi and the others were had been open. Only there was the entrance to the underground palace.

It had all been planned long ago.

All efforts wasted, returning empty-handed?

Damn! I refuse to accept this!

On the other side, Ye Luanyun had been run through the chest by the white-clad Dharma Protector’s sword. His ghost mask shattered. The sword was withdrawn, and blood flowed out. He clutched his father’s corpse.

On the verge of death, he saw, in a hazy blur, nine dragons. Those ice dragons moved freely through the water, swimming... and one of them was coiled around a person.

He only caught a fleeting, blurry glance before darkness took him.

This was the underwater world; Sui Yi had that sensation. She was so weak, her spirit so wandering, as if she were in a dream.

Therefore, when the map she had tucked into her pocket floated out and, in a mysterious manner, began to coalesce thin lines in the blank spaces—transforming into a complete chart—she still felt as if it were all a dream.

It should have been a dark, gloomy dream. But she felt the world was incredibly bright. For instance, when this massive, mysterious temple was submerged into the water, she could clearly see the sand wall that had been behind the palace.

The yellow sand, which seemed to have existed since the dawn of time, melted away in the water, slowly revealing what lay beneath.

A glimpse of a giant, translucent jade wall.

It was a jade screen. A screen of near-mythical proportions.

On the jade screen...

Sui Yi only took one look, and she was filled with doubt. It seemed to be a relief of a person...

The jade screen was so extraordinary, so legendary. Was it made solely for the relief of one person? Was it that Emperor?

As the palace sank into the abyss of time, buried by the dissipating yellow sand, would such an imperial relief be sealed away forever?

Boom, boom, boom.

Sui Yi witnessed the collapse of this world. At that moment, her magnetic sense reacted.

Infinite purple—a purple so deep it was almost black—and vast expanses of silver light, blinding and brilliant, representing at least a thousand years of magnetic energy.

Sui Yi didn't even have time to absorb such terrifying magnetic energy before she fell into a chaotic, hazy delirium.

It was as if the protective layer of this mythical world had finally shattered.

Amidst the shattering, a fragment broke away from the jade screen...

Sui Yi instinctively reached out and grabbed it.

The fragment merged into her palm.

Sharp pain, like fire.

In the midst of the pain, she saw the face on the jade screen fully revealed.

It was a relief that Sui Yi could neither imagine nor believe.

"Ah!"

Suddenly, Sui Yi felt her body turn deathly cold.

The nine cold currents had already surged into her body...

Wangyao Village. Aunt Wang and the others stood at the village entrance, looking at the strangers before them with suspicion, even though these people were all dressed in fine clothes.

Especially the young man leading them; he was dashing and carried an air of nobility, more brilliant than the stars on television, every movement elegant.

In the words of the villagers, this boy was handsome and carried an aura of wealth. Of course, they had used those same words to describe Sui Yi back in the day.

They hadn't expected that after Sui Yi, another person like this would appear. This person was also looking for Sui Yi.

"They say like attracts like; look at Sui Yi..." While Aunt Wang and the others were sighing, Wang Pu’s expression was not good. His face was deathly pale, and he looked at the group with nervousness, occasionally glancing toward a certain direction in the village...

Aunt Wang sighed inwardly as she saw her son’s expression. This foolish boy, how could he ever be a match for someone like Sui Yi now?

If there was anyone to blame, it was their own lack of means and the fact that they didn't have the family background this young man had... Of course, that young man must have relied on his family to achieve such status; otherwise, how could her son be inferior?

Aunt Wang thought this and said as much to Wang Pu, who simply lowered his head in silence, his expression shifting slightly.

At that moment, the village head was pulling Jiang Yunxiu along, grumbling, "Don't go to that place; it’s ominous..."

He tried to persuade them while being led toward the village by Jiang Yunxiu and the others...

The villagers dared not go to the graveyard under any circumstances. But curiosity got the better of them, and they followed along.

Far away, as they crossed the small creek, Aunt Wang and the others saw the leading youth pause, staring at the stream for a long time, lost in thought.

Jiang Yunxiu turned his head and saw the distant banyan tree, the great grave, and the desolate land. He couldn't help but feel a chill. After all, the previous scene was still fresh in his memory.

Perhaps to keep his followers from being too afraid, or perhaps to scare them, he grabbed the arm of the person next to him and said, "Look at that tree, it's covered in crows, a black mass. Last time, those black crows all took flight in a great clamor, and then... people died."

Just as he said that, and just as he pointed his finger...

Caw! Caw! Caw!

The crows, which had been deathly silent on the banyan tree, suddenly took flight!

They circled the sky, their harsh, cold cries terrifying everyone present. Even the people brought by Jiang Yunxiu looked at the sky in horror. And at that moment...

The young man’s gaze sharpened as he looked toward the mountain ahead.

"Back away!"

A sharp, commanding shout!