Chapter 297 : Teleportation Scroll
A cultivator's intuition is always exceptionally keen. Even without knowing what was inside the porcelain bottle, Zhu Baiyi instinctively felt some aversion. She didn't open the bottle to examine it, merely held it up for a brief inspection before continuing her questions: "Why do you want to destroy this altar?"
The Elder paused, the hidden expectation in his eyes disappearing. Without thinking, he answered: "As you just saw, this altar doesn't even spare souls—it's nothing good. We were all tricked into coming to this island. To leave, we must first destroy this altar. I merely wanted to help my disciples escape, what's wrong with that?"
He spoke so matter-of-factly, with no trace of deception in his expression, appearing not to be lying.
Zhu Baiyi stared at the Elder for a moment, then turned her gaze to the merperson beside him. The merperson immediately tensed and hastily said: "That's not true! Before the altar was activated, you could leave anytime!" After a pause, he added: "Even now you can leave, but if the sacrifice is interrupted, the seal will have problems. As for the consequences... I think you probably already know."
When the Elder heard the word "seal," there seemed to be a flash of light in the depths of his eyes. It was a very subtle reaction, but it didn't escape the notice of a Grand Achievement cultivator—he clearly knew something, but was merely pretending not to know.
This old fellow was evidently a master of deception, lying without the slightest guilt.
Zhu Baiyi had bloodline suppression over the merperson, making it easy for her to discern whether he was lying. Since the merperson wasn't lying, the liar must be the Elder. Her gaze turned dangerous: "Since the Elder refuses to tell the truth, I have no need to listen further. You've heard it—once the altar is activated, it cannot be stopped. Now using you to fill the altar would be perfect."
As her words fell, the two Crimson Blood Sect disciples didn't need further instructions. They once again lifted the Elder and were about to throw him onto the altar. He could feel his body already suspended in mid-air, an immense sense of crisis instantly sweeping through his entire being.
"Wait!" With his cultivation restrained after capture, the Elder had no means of escape and could only shout loudly.
Fortunately, the two Crimson Blood Sect disciples weren't completely foolish. Hearing him, they grabbed hold of the Elder's dangling robe and pulled him back. Then one of them said with a grin: "Elder, if you want to speak, speak properly. Constantly lying isn't good."
The Elder's face turned ashen, partly from fear and partly from anger—to think that he, the grand Elder of Nine Abyss Sect, would be treated this way by juniors! At another time and place, if anyone dared speak to him like this, he would have taken their life with a single slap. But now he couldn't; forced to bow his head while under another's roof, he could only swallow his anger to save his life.
Zhu Baiyi seemed truly impatient and asked again: "Why do you want to destroy this altar?"
The Elder valued his life and, after struggling for quite a while, finally told the truth: "I came on orders from our Sect Leader, with the specific purpose of destroying this place." Without waiting for Zhu Baiyi to ask further, he explained: "I don't know where our Sect Leader got the information, but from the beginning, this mission was never about seeking treasures."
Zhu Baiyi was somewhat surprised by this—in terms of foundation, Crimson Blood Sect, as one of the four major demonic sects, should not be inferior to Nine Abyss Sect. As sect leaders, they should have access to similar intelligence. Yet she herself knew nothing about the deep sea, so why was the Nine Abyss Sect Leader so special, knowing about this altar so early?
Was it the result of divination? Thinking of this, Zhu Baiyi instinctively turned her head and quickly spotted the conspicuous group of bald heads in the crowd. Old monk Huineng had already recovered and was now closing his eyes to recite sutras—who knew if it was the Rebirth Sutra?
Just as he finished reciting a passage, perhaps sensing Zhu Baiyi's gaze, Huineng looked up.
But Zhu Baiyi had already withdrawn her gaze, not rushing to seek confirmation from the old monk. She looked back at the Elder and continued from their previous topic: "Destroy the altar, and then what?"
Having already started speaking, the Elder now held nothing back. He glanced at the merperson beside him: "Then kill him."
Upon hearing this, the scales on the merperson's tail bristled as he cursed: "I knew you old ghost had ill intentions! That altar was forged with countless lives from my merperson race. Not only do you want to destroy it, but you also want to kill me to exterminate my race! Bah! With the karma of an entire race's extinction on your shoulders, aren't you afraid the lightning tribulation will obliterate your soul?"
The Nine Abyss Sect cultivated using netherworld ghost energy, and tribulation lightning was particularly effective against ghosts, so throughout history, numerous members of Nine Abyss Sect had perished under lightning tribulation. Someone of the Elder's cultivation must have been struck multiple times, barely escaping with his life each time, and would normally tremble at the mere mention of tribulation lightning.
Yet strangely, when the merperson mentioned tribulation lightning this time, Zhu Baiyi didn't see a trace of fear on his face, as if he no longer cared about what he once dreaded immensely... Was it because he didn't know its severity? Certainly not! Was it because he thought he wouldn't advance further in cultivation? Clearly not that either. Perhaps he was simply convinced that he would never again experience tribulation lightning.
This final thought appeared in Zhu Baiyi's mind somewhat inexplicably, yet it left a profound impression. However, she couldn't immediately think of how one could avoid lightning tribulation while still advancing in cultivation.
There were some small secret realms isolated from the heavenly mechanisms where no lightning tribulation occurred, but one could only hide temporarily, not forever.
Vaguely, a certain thought seemed to surface in her heart, but before it could fully emerge, she instinctively suppressed it. Looking at the two who were arguing again, her gaze deepened, and she suddenly ordered: "Search him and take out all his storage equipment."
The two Crimson Blood Sect disciples obeyed and immediately set to work. After a thorough search, the results were impressive—storage rings, storage jade pendants, storage belts, all standard items. They even pulled out a storage sock from the Elder's foot! A storage item worn on the feet—the smell was indescribable, and more importantly, it was inconvenient to use. One had to wonder what the Elder was thinking.
The two searchers were at a loss for words but still piled everything together before notifying Zhu Baiyi, who had turned away. She turned back and glanced at the items, her gaze falling on the storage sock with obvious disgust. Then she calmly said: "Good, now throw him up."
"Throw him up" naturally meant onto the altar.
The Elder was dumbfounded. He had thought, knowing much information, that interrogation would not be a brief matter, and his argument with the merperson had been to buy time. But how could this "Elder Qi" be so unpredictable? There were still many questions she hadn't asked, and he hadn't had a chance to tell her many things—how could it end before it had even properly begun?!
Perhaps due to extreme shock, it wasn't until he was again thrown into the air that the Elder came to his senses and shouted: "Wait, wait, I know much more, I still have many things to say..."
But this time, no one pulled him back. With a "thud," he was thrown onto the altar.
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Zhu Baiyi was a decisive person. Although the Elder certainly knew much information, and abandoning this opportunity seemed somewhat regrettable, she understood that the pressing matter at hand was the sacrifice that had already progressed halfway.
The Elder's cultivation was not low, but no matter what, he was just one person, and the effect after sacrificing him wasn't as good as expected.
Zhu Baiyi's gaze swept over the merperson, who immediately flapped his fish tail and retreated backward: "No, this sacrifice happens once every hundred years, and I still need to preside over it in the future. You can't sacrifice me now!"
Seeing his cowardice, Zhu Baiyi withdrew her gaze in frustration, then wherever her gaze passed, people retreated—this was a sacrifice that could not be interrupted. Earlier, people had still had the mind to divide into factions, pushing others to die. But now with a Grand Achievement cultivator in charge, there was no room for dispute, as everyone present combined couldn't possibly defeat her.
The righteous path disciples felt particularly heavy-hearted, since that Grand Achievement cultivator was a demonic path Elder, who would most likely push the righteous path cultivators to die. On the righteous side, there was Divine Beast Jianbing, but unfortunately, Jianbing was still young and probably couldn't win in a fight.
The atmosphere momentarily grew tense. Faced with everyone's retreat, Zhu Baiyi didn't spare them much attention.
She walked directly to the pile of storage equipment. Because the owner's soul had been completely destroyed, all the imprints on them had been removed. So she released her divine sense to search through them one by one, finding cultivation resources, formation disks, talismans, and some sinister-looking magical artifacts that gave her an ominous feeling with just a glance. However, none of these were her target, and in the end, she had to turn her attention to that storage sock...
Despite her disgust, Zhu Baiyi finally instructed the two Crimson Blood Sect disciples: "Empty out everything from that sock."
The two disciples' mouths twitched, clearly also disgusted, but they had to follow orders. Soon, a pile of miscellaneous items lay before them, and the storage sock was completely emptied.
It must be said that the Elder's accumulation over the years was truly substantial, and the items hidden in his sock were all treasures. However, as the leader of a sect and a Grand Achievement cultivator, Zhu Baiyi didn't regard these things highly. Her gaze swept over everything once, finally settling on an inconspicuous scroll. With a gesture of her hand, she drew the scroll into her palm.
Seeing this, even though the others were curious, no one dared to ask. Finally, Jiang Mo stepped forward and asked: "What is this?"
Zhu Baiyi didn't hide anything from her. She unrolled the scroll to look at it, revealing complex formation patterns inscribed on the scroll made of unknown material. The "illiterate" tiger couldn't understand any of it and could only look expectantly at Zhu Baiyi, who replied frankly: "It's a teleportation scroll."
This term wasn't unfamiliar, but Jiang Mo was still surprised when she heard it—she had been in this world for over eighty years after transmigrating, yet this was the first time she had heard of such a thing as a teleportation scroll. In fact, this cultivation world was no longer as prosperous as it once was. Not only were portable teleportation scrolls like this rare, even teleportation arrays were few. Cultivators mostly relied on spirit boats or flying swords for travel.
Perhaps seeing Jiang Mo's surprise, Zhu Baiyi offered a rare explanation: "The method of crafting teleportation scrolls has long been lost. This scroll has likely been circulating for a very long time. Without something like this as an escape route, the Elder probably wouldn't have ventured into the deep sea."
Hearing this, Jiang Mo's eyes brightened, and she suddenly appeared to understand.