It turns out that the Fantasy Sea is really the same as the sea.
The layers upon layers of clouds were as huge and vast as the waves, undulating, flowing, and meandering all the way to the furthest horizon, looking both beautiful and spectacular.
As for the forbidden area of the Heavenly Race here, even the Little Phoenix, who grew up within the Heavenly Race and had also come here for the first time, couldn’t help but be fascinated by this never seen before view, so much so that, he opened his big eyes and gasped in admiration. An Ying, on the other hand, was only concerned about the hidden dangers in this place, as well as the Little Phoenix’s safety.
After the Little Phoenix had interrogated An Ying on why he wants to go to the Fantasy Sea, he resolutely decided to go with him. Moreover, An Ying will always lose whenever he faces up to him, and is thus, unable to defy the other’s idea. The Fantasy Sea before them, wasn’t as terrible and dangerous as the legend says, but was rather peaceful and calm. Which made An Ying feel increasing uneasy.
“Don’t worry,” Perceiving the tense state of An Ying, the Little Phoenix took the initiative to hold his hand very considerately, “I’ll definitely protect you from anything that might happen.”
Little did he know that, what An Ying worries about the most is the Little Phoenix. Although a strong feeling of affection would inevitably rush forth because of this sentence, but he still paid vigilant attention over his surroundings, and merely replied with an ‘Um’ and a nod.
Hearing this seemingly perfunctory tone in his voice, made the Little Phoenix unhappy, “You don’t believe me?”
An Ying suddenly realized that his youth had already reached the rebellious stage of his age, where this question needs to be given a proper reply. Thus, he swiftly a.s.sumed a look and tone with a hundred percent of seriousness: “I believe. I definitely believe in you even when I don’t believe in myself.”
The Little Phoenix immediately made a very small grunt of satisfaction, that sounded incredibly cute. Had it not been for the fear of the danger that may arise at any time, An Ying would have definitely been unable to hold back from kissing his face.
As expected, just when they were about to take a step into the deepest part of the sea of clouds, the calm sea surface abruptly roared with rage.
The shocking change happened too fast, as huge surges of waves seemed to be set off in an instant. The place they were treading upon violently shook as well!
The Little Phoenix had been unable to stand firm, and was nearly pulled into the clouds. Fortunately, his shoulder was tightly held by An Ying. At the same time as this, four giant creatures emerged from the sea of clouds, respectively standing at the eastern, southern, western, and northern corners, firmly encircling them in the middle.
It is the Crying Spirit Beast. It has a sharp horn projecting from the center of it’s forehead, neck and back densely covered with barbs, as well as a cold glint on it’s cruel grey eyes, which can’t help but fill people with dread upon eye contact. Shortly after that, they all moved to simultaneously attack the intruders.
Loud explosions sounded in quick succession. Several thick and solid purple lightning strikes above their heads directly struck, with an exceptionally fierce power, that seems capable of destroying the world. On the left and right were innumerable ice crystals that were as as sharp as a knife, with bone-chilling coldness.
The tacit understanding, between the Little Phoenix and An Ying, in their first-time cooperation, unexpectedly went beyond expectation. One, brandishes the sword like lightning, successively cutting the ice crystals one after the other with the quickest speed. While the other, condenses the Immortal power in the two fingers and slammed it straight into the purple lightning, melting away the dangers of the thunder and lightning with raw power.
An Ying’s swordsmanship was epic and like moving clouds and flowing water. The sword’s gleam finally formed a dense enchantment, which densely covered him and the Little Phoenix. Maybe because of knowing that they were invincible, the four Crying Spirit Beasts consecutively stopped at this time. However, they really didn’t stop the fight, but was laying down a formation instead. In the next moment, golden lights suddenly converged in the air one after the other, condensing into a vague golden bell-shaped phantom.
The phantom greatly shook for a while, and soon enveloped the sea of clouds. The Little Phoenix suddenly heard someone softly chanting in a language he didn’t understand, with a melodiously mellow quality and a strange sense of familiarity.
The content of this tune can induce the souls of crossing Immortals. Especially the individuals of the Heavenly Realm, who were more likely to be ensnared when subjected to this tune. Their souls would separate from their body, and be put to eternal rest on the spot. The Little Phoenix inwardly knew that this wasn’t good, but was uncontrollably ensnared by it, causing his mind to drift and waver.
The body was exactly the opposite with the mind. His whole body felt as hot as fire, and also feel as if he was on an iceberg. In the midst of agony, An Ying used his remaining consciousness to mobilize his soul sword once again, to try to split the golden phantom bell formation. The aggressive sword qi had indeed dimmed the phantom a bit, but he soon ran out of energy. His face became deathly pale, and blood seeped out at the corner of his mouth. Thus, he gritted his teeth and went all-out with the risk of his life. He hugged the Little Phoenix with one hand, while directly striking the center of the array formation with the surging Demon power with his other hand.
A loud rumble, that shook the heaven and earth, sounded, as the entire Fantasy Sea unexpectedly tottered. Shortly after that, the clouds turbulently rolled like surging giant waves, and the two people were swept into the sea of clouds by a terrifyingly unshakable, as well as a very powerful force.
The Little Phoenix, who had recovered from the soul-inducing tune, only felt that himself spinning at high-speed, as if being swept into a bottomless abyss. But in the midst of his haziness, there was always a large hand tightly holding his wrist, making him incessantly at ease. He soon after lost consciousness amidst the stiflingly thick clouds.
When he opened his eyes again, he unexpectedly found himself inside a magnificent hall.
Perhaps only a very few people in the Four Realm knows that, there is such a palace in the Fantasy Sea and, even more so, much lesser people who can be in it. The floor and walls in the palace hall were all made out of rare high-level Spirit Stones. There were also four very large night pearls set on the four corners, brilliantly and dazzlingly shining upon all surfaces of the four corners, like the numerous stars in the night sky.
But the Little Phoenix didn’t have the time to appreciate time. He anxiously stood up with his aching body, and focused on searching around for An Ying’s figure.
However, there was only an empty silence around him, devoid of any breath of life. The Little Phoenix became more and more fl.u.s.tered, that a slight uncontrollable tremor was even present in his voice when he shouted: “An Ying, where are you?”
There were still a few closely connected side rooms on the left and right of the palace. Thus, the Little Phoenix composed himself and went to search the rooms one by one. From the tea room and study room, to the dining room and bedroom. The tea room was ordinary and mediocre. But on the table of the study room, he unexpectedly found an unfinished portrait of a person. The portrait was of a man loftily standing in the skies by himself, with a tall and elegant figure.
It’s a pity that only the outline of the robe was done. The artist probably relinquished the writing brush briefly and didn’t have time to finish the portrait because of something, as there was still an unused ink in the inkstone on the side, as well as a painting brush dipped in ink that has yet to dry. Because of the room’s lighting, the light dust floating in the stream of light can even be seen.
The uninterested Little Phoenix was just about to turn around and leave, but was taken aback at this moment, — He saw that, the date inscription written on that portrait, was actually signed five thousand years ago.
An unspeakable chill suddenly rushed to his brain, causing the Little Phoenix’s breath to become a little chaotic. He anxiously left the study room, and rushed into the next room.
Before long, there was only one last room left.
The door of the last room was open. The Little Phoenix strenuously tried to remain calm, as he went in with the hopes of finding An Ying. He unexpectedly saw a very large jade coffin, emitting a l.u.s.trous gleam, due to the illumination of merely a few lighted candles in the middle of the dim room. It is an extremely rare translucent jade, allowing a clear view of the person in the coffin. A black clothed man laid there with a serene expression, as if he was just in a deep sleep.
The scattered lights interweaves into a mist of smoky turquoise, and breaks apart into specks of falling stars. More importantly, An Ying was kneeling in front of the coffin. His eyes were shut in deep unconsciousness, and had an astonishingly pale complexion. The silver-gray fabric on his chest had already been stained dark black by the blood he threw up.
The Little Phoenix didn’t spare a glace at the person in the coffin, and only rushed to An Ying, to check his condition. Not knowing whether it was because of he was too anxious or too rushed and muddled, the slightly trembling outstretched hand checking for the other’s breath was unexpectedly unable to detect any.
Although An Ying sustained heavy internal injuries because of breaking the array formation of the Crying Spirit Beasts before, but it still wasn’t to a near death extent. The Little Phoenix completely had no idea what happened when he was unconscious either. He only knows that both of An Ying’s pulse and heartbeat was really faint to the point of indiscernibility, and can be considered as precarious.