The island's edge, black-gray waves churned and crashed against the smooth rock walls, sending dozens of meters high spray.
Several figures descended from the sky. Rings worn on their fingers emitted a faint, luminous glow, causing the hundreds of meters of surrounding gray mist to recede like melting snow in spring.
"We're alive!"
The figure wearing a dark green cloak spoke.
His hood had long since split open, exposing curly, messy hair like seaweed under the light. His cloak was reduced to tattered scraps, and the armor beneath was scarred and battered, with several holes completely pierced through, stained with blood. Big Wind Novels.
Anyone seeing him in this state would find it hard to imagine he was a noble and revered myth.
The Lord of Shadow Island didn't care; compared to survival, a myth's image was worth nothing. Besides, the other myths present were just as disheveled at this moment. They were all survivors of a narrow escape, and being alive was a cause for celebration.
"Are there any enemies following us?"
He scanned his surroundings nervously like a startled bird, his gaze frequently sweeping towards the distant surging tides, fearing that beyond the gray mist lay a multitude of enemies.
The most experienced elder myth, Hao Ran Sword Saint, shook his head. "We should be safe now. We've left the Sea of Filth, so we're no longer at a disadvantage due to the environment. It'll be much easier to fight or escape as we please."
"It's just that I wonder how the other myths are doing."
Recalling their recent experience, the myths present felt lingering fear. They had truly come perilously close to not returning.
No, some myths had already perished at the bottom of the deep sea.
If not for...
"Should we try to rendezvous with other teams first, or...?"
"Let's try to rendezvous, but where? That oasis is probably no longer safe."
The rendezvous point, an oasis, had only some mortal awakeners left after the myths departed.
Despite their strength, they still possessed little resistance against myths. At this moment, these subordinates might have received the news and scattered into the gray mist, or they might have been wiped out by the evil god faction.
The elder myth of the Chen clan spoke, "I'll try to contact the myths of the Gu Yue Dynasty. For now, everyone should rest and heal. If there's more fighting later, we'll have the strength to face it."
He looked at Xing Jinglei, who, apart from that one reason, was the most miserably injured and severely wounded among them.
Well... perhaps?
The Ripped Fist Martial Saint looked even more tragic than the Lord of Shadow Island, but considering the entire process of battle and retreat, this Martial Saint remained full of spirit and showed no signs of weakness. The old Sword Saint was no longer so sure.
And the other two young myths... were all monsters produced by the Blazing Fire Merchant Guild!
He mused internally and took out an item from his storage artifact, beginning to fiddle with it, trying to contact his home, or Madam Gong, or Elder Nan Li.
...
...
At the same time, Instructor Fang had just returned to his base from the bottom of the deep sea. As he closed and opened his eyes, the dark and foul-smelling currents were replaced by the bright and magnificent Apostle Dormitory.
A white ceiling, a simple yet elegant crystal chandelier, and a few special plants potted on the side.
These plants were only palm-sized, with sparse tender leaves growing from the main root. Their leaves were as crystal-clear as glass, with clearly visible veins. A faint, unique fragrance emanated from these plants, refreshing the mind and gradually dispelling the accumulated fatigue in the body and spirit.
This was an epic-grade plant called 'Awakening Heart Grass'.
It could be used as the main ingredient for top-tier elixirs, or as a potted plant, continuously emitting its effects to provide buffs such as enhancement, calming, and focus.
It was a prize from one of his draws, and after being cultivated by Liu Shang, the Awakening Heart Grass was no longer limited to just a few plants. Fang You placed a few pots in his home and office, so he wouldn't feel drowsy, distracted, or inefficient while handling official business.
Upon returning to the Apostle Dormitory, Fang You immediately released Xiao Huan's possession state. The white-robed figure, shrouded in a faint golden glow, instantly shattered like a bubble, disappearing without a trace in scattered specks of fluorescence.
Not far away, Fang You, who looked identical but lacked the golden glow effect and was wearing casual home clothes, opened his eyes, a flash of...
Exhaustion in them!
Tired! Very tired! Extremely, extremely tired! So tired that even the Awakening Heart Grass seemed ineffective!
A sweep of his divine sense revealed that his sea of life energy was nearly depleted, and his body felt as if it were cracking, emitting waves of soreness.
This was a slight after-effect of the extreme use of the Tree of Life!
Even though he hadn't used his own body before, due to Xiao Huan's special nature, he had still been consuming his own life energy. The overload that exceeded his limit had directly affected him through some unfathomable connection... even though he wouldn't get injured while possessing Xiao Huan.
At this moment, the soreness emanating from various parts of his body was indeed not an injury, but merely overexertion fatigue.
Fang You immediately drank two cans of Life Water to calm himself and, with the help of the Level 5 Apostle Dormitory's buff, quickly recovered his condition.
Before long, he felt better, his back no longer aching and his legs no longer feeling numb. He sat on the sofa and meditated for a moment before teleporting to a training ground he used as a 'precious item storage room,' which was not open to the public and whose entrance was not even visible.
Here, a few scattered treasures emitted faint golden and crimson lights.
Fang You walked to a pure white, seven or eight-inch-long cubic object and gently tapped it.
"Buzz—"
The suspended pure white cube immediately began to spin rapidly, transforming into a large cubic object with sides over a meter long amidst a hum.
After Fang You piled up a mountain of polluted诡晶 (guǐ jīng - uncanny crystals), the six outer walls of this large cube separated, drawing these crystals into its hollow interior. It then re-sealed itself, rotating slowly and emitting a faint white light with a humming sound.
It was like a microwave oven in operation.
It was purifying, the contaminated items placed inside!
In just a few seconds, the cube finished purifying the pile of crystals and dumped them out with a clatter. Fang You used his Invisible Hand to grab a dozen or so crystals from the pile for quality assessment. He examined them, used the 'Detect' skill, and then brought out a high-end appraisal tool imported from abroad. After several observations and appraisals, the crystals before him were ordinary uncanny crystals.
Ordinary, but completely free of pollution, not an iota of it!
"The Purification Cube completely removed all the contained pollution, leaving none behind. Then..."
Fang You did not immediately purify the remaining large pile of crystals. He took out a divine crystal and held it, isolated by a slight amount of life energy.
Unlike a normal divine crystal, this one, in addition to the swirling golden particles within, also contained streaks of gray-black filth.
It looked ominous!
He dropped the divine crystal into the Purification Cube and waited with some trepidation. As before, the cube emitted a humming sound, radiating pure white light and rotating slowly. This time, the purification took much longer, about three minutes before the white light on the cube's surface extinguished, and a golden crystal slowly floated out from within, landing like a feather.
Fang You picked it up, examined and appraised it using the same method. After a while, he smiled.
"This is a... pure divine crystal!"
And before, how many polluted divine crystals had he obtained by destroying the source of calamity? A full thirty-six! The precious items sold at previous auctions had only earned him about this much.
"If I can continue to obtain divine crystals from the source of calamity, my own myths will no longer lack cultivation resources! Those are treasures!"
"However, the source of calamity is not so easy to find and destroy."
He pondered, then turned his gaze to the trio of Yiluoxi.
...
In a nameless sea area of the Shattered Sea.
Xing Jinglei and several other myths were flying over the vast expanse of the sea, occasionally using their divine sense to pierce through the gray mist and scan the distance. However, all they could see was gray sea waves and more gray sea waves. The one or two islands they occasionally spotted were all withered and dead, not oases.
This was natural. Oases were so scarce that even if myths wandered around aimlessly, they would have difficulty finding them.
"The oasis coordinates provided by His Excellency Xiguang are approximately ahead. We're almost there."
"Almost" was a relative term. In the vast sea with no reference coordinates, they still searched for quite a while before, relying on the extraordinary eyesight of myths, they found a narrow patch of light within the dense gray mist.
His Excellency Xiguang, Madam Gong and several other myths, Elder Nan Li and several other myths had already arrived.
However, just like the tattered and disheveled appearance of the Lord of Shadow Island, the state of the myths who had escaped from the desperate situation was also quite low. Several were seriously injured and were currently meditating to heal, their auras very weak.
And...
Xing Jinglei scanned the area, counted the number of myths present, and discovered... there were a few fewer.
As they arrived at the oasis, other myths also cast their gazes.
"Myth Beifeng... has fallen?"
"It's possible they got separated midway, after all, it was so chaotic earlier."
"No, I saw it before. Myth Beifeng... he fell to that terrifying black-armored demigod, as did Chairman Heng He and the Eye of Vero."
Another myth fell to a Level Seven uncanny evil, and two went missing. Compared to before they departed, their team had lost a total of six comrades.
The myths fell silent. Such a loss was too tragic.
Of course, many myths didn't have much of a relationship with each other. "A fellow daoist dies, but I live on." They weren't exactly heartbroken, just felt a sense of melancholy akin to a rabbit mourning a fox. Moreover, their own conditions weren't much better, and it was unknown how much resources and time it would take for them to recover.
"Why did we even go on this disaster eradication mission! Otherwise, Beifeng and the others wouldn't have died, and we wouldn't be seriously injured and contaminated!"
"Say a few less words. Eradicating the source of calamity was the decision of the four major overlords... no, of all the forces in our Shattered Sea. No one could have predicted this situation beforehand, and besides, the calamity had grown to a point where it had to be eradicated."
Perhaps realizing that important figures from the Gu Yue Dynasty were present, the complaining myth stopped talking. He simply closed his eyes, his entire body emanating a cold aura.
Seeing this, Demigod Xiguang said nothing, merely sighing inwardly.
This was why the disaster eradication operation was difficult to advance. Unless everything went smoothly, resistance would emerge from all directions.
He spoke, "The Red Lotus Empire and the other factions seem to have also been ambushed by the evil god faction. The specific details are still unknown, but regardless, we have achieved significant results. Not only did we eliminate three sources of calamity, but we also killed no fewer than thirty Level Seven uncanny evils and evil god faction myths."
From the perspective of battle losses, they had won decisively.
Even though they had almost been wiped out earlier.
Thinking of this, the myths couldn't help but think of the great being who had saved them.
"It seemed to be just a divine descent avatar?"
"Are you kidding me? A divine descent avatar that could contend with an Eight Awakening Demigod and with a single clap of its hands, drowned several Level Seven uncanny evils!"
"That white-robed figure was simply the Lord of the Forest! But who is that Your Excellency..."
Chen Tianxuan, the Lord of Shadow Island, and several other myths couldn't help but cast their gazes towards the trio from the Blazing Fire Merchant Guild. Other myths might not have seen clearly, but they were nearby at the time and saw that the white-robed figure had appeared from beside the Ripped Fist Martial Saint, Xing Jinglei.
Moreover, they themselves knew whether they could summon such a great being. It was definitely related to the Blazing Fire Merchant Guild!
But the three from the Blazing Fire Merchant Guild didn't explain, and they dared not ask.
The Lord of Shadow Island couldn't figure it out. Myths with deeper backgrounds like Chen Tianxuan had some guesses, and when they saw the three of Xing Jinglei remaining silent, their guesses became even more certain.
Indeed, it was an ancient and great being!
A being that needed to remain hidden!
At this moment, the myths present were still waiting for news from the Red Lotus Empire and the other three factions. Waiting idly was a waste of time, so Madam Gong proposed using this interval to distribute the spoils of war obtained earlier.
This proposal was met with the agreement of many myths. Even those few "depressed" myths perked up upon seeing the prospect of acquiring treasures.
The agreement was that after the entire operation concluded, the profits would be distributed as a whole, based on contribution and effort. However, in the opinion of the few "depressed" myths, they would soon part ways, and it was better to get their spoils of war as soon as possible... those were the fruits of their blood and tears.
"According to ancient rules, we will draw one-third of the total spoils of war as compensation for the fallen myths, to be given to their families and oases. Furthermore, this compensation will be supervised by all super-powers. Any force or myth daring to lay hands on this compensation fund will be severely punished!"
Once a myth fell, their families, merchant guilds, and oases would directly drop from super-powers to ordinary great powers. If the law of the dark forest were followed, these forces might be completely devoured by predators.
But in doing so, the originally weak human oases would become even weaker and more fragmented. If there were any joint operations in the future, no myth would dare to participate.
The forces that could formulate and promote this system were truly remarkable, greatly avoiding internal human conflict.
Fang You remembered that this ancient rule did not originate from the four major overlords of the Shattered Sea; it was even older, seemingly originating from the Candela era!
After Madam Gong finished speaking, several myths present frowned, wanting to speak but stopping themselves. They really wanted to say that the fallen myths were precisely the ones with the least contribution. But they glanced around and still did not voice their objections, silently agreeing.
"The remaining two-thirds of the spoils of war will be distributed according to the ancient rules, based on the contributions of each force."
"Now, we will count the contribution values by force."
"...For this operation, the party with the greatest contribution is the Blazing Fire Merchant Guild. They will occupy half of the total contribution value. Esteemed sirs, who agrees, and who opposes?"
Several myths were stunned.
Had they heard correctly? Occupying half, even the Gu Yue Dynasty wouldn't get that much, let alone the small Blazing Fire Merchant Guild. Had Madam Gong accepted a bribe from Blazing Fire!
How could such a proposal possibly pass!
A merchant guild myth suddenly stood up, but before he could curse, a myth beside him echoed with even greater eagerness, "This King agrees!"
"I agree too!"
"Blazing Fire Merchant Guild takes half, no problem. How could there be any objections?"
Among those speaking were the elder sword saint of the Chen clan, the myth of the Wang clan, and the Lord of the Empty Island, all of whom held positions slightly higher than his.
The myth who had suddenly stood up with an angry expression, his mouth half-open, was stunned. He didn't know whether to stand or sit.
Under the gaze of numerous myths, he cleared his throat and said with a dry laugh,
"I... I also agree."