Chu Xinghe said a lot, but Chu Tian seemed to hear only five words.
His eyes instantly widened.
He knew that Lin Yu's Huang Shi Thirteen Needles could already be fully deployed.
"Son, don't even think about it... The Huang Shi Thirteen Needles aren't a panacea. I've endured it once.
And this time... my heart is gone!
Lin Yu's parents got into trouble precisely because they used the Huang Shi Thirteen Needles.
They eventually died unnaturally... I still owe them two lives!"
Chu Xinghe knew what Chu Tian was planning.
He quickly interrupted his thoughts and stopped Chu Tian.
Upon hearing this, Chu Tian's expression immediately turned grim again.
He remained silent, frequently casting skills like "Spring Return" and "Heal."
Wei Du watched from the side, his face also looking very grim.
Little Dragon Girl hesitated several times, wanting to stop Chu Tian.
She could see that Chu Tian's frantic efforts were already depleting his cultivation power.
If this continued, he might collapse from exhaustion.
Biting her lip, she took a step forward.
The water-element healing spell in her hand flowed into Chu Xinghe.
Seeing this, Chu Tian cast a grateful glance at her.
"Squeak squeak... Woo woo woo..."
At this very moment, the alarm siren of the Whale Fall City suddenly sounded again.
"Let me in..."
Following that, a familiar voice came from a distance.
Chu Tian and Chu Xinghe were both stunned.
They turned their heads sharply towards the gate of the Whale Fall City.
Outside the water curtain, a ghostly, beautiful figure appeared, looking anxious.
"Mom...?"
"Jiu'er...!"
Two voices rang out simultaneously.
Chu Xinghe, who had fallen to the ground, struggled to get up.
The two men exchanged glances.
Chu Xinghe was surprised that Chu Tian recognized his mother.
Chu Tian was even more certain that this man before him was truly his father.
At the same time, a flicker of hope ignited in his eyes.
His mother was the Lord of the Underworld. If she had come here, she must have a way to save his father.
The Merman King had been watching from a distance with Princess Xing'er.
Upon hearing Chu Tian's and Chu Xinghe's voices, he quickly waved his hand.
The light barrier rippled, and the figure outside flashed into the Whale Fall City.
He also waved away the merman guards who were standing guard with their full attention.
Chu Tian helped Chu Xinghe up, and the latter, staggering, rushed forward.
Little Dragon Girl quickly moved to the other side, supporting Chu Xinghe's other arm.
She cast healing skills alongside Chu Tian.
Jiu'er, Chu Tian's mother, who had entered the Whale Fall City,
also moved swiftly towards them.
Meanwhile, Chu Tian's brow furrowed slightly.
He noticed that his mother's condition was not right.
She was not a physical being, but a spectral form.
Like a soul...
His heart sank a little.
He feared that his hopes might be dashed.
Why had his mother come in such a state?
"Xinghe..."
Finally, the two parties met.
"Jiu'er..."
Their hands clasped together.
It was strange, as one was solid and the other spectral, they shouldn't have been able to touch.
Yet, at that moment, they touched and met.
"Where have you been all these years?" Chu Xinghe asked first.
"You... so you survived in this form! No wonder... no wonder...
No wonder I searched for you for so long, yet couldn't find any trace of you!
If not for this time, when I sensed your presence..." Jiu'er also spoke.
Her face was a mixture of grief and joy.
Chu Tian could tell that if his mother were in a corpse-like state now,
she would likely be weeping uncontrollably.
"I..." Chu Xinghe was about to speak.
Suddenly, Chu Tian interrupted their reunion and said.
"Mom... uh... b... a... Dad!"
Chu Tian stammered, almost sounding out the unfamiliar address with pinyin.
At this moment, both elders looked towards Chu Tian.
When Chu Xinghe heard the address,
his eyes immediately brightened considerably.
Seeing that his father was about to shed tears, Chu Tian felt speechless.
He quickly spoke to interrupt what his father was about to say.
"Mom, do you see any way?" Chu Tian asked.
Chu Tian's mother, Jiu'er, shook her head.
"Even if my true form were here... it would be of no use!" she said, also with a pained expression.
Hearing this, Chu Tian's mood plummeted.
"Right..."
Suddenly, she felt around her body and a black ink jade appeared.
The moment it materialized, Chu Tian was slightly startled.
This thing felt very familiar.
"Isn't this... how did you get it?"
Chu Tian recovered his memories from the Ghost Gate and naturally remembered that this was the ink jade he had brought out.
It had later automatically gone to Luoluo.
Yet, it now appeared in his mother's hand.
"No time to explain, you'll know later. She said... this would be useful. Quickly see how to use it?"
Chu Tian looked at the floating ink jade, not reaching out to take it, and examined it from all sides.
He then glanced at Chu Xinghe, feeling a slight impulse... wanting to stuff this ink jade into the hole in his chest.
This scared Chu Xinghe, causing him to step back.
"Put away your thoughts. I can only live for another half an hour!" he said helplessly, holding Jiu'er's hand.
After he spoke, Chu Tian finally reached out and took the ink jade into his hand.
The ink jade gently settled into his palm.
Buzz...
Suddenly, Chu Tian felt a violent tremor in his mind.
This impact caused his body to sway.
It was as if a giant hammer had struck his mind.
His entire body staggered.
Even the healing spell he had been casting was interrupted.
His transformation into the ancient tree form also vanished without a trace.
Simultaneously, a trickle of blood flowed from his seven orifices.
"Chu Tian...?"
Seeing him suddenly in such a state, everyone became tense.
Chu Tian himself was also bewildered.
He waved his hand, indicating he was fine.
He brought his divine soul back to his spiritual platform, examining where the problem might be.
The moment he entered his spiritual platform,
he saw a massive object hurtling towards him.
It was about to impact his spiritual gate.
Boom...
As expected, there was a violent tremor.
His spiritual platform shook.
To those outside, Chu Tian's body trembled several times.
Blood flowed more profusely from his nose and mouth.
"Holy crap..."
His consciousness within the spiritual platform, Chu Tian cursed.
His soul body had been struck by that thing, directly slamming into his spiritual gate.
His soul body had become as thin as a piece of paper.
It floated onto the island in the lake of his spiritual platform.
With all his might, his soul body recovered its shape like a balloon.
He cursed again.
"Not again..."
Just as his soul body had recovered its shape, he sensed a dark shadow.
It was that thing again...
Only then did he realize that it was the huge box beneath the bodies of the Star-Shattering Mecha and the Crimson Flame Qilin when he discovered them in the Sacred Spirit Realm.
"What's going on? Is it trying to break through my spiritual gate and get out...?"
Chu Tian's expression was one of shock as he felt the state of his spiritual platform.
It had sustained considerable damage.
This large box was what the Star-Shattering Mecha had collided with during its superluminal warp jump in space.
It had fallen into the small world of the Sacred Spirit Realm along with the Star-Shattering Mecha.
Back then, it had taken him immense effort to store this thing in his spiritual platform.
Why had it suddenly become active?
Could it be related to the ink jade?
Right... Back then, they had discovered that the box had no seams and couldn't be opened at all.
However, its massive body had a concave groove the size of a pigeon's egg.
That... the shape of the groove...