Not all cultivators who were affected came to help. Counting Li Shiqing and Luo Feihua, there were only twelve people in total who came to assist.
Some were not strong enough; even if they wanted to help, their abilities were insufficient. However, more chose to take advantage of someone dealing with the Sun-Devouring Corpse and quickly fled the scene.
The sea surface was turbulent, with waves piling up layer after layer. Only in mid-air, around the Xuanjing Tiger and the man in red, was it incredibly calm.
Not far away, the middle-aged man flew over on his sword and bowed respectfully to the man in red, who was leisurely and unrestrained on the Xuanjing Tiger.
“Vice Dean, the other elders are all in position. Furthermore, when we scouted this dead sea, there was clearly nothing here. The appearance of this Sun-Devouring Corpse is truly bizarre. This subordinate has also contacted the academy and dispatched more personnel to protect these children.”
The middle-aged man, Mu Xing, explained the arrangements.
Qin Si showed no outward emotion in front of Bai Shengyi.
His aura was sharp, and his voice was deep and cold, “Then how do you think these escapees should be dealt with?”
“This?” Mu Xing hesitated for a moment. Their rules didn’t say that running away was forbidden!
Besides, the Sun-Devouring Corpse was already at the late stage of Foundation Establishment. It was only natural for a group of Qi Refining children to flee upon encountering it.
However, having been by Qin Si’s side for several months, Mu Xing had come to understand Qin Si’s temperament to some extent, knowing that he certainly wouldn’t want to hear such an answer.
He pondered and said, “If these children pass the Five Trials, how about assigning them to the outer sect?”
“Agreed.” Qin Si nodded casually, as if he hadn’t taken the matter of disposition to heart. However, the slight upturn of his lips already revealed his satisfaction.
He said, “Once the academy sends people, you will be in full charge.”
“Yes, Vice Dean. If you have no other instructions, this subordinate shall take his leave.” Mu Xing said.
Qin Si nodded.
Mu Xing left with tact.
The newly appointed Vice Dean of the academy had the most unpredictable temper. While he was very agreeable now, a few months ago, he had directly torn apart Zhuo Lin from the Artifact Refining Peak!
Thinking of Zhuo Lin’s miserable state at the time, Mu Xing shivered involuntarily.
As time passed bit by bit, those on the sea surface still hadn’t found the eyes of the Sun-Devouring Corpse, and below the sea, Bai Shengyi and the others showed no signs of activity.
Although cultivators at the Foundation Establishment stage could stay underwater for an hour without issue, such tranquility made Qin Si inexplicably agitated.
This manifested in him pulling out several more hairs from Chui Ming’s head.
“Master, if you’re worried about the little girl, why don’t you go down and take a look? With your strength, it’s easy to do so without being discovered.” Chui Ming couldn’t stand it anymore, flicked his tail, and grumbled.
She could accept being treated as a cushion or a pillow, but why did he always bully the hair on her head when he was unhappy! She wasn’t a big cat!
“Shut up!” Qin Si said coldly, his face stiff. “Who’s worried about her? I’m thinking about where this Sun-Devouring Corpse came from.”
Chui Ming let out an “awoo,” grumbling inwardly, saying he wasn’t worried about the little girl, his embarrassment was too obvious!
The pretty tiger was speechless.
Deep beneath the sea, Bai Shengyi and the others were not in a good situation.
“Fellow Daoist Chen, Fellow Daoist Zhu, are you still unable to break it?” Bai Shengyi looked at the two, frowning deeply.
After descending into the sea, the three had exchanged names. These two were Chen Qiyang and Zhu Wu, respectively.
At first, they were all proceeding smoothly. However, during the investigation, Chen Qiyang and Zhu Wu were quite unlucky. Not long after approaching the Sun-Devouring Corpse, they were hit by a wave and tossed into the black mist, becoming stuck.
The black mist looked identical to the smoke on the sea, so the group let down their guard. Who knew it would be like sticky spider silk, becoming tighter and tighter, and once stuck, there was no escape!
“Fellow Daoist Bai, why don’t you forget about us and go find the eyes of the Sun-Devouring Corpse first.” Chen Qiyang struggled for a long time with no effect, feeling helpless and somewhat despairing.
Zhu Wu hung his head dejectedly, “It’s all my fault. I never expected my terrible luck to strike at this moment, and even dragged Fellow Daoist Chen down with me. I… it’s all my fault.”
“It’s not your fault.”
Seeing Zhu Wu’s head nearly touching his feet, his body and face covered in black grime from saving him, Chen Qiyang sighed and comforted him, “None of us expected this black mist to be so troublesome.”
Bai Shengyi didn’t speak to the two of them. She circled them several times and said solemnly, “Don’t be discouraged, I’ll try again.”
Bai Shengyi pondered, and spiritual light emerged from her hands.
The faint green light was not conspicuous in the seawater, but it flickered unceasingly.
“It is said that the five elements counter and generate each other. Wood can generate fire; wood spiritual power should be able to foster fire spiritual power, right?”
Bai Shengyi murmured to herself, focusing her attention on her dantian, instinctively squeezing out the wood-elemental energy from it.
Meanwhile, in a place she couldn’t see, fire-elemental molecules, spinning and crowding with the wood-elemental energy, quietly condensed.
“Hiss!”
After what felt like a long time, a trace of spark appeared, but it was immediately extinguished, emitting a wisp of black smoke.
However, Chen Qiyang, who had been watching Bai Shengyi closely, was overjoyed, “Fellow Daoist Bai! Some of the black mist has disappeared! They are afraid of fire!”
Moreover, rather than disappearing, they seemed to have fled!
“Does this black mist have consciousness?”
“Impossible, right?”
Bai Shengyi and Chen Qiyang spoke simultaneously.
“I’ll try again.” Bai Shengyi said. She concentrated her energy and circulated her spiritual power according to the previous method. However, this time, there was no reaction at all.
Bai Shengyi made a decisive move, “Fellow Daoist Chen, Fellow Daoist Zhu, you two protect yourselves, I’m going to find Fellow Daoist Li.”
Li Shiqing had a pure dual spiritual root of water and fire, so her fire would definitely be more effective.
With this thought, Bai Shengyi noted the location of the two and turned to swim towards the Sun-Devouring Corpse.
The two locations were not far apart, but Bai Shengyi could not find Li Shiqing. It was then that she realized that she hadn’t seen Li Shiqing since she and Chen Qiyang and Zhu Wu had descended.
Could it be? Li Shiqing was also trapped by some accident?
Bai Shengyi couldn’t help but frown, feeling a bit undecided.
On one side were trapped teammates, on the other was the crucial “weakness” of the Sun-Devouring Corpse that needed to be found, both of which were very important. Moreover, Chu Tianle’s situation was still unclear.
One-fifth of the time had already passed, and just as Bai Shengyi reluctantly decided to go back and try again, she finally heard Li Shiqing’s voice.
“Bai… Sister Shengyi?” Li Shiqing, perhaps due to yesterday’s events, didn’t know how to face Bai Shengyi.
But when Bai Shengyi saw her, she became a little excited, though her tone was still formal.
“Fellow Daoist Li! The two fellow daoists who came down with me to investigate are entangled by the black mist at the bottom of the sea. Could you…”
“Where? I’ll go help them right away.”
Li Shiqing said, “That’s actually not black mist, it just looks like it. I’ve been trying for a long time and found that they seem to be afraid only of fire spiritual power. If we delay any longer, the two fellow daoists might be in mortal danger. Chu Tianle is also trapped by those things…”