Not waiting for the utterly terrified Ye Feipeng to respond, Zhang Zhiliang lightly tapped Ye Feipeng's forehead, his gaze emotionless.
In an instant, images flooded Ye Feipeng’s vision—
A blazing sun suspended in the heavens, illuminating the newly manifested Soul Arbiter of heaven and earth...
Five Spirit Transformation Immortal Eminences joining forces with Zhang Zhiliang to battle Crimson Flame...
The Twenty-Eight Congyun Swords, a Golden Core cultivator striking down a Dao Unity entity...
The colossal eye in the sky snapped open in wrath.
Zhang Zhiliang’s face remained unchanged, yet his body trembled ever so slightly, betraying the violent upheaval in his heart.
“What... is this?”
His gaze locked onto the convulsing Ye Feipeng as he raised his hand again, intending to excavate even deeper secrets.
At that razor-thin moment between life and death, an overwhelming torrent of blue light erupted from Ye Feipeng’s chest, instantly engulfing his entire body.
Zhang Zhiliang’s expression finally shifted.
He immediately attempted to mobilize the authority of his grotto-heaven to suppress the surge.
But below, the Congyun Sea suddenly roared.
Waves churned violently, and the grotto-heaven’s domain control wavered, revealing a fleeting flaw.
In that infinitesimal instant, Ye Feipeng vanished, wrapped in blue light and fleeing to parts unknown.
Only Zhang Zhiliang remained, frozen in place.
A long time passed before he finally came back to himself.
“A regressor?”
“A Soul Arbiter of heaven and earth?”
The All-Seeing Eye Grotto-Heaven slowly receded from the sky. The blazing sun returned to its rightful place.
The world resumed its normal course.
Yet an invisible shadow lingered around Zhang Zhiliang, refusing to dissipate.
“Dao Unity...”
“Dao Unity...”
He murmured the words again and again, an unfathomable light flickering deep within his eyes.
***
Within the Tianxuan Mirror.
Startled out of cultivation, Li Fan, who had witnessed the entire scene, slowly stroked his chin.
He hadn’t expected Ye Feipeng’s aimless wandering to end in a chance collision with Zhang Zhiliang at the very moment the latter was attempting a breakthrough.
The anxious little fatty had been identified as an anomaly almost immediately.
Using a method bordering on soul-searching, Zhang Zhiliang had forcibly unearthed the secrets hidden within Ye Feipeng’s mind.
Fortunately, at the most critical moment, the Deepsea Pearl had activated of its own accord, preserving Ye Feipeng’s life.
Even so, the backlash was severe. Ye Feipeng’s mind had been heavily damaged, and he had fallen into a deep slumber.
What puzzled Li Fan was that, despite such a bizarre and dangerous incident, Ye Feipeng’s fate hadn't been impacted negatively in the slightest.
On the contrary, it had undergone an even more inscrutable transformation, one that even Li Fan could not fully comprehend.
Interesting.
It seems the Deepsea Pearl is determined to protect Ye Feipeng at all costs.
Could there be further secrets about him that I still haven’t uncovered?
And now that Zhang Zhiliang has learned of Crimson Flame’s arrival ahead of time while advancing to Spirit Transformation, what choices will he make?
In this lifetime... where will the sea-scorching calamity ultimately lead?
Li Fan let out a low, dark chuckle.