NOVGO.NET Chapter 2364 - Returning Home
Chapter 2364 – Returning Home
The island was nestled in the rosy clouds of sunset, blessed by the heavens with an abundance of precious resources. The morning skies were bright and clear.
Every time a new day began, you could see this spectacular sight, hence the name “Sunset Perch.”
When Yi Daoxuan lived here, he loved nothing more than lying on the white sand beach and gazing into the rosy clouds. That was when he felt the most relaxed.
He didn’t care whether it was dawn or dusk; both had their own beauty.
“Hide for now,” ordered Su Yi. The River Child slipped into the Umbrella of Tribulations.
Su Yi took a sip of wine and steered the little flat boat toward the island in the distance. When the boat rode in on the waves, it left a snow-white line in its wake.
“Look, that’s…!”
“Su Yi! He really came!”
Keep it down! Who wouldn’t recognize someone like him?”
…The sound of discussion emanated from afar.
A dense cluster of figures had long since gathered near the island. All of them were startled, and all of them looked over.
A little flat boat rode in with a young man on board. His hands were behind his back, and his blue robes fluttered in the wind. Beneath the slight of the heavens, his tall, upright figure shone like the edge of a sword.
Su Yi!
The crowd was in uproar. Everyone’s expressions shifted.
The legend who’d vanished from the God Domain for the past year really had returned! Did this mean a huge variable in the five peak assemblies’ joint Sunset Perch Dao Assembly?
A powerfully built man rallied his courage and asked, “Your Excellency Su, might I ask why you’ve come?”
Su Yi glanced at him. “I’m going home.”
Going home? The crowd was flabbergasted, but only briefly. They quickly understood. That’s right. Who in the Endless Ocean doesn’t know that Sunset Perch Island was once the territory of the Master of Sunset Perch Island?
He might have died in battle a long time ago, and the island might have long since been reduced to ruin and claimed by Divine Billows Palace, but… They’ve just taken over another’s territory, like turtledoves in a magpie’s nest!
Now, five peak factions announced an assembly in the Master of Sunset Perch Island’s territory. What is that, if not blatant provocation?
“Hahaha! Well said!” Suddenly, a burst of majestic laughter emanated from the island.
“One of our goals for this Sunset Perch Dao Assembly was to welcome you home, Fellow Daoist!”
The crowd was flabbergasted. Everyone saw the speaker. He was none other than the grand elder of Divine Billows Palace, Tai Jinlin!
He was accompanied by four other prominent experts from the other top factions involved, eleven people in total. Even the weakest was a Three-Tribulation Master God, while the strongest was an Eight-Tribulation Master God!
When this group of prominent authority figures of the Endless Ocean appeared, a deathly silence descended over the area.
The waves churned, and the light of the heavens was bright and clear, but an oppressive, murderous atmosphere permeated the area.
The crowd fell as silent in cicadas in winter. None of them dared to speak. The experts in front of Su Yi frantically cleared the way ahead, terrified that they’d get swept into this.
Su Yi put away his jug of wine and said, “You’re here to welcome me? Hah! You’re each more ‘filial’ than the one before.”
The experts on Sunset Perch Island furrowed their brows. They hadn’t anticipated that the first words out of Su Yi’s mouth would be insults!
But Su Yi wasn’t concerned about all that. He just steered his boat closer to the island and said, “No need for nonsense. Where is the person I’m here for?” The crowd’s hearts shook. Su Yi really was every bit as domineering as the rumors said!
He’d come here alone, but he acted as if the higher-ups of these five peak factions weren’t even there!
Tai Jianlin waved his sleeve, and a corpse floated into the air. It was smeared with blood and covered in wounds.
This was none other than the little monkey.
“This is that yao god’s corpse. His wounds were so heavy that his life force dried up,” Tai Jianlin said airily. “However, his soul lives on. Fellow Daoist, if you want to take his soul and corpse with you, why not come to the shore for a chat?”
He beckoned to Su Yi. “If you please!”
The other higher-ups said in unison, “If you please!”
Their voices shook heaven and earth. The seawater churned as if boiling, and the very air itself trembled.
All eyes were instantly on Su Yi. In that moment, everyone was fully convinced that this Sunset Perch Dao Assembly wasn’t about establishing the “Endless Dao Alliance” so much as it was about targeting Su Yi.
The five factions had undoubtedly already placed an inescapable net over Sunset Perch Island.
The question was, would Su Yi be bold enough to proceed?
Against all expectations, Su Yi didn’t even pause to think. He just steered his boat directly toward Sunset Perch Island.
Everyone was shocked!
There was no discussion, nor any hesitation, nor even any wasted words. He just forged straight ahead!
Tai Jianlin and the other higher-ups were stunned, too. They’d assumed that there’d be a standoff between them and Su Yi, and they’d even prepared all manner of threats to force him onto the island.
They never would have guessed that Su Yi would be so agreeable as to come right to them!
It was only when they saw Su Yi disembark that Tai Jianlin and the others came back to their senses.
They exchanged glances, then visibly sighed in relief.
“Su Yi, the moment you set foot on Sunset Perch Island, you sealed your fate!” Tai Jianlin couldn’t help but laugh. “Tell me: you’ve lived such an impressive life. How did you suddenly become so stupid?”
The others couldn’t help but laugh. All of them felt relaxed; they weren’t the least bit afraid of Su Yi trying anything now.
Su Yi glanced coolly at them. “Why do you think your sects’ old-timers stayed behind and sent small fries like you here in their stead?”
The group was stunned.
Before they could respond, Su Yi continued, “You don’t need to answer that question. Just think about it for yourselves. It’d be terrible if others were using you and you didn’t even realize it.”
Tai Jianlin and the others’ expressions shifted erratically.
They were all Master Gods, but Su Yi was calling them small fries to their faces. That was humiliating in its own right!
Still, there was no denying that Su Yi had just given voice to the very thing they were worried about.
The five great factions had joined forces to convene the Sunset Perch Dao Assembly, but… Not counting the onlookers, they were the only five people here!
All of them knew that the Sunset Perch Dao Assembly and Endless Dao Alliance were fake. This was really just a deathtrap they’d prepared for Su Yi!
The five of them were just characters in the show they were putting on, that’s all.
Su Yi looked Sunset Perch Island over.
A long time ago, the island had been covered in spirit mountains, clear waters, and auspicious clouds. There’d been peach trees growing all over the place, and when the peach blossoms bloomed, they reflected the light of the setting sun. It was an extraordinarily beautiful sight.
Unfortunately, the beautiful scenery he remembered no longer existed.
Everywhere he looked, the island lay in ruin. The buildings were a mess of broken walls and shattered tiles, and the plants had withered and died.
Su Yi sighed to himself, then said, “Where are the experts of the three spacetime forbidden zones?”
Tai Jianlin and the others’ hearts clenched, and their expressions shifted. He already knows about that!?
But it was then that——
Boom!
Inscrutable, misty light surged from the dome of heaven, blanketing the sky and blotting out the sun.
With Sunset Perch Island at its center, space contorted and collapsed throughout the surrounding area. Currents of turbulent temporal surged forth, and explosive spacetime power plunged the surrounding ocean into a terrifying scene of withering and destruction.
“What’s going on?”
“What terrifying spacetime power. What’s happening?”
“I can’t see Sunset Perch Island anymore!”
…Startled cries arose on all sides. All of the distant onlookers were startled.
Sunset Perch Island was enormous, like a continent in its own right, but it was now completely enveloped in dense, inscrutable light and surrounded by turbulent, explosive spacetime currents.
It was as if the island had disappeared completely. No one could see it anymore.
“Senior Su got complacent!”
“He doesn’t have any supporters with him this time. How is he going to overcome this?”
“Five great factions worked together to set this trap. They must have been preparing for a long time. This time, I’m afraid… Senior Su will struggle to escape disaster…”
“That’s not necessarily the case. Who’d dare say that Senior Su came unprepared?”
…Even as they discussed the situation, all of them watched with rapt attention.
Would Su Yi live or die? The answer would naturally become clear when the curtains fell.
……
In stark contrast with what the crowd outside the island imagined, no terrifying catastrophe greeted Su Yi on Sunset Perch Island.
It was just that a black sun hung over the sky, releasing unsettling, murky gray light. The light enveloped the island completely, severing all connections to the outside world and obscuring it from the power of the Laws.
Standing here was like being cast into an alternate spacetime, one not of the present age!
This scene startled Tai Jianlin and the others. All of them looked stricken.
They were Master Gods, but not even they could sense the Laws of the outside world anymore!
That meant they couldn’t draw on the power of the Laws to aid them in battle. Who wouldn’t have been startled?
Su Yi stood alone, gazing at the black sun hanging beneath the dome of heaven.
It wasn’t really a sun. Rather, it was a taboo treasure, a black stone with a mysterious, unsettling presence.
It really was just as the experts of Spirit Vessel Yao Court had said. The Blue Sparrow Forbidden Zone had a taboo treasure capable of obscuring heavenly mysteries and overturning time and space!
That meant that the people of the three spacetime forbidden zones could appear on Sunset Perch Island without fear of a backlash from the God Domain’s Laws.
Just as Su Yi pondered, a voice tinged with laughter emanated from afar. “Fellow Daoist Su, we finally meet.”
A figure drifted over through the barren, desolate landscape.
He looked like a young man in a feather coat. He wore a lotus crown, and he had a warm, scholarly air about him.
In just one step, he advanced until he was just one hundred feet away from Su Yi.
“Greetings, Prince!” Tai Jianlin and the others each bowed in greeting, all of them welcoming the man with the utmost respect.
Prince? Su Yi’s eyebrows rose.
“Step aside and wait,” ordered the young man in the feather coat. Then, he smiled and greeted Su Yi. “My surname is Qingyang, and my given name is Feng. I’m not of the present day. I hail from the Epoch of Sumeru, but over the past few years, I’ve taken up residence in the Blue Sparrow Forbidden Zone.
“I’ve been following the God Domain’s affairs, and I’ve long since grown familiar with your illustrious name, Fellow Daoist. Now that I see you in the flesh, it’s obvious that you live up to your reputation.”
Qingyang Feng from the Epoch of Sumeru! That’s a strange name, thought Su Yi. Out loud, he said, “Surely you don’t really plan to welcome me as your guest after placing such a death trap for me?”
Qingyang Feng laughed. “Fellow Daoist Su, if you’re willing to work with us, all three forbidden zones will be sure to treat you as their most distinguished of guests!”
Su Yi said calmly, “The moment you set this trap for me, there ceased to be anything for us to discuss. I wouldn’t sink to becoming your guest, either.”
Qingyang Feng said apologetically, “I see you’re nursing a grudge over what happened here. I apologize, and as an expression of my sincerity, I’m willing to offer you compensation.”
Su Yi was stunned.
Before he could respond, Qingyang Feng whipped around and looked at Tai Jianlin and the others. “Hurry up and kneel before Fellow Daoist Su!”