The mysterious man shook the object in his hand and quickly executed an incantation with his left hand.
The seawater behind Yan Ge suddenly stirred, propelling him swiftly toward the man. At the same time, the sword in the man’s hand came down with force.
Yan Ge was greatly alarmed. In less than two breaths, he was already in front of the man. He tried to lift his spiritual sword, but his wrist felt heavy, as if bound by a massive stone.
Huangfu Yuchen noticed something amiss and was extremely shocked. He quickly moved over and was about to intervene but four creatures suddenly emerged from the distant vortex, the same as the snake-like creature they had encountered before. They ignored Yan Ge, Huangfu Yuchen, and the man, and headed straight for the barrier that had blocked Huangfu Yuchen’s spiritual sense.
The man Immediately released his hold on Yan Ge and intercepted the four creatures, engaging in combat with them.
Huangfu Yuchen held back Yan Ge and carefully examined him. “Are you okay?”
Yan Ge shook his head and curiously looked over there. “It seems those four creatures want to pass through the barrier, and that projection is protecting the barrier. Could it be that the strange occurrences around the Bermuda Island are caused by their battles?”
Huangfu Yuchen nodded in agreement. “Most likely.”
He looked at the man in the distance, who was on par with or possibly even stronger than Yan Ge, but was struggling against the four creatures. Another creature swam from behind and swiftly headed towards the barrier, but the man intercepted it as well.
“Yuchen, do you think we can communicate with that person and ask him to let us in to find the cross?” Yan Ge asked, though without much hope.
Huangfu Yuchen shook his head. “He’s probably just the residual consciousness left behind by a powerful being. Besides the instinct to protect the barrier, he lacks self-awareness. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have attacked as soon as he saw us.”
Yan Ge responded, “Regardless, we have to go in and take a look. Finding the cross is our top priority.”
“Now is the best time.” The two said in unison, looking at the man surrounded by creatures.
With that, they instantly teleported over and, without hesitation, attacked the barrier together.
“Boom—”
The man swiftly lunged toward them.
Yan Ge and Huangfu Yuchen exchanged a glance. It truly was about protecting the barrier!
Yan Ge evaded and spoke cautiously, “Senior, we only want to enter to find a cross. We mean no harm. Once we find the cross, we’ll leave immediately.”
The man remained silent, using his sword to fend off an ambush from a creature behind him, then attacked Yan Ge again.
Huangfu Yuchen took the opportunity to strike the barrier once more.
The barrier trembled slightly but showed signs of cracking.
Yan Ge also noticed and quickly said, “Yuchen, keep it up. I’ll hold him off!”
“Be careful!” Huangfu Yuchen noticed that the creatures were also attacking the man. Feeling slightly relieved, he channeled his true qi and launched a full-scale attack.
With a loud “bang”, Huangfu Yuchen blasted a large hole in the barrier, but it quickly started shrinking!
Huangfu Yuchen was amazed. Normally, when a barrier was breached, it would lose its effect. But this barrier was exceptionally peculiar, making him even more curious about what existed within.
He quickly called out to Yan Ge, “Baby!”
Yan Ge lured the creatures that were about to rush towards the entrance to the man, and they seized the chance to teleport away, entering the hole together with Huangfu Yuchen. Just in time, they turned around and saw the hole completely closing up, concealing the outside view.
The spiritual energy within the barrier was indeed abundant, even more than the most concentrated spots in a spiritual array. Turning around to face the front, both of them hesitated for a moment. There was an underlying sense of unease, and an inexplicable feeling of regret for entering.
They exchanged puzzled glances and realized they both felt the same way.
‘Could it be that we had unwittingly opened Pandora’s box?’ Yan Ge pondered silently.
They surveyed their surroundings and saw gleaming white bones on the ground, along with various spiritually imbued weapons. Frowning, they noticed that the bones were all in a seated position against the walls, with only a few collapsing due to age and lying on the ground. Almost every skeleton was accompanied by two or three spiritual weapons, many of which were storage tools. There were no signs of combat so based on this scene, it seemed as if these people had been sitting quietly, waiting for death. The situation was truly bizarre.
“Xiao Ge, look over there.” Huangfu Yuchen pointed ahead.
Yan Ge followed his direction and saw a black, half-human-sized cross held in the hands of a seated skeleton.
His heart leaped with joy as he walked over quickly. He was walking over when he felt a strong heat wave coming from his left side and he looked over curiously.
Huangfu Yuchen raised his hand, causing the cross to levitate. After enveloping it in his true qi, he stored it in his storage ring. “Let’s go and see what’s causing the heat.”
The two walked over swiftly and saw a gaping rift in the ground. The crevice was extremely large, almost a thousand miles wide at its widest point. Inside the rift, crimson magma surged and flowed at ground level. If it weren’t for a sealing formation blocking the rift, containing the magma and partially isolating the temperature, they wouldn’t have been able to approach so closely!
At this point, they realized why the projection was protecting the barrier here. And also why all those who entered didn’t break out again.
Imagine, if the barrier broke and the magma flooded the sea, it would undoubtedly cause a massive tsunami. If the magma erupted outward, the situation would be even worse, potentially submerging all cities on land.
The two exchanged stunned glances.
Thinking quickly, Yan Ge said, “Let’s use spirit stones to reinforce this formation and then leave immediately.”
Huangfu Yuchen nodded. While he didn’t have much attachment to Earth, he couldn’t stand by knowing that so many lives would be lost.
The two promptly took out a large quantity of spirit stones. Although they didn’t understand the nature of the previous sealing formation, they could duplicate it by finding the locations of the unfamiliar formation’s spirit stones. Fortunately, their powerful spiritual sense made the process smooth.
Even so, it took them three days.
Once the formation was completed, the oppressive atmosphere within the cave noticeably lessened.
Both sighed in relief, collected the various spiritual weapons from the ground, and finally removed the outer layer of the barrier to exit.
The creatures had already been killed by the man. He stood there silently, unmoving, without any intention of attacking Yan Ge and Huangfu Yuchen.
The two were puzzled but didn’t actively provoke him. After reinforcing the outer barrier, they entered the vortex and left.
Descending was easier, as they moved with the current. Going up was a struggle against the current. They needed to use seventy percent of their strength to establish a barrier that could withstand the water pressure, and ascended slowly.
As their heads emerged above the sea, they once again saw the sunlight. Both felt a sense of time having passed as if in a dream.
Huangfu Yuchen hugged his beloved’s neck and planted a firm kiss on his wet lips.
Yan Ge held onto his waist, deepening the kiss. After the kiss, they felt reassured.
The two then teleported back to their country. Within seconds, they appeared in the living room of their home.
Huangfu Yuchen asked, “Baby, should we first try to make a fake cross?”
“Not yet.” Yan Ge took out a small dart-shaped object he had got from the underwater cave and handed it to Huangfu Yuchen, asking mysteriously, “Do you know what this is?”
Huangfu Yuchen examined it closely. “This is a tracking talisman.” Since the system store had been fully transferred to Yan Ge’s ownership, the two had purchased various materials related to cultivation, so he recognized the object immediately.
“Not bad,” Yan Ge grinned mischievously.
Huangfu Yuchen also smiles, “We secretly placed a tracking talisman on the cross. So it won’t matter if we give the cross to William. Even if he tries to escape using secret techniques, we’ll still be able to locate him.”
“Exactly.” Yan Ge thought about how satisfying it would be to have William in their grasp, “Let’s call him now.”
Huangfu Yuchen took out Yan Ge’s phone and dialed the number from last time.
Yan Ge picked up the cross and attached the tracking talisman. As soon as the talisman made contact with the cross, it disappeared like a snowflake in water. This was the remarkable feature of the tracking talisman—regardless of the object, once the talisman was attached, it infiltrated like a virus. Few things could resist it.
“William, let’s meet.” Huangfu Yuchen said directly.
William’s skeptical voice came through, “You… found the cross?”
“Isn’t this what you wanted?” Huangfu Yuchen said deliberately.
“That’s right.” William gave the time and location for the meeting and hung up.
Half an hour later, Yan Ge and Huangfu Yuchen appeared on a desolate mountain.
After confirming that there was nothing unusual around, the two landed.
In no time, a familiar energy gradually approached.
William arrived with two people. Those two people were indeed He Xin and Xu Kai. Both of them were motionless, and William held one in each hand like he was carrying chicks.
Yan Ge quickly scanned Xu Kai and He Xin’s bodies with his spiritual sense, and breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that they were only unconscious.
William looked at Yan Ge and Huangfu Yuchen with complex eyes.
According to the information passed down by the Holy See, Bermuda was a mysterious region with many treasures that were beneficial for cultivation. However, it was also a dangerous area. In the past, there were cultivators who had gone in, but none of them returned alive. Sending Yan Ge and Huangfu Yuchen there to find the Heaven-slaying Cross was a brilliant scheme. If they found the cross, and with Xu Kai and He Xin in his hands, he would surely obtain the cross. If they couldn’t find the cross, entering such a perilous area would mean certain death, quenching the resentment in his heart.
He thought this way, but never expected that Yan Ge and Huangfu Yuchen would actually find the Heaven-slaying Cross.
Yan Ge held the cross behind his back and raised it, “This is what you want. Release Xu Kai and He Xin immediately.”
William smiled faintly and said leisurely, “How do I know if the cross is real? You give me the cross first. Once I confirm that the cross is real, I’ll release them immediately.”
As he spoke, he deliberately used his index finger to trace back and forth on Xu Kai’s neck.
Yan Ge frowned but didn’t say anything. He inserted the cross into the ground, and William was curious.
Huangfu Yuchen condensed his true qi into a football-sized energy sphere in his right hand and struck the cross.
The energy sphere collided with the cross, causing a brilliant white light to surge from the cross. With a “boom,” the energy sphere shattered.
Yan Ge and Huangfu Yuchen’s hair was blown back as they took a few steps back.
A fanatical and excited light flashed in William’s eyes. “Toss it over immediately.”
Yan Ge sneered, “Release Xu Kai and He Xin first. Otherwise, how can I know if you’ll keep your promise once you have the cross?”
“If I release them, how do I know you’ll give me the cross?” William also sneered.
