As the shining blue river swallowed him, he saw the panicked expression of the blind saint, who looked as if a giant spirit beast had suddenly appeared to devour her. He looked down as she said, "Impossible, what—," when he was pulled deeper into the river, as if trapped in a suddenly formed vortex.

He extended his hands toward the Silver Saint on the surface, but as he flailed and tried to shout, only bubbles escaped his mouth, and her silhouette grew fainter and fainter, until the world changed.

"What's happening?" Liu Xing mumbled. The water that had swallowed him before shone with a blue light. Even though he had been sucked in deep, it had been bright. Now, however, he was in pitch darkness. His eyes could see nothing. It was as if his brain had lost the ability to decipher any light.

All of this had happened because he had tried to summon his gun. Surely, it wasn't because of that? It had to be a coincidence.

He reached up to touch his face and was surprised to find his eyelids were actually closed. He pried them open and, to his further surprise, succeeded.

Once he opened his eyes, bright light assaulted him, forcing him to squeeze them shut again. But this time, even with them closed, the world didn't turn black. Instead, it turned red, but it was not because he had been transported to another dream or a world consisting only of red, but because the brilliant light shone through the blood in his eyelids, assaulting him even when they were closed. He opened his eyes again, and while the sun tried to force them shut, he blinked and shielded them with his hand. "Where am I?"

He became aware of a cool sensation and a pleasant pressure enveloping him. His ears caught the repetitive sound of waves, but occasionally the sound dimmed, as if his ears were filled with water. He tried to move his feet, heard a splash. As he adjusted to the blinding sun, he looked around and confirmed his suspicion. He was floating in the middle of the sea. The sky was a vast blue, dotted with clouds. The sea mirrored it, its surface rolling with waves. The sounds of seagulls filled the air, but that wasn't the only thing he could hear. Occasional shouts and crushing sounds could be heard, as well as loud thumps that sounded like two giant waves crashing.

The change of scenery disoriented him. One moment he was talking to the Silver Saint, then in a pitch-black void, and then he was floating in the middle of the ocean. Moreover, as he became aware of his condition, a headache began to settle in. It was a vicious pain, as if someone had tied a rope around his skull and was pulling it tight. Liu Xing gritted his teeth, fought the headache, and tried to open his eyes wide. Then, he began to cycle the qi around his body.

The qi felt sluggish, as if it were made from mud, but he could tell that the more he cycled it, the faster it went and the easier it was to control. The moment he had enough control, he summoned his shield beneath him and ordered it to lift him from the ocean. Water cascaded from his arms and legs.

Free from the water, Liu Xing inhaled deeply, trying to focus his mind. He was aware of his disorientation, and to fight it, he decided to think through the events that had happened to him chronologically. "First, I awoke inside a dream, talked to Silver Saint, tried to summon my gun, was swallowed by the river, realized I was in a pitch-black world, then awoke in the sea."

The gears in his mind began to spin, bringing more thoughts and faint memories he knew the whale had locked away. He was almost killed by something, he remembered the old man, but before the face could fully form in his mind, he anchored himself to the next memory. He was swallowed by a whale. Before that, he remembered a sea turtle—no, two sea turtles. One was full of barnacles, the other a little baby turtle.

Liu Xing sat and tried to meditate. More and more memories came to him. He remembered a mist that was not mist, he remembered dolphins, he remembered a guiding star, and he remembered… Fang Ruxue and everyone, including Yu Yongrui.

Liu Xing's eyes snapped open, and he stood on his shield as he looked around. While Yu Yongrui was a cultivator, the rest were not. The last time he saw them, they were all together atop his turtle statue when the giant whale swallowed them whole. After they were swallowed, Silver Saint had pulled him into a dream where they talked about the seemingly weird fact about him as a saint candidate, the truth about the universe, a saint's duties, and many more. But now he was awake, and he was not inside a whale's stomach, which meant the others weren't either.

"Where are they?" Liu Xing looked around, anxiety churning in his stomach. He hoped that when he awoke, they had awoken too, and he hoped they could swim.

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As Liu Xing scanned the horizon, he finally saw someone. Su Nian was floating quite far from his position, her hands splashing as if she were trying to fight from drowning, and she was shouting at him. "Help, help!"

At that moment, his senses finally snapped into focus, as if he was a man with blurry vision who had finally put on glasses. He could discern many more details. Su Nian was not drowning; she was merely flapping her hands in the hope of getting his attention.

Far behind her, two gigantic beings clashed in the middle of the sea. One was a colossal red octopus with massive tentacles and a bulbous head. Water cascaded from it, as if the creature had just surfaced. But it was not alone. Its tentacles were wrapped around a blob-like creature tangled in seaweed. The creature's face was shrouded in darkness, as if it commanded the shadows to hide it, except for two giant, shining red eyes. The octopus was trying to strangle the seaweed creature, its tentacles wrapping and wriggling, while the seaweed creature tried to wrap its own seaweed limbs around the octopus.

Upon seeing these giant creatures fighting, his eyes widened. How had he not realized this fight was happening sooner?

Without another thought, Liu Xing leaped from his shield straight toward Su Nian. As the wind rushed through his hair, he expelled some qi and ordered it to wrap around her. Then, he pulled her from the sea and summoned his turtle statue beneath her. The statue was not large, only big enough for her, but it was enough.

Liu Xing landed right next to Su Nian atop his turtle, who was drenched in her new dress. She lay sprawled on the turtle, wiped her face, and then shouted, "My mom! My mom can't swim. My sister was trying to help her, but it's chaotic below the water!"

"Where's everyone else?" Liu Xing asked as he scanned the area. The battle between the two spirit beasts was making huge and chaotic waves. If anyone got caught in them, they would be in danger.

"Some are still below the water!" she said.

When he heard that, he intended to leap into the sea but stopped himself. The turtle statue could luckily float, which was absurd since he knew how heavy it was. Still, it was useful, so he wouldn't question it. The problem was that if he went into the water, Su Nian would be here alone. The distance between them and the battle was not too far, and there was a chance Su Nian could be dragged into it.

After a moment of thought, he found a solution. Without wasting any time, he opened his spatial bag and summoned two Eyes of Lightning. The other two were gone. He couldn't sense them, meaning they had been destroyed. But these two were not. He ordered one to hover above Su Nian and the turtle statue while the other flew around to look for people.

After everything was in order, he nodded. "Alright, Su Nian, I'll be back soon. Wait here."

"Yes!" she replied.

Liu Xing leaped into the sea. As he landed, water splashed and bubbles rose around him. The sea enveloped him entirely, and the chaotic sounds of the waves and the spirit beasts' battle suddenly muted. The world was painted entirely blue, and he needed a moment to adjust his vision. When his eyes could see clearly, he realized that the two spirit beasts were bigger than he had anticipated, and the fight was happening under the sea as well. The octopus's long tentacles were covering the seaweed creature, and as if each of its suckers had teeth, blood was rising from around them. The seaweed lashed underwater like whips, cutting and severing the octopus's tentacles. Both of these spirit beasts, while large, were actually not that high in terms of power. The seaweed creature was at the Lock Opening realm, while the octopus felt like a newly advanced Core Splitting beast. He thought for a moment whether killing them both was a good idea, when his eyes finally saw people.

It was two women. One was Su Nian's mother, and the other was a woman named Bai Xinya. In the group, she was considered young, around twenty years old. Yet, while young, she was a widow, as her husband had been killed when Wei Shuren kidnapped her. She was dragging Su Nian's mother to the surface, her face full of determination, and he could see that they would succeed. Still, it gave Liu Xing pause. After all, the one who was supposed to be helping was Su Nian's sister. Where was she?

He looked down and saw that she was being pulled by the ankle by a strand of seaweed. Upon seeing this, Liu Xing expelled some of his qi and wrapped it around himself. He willed the qi to pull him toward her. The qi propelled him forward quickly, though not as quickly as he would have liked. It would have been better if he could have summoned his shield, but since he couldn't, he could only focus.

As he moved, he spared some attention for the seaweed, scanning it until he could see its end. It was connected to another seaweed creature, but this one was far smaller and had a humanoid body. Its body looked as if it were made from rock, while the seaweed extended from its head like long hair.

He caught up to Su Meilan, swung his arm, and severed the seaweed wrapped around her ankle. When it was done, Su Meilan latched onto him, hugging him tightly with a panicked expression and teary eyes.

He looked down at the creature and narrowed his eyes. He realized there was more than one of these creatures. In fact, there were dozens of them. While most of them were helping the gigantic seaweed creature deal with the octopus's tentacles, he saw many of the creatures dragging women down by their ankles using the seaweed extending from their heads.

At that moment, the head of one of the smaller seaweed creatures—the one that was dragging Fang Ruxue—suddenly exploded. Upon seeing that, Liu Xing looked to the side, toward the source of the attack, and smiled a ferocious smile.

"Good job, buddy," he said.

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