Chapter 540

Chapter 540: Above the Dead Sea
On the surface of the Dead Sea, Yu Zhao watched the Sea Monster opposite her with full alertness.

One breath, two breaths, three breaths passed. Nearly half a stick of incense went by, yet the attack she had expected never came.

Yu Zhao was a little surprised.

After thinking for a moment, she cautiously picked up the wooden oar and rowed forward a short distance.

The ferocious Sea Monster still kept its original posture, not moving at all. Only the squirming of its tentacles seemed to speed up a little.

Yu Zhao frowned slightly and rowed forward a bit more.

The distance between them grew closer and closer, and Yu Zhao could now clearly see the sticky liquid clinging to the Sea Monster’s rough, ugly skin.

She looked up at the huge Sea Monster, gritted her teeth, tightened her grip on the oar, and prepared to charge straight through its defense in one go.

But just as she started to move, one of the Sea Monster’s tentacles shot at her with lightning speed.

She had already prepared for this, so she did not panic. As the tentacle lashed toward her, she poured a stream of Spirit Power into the Heavenly Pillar Array.

One Heaven Pillar shifted half a step to the right.

Countless beams of light burst out all at once.

That tentacle was instantly cut into countless small pieces, which fell from the sky like rain.

Yu Zhao had planned to steer the wooden boat aside to avoid this bloody rain.

But to her surprise, the falling blood suddenly gathered together, forming a broken tentacle that slammed down onto her boat.

Then, again at lightning speed, it turned into a streak of black smoke and shot straight toward the space between Yu Zhao’s eyebrows.

Yu Zhao was startled. The Heavenly Pillar Array shifted its formation again, erecting several Defensive Barriers in front of her.

She also stirred her Soul Force, guarding the front of her Sea of Consciousness.

She was sure she had done all she could to prepare, but she never expected that black smoke to be so strange. It passed straight through her layers of defense and forced its way into her Sea of Consciousness.

Yu Zhao gathered all of her Soul Force to fight the black smoke, but she only lasted a few breaths before she was completely overwhelmed.

The black smoke entered her body, and her body stiffened at once.

In the next moment, she let out a soft sound of surprise, and hesitation appeared on her face.

The black smoke was not some evil spirit at all. It was a fragment of a Cultivation Technique formula.

To pass the Sea Monster’s defense, she had to use the broken formula to deduce the correct Cultivation Technique.

This trial tested not only eyesight, but also comprehension.

Yu Zhao fell silent.

Thinking about how she had just fought with all her strength to resist it, she almost choked on her own embarrassment.

[If this is a selection trial, then just run the trial properly. Why add so many useless tricks! They better not let me find out who designed this stage!]

Yu Zhao ground her teeth, forced down the shame and annoyance in her heart, and focused all her attention on the broken formula in her mind.

Not long ago, the Avatar Technique she had cultivated had also been a broken Cultivation Technique. She did have some experience using Divinatory Calculation on Cultivation Techniques.

The first step was to read through the formula, grasp its inner meaning, then examine each word carefully and look for the missing parts.

This process seemed simple, but it took a lot of time.

Yu Zhao did not dare relax. Very soon, she sank her mind completely into the formula and stopped sensing any change in the outside world.

Outside the Daqian Alliance, everyone once again began to argue heatedly, with Yu Zhao at the center of their attention.

Someone exclaimed: “What was that black smoke just now? Why did she close her eyes?”

Another person guessed: “Did she get poisoned and is now forcing the poison out?”

A third person said: “Very possible. I thought she would be the first to cross the sea, but I guess we spoke too soon.”

Someone sighed with interest: “This year’s selection is much more fun than previous years. Every stage is completely unexpected.”

Another person suddenly shouted: “Look, that Saintess woke up too!”

Hearing this, the crowd looked up. Sure enough, the Saintess of Shura Prison had already left the cluster of small wooden boats and was heading out alone.

Someone clicked their tongue in praise and said: “The Saintess of Shura Prison truly lives up to her name.”

Someone else was amazed and muttered: “Shura Prison is famous for killing. I did not expect them to be so skilled in formations too.”

Ancestor Sui Bian frowned. He had no idea why, but when he saw this Saintess, a strong feeling of disgust rose in his heart for no reason, and even his palms itched to move.

[How strange.]

He nudged Old Daoist Hei in the waist and asked in a tangled voice: “Old Daoist Hei, what do you think of that Saintess?”

Old Daoist Hei turned his head and gave him a look full of disdain, then said: “Sui Bian, you are already so old. Stop flirting around everywhere. Do you still think you do not have enough confidantes?”

Ancestor Sui Bian was stunned.

He shouted: “I am not, I did not!”

Old Daoist Hei snorted and said: “Stop pretending. The way your eyes rolled, I know exactly what bad ideas you are cooking in your stomach.”

Ancestor Sui Bian cried out his grievances. He was not some pervert who fell for every person he saw.

He really did think this Saintess was very strange!

Sadly, no one could understand his sorrow.

If Ye Cong Xin knew what Ancestor Sui Bian was thinking, she might curl her lips and give him a sarcastic compliment for being sharp.

But right now, she was drifting atop the Dead Sea, her Divine Sense sweeping back and forth over the area dozens of times. Her eyes were full of doubt.

[Where did Yu Zhao go?]

She had thought that maybe Yu Zhao had already died in the Dead Sea, but she quickly dismissed that idea.

If Yu Zhao could fall so quickly, she would not be this hard to kill.

When she finally reached the stretch of sea where the Sea Monster was, and saw that towering giant ahead, her heart thumped hard.

[Yu Zhao cannot really be dead, right?]

Before she could feel happy about it, a sharp voice rang out in her mind.

The voice snapped: “Idiot! Yu Zhao is right in front of you. She used a Concealment Art!”

Ye Cong Xin said harshly inside: “Shut up!”

The voice scoffed loudly: “Ye Cong Xin, you dare talk to me like this. If not for me, do you think you could still be alive now?”

Ye Cong Xin sneered and replied: “Heh, as if you are anything good. If you did not want to use me as a shield, would you have saved me? You ended up like this because of your own choices. You are only reaping what you sowed.”

The voice in her mind vanished at once.

The world returned to silence.

Shadows surged in Ye Cong Xin’s eyes, and a mocking smile lifted the corner of her lips.

She had been frail since birth and her life had been full of hardships, but Heaven had still left her a sliver of hope.

Back then, right after the System brought her into the Spatial Passage to escape, they were immediately caught up in the chaotic currents of space.

She was already weak by nature. On top of that, she had just been controlled by the System to use a technique that went far beyond what her body could handle. She could not hold on for long before she was on the brink of destruction.

The System was parasitic in her body and bound to her. If she died, the System would also be erased in the spatial turbulence.

Forced into a corner, the System had no choice but to burn its own energy to protect her body.

When Ye Cong Xin woke up, she found that she had come to a Small World within the Middle World. The System, after cutting away ninety percent of its strength, had also shown its true form inside her Sea of Consciousness.

The System was not some artificial intelligence at all, but a remnant soul from another world.

It disguised itself as a System to fool her, so she would willingly work for it until she lost all value, and then it could kick her away with one move.

Strike while he was sick and take his life.

Ye Cong Xin’s first reaction had been to kill this remnant soul completely while it was weak.

But what the remnant soul said made her change her mind.

He said: “If I die, you will not live much longer either, and you can forget about ever killing Yu Zhao.”