Chapter 290: Chapter 290: System Warning.

“It was the Great Calamity that nearly destroyed our entire world.”

Liu Yanyue frowned at his words.

“I’ve never heard of such an event in any historical records.”

The old man seemed to have expected this and chuckled bitterly.

“Just like you said, perhaps it happened on a different continent… or perhaps so much time has passed that it has simply been forgotten.”

Seeing this old man sulky a bit again, Li Feng didn’t know what to say to this ancient being.

After all, nothing could truly survive the passage of time.

The old man then shook his head and continued.

His gaze returned to Li Feng.

“That black ocean you saw in the carvings… was not water.”

Everyone listened intently, and Li Feng couldn’t help but grow curious.

“Oh? If it wasn’t water, then what was it?” Shui Ruo asked.

The old man’s expression turned grave.

“It was a tide of things. Things that crawled out from beyond the boundaries of our Great World.”

His voice lowered.

“… And they are creatures that did not belong to this realm.”

Jian Ruyi, who had been quietly listening, spoke slowly.

“…Outsiders?”

The old man nodded.

“You could call them that.”

“They devoured cities.”

“They corrupted spiritual veins.”

“They even twisted the laws of heaven and earth wherever they appeared.”

Shui Ruo blinked.

“…That sounds overpowered.”

The old man laughed softly.

“It was.”

His eyes slowly lifted toward the ceiling of the tunnel.

“For thousands of years… every sect, every empire, every ancient clan fought against them.”

“But no matter how many were killed… more continued to appear from the black tide.”

Li Feng’s expression grew thoughtful.

“And that’s where the Lord of Azure Heaven came in.”

The old man nodded.

“Yes. He was the greatest genius our world had ever produced. In less than three thousand years, he reached a realm no one had ever seen before.”

A trace of pride appeared on his aged face.

“He alone was powerful enough to stand against the heart of that tide.”

Shui Ruo leaned forward.

“…So did he defeated it?”

The old man fell silent again.

For several seconds, no one spoke.

Then he slowly shook his head.

“…No. He couldn’t destroy it.”

The group stiffened.

The old man continued quietly,

“Because the source of the black tide… was something even he could not erase.”

Shui Ruo scratched her head when she heard this.

“What is it that couldn’t be destroyed?”

The old man looked toward the girl and murmured a single word.

“Because it possesses Immortality.”

Everyone looked shocked at those words.

After all, even though each of them pursued the Dao for different reasons, in the end it all led to the same ultimate goal… immortality.

And now, hearing that some unknown monster already possessed it made them doubt themselves.

“Don’t be discouraged, my child.”

The old man’s kind voice echoed after he noticed their expressions.

“That thing might possess immortality, but…it is not the real thing.”

Hearing his words, Liu Yanyue couldn’t help but ask,

“Then what exactly is it?”

The old man sighed softly.

“I do not know either. But…” His gaze grew serious. “My lord once told me that what those creatures possess is not true immortality.”

Li Feng then murmured thoughtfully,

“If that’s the case… since he couldn’t kill or destroy it, then he must have sealed it.”

The old man looked at him and nodded slowly.

“Exactly. His plan was to seal it first and later find a way to deal with it. But he did not seal the heart of it all here.”

His translucent finger slowly pointed behind them.

“Or to be exact… he sealed one of that thing’s Apostle at the deepest part of the tunnel where you came from.”

Everyone instinctively turned their heads toward the direction they had come from.

Even Shui Ruo’s face turned pale.

“W-Wait… you mean we just walked over it?!”

But unexpectedly, the old man laughed.

“Haha, there’s no need to be afraid. Since you are all still alive, it means that thing must have died under my lord’s plan. If the heart of that thing is gone, then its minions must have disappeared as well.”

Hearing this, everyone let out a sigh of relief.

After all, none of them wanted to face a monster that even the mighty Lord of Azure Heaven had failed to kill.

Soon, they arrived at another spacious chamber.

The old man smiled.

“Let’s go. We should be close to the exit.”

Everyone nodded and walked forward.

Meanwhile, Li Feng was lost in thought.

“Apostle…”

He couldn’t help but feel a trace of curiosity, wondering if it was just a coincidence.

After all, he happened to possess a skill that could turn others into his Apostles as well.

But then, remembering the old man’s earlier words, he couldn’t help but ask,

“Since you mentioned that the heart of that thing isn’t sealed here… then where is it?”

The old man seemed to think for a moment, as if recalling something his lord had once said.

“I’m not exactly sure… but I think it was in the sky—”

BOOM!!

Suddenly, a massive explosion echoed from the tunnel they had just come from, as if something enormous had smashed into the ground.

The ground shook violently, sending dust and debris rattling off the walls as the entire chamber tremble.

Everyone turned to look behind them.

“What…was that?” Jian Ruyi unsheathed her sword and murmured, her eyes sharp and alert.

Just then, the sound of rushing water tore through the tunnel could be heard.

Crack…!

Splash…!

Splash…!

It was wild, chaotic… almost alive, like the tunnel itself was being surge by a flood.

But when the sound reached the entrance, the frenzied wave suddenly… stopped.

Everyone remained perfectly still, eyes locked on the dark entrance of the tunnel behind.

Drip…

Drip…

Drip…

Slowly, water began spilling out of the tunnel’s entrance.

At first, it looked like any ordinary stream… until its color registered.

It was… pitch black.

Thick, viscous, moving almost deliberately, like liquid shadows spilling from the darkness toward them.

A chill ran through everyone as they saw it.

“… Black water?” Yue Lan murmured, her voice trembling slightly.

A creeping sense of dread filled everyone’s hearts.

Meanwhile, the most shocked of them all was the old man.

He currently stared with his eyes wide, as if he had just witnessed something unspeakably terrifying.

“…What?”

Countless thoughts raced through his mind, leaving him dumbfounded, unable to move or speak as he simply stared at the sight before him.

And… while the others were frozen in shock, Li Feng himself was staring dazedly at the notification flashing red in his vision.

[Warning!]

[Warning!]

[Ding!]

[Host! Be careful! An extremely dangerous hostile entity has been detected!]

[Emergency Protocol Scan activated!]

Tzzzz…

Tzzzz…

[Ding!]

[Name: Apostle of the Deepest Tides]

[Host—]

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