Deep within the East Sea Dragon Palace, in a secret chamber constructed from ten-thousand-year coral, East Sea Dragon King Ao Guang held the Star Iron from Beyond the Realm, his expression grave as water. When the coordinate projected by the Star Iron coincided with the Dragon Clan's secret sea chart, this old dragon who had ruled the Four Seas for thousands of years revealed a rare expression of shock.
"The Gui Xu Sea Eye..." Ao Guang's voice carried an undeniable tremor. "I never expected the demons to be searching for this place."
Xiao Qi gazed at the vortex-shaped pattern marked specially on the sea chart. "Might the Dragon King elaborate?"
Ao Guang sighed deeply, his dragon claw gently stroking the sea chart, bringing the pattern to life. A massive vortex slowly rotated on the chart's surface, its center fathomless and radiating an aura that seemed to devour everything.
"The Gui Xu Sea Eye is where the Four Seas converge—it's also the world's greatest secret." Ao Guang's tone carried reverence. "Legend says it is the world's drain, where all things ultimately return to nothingness."
He pointed to several points of light around the vortex: "Generations of dragons have laid countless layers of seals around the Sea Eye, strictly forbidding any living being from approaching. Because not only does it devour matter, time and space themselves become distorted there."
Xiao Qi recalled the information displayed by the Star Iron: "It's said the Sea Eye connects to beyond this world?"
"It's more than that." Ao Guang shook his head. "According to the Dragon Clan's most ancient records, the Gui Xu Sea Eye is a wound left by some great battle in ancient times. That battle tore through the world's barriers, creating an eternally unhealing wound."
He produced a dragon scale emitting ancient aura: "This is a memory scale left by our ancestors, recording some fragments from that time."
When Xiao Qi immersed his spiritual sense into the dragon scale, the shocking scene confronted him: He saw a dragon stretching across heaven and earth battling some indescribable entity—stars fell in their wake, space shattered like glass. In the end, the dragon sacrificed its life to banish its enemy, but the world was left with a massive hole—that was the origin of the Gui Xu Sea Eye.
"That banished existence..." Xiao Qi withdrew his spiritual sense, voice hoarse.
Ao Guang nodded heavily: "It is the ancestor of the current demonic entity. So it seems the reason it chose to return at the Gui Xu Sea Eye was to complete its ancestor's unfinished work."
This news made everyone present feel suffocated. So the source of the demon plague could be traced back to such ancient times!
"What's the current state of the Sea Eye?" Xiao Qi asked.
"Very unstable." Ao Guang looked worried. "In the past hundred years, the Sea Eye's devouring range has expanded by one-third. We've had to relocate all the dragon settlements around it."
He displayed the latest monitoring data—spacetime distortion around the Sea Eye had reached dangerous levels. Some sea creatures that accidentally entered would emerge either turned to fossils or reduced to embryos; time there had completely lost meaning.
"What's even more terrifying," Ao Guang added, "is that things that shouldn't exist occasionally crawl out from the Sea Eye."
He described several cases: fish with human faces, translucent ghost ships, even once a moving island appeared. These foreign objects from other dimensions brought no small amount of trouble to the Four Seas.
Xiao Qi contemplated: "So the Gui Xu Sea Eye not only connects to the void, but to other worlds?"
"That's correct." Ao Guang nodded. "That's why generations of dragons have maintained strict seals—to prevent the laws of the two worlds from contaminating each other."
This discovery complicated the situation further. The demonic entity's choice to return at such a place obviously had deeper schemes. Perhaps it not only wanted to rule this world, but also to open channels to other worlds!
"We must stop it." Xiao Qi made his decision. "Before it can exploit the Sea Eye's properties."
But Ao Guang showed difficulty: "The Gui Xu Sea Eye is forbidden even to dragons. The spacetime turbulence there is enough to make Soul Transformation cultivators lost in eternal time."
"Someone must go." Xiao Qi's tone was firm. "Besides, we have this."
He took out the Star Iron from Beyond the Realm. In the special environment of the Dragon Palace, the Star Iron glowed more brightly, its surface star patterns creating a strange resonance with the Dragon Clan sea chart.
"This is..." Ao Guang was shocked to find the information displayed on the Star Iron was even more detailed than Dragon Clan records. Besides the Sea Eye itself, it also marked several relatively stable spacetime nodes.
"Those nodes can serve as temporary footholds." Xiao Qi pointed to the lights on the Star Iron. "If we can lay formations at these positions, we might temporarily stabilize the spacetime around the Sea Eye."
Ao Guang meditated for a long time before finally making his decision: "In that case, the Dragon Clan is willing to lend full strength. However..."
He took out an ancient bronze mirror: "Before entering the Sea Eye, you must first pass the Mirror of Hearts' trial. What distorts there isn't just spacetime, but also the mind. If one's Dao-heart is not firm, one could go mad in an instant."
The following three days, Xiao Qi and the elite squad preparing to enter the Sea Eye underwent the Mirror of Hearts' trial. This Dragon Clan treasure could reflect the deepest fears within one's heart—many faltered before it.
But surprisingly, Xiao Qi stood unmoved before the Mirror of Hearts. The various illusions that appeared—Xu Lan Mountain Manor's tragedy, his master's sacrifice, the demonic entity's whispers—none could shake his Dao-heart.
"What a steadfast Dao-heart!" Ao Guang sincerely praised. "No wonder you've reached such a realm at your age."
When the squad was ready, Ao Guang produced another Dragon Clan treasure—the Sea-Stabilizing Pearl.
"This pearl can temporarily calm the turbulence around the Sea Eye, but can sustain for at most three hours." He solemnly placed the pearl in Xiao Qi's hands. "Within three hours, whether you succeed or fail, you must return!"
Xiao Qi received the Sea-Stabilizing Pearl, sensing the vast water-element power contained within. This treasure passed down through generations of the Dragon Clan would be their greatest reliance in exploring the Sea Eye.
Before departure, he glanced at the Star Iron one last time. Its countdown showed only seventy-eight days until the Void Tide's peak.
Time was truly running out.
As the Dragon Clan's warships sailed toward the Gui Xu Sea Eye, everyone understood this might be the cultivation world's last chance. And waiting for them in the depths of the Sea Eye wasn't just spacetime turbulence, but a ten-thousand-year-old conspiracy.
Xiao Qi stood at the bow, gazing at the increasingly clear massive vortex in the distance, his grip tightening on the Sea-Stabilizing Pearl. This battle would determine the fate of the entire world.