Chapter 250: Uncovering the Ruins

Using the coordinates recorded by the Star Emperor Compass, Su Che found Water Moon’s hiding place. Only then did he realize that the three previous episodes of heartache had nothing to do with her, nor were they caused by the anomalies arising from the underwater ruins.
So what was it?
Su Che couldn’t figure it out and decided to put it aside for now.
“How’s it going?” Water Moon asked softly.
Su Che knew what she meant and replied, “Not bad. We’ve dealt with half of them, but their overall strength has only been reduced by one-third.”
Although all the mid-stage Golden Core cultivators had been captured, those three late-stage Golden Core cultivators were the main force on Floating Abyss Island. Moreover, there were several other highly skilled individuals around the Heavenly Abyss Sea, such as that madman Long.
The situation remained grim.
Still, Water Moon was deeply impressed. It had only taken one day to reduce half of their numbers—over a dozen Golden Core cultivators. Such ability was simply incredible…
Inside the Immortal Prison, fourteen Golden Core-stage treasure hunters were imprisoned, nine in the mid-stage and five in the early stage.
With nothing much to do, Lao He used telepathy to constantly access the memories of these experienced treasure hunters, treating them like living books. In this way, the useful knowledge in their minds became Lao He’s intellectual asset.
“But aside from the knowledge in their minds, what other benefits can these Golden Core cultivators bring?”
Su Che pondered, “With so many powerful prisoners in the Immortal Prison, what can we actually do with them?”
It could be said that the prisoners in the Immortal Prison were also a resource owned by Su Che, one that should be utilized wisely. If they were only used as free laborers for tasks like pill-making, weapon crafting, or spirit talisman production…
The things they produced were surely not useful to Su Che, so they could only be sold as spirit stones. Moreover, the process of production consumed a large amount of spiritual energy, namely the miniature spirit veins underground.
So far, over seven million spirit stones had been accumulated in the Immortal Prison. What good was having more?
No matter how many spirit stones there were, they couldn’t buy real treasures. If it weren’t for the possibility that the Immortal Prison might need to consume a huge amount of spirit stones, Su Che would have already used them all to purchase high-grade pills.
Thinking of this, Su Che said to himself, “Lao He, ask the Immortal Prison when it will develop the ability to brainwash people, turning human cultivators into sufficiently loyal warriors who can be deployed to assist in battles or for other purposes…”

“I’ve asked about this many times already, but Xianyu has never given any response.”
Lao He replied, “This is a world dominated by humans. Even the true immortals of the immortal realm cannot completely enslave a human soul, unless they use dark magic to turn it into a puppet. But in that case, the soul’s inherent spirit will also be lost.”
Su Che nodded inwardly. He knew well that even with conventional brainwashing methods, although a person might be temporarily turned into a fanatical believer, it was hard to say whether they would regain their sense of self and develop rebellious thoughts in the future.
Lao He was right—the human soul is truly remarkable, and it’s extremely difficult to fully enslave it.
“I know this is incredibly difficult, but…” Su Che thought, “I still expect Xianyu to be omnipotent, which is why I have such hopes.”
“Perhaps the right opportunity hasn’t arrived yet,” Lao He agreed. “Each layer of Xianyu is extremely magical. As more layers are unlocked, more functions will be added. Maybe the brainwashing function you’re hoping for will appear then.”
“I hope it appears soon,” Su Che wished. “Otherwise, it would be a waste to let these prisoners idle in Xianyu’s space…”
…
A day passed quickly. On the tenth day of the month, although Su Che mainly practiced fire-based techniques, he could sense a strange change in the tidal forces of the Tianyuan Sea. Shui Yue, having a water spirit body, felt it even more clearly. She said, “The tidal forces on the tenth day of each month have the strongest lifting effect. I think they’ll lift the underwater ruins to the surface, revealing them to the light.”
“If the entire island rises back to the surface, the upheaval will be huge. It might even attract all the cultivators within thousands of miles.”
Su Che deduced, “Then we must take advantage of our proximity and the key map to enter the ruins first and seize the most valuable treasures as quickly as possible.”
“That’s exactly right,” Shui Yue nodded in agreement.
She had planned this for over a decade, so she had surely considered many details more thoroughly than Su Che.
Yet when she took out the key from her Qiankun bag, she felt an inexplicable fear and hesitated. Turning to Su Che, she looked at him with a pitiful gaze, as if seeking help.
Once the ruins were opened, who knew what might happen? Success or failure, life or death—anything was possible.
“I’ll do it,” Su Che said. He was never short of courage for such things.
But Shui Yue replied, “Only someone with a water spirit body can activate it.”

“Is that so?” Su Che shook his head with a smile and said to her, “I’ve eliminated half of the people on Fu Yuan Island. This situation is already quite good. If you’re still worried, let’s return to the sect and ask two Yuan Ying Patriarchs for help.”
“No!”
Shui Yue shook her head firmly. If the Yuan Ying Patriarchs got involved, how much would she actually be able to gain in the end? She didn’t trust the Yuan Ying Patriarchs of Tian Xuan Sect as much as Su Che did.
Su Che’s provocation was indeed effective. Shui Yue’s gaze became much more determined. After a brief hesitation, she immediately activated the key.
Hiss…
The key emitted a faint hum, and the eighteen strange characters on its back detached themselves, forming eighteen purple-glowing characters that instantly disappeared into the sediment at the bottom of the sea.
After that, everything returned to normal. The key in her hand fell silent again, though its back was now smooth as a mirror with all the characters gone.
After waiting for a long time with no signs of activity, Su Che and Shui Yue exchanged glances, both thinking the same thing: Could it be that after all these years, the mechanism had long stopped working?
With such concerns, they waited patiently for a long time, and finally…
Boom! Boom! Boom…
The seabed below began to shake violently. Shui Yue cheered excitedly, “It still works! It still functions.”
Boom! Boom! Boom…
As the seabed heaved upward like an earthquake, a vast area began to rise to the height where Su Che and the others were, lifting them upward toward the sea surface.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh…
Strong winds arose above the sea surface, quickly generating huge waves.
As the wind grew stronger, the waves grew even more towering.
Fu Yuan Island, a hundred miles away, was the first to be affected. Waves several dozen feet high crashed onto the island, instantly destroying the wooden houses at the edges.
Mu Yu, Yan Ming, and Cang Jiuzi had already gathered together. Seeing this scene, it was obvious to them that the long-awaited underwater ruins must have emerged.
Tian Yuan Sea was an inland sea, and under normal circumstances, such violent winds and waves would never occur. Therefore, the only explanation they could think of for these widespread anomalies in Tian Yuan Sea was one thing: the underwater ruins!
With howling winds and towering waves, the entire sky darkened, as if preparing for a massive storm.
Boom!
A wave over ten feet high surged toward Fu Yuan Island. Mu Yu and the others took to the air, leaving the artificial island behind without hesitation.
With the underwater ruins about to emerge, Fu Yuan Island was no longer useful.

Several giant waves crashed over, causing a small island to slowly sink; yet not far away, a massive island was slowly rising. The celestial anomalies this time were indeed on a grand scale. Just think—what kind of power would be needed to lift a huge island? The tidal forces of the entire ocean were mobilized, triggering even greater fluctuations in the spiritual energy of the world. For ordinary people, they couldn’t sense these changes in spiritual energy and would only say, “The weather is changing. This storm won’t be mild, will it?” But cultivators could tell that this wasn’t a normal weather change—it was… There were many possibilities, but all pointed to one word: opportunity. “Hmph…” Long Frenzy, who had stepped out of his cave, sneered and flew high into the sky, thinking to himself, “I knew something big would happen.” At the same time, some treasure hunters near the Sky Abyss Sea were also gathering toward the center of the ocean. Soon, even more distant cultivators and passersby were drawn to these increasingly widespread celestial anomalies. A huge island was slowly rising from the seabed, a depth of thousands of feet. This process was neither long nor short. When it rose halfway, the sediment and rocks above the island were washed away by the tidal forces, revealing the full splendor of the secret realm of the Tianya Hai Ge sect. A huge, invisible, transparent barrier covered the entire island. Inside, not a single drop of seawater was present—beautiful buildings, gardens, and palaces were all in sight, intact, as if they were a model world protected by a transparent glass dome. Su Che had already tried before; this barrier had extremely strong protective capabilities, similar to those mountain-defense arrays. It would be difficult to break it with sheer force alone. How to get in? The answer was simple—definitely the key in Shui Yue’s hands. Shui Yue stepped forward voluntarily, took Su Che’s left hand, and the two pressed the key against the barrier. Then, the barrier opened a hole invisible to the naked eye but detectable by spiritual perception, about ten feet in diameter. Su Che and the others rushed through this entrance. As soon as they passed through, the barrier closed naturally, and the entrance disappeared, preventing even a single drop of seawater from entering. “Great!” Su Che, now inside the barrier, exclaimed in joy. “It’s much better than I imagined. Just this barrier alone can buy us a lot of time. Without the key, it will take those people a long time to break through it.” “Yes, this is truly a surprise.”

To this day, Shui Yue’s heart is still pounding wildly—such a situation, such a surprise; it’s truly exhilarating. Su Che and the others had just entered the barrier and were preparing to land in the sect’s secret realm below, when suddenly, a giant island emerged from the water. Boom! The Tianya Hai Ge, which had remained submerged for 70,000 years, reappeared under the sunlight!