Wait a minute, where is my master?

The group had all seen each other.

The Great Elder then steered the conversation back to how exactly they should exit from above the Nine Provinces Sea Eye.

In the meantime, the contaminated entities that had temporarily retreated due to Jin Xu's "Hand Palm Thunder" had not surrounded them again.

Instead, they had vanished without a trace.

"Grandma Yu, we entered from the crevice at the bottom of the Deep Sea Abyss, so we should exit through there as well," Jin Xu suggested after a moment's thought.

He could take a few people and dive directly, then see whether his golden spiritual power light shield or the Sea Eye's seal was harder.

However, doing so would further damage the already cracked Sea Eye seal.

So, it was better to leave through the already open portal.

After all, they had already traversed it once. The first time's a learning experience, the second time's familiar.

"We shall follow Brother Jin's suggestion in this matter. By the way, Taoist, since you came in through the crevice at the bottom of the Deep Sea Abyss, did you not encounter the mad woman who guards it?"

As the Shui Clan Elder spoke, he helped Si Yinyin up and made his way into the golden spiritual power light shield where the little Taoist and his two companions were.

Mad Woman?

Before entering the Sea Eye, Jin Xu had indeed sensed several cultivators with varying auras using his Spiritual Sense, but knowing that the main purpose of this trip was to rescue someone, he had no intention of getting entangled with them.

His thoughts were focused entirely on the rescue.

"We probably did encounter them, but it's not important. I'll send you out first, then I'll come back and deal with them," he answered vaguely after a few moments of contemplation.

Then, he used his Flying Escape Skill like a rocket, heading back to the crevice at the bottom of the Deep Sea Abyss and once again flew upwards.

——————

At the crevice.

The contamination spreading outwards was not as violent as it was initially, but there were still sporadic traces slowly seeping out from the crevice.

About ten meters away from the crevice.

Several female cultivators, who had earlier spat blood and been injured due to the intense water pressure, had been temporarily ordered to remain stationed there.

"Senior Sister Mi, do you think it's worth it for the Ancestor to brave such a great risk to open the Nine Provinces Sea Eye for a man, even bringing us disciples whom she has raised for so long?"

One of the stationed female cultivators seemed to be doubting the actions they were currently undertaking, suddenly using the Sound Transmission Skill to speak to the person beside her.

"Shh! Do you have a death wish?"

The one referred to as Senior Sister Mi instinctively reached out to cover the other's mouth.

But the next second, she realized that they were underwater and her fellow cultivator had used the Sound Transmission Skill.

"What's there to fear? The Ancestor and Master Yi Rou have already gone inside the Sea Eye. Is there anyone who can still hear our sound transmission?"

The cultivator who spoke first seemed somewhat indifferent.

After a pause, she continued using the Sound Transmission Skill to speak to Senior Sister Mi: "When we were children, Master Yi Rou took us back to the pavilion. We diligently practiced cultivation, following her teachings.

"Yet, what we are doing now seems to contradict the teachings of Master Yi Rou from those days..."

"Junior sister, mind your words! Master followed the Ancestor's orders to travel across the Nine Provinces to pick us up and teach us cultivation. The Xuanyuan Heavy Water Skill that we have been cultivating since we were children and all of the resources we have used were provided by people sent by the Ancestor.

"To put it seriously, our very lives were granted to us by the Ancestor."

"Now that the Ancestor wishes to break open the Nine Provinces Sea Eye, we naturally should obey. Junior Sister, how can you harbor such rebellious thoughts of worthiness or unworthiness?"

Senior Sister Mi's expression was stern, clearly dissatisfied with the other's recent statement.

Even secretly, she had immersed her Spiritual Sense into the Communication Jade Token in her embrace, intending to report to their master the seditious remarks of her junior sister.

"Senior Sister Mi, you misunderstood, I naturally know our lives were given by the Ancestor.

"If it hadn't been for master picking me up and bringing me back to the pavilion that year, I would probably have either starved to death silently in some ditch, my body gnawed away by rats, or been captured by some malicious person and sold to a brothel.

"Moreover, even if we wanted to consider our lives our own, the Xuanyuan Heavy Water Skill we cultivate still has a failsafe left by the Ancestor. This matter has almost become an unspeakable secret among the sisters, hasn't it?"

While speaking, the female cultivator's face squeezed out a self-deprecating smile.

Upon hearing that she was misunderstood, Senior Sister Mi secretly halted her action of sending a message and then asked with a somewhat stern expression.

"Then what do you mean, Junior Sister?"

The female cultivator didn't notice that the senior sister she thought she could confide in was secretly planning to report her.

She hovered in place for a while, glanced at the still spilling filth at the fissure, and then continued to speak.

"When master brought us back to the pavilion, he not only taught us cultivation but also often inculcated in us the notion that there's not a single good man in the entire Nine Provinces Realm. But now, the Ancestor is risking the world's greatest peril by breaking open the Nine Provinces Sea Eye, and it's all for a man.

"Senior Sister Mi, don't you find this absurd?

"If the Ancestor, like those from the Demon Sect, were breaking open the Nine Provinces Sea Eye to dominate the Nine Provinces and hold the power of life and death over the entire Nine Provinces Immortal World, I wouldn't be feeling so lost right now!"

As the female cultivator spoke, a look of disgust appeared on her face, though it was unclear whether it was in disapproval of the Ancestor's actions or the filth she observed.

"Enough, Junior Sister, say no more. The Ancestor has her own considerations; they are not for us to speculate on," Senior Sister Mi responded after hearing the remarks, silently retracting her Spiritual Sense from the Communication Jade Token.

"Her own considerations? Ha, for a man! Senior Sister..."

A clear look of mockery appeared on the female cultivator's face.

"Enough!"

Senior Sister Mi tried to stop her with Sound Transmission, but the other kept speaking on her own accord.

"...I've heard that the Ancestor, for that man, had exchanged the Seven-orifice Exquisite Heart Fruit for a peculiar dish with the Nine Provinces' top chef, known as Yin Yang Union Soup, in Qingmu City. But when it came to the final step, Jiang Xiulan no longer needed the Benevolent Heart Fruit.

"I've also heard whispers that the Ancestor has been working with people from the Demon Sect in secret, all for that man.

"But with the Demon Sect lying low due to successive setbacks in their plans, the Ancestor had no choice but to initiate the plan to break open the Nine Provinces Sea Eye.

"Senior Sister Mi, how can our Ancestor, who taught us that no man is good, be so..."

"Enough!"

To forcibly interrupt the female cultivator, the one called Senior Sister Mi conjured dozens of water arrows and shot them towards her. The cultivators nearby, who didn't hear the Sound Transmission, were clueless as to why a fight had suddenly broken out between the two.

But the next moment...

They no longer had the curiosity to wonder about that.

At the fissure, a burst of golden light that was immensely familiar to everyone, accompanied by powerful water pressure, appeared once again.

A sudden and unified thought emerged in the minds of the female cultivators who remained on site.

"* * *, she's back!?"