The night was vast, the waters of the Boundary River rippling under the cool night breeze.

Ning Fan flew closely over the water, operating the Treasure-searching Compass. He advanced along the patrol route of Emperor Laijun from that day, gradually distancing himself from Tianqing Pass.

In the Treasure-searching Compass, Ning Fan had planted a trace of Emperor Laijun’s aura. Using this as a guide, the compass faintly sensed Emperor Laijun’s whereabouts.

The sensing was very weak.

It could only detect that Emperor Laijun was roughly somewhere within the Boundary River, without picking up the exact location for now.

Though he didn’t know how long he had flown, the direction sensed by the Treasure-searching Compass suddenly pointed towards the water.

Ning Fan remained silent for a moment but decided to dive once more into the depths of the third route to probe further. Naturally, he wouldn’t dive in with fanfare; he stood on the water and suddenly held his breath.

At that moment, Ning Fan’s aura abruptly changed, no longer resembling a living person but rather a... tree!

He once again changed into the long-unused Ghost Eye, concealing himself and diving into the water without triggering any reaction from the Immortal Emperor Seal on the water’s surface.

The Immortal Emperor Seal mistook Ning Fan for an ordinary plant, hence it didn’t trigger any reaction.

As a result, the lower-level different race patrolling the waters didn’t perceive Ning Fan’s stealthy dive into the depths.

"The sensing is beginning to intensify; it seems Emperor Laijun is nearby..."

The sense pointed directly downwards, forcing Ning Fan to dive towards the bottom of the waters.

As he dived deeper, Ning Fan discovered a problem.

He had been diving for over two hours, yet he still hadn’t reached the riverbed!

The water here is so deep! In other places, he would generally reach the bottom within half an hour!

The deeper the waters, the more intense the sensing from the Treasure-searching Compass.

The unease in Ning Fan’s heart also gradually increased, signaling a premonition of danger.

There was definitely something dangerous down there... something that could cause Emperor Laijun to vanish without a trace, deserving utmost caution!

Ning Fan dove for another two hours, yet still couldn’t see the bottom. At this depth, there were no low-level different race patrols.

The dark depths had no light penetrating through, and there were no corals emitting any treasure light.

Ning Fan’s eyes were imbued with an azure glow, allowing him to easily perceive his surroundings despite the absence of light.

Fish bones, countless large fish bones...

Ning Fan noticed that this deep-water area was filled with numerous giant fish bones suspended in the water, with marks of having been gnawed by gigantic creatures.

Further down, the number of fish bones began to decrease until there were none. A strong stench started to fill the air.

"In my attempts to steal Gloomy Wood, I’ve almost traversed the entire Eastern Boundary River, yet I have never been to such deep parts. This place feels like a bottomless pit within the Boundary River. I’ve been diving for almost half a day and still can’t sense the riverbed’s bottom..."

Ning Fan heightened his vigilance and continued his descent.

A day passed, then two... six days later, he finally reached the bottom!

The pressure at such depth was so immense that even Ning Fan’s divine spirit body struggled to bear it.

Ning Fan’s gaze trembled intensely as he looked upon the giant creature residing within this bottomless pit of the Boundary River. If the Treasure-searching Compass’s sensing wasn’t mistaken, Emperor Laijun was currently within the belly of this giant creature...

It was a giant squid emitting a faint red glow, its eyes open while it slumbered, emanating thunderous snores.

The squid’s body was colossal, a single eyeball as gigantic as an emperor-rank Cultivation Star! If its body were to stretch out, it could cover the starry sky of an entire emperor-grade star domain!

Its skin was insanely thick, so much so that even an Innate Mid-grade Treasure might not breach its surface!

Its blood energy was immense! Ning Fan thought Hei Sheng’s blood energy was outstanding in the Era of Decline, yet the squid’s blood energy was unexpectedly thousands of times more potent than Hei Sheng’s!

If slaying a Hei Sheng is as difficult as killing thousands of Immortal Emperors, then slaying the squid in front of him is as challenging as killing thousands of Hei Shengs!

Ning Fan couldn’t detect the squid’s exact cultivation level, but he could roughly estimate.

The squid seemingly hadn’t taken the third step yet; its aura fluctuated greatly, possibly due to some reason, the squid was in a weakening period.

At its weakest, the squid seemed to only possess a cultivation level of Eternal Six Tribulations.

At its strongest, it seemed to surpass even Yin Mo and the Eye Orb Monster by a significant margin!

Perceiving this, Ning Fan couldn’t help but change his complexion, thinking to himself that when fully restored, could this squid actually be an ancient great cultivator?

The faint red glow emanating from this squid sent a chill through Ning Fan’s heart. There’s no mistake, this red glow is clearly extremely pure Calamity Thought power!

The identity of this squid is astonishingly that of a Taicang Calamity Spirit!

An ancient great cultivator, a Taicang Calamity Spirit, with a vast blood energy thousands of times that of Hei Sheng... Ning Fan highly suspected that in the Cultivation Realm of Decline, there might be no other creature that can match this squid...

"Why is such a terrifying existence slumbering at the bottom of the third path’s water? Is this squid also a member of the different race’s army? If that’s the case..."

Ning Fan looked extremely grim. If everything was as he speculated, the situation would be dire. In Eastern Heaven, was there anyone who can match against this squid!

Even if all the Eastern Celestial Cultivators acted together, they might not be able to deal with this squid...

No wonder he felt his heart swell with foreboding, no wonder he sensed danger. Fortunately, this squid is currently in slumber and hasn’t detected his approach, otherwise Ning Fan would have no confidence in escaping from this squid’s sight!

[This is, The Blood God Gengwu]

[This is, The Blood God Gengwu]

The ability of Communication with All Things allowed Ning Fan to hear the heart voices of the surrounding river waters. These waters were telling Ning Fan the identity of this squid! This is, The Blood God Gengwu...

The Blood God...

The name wasn’t unfamiliar to Ning Fan; when he initially disguised himself as a fish to steal Gloomy Wood and infiltrated the different race, he often heard this name.

As he knew, the foreign clans of the Eastern Boundary River worshipped a deity, calling it the Blood God.

The Blood God is the faith of the foreign clans of the Eastern Boundary River, their belief. This belief even surpasses their reverence for the Grand Divine Minister.

Ning Fan used to think that the so-called Blood God was merely a religious concept, not a literal entity. But now, his perspective changed.

This giant squid, as large as the starry sky and emanating red light, is very likely... the very Blood God Lord that the foreign clans of the Eastern Boundary River worship!

The Blood God Gengwu! Gengwu, perhaps, is the name of this squid!

Ning Fan’s eyes struggled.

He had clearly detected that Emperor Laijun was inside this squid’s belly, but he did not have the power to directly break open the squid’s abdominal cavity and rescue Emperor Laijun.

He didn’t know how to report this matter to Emperor Cang, nor did he know if there truly exists someone in this Era of Decline who can defeat this giant squid head-on to save Emperor Laijun...

No, perhaps someone can match this squid... if one of those eminent emperors of the ancient past were here, they could surely achieve it! 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Ning Fan’s eyes brightened; if Emperor Ancient Chaos were here, surely there’d be a way to deal with this squid and save Emperor Laijun!

But where is Emperor Ancient Chaos? Ning Fan was also a bit troubled.

According to the information he obtained, Emperor Ancient Chaos had visited the Eastern Boundary River after leaving the Divine Tomb, but Ning Fan had searched throughout the Eastern Boundary River and never found Emperor Ancient Chaos, indicating that he had left and gone somewhere unknown...

Wanting to find Emperor Ancient Chaos to help save Emperor Laijun seemed impossible...

While Ning Fan was pondering, suddenly an unforeseen change occurred!

That gigantic squid unexpectedly awoke for reasons unknown, its giant eyes gaining a glint, locking onto Ning Fan’s direction with overwhelming ferocity!

"Hirurururu?" Has food come to me on its own?

Incredibly, it was talking to itself!

Ning Fan’s face changed; just as he was about to utilize methods to withdraw from this place, the next instant, the giant squid made an extremely silly and cute expression, dispelling its killing intent and lazily chuckling mischievously.

"Ruhihihihi, hirururu... lururushi, ruhuhuhuru, luruhurururu..." Heh heh, not food, it’s a fellow Calamity Spirit... seems like I haven’t fully woken up, dreaming again about my homeland, oh well, back to sleep...

The squid’s giant eye’s ferocious blaze dimmed, it turned over, falling asleep once more. Due to its massive body, even an ordinary flip created the most terrifying tsunami in this unmanned deep-water region, nearly sweeping Ning Fan away with the intense currents...

This squid did indeed see Ning Fan.

But it didn’t pay any attention to Ning Fan.

Because it recognized the scent of a Taicang Calamity Spirit from Ning Fan.

Its limited spirit awareness assumed seeing another Taicang Calamity Spirit must be a daydream. Thus, it didn’t take the matter seriously, considering Ning Fan’s presence to be a dream...

"..."

Ning Fan exerted all his strength, barely managing to resist the impact of the sea currents, stabilizing his form. He pondered silently, gazing at the gigantic squid, deep in thought.

Anyone else certainly wouldn’t know what this squid hirururu was saying, but oddly, he did understand.

Indeed, this squid is a Taicang Calamity Spirit, and it seems not very intelligent, often getting confused, unable to distinguish reality from dreams while sleeping.

Watching the giant squid’s mouth opening and closing as it mumbled in its sleep, Ning Fan suddenly came up with a bold idea.

Fighting it, he definitely couldn’t defeat this squid.

But what if he stealthily infiltrated this squid’s belly...

As an existence of Ancient Great Cultivator level, this squid’s perception was naturally extremely acute. Even if Ning Fan approached invisibly, it might sense him and open its sleepy eyes to see through his invisibility; if Ning Fan invaded its body, it might fully awaken and, in its fury, devour Ning Fan whole...

Secretly sneaking into the squid’s belly to rescue someone seemed exceedingly dangerous, but it also seemed like the only way. Directly confronting it, Ning Fan surely couldn’t defeat this squid.

Ning Fan had no personal connection with Emperor Laijun, but being both Eastern Celestial Cultivators, it seemed unreasonable to let him die alone.

The life and death of strangers didn’t move his heart.

Those who bled together on the battlefield, however, were different.

The oath of the Boundary River Alliance still rang in his ears, as long as Emperor Laijun guarded the Eastern Heaven with all his heart, he was Ning Fan’s brother and could not simply be left to die.

After a long time, Ning Fan’s gaze focused, finally making a decision. He no longer concealed himself—since the invisibility could be seen by the squid anyway, why bother.

He suppressed his cultivations of the Divine, using the aura of the Taicang Calamity Spirit as the dominant energy, covering his body with a red glow.

Clad in white, with a faint red glow, Ning Fan slowly approached the squid.

Perhaps Ning Fan’s Calamity Spirit aura gave the squid a sense of kinship; even though it vaguely sensed Ning Fan’s approach, it didn’t open its eyes again, nor did it mount any defense to stop Ning Fan’s approach.

Seeing this, Ning Fan quietly breathed a sigh of relief, gaining more confidence in infiltrating the squid’s body.

This maneuver was even riskier than challenging all the Immortal Emperors and Quasi-Saints of the Eastern Boundary River on his own. A single misstep, and what awaited Ning Fan was annihilation by this squid. But that’s just how he was—once he committed to something, no matter how dangerous, he would go forward without hesitation!

Closer, getting closer!

The giant mouth of the squid could easily swallow dozens of Cultivation Stars without difficulty. Relying on his identity as a Taicang Calamity Spirit, Ning Fan swam all the way to the edge of the squid’s mouth without provoking resistance from the squid. Seeing this, Ning Fan’s confidence grew significantly, he took a deep breath and swam into the squid’s black-hole-like giant mouth.

The size of this squid was immense!

Even though Ning Fan had only entered its body, it felt as if he had stepped into a vast, desolate starry sky.

No, calling it desolate isn’t quite right, within the squid’s body, Ning Fan discovered various strange things.

Firstly, Ning Fan found that within this squid’s body, there were countless leech-like parasites.

Not ordinary leeches, but ones as large as mountains. These leeches sustained their lives by absorbing the squid’s vast energy and blood, numbering in the millions. Any one of these leeches, if dragged out, had a cultivation comparable to a True Immortal, and some of the more formidable ones could even rival Immortal Emperors...

This made Ning Fan very apprehensive; the Immortal Emperor-level leeches he encountered on this journey were already no less than forty. If the leeches here attacked him together, he would have to use all his strength just to protect himself.

Fortunately, the leeches here did not attack Ning Fan.

They hadn’t fallen into slumber with the host, their eyes like copper bells, looking at Ning Fan with awe.

They didn’t know whether Ning Fan was just another food swallowed by their host.

They only knew that the Calamity Spirit aura on Ning Fan was very similar to the host’s. The squid’s power left them with no thought of rebellion, and similarly, when facing Ning Fan’s Calamity Spirit, they dared not act impudently or attack...

Only Ning Fan could awe them; any other food, well...

Ning Fan thus proceeded unharmed, venturing deeper into the squid’s abdominal cavity.

There, Ning Fan saw all manner of strange things swallowed by the squid.

There were giant sunken ships, the skeletal remains of ancient cultivators, abandoned cities that clearly didn’t belong to the Four Heavens’ architectural style, and Cultivation Stars abandoned for who knows how many years...

This squid truly did eat anything! Ning Fan was at a loss for words.

The further he went into the abdominal cavity, the stronger the stench became.

After who knows how long of proceeding, blood-red light suddenly surged ahead. According to the Compass, Emperor Laijun was in that direction.

Ning Fan heightened his vigilance to the utmost, entering the zone of the blood-red light, and the instant he entered this place, countless blood-colored tentacles suddenly surged towards him, each tentacle carrying the full power of a Nine Tribulations Immortal Emperor’s strike!

However, after sensing the Calamity Spirit aura on Ning Fan, those tentacles suddenly calmed, ceasing their attack on Ning Fan and allowing him to proceed.

Ning Fan breathed a sigh of relief; had these tentacles not stopped attacking, he would have had to counterattack with all his might to avoid being entangled by them.

The identity of Taicang Calamity Spirit proved unexpectedly useful here.

Only because he entered the squid’s belly could he remain safe and sound. Other food items wouldn’t have such luck...

Ning Fan’s gaze swept around and he was suddenly startled.

In the depths of this bloody light, there are no fewer than ten billion tentacles, and most of them are wrapped with something!

Spiritual Medicine, magical treasure, Masters, different race powerhouses... These tentacles are evidently the digestive organs of this giant squid, capable of digesting everything the squid has swallowed!

Speaking of which, isn’t this squid worshipped as the Blood God among different races, so why does it eat even them...

Speaking of which, the treasures in this squid’s stomach seem abundant, with rare Spiritual Medicine, Imperial-Grade Elixirs, and Innate Treasures... it’s unclear where it swallowed them all from.

Ning Fan didn’t plan to steal the treasures inside the squid’s stomach; he didn’t want to make any extra trouble, especially as rescuing Emperor Laijun alone already involved great risk.

Using the Treasure-searching Compass for positioning, Ning Fan quickly found the location of Emperor Laijun.

Emperor Laijun’s entire body was entangled by tentacles, unable to move, unconscious. Even in his coma, there was fear, and he muttered in his sleep.

"No, don’t eat me... No, don’t..."

"Save me, save me... I don’t want to be eaten, don’t want to be eaten..."

The fear in those cries was not an act. Emperor Laijun seemed to have suffered a huge psychological trauma from being eaten by the squid...

Ning Fan tried to pull Emperor Laijun’s body out from the tentacle’s grip.

The tentacles were unwilling to release Emperor Laijun as such a tasty morsel, though Ning Fan had a way to sever the tentacles and rescue Emperor Laijun, it would inevitably cause pain and risk awakening the squid.

After various attempts, Ning Fan still couldn’t pull Emperor Laijun’s physical form out of the restraints.

Helplessly, Ning Fan had to compromise, giving up on Emperor Laijun’s physical body. He opened a bloody hole at his Dantian location and directly extracted his Spirit.

Emperor Laijun’s Spirit appeared weak, and Ning Fan’s action, combined with the prolonged absorption by the tentacles, had inflicted considerable damage, even his cultivation foundation was impaired.

Amidst the pain, Emperor Laijun’s Spirit slowly opened his sleepy eyes, and upon seeing Ning Fan, he displayed a foolish smile, his gaze dazed.

"Who are you! Are you here to save me! Hehehe, I’m saved, hehehe, I’m saved..."

Not a word of thanks.

No calmness whatsoever.

No trace of Immortal Emperor’s demeanor.

Due to his excessive fear of the squid, Emperor Laijun was utterly stupefied!

What terrifying experience could frighten an Immortal Emperor to madness...

Ning Fan didn’t know whether he should disdain Emperor Laijun or pity him.

Recall that Emperor Laijun came to the Boundary River Alliance back then, full of spirit, eager to wage an all-out war against different races.

But now, terrified by different races, he’s turned into an imbecile...

Ning Fan sighed and ignored Emperor Laijun’s nonsensical words, slightly activating Illusory Art to make him sleep again, then collected his Spirit and quietly left the inside of the squid.

Another six or seven days later, Ning Fan swam back to the surface, separated from the layers of Immortal Emperor Seal above the water, he finally felt some relief.

As long as the surface of the Boundary River retained the seal of Purple Dou Immortal Sovereign, that dreadful squid wouldn’t be able to chase above the water surface and harm creatures above.

The Immortal Emperor Seal wouldn’t allow such supreme existence to reach the surface!

Staring at the heavy seals, Ning Fan fell into momentary silence. The day Emperor Laijun went missing during patrol was probably because he, for some reason, infiltrated the water, and thus was captured by that squid.

Considering many creatures in nature have ways to lure prey, Ning Fan suspected that the cunning squid might have used some means to attract Emperor Laijun into the water...

Enough, how the squid lures prey isn’t Ning Fan’s primary concern.

What worries him more now is how to deal with the stupefied Emperor Laijun.

If the Allied Cultivator knew that the terrifying squid under the water on the third route could frighten Emperor Laijun to madness, it would significantly affect morale...

Should Emperor Laijun’s matter be made public?

Enough, why is he worrying about this? Let Emperor Cang and the high ranks of the Alliance fret over it instead! He should focus on killing the enemy!

"Unexpectedly, such a terrifying creature hides at the bottom of Boundary River; whatever happens, we cannot let the Immortal Emperor Seal be destroyed... by all means, the Immortal Emperor Seal must be repaired!"

Once this giant squid escapes the Boundary River, what awaits the Eastern Celestial Cultivator would be a catastrophe!