This whale was not enormous; its transparent body was only ten zhang long. It didn't swim, just floated soundlessly outside the Immortal Path.

"..."

Tiangui froze on the spot.

For a moment, he even forgot to form seals to suppress the parasites inside him, his face full of shock.

One had to know.

The surroundings of the Immortal Path were a stretch of Hundun; no living being could approach.

If one wished to reach The Other Shore, or pluck the Immortal Fruit, one had to step onto the Immortal Path made of nine hundred and ninety-nine steps of the White Jade Stairway.

Yet that transparent whale had actually come so close, so close its body seemed about to melt into the Immortal Path.

Tiangui Yuan Ying kept feeling that this whale was very familiar. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

A breath later, Yuan Ying's heart shook violently as he understood where that familiarity came from.

The whale before his eyes was extremely similar to the Giant Whale that had carried the Northern Immortal Domain into the Annihilation Space.

No.

Not similar.

It should be said they were exactly the same.

Only now, the whale demon's back was no longer bearing the Northern Immortal Domain, its body no longer a million zhang in size, its form shrunk by several hundred thousand times.

"Ooo…"

The whale's low sob echoed, desolate and lonely.

Tiangui Yuan Ying had a very absurd thought: this whale demon that had once made the Immortal Domain tremble with fear seemed to be saying something.

But not to him, rather to Ruan Tang, who was on the verge of death.

"You… have consciousness?"

A large number of pustules arose on Yuan Ying's skin; those were the Emperor Realm offspring that coexisted with him, seizing the chance to fight for control over the body.

With Yuan Ying's words, all the eyes and little hands inside the pustules fell silent.

"Ooo…"

The lonely sob echoed, but it was not answering Yuan Ying.

Ruan Tang stared blankly at that transparent whale. She herself didn't know what was happening; as if driven by a ghost, she reached out, wanting to stroke it.

But the Immortal Path was perilous.

Ruan Tang's hand simply could not stretch out.

Yet the next second, that transparent whale actually swam in, leaned its head toward Ruan Tang's palm, and rubbed against it very gently.

Tiangui Yuan Ying's gaze went dull.

His eyes swept back and forth between the whale and the barrier of the Immortal Path, once doubting whether he had seen it wrong.

But the scene before him told him he had not.

"Great Emperor, sh-she she she she…"

The Ying Zhu Sword's Artifact Spirit's voice suddenly began to tremble.

Yuan Ying snapped back to himself.

The next instant, his eyes nearly split apart: that damned whale had placed Ruan Tang on its back and was slowly leaving the Immortal Path.

Appearing in the starry sky!!!

Yuan Ying's body shook with rage. In an instant he slashed out tens of thousands of strands of Sword Intent, roaring furiously:

"Get back here!"

Sword Intent that could tear Li Bahuang's body apart, yet it could not break the barrier of the Immortal Path.

Tiangui Yuan Ying could only watch with his own eyes as the whale slowly flew farther and farther away, utterly helpless.

"Ah!"

Tiangui Yuan Ying's emotions collapsed. That supreme treasure lantern that could resist the passage of time was clearly about to fall into his hands.

With the lantern, he would definitely be able to pluck the Immortal Fruit.

But why, at the moment he was just about to succeed, would that whale demon suspected to be from The Other Shore help Ruan Tang leave the Immortal Path?

And it even succeeded!

Yuan Ying could not accept, could not possibly accept this result. He lost his reason, howling madly.

...

Ruan Tang did not know why the whale wanted to carry her away from the Immortal Path, but she knew she could not leave yet.

"Don't go, I still need to pluck… that fruit."

Ruan Tang's breath was like a dying thread, so faint it was almost inaudible.

But Ruan Tang knew the transparent whale had definitely heard, because it no longer swam, pausing in the starry void.

"I must pluck it, send me back, I beg you…"

"Ooo…"

Accompanied by that quiet, eerie sound.

The utterly enraged Tiangui saw that the whale had actually reentered the Immortal Path, and was swimming toward the end of the Path at a slow speed.

Tiangui was furious.

A path that required paying with one's life to climb—why could this whale demon come whenever it wished, leave whenever it wished!?

"The Immortal Fruit, Great Emperor, hurry and pluck the Immortal Fruit!"

The Ying Zhu Sword's Artifact Spirit's voice was filled with terror. The transparent whale, carrying Ruan Tang, was already nearly at the end of the Immortal Path, with fewer than fifty steps remaining.

Its swimming speed was slow, yet it kept drawing closer.

Tiangui Yuan Ying only felt his world about to collapse. He would not allow the Immortal Fruit to be plucked by another.

He would not allow it!

"Boom!"

Tiangui swallowed all the Longevity Pills in his Storage Space.

Even though his body had long developed resistance, his lifespan still recovered considerably. Tiangui went all out, chasing with everything he had.

But.

The speed was too slow.

Tiangui Yuan Ying had only crossed eight steps when the whale demon and Ruan Tang had already reached the end of the Immortal Path.

"No!!!"

Tiangui let out a heart-wrenching, despairing scream.

He saw Ruan Tang stretch out her hand, trembling, and pluck that blood-red Immortal Fruit which emitted a tempting fragrance, then place it inside the Suiya lantern.

"Thank you."

Ruan Tang smiled, a smile tinged with satisfaction.

She curled up on the transparent whale's back and slowly closed her eyes.

"So noisy."

Ruan Tang was so tired, tired enough to only want to empty herself out and sleep comfortably for a while.

But Yuan Ying's voice was too piercing, forcing her to open her eyes with great effort, vaguely seeing the whale fly into the light curtain at the very center of the Three Realm Gates, after which everything turned into a blinding glare.

Only.

Her ears had finally fallen utterly silent.

...

...

Heaven Beyond Heaven.

At the Blue Giant Jellyfish's corpse.

Huang Zhongtian stood at the bow of the ship, watching Tiangui Yuan Ying bend down and reach for the Suiya lantern in Ruan Tang's arms, his gaze full of complexity and regret.

"So it wasn't her. I… killed her, and even let Tiangui get hold of Suiya. The Immortal Domain is doomed."

Huang Zhongtian let out a sigh, but his brows soon furrowed deeply.

Because that Immortal Path radiating holy light seemed to have been frozen; the image remained fixed at the moment when Tiangui was about to take the Suiya lantern!

"What's going on!"

"This is bad, the Immortal Path has undergone a change."

Not only Huang Zhongtian, the powerhouses of the Four Immortal Domains who had been secretly observing the Immortal Path also sensed the anomaly, their hearts shaken.

Many figures appeared outside the Immortal Path.

There was Great Emperor Jiu Feng, there were the Divine Generals stationed in the Heavenly Court, as well as Fairy Qing Yuan, the old Taotie, and Baize.

They were relatively close by, and possessed enough strength to rush over swiftly.

The shortest time belonged to Jiu Feng; he had taken less than five breaths.

After arriving here, he discovered what his eyes saw and what his Divine Sense perceived were exactly the same.

Huang Zhongtian had also arrived, only he did not reveal himself, hiding in the dark.

More and more people gathered around the Immortal Path, all with Boundaries above the Quasi-Emperor Realm, more than twenty in total.

Yet the field was deathly silent; no one spoke.

After a moment.

Great Emperor Jiu Feng broke the silence: "There's a problem with the Immortal Path. Time is frozen at five breaths ago."

"Anyone whose eyes aren't blind can see that."

A woman in a red dress, holding an umbrella, walked over. It was Great Emperor Jin Shi.

Jiu Feng looked deeply at Jin Shi. "You were the closest at the Heavenly Court. What happened just now?"

"Swish."

Fairy Qing Yuan, the old Taotie, and Huang Zhongtian all looked over.

"It should be the same as what you saw."

Turning the handle of the Soul-Settling Umbrella, Jin Shi nodded slightly. "Perhaps the scene we're seeing isn't real."