Huangfu Jin flipped his right hand and took out another item: a slightly illusory blue compass.
Ning Fa raised an eyebrow. He was very familiar with this item; it was the Star Roaming Compass, or rather, a projection of it.
Ning Fa wasn't too surprised that Huangfu Jin produced this.
When he first met Huangfu Ziyue, they had gone to Hidden Dragon Island together to steal treasures, and she had taken out this very item then.
Huangfu Ziyue had said it was the last piece, but it was clear she had lied to him.
"You should have seen this before from Xiao Yue. It's a projection of the Star Roaming Compass. It should be able to help you if you encounter any danger," Huangfu Jin said in a deep voice.
Ning Fa was silent for a moment. Regardless, the Zi Yin clan had treated him very well.
He couldn't help but ask curiously, "How did the Zi Yin clan obtain the Star Roaming Compass, and why are there only these projections now?"
Huangfu Jin's face showed a look of remembrance and regret. "The Star Roaming Compass was obtained by our third-generation ancestor from Lord Divine Wood. This should be a replica of some powerful Heaven-Piercing Spirit Treasure.
At that time, our clan obtained two pieces in total. One disappeared with the accidental death of an ancestor.
The other suffered irreparable damage when our clan fought against the demon army. We had to break it into multiple projections, and each can only be used once."
Ning Fa suddenly understood. It seemed the Star Roaming Compass he held must have belonged to that ancestor, but for some reason, it had ended up in Cangyuan and been obtained by Dugu Huan.
At this moment, Huangfu Jin's eyes flashed, and he suddenly asked, "When you were Dual Cultivating with Xiao Yue before, why did you keep using the Essence Locking Technique?"
The question caught Ning Fa off guard, and he couldn't help but frown at Huangfu Jin.
To strengthen his Essence Devour Innate Divine Ability, he had Dual Cultivated with Huangfu Ziyue many times over the past decade.
But he didn't want to leave descendants carelessly now, so he had been using the Essence Locking Technique. He hadn't expected Huangfu Jin to ask him so directly.
Huangfu Jin sighed again, "I hope you'll reconsider. If you continue to refuse to leave descendants for our clan, it will be difficult for other clan members to be convinced if you want to become the clan leader in the future."
Ning Fa frowned. "I never said I wanted to become the Zi Yin clan leader in the future."
Huangfu Jin didn't dwell on the matter further. Instead, his expression turned serious. "Do you know that our clan only has two Star Roaming Compass projections left?
Besides the one I have, the one you have originally belonged to Xiao Yue. She was worried about your safety, so she asked me to give it to you.
There's also another matter. If anything happens to me during this operation, I hope you will take over as the leader of our Zi Yin clan."
With that, Huangfu Jin stood up and left without waiting for Ning Fa's reply.
Ning Fa's brow furrowed. The words of Zhu Yan and Huangfu Jin, carrying a sense of entrustment, made him feel a sense of foreboding, and unease began to surface in his heart.
He looked at the Heavenly Treasure Immortal Merchant, who was cultivating with his eyes closed beside him, and felt a little more at ease.
He had always felt that if the Heavenly Treasure Immortal Merchant unleashed his true strength, he would not be weaker than top experts like Gu Zun and Yuanzun.
Coupled with himself and Huangfu Jin, they should still be able to escape even if they encountered real danger.
Just then, the Heavenly Treasure Immortal Merchant suddenly opened his eyes.
His usually calm face flashed with a look of confusion, and his eyes emitted a dazzling light. Clearly, he was using some powerful eye technique to scan their surroundings.
After a while, the anomaly on his face disappeared, but a hint of confusion remained in his eyes.
This made Ning Fa nervous. "Daoist Tianbao, what's wrong?"
But before he could finish speaking, the Heavenly Treasure Immortal Merchant's figure blurred and disappeared from the cabin.
This truly startled Ning Fa.
"What's going on? Why is the Heavenly Treasure Immortal Merchant acting so strangely?"
Fortunately, not long after, the Heavenly Treasure Immortal Merchant returned.
He had regained his calm demeanor and said, "Don't worry. I just detected a trace of a special aura and went to confirm it. It seems it was my imagination."
With that, he showed no intention of explaining further and closed his eyes to cultivate again.
Ning Fa breathed a sigh of relief.
But what he didn't know was that hundreds of miles behind the Spiritual Ship, within a cloud.
A nearly invisible transparent figure, wearing a silver mask, was none other than the President of the Nine Immortals Association, Yuanzun.
He, who should have been presiding over the communication ritual with the Upper Realm to attract experts from the Sea Monster and Sea Race, was actually here, secretly following Ning Fa and the others.
After a while, his effeminate voice echoed, "Don't reveal yourself so easily. That Heavenly Treasure Immortal Merchant's spiritual sense is very sharp. You almost got discovered this time."
"I know without you telling me, but it seems this Saint Emissary is still not to be underestimated even though he's heavily injured. Is this plan of yours really reliable?" another hoarse voice came from within him.
Yuanzun's lips curved into a smile. "Don't worry. This Six Paths Yuan Destruction Great Array was prepared precisely for him. Even if he unleashes his Late Spirit Transformation cultivation, he won't be able to escape."
"You truly are the most outstanding figure in this realm. To come up with such a brilliant scheme, this puppet must also express admiration," the voice chuckled.
However, Yuanzun's eyes narrowed. "You've guessed wrong. Someone else came up with this plan. You were asleep before, so you wouldn't know."
"Oh, could it be Gu Zun, who is as famous as you?" the hoarse voice became interested.
"It's not him either. This person is also coming. You'll meet him soon. Let's just stop here and wait for him."
Yuanzun said with a light laugh, but there was no mirth in his eyes. Instead, a look of apprehension appeared.
About half a month passed, and Ning Fa and the others finally arrived at the heart of the Sea Race territory, Yilan Island, where the interdimensional portal was located.
They stopped about a thousand miles from the island.
Yilan Island was protected by numerous defensive barriers on its outer perimeter. They couldn't alert the enemy, so they had to wait for definite news from behind them before making their move.
Thus, they waited patiently for two days.
Then, Venerable Jizhao's aged yet resonant voice reached the ears of the others.
"The news is confirmed. Sea Monster and Sea Race Spirit Transformation cultivators have appeared. Yilan Island is currently guarded by at most two Sea Race Spirit Transformation cultivators. We strike!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Ning Fa and the other six individuals flew out from the seemingly empty clouds, charging towards Yilan Island with formidable momentum.
Soon, layers of outer defensive barriers were triggered.
However, perhaps because the Sea Race was extremely confident in the innermost barrier, these outer barriers were only Fourth-grade.
Moreover, their primary function was detection. In front of the top Human Race experts like Ning Fa, they were as fragile as paper and were quickly broken through.
Piercing screams echoed, and numerous escape lights flew out from the direction of Yilan Island. Leading them were two Sea Race Spirit Transformation cultivators.
One of them had a sea-blue serpentine lower body and an enchanting, voluptuous female upper body. Her curly long hair was actually made of slender, coiling sea snakes.
The other was an old acquaintance of Ning Fa's. He appeared to be a teenager of about seventeen or eighteen years old – it was the Sea Race Spirit Transformation cultivator, Kailandir.
These two Sea Race Spirit Transformation cultivators looked at the seven Human Race experts charging towards them, their faces filled with shock and anger.
"Damn it, why are so many Human Race Spirit Transformation experts attacking us!" the enchanting female Sea Race Spirit Transformation cultivator gritted out.
Kailandir's brow furrowed. Then, as if struck by a thought, he immediately said, "This is bad! The communication with the Upper Realm that the Human Race released earlier was a ploy. Their true objective might be to destroy our interdimensional portal!"
The enchanting woman immediately understood. Her face was initially filled with shock and anger, then she sneered, "The Human Race is truly desperate. With just these seven people, even if we don't activate the instantaneous transmission of the Sea Heart Great Array, they won't be able to break through!"
"Don't underestimate them. Since the Human Race has made such a grand display, they must have something to rely on. Activate the instantaneous transmission of the Sea Heart Great Array immediately and have the others return. If we can annihilate all seven of them here, the Human Race will surely suffer a severe blow!" Kailandir, however, made a decisive judgment.
The enchanting woman nodded. With a grab of her right hand, a peculiar blue disc appeared in her palm.
As she activated her technique, blue light waves rippled across the disc's surface, transforming it into a circular mirror. It spun rapidly and flew upwards.
It soon landed on the light barrier formed by the Sea Heart Great Array, creating a deep blue vortex.
As the vortex spun rapidly, it grew larger and larger, becoming dozens of feet in size in a blink of an eye. Intense spatial fluctuations emanated from it.
Kailandir and the enchanting woman couldn't help but smile, but their smiles quickly froze.
The hundreds of miles around their location suddenly turned dim, as if night had fallen.
The next moment, a powerful starlight descended from high above, precisely striking the outer light barrier of the Sea Heart Great Array. It quickly formed a starlight crystal on its outer surface.
Concurrently, the vortex began to shake violently, and the spatial fluctuations it emitted became very unstable.
"Not good!" Kailandir and the woman's expressions changed drastically. Without hesitation, they flew upwards, simultaneously unleashing their magic treasures and divine abilities, striking the starlight crystal with all their might.
However, the starlight crystal was like a phantom in water. Their attacks passed directly through the crystal, unable to truly touch it.
In just over ten breaths, the deep blue vortex stopped spinning, and the instantaneous transmission was terminated.
"The Human Race was indeed prepared. They actually have the ability to disrupt the instantaneous transmission of the Sea Heart Great Array! Quickly recall everyone else!"
Kailandir's face turned ashen, his eyes betraying unconcealed fear.
The enchanting woman immediately took out a special seashell and crushed it fiercely.
A unique fluctuation rippled out from it, transmitting to the infinite distance.
However, she managed to maintain her composure and said, "The Human Race has likely only used some unknown method to temporarily seal the instantaneous transmission ability. The defensive power of the Sea Heart Great Array is still intact, so don't be afraid of them!"
Kailandir took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down, but his eyes were still filled with heavy worry.
This time, the Human Race was clearly well-prepared. He felt that the Human Race likely already had a way to deal with the Sea Heart Great Array.
But dwelling on it now was useless; they could only try their best to defend.
Soon, Ning Fa and the other seven had quickly cleared the outer barriers of Yilan Island. Before them lay the island shrouded by the Sea Heart Great Array.
On the island, a group of Sea Race cultivators, led by Kailandir and the enchanting woman, could be seen with solemn expressions, clearly ready for battle.
"Do you think these few people can break the Sea Heart Great Array? Don't even dream about it! Since you dared to come this far, don't think about going back. Other Spirit Transformation cultivators from my race are returning. You have no escape!" the Sea Race woman sneered.
Venerable Jizhao merely glanced at the Sea Race cultivators before saying solemnly to Ning Fa and the others, "Fellow Daoists, let's proceed according to the plan."
The others nodded and flew off in different directions, landing in various areas around the outer perimeter of Yilan Island.
Then, they took out a large pile of array flags, array disks, and other formation tools from their storage rings and began to quickly set up formations.
"This is bad! The Human Race seems to want to use formations to destroy the Sea Heart Great Array!" The enchanting woman, who had been arrogant moments ago, now had a drastically changed expression.
Kailandir's heart sank. Just as he had predicted, the Human Race was indeed well-prepared this time.
He took a deep breath and immediately said, "We must stop them. Otherwise, if they truly manage to destroy the interdimensional portal, we will be sinners of the Sea Race!"
"Don't hesitate. Use the power of the Ancestral Sea immediately to temporarily boost our cultivation realms!"
As the words fell, Kailandir raised his hands, tilted his head back, and began chanting mysterious incantations.
The enchanting woman's face showed hesitation.
Although she could borrow the power of the Ancestral Sea in the depths of the Sea Race's territory to temporarily elevate her cultivation by a small stage, this came at the cost of her own potential.
But just as Kailandir had said, in their current situation, this was the only option.
She also immediately raised her hands and uttered the same incantations.
About fifteen minutes later, a blinding blue light flashed above the heads of the two Sea Race Spirit Transformation cultivators. A blue spiritual spring seemed to appear from the void, drenching them from head to toe, and their auras surged dramatically.
When the blue light dissipated and they reappeared, their auras were several times stronger than before. Both Sea Race cultivators had reached the Mid Spirit Transformation stage.
"Attack!" Kailandir shouted, flying towards Ning Fa. The enchanting woman immediately followed, along with over ten Fourth-grade Sea Race members from Yilan Island and over thirty Third-grade Sea Race members.
Clearly, they believed that eliminating just one person would be enough to thwart the Human Race's planned great array. Ning Fa, being the weakest, was naturally their target.
At this moment, Ning Fa was rapidly setting up one of the array eyes.
Seeing the swarm of Sea Race cultivators rushing towards him, his expression remained unchanged.
This was because, during their earlier discussions, everyone had anticipated this situation and guessed that the enemy might target him. Thus, they were well-prepared.
He signaled for the Heavenly Treasure Immortal Merchant beside him not to act yet, then calmly took out two items.
One was a black chain, stained with dried blood.
The other was a pure gold talisman, inscribed with a pattern resembling a palace.
Both items emanated astonishing spiritual pressure. Ning Fa poured his mana into them, and they immediately blazed with spiritual light.
The black chain transformed into a spiritual snake, whistling through the air. In the next moment, it flew above the enchanting woman's head.
The enchanting woman's face changed slightly. She sent out a coral crescent blade-like magic treasure, attempting to sever the chain.
But with a deafening bang, the magic treasure was directly sent flying back. Then, the chain instantly extended, forming a black cage that surrounded the enchanting woman.
The cage thrashed and boomed, emitting powerful spiritual energy fluctuations. Clearly, the woman was desperately attacking, but for the moment, she couldn't break through the chain's defenses.