The white mist drifted quietly across the shattered coastline.
The violent battle from earlier had finally come to an end, leaving only collapsed cliffs, broken stone and faint arcs of heavenly lightning occasionally flickering across the scorched ground.
Lin Sheng slowly opened his eyes.
After several hours of recovery, the tearing pain throughout his body had eased considerably. Although every movement still caused a dull ache within his muscles and meridians, it was no longer enough to affect his combat strength.
Crystal completed another scan.
•[Recovery complete.
Current combat capability restored to 84%.
Remaining injuries estimated to recover naturally within nine days.
Host capable of prolonged combat]•
Lin Sheng exhaled softly before rising to his feet.
His gaze naturally fell upon the collapsed mountain not far away.
The Purple Palace cultivator was still alive.
Barely.
His aura fluctuated weakly beneath the pile of shattered rocks, like a candle about to be extinguished.
Walking forward, Lin Sheng casually waved his hand.
Gangqi erupted.
Several enormous boulders exploded apart before revealing the battered figure beneath.
The grey-robed cultivator looked miserable beyond words.
His robes had long since been destroyed.
His chest remained caved inward from the spear strike while countless burns caused by the heavenly lightning covered nearly every inch of exposed flesh.
The most terrifying wounds, however, were hidden beneath his skin.
Residual tribulation lightning still continued destroying his meridians from within.
Even maintaining consciousness seemed difficult.
Yet...
Purple Palace cultivators truly possessed astonishing vitality.
Even after suffering such devastating injuries...
He still hadn't died.
The grey-robed cultivator slowly opened his eyes.
The instant he saw Lin Sheng standing before him, hatred immediately filled his bloodshot gaze.
"You..."
"You should've..."
"...died..."
His voice sounded extremely hoarse.
Lin Sheng ignored him completely.
He wasn't interested in exchanging meaningless words.
Instead, he crouched before the dying cultivator and slowly raised his right hand.
Seeing this, the grey-robed cultivator's expression changed.
"You wish..."
"...to search my memories?"
Lin Sheng neither confirmed nor denied it.
His Mental Perception quietly spread outward before countless threads of spiritual force gathered at his fingertips.
The grey-robed cultivator suddenly laughed.
Despite his miserable appearance...
There remained a trace of pride within his eyes.
"You..."
"...won't succeed."
"My soul..."
"...is stronger than yours."
Lin Sheng spoke for the first time.
"I know."
"Which is why I won't search all of it."
The cultivator's pupils contracted slightly.
Before he could understand the meaning behind those words—
Lin Sheng acted.
Instead of constructing an illusion like before...
He directly forced his Mental Perception into the opponent's sea of consciousness.
Boom!
An indescribable pain instantly erupted within the grey-robed cultivator's mind.
"AARGHHH!"
His entire body convulsed violently.
Blood flowed continuously from his nose, ears and eyes.
This wasn't a careful search.
Nor was it an illusion.
It was an incomparably crude method.
Forcefully tearing through recent memories while ignoring everything else.
Naturally...
The backlash was equally terrifying.
Inside the sea of consciousness...
Countless memory fragments shattered one after another.
Lin Sheng remained expressionless.
Crystal immediately began recording everything.
Faces.
Voices.
Conversations.
Plans.
Images flashed before his eyes in rapid succession.
He saw Gu Qing after leaving the secret realm.
He saw her quietly investigating the Qian Family.
He saw repeated conversations between master and disciple.
The grey-robed cultivator had clearly become suspicious.
Not of Lin Sheng.
But of Gu Qing.
Her personality had gradually changed. She became calmer, more cautious and calculating.
On several occasions, she even asked questions about matters that should've been impossible for her to know.
He had originally assumed his disciple had merely matured after experiencing life-and-death danger.
Now...
Lin Sheng finally understood. She hadn't changed, she had remembered something.
More fragments surfaced.
The grey-robed cultivator secretly investigating Lin Sheng's identity.
His journey toward the Southern Archipelagos.
His determination to personally eliminate the martial artist responsible for everything.
Nothing beyond that.
Crystal quickly completed its analysis.
•[Memory fragments successfully extracted.
Overall integrity: 31%.
Chronological reconstruction complete]•
Lin Sheng slowly withdrew his hand.
The violent method had worked.
Just as expected...
Only the most recent memories remained usable.
Everything older had already collapsed together with portions of the opponent's damaged soul.
Even so...
It was enough.
Lin Sheng silently pieced everything together.
Gu Qing had recovered part of her previous memories after leaving the secret realm.
How?
He didn't know.
Neither did her master.
Whatever opportunity she had encountered remained completely unknown.
But one fact had become undeniable.
She now remembered enough to begin secretly plotting against both him and the person before him.
Even her master had unknowingly become one of her pawns.
"No wonder..."
Lin Sheng murmured quietly.
"Someone who suddenly changes personality, begins asking impossible questions and carefully investigates both allies and enemies..."
"...there's only one explanation."
"She remembered."
The grey-robed cultivator's breathing became increasingly weaker.
The forceful memory extraction had completely destroyed what little strength remained within his sea of consciousness.
He looked at Lin Sheng with unfocused eyes.
"...What..."
"...did you..."
"...see..."
Lin Sheng didn't answer.
There was no reason to.
His hand slowly rose.
A strand of golden-orange Solar Flame quietly ignited above his fingertip.
The grey-robed cultivator seemed to understand.
For the first time...
Fear appeared within his eyes.
"You..."
"...cannot..."
The Solar Flame descended.
It landed silently upon his forehead.
The terrifying Yang flame instantly invaded both body and soul.
Unlike ordinary fire...
The Solar Flame left almost no external destruction.
Instead, it directly incinerated vitality itself.
The grey-robed cultivator didn't even have the strength to scream.
His body gradually turned into glowing ash before scattering into the surrounding mist.
Within moments...
Nothing remained.
A Purple Palace cultivator who had spent centuries pursuing immortality...
Had finally disappeared from the world forever.
Lin Sheng silently watched the last traces of ash drift away before lowering his gaze.
"The only loose end left..."
"...is Gu Qing."
He spoke those words quietly, almost to himself.
Then he turned and looked toward the distant sea, where the Rank Four serpent had retreated hours earlier.
.....
The following nine days passed in relative peace.
Lin Sheng didn't leave the Mist Sea.
Instead, he chose a secluded cave several dozen li away from the previous battlefield and quietly recuperated while allowing Crystal to continuously optimise the circulation route of the Wind-Thunder fusion.
Each day, his damaged meridians recovered a little more.
The torn muscles gradually knitted themselves back together under the nourishment of his Rank Three body refinement technique.
Even the faint numbness left behind by the tribulation lightning slowly disappeared.
By the ninth day...
His condition had almost completely returned to its peak.
Crystal finished another full-body scan.
•[Recovery complete.
Wind-Thunder fusion compatibility increased by 3.1%.
Estimated backlash reduced during future usage]•
Lin Sheng slowly opened his eyes.
The previous battle had taught him many things.
The fusion of Martial Intent was indeed terrifying.
It had even turned the remaining tribulation lightning inside a Purple Palace cultivator into the very weapon that ultimately destroyed him.
However...
The drawbacks were equally obvious.
Until his physique reached a higher level, he couldn't recklessly use that move repeatedly.
Standing outside the cave, Lin Sheng looked toward the endless white mist stretching across the sea.
His thoughts gradually drifted elsewhere.
Now...
He faced a choice.
One path led deeper into the Mist Sea.
The Rank Four serpent had survived.
Although heavily injured by the heavenly tribulation and the Rank Three lightning talisman, it remained an enormous source of wealth.
Its flesh could be used for body refinement.
Its blood could refine medicinal baths.
Its demon core alone was worth an astonishing amount.
More importantly...
A Rank Four beast's treasure hoard was something countless Purple Palace cultivators would risk their lives for. Even Golden Core cultivators wouldn't pass this up.
The other path...
Led back to the Eastern Region.
Back to Jade Haven City.
Back to Gu Qing.
Lin Sheng silently recalled the memories he had extracted from her master.
Although incomplete...
One conclusion remained crystal clear.
Gu Qing had somehow regained part of her previous life's memories.
That alone made her incomparably dangerous.
Someone who possessed future knowledge yet secretly hid in the shadows...
Could never be underestimated.
He slowly closed his eyes.
If he chose to hunt the serpent first...
Several months would almost certainly pass.
That would be more than enough time for Gu Qing to continue growing stronger.
If she truly remembered enough...
There was no telling what further preparations she might make.
On the other hand...
The serpent wasn't going anywhere.
It had just survived a heavenly tribulation.
Such injuries couldn't possibly recover within a short period.
More importantly...
Crystal had already solved the biggest problem.
The moment Lin Sheng had first discovered the serpent, Crystal had silently recorded every characteristic of its life aura.
Its unique fluctuations.
Its heat signature.
Its spiritual wavelength.
Even if the beast hid beneath thousands of metres of seawater...
Crystal could still identify it once it came within range.
A notification quietly appeared.
•[Rank Four serpent biological signature successfully archived.
Long-range identification capability established.
Probability of successful future relocation: 98.4%]•
Lin Sheng smiled faintly.
That settled the matter.
There was no need to rush.
The serpent represented resources.
Gu Qing represented uncertainty.
Between resources and uncertainty...
The latter always took priority.
He had already allowed her to escape once.
He had no intention of repeating the same mistake.
Opening the map of the Southern Archipelagos, Lin Sheng carefully calculated the fastest return route toward the Eastern Region.
Fortunately...
Several large commercial airships travelled regularly between the Southern Archipelagos and the mainland.
Although expensive...
Money was the least of his concerns now.
The pirate cultivators he had killed, together with Gu Qing's master, had left behind enough spirit stones to easily cover the journey.
After putting away the map, Lin Sheng cast one final glance toward the deeper regions of the Mist Sea.
"I'll return."
His voice carried no emotion.
"Whether you're still healing..."
"...or waiting for me..."
"It makes no difference."
With that, he turned and walked away.
The dense white mist gradually swallowed his departing figure as he headed toward Jade Sea Island, preparing for a journey that would once again take him back to the Eastern Region.