Chapter 57: Dramatic Transformation of the Sea-Suppressing Pearl, Internal Grotto-Heaven

Fortunately, the grand array isolated the area. Su Yu could not ascend, and the Celestial Concealer was unable to detect that someone was actually cultivating at the bottom where the earth veins converged.

The man and the flood dragon frantically devoured spiritual energy, refining five thousand spiritual energy experience points in a single breath.

In one minute, they could refine ten breaths worth, totaling 50,000 spiritual energy experience points, and three million in an hour.

Initially harboring the mindset of not wanting to miss out, Su Yu intended to absorb spiritual energy continuously without a moment's rest, but he soon realized he had overestimated himself. After continuous absorption for several hours, he became spiritually intoxicated.

Simply put, his digestive capacity was insufficient. Refining too much liquefied spiritual energy in a short period left him unable to process it all at once.

Consequently, he became languid and felt utterly drained of strength all over his body.

This was quite awkward.

Ao Run did not suffer from such embarrassment; her flood dragon physique was sufficiently robust, allowing her to absorb spiritual energy almost infinitely.

Seeing her consume so much made Su Yu feel quite distressed, akin to the sensation of a chronically poor best friend suddenly driving past in a luxury SUV.

"This place is too oppressive. Let's head back in a few days."

His response was a flick of the flood dragon's tail right across his face.

Su Yu covered his face with his hand, thoroughly displeased.

After a while, he resumed absorbing spiritual energy, but could no longer digest it after just a dozen breaths. He had no choice but to look around in boredom, occasionally checking his attribute panel or summoning his flying sword to practice swordsmanship.

His mana condensed into sword Qi, which he compressed further using the same method of condensing swords into threads, squeezing the Tai-Bai sword Qi down to a width of one inch.

Compressed sword Qi possessed even greater intensity.

Moreover, the characteristic of condensing swords into threads also applied to the sword Qi, granting it a +1 armor-piercing effect and significantly enhancing its lethality.

While in the midst of his practice, Su Yu suddenly sensed something and asked:

"Why is it a bit chilly? Did you breathe out the Zizi Cold Tide?"

Ao Run, coiled around his waist, raised her head and shook her small head vigorously:

"No."

"Then why—"

Su Yu's gaze drifted in a certain direction, and he suddenly shuddered, thoroughly startled.

Without warning, the figure of a woman had materialized on the surface of the jade pillar above him. It was precisely that incomplete innate celestial maiden from within the grand array. She appeared on the surface of the jade pillar at some unknown moment, bound within it by a layer of rune chains that prevented her from breaking free.

Su Yu was shocked for a moment, but realizing she seemed to harbor no ill intent, he tentatively reached out and greeted her:

"Hello!"

The celestial maiden also extended her hand toward him, and a clear, gentle voice sounded:

"Can you save me out of here?"

Su Yu paused for a moment, shook his head, and said:

"I cannot get inside."

He then asked:

"Are you trapped in here?"

She nodded gently:

"Yes."

"I thought he was protecting you."

"I can sense that he is a bad person."

"Oh... transcendent perception originating from an innate spirit!"

Su Yu scratched his head and said somewhat helplessly:

"I'd love to save you, but I can neither defeat him nor get inside, so I'm unable to rescue you."

"I can come out."

"???"

Su Yu asked in astonishment:

"Since you can come out, why are you trapped inside?"

The clear and soft voice replied:

"I have nowhere to go. If I leave this place, I will quickly perish."

"Oh..."

Su Yu began to understand. It meant that this grand array could not trap her at all; its primary purpose was to prevent others from entering.

"That makes sense. After all, she is an innate spirit; how could a mortal formation casually trap her?"

The reason she did not leave was because she was currently incomplete. Without a sufficient supply of earth vein spiritual energy upon leaving, she would swiftly perish.

That raised the question.

"How am I supposed to save you? I have no way of providing enough spiritual energy for you to survive."

The clear and soft voice said:

"You can."

"???"

"You possess an innate object on your person that contains the origin of water. I can reside inside it."

A flash of inspiration struck Su Yu's mind, and he instantly thought of the Sea-Suppressing Pearl.

With a wave of his hand, specks of blue light converged to form the Sea-Suppressing Pearl. Joy immediately lit up the celestial maiden's face, and she said very happily:

"That's the one. I can stay inside this."

Su Yu pinched the Sea-Suppressing Pearl, turning it over in his hand, and asked doubtfully:

"There is no space inside this treasure of mine; how can you—"

Before he could finish his sentence, he saw blue light erupt from the celestial maiden's body. Her perfect divine form dissolved into streams of blue light that filled the sky, piercing through layers of rune chains to fly out and infuse themselves into the Sea-Suppressing Pearl in his hand.

Having devoured the blue light transformed from the innate water spirit, the Sea-Suppressing Pearl immediately ignited with blue light flames. As the master of the Sea-Suppressing Pearl, Su Yu instantly perceived that the treasure was beginning to undergo a transformation.

Before he could carefully examine the changes in the Sea-Suppressing Pearl, however, he felt the jade pillar vibrate violently.

"Oh no, the Celestial Concealer has woken up."

Decisively, he retrieved a Great Shift Talisman, activated it, and shoved Ao Run backward into the spirit cage.

The Great Shift Talisman activated rapidly, and layers of spatial power began to ripple.

"Damn it, this is so slow."

The divine teleportation talisman required fifteen seconds to activate. Under normal circumstances, that was nothing, but in this moment of life and death, every second felt like a year.

Fortunately, the Celestial Concealer did not yet understand what was happening; he only knew that the innate celestial maiden within the grand array had suddenly vanished, though he did not know where she had fled. At that moment, he was frantically driving the grand array to search inch by inch.

Between the grand array, the sealing jade pillars, the isolation of the surging spiritual tides, the interference of the earth vein's magneto-magnetic force, and the exceptionally powerful insulation effect of the jade deep underground spanning over a hundred kilometers, the Celestial Concealer failed to detect Su Yu, who was separated by multiple barriers.

Following the heart-stopping fifteen-second activation, accompanied by spatial power bursting forth and rapidly contracting, he was enveloped and tore through space to leave the depths of the earth.

Teleporting away, he felt a lightness beneath his feet, and the familiar, clamorous noises of players reached his ears.

He quickly surveyed his surroundings—it was a town.

Soaring into the air to inspect the vicinity, he saw it was a riverside town. Judging by the boundless width of the river, it could not be the Cang River; in all likelihood, it was the Yuan River. The Great Shift Talisman had transported him to a small town on the banks of the Yuan River.

"I need to run for it immediately!"

Su Yu instantly took flight on his sword, dragging a sword rainbow dozens of meters long as he rose from the town and flew northward.

Barely a kilometer outside the town, a loud explosion suddenly echoed from afar, followed by a pillar of light that pierced through the river water straight up into the skies tens of thousands of miles high. An indescribable, terrifying coercive pressure erupted like a tidal wave, sweeping across the town in an instant like lightning.

As the electric light swept over Su Yu, his movements froze and he became completely immobile. His gaze happened to catch the small town not far away; the bustling town now resembled a paused video game screen, with everyone frozen in place.

"Such a fast reaction."

Seconds later, a booming voice rang out beside everyone's ears:

"The Celestial Concealer has lost a supreme treasure. No one is permitted to leave. Those who have left the city must immediately return to cooperate with the inspection."

Following that, Su Yu found that he could move once more.

However, he did not continue on his way. Leaving at this moment would undoubtedly draw attention, so he had no choice but to turn back and return to the riverside town he had just left.

The guild governing the town had already begun gathering people, presumably having accepted a task from the Celestial Concealer to assist. The moment he re-entered the city, he heard someone shouting:

"The Celestial Concealer is offering a bounty! Anyone who finds the supreme treasure lost by the Immortal may become his personal direct disciple and will be bestowed a ninth-tier flying sword or magical treasure. If anyone reports clues that help the Immortal recover the supreme treasure, the reward is a choice of a seventh-tier flying sword, magical treasure, or an exquisite-grade Qi-refining mental cultivation method!"

"Oh!"

The city instantly erupted into a commotion. Everyone's eyes glowed as they eagerly began discussing the matter.

Su Yu maintained a calm expression, noting that no one seemed to have noticed him.

"How should I make my escape next?"

With the Celestial Concealer making such a grand fuss, he certainly wouldn't rely on others alone; he would undoubtedly conduct a personal search. Su Yu could not guarantee that he could evade a personal search by an Earth Immortal-grade expert.

After pondering for a long time and carefully considering various escape methods, a flash of inspiration suddenly struck him at a certain moment:

"I've got it."

"There's no need to rush, though."

He first entered the city, found an upscale inn in the town, and rented a premium room.

Sitting cross-legged on the bed, Su Yu focused his consciousness within his sea of consciousness. The Sea-Suppressing Pearl hung above the sea of consciousness like a sun, radiating azure brilliance. Wisps of faint, clear brilliance and light flames blended into the azure glow, emanating a subtle, cool aura.

As his consciousness landed on the Sea-Suppressing Pearl, his eyes brightened, and he immediately perceived an abnormality.

Inside the Sea-Suppressing Pearl, he actually saw a grotto-heaven space. A ball of azure light hung within the pearl, continuously radiating clear brilliance and light flames.

Through the azure light flames, he could see the innate celestial maiden suspended within the light sphere, and those clear brilliance light flames were emanating precisely from her body.

The light flames spread outward, and the boundaries of the space melted and continuously expanded the spatial volume, which at that moment had reached a size of about two kilometers.

Within this expanding space with a diameter of two kilometers, everything was composed of clear, transparent water. Rich spiritual energy mingled within the water, combining with the clear brilliance emitted by her to form whirlpools, as if something were gestating inside.

"So this is how she was hiding."

She had actually carved out a grotto-heaven space directly inside the Sea-Suppressing Pearl.

Withdrawing his consciousness, his gaze fell upon the Sea-Suppressing Pearl, and its attributes changed accordingly.

Sea-Suppressing Pearl (Unknown Divine Object): Sealed. A relic of the Dragon Palace, capable of controlling infinite water vapor, parting water, and suppressing seas.
Attributes: Water-type Daoist magic power +100%, Water-type Daoist magic consumption -50%, Water-type Daoist magic damage reduction 50%.
Attributes: Dao of Water. The Sea-Suppressing Pearl can control infinite water vapor, part water, suppress seas, form whirlpools, and summon tidal waves.
Attributes: Sea-Suppressing Boundary. An innate spirit has carved out a boundary capable of accommodating all living beings. Boundary size: 2120 meters in diameter. Spiritual energy concentration: Grade 5. Growing.
Attributes: Sea-Suppressing Lord. The Lord can freely control the time flow rate within the boundary, up to a maximum of ten times. The Lord receives feedback from the boundary's origin, gaining 20 points of spiritual power experience per second, which can be toggled on and off independently.
Equipment Requirement: Bound.
Hint: The origin of the Sea-Suppressing Pearl is altering your essence.

Su Yu opened his panel to check; his innate bone structure had already increased by 9 points, bringing his current bone structure to 29 points. Mentally estimating, in about a week—reaching the 10-month mark—he would add the final point of bone structure, at which point his innate bone structure would reach 30 points, stepping onto the threshold of a genius.

There was no rush for that, though; the priority was the current changes in the Sea-Suppressing Pearl.

The first two attributes remained unchanged. After all, this was not an unsealing, but merely integrating an innate water spirit to carve out a boundary within the Sea-Suppressing Pearl.

To put it another way, a boundary originally existed within the Sea-Suppressing Pearl, but it had previously been sealed and could not be opened. Now, by integrating an innate water spirit, it had been opened ahead of time, while the Sea-Suppressing Pearl itself remained unsealed.

The two newly emerged attributes were the boundary itself and the privileges possessed by the Boundary Lord.

The boundary size was currently a circular space with a diameter of 2120 meters, and it was still continuing to expand along with the innate water spirit's excavation.

Just how much it could ultimately expand, he did not know; it depended on when the innate water spirit decided to stop.

The spiritual energy concentration of the boundary was Grade 5. To put it simply—Qi-refining was Grade 1, Dao Foundation and Loose Immortal was Grade 2, Golden Core and Earth Immortal was Grade 3, and Primordial Spirit and Heavenly Immortal was Grade 4.

He wasn't entirely sure just how powerful that was, having never seen or heard of it before, but it was enough to know it was formidable.

As for the Boundary Lord privileges, they encompassed everything. In addition to exercising complete control over everything inside the boundary, he could also adjust the time flow rate, up to a maximum of ten times normal speed.

These Boundary Lord privileges superseded the innate water spirit because the boundary itself already existed inside the Sea-Suppressing Pearl, and Su Yu was the master of the pearl, whereas the innate water spirit was merely a tenant who had done some interior decorating at most.

It was worth mentioning that after entering the Sea-Suppressing Pearl and acquiring the innate water origin, the innate water spirit had already begun perfecting herself and would be able to fully take form before long.

When that time came, all restrictions would vanish, and her strength would grow rapidly.

Benefiting from the boundary's origin feedback, whenever he wore the Sea-Suppressing Pearl, Su Yu would gain spiritual power welling up from within the pearl every single second, yielding 20 points of spiritual power experience per second.

20 points per second meant 1,200 per minute, 72,000 slaughter experience points per hour, and a total of 1.728 million slaughter experience points across 24 hours a day.

This spiritual power feedback would increase as the boundary expanded; the larger the boundary area, the greater the feedback.

This meant that even if he did nothing at all, he could stably acquire a massive amount of cultivation points every day.

Having understood the Sea-Suppressing Pearl, Su Yu temporarily disabled the spiritual power feedback to avoid detection.

Ordinary cultivators might not be able to tell, but Earth Immortal-grade experts would definitely be able to spot the massive amount of spiritual power suddenly appearing out of thin air on him.

Having figured out the changes to the Sea-Suppressing Pearl, Su Yu was in high spirits.

Not only had he acquired an innate water spirit, but he had also obtained a portable grotto-heaven brimming with spiritual energy. At that very moment, an idea had already formed in Su Yu's mind regarding how to utilize this grotto-heaven.

"I'll give it a try once I get back."

Standing up from the bed, Su Yu removed all the flying swords, magical treasures, and equipment on his person and stowed them into the Sea-Suppressing Pearl, including the spirit cage belt that concealed Ao Run.

Then, looking up toward the Yuan River with a slight smile, he said:

"Farewell, Celestial Concealer!"

Reaching out, he condensed mana and struck a fierce blow against his chest, shattering his heart meridians with mana and instantly losing consciousness.

Yes, his method of escape was suicide.

As everyone knew, upon a player's death in *Eternity*, the respawn point could be determined by oneself, defaulting to the pre-set respawn point.

If no respawn point was pre-set, one would respawn at the nearest town, or near a local sect, or near a mountain or river god temple. If none of those existed, it would be a random safe location nearby.

Su Yu had a pre-set respawn point, which was precisely his guild's territory in Qianyu City.

When he opened his eyes once more, he had returned to his quarters in Qianyu City.

Reaching out to press his chest, the memories in Su Yu's mind still stopped at the moment he struck his chest to shatter his heart meridians; there was no memory of the body reconstruction process following death.

Opening the prompt section of his attribute panel, he saw a line of text:

"Hint: You committed suicide, losing 5 years of lifespan to reconstruct your body."

Checking his attribute panel again, his maximum lifespan had dropped from 111 years to 106 years.

"Not bad."

Committing suicide only cost 5 years of lifespan; compared to the miserable consequences of being caught by an Earth Immortal expert, that price was negligible.

Qianyu City was likely hundreds of thousands of kilometers away from that place, and no matter how imaginative the Celestial Concealer was, he would never suspect this location.

Besides, the two of them had never crossed paths face-to-face; as long as he wasn't caught on the spot, he had nothing to fear from anyone coming after him.

"Hehe!"

With a thought, Su Yu opened the Sea-Suppressing Pearl and retrieved all the magical treasures and equipment he had previously stored inside.