Chapter 679: The Waters Are Murky. Time for Us to Fish in Troubled Waters

“Ch-ch-ch-”

At the center of the collision, space shattered in an instant like a fragile mirror. Dozens of pitch-black spatial rifts, each more than ten miles long, spread across the sky like a hideous spiderweb. Violent spatial turbulence surged out of them, devouring everything nearby.

The giant palm was held aloft by the pillar of light, unable to descend even a fraction farther.

But Elder Woodheart’s countless emerald branches turned to ash under the erosion of death energy. A crack so deep it seemed bottomless even split the trunk of the Banyan, and golden sap flowed from it like blood.

The clash aboveground was earth-shaking, while the intrigue belowground was every bit as perilous.

Though the giant palm had been stopped, the shockwave transmitted from above struck the area over the three main roots like a heavy hammer.

To withstand the shock, the main roots instinctively began drawing on their life force at a frantic rate.

“Now!” Lin Yu shouted in Su Ming’s Consciousness Sea.

The three streams of dark-purple death energy that had been lying in wait at the edge of the tide finally seized their chance. Like venomous snakes, they lunged viciously at the points where the main roots’ life force was flowing in reverse.

Su Ming’s eyes flew wide. He slammed both hands onto the lifebound formation plate before him.

“Lock!”

The water curtains set up where the three main roots connected suddenly lit up.

The instant the death energy pierced the curtains, the vortex turned with the flow, forcibly deflecting the three deadly streams by a hair. They skimmed past the core root marrow of the main roots and slammed into the hard rock nearby.

“Boom!”

The underground rock strata shook violently. Su Ming grunted, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

Merely neutralizing the shockwaves from those three streams of death energy had left him with serious internal injuries. Yet he remained rooted in place, and the dim blue light on the formation plate did not fade in the slightest.

He knew he couldn’t afford to overreach, much less join the godlike battle above. His only task was to use the formation plate to lock the tides of these three roots and keep Greenwood Court from collapsing from within.

The space a hundred yards underground had become a powder keg, ready to explode at any moment.

Above, Elder Woodheart’s emerald pillar of light and the Lord of the Nether Abyss’s world-shrouding giant palm were locked in a terrifying stalemate. Every collision sent a violent tremor through the strata. Huge amounts of rock fell from the cavern ceiling into the underground river, splashing water several yards into the air.

Su Ming wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and fixed his eyes on the formation lines on the lifebound formation plate.

After redirecting the force of that last wave, he had figured out the pattern in which the three streams of death energy moved. They didn’t erupt all at once. Instead, like the tides, they struck in a measured rhythm that rose and fell with the opposing forces locked in combat above.

Su Ming’s hands shifted through one hand seal after another. Streams of Ruo Shui spiritual energy wove like threads, replenishing the formation lines consumed on the three water curtains.

“Good thing they don’t know I’m here.” A cold smile tugged at Su Ming’s lips. “They control the momentum of heaven and earth, but I control a variable they know nothing about.”

“The third wave is coming.” Su Ming’s gaze sharpened.

Sure enough, as the world-shrouding giant palm above slammed down once more, the three streams of death energy suddenly accelerated, turning into three sharp, dark-purple blades that stabbed straight at the main roots.

“Life force lets them pass; death energy breaks them.”

The instant the blades touched the water curtains, the curtains suddenly caved inward, forming a hollow. The death-energy blades immediately lost their point of resistance and plunged into the hollow. At its far end, Su Ming had already inscribed a guiding formation line, which redirected the death energy straight into the underground river.

“Shrrr-”

The underground river’s water was corroded by the death energy, instantly evaporating into a vast cloud of foul-smelling black mist. But the main roots were completely unharmed.

Taking advantage of the lull as the force was redirected, Su Ming quietly shifted the view of his Observation of the Minute toward the forbidden area in the northeast, Withered Wood Cliff.

That was where the real key to the situation lay, and what Su Ming truly cared about.

What he saw underground at Withered Wood Cliff through his observation micro vision made Su Ming draw a sharp breath.

It was no lifeless wasteland where all vitality had vanished. On the contrary, under the cover of Elder Woodheart and the Lord of the Nether Abyss’s fierce struggle, an ancient life force so immense it made the heart tremble was slowly gathering and stirring awake deep beneath Withered Wood Cliff.

“The remnants of the Qiming Sect...” Lin Yu’s voice grew grave as well. “That old tree, Woodheart, really did keep a fallback. He’s using the stalemate above, along with the time you’ve bought by protecting the main roots here, to secretly awaken those hidden forces.”

Su Ming nodded slightly, his mind racing.

“Master, Elder Woodheart is stalling to awaken the remnants, while the Lord of the Nether Abyss is stalling until the death energy bores through the main roots.” A flash of light shone in Su Ming’s eyes as he spoke in the Consciousness Sea. “They’re both waiting. So why don’t we...”

“We’ll add a little something and break this balance ahead of time.” Lin Yu smoothly picked up the thought, his voice calm with the composure of someone who saw the whole board. “Woodheart is awakening the remnants too slowly. You saw the seal beneath Withered Wood Cliff, didn’t you? That layer of ancient life force isn’t indestructible. It’s extremely sensitive to outside stimuli. Why not send over a wisp of the residue you collected while neutralizing the death energy?”

Su Ming froze, then his pupils contracted. “You mean... use the death energy to stimulate the seal and make them sense the threat of life and death?”

“People always wake faster in a crisis than when someone simply calls them.” Lin Yu’s tone was placid, but his decision was beyond question. “They’re all waiting, so let’s give them a hand and thoroughly muddy the waters. Just do it. I’ll control how much you draw and how you send it.”

Su Ming took a deep breath and nodded firmly.

He didn’t hesitate any longer. Pressing his hands against the lifebound formation plate, he began quietly changing the curve of the water curtains. Instead of simply guiding the death energy into the underground river, he gathered the residue he had neutralized, bit by bit, and sent it silently toward Withered Wood Cliff through the cracks in the earth veins, following the direction Lin Yu indicated.

“Nicely done...” Lin Yu murmured in the Consciousness Sea, a hint of approval in his voice. “Hold steady. Wait for the waters to turn murky.”

Just then, Ye Qing’s terrified roar rang out above, followed by the desperate fighting cries of the spirit-race warriors.

The paper crane Su Ming had sent earlier had delivered a false message to Ye Qing: the underground main roots were on the verge of collapse, so the outer defenses had to pull back.

That move directly forced the outer defensive line to contract. The three Manifestation Realm elders of the Dark Current Sect finally could no longer hold back. They crossed the defensive line and charged straight in.

Su Ming had personally broken the balance.

Lin Yu immediately turned his attention toward Withered Wood Cliff.

“Disciple, get ready. The waters are murky. Time for us to fish in troubled waters.”

“Rumble-”

The space a hundred yards underground now seemed like an iron pot coming to a boil.

The clash of laws between Elder Woodheart and the Lord of the Nether Abyss above made this ancient stratum cry out in despair.

The hard rock strata crumbled like brittle biscuits, breaking away and collapsing in great chunks into the rushing underground river below, sending several-yard-high splashes of muddy water into the air.