The mutation of the guard attracted great attention because, for cultivators able to participate in the expedition, minor illnesses were negligible, but such inexplicable severe mutations must be taken seriously.

Minor ailments might result from some cultivators’ physical characteristics leading to incompatibility with the environment, but for something as severe as metallic growth in the arm, the environment must be the cause.

Everyone in the expedition is in the same environment. Today, it was discovered that he has metal in his arm—crucially, he himself is completely unaware of it. So could there be problems with others?

The expedition quickly organized a comprehensive health check, which formally ushered in a wave of panic.

It turned out that unbeknownst to them, the mutation had already spread to everyone, just to varying degrees and with different symptoms.

The guard had metal in his arm, but others had grown extra internal organs! While having extra is one thing, the most terrifying is missing something. A cultivator in the team, who loves playing with the World in the Palm, inexplicably lost a kidney. Yet, he himself was completely unaware!

This situation was simply bizarre; the scholars in the expedition, experienced and knowledgeable, had never seen such a terrifying scenario before and immediately launched a comprehensive investigation to find the cause.

However, after much effort, there were no results, and instead, more problems emerged.

Following the health check, everyone in the expedition paid great attention to details in daily life, strictly adhering to protocols, absolutely avoiding contact with food that hadn’t undergone rigorous security checks, and staying inside the cabin unless absolutely necessary. Work on the deck was handed over entirely to mechanical puppets, while cultivators congregated in the safest cabin, temporarily avoiding danger.

This set of procedures was regarded as the standard protocol when the expedition team ventured into dangerous territory in those days. With the quality of the four ships, they could remain safe for a time even if the outside world collapsed, so there was no need to worry about environmental incompatibility.

However, this layer upon layer of protection completely failed in the Nether Sea.

The mutation continued and became even more severe. Although the previous mutations, regardless of how frightening internally, hadn’t affected everyone’s daily actions—meaning no matter what was added or lost in the body, that person was still lively, and even their immortal cultivation wasn’t affected. But then, some people began aging rapidly, some had difficulty in the operation of immortal techniques, and phenomena like turning gray overnight became increasingly common. Yet before they had time to thoroughly investigate, something even more horrific emerged.

The members’ timelines were misaligned.

Upon collectively entering the safety cabin, according to the diary owner’s memory, on the third day, someone suddenly brought up that staying in the safety cabin for so long was over the limit.

The expedition team’s regulations stated that, once in an emergency, before discerning the environmental issue, they could stay in the safety cabin for up to five days—more than that meant the issue couldn’t be solved by hiding and required more aggressive measures.

Yet they had only been in the cabin for three days, far from overstepping; that person’s accusations were baseless, quickly sparking rebuttals.

But the issue was, when the rebutting person spoke, they were left speechless and even fearful.

"Only two days, why are you anxious?"

"There’s still one day before reaching five days."

"Time is only half gone."

Three sentences, three points in time, making everyone present fall silent.

There were no fools in the expedition; everyone realized immediately that this was a problem with the timeline, and a grave one at that.

Reflecting on the earlier personal mutations, they were also related to the timeline. The sword cultivator with metal in his arm wielded a Living Iron Sword, the body of which has its own spirit, capable of growing like a living organism, hence he was always cautious in wielding the sword, ensuring to sheath the sword during rest, avoiding prolonged contact between flesh and sword. But if the timeline was wrong, their perception of time was incorrect, there’s a possibility of having the sword’s metal infiltrate into the body.

Fortunately, he diligently nurtured the sword; although the sword had an innate ferocity, it was close to him, so the metal seeped into his body without causing much havoc, settling in a corner instead.

As for other internal organ mutations, they mostly related to cultivation techniques. Cultivators practicing the Immortal Dao, converging True Essence, inherently affect internal organs. Furthermore, skilled cultivators devote efforts to transform their physical bodies. Their internal organs are markedly different from ordinary people. Once time becomes problematic, failing to nurture when needed, failing to stimulate when required, problems are more likely.

Immortal Cultivation is a lifelong pursuit, with no turning back once started; having a disturbed timeline causes erratic wandering on the path of cultivation. Not dying on the spot shows their cultivation base is solid, capable of withstanding the turmoil.

After that, the exploration team completely disbanded because as time went on, the problem of asynchronous time axes became increasingly severe. With asynchronous time axes, unity and collaboration became impossible, and the original rules and regulations naturally became obsolete. The exploration team members basically relied on their skills, struggling to survive the final moments.

The scholar who wrote the diary had a relatively good personal experience. He always adhered to basic principles in his Immortal Dao cultivation, practiced the most fundamental and upright techniques, and refined the most widespread and common magical treasures. Even when he was recruited into the exploration team, he had barely reached the Rain Cover Realm, considered among the lowest standards in the entire team. But it was precisely this low standard that made him experience fewer anomalies than others, allowing him to write the diary in his last moments, leaving his observations and insights for descendants who might never come.

——

After reading the diary, Zhao Chenlu’s expression was already very solemn.

"This person-specific space-time chaos caused the team’s rapid disintegration, a typical method of the Demon Race, no wonder you’ve always had a crisis awareness... dear, is there any possibility that this special environment naturally formed?"

Wang Jiu pondered for a moment and said, "That depends on how you define ’natural.’ From the perspective of the Jiuzhou Era, such an environment certainly could not naturally form. The Jiuzhou Continent, from its birth to the emergence of human civilization, passed through incredibly long ages without ever giving rise to such a peculiar environment. However, if you consider the grand backdrop of the Immortal Demon war, including the Demon Race as part of nature, then things are different."

Zhao Chenlu said, "I understand. The Xiangzhou Continent itself grew from the fragments of the Central Province, absorbing a great deal of chaotic matter, which are battlefield remnants of the Immortal Demon war. Moreover, Xiangzhou itself is a product of the fusion of some Demon Race laws. Yet, even with the legacy of the Demon Race and the influence of their remnants, they shouldn’t have experienced such an extraordinary disaster. This person-specific chaotic method is too sophisticated. Unless there is a living Demon Race controlling everything, it doesn’t make sense."

"Indeed, from a common-sense perspective, it certainly doesn’t make sense."

The phenomenon of space-time chaos is not uncommon to Wang Jiu and Zhao Chenlu, but designing different time axes for different individuals, while allowing each person to live for more than a hundred years under space-time distortion, is truly excessively extraordinary.

"But I’ve personally experienced such unnatural, counter-common sense phenomena once." Wang Jiu said, "My birth was accompanied by such a miracle."

Zhao Chenlu was instantly speechless.

Indeed, Wang Jiu’s birth could be described as a miracle more bizarre than the Nether Sea. His biological parents threw him into the Sword Pool, with no intention of letting him survive. The Sword Pool’s water was bone-chillingly cold, filled with rampant Sword Qi. No less, an infant, even if an Elder of the Celestial Pool Sword Sect jumped in for days, would mostly turn from living flesh to bleached bones.

Yet Wang Jiu survived inside, not only did he live, but was honed by the Sword Qi of the Sword Pool into the foremost Sword Dao genius. The probability of such an occurrence is extraordinarily low, beyond any explanation of natural coincidence. During the Immortal Demon war era, many analyzed that Wang Jiu’s birth was likely due to the immense will of the Jiuzhou Continent sensing the crisis of the Demon Race’s advent and making preparations in advance, concentrating the essence of Jiuzhou into one individual, which allowed Wang Jiu to turn the tide decades later.

However, this analysis is somewhat far-fetched. How could the Demon Race invasion of Jiuzhou have decades of advance notice? With the overwhelming arrogance of the Demon Race’s plan to destroy the Myriad Realms at the time, it is even less likely that Jiuzhou Continent could have foreseen their military strategy decades in advance.

Wang Jiu’s birth is truly an undeniable miracle. Having experienced such a miracle, Wang Jiu himself would certainly believe that nothing is absolutely impossible.

Therefore, even if theoretically something is entirely improbable, Wang Jiu would verify before making a conclusion.

Within the Sword World, the Demon-Pointing Sword that once guided Wang Jiu’s triumphant advance was taken from the sword platform by the Sword Spirit and raised high.

In the next moment, the Black Sword shattered with a roar.

At the same time, the Divine Sword Body turned from pure white to pitch black, as if the fragments of the Demon-Pointing Sword that broke within the Sword World covered the outside of the Sword World.

And at the moment the Divine Sword turned pitch black, Zhao Chenlu instinctively retreated a step, one step was not enough, two steps, three steps, until she exited the cabin door, her toes standing at the edge of the deck, she barely stopped.

For Zhao Chenlu’s usual style, this behavior might be considered extremely anomalous, but from the solemnness on the woman’s face, this action was a decision made under her rational judgment.

Because the Celestial Divine Sword that transformed into the Black Sword was no longer the Divine Sword she was familiar with.

The pitch-black sword body brazenly emitted the bloody scent of the Demon Race.

In that instant, Zhao Chenlu seemed to return to the battlefield of the decisive battle during the Immortal Demon war, facing the invincible Great Demon God Emperor.

In the same instant, her memories of being fatally wounded by the Demon Emperor on the battlefield also flooded back like a tide.

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