Invincible Dad-Chapter 710 I seem to have seen you_1

Me? A sacrifice??

Shen Qing’s mind was reeling with questions.

The Pearl of the Shen Family had no idea why such an eminent figure, a Holy Master from the Immortal Domain, would know her name.

She knew even less about how she had suddenly become a sacrifice.

Sacrificed to whom?

How would she be sacrificed?

These questions made the Pearl of the Shen Family tremble as she hid behind Xu Lai.

SWISH, SWISH, SWISH!

As the fervent gazes of the Demon Lord Bai Tang, the Holy Master of the Corpse Sect, and the others landed on her, she suddenly realized something.

She stumbled back dozens of steps, staring at Xu Lai in utter disbelief.

She understood now.

Xu Lai was not the bodyguard Xu Yanyang had hired, nor was he there to give her a jade pendant. This man had likely approached her intentionally, wanting to use her as a ’sacrifice’ to join the Immortal Venerables of the Southern Immortal Domain and achieve some ulterior motive.

Despicable. Shameless. To think I poured my heart out to you!

Shen Qing tried to scream at Xu Lai, but with her mouth sealed by spiritual energy, all that came out were muffled, desperate whimpers.

Xu Lai did not speak.

The other Holy Masters also remained silent, as if weighing the pros and cons of allowing Xu Lai to join them.

Finally, amid Shen Qing’s desperate and aggrieved sobs, Lei Fengyun, the Holy Master of the Divine Thunder Pavilion, cast a cold gaze at Xu Lai. "Regarding this matter of the sacrifice... how did you come to know of it?"

The Demon Lord Bai Tang, the Holy Master of the Corpse Sect, and the others narrowed their eyes slightly. They could sense a faint, almost imperceptible realm pressure emanating from Lei Fengyun, which made their hearts pound!

Even at the peak of the Immortal Venerable Realm, there were different levels of power.

To use a simple analogy, the Immortal Venerable Realm is like a cup.

When the cup is empty, it represents the early stage of the Immortal Venerable Realm.

When the cup is filled to the brim, it signifies the peak of the Immortal Venerable Realm.

But to step into the Quasi-Emperor Realm, one needed more than a deeper understanding of the Great Dao. They also had to make a one-liter cup hold two liters of water without spilling.

Succeed, and one would step into the Quasi-Emperor Realm.

Fail, and one would face death, their Dao obliterated.

There were also those at the peak of the Immortal Venerable Realm who dared not gamble on the near-impossible odds of advancement and chose to neither progress nor retreat.

An old-school Immortal Venerable like Lei Fengyun was on the verge of successfully stepping into the Quasi-Emperor Realm, but he was still missing that one little thing.

Just that one little thing.

Therefore, compared to a Holy Master like Bai Tang, whose ’cup’ had only just been filled, the gap in their strength was immense.

Scoring a perfect one hundred on a one-hundred-point test wasn’t difficult.

The challenge lay in scoring one hundred and ten, or one hundred and twenty.

Or even two hundred. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

...

Xu Lai had not known that Shen Qing was a sacrifice.

But he now understood. He knew why the Saint Heir of the Divine Thunder Pavilion would make a move against Shen Qing, even if it meant future retaliation from the Shen Family.

It was all arranged by his ancestor, Lei Fengyun.

He also understood why Lei Fengyun hadn’t acted personally. The old master was likely worried about alerting their enemies. After all, every move made by an Immortal Venerable-level powerhouse attracted the attention of the entire Immortal Domain.

At that point, not only would they fail to capture the sacrifice, Shen Qing, but the news that the Snowflower had borne fruit would spread throughout the entire Immortal Domain.

Their competitors would then include not only peak Immortal Venerables but also Quasi-Emperors from all Four Immortal Domains.

And...

That invincible Supreme Emperor!

As things stood, with only a small number of peak Immortal Venerables from the Southern Immortal Domain aware that the Snowflower had produced ten fruits, it was the best possible outcome for them.

So, faced with Lei Fengyun’s question, which was veiled with killing intent, Xu Lai did not answer. He was already considering whether he should just suppress them all.

With absolute power, Xu Lai could force them to tell him everything he wanted to know—and even things he didn’t.

"Forget it. Let’s not concern ourselves with minor details," Lei Fengyun said with a cryptic smile. "Welcome, fellow Daoist of the Human Race. One of the ten Snowflower fruits will be yours."

"..."

Xu Lai gave Lei Fengyun a deep look and similarly retracted his killing intent.

As for Shen Qing, who was hiding in the distance, whimpering with tear-filled eyes, Xu Lai didn’t spare her another glance.

It would do this little girl from the Shen Family good to be scared for a while. After all, her incessant babbling was bad enough. Worse, she was spouting baseless romantic gossip about Emperor Qingfeng. Let this be a lesson for her.

The group of eleven walked silently toward the depths of the forbidden land. They were now less than three thousand miles from the Snowflower.

At this distance, the Demonic Wind was no longer intermittent but a constant, howling presence.

The saying that any who entered below the Immortal Venerable Realm would surely die was no exaggeration.

Even a few of the powerful Holy Masters present struggled somewhat to resist the encroaching Demonic Wind.

One must remember that, aside from Shen Qing, the cultivator with the lowest Boundary was still at the peak of the Immortal Venerable Realm!

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

The wind howled, whipping snow through the air.

Shen Qing knew she was going to die soon.

She wanted to cry, but the tears wouldn’t come.

She wanted to curse, but no sound could escape her lips.

Shen Qing stared blankly at the water flowing beneath the transparent ice, blinking in a daze.

Is it ordinary water? Or the Boundless Sea?

Her cultivation was too low for her to be sure.

All nine Immortal Venerables were the Holy Masters or Demon Lords of their respective great Tao Lineages and had entered the depths of the forbidden land more than once.

But none of them spoke up.

It was the Holy Master of the Corpse Sect who, after some hesitation, finally said in a low voice, "The Southern Immortal Domain is built upon the Boundless Sea. It’s called a sea, but there is absolutely no life within the Sea of the Boundless."

Shen Qing pursed her lips. That was common knowledge throughout the Immortal Domain.

"Actually, that’s not quite right. There *are* living beings in the Boundless Sea," the Holy Master of the Corpse Sect said. "Three of them."

Impossible! Shen Qing’s beautiful eyes widened.

The water of the Sea of the Boundless was exceptionally clear and pure, but its strangeness lay in the fact that no living thing could survive within it.

This was a consensus throughout the Immortal Domain.

Every epoch, ancient Tao Lineages and Holy Lands would expend vast resources attempting to use the Boundless Sea for cultivation or to raise demonic beasts.

But without exception, they all failed.

"It’s the Snowflower," Xu Lai said casually, not at all surprised.

The Holy Master of the Corpse Sect looked at Xu Lai, as if trying to discern the thoughts of this Human Race Immortal Venerable.

But the man was far too nonchalant.

For a moment, it made the Holy Master of the Corpse Sect suspect that Xu Lai had long known this secret—news that was explosive enough to shake the entire Immortal Domain.

"..."

The other Holy Masters remained silent. They knew why the Holy Master of the Corpse Sect had dropped this bombshell. It wasn’t a deliberate attempt to win Xu Lai over.

It was a test.

A test to probe the origins of this powerful human.

If he were truly a Human Race Immortal Venerable from the Southern Immortal Domain, he would surely have his own speculations about the Boundless Sea. No matter how well he tried to hide it, he would reveal some clues and be eager to learn more details.

If his attitude was one of indifference, it would mean he came from one of the other Three Immortal Domains.

But his current expression... showed neither realization nor surprise, as if he had long known about this insignificant ’little matter’.

The Demon Lord of the Golden Armored Holy Bear from the Ninth Domain stared at Xu Lai’s face for a long time.

His eyes flickered as he asked hesitantly, "Dare I ask, fellow Daoist, have you visited our tribe before? I seem... to have seen you."

"I have," Xu Lai nodded.

He had indeed visited the Golden Armored Holy Bear Demon Race.

The one responsible for receiving Xu Lai back then was the Quasi-Emperor of the Golden Armored Holy Bear Demon Race—the one who had been publicly declared to have perished long ago. The Demon Lord at the time was not the man standing before him now.

Thinking back, forty thousand years ago, the current Golden Armored Holy Bear Demon Lord was barely a Celestial Venerable and lacked the qualifications to even enter the hall to meet Xu Lai.

The other Holy Masters were in a similar situation. They could only catch a glimpse of him from afar, so it was perfectly normal for them to feel a sense of familiarity.

Curiously, Lei Fengyun of the Divine Thunder Pavilion, despite being an Immortal Venerable for a long time, had never once seen Xu Lai.

There were many reasons for that.