Many children, many blessings; the twelve ancestral witches forced marriages throughout the primordi

After Lin Long swallowed the last deep-sea monster.

The sea became calm.

The red seawater slowly returned to its original blue. The sound of the tide became clear again.

Lin Long sat on a rock protruding from the sea. His little belly was bulging. He patted it.

I'm full.

He burped. A cloud of dark purple demonic energy came out with the burp.

Ao Ling had arrived at the main gate of the West Sea Dragon Palace. She was negotiating with the dragon guards of the West Sea to confirm the casualties of her clan.

Lin Xuan didn't go there.

He crouched on the sea surface, his fingers pinching an extremely thin, dark gold thread.

This line—was left over from a great demon that had been reduced to a pulp.

Cause and effect line.

Zhunti's technique of manipulating cause and effect.

Lin Xuan is too familiar with him.

He had seen it once before at Sanchuankou. The five Arhats also had this kind of line. The Golden-Winged Roc also had it.

This is a standard feature of Zhunti. Any piece he controls will bear this dark golden causal mark.

Lin Xuan held the thread of cause and effect between his fingertips and closed his eyes.

He didn't intend to directly follow the causal line to find Zhunti's true form—that would be pointless. The other end of the causal line led to a sage. With his peak quasi-sage strength, even if he followed the line, he wouldn't be able to harm the true form in the slightest.

but--

Feeling disgusted?

That's enough.

The laws of music are perfected.

He condensed a sentence in his mind.

It was poured into the causal thread.

-

Mount Sumeru.

Chamber of Secrets.

Zhunti was staring intently at the net of cause and effect.

The ten causal threads controlling the deep-sea monster—nine of them are broken.

He knew—he had failed again.

But one thread remained unbroken. He was preparing to retrieve the remaining information through this last thread—

A sound wave surged from the other end of the line.

It penetrated the net of justice. It penetrated the barrier of the secret chamber.

It exploded in his mind like a gong being struck—

"You old bald monk. Did that big-mouthed beast not serve you well enough? Now you have time to meddle in other people's business?"

Zhunti's face was contorted.

"Lin Xuan"

But that's not the worst part.

This sentence contains the oscillation frequency of the laws of rhythm. The oscillation frequency—is exactly the same as the inherent frequency of the red thread of fate on the Big Mouth Beast's body.

That is to say-

This statement wasn't just directed at Cundi.

Yes, that's what I said to Big Mouth.

The big-mouthed beast heard it too.

The vibrations on the red thread of fate triggered the Big Mouth Beast's manic state.

The tentacle monster from the chaotic void burst out of the cave in the back hall of Mount Sumeru. Its mouth was full of tentacles that danced wildly, splattering slime everywhere.

It rushed into the secret room.

Before Zhunti could react—

The big-mouthed beast bit his right arm.

That's the right arm—the one where the first segment of the thumb has just grown.

"ah--!"

Zhunti let out a miserable scream.

The newly grown knuckles—have been gnawed off again.

They ate it whole, roots and all.

The big-mouthed beast chewed twice. Then it swallowed.

Zhunti looked at his right arm, which had become a bare stump again.

It grew for three months. It was nibbled on for three seconds.

His blood—dark gold—flowed from the cut.

The guide rushed in from outside.

"Junior brother—"

He saw the big-mouthed beast riding on Zhunti's back, its mouth still full of chewing.

He closed his eyes. Then he opened them again.

The big-mouthed beast is still chewing.

"...I'll go pull it open."

"Hurry—pull it faster—"

-

West Sea.

Lin Xuan stopped.

He stood on the sea. His expression was one of satisfaction.

"It must have bitten it."

He muttered something to himself.

Ao Cunxin, who was standing next to him, kept watching him.

She's been watching ever since.

He saved her. He killed a powerful demon she couldn't defeat even with a single palm strike. Then—he disgusted Zhunti from afar.

He did these things with little change in expression.

From beginning to end—I was never nervous. I was never serious.

It was like doing something small on the spur of the moment.

Ao Cunxin's heart was beating abnormally fast.

She attributed it to an irregular heartbeat caused by excessive blood loss.

But she also knew—that wasn't entirely true.

"Tick-tock".

A drop of water slid down her chin.

The wound on my forehead has started bleeding again.

Lin Xuan turned his head and glanced at her.

He walked over. He took a handkerchief from his pocket. The handkerchief had a faint scent of laurel—the scent of the moon palace.

He reached out and placed the handkerchief on her forehead.

"Don't move. Hold it down."

Ao Cunxin raised her hand and took the handkerchief.

When my fingers touched him—

Her fingertips twitched slightly.

It didn't shrink back.

"Thank you."

"Don't be so polite. You're Ao Ling's cousin. We're family."

The three words "our own people" —

Ao Cunxin listened to her.

She lowered her head and pressed a handkerchief to her forehead.

His other hand hung down at his side.

She clenched the hem of her clothes tightly with her fingers.