"What did you say?"

"A glance is enough to see each other, yet a step feels like crossing a fortified city. My beloved is separated by mountains and seas, and those mountains and seas cannot be leveled."

Upon hearing the clownfish's message, Jiang Yuan fell silent. He guessed who the clownfish was talking to and who she was.

Emperor Yu's love interest was the dragon maiden of the ancient sea dragon palace.

This woman, wounded by love, was clearly provoking him at this moment. She wanted to tell herself that weak and powerless love could not overcome the insurmountable mountains and seas, and thus make him give up.

Jiang Yuan clenched his fists. From the Dragon Girl's words, he could confirm one thing: An Xiaoyu and Leng Yue were not in good condition, and might even be under the Dragon Girl's control.

But the only thing he doesn't understand now is what the Dragon Girl's purpose is in capturing the two women.

If the other party could easily take away the ultimate divine skill, it proves that their strength is far superior to mine. They don't need to resort to any tricks to achieve their goal, and there is no need to coerce the two women.

"Boss, how about we leave the Silent Ladder?" The clownfish was having second thoughts. Although it possessed the bloodline of the sea god, the dragon race held an incomparably high status among any sea race. Now that the dragon race had intervened in this matter, they had almost no chance of turning the tide.

Jiang Yuan ignored the clownfish's words and asked instead, "Did the old woman in the white robe have anyone else with her?"

"No!"

The clownfish shook its head in denial, but then seemed to remember something and continued, "But it's strange, I always feel like there's an invisible darkness surrounding me, and that oppressive feeling makes my sea god blood tremble uncontrollably."

"Are you sure? The blood of the Sea God is the most supreme bloodline among the sea races, even surpassing the bloodline of the True Dragon," Jiang Yuan said in a deep voice.

The clownfish pondered for a moment, then said, "The blood of the Sea God is indeed not afraid of ordinary true dragon bloodlines, but there are several types of true dragon bloodlines that are not included in this category."

"What bloodline?" Jiang Yuan asked.

"Legend has it that there is a Dragon Transformation Pool in the ancient Dragon Palace of the Sea, where an Abyss Ancestral Dragon perished. It was a true Dragon God with supreme bloodline."

The clownfish recounted this legend with utmost respect.

"The Abyss Ancestral Dragon?"

Jiang Yuan's expression turned solemn. He had previously read information about the Abyss Ancestral Dragon from the marks of several sea creatures' dead. The Abyss Ancestral Dragon was once the supreme king of the dragon race, but he perished in a tragic way during the seventh God Conferment Battle, burying the entire Abyss lineage of dragons.

"Boss, it's said that the fully-formed Abyss Ancestral Dragon cultivates the nine supreme mysteries of the deep sea. Could the old woman's visit to retrieve the divine techniques be related to this? Will she cause you trouble later?" the clownfish asked worriedly.

This is not unfounded. The opponent took five ultimate techniques by himself, so he probably won't let go of the other four.

“No one has been able to obtain the inheritance of the Abyss Ancestral Dragon for tens of thousands of years. It’s impossible that such a person would appear as soon as I arrive!” Jiang Yuan shook his head, expressing his skepticism about the clownfish’s guess.

The Abyss Ancestral Dragon is a divine beast with near-demonic talent and devoid of emotion and desire. To gain its approval, one must first overcome the insurmountable hurdle of talent, and secondly, sever one's own seven emotions and six desires and plunge into the dark abyss—a path of no return.

"Alright, stop bothering me. I need to cultivate the profound meaning of Nirvana."

Jiang Yuan chased the clownfish away and then spent a large amount of Heavenly Ladder Coins cultivating the profound techniques.

His Tide Sound Profound Meaning has reached the sixth level of the Dominator Realm, but his Annihilation Profound Meaning is still a little short. If he wants to cultivate quickly, he must use the acceleration space inside the stone slab.

As his understanding of time and space deepened, the flow of time within the stone slab had reached its limit. Cultivating at a hundred times the speed would cost Jiang Yuan tens of thousands of Heavenly Ladder Coins a day. Fortunately, Jiang Yuan had killed enough people, so he had no shortage of Heavenly Ladder Coins.

After a hundred days of profound comprehension, Jiang Yuan achieved his goal of raising the Profound Meaning of Annihilation to the peak of the sixth level of the Sovereign Realm. With such comprehension, he was already qualified to enter the Ninth Heavenly Ladder.

"It's time to go!"

Only one day had passed in the real world, so there was still a lot for him to do.

Jiang Yuan simply passed through the seventh stairway.

But what he saw made Jiang Yuan's hair stand on end.

There were corpses everywhere, and the expressions on the faces of each of them were filled with fear.

Jiang Yuan entered the eighth Heavenly Ladder again, and the scene was almost the same as before, with countless corpses.

The marks of the dead remained. Jiang Yuan quietly walked through the pile of corpses, harvesting the marks of the dead. At the same time, the blood-red spider lilies bloomed silently, and a faint gloom lingered in his heart.

He knew that these red spider lilies were not blooming for him, but for someone else.

No matter what lies ahead, Jiang Yuan must keep moving forward. Under the deep-sea ritual, the corpses of those sea creatures become a continuous source of energy within him.

However, things finally changed when he stepped onto the ninth ladder.

The corpse remained, but a living person appeared on the Ninth Heavenly Ladder.

The three powerful legions were already waiting here.