In the era of the Immortal Demon war, the number of cultivators who died due to the temporal chaos caused by the Demon Race was countless. Most of them left no remains, but there were a few whose entire corpses remained in the chaotic time-space. Those who could leave behind an intact corpse were often Great Cultivators renowned on the Jiuzhou Continent, with extraordinary Divine Techniques, thus retrieving their corpses became a necessary task.

The hierarchical barriers in the Immortal Cultivation Realm were strict, even during wartime. Those with high status died more nobly than the commoners, and the cultivators who risked their lives to retrieve the corpses of the notable figures in the chaotic time-space soon summarized some patterns.

Firstly, the Demon Race’s mastery over time-space was as if moving one’s arm with ease. An Upper-Rank Demon General could casually manipulate time by centuries and overturn space by miles, as naturally as breathing.

Hence, they would never solely rely on temporal chaos to kill—because it was not destructive enough. At that time, Upper-Rank Cultivators had considerable resistance against simple temporal chaos. Even if they were not familiar with the time-space domain, if their cultivation realm was high enough, they could temporarily respond to sudden changes. Those Great Cultivators who managed to leave behind intact corpses in the Demon Race’s chaotic time-space likely did so because they carried extremely powerful protective treasures.

Therefore, when the Demon Race acted, temporal chaos would inevitably be accompanied by other lethal tricks, the most frequently used of which involved using favorable timing and terrain to kill.

Even during the Jiuzhou Era, the four words "favorable timing and terrain" were not to be underestimated by human cultivators. Even if one cultivated to the Heaven Shattering Realm, there were perilous environments difficult to traverse, such as the Nine Heavens Gang Wind Layer or the Earth’s Core Magnetic Field. And when the Demon Race combined temporal chaos techniques with these absolute dangers, an ultimate killing technique was instantly formed, pulling cultivators into the Nine Heavens Gang Wind Layer to endure the torturous punishment of bone-scraping winds, then trapping them in chaotic temporal snares, unable to escape for a hundred or two hundred years.

How long could cultivators endure under such torture? Forget one or two hundred years; if they lasted over a year, it was likely due to an error when the Demon Race struck. Most of the cultivators would leave no intact corpse, turning to ashes on the spot. A few, relying on extremely powerful treasuries for protection, might have an intact corpse that was but an empty shell, internally decayed and maintained only by the lingering power of the treasure.

At this time, for those who went to retrieve corpses, the most important thing was how to preserve these fragile bodies in a perilous environment, because only intact corpses could exchange for the full reward. Meanwhile, the treasures attached to these corpses were often on the verge of disintegration, requiring careful nurturing to salvage and repair them for personal use.

A slight mistake during this was akin to what Wang Jiu saw upon opening the cabin door—the black dust puff—that everything turns to ashes and vanishes.

In fact, before Zhao Chenlu opened the door, that black dust had maintained the appearance of He Hongrui when he was alive, but disturbed by the shock of the door-opening, all the remnants decayed to dust instantly, forming indistinguishable powder.

This was something both expected, but today they weren’t here to retrieve the corpses of predecessors nor to treasure hunt; they intended to find valuable information from the fleet ruins to investigate the truth of the Nether Sea, so they didn’t care about the condition of the predecessors’ corpses. In fact, some corpses pulverizing made it easier to analyze geographical features of the Nether Sea.

However, while cultivators’ corpses can be disregarded, the fleet’s corpses must be properly preserved.

Because the cabin of these four ships must contain the full information of the expedition team’s fatal struggle. Based on the team’s configuration, more than half were academic cultivators adept at observation and documentation. When they realized they were trapped in an absolute peril, unable to escape, they certainly would strive to observe, analyze, and extrapolate, seeking a path to survival.

Even though they failed in the end, this process data is extremely precious. Whether the written records left behind or real samples, all are the essence distilled from their desperate struggle and survival attempts spanning centuries.

This expedition team may not have high cultivation realms and struggle to escape the absolute peril with their own strength. But Wang Jiu did not underestimate their wisdom; three hundred years ago, they were elite selected meticulously from the Xiangzhou Continent, one in ten thousand. Their records certainly hold reference value.

Provided they haven’t been recklessly destroyed by later arrivals.

This fleet has been anchored in the Nether Sea for a millennium, eroded by sea winds to the point of rotting within. With just a slight external force, it would crumble entirely. Just by Zhao Chenlu slightly brushing a fingertip on the deck, a layer of Silver Frost would be carried, indicating that the Profound Silver used to construct the hull had completely decayed. If even Profound Silver was like this, information stored on talisman paper or jade slip mediums was naturally more fragile and perilous.

Fortunately, both Wang Jiu and Zhao Chenlu were exceedingly professional corpse collectors, proficient in preserving remnants within chaotic time-space.

Upon entering the cabin, neither touched the ground, surrounding themselves with windless silence, maneuvered by exquisite Divine Techniques, gliding like specters. Thus, not causing a single hint of disturbance to the surrounding environment.

Among them, Wang Jiu’s Divine Sword Body possessed innate flying Divine Techniques, needing no wind nor gravity, free and unhindered in trajectory, a natural talent. Zhao Chenlu relied on an extremely complex composite Immortal Technique to maintain bodily suspension without exerting any external force on the surroundings.

Seeing Zhao Chenlu’s floating figure within the cabin, Wang Jiu couldn’t help but admire, "It’s been a while since seeing this Moon Suspension."

Zhao Chenlu smiled lightly, "This is also my first time in this life to fully deploy Moon Suspension. According to the original design intention of this Immortal Technique, it requires at least the Earth Split Realm to operate smoothly. Now, while I’m one major realm away, it’s going even smoother than anticipated... Truly, the power of love is infinite."

Wang Jiu contemplated for a moment and said, "Actually, it’s because the stillness level here is twice the standard value, so the threshold for Moon Suspension release is much lower. You are a veteran of the battlefield; don’t be blindly optimistic about your strength."

Zhao Chenlu said, "Don’t worry, dear. Being with you, I’ve never been optimistic. I was already numbed by your blows in the previous life... Ah, I see a diary."

As she spoke, Zhao Chenlu took a step forward and carefully picked up a withered, yellow book in a cabin.

The book was spread out on a desk, with not many pages, and the text on it appeared somewhat blurred, but it had nonetheless been preserved intact.

And the content on the first page was shocking.

"Date unknown, weather unknown.

When I wrote this page, I had completely given up hope of escaping this place. The strangeness of the environment here is something I’ve never seen in my life. Despite the skilled people in the team, none can fathom the mysteries of this place. Even the omnipotent Sect Leader is more bewildered than ever. Perhaps, in such a vast world, it’s indeed overconfident to attempt to explore everything with human power.

Death is not frightening. When we realized we were doomed, no one in the team fell into despair. Some even danced with joy, delighted to die on the road of adventure as they dreamt in their youth.

However, some things are more terrifying than death, and that is to fall into confusion.

Without arrogance, over 90% of this expedition, including myself, are very confident in our knowledge and learning. Even though the world is vast with countless unsolved mysteries, with hard work, there will always be a day when everything is understood. Especially since the team collected so many experts. By pooling our strengths, even if we can’t hit the target, we could at least erect a monument along the way.

But reality is harsh.

We have been trapped in the Nether Sea for a long time. Exactly how many years, I can’t accurately determine, but at least for me, it has been over a decade. During this time, I’ve tried everything but still can’t grasp the mysteries of the Nether Sea, nor summarize even the slightest patterns.

The strangeness of this environment seems as if an invisible hand is whimsically controlling everything. What we hear and see are only at the whim of that hidden manipulator. Otherwise, I find it hard to imagine that nature could have such a malicious side."

That was the end of the page. Zhao Chenlu glanced back at Wang Jiu, seeing the White Sword motionless, nodded, and reached out to open the next page.

As the pages flipped, the entire diary suddenly turned to flying ash. But just before turning to ash, Zhao Chenlu reached out to hold it, and fingered the spine lightly. Instantly the pages spread out, like a bird unfolding its wings, revealing every page’s content.

Both Zhao Chenlu and Wang Jiu, at that moment, memorized the hundreds of pages.

The wealth of information left them both in deep thought for a while.

The diary’s author was a distinguished biologist invited by the Sect Leader of the Saint Sect to join the team. Originally, his intention was to study marine life in the Nether Sea. However, after the fleet crossed the space rift and fell into a dead end, his main work turned to studying the team members around him.

Some of these team members underwent physical mutations. Initially, it was just simple symptoms like skin discoloration and hair loss, and the team didn’t take it seriously, as acclimatization issues are not uncommon for cultivators. But soon, the problem became serious.

These symptoms were incurable. Whether through their cultivation techniques or the power of medicine, these simple symptoms stubbornly failed to heal, and instead, showed signs of worsening.

According to the diary’s author, the first serious patient was a sword cultivator who acted as the expedition’s guard. During a patrol in the Wood Transformation Chamber, excessive metal content was found in him, even though he had meticulously removed all metallic items from his body, following procedures. It was later discovered that he had excessive metal within his body! His right arm had developed a piece of metal skeleton!