"Life and death!" Xu Hei's mind stirred.

In an instant, a hint of rosiness appeared on Yu Shiyu's pale skin, and the once lifeless and decaying aura was slowly reviving.

The spiritual power fluctuations that had completely disappeared reappeared.

"It actually worked?" Xu Hei was surprised.

A Divine Transformation cultivator is truly hard to kill; even without breath, they can come back to life.

Xu Hei gained a new understanding of this realm.

Xu Hei didn't know if this woman was a friend or foe, but since her life and death were in his hands, he had nothing to fear. Even if she revived, he could handle it.

The only thing Xu Hei couldn't understand was that this woman might have a serious mental issue.

After about the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, Yu Shiyu's body finally showed signs of movement.

Moments later, Yu Shiyu's eyelashes fluttered, and she slowly opened her sapphire-like eyes, seeing Xu Hei in the distance.

"I'm... not dead?"

Yu Shiyu assessed her condition, feeling quite astonished.

But immediately, her body stiffened, and her pretty face turned red at a visible speed, blushing down to her neck.

"Whoosh!"

She quickly got up, her body emitting a layer of mist to cover her delicate form, and then transformed her spiritual power into a cyan robe to wear.

However, the jewelry on her body and her cut hair did not recover.

She had to use spiritual power to form a hat, placing it on her head, and looked over at Xu Hei.

At this moment, Xu Hei had shed his Jiao Ren disguise, appearing as a human cultivator, with his aura maintained at the Divine Transformation stage.

Although Yu Shiyu had guessed this earlier, seeing it for real stirred complex emotions within her.

Especially thinking about what the other party did while she was unconscious, it made her both angry and a bit shy.

"You... you went too far," Yu Shiyu said, biting her red lips.

"If it weren't for me, you'd be dead by now," Xu Hei said bluntly, not wanting to waste words. "Let's cut to the chase. Do you have a way out of here?"

Yu Shiyu shook her head. "This is the Sea of the Reaper. Enter and you die, cast into the Nether Hell, never to reincarnate."

She repeated what Gong Tianlei often said.

"Then why aren't you dead?" Xu Hei retorted.

Yu Shiyu was at a loss for words.

Only then did she realize they had broken the taboo of the Sea Star, offended the deity, yet did not die.

Doesn't this mean that the so-called taboo is fake? The faith is fake too?

This revelation made her eyes sparkle.

Xu Hei stared at her for a while and said, "Actually, you're a Sea Star cultivator, aren't you?"

"How did you know?" Yu Shiyu was surprised.

"Cultivators from the Divine Continent Star aren't as foolish as you," Xu Hei said.

"..." Yu Shiyu was instantly speechless.

"At first, I thought you were pretending to be dumb. Later, I realized you really are dumb. You just went and chopped the Death God's statue like it was nothing. It's like lighting a lamp in a latrine, looking for death!" Xu Hei mocked mercilessly.

Yu Shiyu lowered her head and said, "I'm sorry, I... I didn't mean to."

It was the first time Xu Hei heard such an expert apologize.

This didn't match his image of a Divine Transformation cultivator at all. Are all Sea Star cultivators this outrageous?

"I was just curious about what would happen if I chopped the Death God's deity. Who knew it would suddenly explode? I'm really sorry..." Yu Shiyu kept apologizing.

The more Xu Hei listened, the more confused he became.

This woman's behavior and logic were different from normal cultivators.

If all Sea Star cultivators were like this, there'd be no need for war; they could just declare victory.

"What's your name?" Xu Hei asked.

"My name is Yu Shiyu. 'Yu' as in fish, 'Shiyu' is named after the naming habits of women from the Divine Continent Star," Yu Shiyu answered honestly.

"Tell me about your background," Xu Hei continued.

Since this woman was a bit of a fool, Xu Hei didn't mind extracting more information from her.

"Well... I can't say!" Yu Shiyu quickly shook her head.

"But I saved you. Shouldn't you repay me?" Xu Hei asked.

"That's true." Yu Shiyu realized and quickly said, "I'm a princess groomed by the Merman Clan for marriage alliance, with half Merman blood and half ancient Divine Continent Star cultivator blood..."

Yu Shiyu revealed her background without any reservation.

Xu Hei's eyes lit up.

Then, under Xu Hei's continued guidance, she recounted how she grew up and cultivated, detailing everything.

Yu Shiyu's place of growth was on an island, one of the few small landmasses on the Sea Star, occupying less than a tenth of the ocean.

On the land were all immigrants from the Divine Continent Star from ancient times, all humans, deliberately left by the Sea Star Demon Clan.

This led to Yu Shiyu's growth path being completely different from the Sea Star Demon Clan.

From birth, her path was set—to marry far away as a tool for alliance.

No need for combat experience, no need for extensive divine abilities, as long as her cultivation was sufficient, she was a qualified tool.

She originally held expectations, wanting to see a broader world, imagining her life after marriage!

But until thirty years ago, when the Sea Star people's goals changed, her life trajectory changed too!

She had to learn to fight, to hunt, to kill.

Forcing a person whose life was already set to change, the shift in Yu Shiyu's mindset was imaginable.

"My whole life, I've never lived for myself, always for others."

"The Merman Clan wants me to marry, so I marry. They want me to kill, so I have to kill. I'm just a tool."

"Sometimes I think, if I were dead, maybe I wouldn't be so tired." Yu Shiyu said slowly.

"So, that's why you're courting death?" Xu Hei said.

Yu Shiyu remained silent.

Xu Hei could understand her feelings and why she came to such a dreadful place.

Xu Hei sighed and said, "I can give you a piece of advice."

"What advice?"

Yu Shiyu immediately looked up, her beautiful eyes staring intently at Xu Hei, filled with anticipation.

Xu Hei took out a blue square seal and continued, "Before you die, please remove the imprint on this magical treasure, and don't resist. Your corpse should be able to refine a lot of spiritual qi. Maybe I can even make a puppet. If you resist, it'll be hard for me to do these things."

"…"

Xu Hei's words left Yu Shiyu completely dumbfounded.

She thought he would say something nice to comfort her, but who knew he was thinking of desecrating her corpse after she died?

Are all Divine Continent Star cultivators like this?

"Uh... it must be a cultural difference, it must be," Yu Shiyu thought to herself.

After a round of friendly exchange.

Xu Hei had already figured out everything about this woman and, in the process, learned about the seven deities of the Sea Star.

He suspected that this place was essentially a formation.