A white vortex abruptly stretched across the end of the river channel.
Chu Qing stood on the ram of the Black Diamond Dragon Ship, his bare soles digging hard into the cold keel.
He felt it.
The purple crystal in his heart stopped beating at that very second, and all the blood in his body seemed to freeze into icy shards in an instant.
At the center of the vortex, a scholar in a pure white robe slowly walked out.
He held a feather pen in his hand, its entire body crystal-clear, broken starlight flickering within it. He did not look at Chu Qing, only lowered his head, as if searching for the place to set his pen.
A low friction sound spilled from Chu Qing's throat, and his right hand suddenly clenched around the Overlord Spear.
(Micro-expression): His jawline snapped taut, the muscles at the corners of his eyes twitching faintly from the excessive strain, and that smear of dark purple at the bottom of his eyes almost seemed ready to spill from their sockets.
"Chu Qing. You are the most disobedient sheet of paper I have ever seen," the scholar said.
His voice was very soft, without the slightest emotion, yet it made dense cracks appear in the space before the black ship.
Chu Qing gave a cold laugh and spat a mouthful of blood-mixed saliva onto the ground.
"I am a man who kills with a blade, not a word on your paper."
The scholar shook his head.
He raised his hand, and the feather pen drew a graceful arc through the void.
"Stop."
As that word came into being, Chu Qing felt his internal organs being seized hard by an invisible giant hand.
(Physiological reaction): He abruptly lowered his head, his Adam's apple rolling violently, a