Battle of Qingjiang

The night was black, the river glimmered with fireflies, and a red lantern at the prow of the great ship swayed and trembled wildly in the river wind, its flame waxing and fading.

Xiang Yang stood on the deck, gazing toward the little pavilion on the shore that had long vanished from sight. A sense of melancholy filled his heart. Once he left, who knew what year or month it would be before he could return openly and honorably? More hateful still, even now he did not know who had framed him.

"Young Master Xiang, the wind is strong outside. You should come into the cabin and rest."

An old man aboard the ship, his face weathered by wind and frost, took a puff from his dry tobacco pipe, exhaled a smoke ring, and spoke. They were currently in the middle reaches of the Qingjiang River, still within Qingjiang Prefecture. It would take some time yet before they left Yanxi Commandery.

Just as Xiang Yang was about to reply, a fierce unease suddenly rose in his heart, as though some immense danger was about to descend. Yet the Heavenly Sight Earthly Hearing Soul-Locking Great Method detected nothing at all.

No. The Heavenly Sight Earthly Hearing Soul-Locking Great Method can sense living things within the acquired realm down to the slightest detail, but it may not be able to sense a Xiantian Expert. They have already refined qi into spirit; even the weakest among them surpasses me in spiritual cultivation.

Xiang Yang inwardly cursed. With a flick of his hand, he sent out a gust of force that shattered the lanterns hanging on either side of the cabin. The flames scattered and died. Before anyone aboard could panic, a raging wave crashed against the shore, and an incomparably vast palm force