Fairy Yu

The relief scenes on the two magnificent bronze doors presented two utterly different moods and charms.

The "Myriad Homes' Lanterns" on the left door seemed to depict a real ancient city, brimming with the warmth and bustle of mortal life.

After gazing at it for only a moment, Li Weiyi felt as though his soul had been drawn inside. He walked the streets beneath the night sky, surrounded by hawkers' cries and the lively hustle of the marketplace.

The "River of the Underworld Stars" on the right door possessed a vast and majestic aura, a river formed from densely gathered stars. It resembled the Milky Way in the night sky, except this river of stars was not silver, but a dim yellow.

"So this is where the master of the Bronze Ship lived? Has He truly already passed away?"

Li Weiyi felt that since the garden could emit Immortal Radiance and water mist, there might be springs and mysterious treasures inside.

Water was exceedingly scarce aboard the ship.

Golden Crow Blood and Black Flood Dragon Blood clearly could not be drunk casually. They were extremely dangerous and not a fundamental solution to the problem.

"Rustle!"

The moment he stepped onto the stone stairs, a gust of Wind Force came from nowhere.

With Transcendent power at his command, Li Weiyi was full of courage and continued upward.

He reached the top of the stone stairs.

First, he peered through the crack between the two doors.

The gap was a full two fingers wide.

Beyond the doors was an exceedingly spacious area. Beneath a screen wall built from black stone lay a black-and-white Taiji Lake.

At the center of the lake stood a Giant Sword that seized one's very soul. Its blade had been forged from two utterly different materials: pitch black and scarlet red.

Li Weiyi stretched out both hands, mobilizing the scorching current surging from the sole of his right foot as he attempted to push open the doors.

"Boom!"

Before his hands came within half a foot of the bronze doors, a mountain-toppling, sea-overturning force surged toward him, blasting him backward like a fallen leaf. He drifted lightly down onto the ground below the stairs.

"New master of the Dao Ancestor Taiji Fish, this door is not one you can enter yet. You are one who bears karma, not one who creates it. Go..."

A faint, indistinct voice arrived, seeming to ring directly within Li Weiyi's mind while also seeming to come from the bronze doors before him.

"Who are you? What is this karma you speak of?" Li Weiyi asked.

There was no response whatsoever.

"Whoosh!"

The air trembled as a translucent curtain of light rose along the courtyard walls, shrouding the entire garden.

It lasted a long while before dispersing.

He was being shown the door!

Li Weiyi immediately retreated, staring at the enormous bronze doors. He could not shake the feeling that the voice from earlier did not exist within this time and space. It felt more like an ancient person from a thousand years ago speaking with someone of the present.

It was a very strange feeling.

There was no doubt that the Bronze Ship setting sail, including their fall into the abyss, was absolutely connected to the Dao Ancestor Taiji Fish.

Master, Master, you must know something.

What terrifying karma would one have to bear to become the master of the Chan Sect?

"Li Weiyi!"

Cai Yutong's voice came from behind him.

"Senior Sister..."

Li Weiyi let out a long breath, swiftly putting aside the countless distracting thoughts in his mind. He turned around... and the smile that had just appeared on his face instantly froze. In utter disbelief, he looked Cai Yutong up and down.

Was this Senior Sister Cai?

Cai Yutong wore Qi Shanshan's white physician's coat. The coat only hung half a foot below her waistline, leaving her two straight, excessively long jade-white legs almost entirely exposed.

More importantly—

Her skin was even whiter than the physician's coat she wore. Fine and lustrous, it was like it had been cast from immortal jade, crystalline and translucent, containing a faint gleam.

Her long black hair fell naturally down her back, forming a stark contrast against her jade-white skin.

Those eyes of hers looked as though they had been washed in a divine spring. They were far brighter than before, filled with spiritual vitality.

Her lips bore no lipstick, yet they were moist and crimson, as though carved from rubies.

Her appearance had already been exceptionally beautiful, but now...

This was no longer merely a matter of beauty. It was as if she had already become immortal.

There was no flaw left on her body. She seemed to embody every beautiful thing in the world. Simply standing there, she could turn the surroundings into an immortal realm, even if outside lay the gloomy, terrifying Sea of Souls.

Li Weiyi considered himself highly resistant to feminine beauty and more focused on martial arts. Yet Cai Yutong at this moment gave his heart an immense shock.

How was this still Senior Sister Cai?

This was Fairy Yu!

If they stripped the red robes from the White Bone Demon inside the Ice Coffin in the tomb and dressed her in them, would she not be an immortal fairy descending into the mortal world?

"You keep staring at Yutong. Don't tell me you know she isn't wearing anything underneath?" With Cai Yutong present, the fear Qi Shanshan felt toward Li Weiyi lessened somewhat.

Li Weiyi hurriedly withdrew his gaze and secretly circulated the Jade Void Breathing Technique, steadying his heartbeat. Then he took off his outer garment and handed it over. "Wear mine for now. Do... do you need pants?"

Cai Yutong said, "If I wear your clothes and pants back, what will the expedition team think?"

Li Weiyi considered it carefully. That was indeed a problem.

So, he turned his gaze toward Qi Shanshan.

Qi Shanshan said, "It's not impossible for me to take off more, but then I'd only have..."

Li Weiyi said, "I mean Doctor Qi can return to the cabins near the bow first and bring back some clothes."

"Fine!"

Qi Shanshan did not dare complain and headed toward the passage leading to the Ship Tower.

After seeing Cai Yutong drink Golden Crow Blood, cast off her Mortal Shell, and gain an immaculate body like an Immortal Spirit breaking free from a cocoon, Qi Shanshan, who had always loved beauty, was naturally envious.

But when she thought that she too could drink Golden Crow Blood, the envy and jealousy in her heart naturally faded away.

As long as Zhao Meng recovered, the future would remain promising.

Li Weiyi, don't get too fierce now. Who knows who'll be on top in the future.

Cai Yutong seemed indifferent to whether she wore anything beneath her clothes, lacking that coy, affected bashfulness. "She told me everything just now! She actually... sensed a life-or-death crisis ahead of time, felt unsafe, and wanted to find herself a way out."

"Senior Sister is pleading for her?"

"She saved me."

Li Weiyi said, "Senior Sister, do you know what happened aboard the ship? Hearing someone describe it and witnessing it with your own eyes may give two entirely different feelings. Besides, I don't think Senior Sister understands Doctor Qi all that well!"

"She saved you too," Cai Yutong said.

A sea breeze swept in, lifting wide swaths of the white physician's coat.

Li Weiyi quickly looked away and sighed. "Precisely because she saved me, making that decision just now was harder for me than ever... Senior Sister, you should put on my clothes first, shouldn't you? I even suggest you wear a hat and face covering. If you return to the expedition team looking like this, I'm afraid another disturbance will erupt very soon."

He felt that few people could resist Cai Yutong's beauty now. She was far too provoking, enough to make many take desperate risks.

A beautiful woman was a calamity—nothing more than this.

"Fine. Everyone should be responsible for the mistakes they make. Make your own decision."

Cai Yutong raised her head toward the sky. "It seems to be getting light. The light is coming from... the direction of the ship's bow."

By calculation, it was indeed about time for dawn.

But the Sea of Souls had neither night nor day, only the Starry Sky.

How could light appear in the sky?

Not only had light appeared, clouds had appeared as well.

"Daybreak?"

Li Weiyi found it unbelievable.

In the direction the Bronze Ship was sailing, light had indeed appeared ahead.

The stars were rapidly thinning and dimming, while the darkness receded.

It was like the arrival of dawn.

When he looked again at the sea beyond the railing, the waters that had once been black as ink now rippled with countless fragmented golden reflections. There were no longer any dead souls in the sea, and clouds had actually appeared in the sky.

However, the clouds were enormous and low-hanging, and they were golden.

"Wonderful. Those gloomy, terrifying hordes of dead souls have finally vanished. I have a feeling this world must have land somewhere." Li Weiyi was in excellent spirits, his face bright with a sunlit smile.

For some time now, both the external environment and the internal unrest had been far too oppressive.

After waiting nearly an hour, the darkness and Starry Sky had long since vanished completely.

Golden dawn clouds dyed both sea and sky.

The open view left one refreshed and clear-minded.

But Qi Shanshan still had not returned with the clothes.

"Something happened. We can't wait any longer."

Cai Yutong tied Li Weiyi's clothes around her waist and headed toward the Ship Tower passage first.

Li Weiyi believed Cai Yutong's judgment was correct. Something must have happened to Qi Shanshan; otherwise, she could not possibly have been gone so long. But what danger could still exist aboard the ship?

Li Weiyi and Cai Yutong made their way to the bow without encountering Qi Shanshan.

Outside the Medical Tent, they ran into Qin Ke.

Qin Ke was delighted. "Brother Weiyi, where did you go? Everyone has been looking for you. Hurry and look at the bow beyond the Nether Mist. A miracle—a miracle has appeared!"

"Brother Weiyi?"

Cai Yutong looked at Li Weiyi.

She clearly remembered that Professor Xu's students were all graduate students, several years older than Li Weiyi.

Li Weiyi asked, "Sister Qin, have you seen Doctor Qi?"

Hearing him call her "Sister Qin," Qin Ke froze slightly before saying, "No. Everyone thought she was with you last night."

Li Weiyi and Cai Yutong exchanged a glance.

Qi Shanshan could not possibly have fled in fear of punishment, could she? Where could she even flee to?

Besides, Li Weiyi believed he had made himself very clear. He would not expose her and would give her a chance to turn over a new leaf.

After Qin Ke's gaze moved away from Li Weiyi, it landed on Cai Yutong and could no longer move away.

More importantly, Dr. Cai had Li Weiyi's clothes tied around her waist.

So the two of them had been together last night.

"Dr. Cai... you..."

Even Qin Ke, a woman herself, was stunned by Cai Yutong's beauty. Then she lowered her head, sinking into self-mockery and inferiority, wanting only to flee this place immediately.

"I'll go look in a mirror first and change clothes."

Cai Yutong felt that her looks might truly be a little outrageous. What use was it for a researcher to be beautiful? Could it win her the Priestley Medal?

Li Weiyi walked out of the Nether Mist and arrived at the bow.

At last, he saw the miracle Qin Ke had spoken of. His scalp instantly went numb, and he was so shocked that he held his breath.