The Passenger Ship to Jiu Li City

Yan Qingqing rushed out of the area covered by the seven streaks of light, intending to swiftly take down Li Weiyi. Her three-foot flexible sword sliced through the air, its sword trails following twisting, fantastical paths that carried an eerie killing intent impossible to guard against.

Knowing that she had opened seven springs, how could Li Weiyi dare receive that sword rashly?

He retreated at top speed and immediately reached for the bottle of Golden Crow Blood in his robes.

Having gained the upper hand with one strike, Yan Qingqing naturally pressed her advantage, refusing to give Li Weiyi any chance to counterattack.

"Whoosh!"

Before Li Weiyi could pour the Golden Crow Blood onto the Scripture Belt, he felt sword shadows filling the sky, his ears ringing with sharp whistles. Every sword tip seemed real, ready to pierce him into a sieve of bloody holes.

Without a second thought, he turned and ran.

A sharp Sword Qi capable of piercing flesh landed on his back with a dull thud. Yet the Ghost Flag draped outside him and the Corpse Cloth Soft Armor beneath it blocked the blow, leaving him unharmed.

"Trying to run?"

Knowing he possessed defensive artifacts, Yan Qingqing was consumed by jealousy and hatred as she raised her sword and gave chase.

At times, Li Weiyi used the Clear Void Cicada Evasion Step from the Chan Sect Twelve Loose Hand Techniques. His figure became like a phantom, his steps layered atop one another. At other times, he used Yellow Dragon Ascends to Heaven, crossing through the air and passing over coffins piled like small mountains as though walking on level ground.

Even without borrowing the Scripture Belt, his speed was still evenly matched with Yan Qingqing, who had opened seven springs.

I killed one and tied down another. That should count as exceeding the mission requirements, right? If Li Ling can take down that donkey-faced man quickly, we might have a chance to eliminate every hidden danger today.

Li Weiyi now had a certain understanding of his own strength. At least in terms of speed, he had no fear whatsoever of a so-called Spring Surge Peak Martial Cultivator like Yan Qingqing.

"Awoo!"

A deep, muddled wolf howl rang out amid the silence, echoing across the sea of coffins and shaking the surrounding night mist apart.

"Boom! Boom! Boom..."

Heavy yet rapid footsteps thundered closer from afar.

Li Weiyi glanced back and saw a White-haired Wolf King five or six meters long chasing Li Ling as it charged rapidly in this direction.

The White-haired Wolf King's body was half-substantial and half-illusory. Once the chill emanating from it spread out, a layer of white frost instantly formed over the Floating Coffins it ran across. Fang Tong stood proudly atop the wolf's back, thick Black Metal Gauntlets covering both hands.

The gauntlets weighed a hundred jin. They were a Heavy Martial Weapon, forged from a precious Dense Metal.

Li Weiyi immediately took out the Golden Crow Blood and poured it onto the Scripture Belt.

Yan Qingqing had already given up pursuing him and instead attacked the fleeing Li Ling. She wanted to see whether that mysterious man would keep running or turn back to save her.

In an instant, Li Ling found herself in a perilous situation, with a dog before her and a wolf behind her. Yet her expression did not change in the slightest as she struck a palm at Yan Qingqing's incoming flexible sword.

The force of her palm contained dharma power, like a wall of air that jolted the flexible sword into violent trembling.

Yan Qingqing staggered back repeatedly, her eyes filled with disbelief. She had never expected to lose in the martial domain to a Netherlight Guide Envoy from the Spirit God Realm.

"Roar!"

The Snow Wolf King caught up and swung its sharp giant claw, intending to smash Li Ling's entire body into pulp.

"Bang!"

Li Ling met it with her palm, but she was no match for it. Her body flew sideways, her entire arm streaming with blood. Before she could land and steady herself, Fang Tong leaped down from the wolf's back and threw a punch straight at her head.

Li Ling had only just rolled away in embarrassment when Yan Qingqing closed in from another side with her sword.

"Clang!"

A flash of yellow light; the two swords collided.

The flexible sword went limp and swung away from before Li Ling.

Li Weiyi held his sword as he joined her, standing back-to-back with her while surveying the powerful enemies on three sides.

"Your character is far better than I estimated. You actually didn't abandon me and run. You're dependable!" Li Ling's face and gaze remained cold, but the corners of her lips lifted slightly.

"I merely understand one principle. If we don't kill that female Canine-like Mutant Race member today, then escaping would be meaningless."

That clash of swords had made Li Weiyi realize that Martial Cultivators who had opened seven springs were not so terrifying after all.

The battle strength of the Deformed Race was only so-so.

Li Ling said, "Be more careful. Legend says the Snow Wolf King is Shi Jiuzhai's mount. Its strength and speed are beyond our ability to resist. But it has a fatal weakness: it does not possess a real wolf's body, but is the soul of an artifact. I can deal with it using mental power, but I need time to cast Beast Script."

Li Weiyi looked toward Fang Tong and Yan Qingqing. Facing two enemies alone, he did not have even half a shred of confidence.

To everyone's surprise, including Li Ling herself, Li Weiyi lifted her onto his back, tightly clasped her legs with both arms, and used the Clear Void Cicada Evasion Step. His body flashed like a phantom beneath Yan Qingqing's thrusting sword as he rushed into the distance.

With the Scripture Belt's enhancement, his speed exceeded that of a seven-spring Martial Cultivator by a great margin.

"This time, you were the one who chose to carry me. I'm still an unmarried girl. Aren't we being a little too intimate like this? If word gets out..."

Before Li Ling could continue, Li Weiyi said, "The Snow Wolf King is coming after us. How long does it take to cast Beast Script?"

The speck of light between Li Ling's brows glittered like a star. While Li Weiyi had carried her, she had already been using mental power to trace Beast Script within her Forehead Spirit Realm.

Fang Tong and Yan Qingqing both stood upon the Snow Wolf King's back, closing the distance to the pair ahead of them.

"We cannot let her complete the Beast Script."

The next moment, Fang Tong grabbed Yan Qingqing's left wrist. Dharma power surged through his arm as he threw her with all his strength.

Yan Qingqing flew through the air, her long hair streaming as dharma power transformed into qi and poured from her body.

Her flexible sword was like an arrow splitting the wind, shooting directly toward Li Ling below.

"Lend me your sword."

Li Ling took the Yellow Dragon Sword from Li Weiyi's hand and rose gracefully like a delicate startled swan, meeting Yan Qingqing as she descended to kill. In midair, the two women exchanged move after move, Sword Qi crisscrossing in all directions.

"Pfft! Pfft! Pfft..."

When Li Ling landed, blood dripped from the Yellow Dragon Sword.

When Yan Qingqing landed, four or five bloody holes had already opened across her body. And waiting for her was Li Weiyi's long-prepared Overturning Sky Palm Seal.

This palm strike contained the might of the Silver Thread Gloves, its silver radiance smashing into her skull.

"Bang!" Dense cracking sounds accompanied the blow.

Yan Qingqing's breathtakingly beautiful face instantly warped and twisted. Her entire head became like a shattered jar; not only did blood flow from her seven orifices, but those seven orifices themselves became an indistinct mess.

She fell stiffly backward, no longer breathing.

On the other side, the Snow Wolf King arrived in an instant, carrying bone-chilling cold with it as dazzling white light radiated from its body. At the same time, the Beast Script within Li Ling's Forehead Spirit Realm had been completed and flew from between her brows.

"Seeking death!"

From within the blinding white light, Fang Tong suddenly burst forth like a god of slaughter. By the time Li Ling prepared to swing her sword against him, it was already too late.

His heavy fist struck Li Ling like a cannonball, sending her flying like a stalk of wheat. Blood spilled from her mouth, and she could no longer rise.

At the same time, the Beast Script struck the Snow Wolf King between the brows.

The Snow Wolf King let out a high, agonized howl. Its body shrank, its radiance and cold gathering inward as it transformed into a wolf fang that fell to the ground with a clatter.

This sea of coffins fell silent!

Only Li Weiyi and Fang Tong remained, standing four zhang apart.

A chilling cold filled both men's eyes as their auras locked onto each other.

Not far away, Yan Qingqing was thoroughly dead. Li Ling's clothing had long since been dyed red with blood, and it was unknown whether she would live or die.

Li Ling might have had a thousand faults, but she was now an ally who lived and died alongside him. Seeing her injured to such an extent, Li Weiyi's fighting intent and killing intent naturally surged to their peak.

There were no words.

Fang Tong walked forward slowly, then quickened his pace.

Li Weiyi had no intention of sparring with him at all. He directly took out the Evil Camel Bell, poured dharma power into it, and rang it.

"Clang! Clang!"

The sound gradually became deafening.

"Whoosh!"

The Evil Camel Bell flew out and transformed into a half-substantial, half-illusory Giant Camel, colliding head-on with the charging Fang Tong.

How could Fang Tong have expected his opponent to possess such a formidable artifact? The bell's ringing was disrupting his mind, and before he could react, the camel sent him flying high into the air. He felt as though every bone in his body had shattered.

The next instant, a thunderous boom rang out.

Using the Black Iron Seal, Li Weiyi unleashed a wrist-thick bolt of dazzling lightning. It snaked forward and pierced through Fang Tong's body.

"Bang!"

By the time Fang Tong fell to the ground, his body was charred black, and a bowl-sized bloody hole had opened in his chest. Even in death, he could not understand where exactly he had lost.

Li Weiyi walked over, confirmed that he was completely dead, then went to check on Li Ling.

She was gravely injured, but she still breathed.

After thoroughly searching the bodies of Fang Tong, Yan Qingqing, and Xing Wanxing, taking all their valuables, he kicked them all into the Sea of Blood.

Then Li Weiyi carried the blood-drenched Li Ling back.

Five days later, when Li Ling woke up, she was already aboard a ship bound for Jiu Li City.

The ship was a giant passenger sailing vessel over twenty zhang long. It had departed from Yao Pass and sailed upstream along the Sui River. Three levels of ship towers rose from its deck, and it contained more than a hundred cabins.

Li Ling lay on a bed in a spacious cabin on the first level of the ship tower. She wore a white silk undergarment, with gauze wrapped around her chest and abdomen. She had already received treatment from a shaman healer in Yao Pass.

The old matron keeping watch at her bedside had been hired by Zhao Zhizhuo in Yao Pass.

Upon learning that Fourth Miss had awakened, he hurried over to pay his respects. Only after receiving permission did he enter the cabin. He then told her how the Xie brothers had brought her to Yao Pass, how they had hired a Beast Li shaman healer to treat her, and how everyone was now headed for Jiu Li City and would first arrive at the Cangli Tribe.

Li Ling sat half-upright on the bed, a thin summer blanket covering her body. Her long hair fell naturally about her as she gazed at the broad river and hazy mountains beyond the door. A tranquil, sickly, cold beauty clung to her as she said slowly, "Zhao Zhizhuo, forty years ago, during the Mang Mountain Grand Sacrifice, you ranked first among the Ninety-Nine Heroes. You entered the Five Seas Realm at twenty-three and opened all five seas at forty-one. That same year, Yao Qian of the Sui Sect shattered your spring eyes and broke your five seas. Yao Qian, that modest gentleman—he should be someone recorded in the Cycle Record by now, shouldn't he?"

Zhao Zhizhuo first felt bitterness and guilt, followed by disbelief. At Fourth Miss's age, she could actually remember the history of a crippled man so clearly. A wave of emotion rose naturally in his heart.

To someone who had been ignored for years and had once shone brilliantly, such regard struck deeper than any praise or commendation.

He said shamefully, "I was only first among the Ninety-Nine Heroes. I never even entered the ranks of the Nine Elites. Fourth Miss, you honor me!"

"Everyone who has contributed to the Cangli Tribe will be remembered."

After a pause, Li Ling asked, "Are they on the ship too?"

"Does Fourth Miss mean Brother Xie and his companions?" Zhao Zhizhuo said. "They are going to Jiu Li City, so we happen to be traveling the same route."

Li Ling said, "He didn't tell you his real name? Never mind. That isn't important."

Zhao Zhizhuo paused slightly, then said, "Should I go tell Brother Xie that you have awakened... He has been quite concerned about Fourth Miss's injuries."

Li Ling said, "Go!"

He walked out of the cabin.

Zhao Zhizhuo thought of something, then turned back and bowed as he asked, "We will arrive at the Cangli Tribe by evening today. Are we disembarking to return to the tribe, or continuing to Jiu Li City?"

"My brother must already have gone to Jiu Li Dao Academy, while Father and Mother are managing the family businesses in Jiu Li City. We will not return to the tribe for now," Li Ling said.