Giant Beast in the Sea

The white jade behemoth is a monolithic structure, thirty zhang long, and was unearthed by An Xianjing from a secret realm. It is a Myriad-character Artifact whose value is comparable to that of a swastika-shaped artifact.

Kudi to be seventeen or eighteen years old, with an average build and looks, lacking the stunning beauty of Jiang Ning and Zuoqiu Hongting. But he was more real, as if he were the only ordinary person in the world.

Her white Buddhist Robe, covered with the Amitabha Sutra, swayed in the wind.

Li Weiyi grabbed Yu'er's wrist, used his inner energy to ride the wind, crossed the sea, and landed gracefully and steadily on the deck.

His anxiety had subsided.

It wasn't that he was afraid of what An Xianjing would do to him, but rather that he was worried about Yu'er's identity being exposed. In the situation just now, deliberately hiding Yu'er would only make things more obvious.

"Master Ku, it's been so long! You haven't changed at all."

Li Weiyi looked travel-worn, his face still covered in fine sand from the white desert, but he smiled broadly, feigning ease and naturalness, and clasped his hands together in a gesture of respect.

Yu'er followed suit and also clasped her hands in a bow.

Kudi never expected that the renowned and powerful Jiu Li Hidden Person would be so polite. He was momentarily taken aback by Kudi's politeness, which made him, as a monk, seem to lack a peaceful and tranquil state of mind.

"Come in!"

From inside the cabin, came An Xianjing, cold voice.

The enormous white jade ship seemed to contain only An Xianjing and Kudi, with no other figures in sight.

"Please look after my disciple; she's still young. Just let me handle everything."

Li Weiyi then handed Yu'er over to Kudi to prevent her from getting close to An Xianjing.

Kudi didn't know how her master would deal with this traitor. But even she wouldn't stoop to the level of a mere girl, let alone her master.

Li Weiyi suppressed her smile, pushed open the door and entered the spacious cabin lobby. Then, passing through the screen, she saw An Xianjing standing by the window.

The ship's windows were horizontal windows, each ten feet wide.

The sea breeze is slightly salty, and the view is expansive.

The cabin door, ten steps away, closed automatically.

"You have no respect or fear at all. Who gave you permission to come behind the screen?" An Xianjing turned her head slightly and glanced at Li Weiyi.

Li Weiyi stood beside the screen, observing An Xianjing's face with an upright posture. "Hall Master An treats Weiyi like a son or nephew, why should I be afraid? I only have respect for Hall Master An, not fear."

An Xianjing's appearance changes every day; one's appearance reflects one's inner state.

A good mood makes one's appearance beautiful and radiant.

When someone is in a bad mood, you can tell just by looking at their face.

An Xianjing looked to be about the same age as Kudi today. Her skin was as fair as Pure Immortal Body's, her face was beautiful, her hair was shiny, and her red lips were quite bright, indicating that she was in a good mood.

But those eyes, which had seen through the vicissitudes of life, held a deep sorrow.

"Do you think you can escape this calamity by saying that?" An Xianjing's lips were red and her teeth white, but her eyes were filled with frost.

Li Weiyi wasn't intimidated; his Aura was even stronger than that of An Xianjing, who was half a head shorter than him. "Hall Master An wants to kill me, she won't let me board the ship. Are the four little ones alright?"

"Are you reminding me that you helped me plant Golden Rice? I've already repaid that favor!" An Xianjing looked out the window.

The colossal white jade ship sets sail, heading towards the deep sea.

Li Weiyi asked, "Has Hall Master An already broken through to the Transcendent Realm?"

"I have already repaid that favor!" An Xianjing said.

"Hall Master An has misunderstood... So be it."

After careful consideration, Li Weiyi said, "Weiyi is well aware that what I did in Lingxiao City will inevitably lead to Hall Master An being punished by the Divine Sect. Weiyi believes that I have a clear conscience, and even if I had to choose ten thousand times, I would still do the same. The only person I feel guilty towards is Hall Master An; I should not have let down Hall Master An's trust and care."

An Xianjing fell into a long silence, her thoughts unreadable.

The giant white jade ship was moving at an extremely high speed, and the land shore was no longer visible.

After a long pause, An Xianjing emerged from her inner turmoil, gave Li Weiyi a cold stare, walked to the chair next to the screen, sat down, picked up the Buddhist prayer beads on the table, and started swinging them. "At least you still have some conscience, knowing you've caused me so much suffering."

The tone was completely devoid of any condescension, unlike what one would expect from the Great Longevity.

Li Weiyi could tell that her anger had subsided considerably, and he knew that An Xianjing didn't really hate him and Yao Qingxuan. She just felt a resentment that any woman would feel after being wronged, and she couldn't find a way to relieve it.

Li Weiyi truly felt guilty.

No matter how bad the Rice Cult was, An Xianjing's feelings for him and Yao Qingxuan were absolutely genuine. She treated him even better than her own disciple, Qiong Ji Daozi.

Li Weiyi's arrogance vanished, and he quickly stepped forward, offering to soothe her shoulders and massage her back. "The rice people have their choices, and as a human, I must also make my own. My master and I cannot accept the collapse of Lingxiao City and the rampant spread of Yin Shi Zhong Dao Rice. But our relationship with Hall Master An is a different matter."

When a young man touched her body, An Xianjing frowned slightly, but she quickly went from initial repulsion to gradually getting used to this strange and novel feeling.

If it were anyone else, such glib talk and flattery would have disgusted her, and she would have killed them with a single blow.

But Li Weiyi possessed a genuine quality that made her believe that even if he achieved great cultivation in the future, he would definitely remember their current friendship instead of being ungrateful.

They were able to step forward when the situation was extremely precarious, unafraid of death or the collapse of the sky.

How could such a man of unwavering integrity be deliberately trying to please and serve her out of fear of being killed by her?

She believed that Li Weiyi truly felt only respect, not fear!

"Don't be fooled by the fact that the human race and the rice people fought a fierce battle, with countless casualties on both sides. The situation has changed, and they may even have to cooperate in the future," An Xianjing said meaningfully.

Li Weiyi said, "Because the <Bright Star Book> can dispel the darkness of the Netherworld of the Departed?"

An Xianjing nodded gently. "When Lingxiao Shengjing only has Twenty-Eight Prefectures, everyone will fight to the death over limited resources. But if it becomes thirty-seven states, fifty-nine states, or even returns to the original Three Hundred Prefectures, everyone can shake hands and make peace, setting aside hatred and conflicts."

Li Weiyi asked, "Why didn't Daojiao do this before?"

"Because Lord Lan perished. Because the Mist Son of Heaven returned. Because Dao Palace became involved in this interest. Everything changed!" An Xianjing said.

Li Weiyi pressed further, "Is the Mist Son of Heaven still alive?"

An Xianjing gently shook her head. "I don't know! She traveled westward and disappeared after entering the Far West Ash Region. But she probably didn't die, otherwise, the Western Demon Race would have already marched eastward and crushed the Lingxiao Shengjing."

"You must understand that, apart from Lord Lan, the Western Demon Race suffered the most heavy losses in the battle of Lingxiao City. They will not let this go."

Li Weiyi nodded secretly, temporarily setting aside his worries, and asked, "I came all the way from Yuzhou and saw the Rice Cult members busily cultivating rice paddies on the decaying land. Isn't that a bit too hasty?"

An Xianjing's eyes deepened with worry. "With your current cultivation level, investigating this matter is meaningless. I've come to you because of another extremely important matter."

"What exactly is your relationship with that woman from the Jiang family?"

Li Weiyi stopped moving his hands. "Why did Hall Master An bring this up?"

"Didn't Yang Qingxi tell you?" An Xianjing asked.

Li Weiyi really didn't want to lie, but in the end she still said, "No."

"If she hadn't told you, your reaction wouldn't have been so calm," An Xianjing added. "Everyone has their own way of surviving. Yang Qingxi's way of surviving is that she knows who to lie to and who to be honest with."

Li Weiyi asked, "Is she alright?"

"Which one are you referring to?" An Xianjing asked.

Li Weiyi said, "Since Hall Master An praised Yang Qingxi for having her own way of surviving, it's clear she has returned to the Divine Sect and is doing very well. I was asking about Jiang Ning."

"It's not very good," An Xianjing said.

Li Weiyi asked, "What do you mean by 'not very good'?"

An Xianjing said, "What she, Dao Palace, and the Jiang family are doing is very worrying to me. If you and she truly have the kind of affection you deliberately displayed in Lingxiao City, perhaps it could be of some use in the future. But right now, your cultivation and strength are far from sufficient."

"Weiyi, your talent is exceptional, so exceptional that I have never seen it in any other young person. You must grow up, prove your Dao to transcendence, and perhaps even become the Martial Path Son of Heaven."

Li Weiyi couldn't understand what An Xianjing was saying, and she knew she couldn't tell the truth, "I want to see her."

An Xianjing said, "You will meet! But even if you do, it won't mean anything."

Day three.

The giant white jade ship sails in the deep sea.

The seawater was deep black, and the waves rose and fell several meters high, giving people a great sense of terror.

Sailing in such seas, Dao Seed Realm Martial Cultivator would feel small and vulnerable. The power of heaven and earth was so overwhelming that it was hard to breathe.

Li Weiyi was practicing the Chan Sect Twelve Loose Hand Techniques on the deck.

The protective array of Light Veil shielded the ship from the hurricane outside.

He learned about Jiang Ning's situation from An Xianjing, and for the past three days, he has been extremely depressed.

Yu'er had met An Xianjing, but An Xianjing didn't notice anything amiss, nor did she deliberately investigate her talent and foundation. She herself was trapped in her own anxious state of mind.

"Aww!"

From the seabed came one terrifying roar after another.

The entire ocean was rocking.

Li Weiyi stopped cultivating, looking tense, and gathered with Yu'er and Kudi.

Just from the sounds they heard, you could tell they were facing no ordinary monsters. The dangers of the East Sea are no joke.

Beneath the seawater, a dark shadow, many times larger than the white jade warship, appeared and swam past at high speed.

"Splash!"

Several miles away, a corner of its massive, mountain-like body was revealed, covered in black scales.

The spray it created resembled a torrential downpour, showering the ship.

An Xianjing moved to the top of the ship, her body radiating rings of Buddhist light, and countless scriptures burst forth, enveloping the boiling sea below. "Get out!"

She threw her Prayer Beads, which dented a large area of the sea into a bowl shape, turning the deep black water golden.

A bloodcurdling roar echoed from the seabed.

The unknown, enormous monster fled at lightning speed.

Another half day passed.

We've left that unfathomable ancient sea far behind.

The sky cleared, and the sea was as smooth as a blue mirror, revealing flocks of seabirds.

An Xianjing walked to the ship's railing and stood beside Li Weiyi: "Three hundred li to the west of here is Moon Dragon Island. I'll take you this far!"

On the day they boarded the ship, An Xianjing asked Li Weiyi where they were going.

Li Weiyi asked in surprise, "Could it be that Hall Master An deliberately sent me on this journey?"

"What kind of dream are you having? It just happens to be on the way. This grand event of excavating the Ancient Immortal Dragon Skeleton has its own gathering places for you young people. At our level, we also have our own places to discuss and meet. Different cultivation levels lead to different worlds and completely different interests."