Clear skies stretched for miles, and the blazing sun burned fiercely.
High above, the sky gleamed like colored glass. Clusters of clouds rose and fell like mountain ranges, their shapes graceful and ever-changing.
A flying vessel sped among them, like a great ship sailing across a jade-green sea. Countless demons and ghosts covered its hull, their malicious eyes staring in every direction as Yin Qi seeped from them.
The fierce astral winds were kept entirely at bay by the protective formation. The whole vessel seemed wrapped inside an enormous bubble as it raced forward.
Top deck of the flying vessel, cabin.
A stick of incense sent a wisp of smoke straight toward the ceiling. Its sharp scent, tinged with bitterness, filled the room, clearing the mind and nourishing the soul.
On a Cloud Bed not far away, Pei Ling rested with his eyes closed, repeatedly reviewing every detail of his previous two battles in his mind.
In the first battle, the current emperor of the Zhong Kui Clan had underestimated his opponent and made no preparations. The one Pei Ling had faced was merely a slightly stronger Dao Integration cultivator.
Throughout the battle, the Zhong Kui emperor had used many methods—especially the [Nine Sons Divine Ability]—that none of the many Dao Integration cultivators from the Liulan Dynasty in the third gate of the Land of Fortune at You Su Fen had ever displayed. On careful reflection, there had been little he could have done differently in response.
Even with the experience he had gained fighting various Dao Integration cultivators while passing through the nine Post Stations, without using an immortal art, he could never have won...
And the second battle...
If he fought Tie Cheng, the City Lord of Yanxi City, again, the safest approach would be to use [Nether