Meeting Linley

Linley and the others gathered in the ship's cabin.

When they left Basil City, they happened to hear that some merchants were selling memory crystals of battles between Saint Realm powerhouses.

Out of curiosity, they spent money to buy one.

As Linley looked at this memory crystal, he couldn't help but think of the past.

Back then, before he and Alice had broken up, he had also bought two memory crystals, intending for them to each take one to record their respective lives. That way, when they weren't together, they could watch the recorded footage and soothe their longing.

As it turned out, before he could even give the two memory crystals to Alice, he discovered Alice was with Kalan.

After he finished carving "Dream Awakening," Linley had already let go of those feelings.

Thinking about it now, it was nothing more than wind blowing over water without leaving a trace—a light, passing cloud that he could laugh off and not take to heart.

Sessler channeled a sliver of magic into the crystal, and images began to appear within it.

In the scene, a black-haired youth in white robes and a purple-haired man were facing each other in mid-air.

"Useno!"

The moment Sessler saw the purple-haired man, he was startled.

"Sessler, do you know these two?" Linley looked at Sessler.

Sessler was a ninth-rank grand magus of the undead, already over eight hundred years old, so it was normal for him to know some powerhouses.

Sessler's gaze was icy: "I don't know the black-haired one, but that purple-haired man—hmpf, he is the adjudicator of the Religious Inquisition of the Radiant Church, Useno!"

Everyone's expression changed. Linley's group all held grudges against the Radiant Church, and since Useno was the adjudicator of the Religious Inquisition, he was their great enemy.

"I wonder who this black-haired youth opposite him is," said Barker, the eldest of the five Undying Warriors, as he watched Liewen in the footage.

"Heh, whoever he is, as long as he's against the Radiant Church, he's our friend!" the fifth brother, Gates, said boisterously.

"They're starting to fight!" the second brother, Anke, shouted.

Linley and the others stopped talking and watched the great battle in the footage quietly.

Before long, Linley frowned.

"This black-haired youth seems to be practicing the Laws of Light. His strength is formidable, but Useno is even stronger!"

Linley compared it to his own strength and realized that he wouldn't just struggle against Useno; even against this black-haired youth, he had no confidence in winning.

"This black-haired lad looks like he's going to lose," Sessler said indifferently.

Barker and the others couldn't help but sigh. Since they were all enemies of the Radiant Church, they had subconsciously started supporting Liewen as one of their own.

In the footage, the Light Armor on Liewen's body had already shattered, and Useno was preparing to strike again.

Rebecca, Lina, and Jenny couldn't bear to watch anymore.

"Is this black-haired youth going to be killed?" Barker worried. They were watching this memory crystal for the first time and didn't know the outcome of the battle.

"Eh!"

Everyone let out a sound of surprise almost simultaneously.

Because they all saw that in the footage, Useno had been knocked away by Liewen.

Linley's eyes lit up: "That move just now seemed a bit different from what he had been using before."

Linley felt as if a flash of inspiration had crossed his mind, but he just couldn't grasp it.

After all, a memory crystal only recorded the visuals, which was still different from experiencing it firsthand.

In the footage, Liewen began to counterattack. After a round of exchanges, Useno fled in a sorry state, and the footage in the memory crystal ended there.

"He actually won!" Barker and the others couldn't quite believe it; they hadn't understood how the situation had suddenly reversed.

"The black-haired youth must have had an epiphany. I just don't know what he realized to make his strength grow so much," Linley frowned in thought. He had a premonition that what the black-haired youth had realized would also be helpful to him.

After watching the battle, Barker and the others were fired up, seemingly inspired by Liewen, and all went off to cultivate.

The next day, Linley stood on the deck, feeling the wind on the Yulan River as he contemplated the Laws of Wind.

"Rhythm of the Wind..."

From time to time, he would swing his Violet Blood Soft Sword, causing streaks of purple light to appear before him.

"What is Brother Linley cultivating?" Jenny, who was watching from not far away, whispered.

Rebecca and Lina, standing beside her, also shook their heads to indicate they didn't know.

"Brother Liewen, look at what that person is doing! It's so strange!"

A childish voice drifted over with the river breeze. Jenny and the others followed the sound and discovered that not far from their own large ship, there was another one.

The ship Linley and his group were riding on had been arranged by Mackenzie and was significantly faster than ordinary ships.

The ship beside them couldn't keep up with their speed, and as Linley's ship was overtaking it, the decks of the two vessels were temporarily parallel, allowing the people on both decks to see each other.

Jenny and the others saw that on the deck of the other ship, a black-haired youth was holding the hand of a cute little girl around eight years old.

"Isn't that..." Jenny and the others covered their mouths in shock when they saw the black-haired youth's face.

Liewen heard Laina's voice and looked over as well. When he saw Linley standing on the deck, he couldn't help but be stunned.

On the other side, Linley also felt something and turned his head to look. Seeing Liewen, he was stunned as well.

Liewen was stunned because he hadn't expected such a coincidence, running into Linley.

And Linley was shocked because he recognized Liewen as the black-haired youth from the memory crystal ball who had fought against Useno.

The two looked at each other across the river. Liewen nodded slightly at Linley, which served as their formal introduction and greeting.

Linley nodded in response.

"Barker, hurry over here!" Rebecca called out to Barker and the others, who were in the middle of their cultivation.

However, by the time they rushed to the deck, they could no longer see Liewen.

The ship Linley was traveling on was faster, and it didn't take long for it to overtake Liewen's ship and sail ahead, so the two parties naturally could no longer see each other.

"What a pity, we didn't get to see him in person!" Gates was greatly annoyed.

"Should we fly over to meet him?" Barker suggested.

Their group had Saint Realm experts, so flying was not an issue.

The others were also somewhat tempted.

Linley thought for a moment and said, "Let's forget it. Flying over directly would be too abrupt. We don't know his personality, and it might cause him dissatisfaction."

Hearing Linley say this, Barker and the others gave up on the idea.

On the other side.

"What a coincidence." Liewen shook his head with a smile, putting this episode aside.

He did not yet know that Linley had already seen the memory crystal ball of his battle with Useno; if he had known, he could have taken the opportunity to go over and befriend Linley.

"There's no rush, either. There will be plenty of opportunities when we get to Chiyan City."

After playing with Laina on the deck for a while, Liewen returned to his cabin to continue his cultivation.

Several hours later, he sensed something unusual; it seemed someone was approaching rapidly.

Liewen walked out of the cabin and onto the deck.

He was the only one on the deck, and as soon as he arrived, he saw a streak of light flying rapidly through the air, landing on the deck.

The person who arrived had long white hair and a white beard, appearing very elderly, but his eyes were a dreamy sky blue.

"Haha, you certainly made me look hard for you!" the white-haired old man said with a chuckle. "Nice to meet you. Let me introduce myself: my name is Hodan, and I am the Plane Overseer of the Yulan Continent plane."