Flowing Radiant Firecloud Boat (Please Follow)

The impact caused by this Six Schools Martial Meet in White Light City's outer district was rather strange.

No fewer than a thousand ordinary civilians had been caught in the crossfire that day, and quite a few martial artists had died as well.

Yet as though they had received some kind of order, no one spoke of the matter, as if it had never happened.

White Light City remained a major stronghold of Blue Orchid Continent. Its people, martial schools, and great clans all carried on as usual.

To the northwest of White Light City lay a famous slope and hollow known as Sunset Slope.

Whenever the sun set, multicolored arcs of light suffused the crest of the slope, beautiful beyond compare.

Wang Xuance had cast aside his usual black robe. Now dressed in fitted martial attire, he stood quietly halfway up the slope with his arms folded, waiting.

Whoosh!

A piercing boom suddenly came from beyond the horizon, racing nearer from afar. Its thunderous momentum could be heard for miles around.

Wang Xuance gazed into the distance, and when he made out the sight, he could not help but be surprised.

A white sailboat over three meters long and two meters wide hovered in the air. Strands of red light sprayed from both sides of its hull; with every pulse, the vessel seemed to become a little lighter.

"Brother Wang, what are you still looking at? Hurry aboard. We're still a hundred li from our destination!"

Chen Linger poked her head out and waved at him.

Wang Xuance asked no questions. With a light tap of his foot, he easily leaped onto the floating vessel.

Aside from Chen Linger, he saw an elderly man with white hair seated at the stern with his eyes shut. A "Chen" character was embroidered in gold thread upon his breast.

Wang Xuance guessed that he was likely a trusted member of Chen Linger's clan.

Yet the moment Wang Xuance stepped onto the flying boat, the white-haired elder abruptly opened his eyes. He glanced at Wang Xuance, then shut them again, showing not the slightest intention of making conversation.

"Eh!"

Chen Linger's beautiful eyes shifted, and she lifted a delicate hand to her lips. She seemed to sense that something about Wang Xuance had changed, and asked curiously, "Brother Wang, have you broken through to the Three-Knock Blood Pass?"

Wang Xuance did not answer. He simply found a place to sit, gave a casual laugh, and said, "Miss Chen, might I ask if this vessel is the legendary dharma boat powered by a mineral unique to beneath White Light City, capable of carrying people through the skies?"

Seeing that Wang Xuance had no intention of answering and had instead turned the question back on her, Chen Linger gave him a meaningful look before nodding. "Brother Wang is indeed well-informed. This Flowing Radiant Firecloud Boat relies on the special gas expelled by floatstones to ride the void through the air. A single one is often worth a hundred gold!"

Hearing that it was worth a hundred gold, Wang Xuance secretly marveled.

The Chen Clan truly is extraordinarily wealthy. Chen Linger is probably far more than an ordinary direct descendant of the Chen Clan. She can even procure something like this!

After martial artists became warriors, upon cultivating another realm, they could rely on their abundant power of qi and blood to fly through the air, free of earthly constraints.

The appearance of the Flowing Radiant Firecloud Boat had greatly changed this situation. Of course, to those people, such a flying boat was little more than tasteless chicken ribs.

The three continued flying northwest aboard the vessel for several hours, until a protruding black archway suddenly appeared amid the desert.

It was called an archway, but when the Flowing Radiant Firecloud Boat flew closer, it appeared to be an ancient tree weathered and eroded into a semicircular arc.

Across the eight million li of the Western Desert's sands, it was utterly unremarkable. Wang Xuance could not help wondering what lay within this archway.

"Brother Wang, once we pass through this archway, we will reach the entrance to our destination."

The flying boat shot straight inside. Within, it was another world entirely!

The interior space abruptly became vast. Strange crystals of every shape were embedded in the uneven ceiling, emitting countless pale blue halos.

The scorching heat vanished completely the instant they stepped into this space.

Wang Xuance could even feel a unique chill!

"Brother Wang, hold steady. The flying boat is about to descend!"

No sooner had she spoken than the Flowing Radiant Firecloud Boat blazed with white light and shot downward with a whoosh. Wang Xuance's vision blurred as his body suddenly plunged.

Countless scenes streaked backward at an impossible speed. All Wang Xuance could hear was the whistling of wind splitting through the air like flying arrows.

After falling roughly a hundred zhang, the three finally reached their destination.

A thunderous roar erupted, like an army of thousands upon thousands of horses charging in unison, shaking Wang Xuance's eardrums until they buzzed.

Less than a hundred meters before them stretched a waterfall so broad that its width could not be seen. Like a great white dragon, it tumbled down in roaring torrents. The pool below was over a hundred zhang wide, and its waters were a strange silvery white.

Countless wisps of blue mist drifted from it, turning into threads of icy chill that swept toward them.

Wang Xuance merely breathed in and out slightly, only to discover in astonishment that the air entering his body showed signs of freezing into ice.

Yet a slight circulation of his power of qi and blood dissolved it at once.

"Brother Wang, I presume you have noticed the strangeness of this underground waterfall. Our destination lies behind it!"

Following where Chen Linger pointed, Wang Xuance focused his vision and vaguely made out a dark shadow behind the waterfall.

"Tut, tut. To think the Western Desert contains such a magnificent sight. It truly beggars belief!"

Chen Linger chuckled softly and looked meaningfully at Wang Xuance's masculine face.

"I have heard that a thousand years ago, the entire Western Desert was an endless sea of forests, filled with rare herbs, birds, and beasts. No one knows what calamity turned it into this wasteland!"

"At first, I did not believe such secret tales. But after discovering this place, I have no choice but to believe that the Western Desert may truly once have been a sea of forests!"

The three stared intently at the waterfall before them, failing to notice that a pair of dark green pupils had appeared on the piled stone wall behind them. They watched the trio with an eerily human gaze, silent and utterly strange.

When those eyes fell upon Wang Xuance, they seemed to pause briefly and linger on him for several extra glances!

Wang Xuance's heart suddenly tightened. The power of qi and blood within him surged, and he clenched his five fingers into a fist, raising his arm and swinging it fiercely. His Fist Aura crashed into the stone wall behind him like a cannon blast.

Crack!

The seemingly indestructible stone wall shattered at once. A sweep of mist turned it into floating dust that scattered away.

His sudden action drastically changed the expressions of the other two. Both gathered their focus and readied themselves, forming a triangular standoff.

"Brother Wang, did you sense something unusual?"

Wang Xuance wore a strange expression. He had clearly sensed a special aura, like candlelight in a dark room. His Fist Aura had risen with his thought and struck directly at where that aura had been!

Could my senses have been mistaken?

Wang Xuance remained expressionless and merely shook his head.

"I thought there was some living creature there. Perhaps my senses were wrong."

Upon hearing this, Chen Linger and the elder exchanged glances. Both could see the vigilance in the other's eyes.

"Brother Wang, simply be more careful when we act later."

As suspicions rose among the three, a rumbling, hoarse voice echoed from a dark space behind the waterfall. It sounded like clashing metal, piercing their eardrums.

"Five hundred years. This one has waited five hundred years, and finally, the right opportunity has arrived!"

"Hahaha!!!"

The voice reverberated throughout the entire space, lingering for a long time. Like rolling thunder beneath dark clouds, it grew louder and louder until even the space itself seemed to let out a pained wail!

"Miss Chen, the aura emitted by this waterfall is so frigid. How are we supposed to pass through it?"

"Moreover, the pool beneath the waterfall is bottomless. The waterfall crashes down, yet not a single ripple appears!"

With a flick of his finger, Wang Xuance sent a pebble shooting toward the waterfall. Before it could draw near, a layer of white frost suddenly formed on its surface. Then, with a crack, it shattered apart.

A mere pebble had been frozen to pieces alive!