The morning mist over Purple Sky Peak had yet to fully disperse when Han Li and Zi Ling boarded the Cloud-Chasing Guards' Silver-Armored Ship. Star patterns covered its hull, and the Silver Shuttle at its wave-cleaving bow gleamed coldly. Ten Cloud-Chasing Guards stood with halberds in hand, the magnetic essence crystals on their armor resonating with the sea breeze to keep the fiendish aura along their route at bay.
Han Li stood at the bow, the Pure Water Source Heart in his palm a clear, deep blue.
[System notification: Water-Magnetic Unity fusion level: 28%. Can draw upon ambient water spirits and magnetic essence aura to increase formation deployment efficiency.]
Beside him, Zi Ling adjusted the Star-Illusion Maze Formation Flags. As the star patterns flowed across their surfaces, a pale silver barrier formed around the ship, weakening the resentment attacks favored by the Blood Lotus Cult Remnant Soul by thirty percent.
"Myriad Demon Valley is eight hundred li from here. We'll pass through the Soul-Severing Strait, where sea beasts often appear." Captain Chen pointed at the sea chart before them, his voice hard as iron. "The Grand Elder ordered us to take extra care when sailing through Soul-Severing Gorge. Last month, an Enforcement Hall patrol was ambushed here by remnants of the Blood Lotus Cult. Every last one of them fell." Han Li nodded, his gaze settling on the reefs marked within Soul-Severing Gorge on the chart. The magnetic essence there was chaotic-a perfect place for the Blood Lotus Cult to lay an ambush.
After half a day's sailing, Soul-Severing Gorge lay before them. Sheer cliffs rose on both sides as though hewn by blades, and blood-colored talismans flickered among the reefs: the Blood Soul Banner's Sea-Binding Formation. Zi Ling quietly unfurled the Star-Illusion Maze Formation. Pale silver starlit