Because Ah Yin and Bibi Dong had both noticed a problem: starting on their second day in Spirit City, their husband seemed to have awakened some special ability.
That special ability made both her and Bibi Dong grow increasingly fond of Zhao Ling, while their negative impressions of him steadily diminished.
If Zhao Ling's constitution had not been so outrageously monstrous, they would never have wanted to leave his side for even a moment.
Although neither Ah Yin nor Bibi Dong knew exactly what that special ability was, they vaguely suspected that it increased his attractiveness to women.
For the two of them, this ability was quite good. It would become much easier to trick other women into becoming sisters in the same trench.
So what if Bo Saixi had loved someone else before? As long as she stayed beside their husband a little longer, her affection for him would keep growing until she forgot her former sweetheart.
Ah Yin chuckled wickedly to herself, then asked Bo Saixi affectionately,
"Bo Saixi, you aren't from Spirit City, are you? I remember you seemed to say that day that you'd come to Spirit City to find someone?"
Hearing this, Bo Saixi raised her beautiful eyes and glanced at Zhao Ling and Ah Yin, considering whether to tell them about Tang Chen.
She thought that perhaps, after she mentioned Tang Chen, Zhao Ling, who knew his whereabouts, would be unable to resist revealing something.
So she rehearsed her words in her head before replying solemnly,
"Yes. Actually, I'm not from your mainland. To be precise, I'm a resident of an island called Sea God Island, very, very far from your mainland. I..."
Bo Saixi explained where she came from and that she had come to the mainland to find a man named Tang Chen.
She had also come to Spirit City this time to learn Tang Chen's whereabouts from an old friend.
Besides that, she played the victim, saying that she had encountered a pickpocket during her time in Spirit City, who had stolen every last bit of her travel money.
She did not have a penny left on her now. When she reached the sad part, she even used a handkerchief to dab at the nonexistent tears in her eyes.
In any case, she went with seven parts truth and three parts falsehood. She believed that if she showed enough sincerity, she might be able to coax something out of Zhao Ling.
As she recounted those incidents, she watched Zhao Ling out of the corner of her eye, wanting to see just how long he could hold out.
Zhao Ling did indeed know exactly where Tang Chen was, but she had completely overlooked one thing: men were intensely possessive.
Even if Bo Saixi was not Zhao Ling's woman, what normal man would willingly tell her Tang Chen's whereabouts after seeing her breathtaking beauty? Would that not be sending a lamb into a tiger's jaws?
Faced with a beauty like her, a normal man would generally think it best to have her for himself.
Even if he could not have her, he would not want anyone else to have her either. Was her hope of learning Tang Chen's whereabouts from Zhao Ling not a fool's dream?
After hearing Bo Saixi's words, Zhao Ling's mouth twitched wildly, and he grumbled inwardly.
Hey, could you stop lying through your teeth? Who are you? The esteemed High Priest of Sea God Island.
What pickpocket would have the nerve to steal your money? Wouldn't that be asking for death? Even if you want to cadge a carriage ride, at least come up with a decent excuse!
Ah Yin's mouth also twitched wildly. She looked at Bo Saixi as though she were an idiot, wondering whether this woman was a complete dimwit.
Did she not know that her husband knew her identity and had even complained about her in his Diary? Yet here she was, lying through her teeth and even coming up with an excuse about encountering a pickpocket. Did she not find that ridiculous?
Of course, Bo Saixi knew at that moment that Zhao Ling knew he was lying, and that the woman named Ah Yin also knew she was lying.
She also knew that Zhao Ling and Ah Yin were both pretending to know nothing. They were all playing dumb with one another, yet she had no way to bring things into the open.
Whenever she tried to bring up anything about the contents of Zhao Ling's Diary Copy, she, the High Priest of Sea God Island, would lose the ability to speak.
This gave her a headache, but then another possibility occurred to her. Since she could not speak about the contents of the Diary Copy, could she write them down instead?
If she could write them down, she could ask about Tang Chen's whereabouts openly, face-to-face. When that happened... At that thought, Bo Saixi's eyes lit up.
Zhao Ling, however, completely ignored her expectant gaze. He lifted the curtain and looked out the carriage window, discovering that they were already outside the city, though they still passed carriages and pedestrians heading into Spirit City.
So he called to the driver, "Hey, driver, sorry for the trouble, but could you find a quieter little road and let us off?"
"Sure!" The driver nodded and answered without hesitation.
Zhao Ling had already told the driver that they were only leaving the city this time. The driver had no objection, as long as the payment was to his liking.
But this puzzled Ah Yin. Had he heard Bo Saixi say she had no money and decided he did not want to let her hitch a ride?
That should not be it. Her husband was not such a petty person.
Yet Ah Yin could not figure out what Zhao Ling intended by having the carriage go down a secluded path.
Bo Saixi also began to feel dissatisfied with Zhao Ling's behavior. Hitching a ride had merely been an excuse to stay beside him, yet he was actually getting off right away?
What was that supposed to mean? Did he dislike her that much? He would not even let her hitch a carriage ride?
Chapter 108: Using the Cloud-Piercing Shuttle
Wait. Another possibility occurred to Bo Saixi: Zhao Ling had specifically asked the driver to take a secluded path because he intended to do something improper to her.
Bo Saixi found that possibility laughable. Since he knew she was the High Priest of Sea God Island, he ought to understand her strength.
If he really went somewhere with no village ahead and no inn behind to attempt anything improper, she could absolutely beat Zhao Ling until he cried for his parents.
After some thought, Bo Saixi still could not work out what Zhao Ling intended, so she decided to wait and see.
Following Zhao Ling's instructions, the driver turned onto a secluded path and only stopped the carriage once they reached a country lane with no village ahead and no inn behind.
Zhao Ling gave Ah Yin a look. "Yin'er, let's get out."
Ah Yin did not know what Zhao Ling wanted to do, but because she trusted him, she said nothing more and followed him out of the carriage.
Bo Saixi was now in an awkward position. She could either get out with Zhao Ling and Ah Yin or return to Spirit City with the carriage.
Naturally, Bo Saixi was unwilling to give up this chance to follow Zhao Ling and inquire about Tang Chen, so she gritted her teeth and got out as well.
After receiving his payment, the driver turned his horse around and drove away, leaving Zhao Ling and the two women amid a sky full of dust.
Zhao Ling now turned his gaze toward Bo Saixi and asked tentatively,
"Miss Bo-Bo-whatever, where exactly do you want to go? You aren't planning to keep following my wife and me, are you?"
"Ahem..." Bo Saixi immediately choked. This fellow clearly knew her identity, yet insisted on pretending not to know her. Bo-whatever? Bo your damn sister!
Forcing down the urge to hit him, Bo Saixi put on a sorrowful expression and said forlornly,
"I don't know where to go either. I can only take one step at a time. Sorry for disturbing your peace."
Hearing Bo Saixi's forlorn words, Ah Yin merely found them amusing.
She knew that, having climbed into their carriage, Bo Saixi certainly would not simply leave like this-not before finding out something about that man named Tang Chen, at least.
However, Ah Yin felt she needed to step in and say a few words now. Otherwise, given her husband's intermittent tendency to be utterly clueless with women, he might really drive her away.
Would that not mean the sister-in-arms who was almost within their grasp would sprout wings and fly away?
At that thought, Ah Yin hurriedly took Zhao Ling's hand and said tenderly,
"Darling, this lady encountered a pickpocket just a few days after coming to Spirit City and lost all her travel money. She's already so pitiful. Why don't we let her come with us?
"With Dong'er staying behind in Spirit City, I feel so lonely. There's no one to chat with about everyday things. Now there's someone who can keep me company and talk with me. Isn't that good?"
She gazed at Zhao Ling expectantly until he finally could not help nodding.
"All right. If she wants to stay, she can stay. She won't be in the way anyway. Your husband can afford to support her."
Zhao Ling nodded without hesitation, finally agreeing to let Bo Saixi stay beside him. In any case, he felt he was not losing out.
Even if he could not have such a beautiful woman, simply keeping her before him as a feast for the eyes was still a gain.
At that thought, Zhao Ling grinned in delight. The next moment, however, he took the Cloud-Piercing Shuttle the system had given him out of his Storage Space.
He tossed the Cloud-Piercing Shuttle into the distance, and it actually began expanding at a speed visible to the naked eye.
In barely ten seconds, the Cloud-Piercing Shuttle expanded into a large wooden ship with two sails.
The ship was over twenty meters long, about six meters wide, and three stories tall. Although it could not compare to the large ships Zhao Ling had seen by the sea before transmigrating,
it could not only travel on water but also fly, which pleased Zhao Ling greatly.
Seeing the large ship suddenly appear before them, both Bo Saixi and Ah Yin looked shocked.
Wh-what on earth? How had such a huge ship suddenly appeared? This... this made no sense!
They did not seem to have ever heard of ships on the Douluo Continent that could grow and shrink before, had they?
More importantly, they were on land right now. Was he sure he did not have a hole in his head, taking out a ship on land?
Zhao Ling paid no attention to the two women's dumbfounded expressions. He scooped Ah Yin up in his arms, lightly tapped the ground with his toes, and flew straight onto the ship.
Seeing this, Bo Saixi leaped aboard as well. Once on deck, the three of them could finally see the entire ship more clearly.
Zhao Ling saw a helm at the bow for controlling its direction and a small Spirit-Gathering Array at the stern.
After putting Ah Yin down, Zhao Ling headed toward the Spirit-Gathering Array at the stern and took two spirit stones out of his Storage Space.
These spirit stones had come free when Zhao Ling first obtained the Cloud-Piercing Shuttle. There had been five in total.
Every single one was extremely precious to Zhao Ling. The problem was that his rewards for writing his Diary almost never included spirit stones, which frustrated him greatly.
The instant Zhao Ling took out the spirit stones, Bo Saixi's pupils contracted. She could sense that they contained an abundance of Heaven and Earth Origin Power, and it was exceptionally pure.
She simply could not understand why Zhao Ling had taken out these stones. She silently watched him approach the small Spirit-Gathering Array and place the two spirit stones in its center.
Immediately, Bo Saixi sensed Heaven and Earth Origin Power pouring out of the spirit stones, while the small Spirit-Gathering Array also drew upon the surrounding Heaven and Earth Origin Power.
Under the combined effects of the Heaven and Earth Origin Power pouring from the spirit stones and that drawn in by the small Spirit Gathering Array, the entire ship gradually floated off the ground.
Before long, it had risen to a height of a hundred meters, leaving Bo Saixi even more dumbfounded.
Th-this ship could actually fly? What was going on? While Bo Saixi stared in shock, Zhao Ling had already walked to the bow.
Zhao Ling gripped the helm with both hands and slowly turned it, trying to control the Cloud-Piercing Shuttle's flight direction.
After spending a few minutes figuring it out, he successfully mastered how to operate the Cloud-Piercing Shuttle and steered it north toward Heaven Dou City.
The Cloud-Piercing Shuttle flew higher and higher, soon ascending several thousand meters into the sky. During the flight, all three of them felt the fierce winds whistling past.
Fortunately, the Cloud-Piercing Shuttle did not fly particularly fast. It could only cover about 3,000 li a day.
Thus, the fierce winds were not too violent either. Otherwise, Zhao Ling really would have worried that Ah Yin, whose Soul Power he had restrained with the Soul-Sealing Seal, might be blown overboard.
Ah Yin came to Zhao Ling's side with a face full of wonder and asked in puzzlement, "Darling, what's the story with this ship? It can actually fly? How amazing!"
"This ship is called the Cloud-Piercing Shuttle. It's designed for both sea and air travel, a treasure I found in some ancient ruins."
Zhao Ling lied through his teeth, but neither woman was a fool. Ancient ruins? They had never even heard of any...
Chapter 109: Clinging to Wishful Thinking
While trying to master the Cloud-Piercing Shuttle, Zhao Ling unexpectedly discovered that it actually had an autonomous flight function.
Zhao Ling's eyes instantly lit up. The Cloud-Piercing Shuttle could even fly on its own! He supposed it must have come from some immortal cultivation plane. Otherwise, how could it be so outrageous?
Zhao Ling tried activating the autonomous flight function. The next instant, two devices rose from the deck beside the helm.
One was a direction indicator akin to a compass, while the other looked like a map of the present-day Douluo Continent.
Zhao Ling first adjusted the compass to point toward Heaven Dou Imperial City, then raised his hand and lightly tapped the city's location on the map.
The Cloud-Piercing Shuttle immediately adjusted its course slightly and continued flying into the distance, while Zhao Ling could finally let go of the helm and free his hands.
Not bad, not bad. I really didn't expect this thing to be able to fly on its own. As expected, anything the system produces is top quality.
Delighted, Zhao Ling inwardly gave the system a thumbs-up, then turned his gaze toward Ah Yin beside him. "Yin'er, come on. I'll take you inside to have a look around and see what the cabin is like."
"Mm..." Hearing that Zhao Ling wanted to take her inside to look around, Ah Yin's eyes instantly lit up as well.
She was also very curious about what the inside of this self-flying ship looked like, so she immediately linked her arm through Zhao Ling's and eagerly headed into the cabin.
Bo Saixi did not follow them. Her delicate brows furrowed slightly as she felt that Zhao Ling had more and more secrets about him. He actually possessed a flying ship like this.
Bo Saixi could say with certainty that not only did Sea God Island lack such a flying ship, but the entire Douluo Continent had never possessed one either.
Bo Saixi absolutely refused to believe Zhao Ling's claim that he had obtained this flying ship from some ancient ruins. She had never heard of any such ancient ruins, much less ancient ruins containing flying ships like this.
And why did Zhao Ling know that Tang Chen had been ensnared by the Rakshasa God and parasitized by the Blood-Red Nine-Headed Bat King?
No matter how exceptionally gifted Zhao Ling was, he was still only a Titled Douluo. How could he know about the affairs of deities? That in itself was highly unusual.
Yet Zhao Ling did know that the Rakshasa God had ensnared Tang Chen, and he also knew about Tang Chen's fall. Meanwhile, the all-knowing, all-powerful Lord Sea God had actually needed to let her learn of this by showing her Zhao Ling's Diary Copy.
Bo Saixi carefully reviewed everything that had happened recently and suddenly felt as though she had gotten something wrong.
No, something wasn't right here. If Lord Sea God wanted to deliver an oracle, he would generally either appear directly or transmit his voice into my ears.
Sending Zhao Ling's Diary Copy to me like this without saying anything, leaving me to figure everything out myself-this didn't seem to fit Lord Sea God's character.
Could I have been mistaken? Lord Sea God hadn't sent Zhao Ling's Diary Copy to me at all, nor had he issued an oracle telling me to leave Sea God Island for the Douluo Continent to save Tang Chen.
Before you continue