Wang Fu opened his mouth, his expression filled with disbelief.
He could not believe not only that Wang Yan had appeared here, but, even more shockingly, that Wang Yan had appeared... aboard this flying boat.
And it was not just Wang Yan. On the deck, he spotted several other familiar figures: Li Yuan, his future daughter-in-law Li Hong...
The people aboard the flying boat were, naturally, Lin Xuan and his companions.
After leaving Linyue City, Wang Yan had told Lin Xuan about his worries. Upon learning of them, Lin Xuan had deliberately extended his Divine Sense throughout their flight.
Sure enough, not long after entering the interior of the Moon-Reflecting Mountain Range, he had discovered traces of Wang Yan's father.
That was what had prompted the sword strike that had just shot over.
Lin Xuan felt rather moved as well. Fortunately, his Divine Sense had detected them in advance. Had he been a step later, perhaps...
Qin Gang and the others looked at Wang Fu, then at Wang Yan aboard the flying boat, sinking into utter bewilderment.
Their old friend Wang Fu actually knew someone so distinguished aboard that flying boat?
No, this went far beyond merely knowing him.
But from their conversations with Wang Fu along the way, they had learned that he came from nothing more than a small city on the fringes of the Tangqing Empire. Even the strongest member of his clan had not reached the Tribulation Realm. How could he have any connection to a King Realm expert?
If he truly had such connections, Wang Fu would never have been reduced to traveling with them...
Soon, Wang Yan jumped off the flying boat and began talking with Wang Fu.
Lin Xuan watched the two quietly without urging them along.
"Yan'er, this senior is...?"
At last, Wang Fu voiced the question that puzzled him most.
At the same time, his gaze turned toward the exceptionally handsome, white-robed sword cultivator at the very front of the deck.
"Father, let me introduce him. This is my master."
Hearing this, Lin Xuan nodded to Wang Fu with a smile.
Wang Fu, however, was rather overwhelmed by the favor of that slight smile and hurriedly cupped his fists in return.
"Wang Fu pays his respects, Senior."
He could hardly be blamed for reacting this way.
A King Realm expert was an existence utterly beyond his reach. Though he had seen them before, he had never spoken to any King Realm expert, nor had any ever spared him a proper glance. To such existences, even those in the Tribulation Realm were mere ants, let alone someone like him, a mere Heavenly Profound cultivator.
"There's no need for that. Since you're Wang Yan's father, you're one of us. Come aboard," Lin Xuan invited.
And so, Wang Fu boarded the flying boat with several equally stunned members of the Wang clan.
"You can come aboard too."
Just as Qin Han and the other members of the adventuring party were looking on enviously, Lin Xuan's voice rang out again.
"Ah? Th-thank you, Senior! Thank you, Senior!"
After they collected the Cloud Shuttle Bird's corpse, the flying boat took to the sky once more, speeding toward the Heaven-Burning Mountain Range.
Lin Xuan had returned to his room to continue cultivating in seclusion. He could feel that comprehending his final Great Dao was already within reach!
Wang Fu, Wang Yan, and the others remained on deck, gazing at the scenery racing backward, their hearts filled with emotion.
Not long ago, they had struggled to advance even a single step through the mountains, living in constant fear. They could not even sleep soundly at night, growing terribly tense at the slightest disturbance.
But now...
A longsword hovered above the flying boat, radiating terrifying sword intent. It was this sword intent that granted the boat an unobstructed passage. Every Demon Beast fled well clear, watching in terror as the boat swept overhead.
In the past, Wang Fu, Qin Gang, and the other members of the adventuring party would never even have dared imagine such a thing.
Previously, they would have had to skirt around any random Demon Beast below, terrified of provoking it.
And now?
They flew straight over its head, and it dared not make the slightest move.
It left them sighing with emotion.
The interior of the Moon-Reflecting Mountain Range, with danger lurking on every side, now seemed like the flying boat's own back garden.
"Brother Wang Fu, thanks to you, even old Qin here has had the good fortune to ride a King-grade flying boat! Hahaha..." Qin Gang was rather moved as well.
Two days later, the flying boat reached the entrance to the Heaven-Burning Mystic Realm.
There was no sea of people as they had imagined, only scattered cultivators who, like Lin Xuan and his companions, had just arrived.
"It seems the entrance opened early too, though we probably aren't very late," Wang Fu said slowly, looking at the entrance to the Heaven-Burning Mystic Realm, which glowed with a dim purple light.
Fortunately, they had boarded Yan'er's master's King-grade flying boat. Otherwise, even if they had reached their destination safely, most of the time before the mystic realm closed would likely have passed.
"Master, we've reached the entrance to the mystic realm!"
Su Lianxin sent a voice transmission to Lin Xuan inside the flying boat's pavilion.
Inside, Lin Xuan slowly opened his eyes. Compared with a few days ago, he had grown considerably stronger!
Over these past few days, he had fully comprehended the Great Dao of Thunder Sword!
He had now comprehended all twenty-two Great Daos!
Everything was ready! He only needed to find a place rich in Spiritual Qi and prepare enough Qi-restoring pills, and he could attempt to break through to the King Realm!
Besides that, Lin Xuan had also comprehended the fourth level of the emperor-grade escape technique, Heavenly Demon Shadow!
Now, he could create ten demonic shadow clones, each possessing twenty percent of his true body's combat strength!
Twenty percent of Lin Xuan's combat strength...
After all, the current Lin Xuan had already comprehended twenty-two Great Daos!
Even with only twenty percent of his combat strength, they were beyond the comparison of ordinary King Realm cultivators.
In other words, whenever he wished, Lin Xuan could summon ten King Realm demonic shadow clones!
Whether used to fight enemies or escape, they could produce extraordinary results.
"Let's head inside too."
"Take these two pieces of black jade. If you encounter a life-threatening crisis, crush them."
Each piece of black jade contained one of Lin Xuan's demonic shadow clones. He did not explain this, however. If possible, he hoped Wang Yan and Su Lianxin would never need to use them.
With that, Lin Xuan turned into a streak of light and rushed into the mystic realm, rather than entering together with Su Lianxin, Wang Yan, and the others.
Anyone entering the Heaven-Burning Mystic Realm would be randomly transported somewhere within it, so there was little difference whether they entered together. Even if they went in at the same time, they would not appear together in the same place inside.
The instant he stepped into the entrance to the Heaven-Burning Mystic Realm, his vision went dark. When he could see his surroundings again, Lin Xuan found himself in a desert, with nothing but yellow sand stretching endlessly as far as the eye could see.
He immediately spread his Divine Sense, but soon froze.
He discovered that his Divine Sense seemed severely restricted inside the Heaven-Burning Mystic Realm. Now, it could only probe a few li away-a difference like heaven and earth compared with the outside world.
"Hmm?"
Even so, within those few li covered by his Divine Sense, Lin Xuan still discovered a place exceedingly rich in Spiritual Qi!
"Is that... a spiritual spring?"
Not far ahead lay a small oasis!
Of course, that was not the important part. The important part was that the oasis actually held a spiritual spring! And its Spiritual Qi was far from ordinarily rich.
"What kind of luck is this?"
Even Lin Xuan was astonished by his own luck.
He had thought that if he could gather half of what he needed to break through to the King Realm during this trip into the mystic realm, it would have been worthwhile.
Yet, unexpectedly...
The moment he entered, he encountered an exceptionally pure spiritual spring!
Lin Xuan made a rough assessment. This spiritual spring could fully meet his needs for breaking through to the King Realm! No! It held far more than that!
In other words, he could attempt his King Realm breakthrough right here!
How could he not be excited?
Taking a deep breath, Lin Xuan did not hesitate in the slightest and sped straight toward the oasis ahead!
The few li passed in an instant. In the blink of an eye, Lin Xuan arrived before the oasis and its spiritual spring.
Whoosh-
But before Lin Xuan could examine it closely, two more sounds of rushing air followed close behind.
Lin Xuan looked over and saw two young female cultivators who had arrived just a step later than him.
"Oh? We were actually half a step too slow."
The woman in green leading the way had a pure, otherworldly air and looked only in her twenties. A green longsword rested on her back as she regarded Lin Xuan nearby with a somewhat playful gaze.
Behind her followed a girl in a white dress, who looked slightly younger and was far less beautiful.
On closer inspection, although their clothing differed in color, its patterns and style were identical. They presumably came from the same faction.
Though neither was very old, their strength was astonishing!
Both were at the Tribulation Realm Ninth Level!
No one in the Seven Moon-Reflecting Kingdoms could have cultivated to the Tribulation Realm Ninth Level at such an age.
These two before him likely came not from any of the Nine Nations of Reflecting Moon, but from beyond those nine nations...
Even across the entire Profound Domain, exceedingly few could cultivate to the Tribulation Realm Ninth Level at such an age.
"Sister Chu, let me..." The white-dressed girl behind the woman in green was just about to step forward, only to be stopped by the woman in white.
The white-dressed girl pouted, rather unwilling. In her view, why would such a minor character require Sister Chu to act? She could easily deal with him herself.
Though she was not a prodigy on the Mystic Ranking, an ordinary Tribulation Realm Ninth Level cultivator would last only a single move against her.
There was no need for Sister Chu, a Mystic Ranking prodigy, to act.
"I found this spiritual spring first. Please look elsewhere, you two." Had it been anyone else, Lin Xuan would simply have told them to get lost.
But these two were clearly no ordinary people. Prodigies of their caliber could not be nurtured by an ordinary faction, not merely in the Nine Nations of Reflecting Moon, but even in the Profound Domain.
"Hahaha..."
Unexpectedly, Lin Xuan's words made the green-robed girl behind Sister Chu burst into laughter, her laughter thick with mockery.
Chu Yuechan narrowed her eyes at Lin Xuan. "You jest, young master. You did indeed discover this spiritual spring first, but treasures here have always belonged to the capable, not whoever arrives first. Having cultivated to such a realm, surely you understand that principle?"
"How about this? Don't say I didn't give you a chance. I see that your cultivation realm is comparable to mine. If you can take one strike of my sword, I'll give you thirty percent of this spiritual spring. If not, please relinquish this place. What do you say?"
Hearing this, the green-dressed girl beside her found it even harder to suppress her laughter.
She rolled her eyes at Sister Chu in front of her.
Senior sister, you call this giving him a chance?
He might have a chance of taking one strike from me, but one from you?
A sword strike from a Mystic Ranking prodigy?
How vast was the Profound Domain? It contained hundreds, if not a thousand, countries like the Seven Moon-Reflecting Kingdoms. How many geniuses did it hold?
Yet the Mystic Ranking had only a hundred names.
Everyone who could ascend that ranking was an unparalleled prodigy. Someone like Sister Chu, though at the Tribulation Realm Ninth Level, possessed strength comparable to a true King Realm cultivator. Taking one strike from her was equivalent to taking a King Realm sword strike, or even something stronger...
Never mind these tiny Seven Moon-Reflecting Kingdoms-even across the entire Profound Domain, few would dare claim they could take one sword strike from Sister Chu at the same cultivation realm.
How is that giving him a chance? Sister Chu, you're too wicked.
From her words, it was not hard to hear the white-dressed woman's absolute confidence in her own strength.
But... Lin Xuan was equally confident in his own strength!
He shook his head, rejecting her proposal.
"No, but I have a proposal of my own."
"Oh?" Chu Yuechan looked at Lin Xuan with slight surprise. "What proposal? Let's hear it, young master."
Lin Xuan looked straight at him. At some point, a white jade longsword had appeared in his hand. "If you can take one strike of my sword, this spring is yours."