Chapter 69
Translator: T_Fan
Early the next morning.
Several large flying boats hovered low over the open ground north of Qingshi Market. Cultivators hurried back and forth between them, carrying the last of the cargo aboard.
The flying boat carrying the Danxiao Sect’s alchemists was positioned in the center of the fleet.
The cargo on deck had already been firmly secured, and the Qi Refining disciples were gathered inside the cabin.
While Song Qiming checked the roster, Fang Jiyun and Chen Xiaoying inspected the restrictions throughout the vessel.
When Lee Hyun came aboard, Yue Wugou raised a hand.
“Junior Brother Li. Over here.”
Beside him, Mei Sujun was watching the cabin entrance. Before long, Liu Zhengyuan came aboard late, dragging a shield as tall as himself. Meeting her gaze, he awkwardly hunched his shoulders.
“Sorry I’m late.”
Soon afterward, Tan Yunsheng descended onto the deck.
“Is everyone aboard?”
Song Qiming folded the roster.
“Yes.”
Tan Yunsheng looked over the cabin and deck in turn.
At his waist hung the small gourd he had carried when they first set out from the main mountain.
“If a battle breaks out along the way and we get separated, head for the rendezvous point we agreed on. Don’t go wandering around trying to hitch a ride on some other flying boat.”
The disciples bowed their heads.
“Yes.”
…
Before long, the lead flying boat began moving north.
The lamps along the edges of its deck went out one after another. The flying boats behind it also rose into the dark sky while maintaining their spacing.
The enormous grand formation surrounding Qingshi Market trembled faintly. Then, the instant the final flying boat at the rear passed through, it faded away in midair and went completely dark. The halls and pavilions that had once kept the market bright through the night were plunged into pitch-black darkness in an instant.
…
That afternoon, six flying boats from the Biluo Sect and Danxiao Sect joined them from beyond the eastern mountain range. By evening, when forces withdrawing from another stronghold also linked up with the fleet, the number of Golden Core Elders escorting them had risen to four.
There was Tan Yunsheng, a long-bearded Elder from the Biluo Sect, a newly arrived blue-robed Elder from the Danxiao Sect, and a female cultivator from the Biluo Sect.
The people’s expressions brightened.
With the soaring auras of four Golden Core Elders seeming to pierce the heavens, the heavy atmosphere inside the flying boats gradually eased. With this much strength, they believed they could break through even if they encountered an ambush.
…
For an entire day, the fleet continued north without rest.
The Foundation Establishment cultivators took turns inspecting the flying boats’ restrictions, while the Qi Refining disciples rested in the cabins and replaced spirit stones whenever the order came. Twice, attackers appeared along the way, but after witnessing the fleet’s might, they withdrew without daring to approach.
They were less than a day from the border of the Xuan Kingdom.
Clang―
At the sharp peal of a bell from one of the flying boats, every cultivator on deck looked up at once.
At the exact moment the four Golden Core Elders shot into the air between the flying boats, the dark clouds in the southern sky twisted into a gigantic vortex and tore apart.
Boom!
Along with a pulse of magical power like the heartbeat of the heavens themselves, a massive black beast broke through the clouds and emerged.
Its frost-sharp claws squeezed and burst the clouds apart, and its body, dozens of zhang long (well over 100 m), was covered in black scales. A man in a billowing black robe stood atop the head of the thick-horned flood dragon.
“It’s the Fuhai Sect!”
“That demon beast is an Ink-Scaled Flood Dragon…!”
Before the shout had even ended, an overwhelming pressure descended from the sky.
Three figures appeared behind the flood dragon.
One was a Tier-3 gu warrior from the Qianyang Kingdom, dark-red veins writhing beneath his skin. Another was a Golden Core cultivator holding an enormous bow carved from bones stripped from a living creature, with a bird’s head attached to one end that was still rolling its eyes. The last was a gaunt Golden Core cultivator carrying a massive pitch-black coffin tightly bound in chains and talismans.
Four Golden Core-level cultivators and an upper Tier-3 demon beast had appeared.
The spiritual pressure hanging overhead alone made the flying boats’ defensive light screens creak, and several Qi Refining disciples inside the cabins coughed up blood. Their qi and blood had been thrown into turmoil by the divine senses and waves of magical power radiating in every direction from so many Golden Core-level beings.
“It wouldn’t do to send you off on your little outing empty-handed, now would it?”
The Fuhai Sect cultivator’s mocking voice had barely cut through the air when the Golden Core archer drew his bowstring.
Whoom!
Three red rays shot through the air and embedded themselves ahead of the fleet. The connected formation inscriptions violently seized control of the surrounding wind-aspect spiritual power. The currents supporting the vessels twisted, pressing the flying boats downward.
Creeeak!
The lead flying boat lost its balance and plunged downward. At that instant, a fourth arrow tore through the air toward the hull.
BOOM!
The bronze mirror deployed by the female cultivator of the Biluo Sect knocked the arrow aside. The deflected red light struck a distant mountain peak and pulverized the entire summit.
Clank!
Taking advantage of the opening, the coffin-bearing cultivator released the chains.
The moment the coffin lid opened, yin qi cold enough to freeze the marrow poured out, and a corpse with flesh hardened like bronze stepped forth.
A Bronze-Armored Corpse whose eyes and mouth had been sewn shut with golden thread.
The monster had been a Golden Core cultivator in life. As it stepped upon the empty air, dense corpse qi and spiritual pressure violently swept the surrounding clouds aside.
“Keep heading north! If you stop here, the entire fleet will be slaughtered!”
Tan Yunsheng’s shout struck the disciples’ eardrums. The stopper of the small gourd he had taken from his waist popped open.
Fwoosh!
The instant a tiny spark leaped out, dazzling blue light pierced the dark clouds brought by the Ink-Scaled Flood Dragon and illuminated the surroundings. Every beat of the firebird’s wings, transparent as blue glass, devoured heaven-and-earth spiritual qi at a terrifying rate. The entire sky a hundred zhang ahead of it was swallowed by a net of blue flame.
“Azure Void Glass Flame?!”
The cultivator riding the Ink-Scaled Flood Dragon formed a hand seal in shock, and the flood dragon spat out a gigantic water dragon. Yet wherever the water dragon touched the Azure Void Glass Flame, it instantly vaporized into white mist, and the explosively surging steam blanketed the sky.
Bang!
The firebird darted through the momentary opening and grazed the flood dragon’s scales. Dozens of black scales, harder than steel, melted and fell away, and even the exposed flesh beneath them began to burn.
The flood dragon’s agonized roar shook heaven and earth.
GRAAAAH!
Meanwhile, the Nine-Section Emerald Jade Vine cast out by the elderly Biluo Sect Elder shot into the sky. Hundreds of enormous jade-green vines spread outward and intertwined into a forest, blocking the enemies’ path.
BOOM! CRACK!
The Qianyang Kingdom gu warrior’s blood spear tore through the forest of vines, while the Bronze-Armored Corpse smashed into it, unleashing thunderous explosions.
Even as the fleet sped north at full speed, the storms of magical power raging behind them tossed the flying boats around like fallen leaves. When Lee Hyun looked back, he clearly saw the middle of a distant mountain peak beneath the clashing Golden Core cultivators sliced cleanly away at an angle.
…
No sooner had they escaped the Golden Core cultivators’ battlefield than ambushers swarmed up from the surrounding mountain ranges like hornets.
“Enemies to starboard!”
“Block the flying swords!”
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Under the barrage of flying swords and firebolts coming from every direction, one flying boat at the rear had its stern torn away and burst into flames. As disciples spilled from the falling vessel, Mei Sujun’s silk and Lee Hyun’s Condensed-Essence Grasping Hand reached out in turn, pulling them to safety.
Clang!
The instant Lee Hyun’s Profound Gate Sword knocked aside a flying blade diving toward his face, the now-empty flying boat shattered into pieces and plummeted to the ground.
Signals flared one after another from the boats ahead, and Song Qiming immediately seized the formation plate.
“We split up too!”
As the fleet broke apart in every direction, Yanxia Peak’s flying boat skimmed beneath the clouds and plunged between the mountain ridges.
…
A desperate flight that lasted one shichen (two hours).
But the enemies, having caught the scent of blood, were relentless. Just as they were circling around a valley to the northeast, two gray-scaled Tier-2 demon beast birds, together with twelve Foundation Establishment cultivators and gu warriors, completely blocked the flying boat from both front and rear.
“We push through! Don’t slow down!”
Song Qiming frantically poured spiritual power into the formation plate, while Fang Jiyun plastered talismans over the restrictions on the cracked hull. Yue Wugou and Mei Sujun also drew their weapons.
And at that moment, the balance of the aerial battle shattered all at once.
Twang!
An archer’s purple arrowhead came hurtling in and smashed into Liu Zhengyuan’s shield.
BOOM!
The impact crumpled metal and drove Liu Zhengyuan to one knee, opening a fatal gap in their defenses.
A gu warrior who had concealed his presence below the valley immediately shot upward through that opening. With savage Gu Origin True Qi wrapped around the tip of his spear, he charged straight toward the underside of the flying boat, into the blind spot directly beneath the cabin.
He was radiating spiritual pressure at the level of an early Golden Core cultivator!
He was an early Tier-3 gu warrior.
However, beneath his torn clothing was a deep sword wound running from his chest to his left shoulder, and blood was still flowing from the injury he had yet to properly close. Only the body-protecting spirit light around that area flickered with obvious instability.
Lee Hyun moved at once.
‘Dammit, why is a Tier-3 gu warrior here?’
Whoosh!
Liu Zhengyuan’s shield had been knocked aside, while Mei Sujun’s silk was entangled with one of the demon birds.
Lee Hyun vaulted over the railing and threw himself beneath the hull, compressing spiritual power into the Profound Gate Sword. It was already too late to block the incoming spear shadow head-on.
Flash!
Lee Hyun’s sword slid obliquely along the spear shaft. The gu warrior’s spear tip, which had carried all its force toward piercing the flying boat, veered aside by about a handspan and tore a long gash through the restriction and outer hull beneath the vessel.
As the gu warrior tried to pull his spear back from the unexpected interference, Lee Hyun slid his blade along the point of contact and drove into his opponent’s guard.
His target was the gaping wound in the man’s chest.
Clang!
The Gu Origin True Qi surging through the spear shaft nearly tore apart Lee Hyun’s grip on the sword hilt.
But Lee Hyun did not let go.
The Great Unity Heavenly Dipper Sword Qi that he had compressed to a single point until the very end flashed, piercing straight through the wavering spirit light over the wound.
“Ghk!”
Blood burst from the gu warrior’s chest.
He reflexively twisted aside and managed to avoid having his heart pierced, but the wound he had barely managed to close split open again all the way to his shoulder. The Gu Origin True Qi he had painstakingly brought under control began leaking violently away.
The instant Lee Hyun pulled his sword free, he used the recoil from his Qi Sphere Barrier to propel himself backward.
The spear shaft swung by the gu warrior grazed the tips of his feet, and that counterattack alone blew apart an entire section of the nearby cliff.
‘One mistake and I’m dead!’
The gu warrior stopped his sinking body against a nearby rock face and tried to soar upward again. But true qi surged backward from his torn chest, and he spat out a clot of blood before dropping to one knee.
In that brief opening, the flying boat rounded the bend in the valley.
Lee Hyun also shot upward alongside the hull and returned to the deck.
The disciples on deck had only stumbled from the impact beneath the hull and had failed to properly witness the brief clash. Before they could even regain their footing, attacks once again poured in from every direction.
Clang!
Yue Wugou’s iron plaque knocked aside a demon bird’s claws and flew wide through the air. At that instant, another gu warrior slipped into his blind spot and unleashed countless strands of insect silk.
Hum!
Lee Hyun twisted his left hand inside his sleeve.
A brief surge of Earth-Origin Force dragged the gu warrior sideways, and Yue Wugou’s iron plaque, which had been flying wide, smashed directly into the man’s collarbone.
Crunch!
“AAARGH!”
As the insect silk scattered with his scream, Yue Wugou’s second iron plaque crushed the man’s back and sent him plummeting below.
But there was no time to rest.
BOOM! CRACK!
The other demon bird threw its massive weight against the bow of the flying boat.
The railing shattered, sending splinters of wood raining everywhere, and Liu Zhengyuan, who had been bracing his shield, coughed up blood as the bone in his shoulder was crushed.
“Junior Brother Liu!”
Chen Xiaoying shouted as the jade ruler she launched smashed into an enemy cultivator’s side and sent him falling.
While Mei Sujun’s silk wrapped around the demon bird’s neck and hurled it away from the vessel, Lee Hyun slid down along the broken outer plating at the stern.
The Profound Gate Sword flashed in his hand.
Great Unity Heavenly Dipper, Twelfth Form: Bending Turn.
An archer who had been drawing his bow at the thinned light screen beneath the flying boat had his wrist effortlessly severed by Lee Hyun’s sword qi as it curved through the air.
“Aaagh!”
Before the scream had even ended, a cultivator carrying a shield refined from human skin charged in.
But Lee Hyun’s arm moved with unbelievable speed.
His sword light split the shield apart, and the cultivator’s head flew from his shoulders.
Amid the spray of blood mist, Lee Hyun snatched the man’s storage pouch and returned to the deck.
Seeing their companions fall one after another, the enemies widened their distance the instant he landed.
The archer with the purple bow, apparently their commander, retreated and shouted.
“Don’t engage the sword cultivator! Punch through the side of the boat!”
“Once the boat crashes, everything aboard is ours!”
The enemies seemed to believe that if they simply shot down the battered flying boat from a distance, all the storage pouches and wealth carried aboard it would fall into their hands.
The remaining enemies lowered their altitude together and began unleashing wave after wave of attacks on the flying boat.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Under the rain of magic-tool attacks, the deck rocked violently enough to overturn, and the cabin ceiling collapsed as the disciples screamed.
Even the defensive barrier sustained by the formation plate began to flicker.
At this rate, the flying boat would be blown apart in midair.
‘I need to take that guy out first.’
Lee Hyun stepped onto the railing.
“Junior Brother Li!”
“I’ll be right back.”
Bang!
Before the words had even finished, Lee Hyun shot into the air like a bolt of lightning.
The archer sneered and aimed his bow at the sword cultivator who had leaped into open air.
At the same time, a gu warrior sprayed a web of insect silk from his palm, blocking Lee Hyun’s path.
But then,
Hum!
Lee Hyun clenched his left hand hard in midair.
The gu warrior blocking his path pitched forward as though dragged by a magnet.
The web of insect silk collapsed in the wrong direction, completely obstructing the archer’s view behind him instead.
“You bastard…!”
Slice!
Before the archer could even finish cursing, the gu warrior’s head flew off.
Lee Hyun burst through the spray of blood, and the startled archer fired three arrows at his face in rapid succession.
Thwip-thwip-thwip!
The purple arrows flew fast enough to scorch the air.
BOOM!
Lee Hyun’s Qi Sphere Barrier pressed against the first arrow and knocked it off course.
The spinning Profound Iron Buckler knocked away the second.
The final arrow slid along the blade of the Profound Gate Sword, throwing off sparks with a skin-crawling shriek.
SCREEECH!
By the time the sparks grazed his cheek, Lee Hyun had already closed to directly beneath the archer’s chin.
‘What a monster…!’
Despite his shock, the archer reacted quickly and hurled away the bow in his hands, a high-grade magic tool.
The restrictions engraved into the bow released, and the weapon exploded on the spot.
BOOOOM!
‘You didn’t expect that!’
Using the raging flames as a shield, the archer retreated and had just pulled his most treasured supreme-grade magic tool bow from his storage pouch when it happened.
With the Profound Iron Buckler held before him, Lee Hyun tore straight through the flames without hesitation.
His sword was already thrusting toward the archer.
The startled man hastily raised his bow, and bow and sword collided, releasing a violent shockwave.
CLAAANG!
Disbelief spread across the man’s face.
Lee Hyun’s sword had pierced straight through the joint in the bow stave.
Crack!
The sturdy spirit bow shrieked as it broke in two.
The sword tip continued forward, shattering the man’s body-protecting spirit light and plunging deep into his chest.
Spurt!
“Urgh….”
The focus vanished from the man’s eyes as his heart was pierced.
Lee Hyun kicked the corpse away and spun around, swinging his sword horizontally toward a demonic cultivator who had tried to ambush him from behind with a flying sword.
Flash!
A crescent of sword light carved through the air and cleanly separated the cultivator’s upper and lower body.
Blood rained from the sky.
Lee Hyun caught up to the flying boat far ahead and lightly landed on the deck.
Drops of blood fell steadily from the tip of his sword.
“…….”
With even their commander killed in an instant, the remaining demon birds and demonic cultivators recoiled in horror and climbed higher into the sky.
None of them dared approach the flying boat again.
“Full speed ahead!”
At Song Qiming’s roar, the flying boat thundered forward and slipped into a gorge between the mountains.
…
Only after flying for another shichen and completely leaving the mountain range behind did the cultivators aboard the flying boat collapse to the deck, gasping for breath.
Liu Zhengyuan clutched his shattered shoulder and barely managed to set his shield down with trembling hands, while Yue Wugou sat against the blood-soaked railing and tossed a Qi-Restoring Pill into his mouth.
“…Junior Brother Li.”
Yue Wugou looked up at Lee Hyun with dazed eyes.
“That archer?”
“I killed him.”
“Good, good…. The bastard deserved to die….”
At Lee Hyun’s calm reply, Yue Wugou let out a hollow laugh and muttered to himself.
Perhaps the release from the crushing tension had finally brought his exhaustion to its peak, because he kept repeating the same words blankly.
…
As the sun began sinking toward the west, the long mountain range gradually lowered.
Beyond the countless mountain ridges they had crossed, broad plains and a majestic river unfolded beneath the flying boat.
Song Qiming’s hand stopped as he compared the terrain ahead with the map spread before him.
The people on deck rose to their feet, and the disciples inside the cabin began emerging one by one.
Far away, enormous pillars of light towered over the mountain ridge marking the border.
Beneath them, the flags of three sects fluttered above the fortified pass.
The Azure Cloud Sect, the Taixuan Sect, and the Jinding Sect.
Several flying boats that had arrived before them were already descending in a line below.
After sending a voice-transmission talisman toward the pass to announce their identities, Song Qiming glanced back at the southern sky.
There was still no sign of Tan Yunsheng or the other Elders.
“The Xuan Kingdom…!”
At someone’s tearful cry, the battered flying boat slowly began descending toward the pass, bathed in the sunset glow of relief.
⚬──────────✧──────────⚬
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