Canghai shifted his gaze, then noticed a bottle of second-grade Spirit Summoning Pills. The medicinal fragrance was rich, and the spiritual energy fluctuation far surpassed Huo Tian Tian’s work.
Ji Shiyu merely slapped something together to get by, and no one knew where she had gone to play. Even so, the result was a top-grade Xuan-rank pill, not far from Earth-rank.
Little Yellow Hair’s talent in alchemical arts was equally impressive. With a Heavenly Dao Alchemy Master around to learn from, both of them improved rapidly.
Canghai pointed out the deficiencies one by one and felt greatly relieved. He did not hold back his praise for the disciples of Clear Mist Peak.
Qin Xiang broke into a sweet smile and suddenly lowered her head. The young girls also thanked him obediently.
As night fell, the air grew colder. A white-clad immortal who had been resting in the inner chambers drifted in, and the temperature dropped further.
“Mister Canghai.”
“Fairy Bingling.”
The two exchanged polite greetings, a nod of acquaintance, neither too close nor too distant.
Yan Bingling’s eyes were tightly shut. She frowned and asked,
“Still not back?”
Qin Xiang shook her head.
Ever since Shiyu started hanging around with Li Su, she came back later each day. Having just arrived at the Outer Sea, everything was new and fresh. As her stepmother, she didn’t want to say too much, afraid the child would find her nagging. After all, they would be living under the same roof from now on, spending day and night together.
After all, our girl is the new champion of the Cloud Top Go Sword Tournament, unrivaled across the Sea of Clouds Five Peaks. Known throughout the jianghu as Little Fairy Shiyu, her reputation is immense.
“When did Little Aunt Master become so concerned about that child?”
“Love me, love my dog?”
Qin Xiang suppressed a chuckle. Harmony in the family brings prosperity. She didn’t want her husband to be troubled by the friction between his mother-in-law and his adopted daughter.
Yan Bingling curled her lips,
“Hmph, I just don’t want to be derelict in my duty. That old fool kept telling me before he left to keep an eye on her.”
“How could I not care?”
She didn’t care at all about the life or death of Gelan’s disciples and grand-disciples. If not for finding her son, she wouldn’t have taken on this babysitting job.
As long as she followed that yellow-haired fox spirit, she would eventually find that unfilial son.
“Trying to elope? No way!”
Upon hearing this, Yan Bingling extended her divine sense, covering the entire Penghu Archipelago range. She did not care if she offended any experts in the area.
“They’re gone. That little dan boy too. They’re no longer in Silver Bay.”
“What?”
Qin Xiang’s heart jolted.
Her husband’s task before leaving was to protect Shiyu and not let her run around. He had even specially marked some dangerous islands nearby; everything should wait until he returned.
Li Su, as a local, had guaranteed that everything was under control. With Mister Canghai’s reputation, no one would dare provoke Penghu Island.
Canghai glanced at his silent old friend fishing in the distance and said thoughtfully,
“Don’t underestimate Li Su just because she’s young. She’s wise beyond her years, clever and mischievous. She grew up at sea and has many self-defense skills. She should be fine, just being playful. Maybe she chased after some demon spirit in the sea and went far.”
“Where could they go at this late hour?”
“If they haven’t returned by tomorrow, then there’s only one possibility.”
Mister Canghai rubbed his brow and looked deep into the sea.
This was the most chaotic time in the Boundless Sea. Two little troublemakers together were probably just going to join the excitement.
“You said it. If we don’t see them by tomorrow, I will use my own methods…”
Yan Bingling raised an eyebrow, then suddenly trembled, feeling nauseous. She covered her mouth.
“Little Aunt Master?”
Qin Xiang’s eyes showed concern. She was about to go support her mother-in-law, but the white-clad immortal waved her hand.
Mister Canghai asked,
“Fairy Bingling, are you feeling unwell? Do you need me to examine you?”
“It’s nothing. Probably an old ailment acting up. It’s fine.”
Yan Bingling flicked her sleeve and left, thinking nothing of it.
In fact, this wasn’t the first time this had happened recently. She didn’t know the reason; everything in her jade palace and sea of consciousness was normal.
She had no time to carefully examine other areas.
A Mahayana-stage sword cultivator, even without deliberate body refinement, is no weaker than a sixth- or seventh-grade artifact. It would be strange for her physical body to have a headache or fever.
But there were many things with unknown causes.
Waking up to find her son missing, the wet nurse gone without a trace, and even her avatar inexplicably left her body, the sword case she treasured more than life itself vanished.
All these signs made the empty-nest little aunt master unable to eat or sleep in peace.
Apart from that, her mental state was much better, with no distracting thoughts disturbing her sword heart.
Mister Canghai watched the figure of the Head of Tianxiang leave, lost in thought, then nodded to his close friend.
The White Whale Island Master did not turn back, but whistled.
The spiritual energy sound wave spread into the distance, instructing the whale pod to keep an eye on two extremely conspicuous young women.
***
Yun Liu’s group drifted on the sea for several days, unable to see any land, not even an island.
The Divine Tree of Yingzhou was located at the edge of the Outer Sea, far from the central Spirit Spring Vortex. Even the flying chicken was getting a bit tired.
The noble Lord Ao Tian was so exhausted he was spitting blood. To think he had to serve as a mount for a few mortals to go steal someone else’s wife—this trip turned out to be hard labor.
These past few days, the four people and one bird all had chills down their spines, feeling like needles pricking their backs.
Looking back, they couldn’t see the cloud-dwelling crocodile beast, but they could sense a thread of divine will locking onto the thief, following the trail of the Fortune Fruit.
“Can’t shake them off, buddy. You’re not expecting me to fly all the way back to Eastern Pole Province, are you? I’m not a Vermilion Bird!”
Ao Tian was so tired his tongue was hanging out, and his feathers had become much duller.
Yun Liu patted the bird’s head. He could faintly see a massive floating island ahead. He sighed in relief, confirming the direction was correct.
“Your mission is complete. We’re almost there; we’ll land there!”
“Stop? Are you crazy? I finally put some distance between us; that bastard will catch up in less than three days.”
“Trust me.”
Yun Liu pointed at the black island where eerie winds were blowing.
That was exactly the direction of Wailing Harbor.
The four landed on the sea surface, switched to a spirit boat, and suddenly slowed their pace.
The divine bird turned to ash. Ao Tian, panting heavily, turned back into a silly bird. Before he could burrow back into the chicken nest, Ying Lian grabbed him and rubbed him in her arms, making him feel worse than death.
‘Damn that Oily Boy, treating a Nine Heavens Phoenix Spirit like a beast. If I don’t get to eat the Dragon Core, I won’t let it go!’
The Boundless Sea chart showed five islands aligned. Approaching the centennial chaos, the sea surface was turbulent with stormy winds howling.
From the sky, a whirlpool could be seen gradually growing.
The undersea spirit springs were in simultaneous upheaval, spiritual energy fluctuations sweeping through the inner sea and all its cave heavens like a hurricane. If anyone recklessly got caught in it, they would likely suffer complete annihilation—body and soul.
Yun Liu could clearly feel his divine sense greatly restricted; its detection range was less than a few meters, less useful than his eyesight.
Gelan’s heart stirred as she suddenly realized,
“Ah, I almost forgot. The Great Whirlpool is about to open. Even the Divine Tree Sakura Dragon would become blind here and never find Ah Lian’s trail. Did you foresee this too?”
“Just a coincidence, I suppose. I can only say heaven is helping me.”
Yun Liu replied with a big smile.
Gelan didn’t believe it at all.
‘This kid is too sly.’
Yan Bingling licked her lips, a bloodthirsty expression rising on her face. She had already guessed what her dear son was about to do.
Maybe she could get revenge for this.
The closer they got to the Great Whirlpool, the more restricted their divine sense became.
At that time, the inner sea would become a vacuum zone, forcing all cultivators back to the Qi Refinement stage, relying purely on their physical bodies. Riding artifacts or flying would be absolutely impossible.
“We’re not going anywhere. We’ll set an ambush here, and together with the Mirage Tower chaos, we’ll kill the Sakura Dragon!”
Yun Liu clenched his fist.
Now, the timing, geography, and unity of people were all on his side.
‘What do you have to fight me with?’
Everyone’s heart tightened. Simultaneously, they turned their gaze toward the Howling Fjord.
The remaining time was for them to rest and restore their energy.
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