He held a dual-colored ruler, half a meter long.
One end was deep blue, while the other was fire red.
A jet of water as thick as a person's waist erupted from the two-faced whale's blowhole, shooting toward the black figure.
The captain swung the red end of the ruler forward, and twenty-seven fire shields stacked in front of him.
The water slammed into the fire shields, instantly creating a thick mist of steam.
The fire shields extinguished and dissipated layer by layer. The captain did a backflip and retreated ten meters, circling to the side and rear of the spirit ship.
The two-faced whale followed closely behind, arriving just at the spirit ship's right rear.
The array patterns across the entire spirit ship glowed brilliantly. An attack as thick as a bowl was instantly released, striking directly into the two-faced whale's blowhole.
“Woooooo—woooooo—”
The two-faced whale reared its head and twisted its body for a tail swipe.
The spirit ship, protected by its array shield, was struck by the whale’s tail and spun three hundred and sixty degrees.
Because the rotation was so fast, the cultivators were still standing in their original spots by the time the spirit ship righted itself, only experiencing a slight wobble once the ship stabilized.
The spirit ship continued to sway unsteadily, occasionally lurching into a heavy roll.
The cultivators on the deck had long ago found fixed objects to grip tightly; this level of shaking was nothing to them.
Originally, they had come out just to watch the waves.
None of them had expected those waves to be caused by a two-faced whale.
Now, they were even less inclined to return to their cabins.
First, it was a rare opportunity to witness a Golden Core stage battle.
Second, while the cabins could provide temporary shelter, they were also the easiest place to get trapped if the spirit ship’s arrays failed and the ship was destroyed.
The deck, with no obstructions and the ability to fly away on an object at any time, was actually the better choice.
Gu Ningyun looked toward the cabins and then at the sturdy array, choosing not to move for the time being.
She had already calculated her route.
If the spirit ship couldn't hold out, the cabin arrays would likely be the first to lose their spirit energy supply, followed finally by the protective array on the ship's surface.
The time difference between those two arrays breaking would be her best opportunity.
The moment the cabin arrays under the warning talismans failed, she would take the shortest route to fish the four of them out and fly into the sky on her flying boat.
Gouts of blood flowed from the two-faced whale's blowhole, and it cried out several times in agony.
The captain tapped his ruler, releasing a fire snake two meters thick and twenty meters long.
As soon as the fire snake emerged, it coiled around the two-faced whale's tail.
The smooth skin sizzled as it was scorched, releasing a cloud of steam-filled smoke.
The two-faced whale thrashed its tail and rolled in the water, occasionally leaping from the sea and creating powerful air currents.
The fire snake nearly flickered out and dissipated.
The spirit ship turned about, and another attack was launched, hitting the two-faced whale's raised tail and piercing a hole through it as wide as a bowl.
“Woooooo—woooooo—”
The two-faced whale crashed heavily back into the seawater and did not show a single inch of skin again.
Only the continuous jets of water shooting from the sea revealed its endless fury.
The sky gradually brightened as the sun rose in the east.
The two sides had fought through the entire latter half of the night. As a mere Qi Refining cultivator, Gu Ningyun found the battle a blur, only vaguely sensing that they must have exchanged hundreds of moves.
The captain had already consumed two bottles of pills.
The spirit ship had spun dozens of times.
She had clung to the pillar at the top of the stairs so tightly with her arms and legs that she had almost left grooves in it.
Inside Cabin 17.
The table and bed were fixed to the floorboards and hadn't moved much.
However, four stools lay scattered across the floor in total disarray.
Wen Xuan had just crawled out from under the bed when the spirit ship gave a sudden lurch.
She immediately dropped into a standard horse stance to stabilize herself.
After finding her balance, she looked at the mess in the cabin, her large eyes filled with confusion.
She had only eaten one Blue Lake Scallop and navigated through thirty-some illusions; how had the entire cabin changed so much?
Her mind was still a bit hazy and not quite clear, but the Spirit-Attuning Jade Token at her waist was flashing with spiritual light.
She delved in with her divine sense.
Youngster Falls Asleep Immediately (Gu Ningyun): Wen Xuan, come to the deck once you're awake.
Go to the deck? Alright.
Wen Xuan shook her head, fumbled her way around a broken chair leg, and pushed open the cabin door.
The sound of doors opening came from behind her—it was Jiang Yao and the other two.
The four of them clutched their foreheads, stumbling toward the deck.
The warning talismans were triggered one by one. Gu Ningyun, with her neck still tilted, turned her head.
She looked away.
She must be seeing things; otherwise, why would she think her four friends looked like the zombies she had seen in movies in her previous life?
Then, from the corner of her eye, she saw Wen Xuan, who was leading the way, trip on the very first step and pitch forward.
Gu Ningyun was quick to act, grabbing Wen Xuan’s arm and helping her lean against the railing.
The spirit ship lurched again.
Thud, thud, thud.
The three friends behind her fell in a row.
Gu Ningyun realized that must have been exactly how she had fallen earlier.
“Woooooo—”
Gu Ningyun turned Wen Xuan's head and pointed at the massive black shadow swimming beneath the water's surface. “Look, what's that?”
The two-faced whale happened to reveal a terrifying side of its face.
Wen Xuan's pupils contracted, and her eyes instantly cleared.
“Ningyun, why is your neck tilted like that? Doesn't it hurt?”
Gu Ningyun: “...”
“I accidentally twisted it, and the bone is a bit misaligned.”
Wen Xuan grabbed her head and gave it two quick cracks.
Gu Ningyun twisted her neck. “Your technique is pretty good.”
She had never studied bone-setting and was afraid that a clumsy attempt would only make her injury worse, which was why she hadn't tried to fix it herself.
Wen Xuan pressed a jade slip into her arms. “Detailed Explanation of Common Injury Treatment Methods.”
“When cultivators are out and about, bumps and bruises are inevitable. Having only methods to heal wounds isn't enough.”
“If a bone is misaligned and you heal it directly, won't the bone still be out of place?”
“You really are well-prepared. As expected of the most reliable alchemy cultivator in our Ruiyu Pavilion.”
Jiang Yao’s chest felt tight from being crushed by the two people behind him, and he finally regained his senses.
Two shadows fell over his head.
He looked up, momentarily stunned.
He struggled to reach out from under Mu Chenze’s shoulder and grabbed Wen Xuan’s ankle.
“Maybe help us up first?”
The spirit ship lurched through another rotation.
Once the four of them were fully awake, each of them hugged a stair railing. While watching the battle on the sea, they told Gu Ningyun about the Blue Lake Scallops.
“So, all four of you ate a Blue Lake Scallop immediately after leaving my cabin.”
“Then you were trapped in illusions for a day and a night, only waking up just now.”
Wen Xuan and Jiang Yao, hugging their respective pillars, nodded in unison. “Yes, exactly.”
Gu Ningyun also mentioned her experience with consuming the Blue Lake Scallop broth. “In summary, we underestimated the enemy.”
“We might have been poisoned by the Blue Lake Scallops long ago.”
Jun Luo gripped the railing with his right hand and stood up straight. “Otherwise, given Ningyun and Chenze’s cautious personalities, they wouldn't have actively suggested eating the Blue Lake Scallops right then.”
“After all, we are still at sea and need to stay alert at all times.”
The conclusion the five of them reached after their deduction was identical to Shen Banxi’s.
“No wonder the sect and the elders in my clan place such importance on training expeditions.”
“Only by experiencing it firsthand can one truly realize how unpredictable and terrifying these dangers are.”
Mu Chenze sighed. “Fortunately, nothing went wrong this time. In the future, if we face anything poisonous, we must take an antidote pill in advance.”
After one final massive lurching turn, the spirit ship's shaking gradually subsided, and the currents on the sea suddenly went still.
Gu Ningyun looked up, only to see the captain’s brow furrowing even tighter.
Rate on N.U.
