If the black-faced cultivator's original desire to seize the flying boat had been born of instinctive greed and a desperate urge to survive, his avarice now swelled ten-fold upon witnessing the vessel's speed and defensive arrays.
He pursued the flying boat closely on his flying sword. "Juniors, I only wish to use your boat as a place to rest. I mean no harm."
Gu Ningyun ignored him, her mind focused entirely on how to shake him off.
Setting aside the greed she could see even from the corner of her eye, the man's attempt to force his way onto the boat without even a greeting was highly suspicious.
Seeing that they were not slowing down but instead accelerating, the black-faced male cultivator pulled out a red rope and lashed it toward the flying boat.
The rope seemed to have eyes of its own; no matter how Gu Ningyun maneuvered, it followed the tail of the boat relentlessly.
The black-faced male cultivator formed a hand seal, and with a tremor, the red rope adhered directly to the array shield at the boat's stern.
"This rope is crafted using the tongue of a rank three toad as the primary material. It can firmly suction itself onto arrays."
Jiang Yao's expression grew grim as he pulled a porcelain bottle from his storage bag, uncapping it and pouring a liquid onto the tongue.
The tongue loosened only slightly, remaining firmly attached in most places.
"I brought some melting auxiliary liquid that can dissolve the stickiness of most materials. However, since the tongue is on the surface of the array, the liquid needs time to soak into the material before it takes effect."
Seeing the tongue adhere to the flying boat, the black-faced cultivator was overjoyed.
With a powerful pull, the tongue acted like a spring, launching him toward the flying boat. In the blink of an eye, he was clinging to the defensive shield, looking down at the five of them.
"I told you I mean no harm. Why won't you believe me?"
"Little Black, with that wretched look of yours, stop trying to disgust people. If you're going to steal it, do it openly."
The moment the black-faced male cultivator clung to the shield and pulled the tongue to steady himself, the flying boat was struck by a violent impact from the side, forcing it off course.
The surface shield instantly dimmed by fifty percent, and several array patterns on the hull were damaged.
Another peak Foundation Establishment cultivator!
This cultivator had been hiding nearby and had just struck the flying boat with a cane.
A flash of heartache crossed the black-faced male cultivator's eyes. In his mind, this flying boat was already his property. How could he accept a blow that damaged the arrays so severely?
"What 'Little Black'? Are you calling a dog? Cane Old Man, I suggest you stay back. Can you even afford to pay for the damage to my boat?"
He raised his hand and struck with a sword. A blue sword qi collided with the cane, resulting in a thunderous explosion.
"Hahahaha! You say this boat is yours? Well, I think this boat belongs to me!" A raspy, manic laugh rang out, accompanied by a cloud of yellow-green smoke.
Wen Xuan handed everyone a top-grade detox pill. Since Gu Ningyun's hands were occupied, Wen Xuan used spirit energy to push the pill directly into her mouth.
"I haven't seen this poison before. Its nature seems strange. I hope these pills work."
The previous red-spotted sea iguana's poison had been unique, and the general detox pills she had weren't effective against it.
Seeing the poison, the black-faced male cultivator's expression changed, and he performed a backflip away from the shield.
"You!"
"What about me?"
The Old Woman waved her tobacco pipe, and the yellow-green smoke tightly enveloped the flying boat.
"This boat was clearly prepared for me."
With this flying boat, she could safely return to Donglin City as long as she didn't encounter a sea storm. It would also make traveling much more convenient in the future.
With a ruthless glint in her eyes, the Old Woman added a layer of blue toxic mist.
The Cane Old Man snorted coldly. "You shameless hag. This boat is clearly mine."
As the yellow-green and blue toxic mists merged, thick black smoke billowed out.
When the black smoke and the two poisons touched the flying boat, the shield immediately emitted a sizzling corrosion sound, appearing as though it would be eaten through at any moment.
The rate of spirit stone consumption in the control hub tripled instantly.
Jiang Yao acted quickly to replenish the pile of spirit stones, ensuring the boat's spirit energy supply didn't fail.
Mu Chenze summoned a layer of water to trap the toxic mist into a sphere. The transparent water was instantly dyed pitch black and looked as if it were about to spiral out of control.
Jun Luo struck with ice spirit energy, freezing the toxic water sphere into a block of ice.
Wen Xuan swung her mace, sending three fiery phantoms of the weapon straight into the ice block.
The first phantom was instantly corroded by the ice block, but the second and third followed. The final phantom sent the ice block flying toward the black-faced male cultivator.
"Hag, what kind of skill is this? A few Qi Refining brats can neutralize your toxic mist."
The black-faced male cultivator dodged to the side. "If you can't handle it, back off. Don't get in the way."
"They are mere ants; I can deal with them with a flick of my wrist. I simply didn't want to use too much force earlier and damage my boat."
The three of them discussed the ownership of the flying boat with reckless abandon, as if it were already in their grasp.
Jiang Yao's eyes were nearly spitting fire. "These three are so shameless!"
His voice was not quiet, and the three of them naturally heard him.
The Cane Old Man gave a cold laugh. "A wise man submits to circumstances. If you five have any brains, hand over the flying boat. Perhaps I'll leave your corpses intact."
"Why waste words with ants?"
The Old Woman flicked her tobacco pipe, and a meter-long centipede crawled out from the tip. It appeared to have over three hundred legs.
"Go, my little darling."
The centipede's three hundred legs moved in succession, propelling it forward at incredible speed as it leapt from the pipe toward the flying boat.
Wen Xuan's brow furrowed tightly.
Neither the spirit energy phantoms of her mace nor her fireballs could do more than stall the centipede for half a breath; they were largely ineffective.
Jiang Yao, Mu Chenze, and Jun Luo all unleashed their techniques, barely managing to slow the centipede's speed by a fraction.
"This can't go on. We need a plan."
Mu Chenze sent a rapid divine sense transmission. "The centipede's aura is nearly at rank three; the boat's arrays might not hold. I can use water control to manipulate Jiang Yao's auxiliary liquid and coat the area where the tongue meets the array. But they are constantly interfering from behind. If they notice, they will definitely disrupt my spell."
While the four were fending off attacks, Gu Ningyun was also searching for a way to break the deadlock.
After sinking the spirit ship, the two-faced whale seemed unwilling to let the cultivators on the surface escape.
The clouds in the sky grew darker, and soon, a heavy rain began to fall.
Gales whipped up massive waves, which only aided the two-faced whale.
With a thunderous boom, a bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, illuminating the horizon.
Thunder roared, and the storm raged.
Another bolt of lightning fell, striking the cultivator flying highest.
Though it was not a lightning tribulation for ascension, lightning carrying the natural power of heaven and earth was still not to be trifled with.
The cultivator was charred black on the spot and fell from the sky. A massive wave swept him up, and he vanished into the two-faced whale's mouth.
Terrified, the cultivators lowered their altitude. However, once they were lower, they had to dodge the two-faced whale's attacks.
Had the captain not intervened, even more would have perished.
Other cultivators who had seen the flying boat and wanted a piece of the action held back for this very reason.
Only the original three remained in pursuit.
Gu Ningyun stared at the waves below, observing the two-faced whale's attack patterns.
Rate on N.U.
