On the sea, the two most dangerous places were high in the air near the storm clouds and right where the two-faced whale was located.
The lightning and thunder in the sky were uncontrollable. Although Gu Ningyun wished a few bolts would strike the three bandit cultivators dead, she couldn't risk leading them up there.
Otherwise, there was no telling if it would be the five of them or the three behind them who got struck. If she wanted to borrow a force to help them, the high altitude was out of the question.
The captain was occupied and wouldn't necessarily care about personal vendettas. The other Foundation Establishment and Qi Refining cultivators were struggling just to survive themselves.
The most likely source of power to exploit was the surging sea.
According to Gu Ningyun's observations, although the two-faced whale had pinned the spirit ship under the water, stripping Four Symbols Shipping of its primary combat strength and the cultivators of their refuge, the ship itself had not sustained much damage for some reason.
Not only was it not sinking, but it also seemed to have a faint tendency to float back up. Furthermore, the first mate and the sailors had yet to reappear.
Because the two-faced whale refused to let the spirit ship, the first mate, and the sailors go, it was forced to keep its body pressed against the ship at all times. This, in turn, limited its range of movement.
Based on the earlier battle between the whale and Four Symbols Shipping, as well as the whale's actions after the ship was submerged, Gu Ningyun realized that the two-faced whale—perhaps out of habit or instinct—favored physical attacks.
As long as a target was within reach of its body, it would either slap them with its tail, bite them, or ram them. These attacks were its most powerful; even the middle Golden Core stage captain had to avoid their brunt by hovering high above the sea.
For targets outside its physical reach, the whale would choose to spray water jets or waves depending on the target's size.
Once the storm began, however, the two-faced whale's preferred method was to condense the rainwater in the air into water arrows for sneak attacks.
It was this condensation process that allowed Gu Ningyun, with her wind spirit root, to subconsciously capture the faint changes in the air currents.
Whenever a water arrow began to form, the originally howling wind at that spot would exhibit a rhythmic chaos.
Without time for deep thought or hesitation, the instincts and potential granted by her wind spirit root guided her as if she were divinely assisted. It felt as though things were simply meant to be this way.
Part of her mind was occupied with maneuvering the spirit boat, while the other half entered a state of absolute focus, fully sensing every change in the wind within the reach of her divine sense.
The patterns within the chaos became clear; the disorder was no longer disorder. All her observations were rapidly synthesized in her mind.
The two-faced whale condensed water arrows using a spiral method. It used its own spirit energy to pull the rainwater from the air, making it spiral clockwise to form an arrow. The starting point of the spiral was the tail of the arrow, and the endpoint was the tip.
The direction in which the rainwater spiraled was the direction in which the arrow would be fired!
The two-faced whale would condense the water arrows directly near its intended point of impact. Once the condensation was complete, the arrow would fire instantly, propelled by the residual force of the spiral and the direction of its formation.
Every step, from condensation to launch, caused the wind to rotate. Every change in its state affected the wind's rotational speed. Through the wind, Gu Ningyun could predict the movement of the water arrows.
The spirit boat's speed was not as fast as the attacks of a rank three demon beast, but she could anticipate them.
The moment the first drop of water began to spiral, she could maneuver the spirit boat in advance, changing direction to avoid the path of the attack.
This foresight was her opportunity—the only chance for the five of them to survive.
As the toxic centipede woman closed in, Gu Ningyun had no time for further reflection. Her observations and calculations culminated into four distinct tactics in her mind.
The first tactic: Sow Dissension.
Previously, although the three bandits had shamelessly argued over who would own the spirit boat, they had remained united in their goal to seize it first. A united trio was far more difficult to deal with. Thus, they feigned a surrender to the black-faced male cultivator, making him a common enemy to the other two and breaking their alliance. This forced them to doubt and conflict with one another.
The second tactic: The Bitter Meat Tactic.
The reason the bandits had failed to seize the spirit boat for so long—aside from the strength of the mysterious-rank top-grade vessel itself—was the seamless cooperation of the five people on board. Although the three Foundation Establishment cultivators looked down on the five Qi Refining disciples, the fact that the boat was so hard to take forced them to be somewhat cautious.
The centipede's arrival shattered that status quo. Two of the disciples appeared to panic as the centipede approached, wanting to defect to the black-faced male cultivator, while the other three remained steadfast and unyielding. The once unbreakable unit had developed a rift and begun to fight amongst themselves.
People generally do not sabotage themselves, especially in life-or-death situations. If internal strife broke out to the point where control of the spirit boat was nearly lost, then that strife had to be real. The impenetrable shell of the spirit boat finally had a flaw. Greed would never let the three bandits pass up such a god-sent opportunity.
The third tactic: Psychological Warfare.
The closer one got to the sea, the more dangerous it became. Although those three were greedy, they weren't fools. If Gu Ningyun had simply steered the boat toward the sea, they likely would have seen through her intentions. It would have been impossible to predict what they would do then, but it certainly wouldn't have been good.
Thus, she used the first two tactics—Sowing Dissension and the Bitter Meat Tactic—to achieve the third: Psychological Warfare. By making them suspicious and defensive of one another, they were forced to divert part of their attention, preventing them from focusing entirely on the boat's movements.
Falling for the Bitter Meat Tactic made them believe the group was in a state of mutiny and that a weakness had appeared. This caused them to lower their guard as she lured them into the trap. With the treasure they craved seemingly within their grasp, their greed reached its limit, causing them to ignore any potential traps. Even if they noticed something was wrong, their greed would make them subconsciously dismiss it. Human instinct is to believe that everything is working in one's favor.
Finally, there was one more crucial point. When they entered the depths of the danger zone and sensed that something was wrong, Gu Ningyun continued the performance from her earlier tactics.
She acted as if she had been pushed to her limit, intending to crash the spirit boat into the sea so they would all perish together. Faced with the destruction of the top-grade spirit boat they already considered theirs, their desperation outweighed all other concerns.
Moreover, the sea level here was a certain distance from the two-faced whale, and the water showed no signs of surging. The three bandits could no longer care about anything else; their eyes were fixed only on the boat.
Twenty meters, ten meters... it was almost time.
Gu Ningyun also thought to herself: almost time.
The changes in the wind elsewhere were rapidly decreasing; the two-faced whale's attention had shifted here.
The first sign of a change in the wind suddenly appeared.
Gu Ningyun violently wrenched the spirit boat into a turn.
The water arrows fired; two bandits died.
The flying boat's tail whipped through the wind; the black-faced male cultivator died.
No change on the sea could escape the monitoring of the wind. Moving with the wind and using the whale to kill—this was Gu Ningyun's fourth tactic: Killing with a Borrowed Knife.
The only thing she hadn't expected was the performance of Jiang Yao and Mu Chenze.
END
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