NOVPUBHowever, she was too proud to let Wang Ba notice her embarrassment.
Suppressing the heartache she felt, she pursed her lips and nodded,"Okay."
Wang Ba’s attention was entirely focused on the map and the horizon of the sea, not noticing the change in Qin Lingxiao’s demeanor.
He casually suggested, "We shall ride on Fu’s back, so as not to miss those islands."
What surprised him, however, was that Qin Lingxiao, who had always been very cooperative, made a different choice for the first time:
"It’s... quieter inside Fu’s belly, where I’d like to tune my Dantian."
Wang Ba couldn’t help but turned around, looking confusedly at Qin Lingxiao. For some reason, he had a vague feeling that Qin Lingxiao was acting strangely.
That feeling was somehow familiar.
But he didn’t dwell on it. Coupled with Qin Lingxiao’s reasonable explanation, he nodded in agreement:
"Go ahead, I’ll call you if anything comes up."
"Okay."
Qin Lingxiao muttered an acknowledgment and quickly flew back into Fu’s mouth.
Without Qin Lingxiao by his side, Wang Ba actually felt a rare sense of relaxation.
He was used to being alone, even when he was with Bu Chan, they spent most of their time doing their own things, only coming together at night.
Now, having spent day after day with Qin Lingxiao for several months, he felt suffocated.
Although having a beautiful female Cultivator by his side was pleasing to the eye, it didn’t appeal to him as it would have in his youth. Now, he took things more lightly.
Moreover, once you cross a certain line, it’s hard to turn back. Being fully aware of this, he had kept his boundaries and refrained from crossing the line.
Cultivation is also about discipline; he had enough attachments in life with Bu Chan, the master, Yi An, elder brother, and others. Adding a few more would only bring him more trouble.
Time flew by swiftly.
Two days passed like flowing water. Before long, Wang Ba saw the islands at the horizon where the sea met the sky.
He immediately flew off Fu’s back.
Soaring high above, he surveyed the scene below.
A sprawling archipelago spanning dozens of miles came into view.
"We’re on the right track!"
However, Wang Ba’s complexion became even more grave.
Feeling the increasingly strong Yuanci force in the sea water below, he was filled with confusion.
"Why is there so much Yuanci force left? Could it be that the Yuanci force generated by those blind eyes has already spread throughout the sea?"
"That shouldn’t be the case... the southern shoreline of the West Sea Country is just hundreds of miles away from Elong Beach, and the Yuanci force hasn’t spread to Yundang. It’s clear that the spread of the Yuanci force isn’t easy... But why?"
Wang Ba was intrigued.
After much deliberation, he still didn’t understand.
He could only return to Fu’s back and continue traveling in the direction indicated on the map.
Three days later. 𝔫𝖔𝔳𝖕𝖚𝔟.𝔠𝔬𝖒
Standing on Fu’s body, he looked towards the horizon where a huge sea barrier stretched from north to south, reaching for the sky. He fell silent.
...
Inside the turbulent sea barrier.
The giant octopus had curled itself into a ball.
In front of it, a group of monks and cultivators adorned in various colors stared cautiously into the skies above.
There, two figures with indifferent faces overlooked the scene below.
One was a cold-faced child dressed in white, and the other was a stunningly beautiful woman in palace attire.
In the face of the colossal black octopus, whose aura was as vast as the mountains, and the cultivators below, who were at various stages of Nascent Soul and Golden Core.
Neither of them showed the slightest emotional disturbance.
At this moment, both seemed to sense something, their gazes simultaneously pierced through the crowd below and probed into the raging sea barrier.
The turbulent currents, churning whitecaps, and the dark depths of the sea couldn’t obscure their sight.
Below the sea barrier, a monk with a face as serene and peaceful as water also lifted his head to look at them.
Their gaze met.
Suddenly, the waves around him became even more intense.
For the first time, a trace of heaviness and caution flashed in the indifferent eyes of the white-clothed child and the stunningly dressed woman.
Below.
The monk remained calm and didn’t speak, but his voice had already sounded in their ears:
"I am Ci Wu. You two have been following us for half a year. Are you finally planning to make a move?"
The stunningly dressed woman didn’t respond.
However, the indifferent face of the white-clothed child remained impassive as he coldly replied:
"Initially, I wanted to deal with these people first, and then the big leader in front. I didn’t expect someone like you to be hiding here... At the stage of Immortal Ascension but protecting a bunch of Nascent Souls. It seems that the Three Continents indeed teem with talents."
The monk merely shook his head slightly:
"Ci Wu happens to be here just by chance. I kindly request you two to leave. Although Ci Wu neither kills nor harms, confining you two is not a difficult task. When the main forces of the Feather Serpent Tribe, Spider Demon Tribe, and Monk King Zhen arrive, I’m afraid it’ll be too late for you to leave."
"Neither kill nor harm?"
The stunningly dressed woman on the side couldn’t help but sneer:
"How hypocritical you are, young man! Don’t those who die because of you count? Do you think we’re not aware of what you cultivators of the Three Continents are hiding in this Beast that Parts the Sea?"
"Once it is taken to land, it can easily destroy a country. For your own survival, are you ignoring the lives of cultivators from other continents?"
The monk expressed sorrow and compassion as he chanted, "Amitabha," folding his hands together and bowing his head:
"Amitabha...The guilt lies with Ci Wu. I am willing to fall into Avīci Hell and suffer for tens of thousands of years…"
Neither person expected the monk to have this attitude. They glanced at each other, their expressions becoming slightly grave.
Then, in the next moment.
