Chapter 171
Chapter 171
In the far north under the blazing sun, golden sunlight scattered across the barren mountain ranges and also fell upon the wooden cabin at the mountain's foot. The white-robed figure standing under the eaves covered their chest with one hand and smiled silently.
This was indeed interesting.
In the rural fields and waters, a little girl squatting on the ridge with her arms wrapped around a sword looked up, gazing in surprise at the man who had fallen into the muddy field, calling out in a childish voice: "Daddy!"
The man sat up in the muddy field, waved at her, then lowered his eyes in contemplation.
Under the setting sun hanging in the sky, within a manor decorated with red character lanterns, blood stained the doors, windows, tables, and chairs. Guests and servants lay dead everywhere, while sharp curses and screams continued from the distance.
A green-robed young man hiding in a room, sword in hand and panting heavily, frowned with sweat covering his forehead. While enduring the intense pain, his peripheral vision still had to watch for movements outside. He couldn't help but say to the other World Destroyers: "Next time something like this happens, could you not pick the moment when I'm killing people?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the connection was severed.
The young man closed his eyes and caught his breath for several moments, then reopened them, filled with murderous intent, and leaped out the window with his sword.
Wei Ren also saw Xue Mushi emerge from the pond, his face blank with confusion.
The seawater showed not the slightest ripple. The Spirit Bird remained steadily docked at the edge of Northern Kun City. Yu Sui climbed back onto the ship, soaking wet, leaving water stains all over the floor. She covered her chest and collapsed to her knees, leaning against the ship's rail while gasping for breath.
After the Sixth Realm light core settled into position in her body, the recovery speed was much faster than last time. Combined with Heavenly Eye's healing gaze, she escaped the near-death state more quickly, causing the connection between World Destroyers to cut off prematurely.
Yu Sui could clearly feel the changes brought by the light core's realm advancement.
Now she just had to wait 12 hours to see if these Sixth Realm light cores would disappear.
Cold seawater slid down her cheeks. The feeling of water droplets sliding across her face was somewhat ticklish, but Yu Sui couldn't help lowering her head and smiling.
Whether it was the light cores or the World Destroyers, she had won both gambles.
This time, because of Yu Sui's uncertainty, she hadn't delayed Heavenly Eye's healing speed. Now knowing she could enter a near-death state by destroying her light core, thereby triggering the Fire Spirit Orb to communicate with other World Destroyers, Yu Sui could control the communication timing in the future.
This trip had indeed been worthwhile.
Yu Sui raised her hand to wipe her face, used techniques to dispel the wetness from her body. Her breathing was still somewhat unstable, she needed more rest.
Heavenly Eye's gaze caused large amounts of Five Elements Energy to rapidly repair Yu Sui's injuries. Soon she could stand up as if nothing had happened and walk toward the ship's cabin.
Because Yu Sui was internally weak at this moment, it was actually difficult to detect her realm breakthrough.
Yu Sui returned to her room to rest. She knew that if she didn't appear for too long, Li Jin Shuang or Mei Liangyu would come looking for her.
The one who came looking was Li Jin Shuang.
Because Mei Liangyu was in a standoff with Zhang Xiangyun and Luo Fu who had come to the kitchen.
Li Jin Shuang thought they would fight, so she left before the fighting started.
After learning this, Yu Sui said nothing, finished the food Li Jin Shuang had brought back, then collapsed back onto the bed.
Li Jin Shuang couldn't help asking her: "Aren't you worried they'll fight?"
"Let them fight. Senior Brother has more people on his side, he won't be at a disadvantage." After Yu Sui finished speaking, she rolled into a corner of the bed and added, "I saved half the bed for you."
Li Jin Shuang shook her head: "I won't sleep."
She had to stand guard.
Yu Sui responded softly and closed her eyes to sleep, healing her internal injuries.
She slept for a long time. Two hours later, the Spirit Bird set sail back to sea. During the journey, Mei Liangyu came once. He sat by the bed watching the sleeping Yu Sui for a while. Seeing her peaceful sleeping posture, he couldn't bear to disturb her.
Looking at Yu Sui at this moment, Mei Liangyu also calmed down.
Mei Liangyu, who usually couldn't stop thinking about many things, rarely emptied his mind, just staring at Yu Sui without thinking about anything.
It seemed like a very long time passed before Mei Liangyu withdrew his gaze and got up to leave.
After walking out the door, Mei Liangyu couldn't stop his mind from working. He wondered what his Junior Sister was secretly up to, being so mysterious. She'd better not get hurt.
He also had many things to do next.
The fragmentary memories were missing a very important, crucial link. After returning, he needed to find a way to get Gu Qian to use Divine Mechanism: Heavenly Official to remove his seal.
And there was Yan Kingdom.
Mei Liangyu stopped in the corridor and slowly lowered his head.
……
When the Spirit Bird returned to sea, it was already nightfall.
On the return journey, the Spirit Bird still encountered many suddenly appearing sea whirlpools, but fortunately avoided them all without danger. Wei Xizheng and Sun Heng were both on the steering platform observing the sea whirlpools' movements.
Whenever Leng Rouyin and Wu Huaiwei showed signs of fighting, Sun Heng would speak up to mediate. The old man's face still had to be respected.
But Sun Heng couldn't stop Wu Huaiwei from making sarcastic remarks from time to time. Leng Rouyin wasn't as skilled at being passive-aggressive as her, so finally, unable to bear it any longer, she turned and left the steering platform.
Sun Heng shook his head helplessly and said to Wu Huaiwei: "Why must you keep targeting her?"
Wu Huaiwei smiled sweetly: "If she hadn't betrayed her own teacher back then, why would I target her?"
Hearing her say this, Sun Heng's brow furrowed slightly, as if recalling something. Just then, Wei Xizheng spoke up about other matters, diverting Sun Heng's attention.
Ou Rushuang stood beside Wu Huaiwei and said in a low voice: "I didn't expect you to value her teacher so much that you've bothered Leng Rouyin for years because of it."
"You've got one thing wrong," Wu Huaiwei also turned and responded in a low voice. "It's not that I value anyone in particular, but rather that certain people and things just happen to rub me the wrong way."
Ou Rushuang smiled: "Am I one of them too?"
Wu Huaiwei covered her mouth: "Maybe someday you will be."
Ou Rushuang sighed: "That's truly worrying."
On the return journey, the most anxious person was none other than Zhang Xiangyun.
He held back and held back, thinking Nian Qiuyan would take some action, but this kid had stayed in his room without coming out since returning.
Am I the only one who's anxious?
Zhang Xiangyun couldn't bear it anymore. He went up and kicked the door open. Upon entering, he saw Nian Qiuyan leaning against the window, arms crossed, facing sideways to the door. The window was half open, showing the deep sea outside.
Nian Qiuyan didn't even look at Zhang Xiangyun who had violently entered. Compared to his usual gentle expression, he now appeared several degrees colder.
Zhang Xiangyun approached him with full anger, reaching out to grab Nian Qiuyan's collar. Those dark eyes moved slightly, and a divination array appeared between the two men. Zhang Xiangyun's outstretched hand recoiled as if electrocuted, and he stared at Nian Qiuyan with a dark expression.
"At a time like this, you still have time to gaze at the sea and feel melancholy?" Zhang Xiangyun spoke mockingly. "If you still haven't dealt with Mei Liangyu and gotten the thing back by the time we return to sea..."
Nian Qiuyan smiled: "Weren't you going to have Nangong Sui deal with Mei Mei?"
Zhang Xiangyun's anger grew stronger because of his unhurried response: "If Nangong Sui could get things done, why would I come to you?"
"Do you really want Mei Liangyu to return alive and hand the thing over to the academy, causing everyone to perish together?" Zhang Xiangyun stared at Nian Qiuyan, his eyes and tone growing colder. "You know how vast Taiyi Academy's business is. If it all gets ruined, more than just you and I will lose our heads."
According to Qing Kui and the others' methods, even if they died, their corpses would be ground to dust as an apology.
Nian Qiuyan still looked unhurried: "Unless Xuan Kui finds a second person who can make special Lan Corpse, I'm not that easy to kill. But you and Luo Fu are another matter. Things that can be replaced are never treasured."
Zhang Xiangyun almost laughed in anger. He took a deep breath but couldn't suppress his twitching temple, saying with a fake smile: "I don't think Qing Kui treasures you much either."
Nian Qiuyan turned his head and smiled back: "Xuan Kui isn't controlled by her alone."
Zhang Xiangyun said coldly: "You truly won't act?"
Nian Qiuyan's expression grew cold: "I don't need to follow your orders."
Before Zhang Xiangyun could speak, he added gently: "Besides, I've already gotten the thing."
This sudden turn left Zhang Xiangyun stunned. The emotions surging in his chest didn't know how to vent, so he could only suppress them forcefully, asking suspiciously: "When did you get it? How did you get it?"
"You don't need to know. Asking too much is just annoying." Nian Qiuyan said. "I've saved your life for you."
But Zhang Xiangyun squinted and asked: "Mei Liangyu and the others knew about the Silver River Water but still gave it to you, you've definitely been suspected by them."
Thinking this way, Zhang Xiangyun, who had been angry enough to have liver pain, finally felt somewhat better.
You little bastard, you deserve it.
You insisted on pretending to be innocent and kind in front of Mei Liangyu, now you can't keep up the act, can you?
Nian Qiuyan didn't respond, turning his eyes back to look at the seawater outside the window.
Zhang Xiangyun asked: "Did you hand the thing over to the higher-ups?"
Nian Qiuyan said: "I'll find time to give it to them."
"You'd better hurry, to avoid complications." Zhang Xiangyun felt relieved and returned to his usual casual manner. "I don't know what's between you and Mei Liangyu, but since he knows about the Silver River Water's existence, he shouldn't be left alive."
Nian Qiuyan laughed: "Do you have the ability to kill him?"
Zhang Xiangyun didn't answer. He walked toward the exit, stopping at the door and turning back to look at Nian Qiuyan with ambiguous meaning: "Do you really think you're irreplaceable to Xuan Kui?"
"What?" Nian Qiuyan also turned to look at him, smiling without warmth reaching his eyes. "Don't tell me the second person who can make special Lan Corpse is Qing Kui?"
Zhang Xiangyun's expression remained unchanged, but his heart shook.
He sneered and turned to leave: "How would I know."
"There's something you should know." Nian Qiuyan spoke, and Zhang Xiangyun stopped. He listened as Nian Qiuyan said, "I wasn't feeling melancholy."
Zhang Xiangyun: "......"
Who the hell cares about you.
He violently opened the door and left again.
Nian Qiuyan stared at the door that had closed again. After a moment, he turned his gaze away as if nothing had happened and continued contemplating Mei Liangyu's intention in handing over the Silver River Water.
Was it a test, or was he giving him a chance?
He was so smart, he probably had guessed most of it before coming to the Abyss Sea.
It was also possible that Mei Liangyu thought handing the Silver River Water to the academy would be useless since Mei Liangyu couldn't trace the Lan Corpse organization behind it, so he gave it to him to draw out the snake.
Why didn't he speak plainly? Because Mei Liangyu was still waiting for him to explain.
This was indeed the chance Mei Liangyu was giving him.
A chance to explain.
Nian Qiuyan stood in place, recalling when he first met Mei Liangyu, Xing Chun, and the others years ago.
Past scenes emerged one by one, clear as if they had happened yesterday. Though over a thousand days and nights had passed, why did it feel so brief at this moment?
Nian Qiuyan took out his Divine Wood Signs and looked down at them. Kong Yiyi's voice echoed in his mind. Hearing her voice, he couldn't help but remember her expression when she said those words, her every movement.
It had indeed moved his heart.
Nian Qiuyan's fingertip gently caressed the Divine Wood Signs, replaying those heart-stirring moments over and over until they settled into calm, and then he had made his decision.
They weren't from the same world. He wouldn't force it.