Chapter 265 : Under the Night Sky
The Silver-Backed Wolves weren't particularly high-ranked, merely fifth-grade spirit beasts, equivalent to cultivators at the Nascent Soul stage. The lowest cultivation among those aboard the ghost ship had also been Nascent Soul, making these wolves, if not effortlessly vanquishable, at least easily manageable.
Unfortunately, the cultivators had lost their spiritual energy support, making them severely disadvantaged when facing the Silver-Backed Wolves now.
Not just the cultivators being pursued by the wolves below, but even Zhong Heng hiding in the tree abandoned any unnecessary thoughts upon seeing the situation—regardless of cultivation level, those wolves appeared larger than him, with sharp fangs that clearly spelled danger. Moreover, he didn't know those people; they were neither relatives nor friends, so there was naturally no need to risk himself for them.
The three people in the trees remained motionless, and those running below didn't notice anyone above them. They quickly passed the two large trees, running toward the rock cave, shouting for help as they ran—their voices so loud they could be heard from a kilometer away.
As they drew closer, their cries became more urgent, yet no one emerged from the cave.
These people weren't fools and immediately realized the cave might be empty. Perhaps someone had been there but, hearing the commotion and unwilling to invite trouble, had fled ahead of time. They couldn't help but curse, seeing the bright firelight in the cave like a beacon of hope, yet not daring to enter rashly, fearing being trapped inside by the Silver-Backed Wolves. They turned, intending to flee in another direction.
However, the Silver-Backed Wolves were in close pursuit. By the time they tried to change direction, it was too late to escape—as soon as they turned around, they faced the wolves' blood-red maws.
The cultivators were startled, the hair on their backs standing on end. How could they hold back now?
Some drew out talismans, others threw flying swords, and still others detonated magical treasures... Everyone employed their techniques at once, with spiritual light continuously exploding at the cave entrance. After this barrage of concentrated attacks, the ground had sunk by three inches. Yet the wolves, despite being the primary targets, suffered minimal damage—they merely shook their fur before lunging at the cultivators with even greater ferocity.
This wasn't because these Silver-Backed Wolves possessed any special qualities, but because talismans and magical implements ultimately required spiritual energy to activate. Unfortunately, these cultivators now had not a trace of spiritual energy left, so the power of their attacks was greatly diminished.
Fortunately, after the earlier melee on the beach, they were already aware of this outcome and didn't wait for results before turning to flee.
These cultivators originally possessed Void Crossing cultivation, giving them excellent physical constitutions. They ran like the wind, quickly disappearing into the dense forest. The remaining Silver-Backed Wolves, despite their fierce appearance, didn't seem anxious as they watched the cultivators flee, pursuing them again like cats toying with mice. As they ran farther away, occasional wolf howls could still be heard, indicating that this chase wouldn't end anytime soon.
After both cultivators and spirit beasts had gone far, the three people hiding in the trees didn't dare speak immediately. They waited quite a while longer to ensure there truly was no danger before finally leaping down from the trees.
Zhong Heng was still looking toward the direction the cultivators had fled, worriedly asking: "Will they be alright?"
Jiang Mo plucked a leaf that had stuck to her clothing and casually replied: "They'll be fine."
Hearing her confident tone, Zhong Heng turned back with a puzzled look.
Before Jiang Mo could explain, Yun Qingyue said: "Those Silver-Backed Wolves didn't intend to kill them." Seeing Zhong Heng's continued confusion, she explained: "The way they chased those people looked more like herding."
Zhong Heng was astonished, looking first toward the beach and then toward the dense forest where they had disappeared: "Herding?!"
Yun Qingyue's statement was based on intuition, but Jiang Mo, as a divine beast, had understood those howls more directly. She nodded affirmatively: "That's right, they were driving the cultivators away, not letting them stay on the coast, but forcing them toward the island's interior." She looked at Zhong Heng: "Didn't you notice earlier? There were several opportunities when they could have killed those cultivators, but they didn't strike."
After listening to their coordinated explanation, Zhong Heng unconsciously believed them. But a chill ran down his spine, and he looked around, instinctively asking: "What's in the island's interior?"
How could Jiang Mo and Yun Qingyue know? Both could only shake their heads.
Zhong Heng had guessed the answer even as he asked, so he continued: "What should we do? Will spirit beasts come to drive us away too? Or if we head inland ourselves, who knows what we'll encounter..."
This merperson island was quite strange. Although they hadn't been with the cultivators on the shore and had temporarily avoided the Silver-Backed Wolves' herding, who knew if another pair of eyes was watching them? If there truly was another wave of spirit beasts coming to drive them away, they might as well head inland before that happened, at least maintaining some initiative rather than ending up as disheveled as those cultivators.
Jiang Mo and Yun Qingyue exchanged glances, both developing exploratory thoughts—neither was the type to sit and await their fate.
However, before setting out, Jiang Mo, to be safe, quietly instructed the system: "System, scan again and see what's strange about this island."
The system complied, ultimately telling her: "Host, the system detected nothing."
Hearing this, Jiang Mo's brow furrowed slightly, but she didn't press further—she knew the system wasn't omnipotent, and given that this merperson island was related to the main quest issued by the system, it was normal for the cheat functions to be temporarily offline.
The three soon reached a tacit understanding. Without waiting for daybreak, they extinguished the fire in the cave and, avoiding the direction taken by the cultivators and Silver-Backed Wolves, headed straight toward the island's interior.
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That night, the merperson island was far from peaceful.
When the ghost ship had shattered at sea earlier that day, apart from the dozen or so powerful cultivators who had flown away, everyone else had fallen into the sea. The four hundred or so people hadn't all been carried by a single fish—over a dozen fish had carried the fallen cultivators to the merperson island.
Some swam to the east side of the island, some to the west, and some to the north. With the exception of the southern side, which was directly opposite the direction of the sinking ship, cultivators had been cast ashore on the other three sides. Some of these people had awakened quickly, others a bit later, but by the time everyone had recovered their spirits, it was already late. Thus, the vast majority had temporarily remained near the coast.
In less than half a day afterward, before they could clarify the current situation or even adapt to their suddenly empty bodies after losing their spiritual energy, they encountered spirit beast attacks in the middle of the night.
At once, the entire merperson island was in chaos, with disturbances breaking out everywhere.
From an aerial view, one would see cultivators from the three coastal areas converging toward the island's interior like ants, in unintentional unison. The spirit beasts chasing and herding them also seemed to have no intention of taking their lives. Despite appearing ferocious, once they passed a certain specific boundary, they would pretend to lose track of their quarry, allowing the harried cultivators to "escape with their lives."
Under the night sky, almost the entire merperson island had been in turmoil, though those caught in the midst of it were unaware.
However, someone standing at a high vantage point could observe the general situation—coincidentally, when Zhu Baiyi had brought Qingyu to the island, she had immediately chosen a peak near the center. The cave she had selected was positioned midway up the mountain, offering a view of the shore and overlooking nearly half the island.
Normally, no one would come out to observe at midnight, but after tonight's conversation with Zhu Baiyi about her former disciple's origins, Qingyu not only failed to find peace but felt even more melancholy.
She had subsequently left Zhu Baiyi behind in the cave, intending to find a quiet place to think things through.
Qingyu was injured and couldn't move quickly. Not far from the cave, she began to feel weak. Being a proud person, and knowing Zhu Baiyi was following behind, she was even more unwilling to show weakness, so she steadied herself against tree trunks along the way, slowly continuing forward.
She walked slowly, occasionally glancing downward, and hearing beast roars from afar, she knew her current condition was poor. Fearful of ambush by spirit beasts, she remained extremely vigilant. After walking a few steps, she would look up and scan around—in the moonlight, she could vaguely make out the distant scenery.
At first, she hadn't noticed anything amiss, but after watching for longer, she began to discern some patterns.
Qingyu stood still, frowning as she gazed into the distance. After a while, feeling fatigued and unable to sustain her energy, she found a large boulder to sit on and continued to observe the island's situation.
A shadow fell beside her at some point, and from the graceful figure and flowing dress, she knew without guessing who had come.
Qingyu caught a glimpse from the corner of her eye but pretended not to notice. Her gaze fell on the occasional flashes of spiritual light across the island, and unconsciously, many worries arose in her heart—though she was in a calm place, the island was clearly experiencing disturbances. And now stranded on this island were not just her, but also the disciples she had brought, and... Qingyue.
Thinking of the beloved disciple she had raised with her own hands, Qingyu's emotions grew complex again, both conflicted and concerned.
On one hand, the master-disciple bond of many years couldn't be ignored; even when she had misunderstood her to be Zhu Baiyi's daughter with someone else, that bond had been difficult to sever. On the other hand, Zhu Baiyi's revelations tonight had transformed her disciple into her daughter. Though a blood connection should bring them closer, it was still too much to accept all at once.
Qingyu watched the sporadic outbreaks of fighting and beast roars across the island, the concern in her eyes deepening—though she had yet to untangle this complex relationship, regardless of anything else, she certainly didn't want any harm to come to her.