Penglai Pavilion's ship was far smaller than the one etched into Xu Ying's memory—the vessel that had once carried three thousand boys and girls across the ocean in search of the immortal mountain—yet it was far more exquisite.
It was designed in the layout of a multideck tower ship. Toward the stern stood a palace, while at the bow rose a two-story pavilion. Three towering sails were hoisted respectively at the prow, the midsection, and the stern.
The ship Xu Ying and Xu Fu had boarded so long ago had been vastly larger. That multideck leviathan possessed nine palaces and twelve towers. Each palace rose three stories high, while each tower stood sixteen stories tall, all connected by covered bridges.
It had housed hundreds of chambers of varying sizes, with cramped, dovecote-like compartments even in the lower hold to accommodate people.
There had been hundreds of sails, large and small, manned by over a hundred Qi Refiners whose sole purpose was casting wind-based divine powers.
That ship had been a floating city, sailing into the boundless, unfathomable ocean in pursuit of the immortal mountain.
Whenever Xu Ying reflected on that journey, certain memories made him reluctant to reminisce.
Those days had been fraught with scheming and cutthroat rivalry. The three thousand boys and girls had come from various sects, locked in endless internal strifes and bloody feuds. In the end, Xu Ying had even ambushed Xu Fu, leaving him stranded on Mount Fangzhang while departing alone.
"Pavilion Master Lin, could we borrow this ship of yours to set out to sea in search of the Penglai Fairy Realm?" Xu Ying inquired.
Lin Tianhua hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and replied, "Brother Xu, you imparted my sect's ancestral method to me, a benevolence shared with all Qi Refiners under heaven. You are also a dear friend of Seventh Master and Master Bell. Their righteousness reaches the heavens. If I refused, I would be unworthy of being called a man. Besides, I too wish to visit the Penglai Fairy Realm!"
Yuan Qi and the Big Bell flushed with shame and guilt upon hearing this.
The Big Bell thought to itself, *We treated him like that, yet he regards us as sworn comrades through life and death. It truly shames me to death... But wait, if Lord Grass burrows into Pavilion Master Lin's Realm of Xiyi later, taking control of him to bring him into Kunlun's Jade Capital, that will be Lord Grass's transgression. Seventh Master and I have done no such thing; in fact, Seventh Master and I will have saved him.*
Relieved, it thought, *It is Lord Grass who is unworthy of being called a man!*
The group boarded the Penglai tower ship, each selecting their own quarters.
Yuan Qi's physique was too massive, so he preferred to coil up on the deck, letting his tail dangle into the sea. The grave grass rooted itself atop Yuan Qi's head, siphoning the giant serpent's essence.
The grass had yielded a leaf to Zhu Chanchan and was now striving frantically to squeeze back its lost vitality, struggling to sprout a fresh leaf.
The Penglai tower ship set sail, gliding smoothly into the deep waters. Suddenly, a gentle breeze swept through, filling its three sails.
The multideck ship picked up speed, gliding faster and faster.
Xu Ying walked out of his cabin and gazed into the distance, watching the land recede farther and farther away.
The open ocean was profoundly enigmatic—especially this sea connected to the Yuanshou world. Legends in Yuanshou told that this expanse of water connected to other worlds, and even to other dimensions of space and time.
Four thousand years ago, when Xu Ying and Xu Fu set sail, their ship had unwittingly drifted out of the Yuanshou world and into another time and space.
In that realm, there was no Heavenly Dao.
The laws of the Great Dao were entirely different, crawling with terrifying demon gods everywhere. A single misstep meant certain death.
Even Xu Ying had been powerless against the perils they encountered; his divine powers could not withstand those horrifying entities. In the end, Xu Fu had escaped the danger only by offering human lives in sacrifice.
*This voyage is meant to find the Penglai Fairy Realm. Surely we won't run into that realm again, will we?*
Xu Ying's eyes flickered with thought. Xu Fu was not traveling with them this time, and he himself was incomparably stronger than he had been four thousand years ago. Even if they strayed into that realm by accident, he would hardly be without the means to protect himself.
Pavilion Master Lin had encountered several baffling points in the Mud Pill Longevity Technique and came looking for Xu Ying. Finding Xu Ying's room empty, he made his way to the deck, where he found Xu Ying and Chu Xiangxiang engrossed in examining the Dao manifestations branded across the pavilion.
Lin Tianhua called out to them several times, but neither Xu Ying nor Chu Xiangxiang heard him.
"Brother Lin, they are absorbed in figuring out how this ship navigates its way toward the Penglai Fairy Realm," Yuan Qi chuckled. "They can't hear a word right now. What brings you here?"
Lin Tianhua explained, "I have been cultivating the Mud Pill Longevity Technique lately, but I can't seem to grasp the essentials. I am unable to open the Nuo Ancestor cave-heaven."
Yuan Qi smiled and said, "Which parts elude you? Tell me, and perhaps I can answer your questions."
Lin Tianhua recounted the points he had struggled to understand. Yuan Qi pondered them briefly and answered each in turn. Lin Tianhua listened in shock and delight, feeling a pang of shame as well. *Seventh Master is so erudite! I fall far short of him; I have truly failed the past masters of my sect.*
Having cultivated alongside Xu Ying, Yuan Qi had been thoroughly steeped in supreme lore, learning profound mysteries like Heavenly Dao runes and Immortal Dao runes. Unbeknownst to himself, his insight and breadth of knowledge had long surpassed those of many sect leaders and masters.
To him, answering these questions felt entirely natural, with no inkling of how monstrous his talent and comprehension appeared in Lin Tianhua's eyes.
To be capable of instructing the master of an illustrious sect was an astonishing feat in itself.
Meanwhile, Xu Ying and Chu Xiangxiang cataloged the runes and Dao manifestations on the vessel, uncovering several crucial markings. "All the other Dao manifestations serve merely to fortify this Penglai tower ship," Xu Ying noted. "Only these few Immortal Dao runes are used to chart the course to Penglai."
Because she wore the Heavenly Dao Cloak, Chu Xiangxiang had spent these past days meditating on the Heavenly Dao. Her wisdom had broadened, granting her immense improvement.
She had originally been a mortal who attained godhood through incense offerings. Meditating on the Heavenly Dao had caused her attainments in it to advance by leaps and bounds, making it effortless for her to decipher the Dao manifestations across the ship's hull.
However, her understanding of Immortal Dao runes remained shallow.
As a primeval deity, her cultivation path differed from that of Qi Refiners. A Qi Refiner began by studying Dao manifestations to comprehend the Heavenly Dao, eventually transcending it to overcome tribulation and ascend to immortality.
For primeval deities, however, mastering the Heavenly Dao was their upper limit; breaking past it was nearly impossible.
They could only master more of the Heavenly Dao, or gather greater amounts of incense smoke qi.
Xu Ying became deeply engrossed in studying those few Immortal Dao runes, remaining in his trance for days without stirring.
The Penglai tower ship sailed across the sea for several days. Under Yuan Qi's guidance, Lin Tianhua successfully mastered the Mud Pill Longevity Technique. Just as he was reveling in his success, a raging wave crashed against them, lifting the entire ship several hundred yards into the air.
Everyone was startled. Chu Xiangxiang prepared to unleash her divine powers to steady the runaway vessel, yet once the ship reached several hundred yards above, it did not plummet. Instead, it glided onto an entirely different stretch of water.
Across this sea, clouds of gulls gathered, countless snow-white birds beating their wings as they soared overhead.
Beneath the ship's hull, a colossal shadow swam slowly past, its sweeping tail churning powerful currents through the water.
*This is not the Yuanshou world!*
The thought had barely crossed Chu Xiangxiang's mind when the ship violently swayed from side to side, on the verge of being swallowed by the vortex churned up by the gigantic fish's tail.
Yet the moment the vessel righted itself, they plunged straight into pitch darkness, finding themselves adrift upon a nighttime sea.
Chu Xiangxiang was filled with bewildered dread. Yuan Qi, Lin Tianhua, the Big Bell, and the grave grass all snapped to high alert, glancing around warily.
As the vessel swayed, it had crossed over once more, carrying them into yet another world.
Only this world was shrouded in night.
*Crack!*
Lightning flashed and thunder roared over the darkened sea, a sudden tempest breaking out in fury. Amidst the lightning strikes, a towering divine demon loomed between the ocean and the storm clouds. Raising monstrous waves, it hoisted a trident high and hurled it viciously straight toward them.
Just as the weapon was about to impale the tower ship, another bolt of lightning tore through the dark, and the Penglai tower ship crossed into yet another time and space.
Blinding sunlight struck their eyes. The Penglai tower ship was now passing through a menacing canyon of cliffs, flanked on both sides by jagged mountain walls that jutted out wildly like thorned briars, razor-sharp.
As the ship sailed through the strait, Yuan Qi glanced back and was gripped by horror. That was no strait at all—it was the gaping maw of an enormous beast!
It was the jaw of a long-dead behemoth. Just moments ago, the Penglai tower ship had sailed directly through the creature's titanic skeletal mouth.
"Thank goodness it's dead. If it were alive..." Yuan Qi shuddered.
Before his shivers could subside, the Penglai tower ship crossed into another time and space once more. A colossal mass loomed directly ahead—another multideck ship, vastly larger than their own. The two vessels brushed past each other.
In the instant of their near collision, the Penglai tower ship creaked and groaned under the immense pressure displaced by the giant vessel. Had they collided, their ship would have been smashed to dust!
Yuan Qi looked back, seeing a forest of sails rising from the massive ship. It bore nine grand palaces, twelve wooden towers soaring into the clouds, and countless chambers great and small.
All manner of banners were mounted along its gunwales. One flag unfurled in the howling wind, revealing an embroidered character: *Qin*.
"What ship is that?"
Yuan Qi craned his neck to look, watching the vessel traverse the chaotic crosscurrents of time and space across the sea, vanishing without a trace in the blink of an eye.
"Could that ship be..."
Yuan Qi's face drained of color as he cried out, "Master Bell, Lord Grass! That ship just now was probably the vessel Ah Ying and Xu Fu sailed on four thousand years ago!"
The Big Bell began clanging frantically in fright, blurting out, "Don't talk nonsense! How could we possibly encounter a ship from four thousand years ago?!"
The grave grass poked out from Yuan Qi's forehead, shivering violently.
Yuan Qi trembled as well, his voice shaking. "It truly was that ship! I saw the word 'Qin'!"
Chu Xiangxiang leaned over, offering a guess. "Perhaps Uncle Ying and Xu Fu abandoned that ship back then, and it has been drifting across the sea ever since. Did you see anyone aboard? I'm sure it was empty."
Yuan Qi thought back; it felt as though he had seen figures on board, yet also as though he hadn't.
Just then, Xu Ying's voice sounded. "Nothing encountered in this expanse of sea is out of the ordinary. What you saw just now might very well have been me from four thousand years ago. Back then, Xu Fu and I, along with the elites of three thousand sects, were traversing this very sea."
Relieved to see him awake, everyone hurried to gather around him. Pavilion Master Lin asked, "What did you encounter when you crossed this sea all those years ago?"
Xu Ying hesitated for a moment before answering honestly, "A ship. Almost identical to the one we are sailing right now, with a giant serpent coiled upon its deck."
The group froze, their faces a mix of shock and horror.
Xu Ying's own expression was somewhat grim. Four thousand years ago, he had indeed seen a ship identical to this Penglai tower ship across these waters, brushing past the Zulong tower ship and narrowly avoiding a disastrous collision.
Steeling his resolve, he circulated the Jade Pitcher Dao Attainment Scripture, casting his perception across the surrounding sea.
Instantly, the true nature of this sea unfurled before his eyes.
Countless tangled dimensions of time and space stood like colorless mirrors, pitched haphazardly across the ocean's surface. The vast sea drifted suspended amid the starry cosmos, rolling out into boundless eternity.
Through these fractured spaces and times, the waters connected to myriad worlds, both vast and small.
The tower ship rocked violently, passing beneath a majestic gateway. The gate was colossal, looming overhead almost parallel to the ship.
Xu Ying looked up and read three imposing words: *Southern Heavenly Gate*.
At that moment, an authoritative voice boomed from above: "Guard it strictly! Keep watch without fail—not a soul must be allowed to smuggle themselves up here!"
The ship glided past the gateway. In the distance, Xu Ying could vaguely see immortals pursuing them, but in the next breath, a tremendous roar shook the ship as it traversed into yet another time and space.
The world suddenly plunged into darkness. At that instant, everyone aboard felt the Great Dao of heaven and earth wither away into utter silence, its power entirely vanished.
The Penglai tower ship lost its propulsion, drifting forward solely on inertia.
Xu Ying's heart skipped a beat as he looked around. This was the very realm he and Xu Fu had drifted into all those years ago—a realm where the Heavenly Dao did not exist.
"Xu Ying, I have finally waited long enough for you!"
The distant sea exploded with a deafening boom. Amid the darkness, a towering demon god rose slowly into view, hideous muscle fibers exposed as countless arms danced in the air.
From a hundred li away, the demon god extended a massive hand, reaching toward the tower ship as its voice detonated across the expanse: "You and Xu Fu deceived me all those years ago! I have waited here for you for four thousand years—and you have finally returned!"
Chapter 315