Leaving the Ship

Back at the medical tent, everything was normal. Li Weiyi breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Cai Yutong, Gao Huan, Old Liu, and the others knew what Li Weiyi had set out into the forest of graves to do. Having waited outside the entire time, they saw him return and assumed he had succeeded, crowding forward to ask how it went. "That white-boned demon is no minor threat. She can already step outside the grave. With my current strength, even using every trick I had, I could only fight her to a draw." A heavy look of worry hung on Li Weiyi's face. Failing to eliminate her meant she was free to do as she pleased to a certain degree. If she truly chose to ambush the expedition members, it would be impossible to guard against. What was worse, there was still the shadowy ghost riding the camel, and he had no idea whether it had been dispersed for good. "Are you hurt?" Cai Yutong noticed the bloodstains on Li Weiyi's clothes. "I'm fine," Li Weiyi said, then gave instructions: "Pass the word down: no one is to enter the forest of graves from now on. If you hear camel bells, put in earplugs immediately. Also, keep your guard up against Dr. Qi." "What happened to her?" Cai Yutong asked, worried for Qi Shanshan's safety. Li Weiyi pondered for a moment before answering uncertainly, "She might have been possessed by the white-boned demon!" Cai Yutong's expression darkened. Though she had long suspected that something had happened to Qi Shanshan, hearing this outcome made it even harder to accept. "It might not be full possession, either. Her state felt very strange to me," Li Weiyi offered by way of comfort. "Brother Weiyi, the first mate is awake!" Qin Ke dashed out of the medical tent, shouting joyfully from afar. Li Weiyi felt an immediate jolt of spirit. The worries and stray thoughts crowding his mind vanished as he strode quickly into the medical tent. The two martial brothers shared a round of laughter and caught each other up. Zhao Meng sat up, grumbling in distress, "Have I turned into a giant now? By my reckoning, I'm at least three meters tall, and my legs are nearly as thick as water barrels!" Li Weiyi said, "If I had any other choice, I never would have fed you flood dragon blood so rashly, Senior Brother." Sensing the guilt weighing on Li Weiyi's heart, Zhao Meng burst into loud laughter. "I think it's great! My whole body is surging with power—I could probably wrestle a tiger with my bare hands. How about we two brothers have a spar? You dare take me on, kid?" Zhao Meng had neither shed a husk nor shown any sign of his skin transforming into an immortal spirit's. It seemed everyone experienced different changes after drinking the Golden Crow blood or the Black Flood Dragon blood. Some, like Li Weiyi, showed no change in outward appearance at all. Li Weiyi said, "There's no need to spar, but I have an urgent matter to ask you about, Senior Brother. Do you still remember our Eldest Martial Sister, Jia Nan?" A stunning figure that Zhao Meng could never forget in this lifetime instantly sprang to mind. "Why bring up Eldest Martial Sister all of a sudden?" "I remember Eldest Martial Sister spent three years with our sect, but I was too young back then to remember much clearly. Where was she actually from? Why did she never return to the sect afterward? Did something happen to her?" Li Weiyi asked. "Not three years—two and a half," Zhao Meng corrected, recalling the fragments of the past. "Eldest Martial Sister was closest to you, but unfortunately, you were too young to remember anything. If you had been just a little older, she definitely would have been a woman you'd never forget your whole life. She was too remarkable, like someone not meant for the mortal world." "Stop reminiscing about your youth. I'm asking about serious business," Li Weiyi said. Zhao Meng replied, "Tell me what this is about first." "It can't be explained in a few words." The reason Li Weiyi asked about Eldest Martial Sister was that the language the red-robed Qi Shanshan and the shadowy ghost on the camel had used to converse was identical to the native tongue of their Eldest Martial Sister's homeland. Li Weiyi had been young back then, but he was not entirely devoid of memory. He had learned that language from her, which was why he had been able to grasp the rough gist of their conversation. Zhao Meng said, "Master said Eldest Martial Sister came from an overseas minority tribe, and that she went back home after leaving the sect. Later on, I went to sea many times and traveled to various countries around the world searching for her, but I could never find that mysterious tribe." "Didn't you ask Master?" Li Weiyi said. "Of course I did! Why wouldn't I?" Zhao Meng said. "But Master advised me to stop poking around and cut off that notion entirely. He even gave me a furious scolding, calling me a country monkey from the mountains who wasn't worthy of her. I was so wronged—I just wanted to see Eldest Martial Sister one more time, that's all. Don't you want to?" "Naturally, I do too! But I have a feeling we might be able to meet her in this world." Li Weiyi spoke with deep meaning, countless thoughts flashing through his mind at once. ... Two days later. Li Weiyi stood at the bow, gazing out at the crimson sea with an increasingly heavy heart. He had entered the forest of graves multiple times in search of both the red-robed Qi Shanshan and the shadowy ghost named Yu Tuonan, but each attempt had yielded nothing. He suspected the two fiends were hiding inside some grave mounds to heal their wounds. There were simply too many graves to dig up and search one by one. What if he dug up a third fiend...? As the Bronze Ship surged forward, the coffins on the sea grew increasingly numerous and densely packed, nearly converging ahead into a coastline made of coffins. A grim, oppressive expanse choked the navigation channel. It slowed the ship's speed to an unprecedented crawl, bringing it almost to a dead stop. The coffins came in all shapes and sizes. The largest stretched several hundred meters long, their wood pitch-black, carved with demon motifs and wrapped in chains as thick as washbasins; who knew what manner of corpse was entombed inside? In other places, tens of thousands of coffins piled together into "floating islands" from which purple-red vines grew, their roots digging deep into unknown depths. The entire sea of coffins was eerily silent. It was impossible to tell whether this place had always been so still, or if it had fallen quiet only upon the Bronze Ship's arrival. Li Weiyi said to Gao Huan beside him, "Explain this to me. Where in myth and legend is this supposed to be? Where did all these coffins come from?" "On our journey here, we must have seen millions of coffins, if not ten million. And that's only what we could see." "It's as if they are driven by some unknown force, all converging toward this place." Gao Huan's lips parted, and after a moment's thought, he said calmly, "Perhaps they all fell down from the macroscopic world, just like us... There are countless planets in the universe, and Earth certainly isn't the only one with life. After those living beings were buried, maybe some special cause made them tumble down into the microscopic world!" After Zhao Meng awakened, Gao Huan had been the first to drink the Golden Crow blood. He had shed his mortal husk and transformed to resemble an immortal spirit, the skin of his entire body white as warm jade. Like Cai Yutong, his physical strength had increased considerably, rivaling that of athletes in peak condition. However... His height had shrunk drastically. He had originally stood at only one meter sixty-five, but now he was under one meter fifty. Aside from his surname being Gao—meaning 'tall'—he had nothing to do with height anymore. "Hey! Boss Li, why is there a red figure on the sea below?" Gao Huan cried out in surprise. Li Weiyi's eyesight was far superior. Even across several hundred meters, he could see clearly that the figure leaping across the floating coffins into the distance was Qi Shanshan. She had actually left the ship? A pair of radiant fiery wings had grown from the red-robed Qi Shanshan's back. Cradling someone in her arms, she touched down in an instant upon a massive floating island of coffins. She looked back toward Li Weiyi at the bow and pointed a finger at Cai Yutong in her arms. Then, Without looking back again, she plunged toward the depths of the floating island of coffins, vanishing into the gloomy mist. "Was that the red-robed white-boned demon?" "Did she take Dr. Cai?" "What is she trying to do? Leaving the Bronze Ship doesn't matter to a skeleton like her, but how is Dr. Cai supposed to survive?" ... Gao Huan followed closely behind Li Weiyi as they hurried toward the medical tent and the fractured research ship. "She did it deliberately. She wants to lure me off the ship." Li Weiyi found the rope tied to the bulwark used for drawing water. Clearly, the red-robed Qi Shanshan had descended from here. How dared she? Did she already know what this place was? "Weiyi, disaster! Dr. Qi attacked Dr. Cai..." Zhao Meng, Old Liu, and a group of others rushed over with flustered expressions. Li Weiyi said, "I know. They've already left the ship." "Before she left, she said something very strange: 'If Li Weiyi wants to know who he is, I can give him the answer. Tell him to come find me.'" Zhao Meng repeated her words verbatim. "Who I am?" Li Weiyi's brows knitted tightly. He had never considered this question before. But with the appearance of the white-boned demon and that supposed 'dao-protecting wife,' everything had become completely shrouded in mystery. A person had to come from somewhere. His grip tightened around the rope, hesitation seizing him. It was not that he feared leaving the ship; rather, he knew an even more terrifying ghostly creature still lurked aboard. He was worried that after he left, his senior brother and the others would meet with catastrophe. Yet if everyone left the ship, their path ahead was entirely unknown. This sea of coffins was far too sinister. No one knew what dangers lay within it, and if the Bronze Ship sailed away, they would lose all hope. "It stopped... The Bronze Ship seems to have stopped completely..." Gao Huan leaned over the bulwark, staring out at the sea. *Clang! Clang!* From the forest of graves, the ringing of camel bells and the howling of wind erupted violently, rushing toward the bulwark at terrifying speed. "Watch out!" Li Weiyi sprinted forward, channeling the hot and cold currents within him to form the Heaven-Overturning Palm Print, striking out toward the cloud of nether mist soaring over the gravestones. *Boom!* The terrifying power within the nether mist blasted Li Weiyi back over the bulwark. Straddling the phantom camel, the humanoid ghost cleared the high bulwark amidst the deafening chime of bells. Sweeping its ghost banner through the air, it slashed toward Li Weiyi's waist and abdomen, intent on hurling him downward to perish on the sea. In this moment of utmost crisis, Li Weiyi could not afford to care that he was falling through midair. He drew the Yellow Dragon Sword from his back and swung it to parry. *Bang!* The two forces collided head-on. Li Weiyi's blood churned wildly, and he plunged downward at an even faster speed. Worse still, the chime of camel bells and the ghost banner struck again. The humanoid ghost showed no fear of falling, utterly bent on driving him to his death. In this near-fatal predicament, the spring eyes in the centers of Li Weiyi's soles surged violently. Currents flooded all twenty-six of his trace veins as he executed Yellow Dragon Ascends to Heaven. With his first step, he seemed to tread upon a cloud of wind, halting his downward momentum. With his second step, his body dodged the ghost banner, rising to the exact height of the humanoid ghost. With his third step, Li Weiyi appeared directly above the humanoid ghost's head. Under the humanoid ghost's stunned gaze, the tables instantly turned. "Die!" Li Weiyi raised his sword with both hands, its edge bursting with yellow radiance, and brought it cleaving heavily downward.