...
Sleepless all night, just as dawn was breaking, Qiongqi slowly woke up. Then, he saw Xu Mu sitting by the window.
"Hero, you're awake so early?" Qiongqi's voice was lazy, his white fur sprawled on the bed, unwilling to move.
"Haven't slept at all." Xu Mu turned his head, dark circles starkly visible under his eyes. He stood up, looked in the mirror, then took out a silver mask from the spatial bag he'd snatched from Ye Que and put it on, immediately concealing his aura.
"This morning, people from the Adventurer's Guild came. They said the sandstorm in Alfheim has ended prematurely and asked us to head there immediately after waking up, departing before noon."
"Ao," Qiongqi got up with great reluctance, let out a muffled cry, then jumped into Xu Mu's arms. Together, they left the inn.
Southwest of Tucheng, at the Adventurer's Guild.
Three massive magic artifact flying ships were docked in the plaza. They were enormous, forged by top master blacksmiths, inscribed with runes of various effects, and could accommodate thousands of people.
Below each flying ship, a boarding staircase was set up. Countless ability users who had joined adventurer groups lined up, yawning, but the process was fast. Soon, it was Xu Mu's turn.
"Xu Mu, from Blackhorn City, paid one hundred taels of silver, board the second flying ship." The guard checked Xu Mu's token and found his name on the registration ledger, speaking respectfully.
"You mean I have to queue again?" Xu Mu was stunned. He had been too tired when he arrived and hadn't paid attention to which line he should be in, just finding one at random.
"Number two... seems like you're the last one needed." The guard glanced at the adjacent flying ship, where the guards were staring intently at the entrance, seemingly searching for someone.
Seeing this, Xu Mu, with a steady complexion and undisturbed heart, hummed an affirmative and then walked over, holding Qiongqi.
"Xu Mu, Adventurer Group Series Two, one hundred and seventeenth adventurer, please board." The guard respectfully stated after verifying his identity.
Xu Mu nodded and, carrying Qiongqi, walked up the hundred-meter staircase. Upon boarding the flying ship, he saw over a hundred cultivators on the vast deck. They were either standing or lying down, discussing something tiredly yet excitedly.
"What's going on this time? Why did the sandstorm end a day early? Is something going to happen?" one adventurer asked worriedly.
"Who knows? I've been to Alfheim thirteen times and stayed in Tucheng for six years, and I've never seen this happen before." Another lean man in his forties, a sword at his waist, replied with a grim expression.
"The sandstorm's pattern being broken isn't necessarily a bad thing. When the unusual happens, something is usually brewing. Perhaps this time, we can find the legendary Elven Kingdom!" an excited, bald middle-aged cultivator exclaimed, but the others merely sneered and shook their heads.
Their expedition was only to the outermost fringes of the forbidden zone. Finding some ruins buried by sandstorms and gaining some opportunities would be considered good. As for sacred relics or the Elven Kingdom, they dared not even dream of it.
Xu Mu sat cross-legged in a corner of the deck, with no one around. He listened to the conversations of the crowd while quietly meditating. Just then, a shadow appeared before him.
"Osmanthus cake, specially brought for you," Nash said, handing Xu Mu the pastry wrapped in paper.
"What's your take on the sandstorm?" Xu Mu asked, dividing half of the osmanthus cake for Qiongqi in his arms. The latter swallowed it all in one gulp, leaving Nash dumbfounded.
"In all my years, I've never seen the sandstorm behave irregularly. However, my mother did see it once, the time she met my Elven father," Nash whispered, chuckling wryly as he squatted down. With half Elven blood, his understanding of this desert was actually less than that of some ordinary humans.
"Interesting." After finishing the osmanthus cake, Xu Mu drank some water from his gourd, then placed two fingers on Nash's head. "Sit down, back to me. I'll lift the restriction for you."
Nash's eyes lit up at the words. He immediately complied obediently. At this moment, as Xu Mu's mind stirred, a illusory Bagua array disk quietly rose beneath him. As Dao Source surged, the array disk enveloped the entire flying ship.
On several layers of rotating wheels, countless intricate characters turned, corresponding to the passing of seasons, birth, aging, sickness, and death, influencing the laws of space.
The runes on the flying ship began to flash. A few异人 (Yiren - extraordinary beings/individuals) felt something amiss, but when they looked around in confusion, they couldn't find the source of the cosmic law fluctuations.
"Seal!" Xu Mu declared, attaching Dao Source to the dark restriction. His primordial spirit avatar sat in the void, following the characters on the array disk, and recited aloud:
"Within the cave, profound and mysterious, Yang Shi Tai Yuan, eight directions of divine power, proclaim to the nine heavens, Qian Luo Da Na, sever demons and bind evil, Zhong Shan divine incantation, patrolling the five sacred mountains, the eight seas shall know, demon kings shall submit, malevolence shall dissipate, Dao Qi shall ever exist, with utmost urgency, as decreed by the law."
"Break!" The avatar roared, Dao Source burning fiercely, vaporizing and devouring the evil restriction. A few seconds later, Xu Mu withdrew his hand.
The restriction dissipated.
"It involves the soul, so some pain is inevitable, but it's alright. You'll be fine after a rest," Xu Mu said, his face showing some fatigue.
"Pain or not, that's secondary. I was just scared," Nash said, turning his head with a pale face, his gaze darting to the side. His voice was weak as he spoke, "Just now, while you were removing the restriction, the person on my right kept staring at me, making my skin crawl."
"Is that so?" Xu Mu's eyebrows twitched. He slightly turned his head following Nash's gaze and saw a shadowy figure leaning on a scepter, its face obscured.
"Vili... Taan?" Xu Mu's pupils contracted instantly. The attire was too familiar, sending a tremor through him.
He stared at the face of the ethereal black shadow. Even with Dao Source flowing into his eyes, he could only discern a blurry outline. The other person was also staring at him. For an unknown length of time, they exchanged gazes. The figure in the black robe slowly stood up and walked towards them.
"Is... is he coming over?" Nash's face was filled with fear, his body trembling uncontrollably. Due to his half-dark elf heritage, he was too sensitive to this type of ability perception. The feeling he got from that person was terrifying and evil, second only to Xu Mu's sword, that he had ever encountered!
Xu Mu remained silent, slowly regaining his composure. He knew Vilitan must be dead. This person before him was likely just an evil cultivator from the Totem Church.
"Hello." The black-robed figure approached Xu Mu. As he greeted him, he lifted his hood. The flying ship ascended into the sky, blowing his hair. Xu Mu and the others were taken aback because this turned out to be a woman.
"Is there something you need?" Xu Mu asked calmly, looking at a monstrous face half covered by a cyan birthmark.
"The journey to the forbidden zone is dangerous. I'd like to invite you to travel with us, so we can look out for each other." The woman smiled, and the aura of evil and dread in the space instantly vanished. However, Nash's body remained tense, not daring to look at her.
"Travel together? But aren't we already on the same ship?" Xu Mu said, looking around.
"It's a mixed bag. At critical moments, only true powerhouses can help each other; others are just burdens." The woman gently stroked her face, and the cyan birthmark instantly disappeared, her smile beautiful. "On this ship, the only ones I take notice of are you, my companion, and the helmsman Zuo Qi."
"Oh." Xu Mu's expression was calm. "Where is your companion?"
"He's sleeping over there," the woman pointed to the deck of the cabin. Indeed, there was a fat man lying on the ground asleep, holding a sword.
"Is that... Nan Feng?" Xu Mu looked at him, finding him increasingly familiar, his breathing even becoming rapid. He hadn't expected to encounter Nan Feng, one of the Four Eccentrics of the Northwest, here.
More importantly, the Gan Jiang sword was also here!
Xu Mu's eyes were filled with gravity as he exchanged a look with Qiongqi. They both remembered how they got the wounds on their chests. That endless frost had pierced his chest, and even Gray-White Eye had almost died by its hand.
"Have you considered it?" The woman saw the change in Xu Mu's expression and mistook it for him being startled by Nan Feng's aura, asking with a smile.
"Don't..." Nash pleaded, but Xu Mu interrupted him: "I'll join."
The young man agreed with a smile. The woman nodded, then, without another word, put on her hood again and turned away.
The flying ship gradually sailed further. Amidst the swirling clouds, Xu Mu smiled gently, put the demonic sword into his spatial ring, then took out the Level Six saber he had seized from Ye Que and strapped it to his waist.
*Hum...*
The latter also had a weapon spirit. It seemed to sense Xu Mu's low cultivation level and tried to resist, but the weapon spirit demon god invaded it and gave it a harsh lesson. Then, the entire blade became calm as still water.
"It's wonderful. I can both plunder treasures and get revenge," Xu Mu said, looking at Nan Feng, who radiated a bloody aura, and smiled happily.
At the same time, he wasn't the only one smiling amidst the clouds. The woman with the cyan birthmark also laughed after turning around and putting on her hood again. However, her smile now was different from her earlier beauty.
On the flying ship, amidst the clouds, she grinned silently. The whites of her eyes were covered by a deep darkness, like a female ghost described in martial arts novels, who only acted at night.
Xu Mu suppressed his smile. He looked at the trembling Nash, his gaze slightly serious, then looked at the woman completely enveloped in darkness, slowly falling into contemplation.
...