After an incense stick’s time.
Jiang Yizheng patted the dragon scales and dog fur on her body, standing not too far nor too close to the bed, forcing a dry laugh while explaining to Yan Lingzhu. “It’s nothing, don’t be afraid. We were just playing around.”
Yan Lingzhu looked at her warily. “You are—”
“Ah, I’m Jiang Yizheng.” Seeing she was still nervous, Jiang Yizheng pulled Feng Zizhang over, “He brought you back. Do you remember him?”
Yan Lingzhu recognized Feng Zizhang, and then remembered how her martial aunt Yang Qianrou had fallen protecting her. Grief welled up inside her, and her eyes turned red, but she forcefully held back her tears. She raised her hand to bow, but her right arm was now just a half-empty sleeve.
She bit her lip, trying hard to steady her voice. “Thank you both for saving my life.”
Seeing her sorrowful expression, Feng Zizhang scratched his head and said, “Young fellow cultivator Yan, you and your martial aunt saved my life. You are my life-savers, so no need for thanks.”
Jiang Yizheng, seeing her pale face and the pain in her eyes, felt sympathetic and sat down by the bed. “It’s very safe here. You can rest and recover.”
Yan Lingzhu painfully twisted her mouth, looking down at her missing right arm. “……Thank you.”
A medical cultivator without a right hand was almost as good as a disabled person, but now that Medical Immortal Valley had only her left, she could not give up no matter what.
“Hiss, hiss……” A red small snake crawled out from Yan Lingzhu’s embrace, wrapping around her left wrist and gently rubbing her palm with its head.
Jiang Yizheng was startled. Yan Lingzhu gathered the small red snake in her hand, “Its name is Red Moon. I raise it to test medicines. It won’t bite.”
Jiang Yizheng laughed awkwardly, “It’s okay, I’m not afraid of snakes.”
She was just suddenly startled.
Yan Lingzhu looked strong. After her initial shock and grief, she quickly adjusted herself, silently observing Ning Xiu and Cui Yuanbai playing on the ground.
“He’s Cui Yuanbai, nickname Huan Huan, five years old this year,” Jiang Yizheng poked Cui Yuanbai’s shoulder, “Huan Huan, say hello.”
Cui Yuanbai looked up, his gaze falling on Yan Lingzhu, calmly nodding, “Hello, sister.”
Then he continued to focus on watching Ning Xiu play with the small wooden puppet.
Jiang Yizheng picked up Ning Xiu, “This is Ning Xiu, our little brother, nicknamed Xiao Shan. Xiao Shan, greet the sister.”
She waved Ning Xiu’s little arm towards Yan Lingzhu.
Ning Xiu grinned at Yan Lingzhu, “Ah~”
Hello, sister~
The child’s eyebrows were like painted snow, adorably white. Yan Lingzhu pursed her lips and gently touched his hand, “He’s so small.”
“Nine and a half months old now. He was tiny before, just a little ball, carried in Father’s front lapel,” Jiang Yizheng laughed and demonstrated with her hands.
“Dah~” Ning Xiu patted his little belly.
I’ve grown up~
Yan Lingzhu couldn’t help but curve her eyes in a smile.
Feng Zizhang pulled Cui Yuanbai, who was trying to climb onto Jiang Yizheng, down and whispered. “Huan Huan, you like the wooden puppet too? I’ll buy you one when we go out.”
Cui Yuanbai frowned, “I don’t like it.”
Feng Zizhang was stunned, “If you don’t like it, why do you watch Xiao Shan play with it every day?”
Cui Yuanbai crossed his arms, his tone unconsciously carrying a hint of murderous intent, “Not even Purple Flame True Fire can burn it.”
Feng Zizhang’s pupils dilated in shock, “What!?”
Cui Yuanbai nodded, “I’ve even tried turning into a knife to cut it. But it didn’t work.”
“……Xiao Shan really likes this toy,” Feng Zizhang tried to persuade his brother with violent tendencies. “You shouldn’t do this.”
“The puppet’s aura is very unpleasant. It’s very dangerous,” Cui Yuanbai stared at the small wooden puppet near Ning Xiu, curling his mouth. “I’ll definitely tear it to pieces sooner or later.”
Feng Zizhang: “……be good. Don’t learn from Father’s way of speaking.”
Cui Yuanbai wiped the sinister smile from his face, his gaze deep, his tone calm, “It won’t be allowed to stay long.”
Feng Zizhang: “……Don’t learn from the Venerable too much.”
“Oh.” Cui Yuanbai clenched his fist seriously. “I’ll keep a close eye on it. It won’t be allowed to hurt Xiao Shan.”
“It’s better to tell Father about this,” Feng Zizhang glanced at the small wooden puppet Ning Xiu was holding, couldn’t see anything unusual, but still felt uneasy. He led Cui Yuanbai to the adjacent room.
In the adjacent room was another body controlled by Chu Jun, which had transformed into Ning Buwei’s appearance and then applied a disguise technique. It was originally controlled jointly by Ning Buwei and Chu Jun, but earlier, Ning Buwei’s primordial spirit had been forcibly extracted while viewing Yan Jinzhou’s memories. Now, only one-third of Chu Jun’s primordial spirit remained here, watching over the entire flying ship, mostly spending time in meditation.
Feng Zizhang knocked and entered. Chu Jun slowly opened his eyes, “What is it?”
Feng Zizhang felt his father seemed strange, as if infected by the Venerable, but remembered he had something important to say, “Well, Huan Huan said about Xiao Shan’s wooden puppet—”
Before he could finish, Chu Jun suddenly stood up and vanished from his sight.
Feng Zizhang was stunned, “Father?”
“Father is fighting someone outside!” Cui Yuanbai’s eyes brightened, and he immediately ran outside.
Feng Zizhang had no time to think and hurriedly followed out of the room.
Outside the flying ship, two figures were entangled in battle, impossible to distinguish who was who.
Jiang Yizheng also rushed out, looking up at the sky, “Zizhang, who is Father fighting?”
“I don’t know. We were just talking, and then he suddenly went out,” Feng Zizhang shook his head in confusion.
With only one-third of his primordial spirit in this body and having to maintain the ship’s protective array, Chu Jun’s cultivation was naturally significantly reduced. He could only fight the opponent to a standstill but still recognized him.
“Wushi Sect?” Chu Jun’s tone carried a hint of doubt. All Wushi Sect cultivators had been taken into the tomb by Shen Xi. Cultivators of this level would at least be elders and wouldn’t be lone junior disciples.
Chu Bai sneered coldly, “Recognizing me changes nothing. Quickly hand over the Linglong Bone in the flying ship! Ning Buwei thought he was clever trying to lure the tiger away from the mountain, but leaving someone as insignificant as you to guard it—this is truly heaven’s blessing for me!”
Chu Jun blocked his attack, swept with his divine consciousness, and slightly raised an eyebrow, “Wushi Sect, Chu Bai.”
Chu Bai was first surprised, then coldly laughed, “How do you know?”
Each disciple of the Wushi Sect would drip blood to recognize their soul lamp after entering the mountain, and the soul lamp would be connected to their exclusive waist token. A divine consciousness scan would naturally reveal their identity, but there was no need to explain this to him.
The fact that this person could find the flying ship while searching for the Linglong Bone meant his identity was definitely not simple.
Chu Bai brought out his natal magic weapon and suddenly rushed towards the deck where Jiang Yizheng and Feng Zizhang were. Chu Jun’s backhand slapped the flying ship back hundreds of feet while blocking this attack. However, his movement was slightly sluggish, and Chu Bai seized the opportunity, making his offensive even more fierce.
On the deck, Jiang Yizheng and Feng Zizhang scrambled to grab the railing. Cui Yuanbai directly rolled into the cabin. When the ship stopped, they hurriedly entered the cabin room and were immediately engulfed by Big Yellow’s soft, fluffy fur.
During the ship’s sudden violent movement, Big Yellow was forced to enlarge his body, gathering Ning Xiu, the little black dragon, and the just-awakened Yan Lingzhu on his belly to prevent them from being violently thrown around in the cabin. But before Big Yellow could catch his breath, Cui Yuanbai flew in and hit his eye, causing him to immediately cover his eye with his furry paw and howl in pain.
“Sorry,” Cui Yuanbai reached out and touched his wet nose, expressing apology.
“Ah?” Ning Xiu poked his little head out from Big Yellow’s fur, looking confused.
Feng Zizhang quickly hugged him, and then casually grabbed the unconscious little black dragon and draped it over his arm, nervously saying, “It’s very dangerous outside, don’t run around—”
“Where’s Lingzhu?” Jiang Yizheng looked around but couldn’t find Yan Lingzhu, immediately feeling something was wrong.
Big Yellow, covering his eye, returned to his normal size and barked loudly towards the ship’s window. “Woof! Woof!”
Jiang Yizheng ran to the window, only catching a glimpse of Yan Lingzhu’s back, “Lingzhu! It’s dangerous outside, come back quickly!”
However, hearing this, Yan Lingzhu ran even faster.
“I’ll go after her. Zizhang, take care of them!” Jiang Yizheng grabbed the sword from the table and jumped directly out of the window.
“Hey—Xiao Jiang!” Feng Zizhang, holding Ning Xiu and the little black dragon, grabbed the struggling Cui Yuanbai, feeling overwhelmed.
Jiang Yizheng rode her sword in pursuit and quickly saw Yan Lingzhu’s back. She shouted loudly. “Miss Lingzhu, stop running! It’s very dangerous in the Floating Sky Realm. Come back with me!”
Yan Lingzhu was physically weak, but her speed was not slow. Without turning her head, she said, “I’m very grateful that you saved me, but I’m a burden who will eventually drag you down! I can go out on my own! I don’t want to implicate you!”
Jiang Yizheng gritted her teeth, injected a large amount of spiritual power into the flying sword, and suddenly rushed forward. She then made a turn and finally blocked Yan Lingzhu’s path, “You’re seriously injured. Rashly going out is suicide!”
An eight or nine-year-old girl, missing an arm, and not skilled in combat—no matter how you looked at it, it was extremely dangerous.
“Both Zizhang and I will protect you. And my father is very kind and won’t consider you a burden!” Jiang Yizheng jumped off the sword and reached out to grab her, “Quickly come back with me.”
Yan Lingzhu shook her head, nimbly dodging her hand and turning to run in another direction.
“Yan Lingzhu!” Jiang Yizheng immediately gave chase.
She took big steps and soon grabbed Yan Lingzhu’s sleeve. Yan Lingzhu turned her head, her expression suddenly changing, and she suddenly threw herself at Jiang Yizheng, “Look out!”
A powerful spiritual force swept past their faces, cutting off several strands of Yan Lingzhu’s hair.
Chu Jun, who was controlling the body, had pushed back Chu Bai and looked towards the two girls near the tomb entrance, saying in a deep voice. “Return to the ship!”
Jiang Yizheng hurriedly pulled Yan Lingzhu up. But before she could fully stand, a huge suction force suddenly came from behind, drawing both of them into the darkness.
The smell of blood and soil mixed together rushed towards them. In the chaos, Jiang Yizheng could only hold Yan Lingzhu in her arms. Her back seemed to heavily hit something cold and hard, and she even heard a crisp cracking sound.
“Mom, oh my, have I broken my waist!?” Jiang Yizheng wailed while holding Yan Lingzhu.
Yan Lingzhu lifted her head to look around, her face turning pale, her voice slightly trembling, “Sis… sister.”
Jiang Yizheng, in pain, tried to support herself with her elbow, turning her head while speaking, “We’re done for. Father is definitely going to be furious—”
Before she could finish, cold sweat instantly covered her forehead.
Under the flickering blue candlelight, over a hundred cultivators stood in a dense circular formation, their bodies stiff and motionless. Eerie dark red lines twisted and spread beneath their feet. Strangely, these people were still breathing and blinking, all staring directly at her and Yan Lingzhu.
Gulp.
Jiang Yizheng swallowed hard. The elbow supporting her on the “stone” slipped, and she fell face-first onto what she realized wasn’t a stone, but a transparent ice coffin.
Through the crystal-clear ice, a corpse covered in frost lay quietly inside, its empty, soulless eyes staring directly into hers.
Jiang Yizheng: “………”
A piercing scream instantly echoed through the entire tomb chamber.
