Chapter 304 - The Scum Is Sticky
Xie Lan is more outgoing than Fan Wen, while Fan Wen, on the other hand, is a homebody, thus Xie Lan knows a lot more than Fan Wen even if Xie Lan went into a closed-door cultivation for ten years.
THUNK! Xie Lan's back hit the floor of the ship after Fan Wen punched him. His fall made a loud noise.
"Hii!" Lei Ling gasped after he was startled and he opened his eyes. Li Tian's brows scrunched and he faltered in his spells after he was interrupted by the noise. Suddenly, after that, they heard a loud, grinding noise.
BANG! The Millennium Ship hit something and rocked. "WAH!" they exclaimed when they almost lost their balance. Before anyone could speak nor react to what just happened, they suddenly felt weightless. A second later and they realized the Millennium Ship is sinking! "AAAAAAAHH!!!" they screamed and immediately held onto whatever they could grab.
Xie Lan who saw them wanted to laugh while Fei Lin smiled. "Grab your sword!" he reminded them.
"… ah." They all muttered and looked at each other. Their panic got over them so they, for half a second, forgotten they are cultivators.
"Wuwuwuwuwu…" Lei Ling cried as he hugged the pillar. He doesn't know how to fly using his sword, so his sword is just a mere decoration on his waist. Before he could faint in fear of falling down with the ship, a pair of strong arms wrapped around his waist and pulled him. "Jing Kang!" he exclaimed. Then, he smiled brightly as he hugged Jing Kang's neck.
You Rou, on the other hand, is calm. She dodged the falling debris while dancing. Her long sleeves are fluttering by the wind, and sometimes barely touches the debris. It is a very beautiful sight had it not for the tragic crash of the Millennium Ship.
"Shimei!" Lei Ling called as she flew on her sword and reached her hand towards You Rou who is leaping over the falling debris.
You Rou's eyes sparkled. "Shijie!" she called before she made a graceful leap and grabbed Lei Qing's hand, before both her feet landed on Lei Qing's sword on tiptoes.
CRASH! Suddenly, they heard a loud bang behind them and saw the Zunjingde Sect's group together with Zheng Yi, Qian Lin and Qian Tian flew out by breaking a hole in the ship. They were all resting after a long time fighting against the demonic cultivators, especially Qian Tian and Qian Lin. However, they were suddenly roused from their sleep when the ship crashed.
"What happened?!" Jing Rui asked with a dark face. "Is it an enemy attack?!" he asked.
"That…" both women looked at each other.
Suddenly, Li Tian and Feng Mo flew beside them. "Yes." Li Tian answered with a serious face.
You Rou and Lei Qing. "…" is it, really? Wasn't it because of founder and shifu – they thought when their eyes widened after they heard growling sounds from a distance. Their jaw dropped. So, it's really an enemy attack?!
"Watch out!" Feng Mo cried and immediately jumped off of his sword and grabbed it before he made a turn in the air and slashed a shadow that appeared in front of them before he landed on his sword.
Xie Lan, Fan Wen, Fei Lin and Lei Ling ran up the sloping floor of the Millennium Ship while outrunning the shadows chasing behind them. "It's not my fault!" Fan Wen said. "I really saw a shadow in front of me and I instinctively punched it! It's not because I was irritated by Lan!" he said.
Fei Lin. "… ^_^"
Xi Ling. "…" these husbands… he sighed and his feet made a screech when he suddenly stopped. He slid his foot backwards, while his sword made an arc in the air.
BANG! A strong gust of wind swept all of the shadows backwards. When they hit the crumbling walls, they revealed themselves. "Ghouls!" they exclaimed.
"Shifu! Founder!" Li Tian called and crossed the capsizing ship.
"Li-shixiong, watch out!" Feng Mo and You Rou cried when they saw a shadow leapt towards Li Tian.
Li Tian's eyes widened and he immediately jumped off of his sword and turned mid-air before he casted a spell and raised his hand. The spell hit the ghoul! However, because he didn't control his spell, the impact blown him downwards!
"LI-SHIXONG!!!" Feng Mo screamed.
Li Tian stared wide-eyed in shock as he fell down. However, before he could, he felt his collar tightened and his body was carried away. He turned his head and saw the smiling face of Zuo Zhe who's riding behind Yu Sheng. "Young master Zuo?!" he exclaimed.
Zuo Zhe almost loosened his grip of Li Tian when he heard Li Tian's address of him. "… yes, it's us." He said.
Feng Mo, You Rou, Lei Qing, Fan Wen and Xie Lan sighed in relief when they saw Li Tian was saved. "You've arrived in time!" Xie Lan said as Yu Sheng flew towards them.
Li Tian immediately called his sword and landed on it. "Young master Zuo, Yu-ge. Why are the two of you here?" he asked as the group has gathered. "Where did you go the past days?" he asked.
Yu Sheng turned to him. "We were in the Yunxiao Inn when your sect leader came to us and asked us to travel West, to Xiwang." He said.
Silence fell upon since they could already guess from Yu Sheng's words.
"He asked us to secretly follow Cheng Sheng, Fei Yin, Chen Han and Wu Yuan." Zuo Zhe said. "However, when we've reached the Xiwang, we only saw the Shapeshifting Blanket flying away in the sky." He explained.
Yu Sheng looked at their expression before he smiled. He knew they already have a guess. "It's as you all think." He said. "In order for Cheng Sheng, Fei Yin and Wu Yuan leave the Youxiwang Sect, Chen Han acted as the bait since he and Ming Ye, or Wu Ran, has a previous disciple and master relationship. Surely, he could buy them time." He told them.
"That's impossible!" Li Tian said, his eyes wide in shock.
Yu Sheng apathetically looked at him. "Do you think, at times like this, there is still anything 'impossible'?" he asked.
They all fell silent. Zuo Zhe saw their heavy expression and he hit Yu Sheng. "Yu Sheng." He called.
Yu Sheng just scoffed.
Zuo Zhe sighed and faced them. "Right now, Chen Han is in Wu Ran's hands." He said. "They are all going South to where Cheng Sheng is. And since we're all going South, a battle is inevitable." He took a deep breath. "Right now, Cheng Sheng has stopped the Ni Lai Gate from leaking demonic qi to the Huilong. But – " he said as the corner of his lips were pulled down. " – as Yu Sheng and I travel South to follow all of you, we've found that… there are other Ni Lai Gates leading to Heilong." He told them.
"'Heilong'?" Li Tian, Feng Mo, Lei Qing, You Rou, Lei Ling, Jing Kang, Zheng Yi, Jing Bai, Qian Lin and Jing Hei said, puzzled.
However, Jing Cheng and Qian Tian already have heard of Heilong. Qian Tian is from the South, the Qianxu Sect, so he should have already heard of a rumor or two. Meanwhile, Jing Cheng heard it from Jing Rui, since he is the eldest disciple of the Zunjingde Sect, and will be entrusted to by the sect in the future.
Zuo Zhe saw the confusion of some of them and he turned to Yu Sheng. However, Yu Sheng refuses to answer. "Let's find someplace to speak." Yu Sheng said. "Also, fix this ship. It's blocking the way." He said before he brought Zuo Zhe away.
Everyone watched Yu Sheng and Zuo Zhe disappeared. "Very arrogant." Fei Lin said. "However, he has his strength to back it up." He smiled. Xi Ling snorted and Fei Lin just laughed.
Meanwhile, Jing Rui spoke. "'Ni Lai Gate'…" he muttered.
Xie Lan looked at him. "We have to follow Yu Sheng to ask him for more information." He said.
"En." Jing Rui nodded and he turned to Jing Cheng and Jing Bai who are helping Qian Tian remain steady on his sword while Zheng Yi and Jing Hei are helping Qian Lin. "Protect Qian Lin and Qian Tian." He told his nephews.
"Yes!" they answered.
Jing Kang just watched them. "Jing Kang." He heard Lei Ling called. He looked at him. Lei Ling smiled. "Won't you go to your cousins?" he asked.
"Going with them or not, we're all one group." Jing Kang said.
Lei Ling's lip twitched and he awkwardly smiled. He didn't know Jing Kang could be this sticky.
Meanwhile, Jing Rui, Jing Cheng, Jing Bai and Jing Hei who heard what Jing Kang said. "…" 'a married daughter (son) is like a spilt water'. Jing Kang can't be saved.
Xie Lan ignored them and raised his hand. Light came out from his hand and hit the Millennium Ship. They all raised their head and watched the Millennium Ship become smaller until it flew to Xie Lan's palm. "Let's go."