Chapter 138: You Treat the Senior as a High Immortal, but the Senior Might Not Even Be Human-Cultivating Steadily: The Entire Immortal Realm Is My Home(The hermit possesses a clever plan.)

Upon hearing the report, Master Kunyuan lost her previous composure, her figure flickering as she appeared at the highest vantage point of the spirit warship.

With a flick of her wrist, she produced an array disc; a single thought from her was all it took to fully activate all the defensive formations across the entire warship.

Once they cleared the foggy sea area, the island chain belonging to the demon race would not be far away. At that time, the warship's flight spirit prohibitions could be activated, allowing it to enter a high-speed cruising state.

Master Kunyuan's brows furrowed deeply. It was not out of concern for the safety of the cultivators aboard—she cared very little for their lives, and commanding this warship was merely an assigned duty.

Bringing the spirit warship back intact would simply earn her a larger share of spirit stones.

Once the flight array was activated, extending its four pairs of wind wings, it would generate a tremendous commotion, highly likely to attract powerful fierce beasts, which was extremely disadvantageous for crossing the domain of the demon islands.

She needed to assess the real-time situation, managing the warship's various flight states to safely navigate through these treacherous waters.

At this moment, Master Kunyuan had already released her divine sense. She had attained the Core Formation stage over two hundred years ago, but unfortunately, her innate talent seemed to have been completely exhausted upon breakthrough.

Over the past two centuries, she had made virtually zero progress, failing even to reach the peak of the early Core Formation stage.

Her hands moved in a blur, continuously casting incantations as she exerted herself to drive the formations, attempting to steer the spirit warship away from the towering waves.

Although the coercive pressure within the monstrous aura waves was terrifying, the waves stretched for hundreds of miles, and not every inch possessed an impenetrable pressure.

If that senior cultivator truly cared about the spirit warship, he would have long since captured the demon snake king and taken it elsewhere, rather than ignoring the warship from beginning to end.

The snake king roared furiously, its scales flashing with a chilling glare, every single scale brimming with boundless baleful aura.

...

When he fled, he did not simply run at random.

Screams rang out continuously. Deprived of the protection of the formations, the cultivators were swept into the monstrous aura waves one after another.

Some cultivators with low cultivation and sluggish reflexes, noticing the terror of those around them, anxiously began to inquire about the situation.

Shen Lian attempted to gauge the intensity of the pressure, but ultimately failed to make an accurate judgment.

His divine sense, extending across four thousand eight hundred feet, rippled outward in all directions, bringing the sea surface within a radius of nearly thirty miles entirely into his perception.

Lin Yixing gave himself a solid, resounding slap.

Not far away, another demon snake king radiated towering demonic aura, accompanied by several other demon kings whose presence was only hinted at by dense scales rather than their full forms.

Master Kunyuan, commanding the spirit warship, was also a cultivator of considerable backbone. Realizing evasion was impossible, she directly drove the warship to charge straight through.

What others failed to see clearly, Shen Lian saw with absolute clarity.

Just as Lin Yixing was about to open his mouth once more, a sound like a thunderclap detonated across the warship.

Amidst the boundless waves of demonic aura, a single figure stood suspended in mid-air: a youthful cultivator wearing a golden crown and plain white robes. The rolling, torrential demonic aura could not advance a single inch within a radius of ten feet around him.

The demonic aura waves were simply too terrifying. Within a mere few breaths, they were already less than twenty miles away from the warship.

Human seniors were not necessarily reliable either.

Ever since boarding the spirit warship, he had noticed that this little female cultivator harbored ulterior motives; whenever danger struck, she showed no fear, only excitement.

Within the roiling demonic aura waves, a scarred Black Water Scarlet Lotus Snake roared furiously.

Inside the private cabin, just as everyone was being battered by the terrifying pressure, the sound of a sharp, resounding slap echoed out.

If one used their divine sense to perceive the surroundings and happened to be locked onto by the demonic entities within the gigantic waves, one might very well end up meeting a gruesome end.

Within his perception, Master Kunyuan was still desperately managing the warship, attempting to break through the giant waves and retreat into the distance.

Shen Lian instantly made up his mind to hitch a ride.

"Rumble!"

"Lurking and advancing."

The pressure sweeping in from afar was simply too overwhelming.

As for the snake king, no matter how furious it became, it could not escape the incoming sword light. Deep gashes ripped open across its body, droplets of demonic blood spilling forth.

Boom, boom, boom!

As the white-robed cultivator continuously rained down sword beams, battering the demon snake king until it writhed and roared, the demonic aura surging in the surrounding area grew increasingly turbulent.

"Ah..."

The Tier 3 spirit warship emitted a chorus of creaking sounds under the impact of the demonic aura waves, clearly suffering structural damage.

Seeing the warship's formations shatter and the hull begin to disintegrate, Master Kunyuan casually tossed aside the disc controlling the arrays. A flash of earthy-yellow spiritual light erupted from her body, and a suit of armor resembling that of a mortal military general materialized upon her.

The terrifying aura generated by the white-robed cultivator whipping the demon snake king not only whipped up towering waves on the surface of the sea, but also triggered fierce, turbulent undercurrents beneath the water.

"Ah... It's a senior of our human race subduing a demon king!"

"This... this... Even the Core Formation elders in our sect do not possess such a terrifying aura."

At the very last moment, she would drive the warship to its absolute maximum speed, charging in one fell swoop through the strait between the demon islands.

"Mid Core Formation... Late Core Formation..."

"Impossible!"

The tailfin of this demonic snake had already begun growing appendages resembling dragon fins, and two distinct bulges had formed on its body downward from the neck region.

"What did you discover?"

"What's wrong?"

The spirit warship began wandering aimlessly amidst the fog. As night approached, the vessel finally arrived at the outer edge of the mist.

It wasn't that they hadn't noticed the warship; rather, they simply hadn't paid it any mind.

"Crack!"

Inside his robes, he had pasted over a hundred defensive Thick-Earth Divine Armor Talismans—these were defensive talismans he had crafted himself after the emergence of the Tianyan Earth Domain.

Though Shen Lian fared slightly better than those fleeing blindly in panic, he was not much better off; terrifying pressure assaulted him from all directions.

These ordinary fierce beasts were not worth worrying about; driven purely by instinct, they would simply give up once they realized they could not catch up.

Shen Hang's upper and lower teeth chattered uncontrollably.

Just as Shen Lian was hoping to rely a bit longer on the warship's defenses, a violent shattering sound echoed out. The array barrier protecting the exterior of the warship cracked and burst into tens of thousands of specks of light right in mid-air.

The youthful cultivator pointed his fingers like a sword, exuding an air of supreme arrogance with every gesture, continuously unleashing sword qi upon the Black Water Scarlet Lotus Demon Snake King.

However, the speed at which the demonic aura advanced was simply too fast. Eventually, it merged with the gigantic waves, forming a composite energy band intertwining black qi and white crests.

From then on, it meant the passengers would simply suffer slightly heavier casualties.

Seeing a fellow peer of the same race being tortured, were these demon kings truly unwilling to intervene?

More likely than not, they simply did not dare to make a move.

This scene filled Shen Lian with heartache; he wished he could reach down and catch every single drop.

Glancing up at the sky, it was still far from nightfall.

Aboard the warship, Master Kunyuan felt her hands and feet grow icy cold—a sensation she had never experienced since achieving the Core Formation stage.

His divine sense monitored the lateral movement speed of the warship, deducing whether it could evade the sweeping demonic aura waves.

Standing upon the rocking spirit warship amidst the waves of demonic aura, the cultivators finally caught sight of the spectacle unfolding within the gigantic waves, prompting gasps of shock from every corner.

Due north, over the vague outline of the beast islands, vast swaths of black demonic aura rolled and churned incessantly, accompanied by thunderous roars.

Amidst the towering, turbulent waves, someone was riding a dragon.

Under the cover of night, the spirit warship charged resolutely toward the direction of the demon islands.

Deep beneath the water, various aquatic fierce beasts could be seen relentlessly pursuing the warship.

"Hold steady."

As the warship forcefully smashed through dozens of towering waves, the cultivators aboard widened their eyes in disbelief, their faces plastered with expressions of utter shock.

At this juncture, Shen Lian did not dare use his divine sense to probe what lurked within the giant waves.

Aside from Master Kunyuan holding the macro-level command of the warship, its tactical maneuvers were guided by twenty other Foundation Establishment cultivators—five stationed at the bow, stern, port, and starboard respectively—who used their divine sense to scan both the skies and the depths.

Even when confronted with such a horrifying scene, she remained thoroughly excited.

"Rumble!"

"Hoo..."

Yet those cultivators wearing looks of sheer terror failed to regain their wits in time.

Perhaps noticing that everyone else remained silent, Lin Yixing spoke up in an attempt to liven up the atmosphere.

Under such terrifying pressure, what they could perceive was merely a blurry spectacle, but they could at least confirm that a human and a serpent were locked in fierce combat.

As for the passengers, were they not simply consumable goods?

Within the roiling demonic aura, even larger, unimaginably colossal waves reared up, sweeping southward like a white ribbon of silk.

In the eyes of the senior, there was only the demon snake king he was currently in the process of subduing.

Realizing they were about to exit the fog zone, Master Kunyuan issued her orders once more.

The sudden activation of all restrictions and maximum speed by the warship was precisely to dodge the oncoming demonic aura sweeping from ahead.

Screams rang out across the warship.

He had fled following closely behind Qiyu.

No matter how furious the creature grew, it could not dodge the incoming sword light. Deep wounds tore open across its body, spraying gouts of demonic blood.

Rumble!

As the white-robed cultivator continually unleashed sword beams that battered the demon snake king into roaring fits of rage, the demonic aura stimulated in the surroundings grew increasingly violent.

"Ah..."

Under the impact of the demonic aura waves, the Tier 3 spirit warship groaned with agonizing creaks, its structural integrity clearly failing.

Seeing the warship arrays shatter and the vessel begin to break apart, Master Kunyuan casually tossed away the array control disc. A flash of earthy-yellow spiritual light erupted from her body, and a suit of armor resembling that of a mortal military general materialized upon her.

"Ah... It's a senior of our human race subduing a demon king!"

"This... this... Even the Core Formation elders in our sect do not possess such a terrifying aura."

At the very last moment, she would drive the warship to its absolute maximum speed, charging in one fell swoop through the strait between the demon islands.

"Mid Core Formation... Late Core Formation..."

"Impossible!"

This was no dragon; it belonged to a species of demonic snake on the verge of transforming into a horned flood dragon (jiao).

"What did you discover?"

"What's wrong?"

At the moment the warship's defenses shattered, Shen Lian also moved.

The Earth Star Sect naturally excelled in defensive arts. The overwhelming demonic aura swept outward, causing Master Kunyuan's body to flare with intense spiritual light; leveraging the momentum of the incoming demonic aura wave, she hurled herself straight down into the ocean below.

Witnessing this, Shen Lian made his choice.

Relying on the reinforcement of the Thick-Earth Divine Armor Talisman, Shen Lian was nonetheless battered so violently by the incoming demonic aura that his internal organs convulsed with agony.

Outside the warship, four pairs of black wings expanded to a size of a hundred feet, tearing apart the surrounding moisture and wind currents to hoist the vessel aloft, carrying it soaring horizontally through the void.

More appropriately, it was a demonic snake nearing transformation into a flood dragon.

Having lost their minds and fleeing blindly in terror, the high Foundation Establishment masters were no different from common mortals.

For instance, crouching in mid-air, shrouded in demonic aura, was a gigantic turtle shell.

Crack!

He did not flee in panic like the others; staying aboard the warship for the time being was still relatively safe, whereas rushing out blindly into the open meant certain death.

Instantly, everyone's minds froze in shock.

"Slap!"

To think they had guarded against demons and the sea, only to fall victim to a senior of their own race!

Upon plunging into the ocean, Shen Lian was immediately greeted by the sight of an unlucky Foundation Establishment cultivator whose body had been twisted into a knot by the underwater currents, his aged face thoroughly distorted.

Either this female cultivator was truly formidable, or she was completely out of her mind in the cultivation world.

Clearly, Master Kunyuan understood this principle: a spirit warship, at the very least, provided a metallic shell of protection.

Simultaneously, as the warship launched its counter-offensive, it slammed directly into the oncoming crests of the giant waves.

Listening to the cacophony echoing across the warship, Shen Lian felt not a shred of relief.

"Lower the altitude."

Yet, under the impact of the boundless demonic aura, the warship felt as though it had sunk deep into a quagmire.

The scalding demonic blood rained down, churning the sea surface into boundless giant waves.

Although ocean voyages carried inherent risks, the overall probability of a complete vessel destruction and total loss of life rarely exceeded ten percent—especially since the joint multi-sect purge of the sea race years ago served as a stern reminder to the demon race.

Crack!

Meanwhile, all those demon kings remained stationed far in the distance, observing the white-robed cultivator without the slightest intention of intervening.

"Fellow Daoist, do not tail right behind me."

At that very moment, Qiyu's lips twitched slightly, and a hoarse, crude voice echoed directly within Shen Lian's sea of consciousness.

(End of this chapter)