Chapter 452: Senior Brother, Ride the Waves and Break the Waves
The setting sun falls into the water.
The once green river surface was now dyed crimson by the sunset.
A small boat drifted with the current, with wisps of smoke rising from a small stove on board.
Ye Anping, clad in a straw cape, sat at one end of the boat, holding a small fan in his right hand, fanning the flames and adding ginger and scallions, completely focused on cooking the fish soup.
Soon, the clear water in the pot turned milky white, and a fragrant aroma wafted out.
Pei Lianxue, squatting nearby, sniffed her nose, then immediately tapped her bowl and chopsticks, asking with anticipation:
“Senior Brother, is it ready?”
“Mmm…”
Ye Anping fell silent for a moment. Suddenly, he heard the whistling of the wind and looked up towards the setting sun in the distance. Then, he picked up the pot lid, covered the stone pot, and patted Pei Lianxue’s head, replying:
“Let it simmer for a while first.”
“Oh…”
Seeing the direction of her Senior Brother’s gaze, Pei Lianxue squinted, nodded in disappointment, then stood up and took off the bamboo hat that shaded her head, throwing it aside.
A silver light flashed, and a spirit sword flew out from Pei Lianxue’s storage bag, landing in her right hand.
With her left hand in a sword finger gesture, she swept across the sword’s body, and it let out a humming sound.
Hum—!
Spiritual energy expanded from her fingertips, creating ripples of faint icy blue spiritual light beneath the boat.
Pei Lianxue’s cherry lips parted slightly, her eyes narrowed, and her knees bent, ready to strike first. However, Ye Anping raised his hand to stop her:
“Don’t rush, they aren’t small fry, we need to lure them out.”
“…Oh~”
Ye Anping nodded at her, took a pink cloth bag from his storage bag, hid it in his sleeve, and then turned to face the direction of the setting sun.
With several “whoosh” sounds of air being broken, eight pitch-black spiritual lights came from the west, instantly transitioning from motion to stillness, hovering in eight positions around the boat, enveloping him and Pei Lianxue in the center.
Ye Anping’s eyes, hidden beneath his bamboo hat, swept sideways. After glancing at the faces of seven Core Formation stage demonic cultivators, his gaze fell upon the face of the purple-clothed woman with the highest cultivation.
If he remembered correctly, this woman should be the Hehuan Sect’s “True Master Hehua.”
In the game, she was quite a formidable mini-boss.
Although she was a charm cultivator and not strong in combat, her cultivation was at Nascent Soul mid-stage, and she had many troublesome magical artifacts in her possession. If they hadn’t prepared in advance, he and his Junior Sister might not have been able to deal with her.
Moreover, she had brought seven Core Formation stage demonic cultivators with her.
However, then again, this was the territory of the Western Regions. It was a big move for the Hehuan Sect to send her and these seven Core Formation stage demonic cultivators across the border.
Lei Wanjun was in charge of guarding the border.
How could Elder Lei be so careless…
— “Is the Young Master from the Hundred Lotus Sect?”
A charming voice came from above, bringing Ye Anping, who was lost in thought, back to his senses. He cupped his hands and said with a smile:
“Indeed.”
“Heh…” True Master Hehua let out a cold laugh, sarcastically saying, “Haven’t you seen my intentions? Or do you think you can be unrestrained and sleep soundly just because you are in the Western Regions?”
“Neither.”
“Then have you given up resistance? That’s good, it will save me some spiritual energy. When I was inquiring about Young Master Ye’s whereabouts in the town earlier, I encountered a rather annoying follower.”
An annoying follower?
Could it be that Ancestral Lingzhi had arrived, and she had met him before?
Ye Anping thought for a moment. Since Ancestral Lingzhi had arrived, she was probably nearby now…
He slightly raised his head and scanned his surroundings, but he couldn’t find any sign of Ancestral Lingzhi.
After thinking for a moment, he took off his bamboo hat and placed it on his chest.
As soon as True Master Hehuan saw Ye Anping’s face, the look of boredom on her face vanished instantly. When the Sect Master had told her to come and capture the Young Master of the Hundred Lotus Sect, she had been quite unwilling.
After all, it involved crossing the Western Regions border guarded by the Great Elder of the Xuan Xing Sect, and then inquiring about the whereabouts of the Young Master of the Hundred Lotus Sect. This was no easy task.
But now, seeing Ye Anping was indeed the handsome young master described in the rumors, dashing and dignified.
She suddenly felt that all her hardships were worth it, and the troubles on the road were nothing.
“Hoo, it seems the journey back will be fun~~” True Master Hehua squinted and smiled, her gaze shifting to Pei Lianxue. She raised her hand slightly, “It’s just the look in this little girl’s eyes that’s a bit dazzling.”
Ye Anping glanced at the killing intent in his Junior Sister’s eyes, and with a helpless smile, said:
“It’s natural for it to be dazzling. My Junior Sister dislikes anyone who covets my young master’s beauty the most.”
“…”
“However, my Junior Sister is not a demonic cultivator and doesn’t eat people, so please don’t worry. Junior Ye just wants to remind Senior True Master Hehua, do you know why this river is called the ‘Qinshui’ River?”
Ye Anping slightly raised the pink cloth bag he held in his right hand, opened it, and poured out a few black pills, a wry smile appearing on his face.
Seeing the smile on his face and the pills in his hand, True Master Hehua’s eyes showed a hint of surprise. Instinctively, she sensed a threat.
A threat she couldn’t quite explain, but it was an intuition she had cultivated for hundreds of years of immortal cultivation.
She slightly waved her raised right hand, ordering the seven Core Formation stage cultivators who had followed her to attack together. She herself quickly took out an incense burner, protected herself with spiritual energy, and retreated fifty feet.
She would first test Ye Anping’s strength with her subordinates.
If there was a problem, she would just flee.
Thinking this, the surprise in True Master Hehua’s eyes dissipated, and she calmed down, staring intently at Ye Anping and Pei Lianxue, observing their every move.
Seeing her caution, Ye Anping couldn’t help but sigh. He glanced at the seven Core Formation stage demonic cultivators who were closing in on them and immediately threw a black pill in his hand towards the lake.
At the same time, Pei Lianxue also quickly raised her spirit sword, ready to help her Senior Brother fend off the first wave of attack from that group.
However, it was at this moment.
Clang—!
A white light flashed across the river surface.
A whisk flew from the riverbank on the west side, skimming the surface of the water, directly towards Ye Anping and Pei Lianxue’s boat, creating a nearly ten-foot-long trench on the calm river, pushing up two white crests of waves.
“Hiss—”
Ye Anping glanced over, and his eyes widened in fear. He quickly reached out and caught the black pill he had thrown in mid-air, then signaled Pei Lianxue with his eyes, indicating for her not to leave his side.
Boom—
“Argh…!”
With a wail, the whisk that shot from the bank, after knocking away a Core Formation stage demonic cultivator, flew directly towards Ye Anping’s chest. But just before it hit, it instantly stopped moving and hovered five inches from his chest.
The white horse tail at the tip of the whisk rapidly expanded and grew like hair, directly enveloping Ye Anping and Pei Lianxue, forming a huge white yarn ball on the deck of the boat, blocking all the spirit swords in the hands of the remaining six Core Formation stage demonic cultivators.
Those six felt as if they were cutting into an unbreakable cotton, unable to exert any force.
Before they could react, the horse tail of the whisk suddenly transformed into a white long whip and swept out.
Crackling—
Boom—!
All six Core Formation stage cultivators were unable to defend themselves, and were whipped away in the opposite direction by the whisk, scattering like flower petals. Centered around Ye Anping’s boat, they were sent flying in six directions, splashing into the water and creating six plumes of spray.
Seeing this, True Master Hehua, who was watching from afar, quickly glanced towards the bank. She saw a buxom female cultivator in a black and white daoist robe standing proudly on a flying sword, slowly heading towards her.
“So fast?”
Elder Cao, stepping on her flying sword, slowly arrived in front of True Master Hehua. She raised her hand and recalled the whisk that had protected Ye Anping and Pei Lianxue, holding it on her left arm. She tilted her head and looked at True Master Hehua:
“Hmph, demoness of the Hehuan Sect, how dare you cause trouble in the heart of the Immortal Realm.”
“Heh, if I dare to set foot in the Western Regions, I have my own confidence. With just you, an Elder of the Taibai Sect at the Nascent Soul stage, you can’t do anything to me!”
“Arrogant to the extreme!”
Both Nascent Soul cultivators’ eyes widened.
Ink-like dark clouds gathered in the sky, casting a shadow over the river surface.
The wind was strong and the waves were steep, their movements guided by momentum.
Two figures, one black and one white, collided back and forth a hundred feet above the river surface. Explosions of spiritual energy erupted with resounded, stirring up dozens of feet of waves on the river surface under the shadow.
The small boat rose and fell rapidly amidst the waves.
Ye Anping stood on the deck, forming a sword finger with his left hand, pointing at the stone pot beside him. He used spiritual energy to lift his fish soup, preventing it from being overturned by the waves.
Watching Cao Yan’er of the Taibai Sect and True Master Hehua fighting, he felt an indescribable sense of helplessness.
He had expected that Ancestral Lingzhi would come to find him with Cao Yan’er, and that the Hehuan Sect or the Gu Poison Sect would send their pawns to capture him.
But he hadn’t expected these two groups to collide at this exact moment.
Two Nascent Soul cultivators were fighting head-on, and their strength was comparable. This battle would likely not be decided in a few days and nights.
Moreover, it was fine before the fight started, but now that it had begun, it was difficult for him to intervene.
Rumble—
Because of the strong wind and waves, Pei Lianxue, standing beside him, shouted at the top of her lungs:
“Senior Brother!! What do we do?!”
“We watch the show!!!”
“Senior Brother!! I can’t hear you!!”
Ye Anping leaned close to Pei Lianxue’s ear and said:
“Watch the show!!”
“Oh!!”
The two Nascent Souls battled fiercely in the heavens and earth, while the small boat rode the waves and broke through them. Ye Anping and Pei Lianxue stood on the deck, their figures swaying with the boat, yet remaining still relative to it.
Suddenly, two dark figures shot out of the surging waves.
Two Core Formation stage demonic cultivators, who had been swept away by the whisk earlier, holding two spirit swords, attacked the two who appeared stunned and unprepared.
Ye Anping glanced at them and was about to raise his hand to signal his Junior Sister to cut them down.
But before he could make the signal, and before Pei Lianxue could draw her sword, another figure leaped from behind a giant wave, stomped on the water, and swung his sword, bisecting one of the Core Formation stage demonic cultivators at the waist.
Swish—
“Hmph!!”
After taking down one person, Zu Lingzhi kicked the other away with a whip-like leg. Then, biting down on the hilt of her spirit sword, she freed her hands and grabbed Ye Anping and Pei Lianxue by the shoulders on the deck:
“Wuwuwu!!!”
She wanted to say “Let’s go,” but unable to speak clearly due to biting the sword, she then forcefully lifted them by their shoulders, intending to escape with them.
However, as she exerted force to lift the two, Zu Lingzhi realized that their feet seemed to be stuck to the boat. She couldn’t lift them at all.
“?”
Zu Lingzhi was stunned. She tried again, but found that she still couldn’t lift them, and was dumbfounded:
“Wuwuwu—! Wuwuwu—!”
“…” “…”
Ye Anping and Pei Lianxue, on either side, had expressionless faces, staring at her without intending to speak.
Seeing their blank faces inexplicably angered Zu Lingzhi, but she didn’t have the time to scold them.
In the moment she was holding their shoulders, another Core Formation stage demonic cultivator leaped out of the river and onto the boat, swinging his sword towards her.
Clang—
Zu Lingzhi’s eyes narrowed. She immediately released their shoulders, grabbed the sword hilt from her mouth, and blocked the attack. Then, she forced the attacker back and shouted:
“Follow me quickly—!!”
Before she could finish speaking, another Core Formation stage demonic cultivator flashed out from behind her, thrusting his sword towards her spine.
But Zu Lingzhi reacted quickly, twisting her body and shifting her sword sheath, blocking the demonic cultivator’s thrust.
Clang—!
However, although she blocked the sword, the force of the impact sent her flying past Ye Anping and Pei Lianxue.
The remaining five Core Formation stage demonic cultivators seemed to have drawn aggro. After Zu Lingzhi was thrown into the air, they leaped out of the turbulent river from five directions, surrounding and attacking her.
Zu Lingzhi reacted quickly, summoning her magical artifact and enclosing herself in a golden bowl, blocking the spirit swords of the five attackers.
Clang—
Rumble—!
In the sky, Cao Yan’er and True Master Hehua’s battle continued, with flashes of spiritual light shaking the heavens and the earth.
On the river surface, Zu Lingzhi used the waves as a springboard, single-handedly dealing with the encirclement of five Core Formation stage cultivators.
The small boat pitched and rolled in the waves. Ye Anping, holding his fish soup, stood motionlessly with his Junior Sister at the bow, like a passing traveler, watching the two sides fight intensely with an expressionless face.
Although Ye Anping appeared stunned, he was actually looking for an opportunity to act.
Unfortunately, he simply couldn’t find any chance.
Seeing that the situation was about to get out of control, Ye Anping sighed helplessly and leaned close to Pei Lianxue’s ear, saying:
“Junior Sister!!! Act according to the situation, prioritize rescuing people!!!”
“…Oh!”
Pei Lianxue hesitated for a moment, then understood that her Senior Brother wanted her to save the girl with the “∞” symbol on her head if the situation allowed. She nodded and followed her gaze.
Seeing that she understood, Ye Anping sighed and muttered:
“Don’t die.”
Then he raised his hand, threw the black pill clutched in his right hand with force in a parabolic trajectory, and was blown away by the wind, falling silently into the river.
Ding ding—
Zu Lingzhi, treading on the crests of the rolling waves, repelled a Core Formation stage demonic cultivator with a sword strike. She looked at the drifting boat and the two figures standing motionless on it, and her eye corners twitched uncontrollably.
However, the next moment, she felt the river water under her feet, which had been shadowed by the dark clouds above, suddenly turn as black as ink.
“?”
“…”
!!!
After a moment of stunned silence, Zu Lingzhi’s eyes widened. She immediately used her body-controlling technique and leaped from the river surface, rapidly fleeing towards the sky.
And just two breaths after her feet left the river surface, with a “boom,” a Qinshui Flood Dragon leaped out of the water with its mouth open, swallowing a Core Formation stage demonic cultivator who hadn’t reacted in time.
Roar—!
The silver-white flood dragon’s body carved out a bridge hundreds of feet long amidst the waves.
But just a few seconds after the dragon’s head submerged, it reappeared a hundred feet away, opening its mouth and swallowing another Core Formation stage demonic cultivator.
The remaining three Core Formation stage demonic cultivators finally reacted. Following Zu Lingzhi’s example, they used their movement techniques to leave the river surface and chased after her towards the sky where the two Nascent Soul cultivators were fighting.
The four of them flew rapidly in the same direction. Neither Zu Lingzhi nor the three demonic cultivators had any intention of fighting anymore.
Rather than perishing in sword combat, they were even more unwilling to fall into the dragon’s maw and become food for the Qinshui Flood Dragon.
However, precisely because they were fleeing in the same direction, the Qinshui Flood Dragon, after a moment of silence, suddenly broke through the water surface again and, like chasing the moon, rushed towards the four of them with its mouth wide open.
Seeing that she was about to fall into the dragon’s belly, Zu Lingzhi, in a moment of desperation, quickly moved to the side of a Core Formation stage demonic cultivator, stepped on him, and used the force of her feet and spiritual energy to accelerate her escape.
“Eeeek—!!!”
Seeing this scene from the boat, Ye Anping raised an eyebrow slightly. He quickly raised his hand to stop his Junior Sister from rushing towards the dragon’s maw to rescue them, and muttered:
“Hoo~ quite a fast reaction…”
Then, he looked towards the peak of the mountain in the east and said:
“They should be coming soon.”
Just as he finished speaking, a lightning flash illuminated the river surface, flashing from the dark clouds in the sky.
Boom—
Thunderbolt—!
Immediately, over twenty heavenly lightning bolts, like celestial pillars, connected the clouds and the river surface.
A white light came from the west, exploded a hundred feet in the sky, and then a man with purplish robes and veins bulging on his forehead appeared.
“Who is so reckless as to set up a trap to fish for a flood dragon in the Qinshui River?!?”
The rumbling thunder, accompanied by his roar, spread for hundreds of miles.
True Master Hehua, fighting Cao Yan’er at a distance, saw this lightning and her eyes widened. She quickly prepared to use an escape technique to flee the area.
But as soon as she took out her escape artifact from her storage bag, Lei Wanjun’s lightning-flashing eyes glared at her.
“Demonic cultivator!!!”
Thunderbolt—!!
Boom—
A lightning dragon descended from above, engulfing True Master Hehua, smashing her into the river surface, and vaporizing her along with countless river fish.
…
