Chapter Seventy-Five: The Search

“Flying sword?” The woman in white murmured, then turned her gaze to Shi Qi. “May I have a look at your flying sword?”

Shi Qi took a step back, eyeing her warily. “Island Master, I don’t think that would be appropriate.”

The woman in white merely smiled, saying nothing. With a slight lift of her jade-like hand, a slender trace of divine light shot from her fingertip, speeding straight toward Shi Qi.

Shi Qi’s brow furrowed and he hastily flung out the Thousand Resilience Shield. The tiny divine light struck the shield, setting it trembling violently, yet it managed to block the attack.

Next, Shi Qi drew the Hundred Li Sword from his spatial pouch, cursing under his breath, “Damn it, I’ve played the Hundred Li Sword into a dormant state. Otherwise, with its speed I might still have had a chance to escape.”

He held the Hundred Li Sword in his right hand, while his left, hidden behind the shield, quietly gathered divine lightning. If it truly came to a fight, although his cultivation was inferior, he hoped he could catch her off guard with the power of divine lightning.

To his surprise, after the woman’s single attack, she seemed to have no further intention to strike. She simply stared at Shi Qi in a daze. Had Shi Qi not been hidden behind the shield, unable to see her face, he would have noticed that her beauty had turned ashen and her whole body was trembling uncontrollably.

After a long moment, seeing the woman make no move, Shi Qi slowly edged out from behind the shield, watching her with vigilance.

The woman in white had already composed herself. With a sigh, she said calmly, “The Thousand Resilience Shield, the Hundred Li Sword, divine lightning—who exactly are you?”

What?!

Now it was Shi Qi’s turn to be shocked. “Who am I? I am myself—my name is Shi Qi, a solitary cultivator of the Southern Sea, Twelve Provinces! But…who are you, Island Master? How do you know of my magical treasures and techniques?”

She let out a long sigh, falling silent, her thoughts a mystery. After a while, she spoke again: “Young friend, you should go. I will have someone escort you out of the Mist Array encircling Cloud Island.”

The woman’s sudden change left Shi Qi completely bewildered. He frowned, asking again, “Island Master, may I ask what you mean by this?”

She gave no answer, only resting her jade hand upon the strings of the zither and resuming her playing. “This way, fellow cultivator.”

A voice sounded behind Shi Qi. He turned to see it was one of the two women from earlier.

He glanced back at the woman in white, who still played her ancient zither. The elegant music drifted once more across the tranquil lake. To Shi Qi’s growing unease, the woman before him became increasingly indistinct—at some point, a faint white mist had arisen between them. Eventually, he could no longer see her form, only the gentle sound of her zither remained.

“This way, please!”

The woman behind him urged him forward once more.

Shi Qi finally put away his treasures and followed her out, still glancing back over his shoulder, but all he saw was a veil of mist.

After he left, the music within the fog gradually faded. Suddenly, a single tear slipped down the woman’s cheek beneath her veil.

She whispered, “Could there truly be another in this world with a fate so like mine? Where are you? Are you still alive?”

…

“What a strange person,” Shi Qi muttered to himself.

“Say, fellow cultivator, who exactly is your Island Master?” he asked the woman beside him.

She only shook her head, offering no reply.

Shi Qi wisely refrained from further questions. The two left Cloud Island, rising into the air and arriving at the edge of the surrounding mist.

“Take this pearl, fellow cultivator. The pearl will guide you; follow where it leads and you will leave the Mist Array safely.”

Shi Qi accepted the pearl and thanked her.

She returned the courtesy. “You are too polite, fellow cultivator.” With that, she soared back to Cloud Island.

Shi Qi spread his hands helplessly. “What a strange island, and what strange people…”

With that, he leapt into the mist.

When he first entered, the speed of “Lightning Flash” had been so fast he hadn’t had time to properly observe the fog. Now, reentering, he examined it carefully.

All around him was shrouded in gray-black mist, impenetrable even to his Heavenly Eye. He tried to move, but instantly lost all sense of direction. Mist everywhere—mist and nothing but mist. Within it, flickers of divine light darted about, identical to the technique the woman in white had used.

Shi Qi broke out in a cold sweat. He’d been lucky not to run into one of these divine lights earlier; if he had, he might have been cleaved in two in an instant.

Realizing the danger of the formation, Shi Qi dared not be careless. He quickly cupped the pearl in his hands.

Suddenly, the pearl shone with a white radiance, enveloping him completely. The light expanded, forming a path before him. Wherever it reached, the mist seemed to shrink away in fear, opening a clear road.

Following the path of light, Shi Qi flew forward. After the time it takes for incense to burn, brightness flooded his vision—he had exited the Mist Array, returning to clear skies, blue sea, and the blazing sun above.

“At last, I’m out!” Shi Qi thought to himself. “I’ll keep this pearl—after my cultivation improves, I’ll return and get some answers from that strange Island Master!”

With that in mind, he prepared to store the pearl in his spatial pouch. But the pearl suddenly shattered, dissolving into a fine powder in his palm.

Shi Qi sighed. “So it’s single-use. Damn, they really do think of everything.”

Brushing off his hands, he oriented himself toward the Twelve Provinces and began his slow flight. The Hundred Li Sword would need another twelve hours to recover from its dormant state; only then could he speed up his journey home. For now, he could only rely on Windriding Technique to travel.

-------------------------------------

Outside East Sea City, on Egret Beach.

Sun Fanbai stood on the sand, gazing out at the boundless Eastern Sea. Waves lapped endlessly at his feet, soaking the sand beneath him.

He peered into the distance. Before long, a streak of white light appeared on the horizon, flying toward him—it was Bai Qiu, riding his flying sword!

Bai Qiu alighted before Sun Fanbai, put his sword away, coughed twice, and spat out a mouthful of blood, staining the sand red.

Sun Fanbai frowned and strode forward. “Brother Bai, you’re injured?!”

Bai Qiu wiped the blood from his lips and smiled. “Just a small wound. I ran into a thousand-year-old sea wolf in the deep ocean. Fought the beast for a while—ashamed to say, I came off second best.”

Sun Fanbai hurriedly took out a porcelain bottle from his pouch, poured out a pill, and pressed it into Bai Qiu’s hand. “Brother Bai, you were too reckless. A sea wolf of that age is formidable, especially in its own domain. How could you face it head-on?”

Bai Qiu swallowed the pill and steadied his qi. “I didn’t want to. But we’ve searched every island within several hundred miles—there’s no trace of Shi Qi. I had no choice but to search the deep sea.”

Sun Fanbai sighed. “That place is crawling with monsters. Even if Brother Shi did end up there… I fear…”

He shook his head, unable to finish.

Bai Qiu shook his head. “No, that boy’s luck is too strong. He’s still alive, I know it! Old Sun, what about your end?”

Sun Fanbai looked up. “I was just about to tell you—I used my connections in Cloud Purity Sect and sent word to all the familiar sects around the Eastern Sea, but in over a month, there’s been no word of Brother Shi. Besides, you’ve been searching the area tirelessly for a month. You’d know best.”

Bai Qiu lowered his head, clenching his fists in silence.

“But,” Sun Fanbai continued, “I did just hear some troubling news.”

Bai Qiu’s head shot up. “What news?!”

Sun Fanbai frowned. “It’s said that when Brother Shi and Miss Su fought Yuan Chenglu and the Sun-Moon Brothers of Starpoint Manor, someone saw Brother Shi’s cultivation sealed by the Sun-Moon Brothers’ Spirit Sealing Nails!”

“What?!”

Bai Qiu was thunderstruck, then erupted in fury. “Those bastards!”

Before, he might have clung to some hope for Shi Qi, but hearing this, despair gripped him. He knew the terror of the Spirit Sealing Nails—someone whose cultivation was sealed by them would be no different from an ordinary person: no cultivation, no true qi, no means of self-preservation. If Shi Qi had truly been sealed, even a minor beast could easily end his life.

Seeing Bai Qiu’s bloodshot eyes and trembling fists, Sun Fanbai quickly said, “Brother Bai, calm down!”

Bai Qiu’s eyes were red with rage. He shoved Sun Fanbai aside, drew his blue sword from his sleeve, and seized a handful of talismans from his pouch, roaring, “I’m going to raze Starpoint Manor to the ground!”

Sun Fanbai recognized the talismans—they were Bai Qiu family’s communication talismans, capable of sending messages instantly to the nearest Baixiaosheng disciple.

He rushed to grab Bai Qiu’s arm, shouting, “Brother Bai! Calm down! Let’s plan our revenge together!”

Bai Qiu bellowed, “I can’t calm down! Sun Fanbai, let go! Either come with me or get out of my way!”

He was about to throw the talisman skyward when—

“Amitabha!”

A Buddhist chant rang out.

In the next instant, a resplendent kasaya descended from the sky, settling over Bai Qiu’s shoulders.

At once, golden light burst from Bai Qiu. As the light swept over them, Sun Fanbai’s anxious heart was suddenly soothed. Looking again at Bai Qiu, the redness faded from his eyes and his grip on the sword and talismans slackened.

Sun Fanbai looked up and saw a gray-robed monk covering a hundred paces in a single step, arriving before them in a blink—it was the young monk Yuanwu!

Sun Fanbai quickly pressed his fists together in salute. “Master Yuanwu!”