Chapter 283 — Stirring Wind and Waves

Shen Mu clasped his hands behind his back and looked at Long Jiaonan with a smile. "I've heard the sea is full of wind and waves. Sister Long, can this ship of yours stand a storm?"

Long Jiaonan sneered. "The sky is clear for ten thousand li — what wind and waves are there to speak of?"

The words had barely left her mouth when the wind suddenly rose. From a breeze to a howling gale it came in a single breath. Then the sky darkened at once, a wild wind raged, and waves loftier than mountain peaks hurled the towered ship into the air before slamming it down with a tremendous crash.

Everyone aboard was caught off guard, each scrambling to keep his footing, while lightning struck in jagged cracks all around the vessel. In the confusion, Shen Mu flicked his finger and sent the little red snake hanging from his ear flying.

The little red snake had barely shot out, just beginning to expand and reveal its true form, when hundreds of thunderbolts gathered into one and crashed down on it with a deafening, sky-splitting boom!

Long Jiaonan gave a start, but there was Little Red tumbling into the sea, while countless bolts continued to rain down on the spot where it had fallen. In the water, the red snake finally revealed its true shape, but it was struck again by heavens knew how many thunderbolts, its body paralyzed, and it sank toward the seafloor.

"Where did this wind and thunder come from? Why does it strike only Little Red?"

Panic filled Long Jiaonan's heart. She looked around at the murky darkness closing in and a bizarre feeling rose in her: "This scene... seems somehow like the one in his painting just now..."

Shen Mu took Si Yunxiang's hand in his left and Ling Yuxiu's in his right, and the three of them leaped together into the dark, turbid sea.

Long Jiaonan cried out. In the next instant, the towered ship beneath her feet split apart, flinging everyone aboard into the sea. Just then, she saw another towered ship sailing out of the surging billows. Shen Mu, Ling Yuxiu, and Si Yunxiang stood at its prow, and the young Cult Leader waved at her. Then the ship sailed into the darkness and was gone.

Long Jiaonan gave chase at once, but a wave as huge as a mountain came crashing down and buried her beneath the water. With a muffled grunt, she burst through the waves. She had barely leaped half into the air when countless thunderbolts gathered and struck her all together, scorching her until she was tender within and charred without!

Long Jiaonan fought with all her might, wrestling against thunder and storm. But after a few moments, the thunder vanished, the wind ceased, and the sea was calm again. Drenched to the bone and utterly disheveled, she stood on the surface of the water. Looking around, she saw patches of ink in the sea slowly dissolving.

An enormous crimson python swam to her side, its body covered in wounds.

Long Jiaonan's heart turned cold as ice. She looked about her. The boatmen from the towered ship had also died in the sudden disaster at sea, Ghost Three worst of all.

"Did... did Cult Leader Shen paint this sea disaster into being?" Even now she found it hard to believe.

Shen Mu and the two women stood at the prow. Before long, the towered ship dissolved into a blot of ink and vanished into the ocean. The three of them channeled their yuan qi, descended to the sea's surface, and looked ahead. An island appeared on the horizon.

"Long Jiaonan has brought us deep into the Eastern Sea," Shen Mu said. "With our current cultivation, treading the sea all the way back to Hezhou would kill us with exhaustion. Better we go over there first to rest and recover. Shen Wanyun is quick-witted — he should already have informed the Crown Prince. With Fan Yunxiao's fast ship, finding us will not be hard."

The three set foot on the island. All at once a crowd of little yellow-robed figures burst from the mountain woods, brandishing knives, tridents, and cudgels, charging with murderous momentum. But when they reached the trio, they stopped one and all, tilting their heads back to stare up at them in wild terror.

"They're giants!" one little yellow-robed figure shrieked at the top of its lungs.

The little army at once scattered and fled in all directions. The figures were barely a foot tall. Some hid in the cracks of rocks, some buried themselves in the sand, some slipped under leaves; another ran this way and that, found no place to hide, and simply lay down on its back in a dead faint, tongue sticking out and eyes wide as saucers.

"So many huangjing!" Si Yunxiang exclaimed in surprise. "They're huangjing that have become spirits. They're edible and greatly boost one's cultivation."

"The giants are going to eat us!" The huangjing that had been playing dead sprang to its feet, turned tail, and ran — and with a thud, smacked straight into a tree and knocked itself unconscious.