Soaring the Heavens

As the man turned to face them, his long, white sideburns gently rested upon his chest. His face portrayed a duality between good and evil, a contrasting mix of aristocracy and peasantry, and the coexistence of authority and benevolence. Guo Shaohai and the white-haired old man couldn't help being taken aback when they saw his handsome face. How could there be a man with such an elegant bearing?

There was even a trace of astonishment in Guo Shaohai's eyes. He was fairly confident that a man with such an appearance and presence would be able to captivate any woman and become the man of her dreams.

However, the way he turned to look at them was like that of a powerful god from above the Nine Heavens. His tranquil gaze seemed as though he were just observing a bunch of ants. Guo Shaohai and the white-haired old man couldn't help being taken aback by this. Who exactly was this man?

If Miao Yi were here to see this, he would certainly be able to recognize him-who else could it be besides Lao Bai? Yet sadly, he did not even possess the strength to climb aboard the ship. And for Lao Bai to appear here, he clearly had no intention of letting Miao Yi climb aboard either.

Guo Shaohai and the white-haired old man had seen what the people dragging the Netherdragon Ship were like; they had all been transformed into zombies that didn't possess a single ounce of sentience. With their milky-grey eyes, they no longer had the sense of spirit that made one human. Because of that, these zombies could wield an inhuman level of strength, though they lost had the fluidity of their attacks in the process. However, things were clearly different for the man before Guo Shaohai and the white-haired old man now. The most obvious indicator being that the man wasn't bound by an iron chain.

Meanwhile, just below the distance canopy bed, before the elegant man's position, were eight people bound by eight sets of iron chains. There were men and women who looked to be of varying professions, all formed into two orderly lines right by the elegant man's side.

Initially, the eight of them stood facing one another in four pairs. However, soon they all slowly turned to look outside the gate, their milky-grey eyes staring straight at the two intruders.

The joy that Guo Shaohai and the white-haired old man felt from boarding the ship quickly turned to apprehension. They watched as the person standing at the end of the line began turning towards them, dragging the iron chain by his feet along as he slowly approached, step by step. Guo Shaohai and the white-haired old man immediately felt an immense pressure coming from this person.

Right as that person stepped outside the main hall, the two of them immediately felt a vast, powerful aura coming off of him.

Guo Shaohai and the white-haired old man instantly felt something was off. This Netherdragon Ship was nowhere near as simple as they had imagined. However, their trip was not in vain. At least, they managed to learn something new about it. This way, they would still have a chance to deal with it the next time they came here. Guo Shaohai swiftly made up his mind and barked, "Let's go!"

The two of them rapidly shot to the skies in a streak of light. However, right after they left the ground, they realized that they were frozen in mid-air as a terrifying suction force was pulling them back.

The two of them twisted back and saw that, while the zombie was no longer able to take another step forward because of the iron chains, both his hands were stretched out towards them with his fingers hooked into claws. The terrifying suction force was actually coming from those two palms. Guo Shaohai and the white-haired old man couldn't resist it at all and even after using their full strength! They couldn't slow down the speed at which they were being pulled back.

The two of them were utterly horrified. They could not imagine how high this zombie's cultivation must have been back when he was alive.

One must know that a person's cultivation drops by an entire realm once they are turned into a zombie—that's right, an entire realm, not just a single grade! For example, if a Red Lotus cultivator was turned into a zombie, they would only be able to retain the strength of a Blue Lotus cultivator. There was no way they could be as strong as they were when they were alive.

However, even considering all that, this zombie could still manage to capture Guo Shaohai and the white-haired old man with absolute ease.

All of a sudden, the zombie changed his claws into fists and punched out at the air. While the entire movement was silent, the force generated by his fists created a visible path through the air. As he struck, the space before him rippled violently. It was a rather peculiar sight, but nonetheless, the attack coursed through empty space and connected solidly with Guo Shaohai and the white-haired old man.

'Spurt! Spurt!' Guo Shaohai and the white-haired old man violently spat out a mouthful of blood into the air as their bones let out a series of audible cracks.

The two of them were hit by a terrifying, invisible force, and flying straight out like a shooting star, before crashing into the ocean several kilometers away and sinking down into the depths.

Under the starry night sky, the Netherdragon Ship also slowly began its descent, stirring up turbulent waves as it sank beneath the surface of the ocean.

Lao Bai was already underwater, with a layer of bubbles around his body. He watched as the Netherdragon Ship under his feet sank deeper and deeper into the darkness.

Suddenly, the Netherdragon Ship abruptly began to expand, then imploded just as quickly. A black hole appeared in the center of the ship and began sucking in the iron chains, as well as all the zombies bound to them. In just a few short moments, the massive Netherdragon Ship had shrunken down into the size of a little sphere. The sphere rapidly darted about the ocean, then quickly rose from the depths, where it suddenly transformed into the figure of a man. This person stood facing Lao Bai, and like him, was also surrounded by a layer of bubbles.

The man was an ascetic. He had a fair, clean-shaven face, and a straw hat adorned his head. With a monk's staff in hand, he placed one hand before his chest and gave Lao Bai a religious greeting. This man was the same ascetic that Miao Yi had met walking alone on the desert.

"I've found the person to bring me out, just as you said." Lao Bai said, staring at him.

The ascetic gave a faint smile. "I know. Otherwise, you wouldn't be appearing here."

Lao Bai asked, "Are you sure he's the one I'm looking for?"

The ascetic sighed. "I'm not. I can only feel that the change has already begun. Nothing is permanent in this world. Who can possibly tell whether or not our actions will end up to our benefit."

With a blank expression on his face, Lao Bai said nothing further, and simply shot down into the ocean depths.

Meanwhile, the ascetic gently floated up to the surface, and continued walking across the ocean surface.

In the far off distance, a wretched-looking Guo Shaohai had floated up to the surface as well; his hair was completely disheveled. He had one hand on a Glorious Star Immortal Herb, absorbing its healing essence through his skin, while the other hand was dragging along the white-haired old man, who was just inches away from death. With the old man in tow, he quickly broke through the surface of the ocean and flew all the way to shore.

After he dropped the old man on the ground, he split the immortal herb in half, swallowing one half of it down his throat, then pressed the other half into the white-haired old man's mouth, using his transcendence energy to help the other party swallow it down.

After which, Guo Shaohai flicked his messy hair out of reflex; surprisingly, there was quite a feminine cast to his face. As he gazed back towards the ocean, there was no concealing the fear in his eyes. The situation just then had simply been much too frightening; that zombie definitely had the strength to kill them both with a single blow.

Suddenly, Guo Shaohai's eyes widened, having noticed the ascetic who was treading across the surface of the ocean.

As the ascetic stepped onto shore, he gave Guo Shaohai a religious greeting and asked, "How fare your wounds, Sir?"

Guo Shaohai cupped his fists and bowed. "It's been many years since we last met. I never thought I'd see you here again, Warlock. Did you already know that the Netherdragon Ship would appear around these parts?"

The ascetic blankly replied, "I only saw it coincidentally as I was passing by."

If anyone else had said this, Guo Shaohai would believe them. However, he wouldn't trust this person before him in the least. "It is hard for one to even catch a glimpse of you, Warlock. Since fate has willed us to meet, how about we find a place to have a little chat about old times?" he cajoled.

"Sir, your wounds are rather dire. Since there won't be anything to gain by staying longer than this, it is best that you head back soon. With such a large commotion, I believe the others will be reaching here soon enough." The ascetic kindly warned, whilst he gave the other party a faint, yet suggestive smile. After which, he gave Guo Shaohai another greeting, then slowly went on his way.

His invitation was rejected! Guo Shaohai frowned, but it wouldn't be in his best interest to force the other party to stay. All he could do was watch as the ascetic slowly disappeared into the darkness of the night.

Just then, a groaning sound came from behind him. Guo Shaohai turned back to look, and watched as the white-haired old man struggle to sit up. The old man then cupped his fists. "Venerable Sage!"

Guo Shaohai gently raised his hand for the old man to be at ease. He then turned towards the newly-appeared ocean and sighed. "The Wandering Warlock is not one to lie. Since he says that we won't gain anything by staying any longer… Tell all our forces to retreat. There's no point in staying here any further."

The white-haired old man slowly stood up. As he clutched his chest, he asked, "Should we silence them?"

Guo Shaohai scoffed, "There's no need for that anymore. You saw what happened just now. Even if those bastards manage to find it, they won't be able to gain anything from the ship. It's not necessarily a bad thing to let the other five nations go on a wild goose chase for a while."

Following which, he transformed into a streak of light and shot into the night sky. However, he was already much slower now than he was before. Clearly, his wounds were quite severe indeed...

Meanwhile, deep in the depths of the ocean, after sensing that the commotion above the surface had subsided, Miao Yi waited for a while longer. Once he was absolutely sure that the turmoil had died down, he quickly swam up to the surface of the ocean. All the while, he was surrounded by strange-looking fishes of all colors swimming about.

As he broke through the surface, he stepped onto the waves and scanned his surroundings. How was this place still a desert? It was nothing but boundless ocean all around. God knows how long it would take to seal up an opening this large.

'Where did that ghost ship disappear to?' Miao Yi was brimming with curiosity. He released the Blue-Feathered Swallow then soared up into the sky, gazing down from above. With some help from the moonlight, he could see the massive lake that had formed in the middle of the desert. However, there was no sight of the Netherdragon Ship at all.

Suddenly, a spirit eagle flew over. Miao Yi took down the letter and read it through, then promptly flew off on his Blue-Feathered Swallow. As for his dragon steed, he didn't have a single clue what had happened to it. He also couldn't care less about the other troops that were dispatched to the other search areas. All he was thinking about was getting away from this place as quickly as he could.

Along the way, he noticed various streaks of lights quickly rushing by him. Some were gold, and some were purple, but for the most part, they were all red. He was absolutely nerve-racked as these lights shot past him. Fortunately, it seemed they were all in a rush, and not a single one of them bothered with him at all. Miao Yi could vaguely feel that these were all the experts of Flowing Clouds Dune Sea who were alarmed by the commotion earlier today.

Right as dawn was breaking, he finally reached the Chamber of Commerce, and in one piece at that. Luckily, he had gotten two flying-type mounts beforehand. Otherwise, there was no telling when he would be able to make it back.

As he landed beside the entrance to the Chamber of Commerce, he bumped into Wu Zhen and Wu Ming, who were just on their way out. The twins glanced at him for a moment, then passed him by, as though nothing had happened between them at all. The first thought that flashed by Miao Yi's head was the sight of them stark naked and writhing all over his body. After which, he felt a pang in his heart from the thought of his ruined Second Grade Armor Artifact.

Once he was inside the Chamber of Commerce, he quickly found the manager who was in charge of handling the Flowing Clouds Dune Sea branch, which happened to be that white-haired old man. Miao Yi noticed that the old man's expression had paled significantly from what he remembered. He was currently cultivating inside the isolated room that Guo Shaohai had stayed in before. Meanwhile, Guo Shaohai himself was nowhere to be found.

Miao Yi asked curiously, "Manager, did we manage to succeed?"

The white-haired old man shook his head and revealed a faint smile. "I can't believe you're still alive. You've done a great job this time, so I won't be taking back the things I gave you back then. Think of it as your reward."

'That's my reward?' Miao Yi's expression turned awkward. He coughed drily and reminded, "Manager, Senior Guo said that he would make me a Hall Master." His words implying—'You don't think you can just brush me off like that, do you?'

"You can think about your Hall Master post once you've returned. Since the higher-ups have already promised you as much, we naturally won't go back on it. Your mission isn't finished yet either way. You still haven't lured out the person after your life."

"That… I think we can just let that go for now. I'm too tired to care about the nitty-gritty details anymore. Just get someone to send me back safely." Once he was back and promoted to Hall Master, who would dare touch him without reason? Not to mention, he would still have Zhao Fei and Sikong Wuwei backing him up. How could staying here as bait beat that?

"Even if you don't care, the higher-ups do. Besides, we have a new mission for you."

"Manager, this one's abilities are limited. I have already finished the mission that was given to me by my Palace Lord." Miao Yi chuckled and cupped his fists. "Farewell!"

His words were clear enough—'I will only obey the command of my Palace Lord. Now that my mission is completed, it doesn't matter how high your cultivation is. The Chamber of Commerce doesn't get to order me around.'

The old man didn't stop him. He simply chuckled and said, "You've got guts! Then I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens."