The captain looked at one of the brothers and waved his hand. “Go tell the brothers below deck.”

“Yes.” The brother nodded, turned, and ran toward the cabin.

After Zhao Yusheng’s order went out, the Black Pool quickly grew restless once more.

A wind rose from nowhere, churning the surface of the Black Pool into a thousand layers of waves.

The battle between the twin dragons grew more intense, and the wind grew stronger along with it.

Zhao Yusheng settled into his designated position, and Qiao Mu did not dare to delay, immediately taking up her wooden sword and landing behind him.

The two of them closed their eyes at the same moment, murmuring an incantation under their breath.

Around Zhao Yusheng and Qiao Mu, a dozen or so brothers formed a formation.

In the raging wind, the brothers held their positions firmly, not daring to move even slightly.

The other brothers planted their feet in horse stances, struggling to keep the ship steady.

The wind grew stronger and stronger, and the spray it kicked up soaked the clothes of many brothers standing along the ship’s rail, but everyone kept pushing through without the slightest letup.

Time passed by, drop by drop, and the expanding mass of dark clouds gradually crept toward the sun.

Not knowing what was happening, everyone watched anxiously.

The dark clouds blocked off a little more than half the sun, yet there was still no movement from the formation in the middle of the ship. Some of the brothers grew so anxious they shut their eyes.

Suddenly, a flash of white light startled everyone’s eyes, and the brothers all widened their eyes to look toward the source of the light.

The white light shot from the spot in the middle of the ship where the formation had been laid, straight up into the sky toward the two battling dragons.

The two dragons locked in combat seemed to be struck by something — whether they had vanished or were hiding within the dark clouds, no one could tell.

The twin dragons disappeared from sight, and the wind weakened in an instant.

The wind that had nearly capsized the ship moments ago now dwindled to nothing more than a faint, cool breeze.

Aside from the dark clouds that had yet to disperse, everything looked no different from usual.

Qiao Mu stared in the direction the twin dragons had vanished, drawing in a sharp breath. “Zhao Yusheng, what’s the situation now? Did we break the formation?”

Zhao Yusheng said nothing, and no one else dared to fully relax either.

Hearing Qiao Mu’s question, many people’s gazes turned toward Zhao Yusheng.

Zhao Yusheng rose to his feet holding his silver sword, staring at the small patch of blue sky still visible amid the white clouds, his thick brows knitting together slightly.

“I can’t be certain, but this truly is the only way I could think of to break the formation.”

“The Twin Dragons Playing with the Pearl is an extremely dangerous formation. The texts say there are very few people in this world who can break it.”

“Brothers, what’s happening now is beyond what I anticipated. Don’t let your guard down yet — let’s wait and see clearly what the situation is.”

The twin dragons were nowhere to be seen, yet the dark clouds kept spreading, and everyone’s eyes fixed on the sun, which was gradually being swallowed up.

The sun slowly faded from view, until only a sliver remained.

Suddenly, the two enormous dragons that had vanished burst out from the center of the dark clouds.

In an instant, a fierce wind blasted into everyone’s faces, making it impossible to keep their eyes open.

Huge waves rolled up in layers, crashing against the hull, and the ship swayed violently.

The gale had come on so suddenly that, had the brothers not prepared themselves in advance, many of them would likely have already been swept into the water.

The wind howled and the ship rocked wildly.

More urgently, in the blink of an eye, the sun was completely blotted out by the dark clouds, and the whole world plunged into darkness once more.

“This is bad.”

The moment Zhao Yusheng’s voice fell, the brothers clearly saw the two enormous dragons bearing down on them.

“Jian Yi, protect Qiao Mu! Captain, sound the horn!”

Zhao Yusheng dropped those words, then, gripping his silver sword, charged straight toward the direction the dragons were coming from.

Qiao Mu glanced at Jian Yi and shouted loudly, “No need to protect me — go help him, quickly!”

Before the words had even finished leaving her mouth, Qiao Mu snatched up her own silver dragon-tongue spear and rushed up into the sky after Zhao Yusheng.

Jian Yi said nothing, gripping his sword as he followed.

“Captain, we’re not leaving — we want to help the young master.” One of the Zhao Family Stronghold brothers who had stayed behind stepped forward, looking at the captain.

“We’re not leaving either.” All at once, several more brothers surged forward.

The captain didn’t dare let the several hundred brothers risk their lives, but even with so many people crowding around him, he still sounded the horn.

The roar of the wind and the crash of the waves drowned almost everything out, making the sound of the horn seem especially small.

With fewer hands left to steady the ship, it rocked even more violently.

The captain held the horn and strode toward the stern.

The horn kept sounding. The captain didn’t know how many of the brothers could hear it, but he couldn’t give up.

Once the captain had left, the brothers who had spoken up earlier all drew their long swords and charged into the sky, with no idea what awaited them there.

Zhao Yusheng was their young master — how could they possibly let him risk his life alone?

The ship rocked even more violently, on the verge of capsizing at any moment.

Yet more and more brothers kept flying up into the sky. Many of them, unable to sustain the effort, would drop back onto the deck, push off, and leap up again.

Whether or not they could actually help, not one of them had ever thought of giving up.

The wind grew fiercer and fiercer, and the ship swayed at sharper and sharper angles, until many of the brothers lost their footing and fell into the water.

The situation had become extremely dire.

High in the sky, the two enormous dragons clung relentlessly to Qiao Mu and Zhao Yusheng, one on each side.

Before he left, Zhao Yusheng had told Jian Yi to protect her — and now Qiao Mu seemed to realize something.

Sure enough, the targets the dragons meant to attack were her and Zhao Yusheng.

Perhaps it was because their incantation had injured the dragons — they had come seeking revenge.

With Jian Yi guarding her, Qiao Mu’s situation remained manageable for the moment, but on Zhao Yusheng’s side, none of the brothers were able to get anywhere near the dragon.

Suddenly, there was just the sound of a single cry from Zhao Yusheng, and one of the enormous dragons shot up into the sky.

In the brothers’ eyes, Zhao Yusheng’s figure vanished completely.

“Zhao Yusheng!” Qiao Mu cried out loudly. “Jian Yi, go save him, hurry!”

It wasn’t that Jian Yi didn’t know what state Zhao Yusheng was in, but his duty was to protect Qiao Mu, and he did not leave her side.

In truth, had he left, Qiao Mu would certainly have ended up in the same situation as Zhao Yusheng.

“Young master.”

“Young master.”

Below them, many of the brothers were shouting.

“Jian Yi.” Qiao Mu pulled away from the dragon’s back and shouted again, “Hurry, go save Zhao Yusheng, quickly!”

The words had only just left her mouth when the dragon attacked her once more.

Jian Yi swept in with his long sword, the force of the blade driving the dragon back several feet.

But the dragon showed not the slightest sign of weakening; it quickly recovered and continued attacking Qiao Mu and Jian Yi.

“Zhao Yusheng.” Qiao Mu lunged forward as though gone mad, only to be struck across the body by the dragon’s tail.

Jian Yi’s reflexes were sharp — he grabbed hold of her in time, or she would have been flung away entirely.

As for Zhao Yusheng, even the dragon that had taken him had vanished without a trace.

Zhao Yusheng had been taken by the dragon for the sake of everyone else — how could Qiao Mu possibly stand by and watch him die?

Unfortunately, she could barely look after herself at this point.

Just as everyone was growing desperate, the dark clouds in the sky suddenly thinned out considerably, and the sky began to brighten.

The dragon that had been locked in combat with Jian Yi and Qiao Mu suddenly shuddered violently in pain, then shot off into the sky like an arrow.

Before the brothers could react, the dragon that had flown off into the sky vanished without a trace.

The dark clouds dissolved at a speed too fast to follow, and the sky cleared with astonishing quickness.

Suddenly, a dragon and a phoenix appeared in the sky.

Wherever the dragon and phoenix passed, the dark clouds vanished completely, and very soon, the entire sky had brightened.