She took one last look at the Guihai family’s courtyard, smoothed her temples, and leaped toward the west.

The next moment, a scorching wind roared toward her. Caught off guard, she retreated three steps and looked up in alarm: “Sister?”

No one answered – the night was silent and still.

Xuan Qiong felt an ominous premonition rising in her heart. Seeing no response, she asked no more questions and leaped up in another direction.

This time she was prepared, with ice and snow swirling around her.

However, having barely traveled half a zhang, a figure flashed and blocked her path directly. With her martial arts skills, she couldn’t even see how that person had gotten there – as if they had been there from the beginning.

That person raised a hand, cold light glinting from within.

She was moving fast, like throwing herself at someone else’s weapon. Xuan Qiong hastily twisted her body and fell backward to the ground.

As soon as she landed, she darted out again, her form flowing like water, heading in a direction far from the previous two. Thinking she could surely escape smoothly this time, who knew that after barely three zhang, with several whistling sounds, two streams of fist wind and several hidden weapons came from all directions.

She could tell that these later attackers weren’t stronger than her in martial arts, but clearly the other side had more people, all masters. She didn’t dare linger in battle and fled in yet another direction.

Prepared for a fight, but this time no one pursued. Xuan Qiong was somewhat puzzled, but if she could run, naturally she should. She continued forward, smelling increasingly strong sea air, and saw large ships standing on the sea surface in the distance. Suddenly she realized this was the direction toward where Guihai Sheng had gone.

She was unwilling to meet Guihai Sheng now and immediately tried to turn back. But once she turned, problems arose – she would always be attacked from various directions, forced step by step to the seashore.

Not far from the shore, a large ship was anchored in the sea.

Several medium-sized ships surrounded the large vessel. Flags hanging from the medium ships bore images of black seas and pale bone swords – the symbol of pirates in this area.

Countless grappling hooks flew from the pirate ships, embedding in the large ship’s hull. Masked pirates in tight hemp clothing crossed on the hooks and jumped into the large ship’s hold.

The people on the large ship hadn’t panicked, forming a tight formation guarding the hatch entrance.

Guihai Sheng seemed to have just arrived, standing on the main mast of the large ship looking down. His wide robes fluttered in the wind, giving him quite an immortal aura from afar.

But his violent temperament beneath his cultured appearance made him constantly reach out and grasp at the air.

Both Tie Ci and Feiyu watched as a pigeon flew across the sky, then was casually caught and killed by him, falling into the sea.

Tie Ci wondered: what was that? A messenger pigeon? A messenger pigeon bringing information to her? If it really was, which message was it carrying?

Feiyu stared at the pigeon that had fallen into the sea, calculating time, his expression also grim.

He too suspected the pigeon had come to bring him news – perhaps about the Crown Princess’s whereabouts.

But now, no one could save that pigeon that had flown a thousand li.

Guihai Sheng’s arrival probably gave the pirates courage. Those people stormed into the large ship, attacking fiercely.

The formation on the large ship retreated step by step, but their expressions remained calm.

With many people and distance, Tie Ci couldn’t see if Dan Shuang and others were on the ship, but since the large vessel could still resist effectively, the situation was still under control.

As soon as Xuan Qiong reached the shore, Guihai Sheng spotted her.

He had originally been about to attack the people on the ship, but seeing Xuan Qiong, he immediately turned around and shouted from afar: “Since you’ve come, have you reflected and returned the wealth?”

Before Xuan Qiong could answer, the huge bundle behind her suddenly burst, and pearls and gold jade scattered all over the ground with a clatter.

Xuan Qiong: “…”

Originally she had ruthlessly taken the wealth, wanting Guihai Sheng to lose both person and money. But seeing Guihai Sheng, she instinctively felt guilty and wanted to habitually deceive him, only to have her escape route cut off.

Then she might as well break the pot completely. She laughed coldly: “As you can see – taking a generous dowry to marry.”

Guihai Sheng flew into a rage and whooshed down from the mast, no longer caring about the large ship.

As soon as Xuan Qiong spoke, she immediately pursed her lips and whistled while starting to flee toward the sea.

Originally she had Tie Ci and others behind her and Guihai Sheng on the sea ahead – no matter how you looked at it, there was no escape route.

But she chose to flee toward the sea.

She didn’t choose to fly up, but ran across the sea surface. Where her feet touched, ice flowers bloomed, and the surging waves were frozen in shape the instant she passed.

As she ran toward the sea, a long path of ice flowers spread beneath her feet.

You could see a line of crystalline white on the deep blue sea surface, extending from her feet as if reaching toward the horizon.

It was quite a beautiful spectacle.

Figures flashed – Pingzong first gave chase, but when her foot touched those ice fragments, the ice melted.

Another figure flashed – Tie Ci had already jumped onto a small boat by the shore and untied the mooring rope.

The weather tonight wasn’t good. Dark clouds layered at the horizon, and golden light occasionally flashed between the layered clouds, accompanied by muffled thunder.

Though it was late autumn turning to early winter, this place was still warm and humid, so thunder and lightning occasionally occurred, though rain might not necessarily follow.

Several huge seabirds circled overhead, their cries piercing.

Thunderstorm weather was generally advantageous to Guihai Sheng. He roared angrily and pursued Xuan Qiong, fine white light flickering around him, muffled thunder rumbling from all directions. From afar, he looked like a flashing large white light bulb.

Tie Ci watched thoughtfully, thinking that these three all had natural talents first, then used those talents to achieve supreme martial arts, channeling the forces of heaven and earth for their own use, which both aligned with martial dao principles while being innovative. Could she learn from this?

She currently had four abilities: X-ray vision, restoration, teleportation, and lightning.

X-ray vision required concentrating her sight and channeling true energy to activate – she couldn’t just open her eyes and see people’s bones casually. It often failed, though she’d become more proficient recently.

Restoration was the same, requiring concentrated energy. Currently it only had higher success rates in urgent situations.

Teleportation was relatively more proficient because it unconsciously merged with lightness skills, plus she sometimes added small movements that made people mistakenly think it was just superb lightness technique.

Only the last ability – lightning – she had just succeeded with once and hadn’t figured out the feeling yet. Now seeing how Guihai Sheng summoned thunder and controlled lightning everywhere so smoothly, she couldn’t help feeling very envious.

But to understand Guihai Sheng’s lightning control ability, she needed to comprehend his energy circulation patterns, and obviously Guihai Sheng wouldn’t teach her.

Tie Ci didn’t think much about it – if Guihai Sheng could master it well, naturally she could too eventually.

For ordinary people, having natural talents go from nothing to continuously awakening would surely bring wild joy, but Tie Ci always thought several steps ahead.

She always felt this wasn’t entirely a good thing.

Biting off more than you can chew.

She’d rather have a few rare and powerful abilities that she could focus on improving wholeheartedly for better assistance.

Better than the current situation where she had to rely on luck and extreme stimulation to use them.

But this matter wasn’t up to her – since they came, she’d accept them.

In the distance, Xuan Qiong continued treading on water to create ice, reaching the middle of the sea in a flash like lightning.

But Guihai Sheng was like thunder and lightning, reaching behind her in the blink of an eye.

Guihai Sheng reached out to grab the bundle on her back.

But at this moment, Xuan Qiong pursed her lips and whistled, the sound reaching high heaven, and simultaneously she leaped up.

This leap was extremely high, almost higher than the large ship’s bow.

Everyone was surprised, not understanding why she would suddenly jump so high with pursuers so close behind.

Wasn’t this seeking death?

A black shadow flashed in the air.

Among the circling birds, the largest one suddenly dove straight down, perfectly catching Xuan Qiong who had leaped to mid-air.

The bird was enormous, its wingspan easily half a zhang when spread, effortlessly carrying Xuan Qiong as it flew toward the high sky.

Xuan Qiong had actually been raising and training large seabirds by this shore all along!

Guihai Sheng roared angrily, raised his hand and pointed. Cold lightning struck directly at the seabird.

The bird also feared thunder and lightning, tilting to dodge and descending. Guihai Sheng suddenly leaped up and grabbed half its wing.

The bird was pulled downward. Guihai Sheng sent another bolt of lightning at it.

By now both were positioned very high. The white light from Guihai Sheng’s fingertips, mixed with true energy and lightning, was thick as a giant sword and seemed about to connect with the thunder and lightning in the sky.

When that white light passed, the bird shrieked and half its wingtip was visibly cooked.

The bird’s form immediately became unsteady. Xuan Qiong hugged the bird’s head, fed it a pill, then looked down at Guihai Sheng gathering power for a third lightning bolt and suddenly said: “Senior Brother, why all this fighting and killing? Come up – I’ll return everything to you.”

Guihai Sheng was stunned. His fingertip remained raised – he didn’t strike, but didn’t disperse the energy either. White light coiled around his fingertip, crackling.

The layered clouds at the horizon were moving this way, muffled thunder and golden light drawing nearer. But everyone’s attention was on the two people above and below the bird, and even the people on the large ship had stopped fighting. No one noticed.

Only Feiyu and Tie Ci exchanged glances.

Tie Ci had a vague idea in her heart, but didn’t quite dare believe it.

High above, Xuan Qiong put down the bundle and handed it to Guihai Sheng.

Guihai Sheng immediately reached to take it, his other hand still vigilantly holding star flowers.

Xuan Qiong backed away further and extended her hand, gesturing for him to come onto the bird’s back.

The height was now too great – even Guihai Sheng would be killed if he jumped down.

He pushed aside Xuan Qiong’s hand, grabbed the bundle and jumped onto the bird’s back. The bird’s back had ropes tied to it for people to grip and steady themselves.

Layered clouds hung heavy as if over their heads, wisps of moisture swept past, and clothes and hair became wet in moments.

That vague rumbling thunder was right overhead.

The bird was still flying upward.

Guihai Sheng held the rope with one hand and gripped the bundle with the other, looking back at Xuan Qiong, a trace of hesitation flickering in his eyes.

He was considering whether to kick this shameless woman off.

However, decades of companionship and mutual dependence flashed before his eyes in an instant, making his heart stir slightly.

Xuan Qiong stared at him fixedly and saw killing intent in his eyes, which made her heart grow cold.

In that instant, decades of hardship and torment passed through her heart, which became covered with layers of frost.

The past couldn’t be pursued, lovers couldn’t be kept – years of devoted love in her flower-like youth had become nothing more than a yellowed old painting. When the wind of time blew, it became hideous.

Her heart also hardened layer by layer, brewing irreversible killing intent.

The mutual stare lasted only an instant.

Overhead suddenly blazed bright.

Xuan Qiong suddenly drew something thin and long like a sword or needle from behind her and thrust it sharply into the back collar of Guihai Sheng’s robe, while simultaneously using an ice sword to cut the rope!

She stabbed quickly and skillfully without even injuring Guihai Sheng’s skin. Guihai Sheng hadn’t expected such an attack and was shocked and puzzled, instinctively reaching to pull out that needle.

The rope broke and he hooked it with his leg.

At this moment, if he threw away the bundle in his other hand, he could still grab Xuan Qiong or steady himself in time.

But he refused to let go.

With several swishing sounds, the ropes on Guihai Sheng’s side broke one after another. The bird’s back was slippery, and Guihai Sheng fell off the bird’s back, only one leg still hooked to a rope.

He straightened his waist in mid-air, turning to rise up.

But at this moment.

A bright light flashed overhead. As if to suppress the entire dome of sky, the entire edge of the heavy clouds brightened, and a white light thick as a water bucket suddenly emerged, striking straight down!

In the eyes of Tie Ci and the others, lightning was born from the clouds, and one end of the lightning suddenly connected with the needle behind Guihai Sheng!

Guihai Sheng’s entire body was enveloped in white light.

At that instant the sea waves calmed, the wind stopped, and people on the ships froze.

Like an apocalyptic silent film.

The next instant, thunder crashed and roared.

On the vast sea surface, the tremendous sound became even more magnificent as if splitting heaven and earth. Sea waves rolled even more turbulently, and ships swayed on the wave crests.

That water-bucket-thick white lightning penetrated the long sky, straight as a giant sword, piercing the firmament before splitting the sea.

Everyone could see a vague black shadow within that pillar of white light.

Everyone held their breath.

The Ghost Island residents disguised as pirates all knelt down, prostrating toward the long sky. In their legends, Guihai Sheng was a god, the son of thunder and lightning. Lightning was his armor. They had seen his divine appearance with tiny electric light crackling all over his body, but had never seen such a magnificent sight of him wrapped in lightning.

This also filled their hearts with awe, thinking their Thunder Ancestor was advancing further and might ascend to heaven soon.

But Chi Fengli closed her eyes at this moment.

The electric light hurt people’s eyes, but Tie Ci and Feiyu stared fixedly.

Especially Tie Ci – she wanted to know whether someone who could control thunder and lightning had a natural lightning constitution, whether they need not fear even natural strong electricity.

Her eyelids ached and she shielded them with her hand.

The next instant, the black dot in the white light suddenly disappeared.