novelapdf Chapter 125 Strengthening the Immortal Ship
Chapter 125 Strengthening the Immortal Ship
Zhou Mingyuan did not answer.
His gaze swept past Zhang Lin and across the still-dry bloodstain on the deck—Chen Ce's blood.
Glancing over Du Heng, whose head was severed from his body beneath the bulwark, the three people outside the immortal ship had remained silent for so long, presumably having already met with misfortune.
Just a quarter of an hour ago, they were drinking and laughing on this very ship, convinced that Zhang Lin was already theirs.
Three-quarters of an hour later, he was the only one left standing out of the six.
"Where is Uncle Huaili?" Zhou Mingyuan's voice was hoarse.
"He's dead."
Zhou Mingyuan's pupils suddenly contracted.
Although he had already guessed the answer, hearing those two words come from the person he hated most still felt like he had been punched hard in the chest.
The third uncle, who is in the Foundation Establishment stage, is the most skilled killer among the Zhou family's collateral branches. He has done dirty work for ten years without ever making a mistake.
He died before him, and he died at the hands of someone in the Qi Refining stage.
"Impossible." Zhou Mingyuan spat out these words through gritted teeth. "You're nothing but a Qi Refiner..."
"This is all thanks to you," Zhang Lin interrupted him. "From the moment we first met, you've been bringing me opportunities."
Before the words were finished, the soul-suppressing bell rang.
Zhang Lin gave the other party no chance to breathe; he had heard enough.
The sound of the bell transformed into an invisible cone, piercing through Zhou Mingyuan's hastily gathered protective true energy.
It felt as if a hammer had struck Zhou Mingyuan's mind, and his consciousness instantly blurred.
The blood-red light of the Blood Fiend Banner followed closely behind, and a blood-red beam as thick as a bowl shattered and pierced through all the defensive magical artifacts on his body.
Zhou Mingyuan was completely powerless to resist.
Zhang Lin spread his five fingers, and the dark blue Burning Sky Flame ignited in his palm.
Looking at the eerie blue flame, Zhou Mingyuan truly felt the approach of death for the first time.
He suddenly remembered that he had first met Zhang Lin a few months ago at the alchemy conference in Qingxuan City.
At that time, he thought that this rogue cultivator was just a lucky guy who managed to refine a first-grade high-quality pill by chance using that top-grade pill furnace.
He ordered his men to launch a night raid on the inn, sent assassins to intercept him outside Qingyun Town, had his cousin sabotage him within the sect, and had his uncle set up an ambush in Baishi Town. Each time, he thought victory was assured, and each time Zhang Lin survived, while he lost more and more of his chips.
"Zhang Lin," Zhou Mingyuan suddenly spoke, his voice trembling slightly, "If you kill me, the Zhou family will not let you off."
"My elder brother, Zhou Mingxuan, is an inner disciple of Chixia Peak, in the early stage of Foundation Establishment, and ranks among the top ten of Chixia Peak."
"My Zhou family has been operating within the Danxia Sect for hundreds of years. Even the elders give our clan some face. If you spare my life, I can mediate within the clan for you..."
"When you plotted to kill me, did you ever consider mediating a settlement?"
Zhou Mingyuan was speechless.
"Our feud started with a trivial matter that was insignificant to you, a pill-refining ceremony, yet you have tried to kill me several times."
"I had someone infiltrate the Bloodline Grass during the minor competition, and then ambush you at the Foundation Establishment stage in White Stone Town." Zhang Lin's voice was as calm as a deep pool. "If you had challenged me fairly, I might have spared your life."
As the Heavenly Flame descended, its eerie blue light reflected on Zhou Mingyuan's face, distorting his once handsome features into a grotesque and grotesque expression.
Zhou Mingyuan let out a piercing scream in the flames, but the scream only lasted for a short while before it stopped abruptly.
The characteristic of the Heavenly Flame is that it burns true qi. The remaining true qi in his body was ignited in the flame, and his whole body burned from the inside out at the same time.
Flesh, bones, meridians, and dantian rapidly turned to ashes like dry firewood in the dark blue flames.
A few breaths later, the flames dissipated.
All that remained on the deck was a small pile of dark gray ashes and an intact storage bag.
Zhang Lin stepped forward, picked up the storage bag, and then walked to Du Heng's side, taking the storage bag off him as well.
After doing all this, he stood on the deck of the fairy boat for a moment.
The morning light had completely illuminated Liangjie Mountain, and the distant mountain ridges were gilded with a layer of gold in the rising sun.
The restrictions on the immortal ship were still in operation, and the wind barrier emitted a low hum in the morning breeze.
He glanced at the character "周" (Zhou) on the bow of the boat, then looked away.
There's still cleanup to be done.
Zhang Lin went to the bottom of the boat first.
The Spirit Source Furnace is located in the center of the bottom of the boat. It is a three-foot square bronze furnace with wind-elemental runes engraved all over its body.
Embedded in the center of the furnace is a fist-sized wind core crystal, within which the wind-elemental spiritual energy is slowly circulating, emitting a faint blue light.
He sat cross-legged in front of the Spirit Source Furnace and released his spiritual consciousness to establish a connection with the furnace.
A moment later, the system interface appeared before our eyes.
[Detected: Immortal Boat - Wind Concealment, Grade 1 Flying Magic Artifact, can be enhanced. Enhancement requires 800 spirit stones. Enhancement effect: Grade 2 Flying Magic Artifact, new characteristic: Concealment, can evade the spiritual sense detection of cultivators below the Golden Core stage.]
[New Feature: Cloud Piercing - Doubles the speed of traversing low-altitude cloud layers. Note: Three backdoors were detected in the original restrictions of this immortal ship: tracking runes, identification spirit seals, and self-destruction restrictions. These will be removed after the enhancement.]
Zhang Lin directly chose to enhance.
Eight hundred low-grade spirit stones turned to ashes, and the wind core crystal in the spirit source furnace suddenly lit up.
A pale blue halo spread out from the heart of the furnace, cleansing every corner of the entire immortal ship.
The "Zhou" family crest on the bow was erased by the halo, and the cloud-patterned iron on the hull was reforged in the light, making the patterns simpler and smoother.
The three layers of restrictions were completely reconstructed. The warning light changed from pale gold to colorless and transparent. The runes in the wind barrier were reduced from 360 to 108. The thickness of the true essence shield became thinner, but a faint, hidden light appeared inside.
All the backdoor tracking runes, identification seals, and self-destruction restrictions left by the Zhou family were completely disintegrated in the halo, turning into dissipating spiritual energy that vanished in the morning breeze.
After the light faded, the celestial boat remained quietly in place.
The color of the boat changed from bluish-black to dark blue, and the family crest on the bow disappeared, replaced by a simple wind pattern.
The entire immortal ship transformed from a private artifact of a noble family into an ownerless object, becoming low-key, reserved, and inconspicuous, yet its aura became even more profound than before.
Zhang Lin nodded in satisfaction.
This immortal ship was of great significance to him. The Nine Provinces were vast, with straight-line distances between cities ranging from thousands of miles, and the teleportation arrays of different forces were not interconnected.
Whether for concealment or for future intercontinental travel, the Immortal Ship is the most suitable means of transportation. With this enhanced Immortal Ship, it will be much more convenient for him to travel to various places in the future, and he will not expose his whereabouts by using the teleportation array.
He took out all the belongings of the six people. The three on the outer perimeter didn't have much of value on them, just some spirit stones, pills and other miscellaneous items.
In addition to spirit stones and pills, Chen Ce's storage bag also contained several pieces of spirit ore and a broken bronze talisman. The talisman's surface was already blurred, with only a corner still showing the character "玄".
He carefully kept the broken talisman. This person came from a collateral branch of the Chen family, and being chosen to participate in this operation meant he likely had some unknown strengths. This broken talisman might have another origin.
Zhou Mingyuan's storage bag was the most generous among the six.