617: Let's give Shen Bei some praise

“Boom!”

Sword Qi exploded, and a more violent power erupted from the center, with ripples surging outwards. The sea surface below was suppressed, suddenly dropping hundreds of meters, and the surrounding sea could not withstand this sudden terrifying power, exploding with a boom.

Seawater, several miles in diameter and hundreds of meters deep, was instantly blasted into a sky full of vapor, soaring upwards.

In mid-air, the Blood Moon Death Servant was gone. Qingyi stood in the air, his brows tightly furrowed, his cheeks twitching slightly, looking as if he had a toothache.

Just then, the Blood Moon in the sky lit up, and the Blood Moon reflected beneath the sea surface also lit up.

The Blood Moon Death Servant walked out from the Blood Moon reflected beneath the sea surface, materializing from nothingness, rapidly re-condensing his Physical Body.

Completely unharmed.

“The interplay of reality and illusion, it’s unreasonable…” Qingyi sighed, then his expression straightened. He cupped his hands at the Blood Moon Death Servant: “We’ll meet again someday, but not in this life! Farewell!”

Qingyi transformed into a streak of Sword Light, soaring into the sky, instantly disappearing into the horizon. However, immediately after, a streak of Sword Light fell from the sky, landing on the sea surface, transforming back into Qingyi.

“Can’t leave?” Qingyi looked up at the Blood Moon above his head, his face bitter: “Why me? Why am I so unlucky? I didn’t know that chopping up those lanterns would attract this terrifying guy. I’m just a guest bodyguard, that’s all. They didn’t do their intelligence work properly, what does that have to do with me…?”

“Headless brother, let’s make a deal. Just pretend you’ve killed me, and we’ll call it quits. You can chase whoever you want, kill whoever you want. It doesn’t matter if you kill my employers. Anyway, I went through a lot of trouble to escort them from the island to here, which is already the utmost benevolence and righteousness…”

Qingyi shifted his feet, testing the waters.

Instantly, the two Blood Moons in the sky and under the sea lit up simultaneously. For dozens of miles, it was as if a blood-colored veil had been draped over everything, with the glow omnipresent.

The Blood Moon Death Servant took a step, and as if teleporting, instantly traversed more than ten miles, appearing before Qingyi. A hand shrouded in black Qi reached for Qingyi’s neck.

A flash of Sword Light around Qingyi, and he instantly vanished from his original spot, flying hundreds of meters away.

Unfortunately, the Blood Moon Death Servant didn’t even turn his body, but took another step forward, reappearing before Qingyi. His hand was getting closer and closer to his neck.

“Clang!” The sharp blade was unsheathed, and Sword Qi erupted, striking the Blood Moon Death Servant head-on.

However, the Sword Qi seemed to strike nothingness, passing through the Blood Moon Death Servant without any effect whatsoever.

On the contrary, the Blood Moon Death Servant’s hand, taking advantage of the moment Qingyi struck out with his sword, ignored the Sword Qi and once again reached for Qingyi’s neck.

“Whoosh…”

Qingyi once again transformed into Sword Light, moving hundreds of meters horizontally.

“Damn it, what kind of ghost is this? Only you can hit me, but I can’t hit you, is that it?”

The stalemate lasted for a long time, until a ray of morning sun in the sky pierced through the darkness, sweeping across the world.

The Blood Moon in the sky and the sea dissipated, and the Blood Moon Death Servant’s figure also vanished into a vortex that appeared out of nowhere in the sea.

Qingyi floated in mid-air, his condensed Sword Qi dissipating, a cold sweat instantly breaking out on his forehead.

“A huge loss, a huge loss. I was just returning a favor, and it turned out to be so dangerous. Anyway, it was agreed that I would deliver the people, and I did. I even risked my life to buy time for those rich scoundrels. I don’t care anymore, let them think I’m dead.”

Qingyi took out a three-inch long small sword and a piece of talisman paper. Using his finger as a pen, he wrote eight large characters on the paper with a flick of his hand.

“I am dead. If you have business, burn paper.”

He rolled the paper into the hilt of the Flying Sword, and with a surge of True Qi, the Flying Sword circled in the air and then flew away towards the Great Wilderness on the other side of the sea.

After sending out the Flying Sword message to the School in the Great Wilderness, Qingyi immediately showed a smile on his face. He reached out and tore off the blue cloth robe he was wearing, changing into a flashy pure white long gown. He also changed his hairstyle, tying his long hair back behind his head, deliberately leaving a wisp of hair at his temples.

He then took out a gaudy long sword in its sheath. The sheath was inlaid with red, yellow, blue, and green gems. Even with the sword still in its sheath, one could feel its sharp edge and soaring sharpness.

“Something’s still missing…” Qingyi stroked his chin, conjured a water mirror to look at himself, and suddenly realized. He took out a box of rouge and powder, and applied the white rouge to his face.

The rouge slowly dissipated, and Qingyi’s darkened complexion gradually turned white, finally transforming him into a white-faced, dashing, extraordinary man in a white robe.

“Perfect!”

After everything was tidied up, Qingyi stood rooted to the spot, scratching his head.

“Oh right, what am I supposed to do next? The plan was to deliver those rich scoundrels to the South Sea, and if I was in a good mood, help them eliminate some Youling Pirates. Oh, they said the ship they encountered before seemed to be the Youling Pirates, saying that the other party didn’t take the employer seriously, even if it was royal family members driving the ship, but they had a deep hatred for the ship’s original owner, right? I don’t know if they were killed by that monster, they must have died, I almost died myself…”

“Then… doesn’t that mean I have nothing to do?”

Qingyi was very troubled. He finally had no mission, no longer had to wear that ugly blue cloth robe, and had changed into flashy equipment. With nowhere to show off, he felt life was worse than death…

After wandering in the southern South Sea for several days, treading waves, he saw another sea ship. Qingyi glanced at it indifferently, but after that glance, his eyes suddenly lit up.

“They’re not dead?” Qingyi’s eyes almost popped out.

Sailors were busy on the deck. The few familiar faces he had glimpsed that day were all alive.

And judging by their appearance, they didn’t look like they had just lost their captain…

“Damn it, that rich scoundrel must be crazy. These are the pirates they wanted to kill? Dealing with the headless monster alone, and not a single person died. Are these pirates someone ordinary people can deal with?”

After drifting at sea for a few days, with nowhere to show off, Qingyi, who had been bored, his eyes began to light up. He felt he had found something interesting.

With that thought, Qingyi didn’t think much more and rose to fly towards the Ghost Ship.

When the Sword Light reached the outer layer of the Ghost Ship, Scarface on the ship flung out a halo of light, directly blasting towards Qingyi.

The Sword Light shattered, and a figure flew backwards for a distance, yet returned completely unharmed.

“Captain, it’s me, don’t attack!”

“Wait…” Shen Bei stopped Scarface. Where did this guy come from? Stealing my lines…

“Captain, I’ve come to pledge allegiance! Where’s the captain? I want to see the captain! I am the contemporary White Robe of the Nine Palaces Sword School from the Great Wilderness. I want to pledge allegiance, I want to become a pirate!”

Shen Bei looked up at the gaudy guy in mid-air, his face full of confusion.

It had been so long, and this was the first time he had seen someone actively pledge allegiance.

Although the logbook recorded that during the Ghost Ship’s Peak, people actively pledging allegiance was supposedly common.

This guy in front of him, though he looked flashy and a bit crazy, could stand in the air so easily, took a hit from Scarface head-on, and didn’t even get his clothes dirty. His strength was definitely stronger than everyone on the ship currently.

Was such a person really not here to challenge the captain forcefully?

“I am the captain. You want to join our Ghost Ship?” Shen Bei asked.

“Yes, Captain. I also have a School, does that not affect anything?” Qingyi hesitated, only suddenly thinking of this point now…

“No impact, not the slightest impact. We are just a group interested in sea adventures, not a School or anything. If you want to join, it’s absolutely no problem, but you have to start as a crew member.”

After much thought, Shen Bei decided to accept him first. He could be used as a fighter, and then he would see what this guy really wanted to do. Even if he was an undercover agent trying to assassinate someone, he wouldn’t join so high-profile, would he?

Having a new crew member didn’t seem to have any other impact.

As for what a School was, Shen Bei had learned about it from chatting with Scarface these days.

To put it simply, they were similar to small teams on the earth's surface.

For example, Shen Bei’s Zha Tian Gang, and self-organized “gangs” like the Xingchen Martial Arts Club.

It’s just that in the Great Wilderness of the underground world, they are called Schools or Sects, but they all mean the same thing.

This somewhat goofy, unkempt guy, except for his clothes, quickly mingled with the crew members.

He was currently listening to an old crew member boast to him.

“White Robe, I’m not just bragging, but if you go out and ask, who in the South Sea doesn’t know how powerful the Headless Undead is? If it weren’t for some idiot who chopped up too many Headless Lanterns at once, our Captain wouldn’t even bother to act.”

“Ha… ha…” Qingyi’s laugh was a bit forced.

“You don’t know, that idiot caused trouble and ran off. When the Headless Undead came, he immediately went to find the Captain, who was the only one not wearing underwear. Honestly, at the time, I even thought the Captain was overdoing his act and was going to be finished. Then guess what happened?”

“The Headless Undead was beaten away?”

“Pfft, what do you know, you brute who only knows how to fight and kill!” The crew member glanced at White Robe with disdain, then said with a hint of emotion: “Don’t think our Captain rarely acts. But our Captain has connections all over the world, everyone is his own. Why fight? Is there a need to fight? A call to arms, and all sides respond. That’s the real skill. The Captain calls this… ‘convincing with reason’.”

“Ah…” Qingyi’s mouth hung open. This time, he was truly shocked.

Without fighting… he “convinced with reason” the headless monster? What kind of Divine Ability was this?

“You still don’t believe it? What’s a Headless Undead? That’s just a small-time ‘one of us’. White Robe, you’re new, so it’s best not to question the Captain. We’re telling you this so you don’t underestimate the Captain. You’re the only one who has actively pledged allegiance in a long time, so the Captain will definitely think highly of you.”

“Is… is that so? I’m also ‘one of us’ now?”

“Didn’t you say so yourself?”

Qingyi’s face was bitter. He felt that in a moment of madness, he had actively jumped into a pit.

I was just saying that! Who the hell is “one of us” with you? I don’t want the Captain to consider me “one of us.” This must be some malicious Divine Ability!

Mind control?

No, I need to leave quickly. Oh right, I’ll say my Sect Head died, and I’m going back to fight my Junior Martial Uncle and Senior Brother for the position of Sect Head!