537: Chapter 537 Night Talk on the Flying Boat

"Ow, ow, ow! Master, it hurts!" Qingfeng tilted his head, begging for mercy with a bitter face, wanting to refuse but not daring to. "Master, your Disciple really isn't cut out for this!"

Immortal Master Xuan Ming glared at him and let go of his hand.

"Less nonsense. Starting tomorrow, memorize one hexagram every day. If you can't recite it, don't eat."

Qingfeng let out a howl of despair and sighed toward the heavens.

Mingyue stood nearby covering her mouth, her shoulders shaking as she snickered.

"What are you laughing at!" Immortal Master Xuan Ming raised his hand as if to strike, and Mingyue hurriedly hid behind Qingfeng.

"Fine, stop wailing like you're at a funeral." Immortal Master Xuan Ming waved his hand with a look of disdain. "Scram back to the rear; don't stay here and be an eyesore for your Master."

Dejected, Qingfeng stood up and dragged his heavy steps back to the stern of the boat. Mingyue followed behind, giggling.

Su Ming sat at the stern, watching this scene, and a very faint smile couldn't help but tug at the corners of his mouth.

...

The deep blue night sky was like an incredibly vast and heavy piece of silk, silently spreading across the dome above the flying boat.

Starlight pierced through the flying boat's outer protective Formation, which shimmered with a pale green light, casting silver-white spots across the deck. The astral winds of the high altitudes were deathly excluded by the Formation's screen, leaving only a trace of a weak current that flowed slowly along the deck boards.

Qingfeng and Mingyue leaned against the inner side of the bulwark, their breathing long and even. The extreme tension of the past few days in the Central Province had exhausted all the mental energy of these two young Disciples; now that they had completely relaxed, fatigue flooded over them like a tide.

Ying curled up deep within Su Ming's black collar, its furry little head pressed tightly against his neck, occasionally letting out a muffled chirp as if dreaming of hunting.

Su Ming did not sleep.

He sat cross-legged in the shadows at the very end of the stern, his back ramrod straight. The Ruoshui Art within his body moved like the gentlest undercurrent in a mountain stream, silently circulating through his Meridians, smoothing away the fatigue caused by the high state of alert over the past few days.

He slowly raised his right hand and lightly brushed it over the Storage Pouch at his waist.

Three items, each emitting a distinctly different aura, quietly appeared on the deck before him.

A Jade Slip emitting a warm white light, containing the Tianji Pavilion's fragmented map and obscure customs of the Spirit Race territories; an ancient gray Formation Plate rubbings, carrying the exquisite seventh variant of the "Lead" character from the Wanbao Tower; and finally, a thumb-sized, translucent mutton-fat white jade bottle.

Su Ming's gaze finally rested on that jade bottle. Even through the jade walls of the bottle, he could still faintly sense the terrifying vitality contained within that drop of cyan-green liquid, which felt as if it could make flesh grow on withered bones.

ten-thousand-year void azure stone marrow.

"Whew—" Su Ming exhaled a breath of turbid air almost imperceptibly.

For these three items, he had walked the edge of a blade more than a few times during this trip to the Central Province.

A faint deep-blue ripple appeared on the surface of the xuantian ring. Lin Yu's soul body slowly emerged in the void opposite Su Ming. He sat cross-legged, one hand resting casually on his knee, his gaze sweeping over the three items on the deck.

"Good things, indeed." Lin Yu's voice echoed in Su Ming's Sea of Consciousness, his tone so level that not a single ripple of emotion could be heard. "But have you missed something?"

Su Ming looked up, meeting Lin Yu's deep eyes. Without any pause in his movements, he calmly put the items back into his Storage Pouch one by one.

"Does Master mean the Pill Formula for the heaven-mending pill?" Su Ming responded in his heart.

"Master, I have thought about it." Su Ming's voice was exceptionally steady in his Sea of Consciousness. "A Heaven-Defying object like the heaven-mending pill makes the Pill Formula itself a death warrant. If a Foundation Establishment Stage Disciple like me held the formula, if even a whisper of it leaked out, I probably wouldn't even know how I died."

Lin Yu did not interrupt, his soul body suspended in mid-air, listening quietly.

Su Ming continued, "Even if I had the formula, with my current cultivation and understanding of Alchemy, it would be impossible for me to refine it myself. I would have to find a high-level Alchemist. And seeking an outsider means placing my life entirely in another's hands, which goes against the very foundation of how we survive. Moreover, since Revered Master was the one who told me to find these three main ingredients, the only explanation is that the Pill Formula has always been in Revered Master's hands."

After hearing this, Lin Yu fell into a long silence.

It took a full ten breaths before he let out a very faint "Mm" from his nose.

Lin Yu's soul body drifted slightly in the Sea of Consciousness, his tone carrying a trace of imperceptible relief. "Although Master Xuan Heng is protective, his mind is incredibly deep. For something like the heaven-mending pill, him not giving you the Pill Formula indeed spared you from a great disaster."

"Your Disciple understands." Su Ming nodded. "Therefore, when I was at the Star Pivot Hall, I did not mention a single word about the Pill Formula."

"However," Lin Yu's tone shifted, suddenly becoming somewhat playful, "this time in the Central Province, you've come to owe that old schemer Xuan Ming a blank favor. How do you plan to repay that debt?"

At the mention of Immortal Master Xuan Ming, Su Ming's brow furrowed slightly.

He turned his head, his gaze passing over the sleeping Qingfeng and Mingyue to look at that gray silhouette at the very front of the flying boat. Immortal Master Xuan Ming was like a stone statue merged with the night, not emitting even a shred of the aura of a living person.

"I cannot guess what he wants," Su Ming answered frankly. "For a Soul Transformation Stage powerhouse to have a use for a Foundation Establishment Stage Disciple like me, it must be a situation with only a slim chance of survival. But I have no choice."

"Indeed, no choice." Lin Yu sighed, his voice becoming extremely low in the Sea of Consciousness. "In the eyes of those truly powerful figures, we low-level Cultivators are like the drifting clouds outside this flying boat. With a wave of their hand, they can decide our gathering or dispersal."

The luster of Lin Yu's soul body dimmed a bit. He seemed to recall the old man engraving Formations in that gray-white space, and perhaps his own five hundred years trapped within the ring.

Su Ming did not respond. He knew that what his Master needed at this moment was not comfort, but silence.

Ying turned over inside Su Ming's collar, its little claws inadvertently scratching Su Ming's collarbone.

Su Ming extended a finger and very gently pressed on Ying's little head, soothing it back to sleep.

"Master." Su Ming gazed at the boundless night sky, his voice firm. "As long as the dao foundation is repaired, Core Formation will not be an obstacle. Once I have the power to protect myself, I will settle these debts of gratitude one by one."

Lin Yu gave him a deep look.

"Good." The luster of Lin Yu's soul body brightened again, turning into a streak of deep-blue light that vanished into the xuantian ring.