To follow them without Yue Honghai or Shen Ying noticing, the opponent’s cultivation must be at least on par with theirs.
“Lu Lang?”
Lu Zheng nodded. “No problem. The other party is also a lone operator. At least in the East Sea, he should have no helpers.”
“Who?”
“Of course it is…”
Lu Zheng’s gaze sharpened. The five-coloured dragon scale armour instantly covered his entire body. His figure turned into a streak of five-coloured flowing light. In an instant, he shot out more than ten miles and slashed down towards the sea surface with his blade.
“Fellow Daoist Xue Li! May I ask what matter brings you following us all this way?”
“Ang!”
A dragon roar echoed. Dragon might filled the sky. A tens of zhang long blade qi appeared out of thin air. It pressed down, causing a crack to appear in the sea water below. The entire sea level dropped three zhang, neatly parting to both sides of the crack, revealing a black jiao beneath the sea surface.
The black jiao let out a roar. Its body twisted, dodging the blade by a hair’s breadth. It instantly flew straight up into the sky, then shook its body and transformed into human form.
“Fellow Daoist Lu, hold your hand. I have words to say!”
Lu Zheng held his blade horizontally in the void and said coldly, “Fellow Daoist, please speak. However, if you cannot give a clear explanation, do not blame Lu for being merciless with my blade.”
At the same time, Shen Ying took over the white cloud that Lu Zheng had left behind, guarding everyone nearby. Yue Honghai drew his whip and blade, flanking Xue Li from left and right with Lu Zheng.
Xue Li looked at Yue Honghai and Lu Zheng, then at Lu Zheng’s treasured blade and treasured armour. A flash of envy passed through his eyes. He glanced at the group in the distance, blinked, thought for a moment, and said, “That is, actually, I also want to go to the Central Plains to have a look…”
Seeing that Lu Zheng was about to make a move, Xue Li hurriedly explained, “However, I have never been to the Central Plains before and do not know the way. Seeing that Fellow Daoist Yue is familiar with the routes, I shamelessly followed, to avoid accidentally causing trouble on the road.”
Lu Zheng narrowed his eyes. “Then why did you not show yourself directly, instead quietly tailing us?”
“After all, the Great Jing court greatly taboos the northern domain demon clans. My Mysterious Water Ink Jiao lineage also has some reputation in the northern domain. I was afraid of causing trouble for Fellow Daoist Lu.”
Speaking to this point, Xue Li became smoother. “Moreover, I only have a one-time acquaintance with Fellow Daoist Lu. If I appeared abruptly, I feared you would overthink it. So I originally planned to follow from behind and leave on my own once we reached the Central Plains.
“I did not expect Fellow Daoist’s profound cultivation to discover me at a glance. This makes me seem like I acted as a petty villain. I am truly sorry!”
Xue Li cupped his hands repeatedly, his attitude sincere.
Although Xue Li’s attitude was earnest and sincere, let alone Lu Zheng, even Yue Honghai did not relax his vigilance.
Everyone here was an old sparrow who had cultivated for hundreds of years. No matter how reasonable your explanation, once you did something suspicious, do not expect others to trust you easily again.
“Old Yue, give directions.”
Yue Honghai nodded, pointed in a direction, and said, “Fly straight from here. Along the way, we will not pass through any great demon’s territorial seas. We can safely reach the Central Plains mainland coast.”
“Good, good, good! Many thanks, many thanks!”
Xue Li cupped his hands repeatedly, then slowly retreated his figure, showing respect and no threat.
As Xue Li retreated, he said somewhat self-mockingly, “This time, it was my discourtesy. Many thanks to fellow Daoists for your tolerance and for the grace of pointing the way.”
“You are welcome.” Lu Zheng nodded, extended his hand in a virtual gesture, indicating to see the guest off. “Please!”
Xue Li cupped his hands in thanks. He opened his mouth as if wanting to say something, but the words reached his lips and he held them back. Only then did he fly into the water, pulling a wave trail across the sea surface as he sped away along the path Yue Honghai had just indicated.
“He left?”
“He left!”
“What he just said was probably lies, right?”
“Definitely lies.”
“Then what does he mean?”
“Not very clear. It seems like he was probing our strengths?”
“Then he was scared off by Lu Lang?”
Everyone laughed upon hearing this. Lu Zheng now had a thousand years of cultivation. Paired with the True Dragon Hidden Head Blade and the five-coloured dragon scale armour, his combat power was even greater. Although Xue Li was not weak, he was clearly no match for Lu Zheng.
Everyone shook their heads and no longer paid attention to Xue Li’s matter. After all, they had already driven him away, and the recent incident had not reached the point of killing.
…
The journey was uneventful. The group soon crossed the East Sea, passed several large islands, and grew closer to the Central Plains coast.
Yue Honghai gazed into the distance and saw dark clouds gathering far ahead.
“There is another storm ahead.”
Above the East Sea, vast and boundless, the weather was ever-changing. Some places were calm and peaceful, some had towering waves, some basked in bright sunshine, some were covered in dark clouds and torrential rain.
On their return journey earlier, they had encountered several storms. Twice it was people fighting, three times it was natural heavenly might.
When encountering fights, the group detoured. When facing natural weather, they flew straight through.
As for this time…
“No traces of magical power, but the power is considerable.” Yue Honghai said.
As far as the eye could see, dark clouds covered the sky and sun, shrouding a large expanse of it.
“That is no… there is a ship?”
Shen Ying had sharp eyes. She spotted at a glance a large ship sailing in the surging waves at the edge of the storm range.
Clearly, this ship had encountered the storm at sea. It wanted to escape but could not outrun the storm’s movement speed.
It had been enveloped. It was now sailing out of the storm.
However, judging by the fierce winds and huge waves, the large ship looked like a leaf in a boat amid the storm. If not for encountering Lu Zheng, it probably would not last the time of one incense stick.
Lu Zheng shook his head and acted to save people.
In modern times, Lu Zheng had saved a meteorological monitoring ship, but the place was wrong then, so he was restrained and dared not expose himself.
Here it was different.
Lu Zheng urged his true qi. The cloud mass under his feet rapidly approached. A huge white cloud was very conspicuous in the pitch-black sky.
Then, the “Western Extreme Wind Summoning Curse” and the “Mysterious Turtle Water Control True Spirit Secret Art” were cast together.
In the next moment, within two or three miles around the large ship, it immediately became calm and peaceful.
“Done!”
The matter was just that easy and pleasant.
…
“Immortals! Immortals!”
“Many thanks to the immortal elders for the grace of saving our lives!”
When the white cloud appeared just now, it had already attracted the attention of everyone on the ship. Hope rose in hearts that were close to despair.
Then, in just a moment, the nearby area was still covered in dark clouds with towering sea waves. Yet around their own merchant ship, it was calm and undisturbed.
Everyone was not stupid. How could they not know they had encountered an extraordinary person, and quite a powerful one at that.
So as soon as they were safe, the entire ship knelt down together, immediately expressing thanks and immense gratitude.
Lu Zheng nodded. No wonder many people liked showing off in front of mortals. The feeling was really quite good.
So he waved his hand grandly.
In the next moment, everyone felt the ship under their feet as if thousands of people were rowing. It stirred up waves at the stern. The surrounding sea water rapidly retreated. The dark clouds and storm in the sky also grew farther from the large ship.
Soon, they exited the storm area, even leaving it far behind. Then, the white cloud overhead drifted away leisurely.
Thanks to fellow Daoist Demon Realm Little Tiger and fellow Daoist 08a for their hundred rewards.
