In the small room, Cao Yun could not see what was going on outside. But he knew precisely what was happening anyway. Indeed, both the deafening noise of the disk hitting the 'Feng Soaring Junk' and the tremors in the Enlightened Sandalwood told him everything he needed to know.
Just like he was imagining, the Wheel of Life was colliding with the flying ship with more and more intensity. Not only was the Wei Qi slowly weakening, Can Mouye himself was pouring more and more energy in his attacks. By now, the ship was literally above the black ocean. His new master had told him exactly what was on that black ocean and he did not want to go there for his death would be certain. On the other hand, he could not lose Cao Yun once more.
For now, he still only had a vague understanding of his new master. But he was rather convinced that he would not accept such a failure on his part. Although he did not know what Cao Yun had on him, that treasure should have been invaluable. So not only did he have to kill Cao Yun, he also had to grab his corpse so that his master could extract what he wanted from it.
At first, he had wanted to win Huang Liyue over. Such a desolate place was a good way to push even an orthodox cultivator to betray his ideals. But clearly, Huang Liyue was not easily swayed by his words. And even though he didn't want to push her too far, fearing what she might do in a really desperate situation, Can Mouye was now acting with urgency.
Unfortunately, this was working. Huang Liyue was almost oblivious to everything else but the flying boat. As she was using her spiritual senses to keep it floating in the sky, her mind had gradually closed itself off to protect her. In fact, she could not even see the black ocean in front of her. Right now, she was just flying straight ahead, hoping that Can Mouye would ultimately cease his chase. And it was not a stupid plan because undoubtedly, Can Mouye was slowing down.
The farther they went into this black ocean, the more danger he would be in. For now, they had not reached the point of no return yet.
Can Mouye was so focused on destroying the 'Feng Soaring Junk' that even his Evil Heavenly Buddha Qi Manifestation had dissipated. On the other hand, his Wheel of Life was turning so fast that it looked like a full disk. No detail could be seen from it. Someone who would see it right now would think that this was just a golden plate. Around it, the Wei Qi of the 'Feng Soaring Junk' was slowly being pierced through.
Finally, the golden disk grazed the ship itself. The sound of metal rubbing against wood reverberated through the entire ship as all of it started to shake. But this did not only cause damage to the ship, it also injured Huang Liyue's soul further. The pain was so intense that the Po and Hun characters that she had formed not too long ago were beginning to crack. Some pieces even fell and crumbled into dust.
Paradoxically, it was a good thing. Indeed, those two characters were taking the brunt of the attack to protect her own Soul Embryo. However, as it was slowly crumbling, her Soul Embryo would soon be completely bare. Then, her soul would suffer the consequences as well. To try and protect herself further, she ignited all five of her True Fiery Drops. In her sea of consciousness, five True Fiery Fenghuangs appeared and circled around the two characters, engulfing them in their fires.
With the last shred of consciousness that Huang Liyue had left, she hesitated to resort to her final technique. By withdrawing most of her senses, she had tried to preserve some strength to eventually use this technique. With it, she would probably be able to get rid of not only Can Mouye's attack but of Can Mouye himself. But then, she would certainly die. Her soul would be so damaged that she would fall into a deep slumber and slowly drift away into eternal sleep.
A Spirit Warrior could usually survive his physical death because his Soul Embryo could leave his body. Even in this situation, the Soul Embryo would decay rapidly. In the best situation, a Soul Embryo could live on for one or two centuries, and only if it was the Soul Embryo of a 9th-grade Spirit Warrior. But given the current state of Huang Liyue's Soul Embryo, it would clearly not even be able to survive leaving her body. And it would decay within her own corpse.
Finally something good happened. Can Mouye stopped pursuing the flying ship.
In front of him, he had seen what he had been dreading. In the black ocean, there were three arches visible in the distance. Each one was as colossal as the eight Bone Kings combined. Considering the state they were in, it was difficult to know what they were supposed to be. Indeed, several stones had fallen from them and they were covered in various black and gray moss. Besides, the black water had also corroded their basis.
However, Can Mouye knew perfectly well what they were. Those three colossal structures were three bridges that Cleansed Asura had told him not to cross. If he were to cross those bridges, not only would he die, his very soul would be lost. As such, those bridges had been known as the Bridges of the Three Blind Ghosts.
Just to be safe, Can Mouye decided to keep his distance. Thankfully, he could still control his Wheel of Life to attack the 'Feng Soaring Junk' even beyond those Bridges of the Three Blind Ghosts. And he was relentless. His Wheel of Life was now attacking the very structure of the ship.
Finally, Huang Liyue reached her limit. If she did not act right then, she would be unable to unleash her ultimate attack. Then, both Cao Yun and her would die. Since her death was almost certain, she had no reason to bring Cao Yun down with her. Although he would have very few chances of survival, Cao Yun might be able to pull something off...
With her final strength, she used her spiritual senses to send a telepathic message to the young man in the room aboard the 'Feng Soaring Junk'.
"Chen Guo, or whatever your real name is, you already saved my life. But I have one last request for you. Please, survive! There are things I didn't tell you about Huang Cixi, but I know for a fact that she'll want to meet you once again. So survive! And when you finally leave this place, find Matriarch Huang Yufeng."
In the small room at the center of the 'Feng Soaring Junk', Cao Yun was emotional while listening to Huang Liyue. Those were what she believed to be her last words. Although she had already told him that she would protect him with her life, actually hearing her ready to throw away her life in order to give him a slight chance of survival was different. However, even with the emotion, he caught that piece of information, 'once again'. Had he met Huang Cixi already?
Just as Huang Liyue had finished her sentence, a small fan appeared in the room, surrounded by blue light. It was obvious that Huang Liyue had extracted it from her spatial ring. At such a crucial moment, this fan had to have some emotional value for her. But in Cao Yun's hand, it didn't seem all that valuable. This wasn't even a weapon, just a regular fan. Even its materials were rather common. The bamboo used to make it could probably be found by any mortal. In fact, the only remarkable thing was both the calligraphy and the painting on the silk tissue.
The fan itself was formed by a golden painted frame and red tissue. On this red tissue, many peacock feathers were painted as well. And on the other side, there was some calligraphy. Two names were written 'Huang Liyue' and 'Huang Lüfeng'.
"Give her this and tell her that I'm sorry. I've killed another child of hers..."
"Senior Huang Liyue!"
Cao Yun was not sure of what she meant, even though he could guess. But from her tone, he knew she was going to do something irreversible.
And he was right, of course. During the entire chase, Huang Liyue had kept just enough strength to perform the most powerful attack she could currently use. Considering the condition of her Soul Embryo, she knew that using it would be probably her last thing in this world. After that, she would lose all consciousness and drift away into death. But if she did not, she would also die, except that Cao Yun would also die with her.
At the very moment she had made up her mind, the Wheel of Life completely pierced the hull. The Enlightened Sandalwood exploded into thousands of shards and the Wheel of Life destroyed the bottom half of the ship. Thankfully, the room on top of it was spared. But Cao Yun still felt the terrifying impact as the ship was slowly falling apart.
'Fenghuang Soars From Kunlun'!
The five True Fiery Drops inside Huang Liyue's heart left her body and fused into one singular Fenghuang. Then, she took out a golden pill and consumed it without any hesitation. At this very moment, her Soul Embryo shook and it became golden in color. At the very surface of the Soul Embryo in her sea of consciousness, cracks appeared all over. Then, flames began to burn and even slowly consumed it. Huang Liyue's soul that was nested deep within the Soul Embryo also felt the tremendous heat from those fires. Huang Liyue's very blood almost turned into flames as well.
Finally, a sixth True Fiery Drop got condensed under the effects of this medicinal pill.
Outside of her body, this sixth drop fused with the Fenghuang that had already appeared. It was now twice as big as the 'Feng Soaring Junk' itself. And as soon as the sixth drop had fused with this Qi Manifestation, it screeched loudly. The air around the ship also started to catch on fire. The very surface of the black ocean below started to boil as steam was rising from it. Even the Wheel of Life manifested by Can Mouye turned into ashes.
Suddenly, the True Fiery Fenghuang opened its wheel. The world got completely inundated with bright colors. In the distance, Can Mouye who had stopped his chase also felt the tremendous heat from this Qi Manifestation. This was the full strength of a 6th-grade Spirit Warrior. Against it, he could only die right away. In fact, if he had pursued the chase and if he had been closer to the 'Feng Soaring Junk' right now, he would have turned into ashes on the spot. But the distance did not mean that he would be safe either.
For a split second, he weighed his options. In a fraction of an instant, Can Mouye completely tucked his tail and ran away. He could feel that the very skeleton he was using was attracted to those flames. Indeed, it belonged to a species of Fenghuang after all. Thankfully for the demonic cultivator, it was not strong enough and he stayed in control of the skeleton he had subdued. Still, faced with the full intensity of a 6th-grade Spirit Warrior's rage, Can Mouye did not hesitate to flee as far as he could.
The ship had been partially destroyed and right now, Huang Liyue was going to give away her own life. As long as he stayed alive, Can Mouye would have a chance to retrieve Cao Yun's body. Once Huang Liyue would be dead, there would be no one to stop him. The only problem would be to locate the body. And if the ship fell into the Ocean of Turbid Anguish, retrieving the body may be too complicated. Can Mouye knew this was a possibility that his new master wouldn't like, but he really had no choice in that moment. He would rather face the wrath of his new master than die and turn to ashes.
In the sky, the 'Feng Soaring Junk' had already lost almost a third of its structure. Huang Liyue was still standing on the deck. Although her life was reaching its end, she appeared stronger than ever. Her powerful muscles could be seen through her robe and her scarred face was full of resolution. She had accepted her death, but she wanted to make it count for something. Deep down, there were many things she realized she should have done and especially things she should have said to Matriarch Huang Yufeng. But hopefully, she would understand her feelings through the fan she had given to Cao Yun.
One last time, the True Fiery Fenghuang screeched and flapped its wings. From those wings, hundreds of feathers flew toward the direction of Can Mouye. Unfortunately, he had reacted very fast. Among those hundreds of feathers, hopefully several would reach him. Even one of those feathers would be enough to annihilate a Mortal Warrior, no matter how strong he could be.
Then, as Huang Liyue was losing consciousness, the True Fiery Fenghuang closed its wings around the 'Feng Soaring Junk'. That Qi Manifestation was literally made of Huang Liyue's Qi, blood and soul. It could protect what remained of the ship for some time, even in that black water.
Finally, the ship did fall into the black water below. But as a last effort before everything turned black, Huang Liyue pushed the wreck farther. She had realized that the three bridges were scaring Can Mouye. Thus, she tried to get far enough beyond those three bridges so that he would never come and pursue them. Although she knew nothing of the possible threats beyond those, she gambled. That was unlike her as a bodyguard. However, desperate times called for desperate measures.
In her sea of consciousness, the Hun and Po characters completely exploded into dust. Then, her Soul Embryo gave way. The cracks spread through the entire Soul Embryo now covered in flames. Everything in her sea of consciousness became pitch-black. Huang Liyue had completely lost any shred of consciousness.
Although Cao Yun had no spiritual senses, he felt it clearly. Indeed, he was now surrounded by the Qi Manifestation of Huang Liyue. The moment she fell into a deep slumber, he could feel the anguish of her soul through the Wei Qi she had created thanks to this True Fiery Fenghuang. Just after that, he felt a shock as the ship was now sinking deep into the black ocean below.