"One of the four supremes, Ship-Sinking Black Water?"
Xie Lian asked.
"Four Calamities, not four supremes."
"..."
Only then did Xie Lian realize that he had subconsciously removed Qi Rong from the calamity ranks.
This was likely because there was no way he could put Night-T ouring Green Lantern on the same level as the other three.
As someone who had dutifully crammed with informative scrolls, Xie Lian knew a bit about Ship-Sinking Black Water.
According to legend, he was a great and powerful water ghost who lurked in the outer seas. Like Crimson Rain Sought Flower, he slaughtered his way out of Mount T onglu. Although he tended to keep a low profile, that profile was only low in the Mortal and Heavenly Realms—he had devoured over five hundred infamous nefarious creatures across the land, about four hundred of which were other high-level water ghosts.
The Black Water Demon Lair was his personal domain.
Just as Ghost City was under Hua Cheng's jurisdiction alone, lawlessness reigned within these boundaries. When one stepped foot into a supreme's domain, they had the final say. There was a widespread saying in the Ghost Realm:
"Crimson rules the land; Black masters the waters."
"Crimson" obviously referred to Crimson Rain Sought Flower, who was known for his signature red clothing. "Black" was none other than Black Water Demon Xuan.
"Water Master-xiong, you're really unlucky this time," Pei Ming said. "But Demon Xuan isn't like the Green Ghost; he's not the type to look for trouble. Thankfully we haven't strayed too far, so let's steer back quickly before we're discovered."
The others stared at him. "Well, why don't you change course then? Aren't you the one in charge of this ship?"
Pei Ming was equally confused. "Did it not change course yet? The ship should follow my command on its own, it shouldn't require physical control…" But the rudder didn't budge. With no other options, Pei Ming resorted to manual steering. But when his hand landed on the rudder, he furrowed his brows. Xie Lian went over as well.
"It won't move?"
It was impossible that Pei Ming lacked the strength for it.
Xie Lian was fairly confident in his own strength, and yet he wasn't able to move it either.
After examining the situation at hand, Ming Yi announced, "It must've gotten caught on something. I'll go down to take a look."
Shi Qingxuan chimed in. "I'll go with you, Ming-xiong!"
"Come back here!" Shi Wudu said sternly. "Don't go running around."
Shi Qingxuan didn't dare disobey, knowing that his brother shouldn't be distracted or emotionally agitated while he was undergoing his trial. He returned to Shi Wudu's side shamefaced, leaving Ming Yi to investigate under the deck alone. Xie Lian wanted to help, but he knew he wasn't as capable as the Earth Master when it came to building and repairs—even if he went, he wouldn't be able to do much.
As he gazed into the pitch-black sea that surrounded them, Xie Lian remembered something more important. "Did any fishermen end up around here?"
Hua Cheng had extremely good eyesight and had been working alongside Xie Lian in the search and rescue efforts.
He was the one who had discovered many of the stranded fishermen. He did a quick survey around them.
"There shouldn't be," Hua Cheng concluded. "Black Water Demon Lair is in the South Sea; they wouldn't drift this far. And the area here has a barrier, so ordinary folk can't enter, barring special circumstances. Even if they did, they're beyond saving. Basically everything that drifts here sinks."
The South Sea. He hadn't realized they'd drifted so far.
Xie Lian tested his spiritual communication array, and sure enough, the connection was down. Their connection before had been spotty but still usable; now, there was complete silence. Although the sea currently looked peaceful, there could be danger lurking in the abyssal depths. The sky was growing darker, and Xie Lian felt uneasy.
"Since there aren't any stranded fishermen in these parts, if Lord Earth Master can't repair it, why don't we abandon ship and head ashore? Lord Water Master can return to the East Sea for his trial, and we can continue the search and rescue as well," he suggested.
"That works," Pei Ming agreed and opened the cabin door.
Yet when he pulled open the door, instead of dry land, he was met with the interior of an empty cabin. His face changed at the sight.
"The teleportation array lost its power?!"
Hua Cheng laughed. "Isn't that obvious? If you can't use the spiritual communication array, why would the teleportation array work any better?"
Pei Ming sent a sidelong glance at him. "Little friend, you seem quite calm for someone so young. Not worried at all, are you?" he commented flatly.
"The ship drifted into ghost territory and is sinking as we speak," Xie Lian interrupted. "We can't leave even if we want to. Let's solve the problem at hand first."
Shi Qingxuan called under the deck. "Ming-xiong, how's the situation looking down there? Can you fix it?"
Ming Yi's voice came from below. "Nothing's broken! The ship isn't caught on anything either. Something else made the ship lose power."
"That would be Demon Xuan's spiritual field," Pei Ming stated gravely.
As he was speaking, the ship dipped violently again. Xie Lian saw that water had already swallowed over half the ship.
A normal boat would've given way to the waves by now, but this one still resisted and fought to stay afloat due to its divine provenance.
"There must be exceptions. It's impossible that everything sinks here," he insisted. "There must be something that won't sink."
"There is," Hua Cheng said.
All attention fell on him. With his arms folded, he elaborated lazily, "There is one type of wood that will not sink in the Black Water Demon Lair."
Xie Lian guessed at several common special varieties of wood. "Sandalwood? Agarwood? Elm?"
"Coffin wood," Hua Cheng answered.
"Coffin wood?!"
"Yup." Hua Cheng said. "No one has returned alive after stumbling into the Black Water Demon Lair…except for one individual. He was traveling home with the corpse of a family member. After his boat sank, he rode the coffin and drifted back to shore."
Pei Ming raised his brow. "You sure know a lot, little friend."
Hua Cheng mirrored his expression. "Nah. You just know too little, that's all."
Shi Wudu remained in his meditation position and his hands maintained their seal, but he turned his attention to Hua Cheng and narrowed his eyes.
"Pei-xiong, I've been meaning to ask—who exactly is this? Where is he from? Why is he with you?"
"I'm afraid you'll have to ask His Highness about that," Pei Ming explained. "After all, he's someone from his palace."
"All right, all right," Shi Qingxuan interrupted. "Enough of that 'who knows how much' talk. Now that spells have lost their power, where do we get a coffin around here?"
"That's easy," Pei Ming answered. "Come. Gege will build one for you right now. I'll show you what it means to take things into your own hands and live well without anyone's help."
"..."
"That won't work," Hua Cheng pointed out. "It has to be a coffin that's carried a corpse."
That was that, then. It wasn't like they could build a coffin and then kill a person in the group to fill it. As they discussed the topic, the boat dipped again. The deck where they stood tilted and was almost level with the water's surface, and Shi Wudu nearly toppled out of his prim-and-proper meditation pose.
"Forget it! Let me handle this," he said coldly.
He produced his fan and tapped it lightly against the center of his forehead, then fanned it out to reveal the character for "water" on the front and a wave pictogram made up of three curving lines on the back. He lifted his arm and issued a command.
"Water, come forth!"
Xie Lian felt the ship spring upward. The deck rose almost a meter above the waterline, and some sense of safety returned.
"The Water Master fan even controls the waters of the Black Water Demon Lair?" he asked in surprise.
"Not the water here," Hua Cheng corrected. "He channeled it from elsewhere."
As it turned out, they hadn't ventured too far past the boundary of the Black Water Demon Lair, so Shi Wudu was still able to call forth nearby waters to lift the ship from underneath.
"Beautifully done, Water Master-xiong!" Pei Ming praised. "Now that the rudder is useless, the boat can't turn around. Quick, use the current to haul the ship back!"
Before Shi Wudu could reply, the ship dipped once again. The Demon Lair's water refused to concede defeat and clashed with the current from the outside seas. The dip was ruthless this time, and the deck tilted even more. Losing balance, the crew slid to the bow of the ship. Although Shi Wudu was born with gentlemanly, handsome looks, his personality was extremely imperious, and he refused to retreat. Sensing that something dared to oppose him, anger flashed across his face. He snapped his fan shut, and when he opened it again, the three wave lines had grown larger, and the outer current doubled in force. The ship was yanked up once again.
With one force relentlessly dragging the boat down and another stubbornly forcing it to rise, the ups and downs made it seem like a giant game of tug-of-war. The ship sailed onward, then jolted to a stop, and it sank and rose with the motion. Waves crashed wildly around them, making seawater roll across the deck and into the ship. It was an incredibly vexing situation. If ordinary folk were on board, they would be scared witless by now. Xie Lian gripped the ledge tightly with one hand while he held on to Hua Cheng tightly with the other.
"What's happening? The ship is turning!" he exclaimed.
It was just as he said—the ship had started spinning.
The faster it spun, the lower it sank. Xie Lian abruptly realized that the ship had been dragged into a giant maelstrom and was being sucked into its vortex!
"Everyone, be careful!" he warned. "The two forces of water are clashing!"
In the end, this was not Shi Wudu's home turf. While the current he'd summoned from the outer seas was mighty, it weakened after crossing the boundary. It was at a slight disadvantage in the fight against the tides of the Demon Lair.
As expected, as soon as Xie Lian spoke, the ship was sucked into the vortex. Xie Lian tossed out Fangxin at the last second and pulled Hua Cheng close. The two stepped onto the sword and flew up and away!
At first he was worried that Fangxin wouldn't have the strength, but he let out a sigh of relief the moment they left the deck—although it was shaky, at least the sword could still fly. They looked down from above to see that the whole area was painted a deep, terrifying black. Below them were two massive currents of obviously different colors, and it was their pursuit of and clash with each other that had formed the colossal maelstrom. As the vortex swallowed the ship whole, the two water currents quickly separated; however, their battle was far from over. They continued to snap at each other like two venomous vipers, and each collision stirred angry waves.
Xie Lian looked around. "Lord Wind Master? Lord Earth Master? General Pei? Is everyone still here?"
Shi Qingxuan's voice came from dozens of meters behind him. "Your Highness! We're over here!"
"Did you hop on your sword as well…"
Xie Lian turned, and the scene that greeted him left him speechless.
Ming Yi stood atop of the handle of a crescent shovel.
Shi Qingxuan was seated on the head of the same shovel and was waving at Xie Lian.
They didn't ride forth on a sword, but…a shovel. The sight was unbearable to witness!
Pei Ming's voice also called to them from nearby.
"Where's Water Master-xiong?"
Seeing that Pei Ming was on his sword alone and there was no sign of the Water Master, Shi Qingxuan cried out, "Ge? Ge?!"
"No need to panic; the Water Master is the God of Water, he can't have gone under," Xie Lian reassured him. But when he recalled the power of the whirlpool, he didn't dare underestimate its might. He turned to Hua Cheng. "San Lang, hold on tight to my waist—don't lose your grip and fall."
Hua Cheng very obediently did so. "Mmm, okay. But, gege, there's something I have to tell you."
"What is it?" Xie Lian asked.
"You can't fly in the Black Water Demon Lair. It'll attract things."
Not a moment later, a long, sharp cry pierced the air. A behemoth white creature broke through the water's surface and headed straight for Pei Ming.
Pei Ming was a master swordsman, and he reflexively reached for his sword the moment he saw a monster attacking—only to belatedly realize said sword was under his feet. Luckily, his reaction was swift; he leapt into the air, grabbed his sword, and sliced the incoming creature in half.
Before gravity could take hold, he flipped back onto the sword without a single hair out of place.
He steadily flew upward and asked in a rather calm tone, "What was that?"
After it was cleaved in half, the creature crashed back into sea with a mournful wail. Xie Lian squinted to get a better look at the creature floating on the water's surface.
"Fish?"
It was certainly a fish, but this wasn't your average sea creature. It was a skeletal fish over fifteen meters in length and half a dozen meters wide! This "fish" had neither flesh nor scales, only stark white bones that connected to a mouth filled with sharp teeth. He couldn't immediately determine if it was venomous, but its bite would surely be a pain in the butt regardless.
Pei Ming flew higher. "Be careful, there's definitely more than one of those things!" he warned.
Sure enough, the moment he mentioned "more than one," a second skeletal fish shot out from the depths. This time, it headed straight for Ming Yi and Shi Qingxuan!
Unfortunately, the Earth Master wasn't a martial god and had little fighting power, and the Wind Master was now in mortal flesh. On top of all this, Ming Yi was rusty when it came to…shovel-riding. Even though the two didn't get bitten, they were still knocked off balance and sent tumbling down to the waters below. As they fell, Shi Qingxuan cried out in despair.
"Ming-xiong! After today, make sure to use your spiritual device more, okay—" "Screw off," Ming Yi snapped at him.
Pei Ming sighed and rushed over to rescue the two.
Seeing his skilled form, Xie Lian knew that he would be able to handle it on his own.
It's really not Earth Master's fault, he thought. A shovel as a spiritual device…no heavenly official with any sense of shame would want to bring it out...
Just then, a chill ran down his spine. Xie Lian regained his focus and said temperately, "San Lang, hang on tight and watch out. Something's coming our way."
"Okay." His arms tightened around his waist.
Not long after, four watery walls shot up from the depths and surrounded them. Four giant bonefish rose from the sea.
Rather than "fish," the ghastly behemoth skeletons were more like dragons. Sharp, jagged horns protruded from their skulls, balls of inextinguishable ghost fire burned in their empty eye sockets like giant lanterns, and the four legs each one had were tipped with claws. Their bodies were as thick as water vats and at least a few dozen meters long—their upper halves breached the water's surface, but it was impossible to guess the length of the rest that lurked beneath the waves.
The creatures circled Xie Lian and Hua Cheng as they hung there in the air, leaving no room for escape. The pair couldn't fly upward; this was as high as Fangxin could go. If they descended, the deathly silent ocean would greet them.
Xie Lian sighed. "All right…who's first?" After a moment of consideration, he clasped his hands. "T ogether it is."
Soon after, the bone dragon to the east took the initiative. It shrieked and charged forward. Xie Lian raised his hand and jabbed a finger in its direction.
The bone dragon froze on the spot.
It was a massive creature, but it was frozen in place by one sword, one man, and one finger! No matter how it struggled, it couldn't move another inch forward. Its tail and hind claws thrashed and raised walls of waves.
The other three dragons lunged forward as well. Xie Lian curled his fingers into a claw, grabbed the frozen bone dragon by the horn, and lashed its body out like a whip. A loud whoosh tore through the sky. The three incoming dragons were skewered by the one Xie Lian thrashed out, and they howled as they collapsed into the sea in a mess of bones. Xie Lian watched the broken bones drift with the movement of the waves as he dusted off his hands and let out a breath. He turned around.
"San Lang, are you okay?"
Hua Cheng smiled happily at him. "Under gege's protection, how could anything happen to me?"
His response made Xie Lian feel embarrassed. Now that he thought about it, dealing with this sort of thing was also an easy task for Hua Cheng—how could he be anything but perfectly fine? So it sounded like Xie Lian was intentionally asking for praise.
Just then, the sword unexpectedly dipped. Before Xie Lian could even register what had happened, they were already falling rapidly—an instant later, they plunged headfirst into the icy cold water.
They weren't dragged down by anything; Fangxin was simply too old and couldn't hold out anymore. It needed to rest after straining itself for so long!
The bone-chilling seawater rushed in from all directions.
Xie Lian choked on water a few times, then quickly shut his mouth tight and tried to swim upward. But the Black Water Demon Lair was as wicked as described. Though Xie Lian considered himself a fairly good swimmer, his body felt like a block of lead in these waters. No matter what he did, he couldn't float. He opened his eyes, but the water was as black as the world behind his eyelids, and he couldn't find Hua Cheng. He groped around with his hands, but he only managed to grab hold of the sinking Fangxin, not the person he sought. He started to grow anxious. The more anxious he was, the more sluggish his movements became, and the faster he sank.
Thankfully, it wasn't long before a hand suddenly parted the fog. Xie Lian's eyes lit up. In the next second, someone grasped his hand, hugged his waist, and tugged him upward.
They ascended rapidly through the waters and broke the surface, and Xie Lian sucked in a few breaths. When he wiped his face, he found that he'd been brought up from the depths by none other than Hua Cheng.
It was quite strange. T echnically, Hua Cheng was dead.
As the saying goes, the dead are heavier—deadweight, so to speak—so he should've sunk faster than Xie Lian. But he floated lightly and effortlessly in the water.
He lowered his head to look at Xie Lian. "Are you all right?"
Xie Lian nodded. But this scene felt quite familiar and brought with it memories of a similar situation that had happened not so long ago. It made him blush.
With one arm wrapped around Xie Lian, Hua Cheng used his free arm to leisurely glide through the water.
"Hang on tight to me, gege. You'll sink if you let go."
At a loss for words, Xie Lian blankly nodded several times. Not far from them, the water stirred, and several sharp horns broke through the surface, like the fins of a school of sharks. The horns rushed toward them with incredible speed.
The four bone dragons that Xie Lian had knocked out were back for revenge.
The bone dragons circled them, eyeing them with predatory gazes, but soon they could hold themselves back no longer and ferociously dove in. Xie Lian gripped Fangxin tightly, but as he waited for the right moment to strike, he heard Hua Cheng click his tongue in annoyance.
The bone dragons were already within arm's reach and ready to tear them apart, but upon hearing that sound, their killing intent immediately vanished. The fanged mouth that had been ready to snap Xie Lian's throat instead inched forward and nudged at Fangxin, as if pecking it with tiny kisses.
Xie Lian was utterly confused.
He remained dumbfounded as the four bone dragons scampered away like they were scared, tails between their legs. Xie Lian was left speechless, and he floated there in sheer bewilderment, but Hua Cheng had already continued swimming.
"Gege, you see that? If you plan on raising pets in the future, definitely don't consider those things. They're useless trash."
"..."
Pets?!
"No, I don't need any pets…" Xie Lian replied weakly.
All of a sudden, a water dragon hurtled up from under the water's surface and shot into the sky. Xie Lian looked up and saw Shi Wudu seated on top of the creature's head. His hands were clasped together in an aggressive attack hand seal, and his face was dark with hostility, as if he was fighting vigorously against some unseen force. The once- calm, once-peaceful sea was now tossing and turning.
Xie Lian called out, "Lord Wind Master! Lord Earth Master! General Pei! Where are you?!"
Borrowing the moonlight, he was able to scan his surroundings. Instead of finding his comrades, he found himself engulfed by a huge shadow. Xie Lian turned his head sharply, and his eyes widened. It was an enormous wave, as tall as a city wall. It engulfed the skies as it lunged his way.
In the next moment, he was awash in complete darkness.
***
He drifted with the ebb and flow of the ocean for a long time.
Xie Lian finally opened his eyes. While he didn't sit up, he could feel beneath him that he'd arrived on land. As he lay there regaining his strength, he lifted an arm and saw that his hand had become wrinkled from the prolonged soak.
He felt something hard under his waist, and when he tilted his head to look, he realized that the object was Hua Cheng's arm. Hua Cheng was lying right next to him. By the look of things, he had never once let go.
Surprisingly, even though Xie Lian had woken up, Hua Cheng had not. His eyes were tightly shut. Xie Lian quickly sat up and nudged him gently.
"San Lang? San Lang?"
Hua Cheng didn't respond. Xie Lian nudged him again while surveying their surroundings. They were on land, but it was a densely forested island with no signs of civilization in sight. No docks, no people at all. It seemed like an isolated island, not the mainland. The most surprising thing of all was that it was already daylight—they must've floated all night!
Where had they ended up?
Even after repeated nudging, Hua Cheng was still deep asleep and hadn't moved an inch. Ghosts couldn't drown, so Xie Lian trusted that Hua Cheng had not done so. But there was no guarantee that he hadn't been secretly wounded by something else—such as those barbed, poisonous bonefish.
Xie Lian patted Hua Cheng down to check for wounds, feeling up his chest, his arms, and all the way down his legs. But other than coming to the conclusion that Hua Cheng had a truly fine body, he made no notable finds.
Xie Lian blanked for a bit, then began to panic a little.
"San Lang, don't joke around," he mumbled.
No response.
In a moment of panic, Xie Lian pressed his head against Hua Cheng's chest to search for a heartbeat before he remembered that ghosts had no such thing. T o his surprise, he actually heard a steady thump. T aken aback, a thought came to him. Hua Cheng shouldn't be able to drown in his true form, but he was presently in the form of a seventeen- or eighteen-year-old human youth—so did the same rules apply?
Although he still didn't think that Hua Cheng was the sort to overlook such things, there was really no other option at hand. He couldn't be roused even after Xie Lian pressed his chest a number of times. After a brief moment of hesitation, Xie Lian slowly reached out and cupped Hua Cheng's face with gentle hands.
He was excessively good-looking. With his eyes closed, his sharp features softened into something gentler. He held Hua Cheng like this; he gazed at him and thought about what he was about to do next.
It made it extremely difficult for Xie Lian to calm his heart.
He debated for a long time, then looked around. There was no one there.
He looked back at Hua Cheng. Still unconscious.
In the end, he made up his mind. Gritting his teeth, he whispered a simple phrase.
"…I apologize in advance."
His voice was practically shaking as he said it. He clapped his hands together in silent prayer and then bent down. With his eyes shut tight, he pressed his lips against Hua Cheng's.
Hua Cheng's eyes snapped open.