Seemingly having self-awareness, the inferno nearby wrapped Le Xaan in, instantly swallow him up. Before long, Le Xaan's figure was unseen.
"Le Xaan!"
Soan Jingor and Kunny rushed up from a corner of the room straight away, trying to rescue LeXaan, but it was too late.
"It's too late." Kunny firmly held Soan Jingor back.
"Brother Le! Le Xaan!" Soan Jingor barked.
"I think you should worry more about yourselves!"
The white-dressed woman emerged again. Her body was intact. She floated in midair beside the flame while throwing Soan Jingor and Kunny a sinister gaze.
The duo hurriedly rushed out the door and didn't dare to glance backward.
"It's me! I'm guilty of Brother Le's death!" Soan Jingor's eyes were brimming with tears as he shouted mournfully.
"We should escape from the ship first!" Kunny said decisively.
"Swish!"
The white-attired woman floated over behind the couple.
"Attempt to flee?" She screamed in a thin voice.
"Roar!"
Right then, from the blaze behind them a growl echoed out. A strongly-built figure, who was laced with plumes of flames, propped the beam away and jumped out from the fire, sending sparks flying.
Then, a mammoth hand reached for the woman.
"You?" the woman looked over her shoulder in alarm.
As Le Xaan sprang upon her, he wielded the blade through the inferno, stirring up red waves of flames, before unleashing a slash at her skull.
"Pfft!"
Le Xaan chopped her in half once more.
But the two halves soon fused into one quickly in midair.
"A mere mortal! How dare you.." She screeched with an ear-splitting voice while her long hair was dancing wildly in the air. Then, as her hands formed a strange seal, her white dress lengthened, casting countless long stretches of white cloth at Le Xaan, trying to wrap him in.
"Death!" The swaths of cloth shot out and cut through the air with an ear-offending whistle.
Le Xaan's eyes were bloodshot while the flames were still blazing or smothering on his clothes, producing wafts of smoke.
After Dark Shadow Qi was mostly used up, he grew sober now.
Sensing that his skin was blistered, Le Xaan activated Black Tiger Jade Crane Skill into a speedy mode. After the combination, it had a stronger curative effect. Soon, Le Xaan could feel that the scorched sensations were lessened on his body.
Furthermore, while Black Tiger Jade Crane Skill and Dark Shadow were both in a speedy mode, Le Xaan sensed that something unusual was emerging within his body.
The two kinds of inner body Qi circulated through his body simultaneously. One of the two was flowing ragingly, while another coursed through his body serenely.
Dragging the blade, Le Xaan's gaze was fixated on the woman in the air. Suddenly, a strange feeling arose in his heart.
The two inner body Qi separately streamed into his two arms and then gathered at the edge and entangled with one another, making for a current of immense, fierce power.
As the two sort of Qi built up and mingled in the weapon, Le Xaan arched his back.
In his mind, a black tiger intertwined with a crane in a spiral.
A sudden enlightenment dawned on Le Xaan as a red glow momentarily burst out of the edge.
"Roar! Whoop!"
It was as though a colossal tiger and an imposing crane called out at the same time, churning up the surrounding air.
In the midst of the resounding noise, Le Xaan leaped into the air and thrust his blade into the woman.
"Death!"
"Boom!"
This time, the woman wasn't cut in half but instead blew up and shattered into shreds, which fell into the blaze underneath, sending countless sparks into the air. Then, these shards were turned to ashes.
"Pong!"
Le Xaan landed on the floor, causing the ship to shake. Gasping for air for a while, he straightened up while spotting a purplish jade hair stick on the ground. He walked over and picked it up. This was the only thing the woman left behind.
"Brother Soan, it seems that you are unscathed. The heavens have smiled on you." Le Xaan looked at the couple in the distance and grinned at them, baring his snowy-white teeth.
"Brother... Brother Le....?" Having witnessed the fierce battle, at this moment, Soan Jingor was doubting whether Le Xaan was still a human being.
"Let's go look for Brother Chin, then leave the ship. Otherwise, we may never be able to do so." Le Xaan raised his arm and found his burnt clothes sticking to his skin. Fortunately, Dark Shadow endowed him with great resistance to high temperatures. Because of his violent movements during the combat, the flames was curbed more or less on his clothes, inflicting only minor burns on him.
"So... that female ghost is gone like this?" Soan Jingor asked with a mystified expression.
"I'm not sure about that, but I guess so." Le Xaan shook his head while casting a glance at Kunny.
Kunny flashed a tender smile at him, showing her gratitude.
Soon, the three of them discovered the unconscious Chin Gerron at a corner of the cabin. Soan Jingor carried Chin Gerron on his back and disembarked from the ship onto the dock along with Le Xaan and Kunny. Before long, the pleasure cruiser was swallowed up in the blazing inferno.
Oddly, they found themselves no longer at the riverside near Mountainside City, but in a remote area on the river.
As the four of them made their way onto the bank, they surveyed the surroundings, with no traces of human. It was an expanse of weedy land.
Soan Jingor gave his coat to Le Xaan to wear.
After he tore off his tattered clothes, Le Xaan found only a few blistered spots on his skin, while the rest was darkened. His hair and beard were gone. Now his head looked like an egg.
After the large vessel was burnt down and slowly sank into the river, both Le Xaan and Soan Jingor looked over at Kunny. Both of them needed a explanation, which only Kunny could give.
What on earth was all this about?
Upon seeing their glances, she lowered her had, pursed her lips, and fell silent.
"Don't look at me like that. I don't too much either. The only thing I know is that the pleasure cruiser is no ordinary one. We have a mysterious and powerful figure above us. He is in control of the majority of the pleasure cruisers on the Pine River. Our pleasure cruiser is under his name as well.
As for the woman, she is the head of our pleasure cruiser. But what I didn't know is... she actually..." Kunny shook her head and heaved a sigh.
"Let's go back first." Le Xaan glanced at the completely empty surface of the river, "Do you know where we are now?"
"Yes, I know it." Soan Jingor showed a bitter smile on his face. "If I'm not mistaken, this place is a dozen miles downstream along Pine River from Mountainside City. If we want to go back, we only need to walk along the river upstream."
Then, Soan Jingor stared at Le Xaan, who was blackened all over, and suddenly bent down, bowing deeply to him.
"This time, because of me and Kunny, Brother Xaan and Brother Gerron have faced life-threatening situations. I have pulled you two into such a grave trouble. We owe you our lives, Xaan!"
Le Xaan remained silent, his gaze fixed onto Kunny.
Soan Jingor sensed that something was wrong. Then, he traced Le Xaan's line of vision to Kunny.
Appalled, he saw that her originally corporeal body was gradually turning more and more transparent.