Back when Jing Qian first chose the ship, his Worldly Insight immediately revealed a glimmer of spiritual light in one corner of the cabin, something that could not hide from his gaze.
At first, Jing Qian thought it was simply part of the vessel's unique construction.
After all, that bluish glow represented a half-step into the Blue Blood rank, a high-grade level.
But once he personally stepped inside the cabin and observed more closely, he realized with surprise that the source of this glow was not part of the ship at all; it was a person hiding there.
The aura of this person's mana felt oddly familiar. Jing Qian decided not to alert Xu Xi and pretended not to notice, instead taking the stowaway out to sea with him.
Now that the Dingyuan was sailing along the Hun River and required no steering from him, Jing Qian finally had both hands free to deal with this hidden threat.
Yet even though he had already spoken aloud to expose the intruder, there was no response.
"Hmm."
Jing Qian cleared his throat again, but still received no reply. Finally, he flicked out two threads of silk, casting them over the hidden figure.
The figure did not attempt to dodge and was instantly ensnared.
With a gentle tug, the seemingly empty corner of the cabin shifted, and suddenly, a strange silken cloak appeared in Jing Qian's hand.
With a sweep of his Worldly Insight, he quickly grasped the item's nature.
The cloak was woven of spider silk, highly unusual. One side looked like an ordinary dark fabric, nothing remarkable.
But the other side could block out light, erase all traces, and render its wearer invisible.
It was wide and long, like a blanket, perfectly sized to cover a single person and hide their form.
When Jing Qian pulled it away, he discovered a little girl of about ten years old lying beneath it, fast asleep.
He studied her carefully. Though her hair was messy and she looked disheveled, her clothes were finely made, evidence of an extraordinary background.
Jing Qian already had suspicions about her identity, but he hadn't expected someone in such peril to sleep so soundly.
Though she possessed this cloak, a rare treasure, she herself had not even stepped onto the Path, still only at the Essence-Nurturing stage.
She posed no threat at all. So Jing Qian casually bound her up with a few strands of silk.
"Ah!"
The little girl startled awake, panicking when she realized she had been captured. Fear welled up in her eyes.
But a moment later, she steeled herself and tried to bite down hard on her tongue to end her life.
At the same time, the White Fang Life Essence she had painstakingly cultivated rushed straight toward her heart.
The girl was ruthlessly fallen into enemy hands, and unable to resist, she sought only to die!
Even Jing Qian was startled. He quickly pulled on the threads of silk.
The girl's body went numb from head to toe, unable to move even a single hair.
Jing Qian said:
"You're from the Jing clan of Jiangzhu Island, aren't you?
Don't be rash. I won't harm you.
My ancestors had old ties with the clan's Soul-Weaving Spider Mother. The fact that you stumbled aboard my ship is nothing less than good fortune.
Jiangzhu Island has suffered a great calamity. What could a little girl like you possibly do? Don't throw your life away, only by living do you still have a chance for revenge."
Hearing his words, the girl indeed stopped struggling and instead stared at him wide-eyed.
Jing Qian loosened the threads slightly, giving her room to speak.
She immediately blurted out:
"You are from the Jing family!
That's the Soul-Weaving Life Pattern, you can't fool me!
How could I not recognize you? Take off your mask!"
Jing Qian smirked.
"You're mistaken. I'm not of the Jing clan. This isn't a Soul-Weaving Life Pattern, just a secret binding thread technique passed down in my family. It only looks similar, that's all."
He flatly denied it.
But the girl pressed on:
"Impossible. A Jing family sister once showed me the Morning-Dusk, Dawn-Breaking Fate Scripture. You can't fool me."
"Say another word, and I'll gag you again," Jing Qian threatened.
The girl pouted but said:
"Fine. You don't want to admit it, then so be it. After all, this wasn't caused by your Jing family anyway."
She calmed herself and continued:
"Brother, I am Su Min'er, the direct daughter of the Su family. My family suffered a catastrophe. I barely escaped from our enemies.
Right now, they're scouring the sea markets for me. I have you to thank for helping me escape.
May I ask you for a favor? For the sake of the ties between our families, will you take me back to Jiangzhu Island?"
Jing Qian was surprised and asked:
"What's the point of going there now?
The island is overrun with enemies. Going back is just suicide."
But Su Min'er remained firm:
"Brother, this is my Su family's tribulation. Only we can face it.
Since Heaven let me survive, I must bear this trial.
Please, brother, help me!
So long as I draw breath, the Life Furnace of Jiangzhu Island will not fall.
But… that can't last forever.
The enemy will eventually wear down the seal with their power, shatter it, and destroy our Life Furnace.
For my Su family, that furnace cannot be toppled; it must not fall!"
Though Su Min'er's voice was soft, it carried a sharp edge.
Compared to Jing Qian, she had received a complete clan education. In terms of knowledge and judgment, she far surpassed him.
Her grasp of the Su family's secrets was deep and precise, nothing like that of an ordinary child.
This was the true foundation of a Life Furnace bloodline.
"I can only take you near Jiangzhu Island. As for setting foot on it, the risks are yours alone to bear."
"That's enough! Thank you, brother!"
Jing Qian agreed to Su Min'er's request.
Since fate had brought him across another orphan of destiny like himself, he could hardly turn away.
Besides, his journey to the outer seas already required him to visit Jiangzhu Island. Escorting her there was just a matter of convenience.
With their agreement reached, Jing Qian released her bindings.
Then, after running his hand once more across the silken cloak, he returned it to her.
The cloak was sewn from spider silk, and the moment Jing Qian touched it, he recognized it as the silk of the Azure Orb Spider.
That was why he had instantly recognized her identity.
The Dingyuan was ten zhang long, with eight cabins inside.
Su Min'er picked a room for herself and disappeared into it, not coming out again.
Jing Qian left her be, returning to the prow to sit cross-legged on the deck and sink into a new session of cultivation.
After three days, a tiny white lotus blossomed upon his Tidal Surge life pattern.
He had officially mastered the Lotus-Planting Technique. From this day forth, the Tidal White Lotus would produce two White Fang Life Essences each day.
Meanwhile, on Jiangzhu Island, a massacre had come to an end.
The island, once home to more than a hundred thousand mortals, had been wiped out with ease once the cultivators were gone.
If it had been another faction, such slaughter might not have been so ruthless. But this was the Fate Island faction.
In time, new mortals would be shipped in from their main island to continue labor and production.
The leader of the massacre, Sakema, finally completed his task and returned to the ancestral mountain of the Jing and Su clans.
Generations ago, the ancestors of both families had hollowed out a low mountain here and built ancestral halls on either side.
At the mountain's core lay the two clans' Life Furnaces.
At this moment, two Dragon-Elephant cultivators had manifested their Manifestation Forms and stood to the left and right, using their power to wear down the Life Furnace's protective seals.
Upon his return, Sakema also manifested his own Shuten-dōji Manifestation Form, adding his strength to the assault.
With three fully accomplished Dragon-Elephant cultivators working together, they were determined to shatter Jiangzhu Island's Life Furnace before the deadline their island lord had set.
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