"We retreat, quick!" Zhi Xuan exclaimed, waving his hand and immediately summoning the Seven Star Boat again. The miniature boat immediately stretched out, enough to hold three people, without warning, Zhi Xuan pulled Feng Yi and Fei Sheng to jump onto the boat.

  Zhi Xuan, without a word, leaped onto the Seven Star Boat. The flying Artifact from the Star Burial Forest Pine immediately extended into a sleek mini boat, its starlight-shrouded aura ready to shoot forth.

  Giving no chance for Fei Sheng to display his elegance or for Feng Yi to utter curses, Zhi Xuan pulled both cultivators onto the narrow deck with lightning speed.

  Fei Sheng, who was usually agile, landed awkwardly on his side, his jade fan coming loose and almost slicing Feng Yi's nose. The Fire Phoenix Maiden, who had just been pulled from a near-death situation, let out a small shriek instead.

  "You arrogant bastard! Let go of me!" Feng Yi hissed, her explosive aura out of control. She struggled to gain footing on the cramped deck. "You trapped us! You are a man who does not know how to treat a woman!"

  Feng Yi suddenly realized she, a majestic combat path cultivator of the Fire Phoenix Sect, was now squeezed onto a small boat with two male cultivators, fleeing from three enraged Azure Kings.

  WHUSSHH!

  Before Fei Sheng could regain his composure, the Seven Star Boat shot forward, leaving a long trail of starlight, piercing the layer above the volcanic ground and the shadows of the stone pillars where they were hiding.

  Behind them, the previously silent valley exploded in insane roars. The three Golden Azure Kings—Lightning Leopard, Fire Eagle, and Thunder Lion—united in immense fury. They no longer cared about the Wind Wolf Core lying on the ground; they saw tiny robbers who dared to peek into their feud.

  ROOOARRR! CRACK!

  The three Golden Azure Kings darted in pursuit. The Lightning Leopard Azure King was the fastest, its body transforming into a golden bolt of lightning splitting the air. Above it, the Fire Eagle Azure King flapped its wings, releasing a wave of boiling heat. The Thunder Lion Azure King trailed, its roar creating shockwaves of the Law of Thunder.

  On the cramped deck of the Seven Star Boat, the situation was far from majestic.

  "You! Herald of Devil! You trapped us! This is not a scheme, this is sheer idiocy!" Feng Yi roared, her voice filled with suppressed hysteria. Her crimson-robed body clung tightly to Fei Sheng due to Zhi Xuan's brutal maneuvers.

  Fei Sheng, whose face was still pale from almost being sliced by his own fan, tried to maintain his dignity. He attempted to retrieve his jade fan, but the squeezed position between the rigid Zhi Xuan and the fiery Feng Yi made it almost impossible.

  "Junior Sister, calm down!" Fei Sheng exclaimed, his voice slightly high-pitched. "This... this is a deep test of speed and defense! We must focus! And... please, Junior Sister, our position..."

  Feng Yi did not hear him. She only looked back, where the Golden Lightning Leopard was approaching with terrifying speed. The feeling of terror made her forget her arrogance and elegance.

  "Faster! Damn it! Can't you go faster?! What kind of boat is this?!" Feng Yi shrieked, unconsciously hitting Zhi Xuan's back with her fist.

  Zhi Xuan did not retaliate against Feng Yi's punch. He ignored the irregular shrieks and curses of the Fire Bird girl, and he also ignored Fei Sheng's whining as he tried to maintain his elegant pose amidst the brutal maneuvering. In his eyes, both of them were just burdens he had to carry so this alliance would not completely fail.

  "This boat is a Speed Flying Artifact," Zhi Xuan replied flatly, his voice calm, though his essence circulated wildly, pumping energy into the Seven Star Boat. "Made from the Star Burial Forest Pine. Its speed is the limit of the Organ Transformation realm. Nothing is faster in the Lower Districts."

  "Organ Transformation? That Lightning Leopard is Consciousness Transformation! Its speed is the Law of Lightning! This boat is too slow!" Feng Yi roared, now clutching Zhi Xuan's robe tightly at the shoulder. "Put me down! I will bait it with my Phoenix Fire! You must run!"

  Zhi Xuan let out a long, cold sigh. His cold will almost collapsed under the dual pressure of the approaching golden lightning and the hysterical shrieks of this Fire Bird Miss.

  "Silence," Zhi Xuan hissed, his voice containing a chilling threat. "If I throw you off, you will die in a single breath by that Lightning Leopard's Thunder. And if you use Phoenix Fire at this speed, you will only burn the boat and we will all fall."

  Fei Sheng, who finally managed to hold his jade fan—though now upside down—nodded in agreement, his panicked eyes glancing backward.

  "Brother Zhi Xuan is correct, Junior Sister! Your fire is out of control at this speed! We must trust the efficiency of the Speed Flying Artifact!" Fei Sheng exclaimed. He then whispered into Zhi Xuan's ear, "Brother Zhi Xuan, please, can you control this speed? My fan is almost broken!"

  Zhi Xuan ignored Fei Sheng's aesthetic complaint. He focused his Zenith Black Jade essence into the boat artifact. The speed of the Seven Star Boat increased slightly, leaving a denser trail of starlight. However, the Golden Lightning Leopard, its body enveloped in the Law of Lightning, continued to approach, the distance now less than one hundred and fifty meters.

  CRACK! CRACK!

  Several small Golden Lightning bolts shot from the Lightning Leopard's claws, striking the area around the Seven Star Boat, causing the volcanic ground to explode, sending shockwaves that almost overturned the boat.

  "Damn it! He is already releasing the opening attack!" Feng Yi exclaimed. She released her grip on Zhi Xuan's robe, her face now pale, but she managed to refocus a bit of her fire essence, forming a mini fire shield around herself.

  "Your shield will evaporate in a second," Zhi Xuan replied, his tone emotionless. "This Artifact has its own spiritual defense."

  Zhi Xuan channeled the remaining essence into the boat, and the starlight around them glowed brighter. The Seven Star Boat spun horizontally, narrowly avoiding a charred stone pillar, before shooting upward, evading a larger Golden Lightning attack that the Lightning Leopard had just released.

  "Fei Sheng! We must divide its attention!" Feng Yi shouted, she had given up on trying to maintain her dignity and was now acting instinctively as a warrior.

  "How?! We cannot attack from here!" Fei Sheng replied, he tried to manifest his Law of Wind, but Zhi Xuan's extreme maneuver made his Law unstable.

  Zhi Xuan did not wait for them to argue. He scanned the speed of the three pursuing Beasts. The Golden Lightning Leopard was too fast, but the Fire Eagle and Thunder Lion Azure Kings were starting to fall behind.

  "We do not divide its attention. We give it other prey," Zhi Xuan said with a slight uneasiness, betraying his calculating confidence. He turned toward the west, where there were faint chaotic spiritual fluctuations. "We are going there."

  Zhi Xuan sharply changed the course of the Seven Star Boat to the west. The sudden change threw Feng Yi and Fei Sheng toward the opposite side of the boat.

  "Ouch! Damn it!" Feng Yi shrieked, her face hitting the edge of the boat. She felt her spiritual blood surge from the jolt. "Herald of Devil! Are you trying to kill us before that Lightning Leopard does?!"

  Fei Sheng, who had just managed to stabilize himself, fell again, his jade fan flying into the air. He tried to catch it with an elegant movement, but the speed of the boat made him only grasp empty air.

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  "My jade fan! No! That artifact was polished for a thousand days!" Fei Sheng wailed. His fan flew out of the boat's boundary, was caught by the wild wind, and disappeared into the volcanic mist.

  Zhi Xuan waved one hand, a thread of blood devil energy appeared and shot quickly toward the wavering fan, pulling it back and throwing it into Fei Sheng's hand.

  "You! Hold your fan tight!" Zhi Xuan roared, he channeled his essence again to maneuver the boat.

  Fei Sheng, who had just recovered his jade fan, held it tightly to his chest, his face white. He stared at the thread of blood devil energy that had just retrieved his beloved artifact with a look mixed with hysterical gratitude and spiritual terror.

  "I... I am grateful for your generosity, Brother Zhi Xuan," Fei Sheng muttered, his voice choked. "But this boat... its maneuvers are unethical!"

  "Ethics can wait," Zhi Xuan replied flatly, his eyes focused sharply to the west. He pressed the Seven Star Boat harder, forcing a speed that exceeded the Artifact's comfort limit.

  Behind them, the roar of the Golden Lightning Leopard sounded closer, its voice already filled with deadly lightning aura. Feng Yi, whose face was now covered in volcanic dust from the edge of the boat, got up again. She ignored Fei Sheng, who was clutching his fan.

  "You are insane! This boat moves like a drunken tortoise!" Feng Yi roared, she pinched Zhi Xuan's arm with the full strength of an Organ Transformation cultivator, an instinctive habit she usually did to junior disciples in her Sect. "What do you see in the west, huh?! Why did you change direction?!"

  Zhi Xuan hissed faintly in pain—although his physique was tough, Feng Yi's pinch was a pure exasperated attack.

  "There are some noisy ones," Zhi Xuan replied briefly, he ignored the pain in his arm and directed the boat to shoot between two very narrow stone pillars.

  WHUSSHH!

  The sudden maneuver caused Feng Yi and Fei Sheng to stumble. Fei Sheng, who was panicking, tried to activate his Law of Wind to stabilize himself, but at the speed of the Seven Star Boat, his Wind instead spun wildly, catching Zhi Xuan's robe and wrapping it around Feng Yi's neck.

  "Ouch!" Feng Yi shrieked, choking on Zhi Xuan's robe. "Senior Brother Fei Sheng! Control your weak Law of Wind! You are choking me!"

  Zhi Xuan, whose arm was still stinging from Feng Yi's pinch, hissed loudly. He allowed his Black Jade essence to circulate, not to retaliate, but to force control over the chaos on the deck.

  "Damn it!" Zhi Xuan roared. He pulled back his robe with a sharp tug, releasing the coil from Feng Yi's neck. "Control yourselves! We are facing a pursuing heavenly will, not a jade fan exhibition!"

  Feng Yi coughed violently, her eyes welling up with tears from choking, making her Phoenix aura look pathetic. She crawled backward, away from Zhi Xuan, her face pale with humiliation and brutal speed.

  "You! You are indeed... an arrogant devil!" Feng Yi hissed, wiping her eyes. She did not have time to complain again because the Seven Star Boat shot forward again, evading a series of Golden Lightning bolts released by the Golden Lightning Leopard behind them.

  CRACK! BANG!

  The lightning struck the stone pillar beside them, turning it into swirling spiritual dust. The shockwave hit the boat, making it tossed sideways like a dry leaf.

  Fei Sheng, who had just managed to hug his fan elegantly, lost his balance again. He rolled and, in desperation, grabbed Zhi Xuan's arm, clutching it like a life raft.

  "Brother Zhi Xuan! This speed... this violates the Great Path of Speed!" Fei Sheng complained, his tone wailing. "Please, consider a little movement grace! I promise to channel the purest Law of Wind to recover you! But... but this maneuver..."

  "The Great Path belongs only to the survivors!" Zhi Xuan retorted, his voice now tinged with pure frustration. "Be quiet and hold on tight!"

  Zhi Xuan waved his hand, the divine cauldron appeared and whizzed loudly, enlarging to the size of a giant cauldron. The Divine Cauldron was hurled like a large slingshot stone with all of Zhi Xuan's essence, striking the lightning leopard's head with a loud crash.

  DING! DING! THUD!

  The body of the Golden Lightning Leopard Azure King, which was previously darting as fast as lightning, suddenly flinched. The golden lightning all over its body flickered wildly, and for the first time, the majestic Beast staggered, pushed back several meters. It was not seriously injured, but the humiliation of being thrown by a Divine Cauldron made its rage explode uncontrollably.

  "A Soul Artifact as a throwing stone?!" Fei Sheng exclaimed, his crystal eyes widening in shock, his jade fan coming loose again from the sheer surprise. This time, he let it fall to the deck. It was a complete violation of the Great Path: using a Divine Artifact in the most inelegant and haphazard way.

  Feng Yi, who had been pinching Zhi Xuan's arm, fell silent. Her face, which was flushed with anger, now paled as she realized that Zhi Xuan was not just arrogant; he was an Impulsive Devil who fought without respect for cultivation ethics.

  Zhi Xuan, with a tense face, did not give them time to wail. The Heavenly Trifold Reincarnation Cauldron, which was still radiating the Law of Four Seasons, immediately shrank back to the size of a fist and shot back, hovering in his hair.

  "Artifacts are tools," Zhi Xuan hissed, turning the Seven Star Boat brutally to the right. "And tools are used to buy time! Hold on!"

  WHUSSHH! CRACK!

  The Seven Star Boat darted, evading the claw swipe of the just-recovered Golden Lightning Leopard and the large Golden Lightning attack it launched. The attack struck the ground where the boat had been moments before, creating a smoking crater. The Fire Eagle Azure King and the Thunder Lion Azure King, surprised to see their colleague stagger, now shifted their anger entirely toward the boat.

  The Fire Eagle Azure King shot forward with the Law of Fire, its wings producing blue-red fireballs that sped like meteorites. The Thunder Lion Azure King roared, and its Law of Thunder began to create dark thunder in the copper clouds, preparing for a deadly area attack.

  Zhi Xuan ignored the shocked and terrified stares of his two companions. He only looked ahead. The Seven Star Boat vibrated violently under the threatening pressure of the Laws of Lightning, Fire, and Thunder from behind.

  "Brother Fei Sheng, take over the control of the boat! Quick!" Zhi Xuan roared loudly, his voice filled with sharp urgency.

  Fei Sheng flinched. "Take over the control?!" He gripped the edge of the deck, his crystal eyes wide with fear. "Brother Zhi Xuan, I am Consciousness Transformation, not Blood Transformation, but my Law of Wind is elegant and controlled, not for brutal escape maneuvers like... like this!"

  "There is no time for elegance!" Zhi Xuan retorted, his jaw clenched tight. He ignored the fireball attacks of the Fire Eagle Azure King, which were now getting closer. "This Artifact is a Speed Artifact! You have the Law of Wind! Use your Law of Wind to make it float like... like a lantern! Do not touch the ground!"

  Hearing the comparison of a Heaven Grade Flying Artifact to a lantern, Fei Sheng almost fainted. However, seeing the Golden Lightning Leopard approaching again, Fei Sheng swallowed his dignity whole.

  "Fine! But do not blame me if this boat loses its graceful movement!" Fei Sheng wailed. He released his grip from the deck, forcing himself to stand tall, his jade fan now held tightly. He channeled his Consciousness Transformation Essence into the entire Seven Star Boat.

  The Law of Wind radiated by Fei Sheng was completely different from Zhi Xuan's Black Jade Essence. The wind was gentle, yet very strong. The Seven Star Boat, which was previously shaking due to volcanic friction, now suddenly floated smoothly several meters above the ground.

  "Fire Bird Miss, lend me your essence!" Zhi Xuan said, stepping back on the boat's deck. He took a quick breath, waved his hand, forming the will that manifested the Heavenly Destroyer Palm.

  Feng Yi, who was still coughing, saw Zhi Xuan asking for essence. She had already seen the power of the Heavenly Destroyer Palm and she knew how essence-consuming it was.

  "What?! You want me to give you essence to attack three Consciousness Transformation Beasts?! You are insane!" Feng Yi roared, her anger reaching its psychological limit. "You got us chased, and now you want to borrow my essence to kill us all?!"

  "Lend it or you die!" Zhi Xuan hissed, his voice now containing a rare hint of panic. His impulsive nature had taken over, he was not thinking straight; he only knew he needed extra power to buy time. "I do not have time to refill my essence! Quick! Or your Senior Brother's Jade Fan will be ash first!"

  The threat worked. Fei Sheng, who was now standing straight at the bow of the boat, controlling the boat with his Law of Wind—making an elegant but somewhat slow floating motion—immediately flinched. He hugged his fan tightly to his chest.

  "Junior Sister! Please! For the sake of our Dao's elegance!" Fei Sheng wailed.

  Feng Yi clenched her jaw, her beautiful face now filled with reluctance. She channeled her Phoenix Fire Essence into Zhi Xuan's arm—not with a gentle touch, but with a harsh jolt.

  WHUMM!

  The dense and hot Organ Transformation essence immediately spread into Zhi Xuan's meridians, flowing wildly. It was pure, strong, and foreign essence. Zhi Xuan hissed in pain. The energy felt like molten magma inserted into his cold meridians.

  "Ouch!" Zhi Xuan hissed, his eyes slightly red. He almost lost focus on the Heavenly Destroyer Palm.

  "Feel that, Arrogant one!" Feng Yi exclaimed, there was a hint of sadistic satisfaction in her voice.

  However, Zhi Xuan ignored the pain and the clash of essences. He forced the will of the Law of Winter to suppress the ferocity of the Phoenix Fire, using it as a catalyst for a much stronger Heavenly Destroyer Palm.

  'Ruo, help me,' Zhi Xuan muttered hopefully in his mind. 'If I die, you die too!'

  A cold and majestic silence enveloped Zhi Xuan's sea of consciousness. Then, the ancient voice of Ruo Xianxue, as cold as a thousand ages, resonated in his mind.

  'Stupid and disgusting monkey,' Ruo Xianxue hissed, his tone containing infinite scorn. The Ancient Devil Monument did not tremble or rustle, only a tendril of red thread shot out and a glimpse of a giant, threatening shadow finger appeared in Zhi Xuan's sea of consciousness.

  Ruo Xianxue snorted softly, his voice filled with cold arrogance. 'This time, let me harvest the Azure King's essence, watch closely.'

  Zhi Xuan felt his body cool and heat in an instant, his meridians contracted and his muscle veins seemed to scream. At that moment, Zhi Xuan's appearance was almost different in an instant, his eyes enveloped in the dual pupils of the Sun and Moon, proof of Ruo Xianxue's forceful intervention in just a single breath.

  The Heavenly Destroyer Palm did not form, instead, a giant shadow finger of dark black color, carrying an ancient aura that manifested above the flying boat.

  'Now, release it, Monkey,' Ruo Xianxue said with a subtle, piercing sigh. 'Let me harvest the pure Azure King essence.'