PFC Chapter 551
Chapter 551
At three-quarters past dawn, the spirit boat's keel suddenly trembled with a buzzing sound. Ye Jiuchen's hand, gripping his sword, bulged with veins. He saw the mermaid teardrop in Dongfang Wan'er's hair flickering at an abnormal frequency—an ancient artifact's warning of danger. Ahead, the clouds resembled ink being churned by a giant hand, and from their depths came a muffled thunderous roar, carrying a hint of the pain of someone whose intelligence had not yet awakened.
"Protect Little White!" Before Ye Jiuchen finished speaking, the clouds suddenly split open. A hundred-zhang-long dragon burst forth from the clouds, its scales glowing with the eerie blue fluorescence unique to deep-sea creatures, yet its belly was covered with spiderweb-like gray-black patterns, constantly oozing black blood like a festering wound. Nine ferocious fangs hung upside down from its open mouth, each tooth entwined with black mist like vengeful spirits. The air it exhaled carried the fishy sweetness of seabed mud, instantly tearing the spirit sail on the right side of the spirit boat to shreds.
Dongfang Wan'er staggered from the shockwave, but the soft whip at her waist was already drawn like a serpent. She made a hand seal, and the whip suddenly glowed with a frosty white light—"Frost Splendor," forged from Arctic ice silkworm silk mixed with black iron, which had once slain an ice demon in the far north. The young wolf, Xiaobai, perched on her shoulder, and a spirit-gathering array personally carved by the island lord suddenly appeared on the jade pendant around its neck. Its fur stood on end like silver needles, emitting a peculiar howl—between a wolf's howl and a dragon's roar—it was mobilizing the remaining spirit wolf blood within its body.
Ye Jiuchen leaped onto the bow of the boat, his "Dragon's Roar" sword emitting a clear, melodious sound as it was infused with spiritual energy. He saw murky tears of blood streaming from the dragon's eyes, and within its irises, corrupted by the evil, the image of a shattered fishing village was faintly reflected—this beast had clearly once protected this land. Just as the sword tip was about to touch the dragon's scales, the golden paper crane in his arms suddenly flapped its wings and flew out, transforming into two streams of light under the moonlight that wrapped around the dragon's horns. The crane's beak opened, and the island lord's voice, carried by a gale, rang out: "Look at its reverse scale under its belly! The evil creature feeds on vengeful spirits and is residing there!"
Dongfang Wan'er's whip suddenly wrapped around Ye Jiuchen's waist, using spiritual power to fling him towards the dragon's belly. At the same time, she bit her fingertip to draw a lightning-summoning talisman, and the Frost Whip transformed into a shower of ice shards that shot towards the dragon's head, forcing it to tilt its head back to avoid them. Ye Jiuchen spun in mid-air to switch swords, and the Dragon Roar Sword suddenly burst forth with dazzling golden light—this was his trump card, the "Evil-Slaying Style," specifically designed to deal with evil spirits. But at this moment, the dragon seemed to sense goodwill and actually turned its body to the side, revealing the wound on its reverse scale, where a black, octopus-like evil creature was coiled, its tentacles still adorned with undigested fragments of vengeful spirits.
"Watch out! It's about to self-destruct!" The island lord's voice carried an unusual urgency. Ye Jiuchen saw the evil creature suddenly swell several times its original size, and the dragon scales around its reverse scale were carbonizing at a visible speed. In the nick of time, he swung out the Immortal Binding Rope from his waist to entangle the evil creature, while simultaneously casting a hand seal to recall the Frost Whip, which was still engaged in combat. Dongfang Wan'er immediately understood, and the soft whip bound Ye Jiuchen and the dragon like chains. The two of them simultaneously bit their tongues, spitting their blood essence onto the Spirit Heart Grass—the spiritual plant obtained from the island lord suddenly emitted an emerald light, its leaves unfurling into a barrier that enveloped the evil creature.
Suddenly, Xiao Bai leaped to the center of the barrier, tilting its head back and letting out a young beast's wail. Miraculously, the scattered fragments of vengeful spirits transformed into specks of light in the glow of the Spirit Heart Grass, flowing along Xiao Bai's fur and converging into the barrier. Ye Jiuchen saw the pain in the dragon's eyes gradually fade, replaced by a gentle golden light. It even lowered its head within the barrier, allowing the Dragon Roar Sword to dissect the flesh parasitized by the evil creature. When the last tentacle was burned away by the spiritual fire, thousands of Kongming lanterns suddenly rose from the sea, the final tribute of the purified vengeful spirits on their path to rebirth.
The moment the evil creature vanished, the dragon's scales emitted a clear, shattering sound like jade breaking. It swung its tail, creating massive waves of cloud, yet just as the spirit boat was about to capsize, it used its horns to firmly support the hull. Only then did Dongfang Wan'er see clearly that the previously festering wound on its abdomen had sprouted new, pale golden scales, and a rhombus-shaped pearl of light had condensed on the reverse scale—the dragon's inner core that the evil creature had devoured. Ye Jiuchen gently placed the inner core on the dragon's head, but the dragon pushed it back to him with its snout, tears welling in its eyes—a gift of gratitude.
As the first rays of dawn painted the dragon's scales crimson, the dragon let out a long, clear roar, its voice now devoid of any turbidity. It circled the spirit boat three times, then suddenly raised its head and soared into the heavens. Where its tail fin swept, the sea of clouds transformed into a magnificent rainbow bridge. Dongfang Wan'er held the warm, moist inner core in her hand, feeling the surging vitality within. She suddenly recalled the island lord's parting words: "A true cultivator knows that slaying demons and monsters is not for killing, but for salvation."
The spirit boat continued its journey in the morning light. Ye Jiuchen brushed the bloodstains from Dongfang Wan'er's hair, but his touch revealed a new wound behind her ear—a mark left by the tentacles of an evil creature, now gleaming faintly with golden light, as if tempered by the power of a dragon. Little White dozed off at the bow, its tail unconsciously slapping the deck, revealing the faint outlines of its scales beneath its belly. Meanwhile, in the far reaches of the heavens, a star suddenly burst forth with dazzling light, as if foreshadowing the next extraordinary adventure to unfold.
At the beginning of the hour of You (5-7 PM), the spirit boat entered the misty sea. The spirit-measuring compass at the bow suddenly spun wildly, its needle drawing sparks across the amethyst surface. Ye Jiuchen pressed the Tai Chi fish eye in the center of the compass; its touch was cool and smooth like warm jade. When he looked up, he saw the entire seawater shimmering with a magnificent purple, like grape wine, with countless points of fluorescence floating and sinking with the waves, like crushed stars soaking in nectar. Dongfang Wan'er's fingertips brushed across the gunwale, and the seawater she touched condensed into rhomboid crystals under the moonlight, refracting countless blurry shadows on the seabed—fragments of sealed memories.
“It’s the ‘Dream Sea Spirit Jellyfish’.” Ye Jiuchen tapped the ship’s deck lightly with his sword sheath, and the Dragon Roar Sword suddenly emitted a buzzing sound. Countless translucent, umbrella-shaped spirit creatures rose from the sea surface. The canopies, each about ten feet in diameter, were adorned with silvery-white light bands, and their twelve tentacles were studded with sapphire-like luminous bodies, leaving phosphorescent trails on the water’s surface as they swam by. They formed a sphere around the spirit ship, their tentacles making a clear, bell-like sound when they touched, but they were not aggressive at all. On the contrary, a few smaller jellyfish gently wrapped their tentacles around the mast, as if pleading.