A beautiful and large ship was at sea.

If there had been any ordinary mortal that lay sight on it, they would have assumed that there was trouble if a warship of this caliber was being called forth into the deep waters at a time like this. It would have alerted neighboring nations and called for the displacement of their own navy.

However, there were concealment rituals in place that hid them in plain sight.

Several ancient flags were flung in the vast air and the wind itself, or whatever they had in place propelled them forward at a speed that would have made any ordinary cultivator jealous. They were full speed ahead and were hopefully only a couple of minutes late from when Li Yang had left.

The ship itself almost seemed like it was floating, hovering past the waters with how fast it traveled and moved through them. Any sea creatures that were lying beneath the dark trench of waters found themselves disturbed at both the size and power it radiated.

A collection of poisonous sea snakes that often slept at the bottom of the sea bed were awakened by the vibrations it provided in the water and they quickly dispersed into different directions.

In one of the underwater caves, a dark green color seeped into the waters as several thick tentacles drew forth to reach out to the ship—but it was gone before it could even attempt to do anything else.

Sharks fled, but were dragged into the mouth—into the beak of the creature before it knew anything else. A temporary snack as the eldritch-like entity returned to its own peaceful slumbering and otherworldly dreams.

The passengers on said ship were none the wiser, or couldn't have cared at all about this situation. Bo Lifen's stomach churned and it was not because of sea sickness.

"I still remember the time when we saved Chan Lee's friends from another one of their islands. Or is this the same island?" Mou Gu rubbed his chin and eyed the island in front of them. "I can't remember and Zhao's still stuck inside of the ship's hull."

Bo Lifen stared at the chatting cultivator and rubbed her face. Any other time, he would have been a blast at parties with all of his true-to-life stories of grandeur. Right now? He was being a nuisance to the Tea Sommelier currently bothered about Li Yang's predicament.

"When did any of that happen? How is it even substantial to where we're going unless that trip made it possible for us to infiltrate the island without getting detected?"

"About two years ago? Feels longer or shorter now that you mentioned it." Mou Gu shrugged. "But basically, compared to before that was expecting the Eternal Alchemist to visit the island in exchange for the hostages, they clearly do not want visitors now. Much much harder than before."historical

Bo Lifen shook her head.

She knew who these people were—and Suyin was Chan Lee's friend, but she couldn't concentrate on them right now. "You know what, don't tell me anything at all. We're just here to nab Li Yang back and his secretary from the Lius and then we get back to Shanghai."

Mou Gu gave her a look, but nodded. "You know, if a fight breaks out, you're like a liability here."

"Please don't remind me—besides, if Shen An Na was here, then I'm less of a weakling." Bo Lifen said, finally getting annoyed for once. What was it with cultivators and their arrogance?

She hoped that Li Yang didn't state the obvious like this.

"But she isn't." Mou Gu still corrected her. "Anyway, just surprised she agreed in the first place. This Li Yang guy must be really charming, even more than me, to warrant this ship. We don't pull this out unless it's an end of the world problem."

Bo Lifen pursed her lips and stared at the old ship that they were on.

Despite being old, it seemed more advanced than any cruise ship that her family once enjoyed when they were vacationing.

Bo Lifen remembered the time when Granny Lanfen blabbered about her old uncle getting nabbed by Mermaids, but as she moved forward to grab the edge and stared down at the water several feet below them, it made it feel like this ship was too large for a Mermaid's voice to reach them.

"What do you call this?"

"It's the Celestial—a beauty isn't she?" Mou Gu laughed. He extended his arms out and hovered at the end of the deck. "I feel like Rose, I should call Song to act as Jack. It's a shame that I'm only with you—"

The island in front of them suddenly glowed in a hubbub of light that was not fit for a midnight.

Or rather it wasn't the island itself that glowed but a part of it, before any of them could figure it out, a large cannon-like blast shot out to the ship. Ballista like projectiles, larger than anything one could see before, larger than a Nian Beast's own water balls shot at the ship and hit it—

It hit the first layer of the Celestial's invisible shield layer forumation.

The shield defense didn't go down at all, and it only flickered for a moment.

Bo Lifen herself was laying flat on the floor and was pretty sure that Mou Gu should have been blasted into the back of the ship. Whether he had cultivated layers of protection or not, he should have been obliterated by the magnitude of power packed in the blast.

It reminded her of the old tales and legends of cultivators blasting mountains and seas apart, because the attack was reminiscent of it.

Instead, Mou Gu was laughing and pointed at the island and laughed to no one in particular. "Straightforward ahead—we're forcing this maiden ship into the island's port."

He clearly did not know what he was trying to say, but Bo Lifen only hoped that they were alright.

Shen Society was not the one who opened fire.

But this was a call to a war as any.