Chapter 139: Our Tour Has Come to an End

“Please! I ask for just a moment of your attention!”

A young woman in a gorgeous ball gown, wearing an elegant white crown and a veil covering the lower half of her face, raised her glass and tapped it with a fingernail adorned with tiny emeralds.

Everyone around her immediately fell silent and turned their attention toward her.

“My father, Su the Brawler, as people used to call him before he met my mother.” Covering her mouth through the veil, she gave a quiet laugh at her father's old nickname.

Everyone around her quickly joined in, exchanging glances before laughing along with her.

After a brief pause, the young woman continued. “Everyone knew him as a troublemaker... Say the wrong thing to him, and he'd come charging at you with his fists raised. Sometimes, all it took was a sideways glance to get his blood boiling.”

She paused again before continuing.

“But everyone knew… even his enemies, that my father was a man of honor, a man of his word. He always settled his debts, always kept his promises, even when doing so cost him dearly... And that quality was passed down to his children, and to me as well!”

She turned toward the enormous crowd, looking across the hall filled with guests in elegant ball gowns and formal black tuxedos, while countless waiters moved between them, carrying drinks and appetizers.

Looking across the crowd at the people who had become the center of attention tonight, she raised her glass above her head.

“I am Su Mei, heir to the Su Clan, and I give you my word, Captain Bongromonte and Mr. Feng! You will always be welcome guests of my clan. You will always be received with open arms within the walls of the Su Family! I thank you, and everyone else who risked everything, even their lives, to protect us! The Su Clan will never forget!”

The guests immediately erupted into applause, cheering both the young woman who had given the speech and the heroes of the evening.

After the long and thunderous applause, the guests gradually returned to their own affairs, enjoying such a rare evening.

….

Making his way through the crowd, a ship's worker in a white uniform reached the captain.

“Sir, here's the list of VIP passengers who are absent tonight.” Handing him a tablet with several sheets of paper, he cautiously glanced around.

“Of the 764 surviving VIP passengers, only 751 are attending tonight's celebration... And, um, the passenger you mentioned is one of those absent.”

Taking the tablet and checking the names of the absent guests, Captain Bongromonte nodded and handed it back.

“Continue monitoring the activity of the main formation. Don't miss anything...”

“Yes, sir!” Bowing, the worker skillfully disappeared into the celebrating crowd.

“Hmm, Lieutenant, take three of your subordinates and inspect the engines... We can't give them even the slightest chance to repeat that fiasco. Understood?”

Turning around, the captain looked at a dark-haired woman with dark eyes.

She wore a gray uniform, with armor visible beneath it, resembling medieval chainmail that barely held her ample figure in place.

“Understood, Captain.” With a cold expression, she nodded and waved a hand.

Three workers in identical gray uniforms immediately made their way through the crowd toward her.

Without wasting another moment, she headed for the exit.

“I hope I'm wrong and this is nothing more than paranoia... Hm...” Grabbing a glass of wine from the tray of a passing waiter, the silver-haired Captain Bongromonte downed it in one gulp and sighed deeply.

….

“Mind if I join you for a drink?”

In another part of the enormous hall, Feng Min approached Young Master Su, who was standing completely alone, holding two glasses of wine. “I wasn't sure what you preferred, so I chose something I like.”

Looking into his eyes, she hesitated, but eventually accepted the glass. “Thank you, Feng Min.”

Taking a sip, she turned toward Su Mei, who was still at the center of everyone's attention.

“You came up with this rather cleverly... Who is she, if you don't mind me asking? Who is it that's hiding in plain sight while pretending to be you, Miss Su?”

Taking another sip, he smiled as he caught the slightly surprised look she gave him.

She looked at him in silence. Her expression gradually relaxed, replaced by a faint sense of defeat and relief.

“Sigh... My father always taught me to stay in the shadows, to avoid standing out from the crowd... That way, you'd live a longer and happier life. He always said that.”

Taking a sip of wine and closing her eyes to savor the taste, she almost whispered, “When did you realize... that I wasn't really me?”

“Back when we boarded the ship in Dragonfang City.” Feng Min unconsciously gripped the hilt of his rusty sword.

“Ever since I was born, and before I began cultivating, they called me Min the Curious Nose... all because of my unusually sharp sense of smell.”

Meeting her gaze, he tapped his nose with a finger, smiling. “Thanks to this lucky nose of mine, I realized that you were hiding in plain sight.”

“Oh, was it really that simple? Are men and women really that easy to distinguish by smell?” With a slight smirk, she turned away and continued watching the disguised Su Mei.

“Actually, yes. Every woman has a unique and unmistakable scent that belongs to her alone.”

Turning toward the crowd as well, he casually watched her from the corner of his eye.

“For example, you, Miss Su, have the scent of blooming morning roses, soft and rich, intoxicating, yet slightly dangerous and cautious... The scent of a true lady and warrior.”

Su Mei's cheeks flushed slightly. She raised her glass and took a sip, trying to hide her growing embarrassment.

It did little to deceive Feng Min, however. Seeing her reaction, he smiled sincerely.

After a brief pause, he began again.

“You know-”

BOOOOM!

A massive explosion erupted right in the center of the crowd, among hundreds of people, instantly engulfing the entire hall.

At that very moment, hundreds of Qi barriers appeared around those who possessed defensive artifacts or whose cultivation had reached the Foundation Establishment realm or higher.

….

“AAH!!”

“M-my legs!”

“H-help! P-please!!”

“Agh-AH!!”

The lingering roar of the explosion was drowned out by the groans and screams of the guests.

The walls, floor, and ceiling were all painted red.

Body parts were scattered everywhere, mixed among guests who were still alive but horribly wounded.

….

“Seal off the perimeter! Restrain everyone! Carry out the order! NOW!” His voice strained, barely containing his rage, Captain Bongromonte roared the command.

Only the surviving and still-capable workers began carrying out his orders.

BOOOM!

The main doors leading into the hall exploded apart.

Before the smoke had even settled and the pieces of the doors had finished falling to the ground, hundreds of cultivators stormed inside.

Leading them was Miss B1, her hair now loose around her shoulders, releasing the energy of the Golden Core realm.

She quickly located the real target - Su Mei, who was lying on the floor disguised as a man, already surrounded by her people and Old Mo.

Miss B1 extended her hand toward them.

“Begin the mission!”

Immediately, like a swarm of locusts, the members of the Black Guild descended upon the crowd, unleashing hundreds of techniques against the guests and workers who had yet to recover.

“How dare you! Damn bastards!!” Unleashing his Qi at full power, Captain Bongromonte intercepted most of the attacks raining down on the guests while they were still in the air.

Then he shot upward.

“Mr. B2! Mr. B3!” Clasping her hands in front of her chest, Miss B1 concentrated an enormous amount of Qi into a single point.

Two more figures suddenly appeared within the crowd, both radiating the energy of the Golden Core realm.

Sensing three early-stage Golden Core cultivators and their killing intent directed straight at him, Captain Bongromonte's face went pale. “Fuck... I'm screwed.”

….

At the very bottom of the ship, right beside the main engine, An suddenly raised his head.

The entire ship shook at once.

“This isn't good...” Closing the book and putting it back into his ring, he was just about to leave when he activated his Qi and enveloped himself in a membrane.

Whoosh!

A blazing arrow of Fire energy shot straight toward him.

Extending his hand and twisting his body at an angle, he redirected most of the arrow's energy behind him, straight toward the glass sphere.

Following the attack back to its source, An saw a woman in black hovering in the air beside the opposite wall.

She wore a mask covering her mouth and had black hair and red eyes.

Trying to read her Qi, An frowned. ‘Now I understand why I didn't sense even the slightest fluctuation in the Qi... She's wearing some kind of artifact that completely cuts off the Qi around her.’

He quickly looked to the side, seeing through the walls and ceiling. ‘I can only see the chaotic flows caused by the explosion and several clashes between Golden Core cultivators... One of the battles is happening right outside this room.’

Judging by the formation that had most likely been set up by the people working with this woman in black, An couldn't read the Qi around him beyond fifty meters.

In other words, he couldn't see anything beyond the walls of this room.

Only the strongest fluctuations of Qi could break through the restrictions of the barrier, allowing him to roughly determine where the fiercest battles were taking place.

….

“Ho! The information about you truly isn’t exaggerated... A sixteen-year-old cultivator... practically still a child. Reaching Foundation Establishment at thirteen… I've never heard of anything like it. No help, no clan, no resources, and most importantly, without a Foundation Establishment Pill. Amazing...”

Slowly descending to the ground, she lowered her mask, revealing her face. “A child being hunted by several different clients. A rare sight indeed... You can't imagine how I felt when your file landed in my hands.”

She took several small steps forward before suddenly stopping.

“Every client included the same note in your file: ‘Warning, extremely dangerous!’ Funny, isn't it? A little chick who has only just reached Foundation Establishment can already stand on equal footing with several veterans and survive an encounter with them... You have no idea how much I was looking forward to meeting you!”

Spreading her arms to either side, she took several more steps forward.

“And here you are! But... I have one question before we begin... Why do you remind me of a ghost? Is it a device or some secret technique?”

“Ever since I started watching you, I haven't heard your heartbeat or even the sound of you breathing... If I'd encountered you somewhere else, I wouldn't have been able to tell you apart from a corpse or an ordinary mortal because you don't emit even the slightest trace of Qi... Amazing! Truly amazing!”

“Crimson Dawn!” She suddenly clasped her hands together.

A massive vertical wave of bright red energy erupted straight toward An.

….

An suddenly stepped forward.

He concentrated ten points along the knuckles of both hands and put all his strength into them, slamming his fists together in front of his chest.

The ten points immediately merged and expanded, transforming into ten spheres.

One after another, the spheres grew until each reached a radius of ten meters, with An standing at the center of them.

WHOOOSH!

The wave of Fire energy tore through all ten spheres and continued straight toward him.

However, the spheres had already drained away a massive portion of its power. By the time the attack reached him, it had lost enough strength that it could only knock him backward.

Using that momentum, An altered his trajectory.

He planted his right foot against the floor and created hundreds of points across the sole of his foot, each vibrating at a different frequency.

He twisted his body to the right.

In the same instant, he formed his Qi Spear from Death energy.

Before his opponent could even understand what he had done, he hurled it straight at her.

….

“HA! Brilliant Million Star!” She thrust one hand forward.

Hundreds of small yellow masses resembling stars flew from her palm. Behind them, a final star formed, enormous, dozens of times larger and denser than the others.

As if responding to a signal, the smaller stars swarmed around the black spear.

The collision created an elemental conflict, and both attacks neutralized each other.

The enormous star, however, retained its momentum. It continued forward toward the spot where only chaotic Qi remained from the clash.

A small Qi Blade suddenly flew into its path.

The blade moved at tremendous speed, constantly vibrating and producing a sound like grinding metal as the pressure in the air continued to rise.

Woosh!

The dagger pierced straight through the star and continued forward.

The star couldn't withstand the sudden change in its structure. Its own energy triggered a detonation from within.

“Ah!” Caught off guard by the thin dagger suddenly appearing in front of her face, she thrust both hands forward and covered them in a three-layered red membrane.

“Kh! NGH!!” Feeling the enormous energy packed into the tiny Qi Blade, she shifted her center of gravity and tried to divert its trajectory so its energy wouldn't disrupt or destroy the membranes covering her hands.

After finally getting rid of the troublesome Qi Blade, she looked down at her hands and froze. Not only had the membranes been damaged, but the skin and flesh on her palms had darkened and begun to melt like plastic in a fire.

“W-what the fuck is this?!” Still somewhat disoriented, she saw An from the corner of her eye.

He was already moving.

An stepped forward and closed the distance between them in an instant, stopping only a meter away.

He drew his right arm back, holding his fingers straight like a spear.

“BRAT-!!” Activating her mid-stage Foundation Establishment energy at full power, she concentrated all her Qi into her legs and right arm.

He thrust his spear-like hand forward at the same moment she swung her right arm like a club.

Their attacks collided.

The resulting shockwave cracked the floor, while numerous pipes running along the walls burst apart and flew in all directions.

“Ah! AGH!! A-a-AH!!” The woman screamed in pain.

An's hand had pierced straight through her palm and wrist.

Strange vibrations spread upward through her arm like parasites, weakening and softening her physical defenses.

She immediately sent her Qi through the damaged arm, trying to suppress the strange vibrations. But the limb was becoming less and less responsive, as though it no longer belonged to her.

She realized she was rapidly losing control.

“BASTARD!!” With a scream, she wrapped her left arm in Qi and swung it directly at An's head.

The fist tore through the air from sheer speed and slammed into his temple.

But before the impact could drive him away, An caught her forearm with his free hand.

Using the momentum of the punch that had struck his head, he twisted and ripped her arm off at the shoulder. The vibrations he had created inside the limb had already weakened the muscle fibers.

Tearing the arm away was now no more difficult than pulling a weed from freshly tilled soil.

“A-AAAH!!! A-agh!! No!! NO!!” She stumbled backward and grabbed her now-empty shoulder, screaming in panic.

An was thrown backward into the opposite wall, still holding the severed arm.

He immediately began absorbing all the Qi that remained within the detached limb.

Once he had absorbed it all, he tossed the arm aside and took several deep breaths.

“Haa... Haaa...” He absorbed Qi from the surroundings and sent it directly to his Cycle Symbol, rapidly filtering it and replenishing the energy reserves in his dantian.

Without wasting another moment, he launched himself forward. At the same time, hundreds of Qi Blades shot toward her.

Feeling the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end, she forced herself to stay calm and, gritting her teeth against the unbearable pain, shouted: “Constellation Chain!”

A chain immediately formed around her. Its links were made of small clusters of energy resembling the stars from her previous attack.

Thousands of tiny stars connected one after another by thin lines, forming a chain that wrapped around her body.

The chain closed around her, creating a protective sphere that looked more like a tangled mass.

With her empty shoulder frozen in place, she charged straight at An.

The Constellation Chain swept away every Qi Blade in her path.

….

Sensing the density and pressure of the energy surrounding her, An understood that attacking her head-on while the Constellation Chain was active would be pointless.

Moving at full speed, he began circling along the walls. At the same time, he created and hurled Qi Spears made from the Earth and DeathQi.

‘Her technique is based on the Lightning element, mixed with Fire...’ Using the Earth, he created an elemental conflict.

When EarthQi came into contact with the Lightning element, it disrupted the structure of the chain itself.

At the same time, the DeathQi forming the other half of the spear devoured and destroyed the chaotic connection between the two elements, completely breaking the chain apart.

….

“No! No!! NO!!” One of her strongest techniques was falling apart right before her eyes, yet she couldn't catch the damn brat because he was simply too fast.

‘Why does he dodge every one of my strikes?! How does he time everything so perfectly against my attacks? How?! How?!’

Every attack she launched with the chain, every attempt to catch him, every movement she made was completely thwarted.

Even though she was stronger in both physical and spiritual aspects, this was the first time in her life she understood what thousands of her targets had felt when she hunted them.

‘Is that so!? Then how will you avoid this?!’ Unable to endure the humiliation of being outmatched as a professional assassin, she suddenly stopped moving and tightened the chain around herself.

….

‘This isn't good...’ All this time, An had been tracking her Qi. How she activated her energy, the paths it took while using her techniques, everything he could possibly learn about her.

He had already studied her thoroughly. And the moment she suddenly stopped, he saw an enormous flow of Qi rushing directly from her dantian to her head.

‘This is very bad!’ He stopped dead in his tracks, going from several hundred meters per second to zero in an instant.

The sudden stop was so violent that everything around him heated to several thousand degrees Celsius.

The entire floor and walls cracked and broke apart. The debris was blasted in all directions, burst into flame, and turned to ash.

BOOOM!

The sound finally caught up with An's body. A terrible shockwave scattered the ash and still-burning debris throughout the chamber, creating fires everywhere.

Activating Qi at his fingertips, he wrote several runes with each finger and connected them into a massive chain containing more than forty links.

He adjusted its scale and surrounded himself with the rune chain.

At the same time, he directed his Qi into both his external and internal membranes, the protective layers around his only organs, his dantian and brain.

….

Finally activating her technique, the woman's head, specifically, her forehead, began splitting apart.

A huge horizontal opening appeared.

Blinding light poured from it, scorching the air around her and even burning through the chain surrounding her.

Her entire body began trembling.

Deactivating her Constellation Chain, she cried out in a weak, ragged voice, her eyes wild with madness. “Supernova Birth!”

“Fucking assassins!!” One second before the inevitable, the lieutenant sent by Captain Bongromonte burst through the main doors.

Her entire uniform was soaked in blood. Her body was covered in holes and wounds, with pieces of chainmail, or rather, what remained of it, embedded in them.

Blood flowed endlessly from every place it possibly could.

Holding two swords whose blades had cracked from the brutal battle, she was about to rush into the fight when she suddenly froze, completely unprepared for what she saw.

“I’m done for-”

….

At the final moment, when Miss B8 activated her technique, An sent Qi into the rune chain.

The instant the runes activated, his entire body began freezing.

More precisely, the outer membrane of his Qi Armor began freezing first.

Then the membrane itself thickened with layers of almost black ice, spreading outward and forming a massive sphere around him.

BOOOM!

The ice sphere was blasted away by the shockwave and shot toward the glass sphere that served as the ship's engine at breakneck speed.

But because of the vast number of formations surrounding the engine, the ice-bound An simply bounced straight off them.

The explosion's shockwave, carrying a horrifying amount of energy, slammed into the protective formations.

The formations was instantly obliterated.

The engine and billions of spirit stones were reduced to nothing but ash and dust.

Even the dust was vaporized by a second wave carrying temperatures of several tens of thousands of degrees Celsius, burning everything in its path.

C-crack!

The ice began cracking.

Energy and heat poured through the cracks, turning the inside of the ice sphere into an oven that was roasting him alive.

‘Damn! DAAMN!!!’ Expelling all the Qi from his dantian, he transformed it into the second-order element, Ice.

Unleashing this newly formed IceQi, he forced it against the raging Fire energy, creating conflicts and chaos. Using this, he took deep breaths and absorbed the Qi that no longer carried the imprint of its owner.

After filtering it, he released it once again as Ice Qi. Cycle after cycle, he broke down the integrity of the energy trying to roast him alive, absorbed it, filtered it, and repeated the process.

As he absorbed it, he pulled the terrible heat in through his mouth along with the Qi.

First his teeth burst. Then his tongue fell apart. His throat resembled dried, cracked desert soil.

Enduring the horrific pain, he didn't stop for even a second.

At some point, he felt the ship suddenly tilt, then begin to plummet like a stone, picking up more and more speed.