Chapter 907: Wounded Spirit

He He Lingchuan was woken up by the cries of seagulls. On the table sat the leftovers from last night. A sneaky-looking seagull hopped in through the window, eating meat and fish in large gulps.

He He Lingchuan was startled awake by the sound of it knocking over a cup, and then, he clutched his head and let out a low groan—

His head hurt so much.

The seagull was frightened by him, squawking as it flew away from the scene of the crime, not forgetting to pack away a few pieces of dried meat.

He He Lingchuan opened his eyes, only to see its graceful retreating back.

It wasn't a hangover; he hadn't drunk any alcohol last night.

This pain was several times worse than a hangover, as if someone were hammering a chisel into his forehead, and his body's reactions were sluggish, his limbs as heavy as if filled with lead.

What was going on? He had entered the Panlong World last night, after all.

Every time he returned from the Panlong World, he would be full of energy and high spirits.

Why was this time an exception?

He carefully recalled his experiences from last night, which were merely escorting Lu Xun back to Yuheng City from Bai Sha Port, with a fierce battle against Fushan Lie in the middle, during which he had sustained quite a few injuries.

Hmm, sustained quite a few injuries?

Could it be because of this battle? Not to mention injuries, he had died countless times in the Panlong World; when had he not returned to full health?

Just as he was pondering, the door was kicked open with a bang, and Dong Rui strode in: "The sun is hitting your butt, and you're still not up? Don't we have important business to do today?"

But as soon as he finished speaking, he was startled by He He Lingchuan's complexion: "Wow, what did you do last night? Why does your face look so terrible?"

He He Lingchuan's face was pale with a greenish tint, and he had two dark circles under his eyes, making him look sallow and haggard.

Was this someone who had just woken up? This was more like a junkie who hadn't slept for ten days and nights and went out every night to cause trouble, right? Thinking of this, Dong Rui couldn't help but tease: "Did you find five girls at Jinhuan Pavilion all at once? You've got skills!"

"Your limit is only five?" He He Lingchuan looked at him with a look of disappointment, "Your shortcoming... is a bit short."

"Pah!"

He He Lingchuan took out medicine for nourishing the spirit and replenishing qi from his robes, swallowed four or five pills in one go, and only then climbed up to pour some water to drink.

As soon as he stood up, he felt lightheaded, and his right shoulder also throbbed with pain.

No way? He subconsciously pressed his right shoulder; there was no wound, but the pain felt very real.

Was it psychological or nerve pain? "Are you okay?" Dong Rui was a bit skeptical, "In this ghostly state of yours, it looks like you should lie down and sleep for seven days and seven nights before getting up." Instead of going out to sea to brave the winds and waves.

"Too much nonsense."

He He Lingchuan went to the latrine, and on the way, he took out the divine bone necklace, gnashing his teeth at it: "Is it you, you heartless and ungrateful thing, that canceled my soul protection?"

He thought it over and over; he hadn't had any strange encounters in the past few months, so the sudden change in the rules of the Panlong World could only be related to his trip to the Panlong Desert two or three months ago!

He shook the necklace: "I fed you the divine artifact lid and the divine spirit clone, so why are you turning against me instead?"

The divine bone necklace, of course, had no reaction.

After he finished washing up and walked out, He He Lingchuan's haggard appearance was noticed by everyone.

Qiu Hu asked curiously: "What happened to the Master?" What had happened overnight?

Zhu Zhu Xiuer was thoughtful: "Has your soul been snatched by someone?"

He He Lingchuan's heart stirred: "What do you mean?"

"You have achieved success in your cultivation, and you haven't been fighting anyone, so you shouldn't be in this state of mental exhaustion and internal and external atrophy," Zhu Zhu Xiuer said. "You have so many enemies; could it be that someone attacked your soul at night? Like a nightmare."

He He Lingchuan's heart stirred.

Only he knew that a nightmare couldn't do anything to him. Furthermore, he had a nightmare in his possession; that thing knew the most about souls, so why not just ask it?

Dong Rui also nodded from the side: "Right, right, your situation is exactly 'spirit-injured'; most likely someone is secretly cursing you."

"I know, let's attend to business first."

He He Lingchuan was the leader of this team, and as soon as he spoke, the others immediately shut up, including Dong Rui, who stopped dwelling on this topic.

"Where are we going now?"

He He Lingchuan felt a bit regretful; he had originally wanted to find a restaurant to feast on seafood. In inland cities, "freshly caught" was a selling point, but here it was just everyday fare.

At Blade Port, if the seafood wasn't jumping alive before hitting the pot, you could spit in their faces.

But his head was splitting with pain now, and he had no appetite.

He checked the time and asked Qiu Hu after a moment: "Do you know how to row a boat?"

Qiu Hu shook his head honestly, and Tao Ran added from the side: "I do, my family used to fish by the lake."

He had just returned from Does Bailie.

"Then go to the port and charter a boat, one that is fast and sturdy." He He Lingchuan turned to Dong Rui, "You stay on the shore."

"Huh?" Dong Rui was immediately unhappy, "Why?"

As an old partner who had shared weal and woe for so long, was it right not to bring him along for a trip out to sea? "The place we are going to, your physique is too weak to handle it." This guy was a total shut-in who didn't exercise much, his physical strength far inferior to He He Lingchuan and the others, not to mention Zhu Zhu Xiuer.

Dong Rui pointed at his own nose: "I'm weak?"

The many dead souls under his hands would disagree!

This time it was Zhu Zhu Xiuer who spoke: "There are some winds and waves on the sea, and you'd be vomiting your guts out."

"... Where are you guys actually going?"

"To a natural Yin-Sha earth vein. Can you withstand the Yin-Sha energy?"

Dong Rui thought about it and stayed silent.

He He Lingchuan asked the little monkey on his shoulder, "Ling Guang, can you make pills to offset the effects of the Yin-Sha?"

Ling Guang scratched the back of his head: "It can only reduce the invasive damage of the Yin-Sha by about seventy or eighty percent, but the pill's effectiveness only lasts for three hours, and it can only be taken once more. To take it again, you have to wait twelve hours."

That meant a total of six hours of effectiveness. "Fine, prepare the medicine."

His exclusive pharmacist was back, making things much more convenient. During the previous sea voyage, Dong Rui's seasickness, guests' sudden illnesses, and sailors suddenly vomiting blood were all handled by Ling Guang.

Fortunately, Blade Port was well-stocked, and the medicinal herbs Ling Guang needed weren't obscure; the group gathered them after visiting two medical clinics.

As for He He Lingchuan, he took the opportunity to find a place to rest and even accidentally dozed off, but he didn't dream.

His head hurt; even after a nap, it hadn't improved much.

Soon, Ling Guang finished refining a batch of pills, calling them "Sha-Splitting Pills."

By this time, Zhu Zhu Xiuer had arrived, and Tao Ran had rented a boat; the group readily left Dong Rui behind and set sail from the port.

Target: West.

This was a large fishing boat that could carry twenty or thirty people; the hold could store fish and sleep people, but the fishy smell was intense, and no one wanted to go down there.

Tao Ran couldn't move it alone, so the others had to help out.

The winds and waves at sea were strong, and Tao Ran was a bit flustered, but fortunately, everyone was quick to learn, and under his guidance, they were soon managing things quite well.

On the distant horizon, the outline of an island appeared, and He He Lingchuan pointed at it: "Go there."

Right, the outermost island of the Yangshan Archipelago, which actually faced Blade Port across the sea; it wasn't far away.

Tao Ran said while rowing: "Young Master, when I went to rent the boat just now, the boatman heard we were going to the Yangshan Archipelago and warned us to stick to the coastline, never to go deep into the archipelago, and it's best to reach Black Page Island before dark to rest, otherwise it's very dangerous."

That was the exact word. The boatman wasn't worried about them, but about the boat being rented out.

When the Sha energy emerged, it would also overflow onto the sea surface. Among the Yangshan Archipelago, only the outermost few islands were unaffected by the Sha energy, and Black Page Island was one of them, as well as a place for travelers to rest and resupply at night.

"Ships often encounter storms and are swept deep into the archipelago. Those ships rarely come back out."

He He Lingchuan smiled and dismissed it: "Don't listen to him, sail directly to Dragon Spine Island."

Otherwise, why did he come here? "... Yes." The Young Master truly didn't take the beaten path.

He He Lingchuan and the others had already grown tired of the scenery at sea during their long voyage.

The ocean is all water; after looking at it for a long time, it's all the same.

However, the islands were lush and green, like pearls dotted on the sea surface. As the boat slowly approached, they saw the island's scenery in all its variety, with cliffs and precipices, and white waves chasing the sand. The wind blew through the trees, and various seabirds circled to and fro, a scene full of vitality.

This place had beautiful scenery; a pure sightseeing trip would also be worth it.

But the group soon discovered that the deeper they went into the archipelago, the fewer birds there were, and the quieter the surroundings became.

Even the sea surface didn't ripple, and the air was filled with a sense of gravity.

"Behind the small island we just passed, there are two ships hidden," Qiu Hu suddenly said. "They've been following us."

There were no merchant ships in these waters, so it could only be pirates eyeing them.

The islands were intertwined and the vegetation was dense, making it a natural hiding place. Pirates came and went here as they pleased.

They might not necessarily be robbing them, but they wanted to observe what He He Lingchuan and the others were doing inside.

He He Lingchuan knew what was up: "Ignore them, keep moving forward."

After traveling another few hundred yards, the outline of the mountain range on Dragon Spine Island was vaguely in sight, and the two pirate ships behind them didn't dare to follow anymore, stopping in their tracks.

Further ahead, the Sha energy was thick; did these people not know, or were they just planning to throw their lives away?

Anyway, they weren't following anymore; they turned back.

He He Lingchuan glanced back; the empty sea showed no sign of a second ship.

Only their small boat was sailing lonely toward Dragon Spine Island.

At this moment, a large mass of dark clouds drifted over the sky, blocking all the sunlight shining on the sea, not a single ray leaking through.

At this time, they were less than two hundred yards from Dragon Spine Island.

Zhu Zhu Xiuer suddenly said: "Look there!"

The group looked in the direction of its raised front paw and actually saw wisps of gray mist drifting over from ahead, spreading outward along the water surface, and it would soon wash over the boat.

The gray mist seemed to be wrapped in thick ominousness, making goosebumps rise on the back of every cultivator.

The instinct of living things warned them: Danger!

Was this the Yin-Sha energy? He He Lingchuan decisively ordered: "Swallow the medicine."

Including Ling Guang, everyone took out the Sha-Splitting Pills and swallowed them in one gulp.

With the might of heaven and the earth's Sha before them, it was best to maintain respect.

After a few dozen breaths, gray fog rolled in, enveloping the entire small boat.

Without the support of sunlight, the temperature on the water surface plummeted, and everyone felt a chilling cold invading their bodies, as if they were facing a limestone cave that never saw the light of day.

In just this short time, frost had actually formed on the gunwale.

(End of chapter)