Chapter 62

Boom—!

The Black Feather Boat was like a runaway buffalo, fiercely plunging into the entrance of the Thunderstorm Canyon where purple lightning danced wildly!

The hull suddenly sank, then was violently gripped by an invisible yet extremely violent force, shaking and tearing wildly!

Creak! Creak!

This already battered broken ship let out a grating groan, as if it would fall apart completely in the next second.

"Hold on! Damn it, grab hold!" Wang Shan's eyes bloodshot, he clung desperately to the Control Compass, feeling like a broken plank in a raging storm, about to be swallowed at any moment.

The violent gale was like countless sharp knives cutting from all directions; even through the hull, one could feel its bone‑chilling cold and tearing sensation.

The chaotic energy flow was like boiling water, making the entire airship lurch up and down, sway left and right, a hundred times more dangerous than when its wings were sliced by Sword Qi earlier!

The world spun!

Many of the already weak clansmen rolled their eyes and fainted again; those still conscious were no better, faces deathly pale, clutching anything they could to steady themselves, their stomachs churning.

Inside the canyon, it was a completely different world.

The deafening thunder roared like heavenly gods bellowing, one blast after another, so dense it made hearts leap to throats; the sound seemed to carry substantive force, making the Black Feather Boat hum, everyone inside feeling ear‑pain and dazed brains.

Zap!

Thick, terrifying purple and silver bolts of lightning lashed like mad serpents, exploding irregularly in the black canyon; each flash illuminated the grotesque, jagged cliffs like ghosts in stark detail, and lit the bottomless darkness below that seemed to swallow all light.

The air reeked of intense lightning, charged with destructive force, and a pungent sulfur smell that made one want to vomit.

This place is practically a lightning purgatory!

Soon after the Black Feather Boat rushed into the canyon, a blue stream of light followed closely, unhesitatingly shooting into that violent lightning zone.

Wan Tianjue's figure appeared, his body covered with a faint blue spiritual light that resisted most of the gale's erosion. His Foundation Establishment cultivation was no mere show; this environment that would impede a Qi Refining cultivator every step was, for him, merely troublesome but still passable.

But he soon frowned.

This damned place's lightning magnetic field is too chaotic!

His Spiritual Sense stretched out, feeling as if smeared with a thick layer of grease, its range and precision heavily suppressed compared to outside—like heaven and earth apart. Even the flying sword beneath his feet felt a barely perceptible sluggishness when controlled, forcing its speed to slow.

What about that broken ship?

He narrowed his eyes, his Spiritual Sense straining to lock onto the tiny black dot ahead, wobbling in the lightning and gale, on the verge of crashing, and curled his lips in a cold smile.

Run? See how far you can get! In this Thunderstorm Canyon, even if I can't catch you, how long can you last?

What Wan Tianjue didn't know was that the situation aboard the Black Feather Boat right now was far worse than he imagined!

"Family Head! Energy! The Energy Core is draining too fast!" Wang Zhiyuan, in charge of monitoring energy, turned deathly pale, pointing at a red‑flashing crystal on the Control Console, his voice changing tone.

What could be seen was that the Lower‑Grade Spirit Stones originally powering the airship's core array were visibly dimming, losing luster, and even developing fine cracks on their surface.

Crack!

Another Lower‑Grade Spirit Stone was completely drained of energy, turning into a heap of useless white powder.

And this happened after less than the time it takes to burn an incense stick since entering the canyon!

The environment here is too harsh! Maintaining the airship's stability and resisting the gale and chaotic energy's erosion puts a load on the Energy Core that is several to tens of times greater than outside!

Wang Shan glanced at the rapidly dropping energy indicator, his heart sinking, and he shouted urgently: "Quick! Change the spirit stones! Fill it with all the Lower‑Grade Spirit Stones we brought, damn it! Quick!"

Yes! Father!

Yes! Family Head!

Wang Zhitao, Wang Zhiyuan and the others scrambled, not even noticing the spinning world, each pulling Lower‑Grade Spirit Stones from their storage bags. These were all scavenged from Luo Bay County, plus some of the family's original reserves, altogether a few thousand.

Lower‑Grade Spirit Stones were stuffed into the Energy Core's recesses, temporarily easing the energy crisis and letting the fading light flare back to life.

But everyone's hearts sank to the canyon floor.

Too fast!

The consumption speed is really too fast!

Wang Zhitao stared at the spirit stones rapidly dwindling in his storage bag, palms sweating. They had brought thousands of Lower‑Grade Spirit Stones, and in this short time nearly half were already gone!

At this rate, forget charging out of the Thunderstorm Canyon—you might not even last an hour!

Once the Spirit Stones are depleted, the airship will lose power, and they'll be like scrap iron—torn apart by this violent lightning and gale, or plunge into the endless dark abyss below.

Wang Shan looked at the clansmen's blood‑less faces from fear and jolting, felt the airship shudder violently on the verge of losing control, and instinctively touched his own storage bag.

There, besides over a thousand remaining Lower‑Grade Spirit Stones, there were fewer than a hundred Middle‑Grade Spirit Stones, and that single Upper‑Grade Spirit Stone kept as hidden wealth.

Middle‑Grade Spirit Stone…… Upper‑Grade Spirit Stone……

Each Middle‑Grade Spirit Stone equals a hundred Lower‑Grade Spirit Stones! That Upper‑Grade Spirit Stone is worth ten thousand Lower‑Grade Spirit Stones! It is the Wang Family's true foundation, the hope for their future rise!

Could it be…… could we really have to use Middle‑Grade Spirit Stones to power this broken ship?

This is literally burning money! No, worse than burning money—it's burning lives! Burning the Wang Family's future hope!

Wang Shan's heart felt as if clenched by an invisible giant hand, pain making him barely able to breathe. He would rather use these Spirit Stones to buy medicinal pills and cultivation techniques to train the clansmen than waste them pointlessly on this damned escape route.

But the situation now……

Just as Wang Shan's inner turmoil raged——

Zap——!!

A bolt of terrifying purple lightning, many times thicker than any before, like heavenly wrath, carrying an aura of total destruction, slammed down violently from the rolling black clouds!

The target was not the Black Feather Boat, but it grazed the airship's right side and slammed down with a boom!

Too close!

Although it didn't strike directly, the terrifying lightning force that leaked out still surged like a tide!

Crackle!

Countless tiny electric snakes instantly covered the right half of the Black Feather Boat's hull; the Protective Light Shield flickered violently a few times, then instantly went dark. The hull went numb, as if losing control in an instant.

"Not good!" Wang Shan's pupils contracted, he strained with all his might to twist the compass!

Creak——!

The flying shuttle let out a deathly wail, barely avoiding a protruding massive cliff beside it, but the whole hull, because of this violent evasive maneuver, rolled wildly again!

Ah—!

Help!

Inside the cabin, chaos erupted again; the clansmen who had just caught their breath were flung sideways once more, and several cabin walls were dented from the impacts!

Wang Shan gripped the hull tightly, staring at the scorched black mark on the right side of the ship's rail and the lingering, heart‑pounding lightning aura in the air; his back was soaked through with cold sweat.

Just now, we were that close!

If it had veered a bit more, or if he had reacted a fraction slower, they'd probably be shipwrecked and dead by now!

He gritted his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead, feeling the energy core's reserves plummet again after the shockwave from the recent lightning strike; a suffocating frustration and anger welled up inside him.

Damn it! This damned place!

Wang Shan couldn't help muttering a curse under his breath, his voice hoarse and full of fatigue.

My spirit stones… can't hold out any longer!

It's not just a spirit‑stone problem; hope itself is being worn away bit by bit!

He knew they couldn't continue like this! They had to act fast! They had to quickly use this place's special environment to find a way to shake off that old dog behind them… or… find a sliver of survival!

Otherwise, before that Foundation‑Establishment old dog could make a move, they'd be drained to death by this damned place first!

Force himself to stay calm! Calm!

Wang Shan shook his slightly dizzy head, while straining to control the flying shuttle, navigating difficult gaps between the gusts and occasional lightning strikes, dodging the jagged cliffs that jutted out like ghostly claws, all the while chanting silently in his mind.

"System! Environmental scan! Scan for me! Analyze the terrain and lightning distribution patterns of this damned place!"

【Ding! Environmental scan function activated, currently analyzing the area's terrain and energy field distribution…】

A cold system prompt tone rang in his mind, and Wang Shan's vision seemed to show a constantly shifting simple 3D map, marking the canyon's direction, the cliff distribution, and… the red‑light spots indicating extremely dangerous lightning‑dense zones, as well as a few relatively safe zones where lightning was slightly sparser.

Opportunity!

Amidst those seemingly chaotic lightning and terrain!

Wang Shan's eyes lit up as he fixed his gaze on a narrow side‑forward passage on the map, blocked by a few huge rocks; the lightning markings there were noticeably sparser than the surrounding area!

"Zhitao! Do you see that left‑forward corner? There's a spot blocked by a few big rocks!" Wang Shan jerked his arm toward that direction, "Turn! Give it everything you've got to charge through!"