Chapter 67

Buzz—crack!

This sound was soft, like a whisper between lovers, but in Wang Shan's ears it was louder and deadlier than any thunderclap just now.

That was the sound of the Black Feather Boat's Energy Core shattering completely.

On the Control Console, the light that had just been lit by a Middle-Grade Spirit Stone was like a chicken whose neck had been wrung—it fluttered twice, then suddenly dimmed, and finally fell into utter silence.

It's over!

Those two words were like two cold iron hammers, slamming hard onto Wang Shan's heart.

The Black Feather Boat shuddered violently, losing all forward momentum—it felt as if someone had violently yanked out one's spine while running. The spiritual-light shield sustaining flight shattered like a soap bubble; the whole vessel lost balance, like a heavy piece of scrap iron, plunging straight down into the dark, bottomless gorge that seemed able to devour everything.

Weightlessness hit instantly!

Ah—!

Dad!

Grandfather!

Inside the cabin, the Wang Family members who had just recovered from unconsciousness and jolts were instantly terrified by the sudden plunge; terrified screams and wails mingled, echoing throughout the shaking cabin. Despair, like icy seawater, instantly engulfed everyone.

Wang Zheze's heart-rending 'No—!' still echoed in the air, filled with endless reluctance and fear.

Wang Shan felt his vision go black, almost passing out as well.

Damn it! Heaven, you're playing with me?! Just a little bit! Just a little more and I could have broken out!

All effort wasted! It was as if his old face was peeled off, thrown on the ground, stomped on a hundred times with a shoe that had stepped in dog dung, then spat on and finally tossed into a pigsty to smear the wall.

But now is not the time to blame heaven and earth!

In less than a tenth of a second, Wang Shan's nearly bursting heart forced itself to calm. Survival instinct overrode all emotion.

He whipped his head around, and with all his strength bellowed at the equally pallid Wang Zheze at the helm: 'Everyone, prepare to abandon ship! Zheze! Steer! Get as close as possible to that right-hand cliff wall, quick!'

His roar cut through the chaos and screams, like a thunderclap exploding in everyone's ears.

Abandon ship? In this ten-thousand-foot abyss?

Everyone stared, then realized—this was the only way to live! Though slim, it was better than being pulverized with this wrecked ship.

Wang Zheze was jolted awake by his father's roar; he glanced down at the rapidly approaching darkness, then at the relatively gentler cliff wall ahead and to the side, faintly visible and draped in dark-green vines, a flash of resolve crossing his eyes.

He gritted his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead, and frenziedly poured his remaining spiritual power into the half-dead Control Compass, exerting his last strength to try to turn the rudder.

Screech—!

The damaged rudder emitted a grating groan; as they fell, the Black Feather Boat's bow stubbornly, bit by bit, veered toward the cliff wall Wang Shan had pointed at.

The descent was too fast! Wind howled in their ears like ghosts wailing and wolves howling.

The hull, out of control and plunging, kept issuing the groans of breaking apart—planks splintered, metal twisted.

"Hold on!" Wang Shan roared again, while his spiritual sense frantically swept over his storage bag.

His gaze fell on a few stacks of talismans.

These were left over from preparations for charging into the Thunderstorm Canyon—five or six Tier 2 Sharp Metal Talismans and a few Tier 1 Fireball Talismans of still-decent power.

They were originally meant for dealing with blind demonic beasts or breaking obstacles, but I never imagined……

Hmph! Wan Tianjue, you old dog! You want me to die? Even if I die, I'll rip a piece of flesh from you!

Just as the Black Feather Boat, like an out-of-control meteorite, was about to slam hard into that vine-covered cliff wall—

A cold light flashed in Wang Shan's eyes as he violently dumped all his remaining talismans out at once!

His spiritual power surged in as if it were free!

Buzzzz!

Golden sharp blades and crimson flames instantly ignited on the talisman paper!

"Get the hell out of my way!"

Accompanied by a roar, Wang Shan swung his arm; the seven or eight activated talismans, like heavenly maidens scattering flowers, shot forth with sharp tearing sounds toward the pursuing light point behind them—Wan Tianjue, who was nearly upon them—and smashed into him head-on.

Golden light flashed, fireballs howled!

Behind him, Wan Tianjue was pushing his escape light to the limit, about to catch up to the shaking, doomed wreck, his face already showing a cruel, gleeful grin.

His injury was indeed serious—he'd been screwed over by that damned Lightning-attracting Talisman, his Tortoise‑shell Shield shattered, his five viscera displaced, and it still burned with pain. But if he didn't vent this anger, his Dao heart could not find peace! A mere Qi Refining junior dared to insult him so! He was practically begging for death.

He had already decided: once he caught Wang Shan, he would use the most brutal soul‑searching technique to drag out every secret from his mind, then crush his bones and scatter his ashes! And those Wang Family brats—not one of them would escape!

As the distance closed, victory was in sight.

Suddenly, from the front, the crashing wreck burst forth with several talisman lights, shooting straight at him!

Huh?

Wan Tianjue blinked slightly, then curled the corner of his mouth in a disdainful cold smile.

A cornered beast's last tricks! A dying struggle!

You think a few low‑grade talismans can stop me? Naive!

He couldn't even be bothered to use a magic artifact; he just casually flicked his sleeve.

A mighty Foundation Establishment spiritual pressure burst forth, like a wild wind sweeping away leaves.

Sizzle!

Most of the Sharp Metal Talismans and Fireball Talismans, upon contacting the spiritual pressure, were like hitting an invisible wall—their spiritual light shattered mid‑air.

But this sudden hindrance still slowed his pursuit ever so slightly.

In a clash of masters, a hair's difference leads to a thousand‑mile error!

Especially in this high‑speed chase!

Now is the moment!

This is exactly what Wang Shan had been waiting for!

He never expected those few talismans to injure Wan Tianjue; his sole aim was to buy that incredibly precious instant!

"Jump!"

Wang Shan's voice was like thunder, echoing in the ears of every Wang Family member!

Before his words even faded, the Duant Body Art in his dantian had already been pushed to the extreme! His muscles bulged, his bones crackled, and a physical strength far surpassing the peak of Qi Refining burst forth!

He spotted the two terrified grandsons beside him, shaking and pale, and in one swift motion grabbed each, holding them tight to his chest like an eagle clutching chicks.

Then he thrust his legs hard against the ground, launching himself like a shell leaving the barrel, slamming hard into the already shattered side cabin wall!

Bang!

Wood chips flew everywhere!

A huge breach appeared in the ship's hull!

Wang Shan grabbed the two children, leapt without hesitation from the breach, aiming straight for the dark green vines swaying in the wind dozens of zhang below!

The wind filled his ears! The sensation of weightlessness made his head spin!

"Follow me!" Wang Zhe's eyes blazed, he roared at the clansmen behind him, and closely followed, also leaping out from the breach!

"Jump!"

"Grab the vines!"

Wang Zhitao, several Qi Refining late-stage cultivators of the Wang Family, and those clansmen still able to move, also reacted in turn, like dumplings being dropped into boiling water, they rushed forward, competing to jump out from the breach or other hull cracks, lunging toward the cliff wall that symbolized a sliver of hope.

However, not everyone possessed Wang Shan's physical strength and reaction speed.

Those with higher cultivation, such as Wang Zhe and Wang Zhitao, could barely adjust their posture in midair, using spiritual power or tools like grappling hooks to latch onto the thick vines or protruding rocks, slowing their fall.

But those clansmen with only early or mid-stage Qi Refining cultivation, as well as women and children, simply could not withstand the impact of such a high-speed fall, nor did they have the ability to save themselves in midair.

Some of them, the moment they leapt out, were blown off course by the gale or couldn't grab anything at all, only able to utter a desperate scream as they plummeted like a broken kite into the deeper darkness below, vanishing instantly.

Life and death hung by a thread!

Just as the Wang Family clansmen were jumping ship like a swarm of locusts passing through—

Boom!!!

A deafening roar suddenly burst forth!

The out-of-control, swaying Black Feather Boat finally exhausted its last shred of structural strength, slamming hard into the hard cliff wall!

Like a fragile egg striking a stone!

The entire flying vessel shattered into pieces in an instant!

Planks, metal fragments, array remnants… mixed with the flames produced by the final explosion of the Energy Core, they burst forth like fireworks, then turned into countless burning debris that crackled as they fell into the depths of the canyon below.

The massive shockwave from the explosion, mixed with scorching heat and flying shrapnel, surged outward in all directions!

Wan Tianjue had just dispersed those talismans, preparing to accelerate again, when this sudden explosion's shockwave slammed straight into him.

Although the explosion's force caused him no substantive injury, the chaotic airflow and the debris filling the sky still managed to hinder him momentarily, forcing him to pause briefly and guard his surroundings.

Once the shockwave subsided a little, he fixed his gaze and wondered where in the sky any trace of the Black Feather Boat remained?

Only countless burning fragments remained, falling like a meteor shower into the bottomless darkness below.

And on that steep cliff wall, specks of human figures clung—these were the Wang Family survivors who had just jumped ship!

There were also some figures rapidly falling downward, obviously having failed to grab onto anything.

Wan Tianjue's spiritual sense spread downward like a tide.

Soon, he locked onto that damned old man—Wang Shan—positioned midway up the cliff wall!

Wang Shan was seen holding a child in one hand, while the other hand clung like an iron vise to a vine as thick as a child's arm, his feet searching for footholds on the steep cliff as he climbed down quickly but clumsily.

Around him, Wang Zhe, Wang Zhitao, and others each employed their own means—some grabbing vines, others using rock crevices—moving downward in a sorry state.

Their goal was clear—a dense primordial forest faintly visible several hundred zhang below the cliff wall!

If they could enter that complex terrain forest, perhaps there remained a sliver of chance to escape by using the trees and terrain for cover.

Hmph, the struggles of ants.

Wan Tianjue hovered in midair, his icy gaze like that of one looking down at a group of ants about to be crushed.

He did not rush down immediately.

Just now, Wang Shan had used a Lightning Talisman to darken him a bit; although his wounds were healing quickly, he had still expended a considerable amount of spiritual power, his flying sword was damaged and not yet restored, and furthermore, the environment at the edge of the Thunderstorm Canyon's Core Area remained harsh, causing some interference to his spiritual sense and spiritual power operation.

Most importantly, he is no longer in a hurry.

The trap is set; we only await the turtle.

These remnants of the Wang Family are already turtles in the jar, unable to fly even with wings!

Killing them outright? That would be too lenient!

Especially that Wang Shan! He dared to make this old man so embarrassed, suffering such utter humiliation!

Wan Tianjue's eyes flickered with cruel and violent light.

He wants to play with them slowly, tormenting them bit by bit, so they die in endless fear and despair!

He wants Wang Shan to watch with his own eyes as his descendants die one by one miserably before him!

He wants this old dog to know what fate awaits anyone who offends him, Wan Tianjue!

Wan Tianjue licked his slightly chapped lips, a sickly grin appearing on his face.

He had decided—not to go down for now.

Just watch from up here.

Watching these pitiful worms, how they struggle in despair, how they hover on the brink of death.

Wait until they crawl to the edge of that forest, thinking they see hope, then strike them… with a fatal blow!

The cat-and-mouse game has only just begun.

He coldly gazed at the figure on the cliff below, clinging like a gecko as it struggled to climb down.

Wang Shan, your time of death has come.