Chapter 320

About two hours later, the small boat had entered the sea for seventy or eighty miles. Lin Shuangyu squinted her eyes and looked toward the front right; the sky suddenly turned dim, and a patch of dark clouds rolled in from the depths of the ocean, quickly occupying the southern sky. Immediately after, a strong wind arose, blowing harder and harder, and the waves quickly rose from one foot to two, three, four, and five feet.

The small boat rose and fell, swaying in these great waves, as if it could be overturned by a large wave at any moment.

Lin Shuangyu pointed a finger, and the lone sail dropped instantly, stabilizing the small boat a little. But it was still not enough; it swayed east and west in the large waves, bobbing up and down, shaking Liu Xiaolou until he felt panicked inside.

Suddenly, a torrential rain blew in sideways, blowing so hard that Liu Xiaolou's eyes were blurred. He had no experience at sea; the experience of drifting on the Wuchao River back then was in no way comparable to this moment, so he could only try his best to open his eyes and look at Lin Shuangyu to see how she would handle it.

The sea wind howled, and it seemed that the whole world was filled with "woo-woo" sounds. Suddenly, Lin Shuangyu surged her true qi, and a burst of energy pierced through the wailing sounds that filled the sky, heading straight for Liu Xiaolou's ears: "You stabilize the direction at the stern, I will split the waves at the front!"

Liu Xiaolou had long heard that there was often a technique for sound transmission among high-level cultivators, but he had never seen it before. Over at Wulong Mountain, they were basically all Qi Refinement cultivators and had no high-level cultivators, while on the side of the Su family at Shenwu Villa, the few high-level cultivators rarely paid him any mind, so he had not been able to peek into its methods until now.

But he still knew a thing or two about the general way of doing it; he heard it was about condensing true qi into threads and sending them to the other person's ear to vibrate using the method of a flying sword. Just now, when Lin Shuangyu shouted to him in the strong wind and waves, it felt similar to this. Although it was intermittent in the gale, that feeling was not fake. And what made Liu Xiaolou feel fortunate was that it seemed to have nothing to do with cultivation techniques; at most, it was just a small trick.

So, he listened while learning, feeling the knack within it.

"Daoist Liu, a little to the left."

"The middle position, neither biased nor leaning."

"Steady it, use a little more force."

"A little lighter, ah, that's just right, just right."

Liu Xiaolou listened for a moment and felt he had grasped the knack, so he surged his true qi, from...

The true qi circled around his body and finally returned to below his navel, then continued downward. He discovered that this was a natural outlet for true qi, so he emitted it from his crotch.

He was trying it for the first time and was not yet used to it, so his belly subconsciously thrust forward!

Pfft—

The true qi turned into a wisp of wandering true qi and shot out from his crotch, dissipating completely in this gale and rain, without exerting the slightest effect.

Naturally, he would not be discouraged. He immediately surged another wisp of true qi and continued to shoot it out. Having learned from the previous mistake, this time it was much more condensed, and it shot two feet further.

But it was still not enough; it was still far from Lin Shuangyu in front.

Lin Shuangyu continued to direct him to steer the boat: "Don't stop, add some effort."

"Don't sway, take the middle path."

"When I split the waves in front, you need to assist me from behind."

As Lin Shuangyu's voice transmitted to his ears, the knack Liu Xiaolou realized became clearer and clearer. The true qi condensed into threads, fine and tough, solid and unbroken, passing through the howling sea wind, and finally reached Lin Shuangyu's side.

Liu Xiaolou tried hard to thrust his waist and shake his hips, controlling the true qi thread to come to Lin Shuangyu's cheek and ear.

Lin Shuangyu turned her head in the midst of her busy work: "Why aren't you making a sound?"

Liu Xiaolou gritted his teeth and sent out the first sound transmission since he began his cultivation.

Immediately after, a large wave came, and his control over the true qi thread suddenly veered off. The true qi rushed to the bridge of Lin Shuangyu's nose. Lin Shuangyu finally received Liu Xiaolou's message, but the orientation was wrong, so she couldn't hear it clearly and asked, "What did you say?"

Regardless, this was Liu Xiaolou's first time, and it should count as a success, because Lin Shuangyu heard a sound, which is why she asked him what he "said."

Such small tricks were all profound secrets of the Xuan Sect that were audible but unknowable during the Qi Refinement stage in the past. Now that he was mastering them one by one, it could be considered slowly experiencing the joy of cultivation.

Under Lin Shuangyu's urging, Liu Xiaolou cast the sound transmission again and finally transmitted it to Lin Shuangyu's ear: "Okay."

Lin Shuangyu couldn't help but smile: "Not enough strength, very weak."

After the two communicated smoothly, the small boat moved forward in the wind and waves more steadily and quickly. In less than two quarters of an hour, a small island appeared in front, as if it had suddenly drilled out of the wind and waves, and in the blink of an eye, it stood before their eyes. The small boat had no time to stop, nor did it need to, and it rushed directly onto the gravel beach.

Liu Xiaolou's gaze was not on the scenery of the small island; in such strong wind and rain, it was actually hard to see clearly. The moment the small boat hit the beach, his gaze looked toward a reef on the front left.

This reef stood amidst the sea waves, rising more than a zhang above the sea surface. Someone was sitting cross-legged on the reef, hands forming incantations. As the wrists turned, a long sword stood vertically in front of the reef, the sword tip lightly touching the sea waves, rising and falling uncertainly with the surging of the waves.

It was none other than Su Shisanlang, Su Jing.

Liu Xiaolou suddenly saw the guy who had been easily flipped over by his own Xuanzhen Rope back then, and he couldn't help but feel a moment of trance.

Seven or eight years later, he had also reached Foundation Establishment. Looking like this now, he actually had the bearing of a master.

The long sword borrowed the momentum on the wave crests, swaying up and down with the surging of the waves. The sword momentum absorbed the momentum of the waves, gathering larger and larger, more and more fierce. When it accumulated to the limit, Su Jing formed an incantation and pressed downward!

The sea waves suddenly rolled back, rolling out more than ten zhang away, revealing the reef base below, as well as the seabed slope with a radius of more than ten zhang. Water plants, sand and stones, and caves were all exposed, while the sea waves more than ten zhang away were like thousands of galloping horses, trying hard to run over and trample everything, but they were blocked by an invisible force, becoming increasingly furious and irritable.

The long sword trembled, not only blocking the sea waves outside but also blocking the wind and rain that filled the sky, forming a safe place under the cover of a transparent mysterious shield. A few crabs crawled out from the stone crevices of the caves, curiously looking around, not understanding what had happened.

Immediately after, Su Jing retracted his sword incantation, and the long sword shot into the sky, disappearing behind his head. The sea waves finally managed to surge in again, like ten thousand horses galloping, splashing huge waves on the reef.

Lin Shuangyu's face showed joy, and she shouted to Su Jing on the reef: "Su Shidi, congratulations on breaking through the third layer of the Tide-Watching Sword Art!"

Su Jing on the reef turned his head to look, suddenly leaped up, and in the blink of an eye, arrived on the small boat, embracing Liu Xiaolou's shoulders with surprise and joy: "Brother-in-law!"

He had been practicing hard on the reef for many days, especially today, and had been in the sword intent of accumulating tide momentum, not yet fully coming out of the cultivation state. Liu Xiaolou only felt a huge force circling him, and he was actually unable to break free for a moment.

He immediately praised: "Shisanlang, you've made progress!"

Lin Shuangyu said: "Su Shidi, let's go to the Sword Hut to talk."

Su Jing patted the back of his head: "Look at me, let's go!" He grabbed Liu Xiaolou's arm and walked toward the island laughing, his laughter spreading very far in the wind and rain.