Chapter 23

This is the Firefly I released!

Wang Yu widened his eyes and stared fixedly at the flame before him, yet his fingertip felt not the slightest scorching heat, while the mana in his body also suddenly decreased by quite a bit.

The mana consumption of this spell was unexpectedly high. With his Qi Refinement Level 2 cultivation, he estimated he could barely cast it five or six times, but for a mere small flame, the power was likely not worth expecting too much.

Thinking this, Wang Yu puffed out his cheeks and blew hard at the flame.

"Whoosh."

The flame flickered on his fingertip but was not easily blown out.

He moved his finger slightly, and the flame swayed along with it, as if there were some kind of invisible connection between it and his finger.

Wang Yu nodded, swept his gaze across the room, and finally landed on a broken wooden chair.

He flicked his finger, and the flame shot out, turning into a speck of red light that landed on the wooden chair.

"Sizzle."

The chair instantly erupted into rolling flames, turning into a large pile of fire. Within a few breaths, the firelight vanished completely, leaving only a patch of black ash in its place.

The dharma-pattern imprint in his sea of divine sense also flickered and disappeared.

Wang Yu was dumbfounded, his mouth unable to close for a long time.

Is this the power a "Firefly" should have?

He jumped off the bed in disbelief, walked to the black ash, and poked at it a few times with his toe. After confirming it was correct, he felt his common sense had been overturned.

Wang Yu hurried to the courtyard outside. After scanning the area, he found a new target: a rusted iron rod stuck diagonally into the mud on the nearby ground.

He pinched a hand seal with one hand and recited the incantation. Unsurprisingly, he failed to cast the spell twice in a row, which made him wince for a good while, but on the third try, he finally succeeded in condensing the spell imprint again.

The flame appeared before him once more, and with a flick of his finger, it drifted lightly onto the iron rod.

"Sizzle."

With the same rolling flames, the iron rod, under his gaze, turned red and softened at a speed visible to the naked eye. Finally, after the firelight vanished, only a pool of lava-like crimson iron liquid remained in its place.

Wang Yu walked two steps closer and felt a rolling heat wave rushing toward his face, his heart filled with immense horror.

This "Firefly" is not an ordinary fire at all, but an extremely high-temperature flame capable of melting gold and dissolving stone. This does not quite match what is described in "Introduction to Spells."

Or do all trick spells have this kind of power?

Wang Yu had some doubts in his heart.

He wanted to continue trying the Firefly spell, but unfortunately, he failed once more afterward, and there was not much mana left in his body, so he could only return to the room to sit in meditation and breathe to recover first.

Over the next few days, Wang Yu practiced the Firefly spell repeatedly.

He discovered that following the first successful condensation of the spell imprint, the probability of successful spellcasting afterward increased immediately. He could basically succeed once every two or three tries, and even if the spellcasting failed, the backlash was not as painful as it had been initially; it even became increasingly easier, as if his divine sense was gradually adapting to the backlash impact of this spell.

During this period, he also cast Firefly on different targets and even tried to incorporate it into actual combat, only to discover that although Firefly had astonishing power, it drifted lightly and could not fly fast, and its range was limited. Even with all his might, he could only flick it to a distance of about a zhang, making it very easy for an opponent to dodge.

Even though Firefly had such shortcomings, as the first spell he had learned, Wang Yu was very satisfied.

What he needed to do next was to master this spell more proficiently and learn the other two spells as soon as possible. In this way, having mastered three trick spells, he should barely count as a "pseudo-cultivator."

This made him full of anticipation for the other two trick spells.

But on this day, as he was sitting on the bed in meditation and breathing, a series of low, abnormally sharp and piercing sounds emanated from the room behind him.

He was startled and hurriedly turned around, rushing into the room in a few steps. He saw that above a parcel placed at the head of the bed, a cyan paper crane was circling in the air, emitting a faint white light.

Before Wang Yu could react, the paper crane flew toward the outside of the room with a "swish," but he was quick-eyed and fast-handed enough to grab it in his hand, though he dared not use too much force for fear of breaking it.

The time to board the ship has arrived!

Wang Yu was overjoyed; how could he not know what had happened?

He hurriedly pulled an ordinary silk thread from the parcel at the head of the bed and, in a few quick moves, bound the paper crane tightly. He tied the other end of the thread to his wrist, and only then did he release the paper crane, allowing it to circle only within a zhang of his side.

Afterward, he slung the parcel from the head of the bed onto his back, took a saber and a sword from under the bed, wrapped the soft sword around his waist as a belt, and inserted the long saber into a black scabbard on his back. He rushed out of the room excitedly, heading straight for the nearby carriage.

More than twenty li west of the west gate of Huang Shi City, beside a wide river, a huge building ship about seventy or eighty zhang long was docked next to a seemingly crude pier.

On the pier, some barefoot crew members were moving wooden boxes and sacks of various sizes onto the ship. At the same time, more than twenty carriages of different styles were parked nearby, and some people in various attires were boarding the ship.

Just then, on a dirt road leading to the pier, a small cart pulled by a donkey came trotting toward the pier.

Sitting at the front of the cart was a youth of seventeen or eighteen, dressed in green, with a long saber on his back; it was Wang Yu, who had arrived in a hurry.

Wang Yu was stunned to see the busy scene at the pier, but he immediately parked the carriage near the pier, took a parcel from the cart, and walked over.

On the pier, an old man in a gray robe, about fifty years old, with messy short hair and holding an oversized brown dry-tobacco pipe, walked toward him.

"Is there anyone else boarding the ship with you? Let me see the ticket." The old man took a puff from the pipe in his hand, swept his gaze over the paper crane on Wang Yu's wrist, and asked while opening his mouth to puff out a cloud of yellow smoke.

The smoke rushed toward Wang Yu's face, carrying a thick, choking sensation.

"Senior, I am boarding the ship alone." Wang Yu's expression remained normal as he grabbed the paper crane tied to his wrist and handed it over.

"Hmm, it is indeed a ticket from our pavilion; you may board. Remember, fighting is forbidden on the ship. Whoever causes trouble, I will throw them off the ship. Li Laosan, take this young master to Room C-13 and tell him the rules of the ship." The gray-robed old man checked the paper crane, tucked it directly into his bosom, then beckoned and summoned a barefoot crew member from the pier. After giving two instructions, he turned and left on his own.

"This young master, follow me." The barefoot crew member, with a dark red face and looking about twenty-seven or twenty-eight, nodded and bowed to see the old man off before smiling at Wang Yu.

"Is this Elder Feng a person from the Hundred Treasures Pavilion? Does he have great authority on the ship?" Wang Yu asked tentatively while following Li Laosan toward the giant ship.

"Elder Feng is the Dharma-protecting Immortal Master of the 'Iron Arrow,' so his authority is naturally the greatest. Young Master, remember, you can offend anyone on the ship, but you must not offend Elder Feng, otherwise, he will truly throw people into the river to feed the fish." Li Laosan, upon hearing this, smiled and said to the youth.

"So that's how it is. I wonder how long it will take for the ship to reach the Wu Nation?" Wang Yu nodded and asked another question, his gaze unable to help but fall on the building ship not far ahead.

This giant ship was about five or six zhang high, with three levels of pavilions on the deck. It was pitch black all over, faintly shimmering with a metallic luster, and it was unknown what material it was made of. Some unknown silver patterns were painted on the outside of the ship's hull.

"The 'Iron Arrow' is a new dharma ship recently built by our Hundred Treasures Pavilion. Its speed is much faster than previous dharma ships. It will only take one month to reach Tongzhou in the Wu Nation. This ship not only has Immortal Masters accompanying it but is also equipped with a large number of new-style rune crossbows, and there is a dharma artifact, the Soul-Suppressing Banner, to escort us, so you absolutely do not need to worry about safety. After you board the ship, Young Master, you will have your own room, and when it is time for meals, someone will naturally deliver food to your room..." Li Laosan led the way while talking incessantly, and thus brought Wang Yu onto the giant ship.

Standing on the deck of the giant ship, Wang Yu truly felt the enormity of the building ship. He had to tilt his head back completely to see the highest level of the pavilion, where some protruding parts were mounted with cyan giant crossbows.

But what made him somewhat concerned was that a huge yellow banner, at least five or six meters long, was erected at the highest point of the pavilion. Its surface was painted with many winding black spirit patterns. Just one glance at it brought him a very oppressive and uncomfortable feeling.

It seems this is the so-called "Soul-Suppressing Banner." It should be a true dharma artifact, but why is it so huge!

Wang Yu took a few more looks before Li Laosan led him to a single room inside the building ship. After giving two instructions, he left.

The room was furnished with a single bed, a small table, and a small chair, and it was quite spacious.

Wang Yu stuffed the parcel under the bed, thought for a moment, locked the door, walked out of the room, and returned to the deck.

At this time, besides those busy crew members, there were other passengers boarding the ship, about seventeen or eighteen people, men and women, old and young, most of whom were excitedly pointing at things on the deck.

Wang Yu looked up at the sky, then walked to the side of the ship on his own and waited quietly.

Time passed quickly. More than two hours later, when the sky began to darken, most of the people on the deck had returned to the cabins to rest.

Amidst a crisp sound of a bell, all the crew members boarded the ship one after another. After the giant building ship trembled slightly, it left the pier and sailed slowly toward the center of the river.

This ship had no sails, and no oars or the like were seen on either side of the hull, but the river surface beneath the hull rippled constantly, and the building ship sailed further and further away very steadily.

Seeing this, Wang Yu finally let out a breath and gradually relaxed in his heart.

But just at this moment, the sound of rapid hoofbeats came from the pier in the distance. A troop of cavalry rushed to the pier amidst flying dust. Seeing that the giant building ship had already left the pier, two people actually soared into the air directly from their horses and flew straight toward the giant ship.

Seeing this, Wang Yu's heart skipped a beat.

The many crew members on the deck and some guests who were still lingering on the deck also became agitated.