Volume 1, Chapter 145 – Mediation

Chisongzi was stunned by the terrifying killing intent spilling from Bai Weiyang and dared not try to persuade him further.

After cutting Chisongzi off, Bai Weiyang rose and walked toward the quiet room’s door.

“General, could you let this poor Daoist disembark? I swear I will keep my mouth shut!”

Seeing that Bai Weiyang was almost out the door, Chisongzi hurriedly called out.

“Stay put and ease your mind. For every day this general lives, I will keep you safe for that day.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Bai Weiyang’s figure vanished from the quiet room.

A bitter taste filled Chisongzi’s mouth and his expression slumped. With all his true qi sealed, he could not use any of his methods at all. There was no hope of escape.

Right now, Chisongzi had no other thoughts. All he could do was secretly pray that this expedition of the Demon-Suppressing Army would go smoothly and that no great upheaval would arise.

…

In the blink of an eye, nearly half a month passed. The number of people aboard the warship grew, from under ten thousand at the start to nearly a hundred thousand. Fewer than twenty thousand were Demon-Suppressing Army soldiers; the rest were mostly martial artists from all kinds of powers.

Shi Lan devoted herself to cultivation. During these ten-some days, she absorbed phoenix blood once more, successively broke through three acupoints, and was only a hair’s breadth away from opening the Neiguan acupoint at her elbow. Her cultivation advanced another step.

With so many people on the warship, friction was inevitable. No one dared provoke the Demon-Suppressing Army, but among all these powers, old grudges were bound to exist, and there were plenty of sworn enemies.

This was especially true for Body Tempering Realm martial artists. Their blood and qi were hot and restless, and their temperaments extremely tough and explosive. This meant that from time to time fights would break out between martial artists, and at those times the Demon-Suppressing Army had to step in to mediate.

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White Weiyang and the ten-thousand-man commanders naturally would not bother with such trivialities. Shi Lan’s rank as thousand-man commander was neither too high nor too low, so many of these petty matters ended up being dumped on her.

This left Shi Lan more than a little unhappy. Handling such trouble took a lot of time, which no doubt ate into her cultivation and slowed the pace of her growth.

In truth, if not for these chores, with half a month of focused cultivation, Shi Lan would not have broken through only three measly acupoints.

…

Once again, Shi Lan was pulled out of her cultivation. She slowly opened her eyes, irritation filling her gaze. Her aura felt like a powder keg, needing only a single spark to ignite in an instant.

Being abruptly interrupted while cultivating felt like climbing a cliff and almost reaching the summit, only for your hand to suddenly slip and leave you dangling in midair on the safety rope. That head-to-toe sense of weightlessness made her skull throb faintly.

“Thousand-man commander, the people from Bloodfiend Hall and Wind Blade Sect are fighting again.”

Shi Lan’s face turned to ice. She kicked the quiet room’s door open and forced out two stiff words. “Lead the way.”

At first, Shi Lan had not wanted to get involved in this kind of thing and had sent Xin Qinyu and the other Earth Fiend Realm martial artists to handle it.

The results had been less than ideal. These Sky Thunder Hall martial artists were not Demon-Suppressing Army soldiers after all. Even if they stopped things for a while, as soon as Xin Qinyu and the others left, the troublemakers would start brawling again.

It treated the symptoms but not the root.

They had barely walked any distance when shouts and curses reached Shi Lan’s ears, along with the dull thuds of fists and feet slamming into bodies.

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After a few such incidents and a round of “education,” these sects finally had some sense. When they fought, they did not use weapons. The Innate Realm martial artists held back as much as they could, and no one dared bring out magic artifacts.

Magic artifacts made too much noise and easily damaged the warship.

In dealing with this type of thing in the past, the Demon-Suppressing Army had been particularly harsh with any martial artist who damaged the warship.

Even if all they did was smash a few of the larger floor tiles or some tables and chairs, they would be hung outside the warship with the spiritual qi barrier shut off and left to enjoy a full day of astral wind’s “tender caress.”

…

Bang!

With a dull thud, a young man not yet thirty took a fist the size of a sandbag straight to the face. Blood spurted from his nose and mouth, seven or eight teeth flew out, and he staggered back more than ten zhang before managing to clutch his face and barely steady himself.

“You people from Wind Blade Sect are decent at competing with magic artifacts and true qi, but trading punches and flesh? You’re way out of your league.” A burly man about the same age as him pulled his fist back and spoke with open disdain.

Before he finished speaking, the burly man suddenly felt a blast of force sweep past the side of his face. His eyes twitched and, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of a spotless boot sole.

Thud!

A surge of force crashed into his cheek. The burly man’s huge body spun once in midair and slammed to the ground on his back. His mind rang as if struck by ten thousand bells, a deafening roar filling his head.

Before he could recover, the back of his skull felt like it had been struck by a heavy hammer. He blacked out on the spot.

“Who started this?!”

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Shi Lan stepped on the prone burly man’s head, driving it half an inch into the deck, and barked the words.

A terrifying aura burst out in the area, smothering all the chaos. Both sides stopped almost at the same time.

“Wind Blade Sect!”

“It was Bloodfiend Hall!”

At Shi Lan’s shout, both sides passed the blame in unison, hardly even hesitating.

Shi Lan swept her gaze around and shouted loudly, “Hang everyone involved out on the warship’s deck!”

Both sides changed expression, especially the Body Tempering Realm martial artists. Body Tempering Realm was not like the Innate Realm, which remade the body and hardened the flesh. After a day of that wind, they would at least be flayed and bleeding, with their blood and qi badly damaged.

“L… Lady Shi, we did not damage the warship. Is this punishment not a bit too much?”

A man in his forties stepped forward. He had originally been wearing an angry look and wanted to call Shi Lan by name and argue with her, but when her gaze swept over him, a chill shot through his heart. Instinctively he changed his form of address and softened his tone.

Shi Lan kicked the burly man’s head aside and pointed at the crack she had just stomped into the deck. “That is not damage?”

Both sides were left speechless, fuming inside but not daring to say anything.

Shi Lan gave everyone a glance but said nothing more. The Demon-Suppressing Army soldiers behind her stepped forward, sealed the true qi of the few Innate Realm martial artists present, and dragged them up to the deck.

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If an Innate Realm martial artist was not restricted from using true qi, then with the spiritual qi barrier up, the astral wind would hardly count as punishment.

Shi Lan knew her handling of things just now had been somewhat unbalanced, even a bit unreasonable, but in her current state, she was unaccountably irritable. A smoldering restlessness filled her chest.

If she had not forcibly pulled her strength back at the last instant, that burly man would probably have been kicked to death on the spot.

This state was clearly abnormal. After she steadied her mood a little, Shi Lan let out a long breath. She was just about to ask for an explanation when Samsara’s voice sounded.

“You’ve absorbed too much phoenix blood. Beast blood is violent by nature, and this is the blood of a Fire Phoenix, whose energy is even more explosive. On top of that, the baleful qi on this warship is too heavy. It has already had quite a serious impact on you, and you’ve been pushing your cultivation too hard lately. Your heart is too impatient.”

Shi Lan listened quietly. She herself had vaguely noticed this as well, but with a great battle at hand, all she could think about was how to raise her strength. Time waited for no one.

Thinking on this, Shi Lan walked slowly up to the deck. The spiritual qi barrier had already been shut off. The astral wind howled toward her, making it hard to keep her eyes open.

Boom!

With a deep mechanical rumble, the warship slowly came to a stop in midair.

Shi Lan’s expression shifted slightly as she looked toward the distant stretch of plains.

“Taixu Academy…”