The floating ice on the sea drifted aimlessly, with no direction at all.
If you lost control, you could easily drift backward.
And behind them, the Great Whirlpool loomed like a giant mouth ready to swallow everything, following closely behind.
Just glancing into it gave you the illusion that you were already being sucked in.
Broken planks spun in the whirlpool.
It had been less than a quarter of an hour since the boat shattered, but much of the scattered hull had already been devoured by the vortex.
Ji Yutang stood with her back to Li Jingyu, eyes fixed ahead, feeling a bit dizzy.
It was as if the whole world had become unreal, yin and yang reversed, the order of heaven thrown into chaos.
Inside the whirlpool, everything was twisted by a mighty force, losing its original form, impossible to distinguish.
In the process, everything kept changing, and a strange, indescribable energy leaked out.
“Are you okay? Need any help?” Li Jingyu’s voice came from behind.
Ji Yutang snapped out of it, shook her head, and said, “I’m fine.” After thinking for a moment, she asked, “How did this Great Whirlpool come about?”
“No idea.” Li Jingyu answered simply.
She turned to stand beside Ji Yutang, glanced at the whirlpool, then quickly looked away.
“Inside the vortex, yin and yang of heaven and earth are in flux.
Only the power of creation could tear everything to pieces.” As she spoke, she reached out and pulled back a plank that was about to be sucked into the whirlpool.
“Daoist Friend Ji, do you know how to build a boat?” Li Jingyu asked.
Ji Yutang: “…” She didn’t, but artifact forging was all connected.
She’d read the relevant texts, and she had some hands-on experience with weaving.
Curling her lips, she said confidently, “I’ll know once I start.”
Li Jingyu blinked, a bit stunned by that answer.
What did “I’ll know once I start” even mean? She frowned, thought for a while, and said, “The current methods for refining artifacts all require magic power.
Does your inheritance have some other technique?”
Ji Yutang didn’t answer.
The Dragon Sutra was a classic of cultivation, with dragon path divine powers, but the only thing even remotely related to artifact forging was “Internal Refining of the Dragon Pill.” She looked at the Biluomu Wood at her feet, didn’t even need a knife, and directly conjured a dragon claw to hollow it out.
Li Jingyu didn’t interrupt Ji Yutang, just stood there with her arms crossed, watching her with a smile.
But the more she watched, the more she felt something was off… This was definitely a boat, but it was clearly built using mundane methods, with no magical restrictions at all.
If the waves got a bit rough, it would fall apart instantly.
“Ice will melt, but Biluomu Wood won’t.” Ji Yutang was sharp; she looked up and met Li Jingyu’s surprised and puzzled gaze.
In that moment, she suddenly understood what the other was thinking.
Pressing her lips together, she explained, “In the end, it all depends on the cultivator.
The boat is just a tool to cross the sea.
If you can eliminate the danger ahead of time, it doesn’t matter what the boat looks like.” Ji Yutang knew she was being “unrealistic.”
Li Jingyu’s silence made her even more embarrassed.
Suddenly, she looked up and raised her voice, “You have magic power, you can do some refining.
I’m not the only one who needs to ride this boat.”
A blush crept up her cheeks, spreading all the way to her ears.
Li Jingyu stared at Ji Yutang for a moment, then smiled softly and said, “Alright.”
Her gentle words were like an April breeze brushing her face.
Ji Yutang met those beautiful eyes and almost lost herself in them.
But soon, she snapped out of it, feeling both embarrassed and annoyed.
The words “not good” were on the tip of her tongue, but she swallowed them back down.
She turned away from Li Jingyu, took a deep breath, and forced herself to remember all the times she’d been humiliated by her.
Slowly, her eyes grew cold, like frost and snow.
“What’s wrong?” Li Jingyu noticed Ji Yutang’s change and asked in confusion.
Ji Yutang steadied herself, turned around, and smiled calmly.
“I’m fine.
Daoist Li, I’ll leave the rest to you.”
A Life-Bound Artifact is born from visualization, but it still needs precious materials to be refined.
When a Life-Bound Artifact upgrades to a Natal Treasure, it can carry the Golden Core and the fruit of the human-immortal path, becoming part of one’s own Dao body.
No one would let someone else refine their artifact, so any cultivator with ambition would know some artifact forging.
But since everyone’s Dao is different, their methods are too.
The little boat started out looking like a “boat,” but as the magical restrictions were added, its appearance gradually changed, finally becoming a large “Jewel of the Rising Tides.”
Ji Yutang: “…”
“Sorry, this is the only one I know how to make.” Li Jingyu withdrew her magic, wiped the sweat from her forehead with her sleeve, and sounded quite sincere.
Ji Yutang let out an “oh,” her smile a bit odd.
Her thoughts drifted—Li Jingyu visualized the Big Dipper, but her artifact was a jewel.
Was it because she couldn’t refine anything else? Not skilled enough at refining? Ji Yutang brushed the woven grass aside, strangely finding a bit of balance and comfort.
Ran Guzhu had humiliated her like that, but didn’t she also have things she couldn’t do?
Li Jingyu covered her mouth and coughed lightly.
“Even though it doesn’t look like a boat, with the restrictions in place, as long as we don’t run into sea monsters above our level, we should be fine.” She regretted it a bit—she shouldn’t have agreed to Ji Yutang’s suggestion to refine a boat.
Wouldn’t it have been better to just take out her own sea vessel?
Ji Yutang nodded, pretending to be philosophical.
“Heaven is round, earth is square.
Roundness is the image of heaven, so it’s not bad at all.”
Being inside a restricted sphere was still better than being stranded on floating ice.
The restrictions above cut away most of the yin energy, so only a little brushed against them, making it much more bearable.
That was true for Ji Yutang, and even more so for Li Jingyu.
When she refined the “round boat,” she linked it to the Jewel of the Rising Tides, so all the yin wind that was scraped off was stored in the jewel.
She could use that rich lunar energy to refine her own magic.
The Great Whirlpool chased behind them, but as long as they didn’t look back, they wouldn’t get sucked in.
As for the sea ahead—maybe they were lucky, but they didn’t run into any sea beasts above the Foundation Establishment level.
After several battles, they managed to deal with all the enemies that came their way.
Now, after drifting at sea for more than half a month, they could finally make out a hazy white coastline.
“Is this the end?” Ji Yutang was too exhausted to care whether her companion was Ran Guzhu or anyone else.
Life at sea had left her haggard, her clothes stained with blood and fishy smells, her long hair a mess—she looked utterly bedraggled.
“Should be, I guess?” Li Jingyu didn’t dare be too sure.
Sometimes you thought you’d found “land,” but when you got closer, it turned out to be a massive, endless ice floe.
Whether they’d really left the Xuanming Yin Region could only be judged by the yin energy flowing all around.
She sat cross-legged across from Ji Yutang, her Tribulation Moon Robe still spotless, looking just as she had when they set out.
Ji Yutang let out a weak grunt.
She regretted using up all the magic stored in the Xuanxiang Pearl—she didn’t even have enough left to cast a “cleaning spell.” The Dragon Sutra had a divine power called “Heavenly Dragon Purity,” but at her current level, she couldn’t learn it.
Just as Ji Yutang was lost in thought, a clean handkerchief with a familiar scent dropped onto her face.
She shivered, about to sit up, but Li Jingyu’s fingers were already on her cheek.
“You—” Ji Yutang stared blankly at Li Jingyu.
Li Jingyu smiled gently, cast a cleaning spell, and wiped the dust from her body.
Author’s note: Li Jingyu: You’re so dirty— Ji Yutang: I’m already dead from anger.
