The Golden Core cultivators of the Wanluo Palace were shaken to their core, thrown into instant chaos.

Most of these cultivators had never personally witnessed a warship, but that didn't mean they were ignorant of its might.

When Wang Shiwei saw the colossal, three-hundred-zhang long azure warship descending from thousands of feet in the sky, pressing down on the desolate island with lightning speed, finally hovering just a thousand feet overhead, his face instantly drained of color in sheer terror.

The light from the flying sword beneath his feet flared violently, and he immediately shot toward the direction of the Blood Sand Stronghold, fleeing for his life.

Wang Shiwei, as the Young Master of the Wanluo Palace, was undeniably arrogant, but he was not the sort to boast when faced with certain defeat. He had only dared to lead over thirty mid-to-late stage Golden Core cultivators from the Wanluo Palace to this Blood Sand Stronghold to encircle and suppress Ye Qin because he was absolutely confident of success.

But now, with the sudden emergence of a warship, the situation was entirely beyond his control.

Wang Shiwei not only recognized the colossal azure vessel as a warship wielding the power of a Minor Divine Ability at a glance, but he also clearly understood the terrifying combat strength of such a ship. This was clearly the kind of flying mount only possessed by Nascent Soul cultivators with immensely deep financial resources. How could any Golden Core cultivator hope to contend with it?

Amidst his shock, his heart thundered.

As the Young Master of the Wanluo Palace, he usually scraped together wealth with all his might, yet he had only managed to accumulate tens of millions of spirit stones.

After all, spirit stones earned by cultivators could not all be hoarded; they were needed for cultivation, for purchasing high-grade elixirs, and for acquiring top-tier magic artifacts—all of which demanded vast sums of spirit stones!

This mere late-stage Golden Core cultivator from the Purple Sword Palace, despite being an Elder, was an outsider with no blood ties or marriage connections to the Purple Sword Palace. Where had Elder Ye acquired such enormous wealth, and where had he obtained such a Minor Divine Ability-level warship?

Even the cheapest small-scale Minor Divine Ability warship cost well over hundreds of millions of spirit stones to construct. How could anyone amass such a surplus purely for building a vessel?!!!

Wang Shiwei was filled with intense regret. He had kept people monitoring Ye Qin for over twenty years, yet they had completely failed to uncover intelligence as critical as the existence of a warship. He inwardly cursed his subordinates as utter waste.

"Disperse quickly! Evade the main cannon broadside!"

The other Golden Core cultivators of the Wanluo Palace needed no reminder from Wang Shiwei; they were well aware of the formidable power of a Minor Divine Ability warship. Without hesitation, they urged their magical artifacts and shot off in all directions, scattering desperately.

Driven at full power, the Great Wing Warship's rounded azure shield shone brilliantly, enveloping the massive three-hundred-zhang hull. The giant, wood-like, wing-like azure structures spread out, stirring up fierce gale winds. The sails on the warship were fully unfurled, its momentum surging powerfully as it descended at an alarming speed.

The Great Wing Warship cut through the air with a howling rush, halting its descent at the altitude of a thousand feet. It smoothly maneuvered and settled above the desolate Spirit Island.

Simultaneously, under the direction of the numerous equipped puppets aboard the vessel, the runes on the ten light-model Minor Divine Ability spiritual energy cannons simultaneously ignited, and rays of ethereal light converged in their deep muzzles. The ten-plus equipped puppets behind the cannons had crystals flashing in their eyes, rapidly adjusting the angle of the barrels.

The spiritual energy in the Minor Divine Ability spiritual energy cannons condensed with extreme swiftness. Almost at the exact moment the Wanluo Palace cultivators scattered, the cannons roared forth!

"Boom! Boom! Boom...!"

Ten massive roars that shook the sky and the sea sounded simultaneously.

The ten early-stage Minor Divine Ability spiritual energy cannons blasted out ten pillars of immensely powerful malevolent light rays. Each column was over ten zhang thick, radiating boundless, dazzling light, and streaked towards the scattering Golden Core cultivators of the Wanluo Palace fleeing from the island.

These light pillars possessed destructive power equivalent to a Minor Divine Ability-level Swift Thunder Ancient Mirror.

This Minor Divine Ability-class warship was a battlefield weapon designed to combat Nascent Soul cultivators and tenth-tier or higher demon beasts.

Even the weakest light-model Minor Divine Ability spiritual energy cannon blast required a peak Nascent Soul cultivator to evade its edge to prevent severe injury. If ten such blasts struck a Nascent Soul cultivator simultaneously without evasion, they would perish instantly in regret.

Let alone these Golden Core cultivators, whose strength paled in comparison to Nascent Soul experts—a single blast was enough to reduce them to ash!

Of course, spiritual energy cannons driven by spirit stones carried a terrifying cost. Each shot consumed one thousand high-grade spirit stones, equivalent to ten million low-grade spirit stones.

The volley of ten spiritual energy cannon blasts instantly consumed ten thousand high-grade spirit stones, draining one hundred million low-grade spirit stones from the warship’s reserve tank.

As the cannons fired, spirit stones were consumed like a rushing torrent.

Listening to the ten booming reports, Ye Qin felt a twinge of pain.

He and Bing'er had spent over fifty years refining and selling elixirs, saving most of the resulting low-grade spirit stones. They had refined them into high-grade stones within the Earth Manor, accumulating only a little over four billion. After deducting the five hundred million spent on the warship construction and various other expenses over the years, just over three billion remained.

This meant that this warship, with its ten-cannon salvo, could only fire about thirty times before its spirit stone supply was depleted, rendering it useless without replenishment.

However, Ye Qin decided to fire anyway.

Firstly, having completed the warship, he hadn't yet had a chance to test the cannons. This group of Wanluo Palace Golden Core cultivators was the perfect test subject to gauge the Great Wing Warship’s maximum offensive power. This way, he would have a clearer understanding of the warship’s capability in the Immortal-Demon Battlefield later on.

Secondly, the number of Golden Core cultivators from the Wanluo Palace was too large; without deploying the Great Wing Warship, a swift resolution would be difficult.

The ten terrifying malevolent light rays intersected instantly across the entire desolate Spirit Island.

Crack!

Crack, crack...!

When struck by the overwhelmingly potent spiritual energy cannon fire, the panicked Golden Core cultivators had absolutely no means of defense. Their Primordial Spirit artifacts were instantly shattered, and their physical bodies were vaporized into ash, leaving not even a trace of blood mist.

Because the distance was too short, the Golden Core cultivators of the Wanluo Palace had not managed to escape the island before every light pillar struck one or two of them. Several other light beams struck multiple cultivators simultaneously, either killing them instantly or inflicting grievous injuries.

The ten intersecting light pillars instantly annihilated nearly half of the mid-to-late stage Golden Core cultivators from the Wanluo Palace.

"The power of this Great Wing Warship is certainly sufficient; it has enough lethality even against demon cultivators... However, the spirit stones are a bit wasteful. This warship is best used when the enemy forces are densely clustered, only then can its maximum power be unleashed!"

Ye Qin glanced over the vessel, momentarily taken aback, yet nodding in deep satisfaction.

Wang Shiwei had only managed to fly his sword a few hundred zhang away when he looked around. Seeing so many Wanluo Palace Golden Core cultivators instantly killed, suffering such heavy losses, he was immediately filled with shock and rage, completely forgetting his initial plan for dealing with Ye Qin.

"Damn that Ye fellow, you dare to kill so many Golden Core cultivators from my Wanluo Palace! You—you are finished! I, the Young Master, and the entire Wanluo Palace are irreconcilable enemies with you! We will scour the entire Blood Sea just to kill you! Don't think that just because you are an Elder of the Purple Sword Palace, my Wanluo Palace will hold back. You killed cultivators from my Palace; you must die!"

Wang Shiwei’s face, previously marked by a hint of scholarly refinement and elegance, had turned a deep purplish-red, hideous and terrifying, looking as if it might bleed at any moment.

"Protect the Young Master, flee quickly!!"

The seasoned ninth-tier Golden Core cultivator, despite his reluctance, knew that if the important Young Master perished here, the Palace Master would be furious, leading to severe punishment for them.

He hurriedly pulled the Young Master together with the two other higher-cultivation who were fleeing towards them, intending to drag him away quickly, out of the warship cannons' range.

"Damn it, protect who?! He won't get rid of this Young Master that easily! Kill him for me! Everyone over here, fight Ye fellow to the death! This Young Master wants him dead, dead!"

Wang Shiwei, stimulated by the devastating losses, had completely gone mad. He no longer cared that Ye Qin possessed a Minor Divine Ability warship.

These were all core and branch Golden Core cultivators of the Wang clan, the pillars of the Wang family, the future hope for the Wanluo Palace to reach the Nascent Soul stage. These were not outer disciples affiliated with the Wangs. Once lost, they would be extremely difficult to replace.

He had deliberately gathered this contingent of thirty Wang clan Golden Core cultivators specifically to ensure absolute secrecy for this operation.

Now, more than half were dead; he could not bear such a price.

"Young Master, we cannot fight him!"

"That warship’s shield is incredibly powerful; only Nascent Soul cultivators can breach it. The warship's speed is also far beyond our reach. We simply cannot kill him! Hurry, let's flee back to Linhai City! Otherwise, total annihilation awaits, and even the Palace Master won't be able to avenge us!"

"Move!"

However, the Golden Core cultivators of the Wanluo Palace had no intention of letting Wang Shiwei fight the warship to the death. They grabbed him and desperately propelled their artifacts, flying wildly.

...

"That Wang fellow wants to fight to the death? Seeking his own demise!"

Ye Qin snorted disdainfully. He was just about to use his spiritual sense to order the equipped puppets inside the warship’s cabin to continue the cannon bombardment, finishing off this group of Wanluo Palace cultivators completely.

But just then, his brow suddenly twitched, and he snapped his head up to gaze high into the sky.

An incomparably powerful Nascent Soul cultivator's aura—this domineering presence was utterly unrestrained—was shooting out from the Blood Sand Stronghold, rapidly closing in on the desolate island. Strands of divine sense swept across the island.

"Husband, this is bad, it's a Nascent Soul cultivator! It must be a Nascent Soul expert from the Wanluo Palace; we must leave this place quickly!"

Huangfu Bing'er's expression also changed drastically.

"Go!"

Ye Qin was startled. He had no time to order the cannons to fire on Wang Shiwei; he hurriedly ordered the equipped puppets to pilot the warship, ascending rapidly, unfurling its gigantic sails and the azure wings on both sides.

"Swish!"

The Great Wing Warship instantly transformed into an azure streak of light, flashing away towards the far reaches beyond the Blood Sand Stronghold.

The warship's flight speed was no less than that of the Nascent Soul cultivator rapidly approaching the desolate island.

...

Swish!

A figure of a cultivator radiating powerful, surging magical energy materialized high above the desolate island.

A yellow-browed old man, clad in a sweeping black robe and wearing a grim expression, revealed himself.

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