More than ten kilometers away, what others could at best see as a tiny black dot, was, when Ye Jingyu focused his gaze, a ship—a colossal vessel stretching over a hundred zhang in length. However, for Ye Jingyu, who had seen true ocean liners in his past life, a vessel of this size was nothing remarkable...

It was constructed entirely of nanmu wood, sheathed in a layer of iron plating that rendered the hull even sturdier. From the towering mast, enormous sails billowed, and a gigantic flag fluttered, emblazoned with a massive crimson sun—the banner of the island nation of Dongyi in the East Sea...

"Damn it, why does that look like the flag of the Little Japanese?" Ye Jingyu cursed under his breath, but immediately, he launched himself from the mountaintop. This single leap propelled him several hundred meters into the air, a testament to the sheer magnitude of his strength...

"A ship, such a huge ship! Heaven has eyes, Satan has mercy, the Three Pure Ones are watching! I can finally leave this godforsaken place..." Ye Jingyu’s face was alight with ecstasy. He had spent a year and a half here. The first three months were bearable with Dugu Ba Chen, but the subsequent year and more had been spent entirely alone, without a single soul to speak to. If he hadn't made a habit of talking to himself, he might have forgotten how to speak altogether...

Day and night, aside from relentless cultivation, his only hope was to leave this place sooner rather than later. Yet, he had no idea exactly where Dugu Ba Chen had marooned him. Throughout this long year, let alone a large ship, not even a derelict fishing boat had passed by...

Ye Jingyu had once attempted to build a vessel to escape. But without any tools, the best he could manage was tying together some rafts. The largest attempt involved lashing together more than ten massive trees into a huge raft. He fashioned two large oars but after paddling less than two kilometers, the structure shattered against the surrounding reefs. After being chased by hundreds of great white sharks upon falling into the sea, he never again considered self-built escape...

Now, seeing a large ship suddenly sail into view, how could he not be ecstatic...

His body descended heavily onto the flat mountaintop, compressing the solid rock beneath him into a deep crater. With another powerful push, he shot forward like an arrow, plummeting toward the base of the mountain...

This launch carried him over three hundred zhang, his body slamming momentarily onto a towering tree before he recoiled with another burst of force, instantly pulverizing the tree under his weight...

With several such leaps and bounds, Ye Jingyu reached the seashore. The ten-plus kilometer journey had consumed mere breaths, yet the massive ship was still several li distant...

"Damn it, what kind of ship is this? Why is its speed so slow? Wait, why isn't it coming closer?" Suddenly, Ye Jingyu noticed the great vessel had no intention of beaching; it continued sailing eastward, seemingly unconcerned with stopping for supplies on the island...

Seeing this, Ye Jingyu exploded in rage. He had been near madness from the isolation in this place, and he was not about to let such a rare opportunity slip by...

He hefted the Heavenly Sovereign Blade, spun around, and charged back into the jungle behind him. With a flick of the blade, a tree requiring three men to embrace was cleanly severed. He sheathed the blade, lifted the fallen trunk, and sprinted toward the sea...

Just as he neared the water’s edge, he gathered all his might and leaped. His strength now exceeded seven million jin; this jump sent him flying outward like a cannonball...

He soared hundreds of zhang. While still airborne, the Heavenly Sovereign Blade moved repeatedly, disintegrating the massive tree, splitting it into hundreds of logs as thick as a man's fist, each one hurled outward...

As his body was about to strike the water, the last splinter was just being released. His feet landed precisely on the first log he had thrown. A surge of True Essence circulated within him as he unleashed the Soul Chasing, Spirit Snatching technique, tapping lightly on the log to propel himself forward several more zhang. He then used the bobbing logs floating on the sea as stepping stones, sprinting toward the great ship several li away...

Anyone witnessing this sight would have their jaw drop in astonishment. From the moment Ye Jingyu left the island, his swordsmanship had reached astonishing heights. After all, few could cleave a colossal tree into so many segments in such a short time. Furthermore, his control over force was nothing short of perfect. Unable to rely on the ground for leverage while airborne, he managed to launch those sharpened spars one by one, each trajectory executed with flawless precision...

Perhaps only Ye Jingyu could seamlessly combine such explosive power with such delicate control...

This was a warship of the Dongyi Nation, though one tasked with escorting captives. In the year and a half Ye Jingyu had been stranded, the Dou Hun Continent had undergone cataclysmic changes. The Tian Yuan Empire was wracked by internal rebellions across its domains. Smaller nations like Shu Yun and Dongyi seized the opportunity to invade, tearing the Tian Yuan Empire into pieces—to say nothing of the powerful Meng Tu Empire...

The Tuoba family had been driven out of the Nine Provinces three centuries prior and had harbored ambitions of returning ever since. However, the Tian Yuan Empire had remained formidable, especially with the emergence of Xuanyuan Xiaozhan, who defended Storm City. Not only did he completely thwart the Tuoba ambitions outside the city gates, but he also pushed the Tuoba forces back repeatedly. As a result, the Tian Yuan Empire maintained complete control over Ling Province and even annexed a significant portion of the Meng Tu Empire's grasslands...

But now, with widespread uprisings shaking the Tian Yuan Empire internally, Xuanyuan Xiaozhan was forced to return to Tian Province to defend the imperial capital, Tian Yuan City. The Meng Tu Empire exploited this, launching an offensive that, over the last year, allowed them to seize all territory west of the Heavenly Gang Mountain Range in Ling Province, advancing right to the gates of Storm City. It was only because Storm City was the foremost ancient fortress that it hadn't yet fallen...

Although Storm City held firm, it presented the Tian Yuan Empire with a grave crisis. Within the Nine Provinces, the offensives launched by Shu Yun, Dongyi, and the rebel armies grew increasingly fierce. After a year of warfare, they had successfully carved out Yan, Yun, and parts of Lan and Hai Provinces from Tian Yuan control, with even sections of Qing Province falling outside imperial jurisdiction...

Coupled with the more than half of Ling Province occupied by the Meng Tu Empire, the territory the Tian Yuan Empire could still command amounted to less than five provinces.