ne thinking of joining hands with the other Emissaries to launch a converging attack. In his desperation he raised his Sheng Huo Ling to block with all his might, followed by throwing himself on the ground and rolled away. ‘Bang!’ the Sheng Huo Ling managed to divert the Yitian Sword, but he felt a breeze of his left cheek. Without knowing whether he was dead or still alive he stood up and traced his cheek; he felt something wet and sticky, and extremely painful. Turned out the beard and whiskers on his left cheek, along with a piece of his skin, had been sliced by the Yitian Sword. If not because of the special material Sheng Huo Ling was made of, half of his skull would be sliced by this Yitian Sword strike.

When Zhang Wuji left to see Xie Xun, Zhao Min kept thinking that Jin Hua Popo was hiding a lot of craftiness; plus, Chen Youliang’s actions were suspicious. She was anxious over his safety; therefore, she quietly followed behind. She knew her own ‘qing gong’ was inferior, hence if she came too close she would be discovered in no time. She stayed some distance away and did not come close until Zhang Wuji was fighting the Persian Three Emissaries.

When Zhang Wuji was engaged in internal energy duel against the Three Emissaries, she was delighted; thinking that although these three foreigners’ martial art was weird, in term of internal energy, no way would they surpass Zhang Wuji’s ‘jiu yang shen gong’. When Zhang Wuji suddenly called out to hold their hands, Zhao Min was about to call him to be careful, but the enemy had already launched the ‘yin feng dao’ [‘yin’ wind saber] that Zhang Wuji was hurt and he fell down. In her anxiety she disregarded everything and dashed out, snatched the Yitian Sword and brandished it with Kunlun Pai’s suicidal stance she saw in the Wan An Temple earlier.

Zhao Min succeeded in forcing Liuyun Shi away, but the Yitian Sword had bounced back and slashed her own hat, exposing a cluster of her beautiful hair. Her Sword made a slanted circle as she threw herself toward Miaofeng Shi, while her Yitian Sword followed behind.

This move was called the ‘ren gui tong tu’ [man and ghost travel together], a Kongtong Pai suicidal move, similar to Kunlun Pai’s ‘yu sui kun gang’; both were used as one was certain he or she would definitely lost, then his or her only hope would be to die together with the enemy. Shaolin and Emei, two Buddhist sects did not have this kind of desperate stances. Those who launched ‘yu sui kun gang’ and ‘ren gui tong tu’ were not trying to score a victory amidst a defeat, or to seek life amidst deaths; but they deliberately wounded themselves to perish together with the enemy. When the masters of Kunlun Pai and Kongtong Pai were imprisoned, they were humiliated by being forced to contend in martial arts while their internal energy was gone. Because they knew it was impossible for them to score any victory, some hot-tempered masters had used these kinds of stances. Unfortunately, their strength was not enough and they failed in their attempts, giving Zhao Min the opportunity to memorize these stances, one-by-one, in her heart.

Seeing her coming his way in this violent manner, Miaofeng Shi was shocked; his body turned cold and he froze. Although his martial art skill was high, his courage was lacking. Seeing this kind of move, he was unable to parry; he was so intimidated that he stood as stiff as a corpse, with hands froze in the air, waiting for death. In the meantime, Zhao Min’s body had already reached the Sheng Huo Ling in his hand; shaking out her Sword, she stabbed Miaofeng Shi’s chest.

The principle of this stance was throwing one’s body to the enemy’s weapon first, and then, as the weapon, be it saber or sword, spear or axe, was still in one’s body that the enemy’s movement was temporarily delayed, one would stab one’s sword. Even if the enemy’s martial art skill were higher, they would not be able to escape.

Miaofeng Shi was scared to death to see this fierce attack. Fortunately, the weapon in his hand was the Sheng Huo Ling, which looked like an iron ruler, without any sharp edge. As Zhao Min’s body landed on the weapon, she was unharmed. Her Sword had barely stabbed forward when her back was grabbed by Huiyue Shi. The Persian Three Emissaries’ collaboration in fighting the enemy together was truly marvelous beyond imagination.

Zhao Min’s two suicidal moves had thrown three martial art masters into confusion; until this time, Huiyue Shi only managed to grab Zhao Min’s back. Her grab seemed ordinary, but actually it was very accurate and swift like a meteor. Although Zhao Min’s sword was also swift and fierce, it still failed to reach Miaofeng Shi’s body in the end.

As Zhao Min felt her arm tighten, she knew something was amiss, she did not resist the pull, she let her body fall backwards at the same time turned her sword around and stabbed her own lower abdomen. This suicidal stance was even fiercer than the previous ones; it was a part of Wudang Pai’s sword technique called the ‘tian di tong sui’ [heaven and earth live together]. Actually, it was not created by Zhang Sanfeng, but came from Yin Liting’s painstaking effort; he meant to use it against Yang Xiao. Ever since Ji Xiaofu died, he could think nothing else but how to kill Yang Xiao to avenge her death; yet he realized his martial art skill was not Yang Xiao’s match. Although his Shifu was the number one martial artist in the world, his own intelligence and perception was limited; his comprehension was only about 30, 40% of his Shifu’s skill. In any case, after killing Yang Xiao he did not think to live anyway, hence on the Wudang mountain he painstakingly thought of several moves, which might enable him to kill the enemy while disregarding his own life.

Yin Liting trained his sword in secret. One time Zhang Sanfeng saw him. He sighed, knowing that whatever he said, Yin Liting could not be persuaded. Thereafter he named this stance ‘tian di tong shou’, meaning that after someone dies, the spirit becomes immortal, it will live for tens of thousand springs (season). Hence, in actuality, it was a solemn and stirring sword move to take away the shell in which that spirit resides.

Yin Liting’s senior disciple was trying to use this stance at the Wan An Temple; luckily Fan Yao saved him. Zhao Min saw it and this time she used it. This move could be used to kill an enemy who was grabbing one from behind. The sharp sword penetrated one’s lower abdomen, straight through to the enemy’s lower abdomen; how would Huiyue Shi escape? If Miaofeng Shi was not scared out of his wits and Liuyun Shi was standing close by, then the two of them might be able to save her, since Huiyue Shi and her partners had been working together long enough that they developed an alertness as if they were one person.

They saw the Yitian Sword was about to pierce Zhao Min and Huiyue Shi’s lower abdomen. Right at this crucial moment Zhang Wuji succeeded in breaking through his sealed acupoint. Quickly he reached out to seize the Yitian Sword. Zhao Min struggled to free herself from Huiyue Shi’s grab. Moving very fast she took the Sheng Huo Ling from Zhang Wuji’s hand and threw it far away. ‘Swish!’ it fell among the sharp steel spikes Jin Hua Popo spread on the ground earlier.

To the Persian Three Emissaries, this Sheng Huo Ling was as important as their lives. Liuyun Shi and Huiyue Shi disregarded Zhang Wuji and Zhao Min as their enemy; they did not even give any thought to Miaofeng Shi’s safety, they jumped toward the steel spike formation to look for the Sheng Huo Ling.

Rushing forward for only a ‘zhang’ or so, they reached the steel spikes. “Ah!” Huiyue Shi screamed, as she treaded on one of the steel spikes.

It was a moonless night with wind blowing hard, the grass was knee-deep; they could not see the steel spikes and the Sheng Huo Ling. They were forced to get down and pull the spikes while groping around for the Sheng Huo Ling. At that moment Miaofeng Shi called out in alarm, as if he had just awaken from a dream, and leaped forward to follow his comrades.

In order to save Zhang Wuji, Zhao Min had used these three stances much like a rabbit fighting a falcon; certainly without even give it a thought in advance. Now that the excitement subsided, the more she thought about it, the more she was afraid. “Wah!” she broke into a cry and threw herself in Zhang Wuji’s bosom.

Zhang Wuji embraced her with a heart full of gratitude, but he realized that as soon as the Persian Three Emissaries found the Sheng Huo Ling, they would turn around against them. “Let’s go quickly!” he hastily said. He turned to return the Tulong Saber to Xie Xun. Carrying the severely wounded Yin Li, he said, “Xie Da Xia, let us temporarily escape from them.”

“Right,” Xie Xun replied. Stooping down he unsealed Jin Hua Popo’s acupoints.

Zhang Wuji thought that after narrowly escaped death, Jin Hua Popo would certainly forget her enmity towards Xie Xun. Four people went down the hill for several ‘zhang’s when Zhang Wuji thought that although Yin Li was his own cousin, yet a man and a woman should not be to close to each other; thereupon he handed her over so Jin Hua Popo could carry her.

Zhao Min was leading the way, followed by Jin Hua Popo and Xie Xun. Zhang Wuji was the last, to protect them against the enemy. Looking back he saw the Persian Three Emissaries were still stooping down, searching among the long thick patch of grass. Zhang Wuji recalled the thrill of his defeat just now, and his heart shivered in fear; plus he was not sure if Yin Li would survive this severe injury.

While he was still deep in thought, suddenly he heard Xie Xun’s angry shout and saw him sending his fist toward Jin Hua Popo’s back. Jin Hua Popo reached back to parry, while simultaneously throwing Yin Li to the ground. Zhang Wuji was shocked and flew forward.

“Mrs. Han,” Xie Xun barked, “Why do you want to kill Miss Yin?”

Jin Hua Popo laughed coldly, “Whether you killed me or not, that’s your business. Whether I want to kill her or not, that’s my business. Why do you care anyway?”

“Since I am here,” Zhang Wuji said, “I won’t let you harm anybody on your whim.”

“Haven’t you meddled enough in other people business for today, Sire?” Jin Hua Popo asked.

“That’s not necessarily your business,” Zhang Wuji said, “The Persian Three Emissaries will pursue us here in an instant and you still will not go?”

Jin Hua Popo snorted and ran westward. Suddenly she shot three golden flowers backhandedly toward the back of Yin Li’s head. Zhang Wuji stretched out his hand and flicked his fingers. ‘Swish, swish, swish!’ the sound of golden flowers split the air, flying back toward Jin Hua Popo, stronger than arrows shot from a crossbow.

Jin Hua Popo had already seen his face clearly when Zhang Wuji held Yin Li for the first time and wiped out the beards pasted on his lips. Since realizing this young man’s internal energy was surprisingly very profound, she did not dare to reach out and catch; hastily she ducked down to dodge. The three golden flowers swept past her robe and tore away three big strips of clothes on her back. She was so frightened that her heart was jumping madly; she scurried away without even looking back.

Zhang Wuji reached out to carry Yin Li. Suddenly he heard Zhao Min moan in pain while bending her waist and pressed both hands on her lower abdomen. Hastily he went forward and asked, “What is it?” But then he saw that her hands were full of blood, which was still seeping out from her fingers. Turned out the ‘tian di tong shou’ had stabbed her abdomen after all.

Zhang Wuji was very shocked and busily asked, “Is the injury deep?”

Right at that moment they heard Miaofeng Shi cheered, “I found it! I found it!”

“Don’t mind me!” Zhao Min urged, “Go! Just go!” Zhang Wuji reached out to carry her and rushed downhill.

“To the ship! We escape to the sea!” Zhao Min said.

“Right!” Zhang Wuji responded. With one hand carried Yin Li and the other hand Zhao Min, he sped downhill.

Xie Xun followed close behind; he was secretly astonished, “This youngster is amazing; carrying two adults yet still able to run this fast.”

Zhang Wuji was so anxious that he felt his heart go numb. Even if only one of these two girls in his hands would die of her wounds, he would hate himself for the rest of his life. Luckily their bodies were still warm and did not gradually turn cold.

As the Persian Three Emissaries found the Sheng Huo Ling, they rushed to pursue, but these three’s ‘qing gong’ was definitely inferior to Zhang Wuji. It was even greatly inferior compared to Xie Xun’s.

As Zhang Wuji was nearing the ship, he loudly called out, “Shao Min Junzhu’s order: Raise the sail and weigh the anchor, prepare to sail immediately!”

So when he and Xie Xun stepped their feet on the deck, the ship was ready to sail. But the captain must hear from Zhao Min personally; he went forward to ask for instruction.

Zhao Min had lost a lot of blood. With a weak voice she said, “Hear … hear Zhang Gongzi’s order … do it …”

The captain immediately complied, the ship set sail that when the Persian Three Emissaries reached the shore, the ship had already sailed dozens of ‘zhang’s away from the island.

Zhang Wuji laid down both Zhao Min and Yin Li side by side in the cabin. Xiao Zhao helped him take off their clothes to reveal the wounds. Zhang Wuji assessed these two women’s conditions; he saw the sword wound on Zhao Min’s abdomen was approximately half a ‘cun’ [1 cun is about 1 inch] deep. Although she was bleeding profusely, her life was not in danger. All of the three golden flowers on Yin Li’s chest had hit her vital points; apparently Jin Hua Popo did not attack her half-heartedly. Whether her life could be saved remained very difficult to say. He applied some medicine and wrapped their injuries.

Yin Li remained unconscious, while tears streaming down Zhao Min’s face. Zhang Wuji asked how she felt; she merely clenched her teeth without giving an answer.

“Zeng Shao Xia,” Xie Xun said, “Old Xie has left the matters of the world; this time unexpectedly returning to the Central Earth, and still can make an acquaintance with a friend with such a deep ‘yi qi’, I am happy beyond believe.”

Zhang Wuji led him to sit on a chair in the middle of the cabin. He knelt and bowed down, crying, “Yifu, child Wuji is unfilial; has not been able to meet you sooner, causing Yifu to suffer extreme hardships.”

“You …” Xie Xun was shocked, “What did you say?”

“I am your child Wuji,” Zhang Wuji said.

But how could Xie Xun believe? “You … what did you say?” he asked.

“The fist technique starts with a focused attention, intention precedes strength, only then victory will be achieved …” Zhang Wuji gushed non-stop, reciting the theories Xie Xun passed on to him on the Bing Huo Island just before they bade each other good-bye.

After he recited about twenty sentences or so, Xie Xun was surprised and happy; he grabbed Zhang Wuji’s arms and said, “You … you are really my child Wuji?”

Zhang Wuji stood up and embraced Xie Xun tightly, while trying to control his emotions. Thereupon he narrated in brief important points of what had happened since they parted omitting the fact that he was the Cult Leader of the Ming Cult. He did not want his Yifu to observe the Cult protocol and did obeisance to him instead.

Xie Xun felt as if he was in a dream; but this time he could not help but believe. “Lao Tian Ye [Heaven, God] has eyes, Lao Tian Ye has eyes!” he repeatedly said.

Suddenly they heard the sailor on watch shouted from the stern, “The enemy ship pursues!”

Zhang Wuji rushed toward the deck and saw on a distant a large ship riding on the wind with five sails open, coming fast toward them. In the dark night he could not see the ship’s hull, but the five large white sails were clearly visible. Zhang Wuji looked for a while; he noticed that the enemy’s ship was lighter; they were closing the gap rapidly. He was anxious and was at a loss. If it was only the Persian Three Emissaries, then he could fight them inside the cabin. Because of the space limitation, they might not be easily collaborating with one another. Thereupon he moved Zhao Min and Yin Li to the side, took the two big anchors on the deck, and placed them on the middle of the cabin as a barrier, forcing the Persian Three Emissaries to fight one on one.

As he finished the preparation, suddenly a loud explosion was heard; their ship violently leaned sideways, followed by the seawater rise up to the sky and splash into the cabin.

“The enemy ship fires their cannon! The enemy ship fires their cannon!” the sailor on the stern loudly called out. Luckily the cannon missed its target and landed on the water.

Zhao Min beckoned Zhang Wuji and in a low voice said, “We also have cannon!”

Zhang Wuji remembered and immediately rushed to the main deck, ordering the sailors to take away the covers of the cannon and load it with gunpowder and iron cannonball. They lighted the fuse and ‘Bang!’ the cannonball flew out. These sailors were Zhao Min’s warriors in disguise; their martial art skills were not weak, however they knew nothing about artillery or naval battle; the cannonball landed in between two enemy ships. Column of water rose up several ‘zhang’s to the sky, but the enemy’s ships were not even swayed. Fortunately, as the enemy saw that they also have guns, they did not dare to get too close.

Not too long afterwards, the enemy ship fired another round. This time it hit the bow and immediately their ship caught fire. Zhang Wuji busily directed the sailors to draw water to fight the fire. Suddenly he saw the fire had reached one of the upper deck’s cabins. With both hands carried two buckets of water, he kicked the cabin door open and splashed the water to extinguish the fire. Amidst the smoke he saw a woman lying on the bed. It was Zhou Zhiruo. She was completely soaked.

Zhang Wuji dropped the buckets and rushed in. “Miss Zhou,” he hastily asked, “Are you all right?”

Zhou Zhiruo’s head and face was wet; she looked really miserable. She was extremely stunned to suddenly see Zhang Wuji appear. She tried to move her hands, ‘clink, clank, clink’. It turned out her hands and feet were shackled in iron chain by Jin Hua Popo. Zhang Wuji rushed to the lower deck cabin to fetch the Yitian Sword and cut away the shackles.

“Zhang Jiaozhu,” Zhou Zhiruo said, “You … how come you are here?”

Before Zhang Wuji could reply, the hull suddenly shook violently. Zhou Zhiruo’s legs were still weak and she fell into Zhang Wuji’s bosom. Zhang Wuji busily reached out to help her up. By the flame light from outside the window Zhang Wuji saw on her pale face two streaks of blush; embellished by little drops of water, she looked so beautiful and elegant, just like narcissus in the morning dew.

Zhang Wuji calmed himself down and said, “Let us go to the lower deck cabin.”

Two people barely went out the door when they felt the ship was spinning. Turned out the enemy’s cannon just now had not only hit the rudder and smashed it, but killed the helmsman and threw him down the sea as well.

The captain was anxious, he personally loaded the cannon, with the hope of sinking the enemy ship. He kept pouring gunpowder down the gun barrel and packed it solid with an iron rod. Turning around the cannon’s mouth, he lighted the fuse. ‘Bang!’ Suddenly the air around them turned red as the explosion shook the sky, pieces of steel and iron flew everywhere. The cannon exploded and killed the captain and the sailors standing nearby; their flesh and blood scattered everywhere. It was because the captain wanted to utilize the full power of the cannon that he put several times the amount of gunpowder than necessary, so that the cannon exploded instead.

Zhang Wuji and Zhou Zhiruo had just stepped onto the deck when they saw the ship was on fire; they withdrew immediately. Looking around Zhang Wuji saw a small boat tied on the port side of the ship. “Miss Zhou,” he called out, “Jump to that boat …”

By this time Xiao Zhao, carrying Yin Li, and Xie Xun, carrying Zhao Min, emerged from the lower deck cabin. Turned out the explosion had made a crack on the hull of the ship and the seawater welled up quickly. Zhang Wuji led Xie Xun and Xiao Zhao to the boat. He cut the rope with his sword and ‘splash!’ the boat fell onto the sea below.

Zhang Wuji jumped out and lightly landed on the boat. He took the pair of oars and started rowing with all his might. By this time, the fire was blazing wild, painting the surface of the sea to a bright red. Zhang Wuji thought he must take the boat as far away as possible from this circle of light. If the Persian Three Emissaries did not see the small boat, they would think that everybody perished in the sea and will no longer pursue them. Xie Xun followed his example by taking out a plank and rowing furiously.

The small boat sailed swiftly on the waves; in a short moment they were outside the circle of light. They heard a series of explosions as the gunpowder on the ship was detonated. The Persian ship did not dare to come close; they stopped to observe afar from quite a distance.

Some of Zhao Min’s warriors possessed good water skills; they dove into the sea and swam toward the enemy ship, crying for help. But the Persians shot them with arrows and they died in the sea.

Zhang Wuji and Xie Xun did not dare to slack off. If the Three Emissaries overtook them on land, they would still be able to fight to the death. But now they were in the middle of the boundless ocean; if the enemy ship fired their canon, even if they missed the small boat by several ‘zhang’s, the wave would surge and the small boat would capsize. Fortunately, these two’s internal energy was very profound that they were not exhausted although they rowed for half a night.

Black clouds filled the sky towards dawn and all around them was gray drizzle of thick fog. Zhang Wuji happily said, “If this thick fog stays for half a day, then the enemy will not be able to find us in any way.” But towards the afternoon, suddenly a strong wind came followed by a heavy rain.

The small boat was blown southward by the wind. It was the depth of wintertime. Everybody’s clothes were soaked. Zhang Wuji and Xie Xun had profound internal energy, so they were all right. But blown by the north wind, Zhou Zhiruo and Xiao Zhao could not restrain their teeth from chattering. Unfortunately, there was nothing on that small boat; nobody could come up with any ideas. Zhang Wuji and Xie Xun had stopped rowing for a while; right now four people removed their eight shoes and used them to scoop the rainwater accumulated on the boat to the sea.

Xie Xun was very happy to finally meet Zhang Wuji; although the present situation of their plight was dangerous, he did not seem to care. He cursed the sky and shouted at the sea, and was busy talking and laughing in the rain. Xiao Zhao was also carefree; she happily accompanied Xie Xun chitchatting. Only Zhou Zhiruo was silent; occasionally her eyes would meet Zhang Wuji’s, and she would immediately turn her head around to avoid his gaze.

“Wuji,” Xie Xun said, “In the past, while your parents and I were riding on a boat together, we met a violent storm along the way; it was worse than today. Afterwards we were marooned on an iceberg and we had seals as our food. But that time the south wind was blowing, so we were floating to the North Pole’s world of ice and snow. Today the north wind is blowing. Could it be that ‘Lao Tian Ye’ [God, or Heaven] think Xie Xun is not pleasing to the eyes, that He wants to send me to the South Pole’s palace of old immortals for another twenty years? Ha ha ha ha …!”

After laughing for a moment he said, “That time your parents were one man and one woman, a talented young man and a beautiful young woman; it was a match made in Heaven. Now you have four beautiful girls with you; what can we do? Ha ha ha ha …!”

Zhou Zhiruo blushed and lowered her head; while Xiao Zhao remained calm and said, “Xie Laoyezi [old master Xie], I am Gongziye’s [master] servant; of course I don’t count.”

Although Zhao Min’s injury was not light, she was conscious the whole time; “Xie Laoyezi,” she suddenly said, “If you keep talking nonsense, as soon as I am well, we’ll see if I don’t slap your ears really good.”

Xie Xun stuck out his tongue and said with a smile, “This girl is actually very mean.” Suddenly the smile disappeared from his face; he hesitated a moment before saying, “Hmm, last night you launched three suicidal moves. The first one was Kunlun Pai’s ‘yu sui kun gang’, the second one was Kongtong Pai’s ‘ren gui tong tu’, and the third one … what was it? The old man is uncouth and unlearned, could not hear it.”

Zhao Min was secretly shocked. “No wonder Jin Mao Shi Wang’s name shook the world in the past; his conducts in Jianghu were earth-shattering,” she thought, “His eyes are blind, yet he was able to guess correctly the two stances I was using. He truly lives up to his reputation.”

“The third move was Wudang Pai’s ‘tian di tong shou’,” she said, “Apparently it was developed only recently, no wonder Laoyezi does not know.” She said that with a really respectful expression.

Xie Xun sighed, “You did your utmost to save Wuji; that was really good,” he said, “But why did you risk your own life? Why risked your life?”

Zhao Min started to say, “He … he …” but then she stopped, as if she was mulling over whether she should continue or not. Finally she could not refrain from sobbing; she said, “He … Who told him to show such affection? … Hugging … Hugging Miss Yin. I don’t want to live!” Finished speaking, her tears were already rolling down like rain.

Hearing her publicly revealing her deepest feelings unexpectedly, four people were startled; they did not remember Zhao Min was a Mongolian girl who loves when she wants to love, and who hates when she wants to hate. Certainly she was not wishy-washy; unlike the Central Earth’s women who were strongly influenced by Confucianism’s custom and regulations. Besides, they were all on a small boat in the middle of the ocean, the heavy rain drenched their heads, their small boat could capsize anytime and they would all perish. At the time when they hovered between life and death, it was even more unnecessary to be scrupulous.

Listening to Zhao Min, Zhang Wuji could not help but feel touched. “Miss Zhao is originally my archenemy,” he thought, “This time my primary intention was to see Yifu when we were going out to the sea together. Who would have thought that she would have these deep feelings toward me?” Unable to restrain his emotions, he reached out to hold her hand, put his lips next to her ear and whispered softly, “No matter what, next time you can’t do it again.”

As Zhao Min blurted out her feelings, she had almost immediately had already regretted it; thinking that if a girl from an honorable family did not stop this kind of talk from coming out, how could he not look down on her? Suddenly hearing him admonish her lovingly, she was surprised and happy, bashful and loving at the same time. She felt an unspeakable sweetness in her heart and felt that last night’s risking her life three times, and the suffering of drifting on the ocean today, everything, were not in vain.

The heavy rain started to subside and gradually stopped, but the fog was coming back and actually getting thicker and thicker. Suddenly a swishing noise was heard as a large fish, more than 30 catties, leaped up from the sea. Xie Xun’s right hand stretched out and stabbed his five fingers into the fish’s belly, taking the fish into the boat. Everybody cheered. Xiao Zhao took out her sword to cut open its belly and scrape the scales; and then cut it to pieces. They were all hungry, so although the raw fish was smelly, they forced themselves to eat a few slices. Xie Xun ate eagerly; he had lived on a desolated island for more than twenty years, and had survived on all kinds of food, how could he care about eating raw fish? Besides, the fish was fresh; after chewing for some times and being used to the fresh fish smell, the meat brought out its raw sweet flavor.

The waves gradually subsided. After eating, they all closed their eyes to get some rest. They had been fighting violently for the whole day and whole night the previous day, they were not only physically, but emotionally exhausted as well. Although Zhou Zhiruo and Xiao Zhao were not engaged in battle physically, the excitement and frights they experienced were not small. The ocean gently rocked the small boat like a cradle; the six people on the boat fell asleep one after another.

They were sound asleep for almost six hours. As an old man, Xie Xun was the first one to wake up. He heard the sound of five young people breathing blended with the sound of the wave and the wind. Since Zhao Min and Yin Li were injured, their breathings were short and quick. Zhou Zhiruo’s breathing was light and long. Zhang Wuji’s inhales and exhales sounded like they were broken yet continuous, without any distinct separation. Xie Xun was secretly astonished, “This child internal energy is very profound,” he thought, “I won’t be able to achieve this level in all my life.”

Xiao Zhao’s breathing was sometimes fast, sometimes slow, a sign of a very special school’s internal energy cultivation method. Xie Xun frowned as he remembered something, “This is strange,” he mused, “Could it be that this child is …”

Suddenly his thought was interrupted by Yin Li’s loud shout, “Zhang Wuji, you little kid, why don’t you come with me to Ling She Island?”

Zhang Wuji, Zhao Min, Zhou Zhiruo and Xiao Zhao were awakened by her shout. She said again, “I live alone on the Island, and quite lonely … why are you not willing to come and accompany me? I miss you so much, you … you are in the afterworld, do you know that?”

Zhang Wuji put his hand on her forehead and felt it