The two walked to the bow and saw a small boat in front of them. There was a man standing upright by the railing. He had sword-like eyebrows, big eyes, and was wearing an ordinary narrow-sleeved blue cloth shirt. He carried a black Xugu sword on his back and looked taciturn.
Seeing Gu Pinglin and the other man, he politely bowed and said, "Long time no see."
"Brother Yao, how are you?" Duan Qingming bowed gracefully.
Yao Feng nodded, looked at Gu Pinglin, and said nothing.
Gu Pinglin had expected his reaction. It was obvious that he still cared about the sea bone pit. Gu Pinglin did not think it was inappropriate. As expected of a member of the Yao family from outside the mountain, he acted according to his own principles and was a friend worth making close friends with. Qi Wan'er was indeed a lucky person. It was a pity that he had lost his trust in the end because he had tried to hide the secret of his rebirth.
Gu Pinglin said, "Brother Qi Thirteen?"
"How do you know it's me who wants to see you?" Qi Wan'er suddenly opened the curtain and walked out of the cabin while laughing.
Yao Feng would not take the initiative to look for him, so of course it was his idea. Gu Pinglin smiled: "Your grandfather is looking for you everywhere."
"Stop talking about it. We were almost discovered by Fourth Uncle in Hai City before," Qi Wan'er sighed and complained to Yao Feng, "I told you to get a big ship, but you insisted on getting this small broken boat. How could this not arouse suspicion!"
He no longer wore the conspicuous red brocade cape, but only a rather ordinary blue sword sleeve, a white belt, a small silver crown to hold his hair, and a blue headband of good quality, but he couldn't hide his arrogance. Gu Pinglin found it funny when he saw this, and it was not Yao Feng's fault. He was not discovered, and it was probably because Yao Feng solved a lot of problems behind the scenes.
Yao Feng remained silent and didn't care.
Duan Qingming smiled and said, "I'm afraid that cousin Wan'er's departure this time has caused Brother Yao a lot of trouble."
Yao Feng shook his head: "No."
"Whether it's troublesome or not, it has nothing to do with you, Duan Liu!" Qi Wan'er said in a bad tone, "My name is Qi Shisan, you just forgot to call me cousin. My last name is Qi, and your last name is Duan. Duan Ba is my cousin, and we have nothing to do with each other!"
Duan Qingming sighed, "My cousin, I am so sad to hear you say that."
Qi Wan'er sneered, "Stop pretending!"
Duan Qingming said: "Forget it, it doesn't matter if you don't recognize me, but your sister is very concerned about you and even asked me about you."
"Have you seen my sister?" Qi Wan'er's face changed, and she quickly stepped forward to grab his arm, "Where is she!"
Duan Qingming stepped aside without leaving a trace: "I left with Shi Ling."
"That rapist!" Qi Wan'er was furious when she heard this, her eyes red, "You actually let him take my sister away, are you a human being?"
Yao Feng immediately stopped him: "Listen to Brother Duan first."
"Calm down, Thirteenth Young Master," Duan Qingming said leisurely, "Of course I am a human, but your surname is Qi and mine is Duan, we have nothing to do with each other. Shi Ji is a great inner alchemy cultivator, how can I take risks for an unrelated person? Besides, I can't stop him, wouldn't it be a waste of my life?"
Qi Wan'er choked and said after a while: "What a coward!"
Duan Qingming smiled and said, "I'm ashamed. I'm not good at swordsmanship and I've always been timid."
Qi Wan'er stamped her feet: "You don't have to do anything. Where is Shiying? I will go find him myself!"
Duan Qingming sighed, "I am a coward. How dare I spy on the whereabouts of the Inner Alchemy Master? I am sorry to make you laugh."
"You!" Qi Wan'er was so angry that she was fuming and was about to step forward again.
"Brother Qi!" Yao Feng grabbed him.
“Let go!”
Seeing that he didn't listen, Yao Feng said in a deep voice: "Wan'er!"
Qi Wan'er was so angry that she almost vomited blood. She turned around and cursed, "What are you yelling for! Are you going to help him?"
This name was a sore spot for him. Yao Feng was also anxious and said something wrong. He felt ashamed, but was afraid that the two would really fight. He did not dare to let go and could only persuade: "There must be something else going on. Calm down first." After saying that, he looked at Duan Qingming again and frowned, "We came out this time because of Miss Qi's matter. Brother Qi was anxious for a moment, I hope Brother Duan will forgive us."
Duan Qingming immediately stopped smiling and said sternly, "How dare I? It's Duan Liu who shouldn't have said such a joke. I'm ashamed of making cousin Wan'er anxious."
He took the initiative to confess, and Yao Feng felt embarrassed: "Brother Duan, please be magnanimous."
Qi Wan'er glared at Yao Feng: "Why are you apologizing to him!"
Yao Feng turned back and said, "In the sea realm, he was plotted against by your Qi clan members and he didn't care. Have you forgotten? Brother Duan is definitely not the kind of person who would watch someone die without helping."
Qi Wan'er was stunned, then slowly stopped struggling and snorted, "Look at his hypocritical appearance, who knows if he is doing it on purpose for others to see."
Gu Pinglin smiled when he heard this.
The most genuine people see the most genuine things. Duan Qingming was of course a person who watched someone die without helping. When encountering such a thing, it would be good enough if he didn't give a push, but he was too good at pretending and always won everyone's praise. On the contrary, he became a person who watched someone die without helping in Yao Feng's eyes.
Seeing Qi Wan'er calm down, Yao Feng let him go: "This is related to Miss Qi's safety, I hope Brother Duan will tell you."
Duan Qingming sighed, "To be honest, Cousin Qi went with Shi Ling of her own free will."
“How is that possible!” Qi Wan’er was shocked at first, then her face turned red and she said angrily, “Nonsense! Huanletian is a filthy sect, why would my sister follow Shi Ding! You must have a grudge against Qi, so you deliberately said such dirty words to ruin her reputation!”
Duan Qingming said, "Cousin Wan'er misunderstood. This was witnessed by everyone, and the Yuan family was also present. I dare not lie in the slightest."
Qi Wan'er was stunned.
Yao Feng knew that he couldn't accept it, so he patted his shoulder and said, "I believe Miss Qi is not that kind of person. Maybe she was deceived."
Duan Qingming said: "No, Shiling brought her to see me the day before yesterday, and I saw that they seemed to be in love with each other..."
"What do you mean by being in love? It's ridiculous, nonsense!" Qi Wan'er interrupted him harshly, her face livid, "How could a daughter of the Qi family be with Huanle Tian... Sister would never dare to do such a thing, it must be the season that forced her!"
"That's not impossible," Duan Qingming thought for a moment and said, "Cousin Qi is weak and timid, she really wouldn't dare to do such a thing."
Qi Wan'er was stunned again, as if she remembered something, and her expression became even uglier.
As a younger brother, he knew Qi Yanfeng's personality better than anyone else, and he must have known that she was not as weak as she appeared. Seeing this, Gu Pinglin finally spoke up: "Are you two going to Penglai?"
Qi Wan'er remained silent, so Yao Feng had to answer for her: "We were originally looking for Miss Qi, but we happened to hear the news that the South Island Master was getting married, so we..."
Qi Wan'er came back to her senses: "Nanzhu was very kind to Brother Yao at the beginning. As for me, we are acquainted, so it's okay to go and congratulate him. However, although the Qi family has no contact with Penglai Island, Uncle Duan will definitely go there. I was afraid of being discovered by him, so I couldn't go to the island directly. But I happened to run into you guys."
Penglai Island was very busy these days, and a direct visit would be too conspicuous, so they wanted to sneak into the island by hiding in the Lingxin Sect's team. Gu Pinglin admired the two of them, so he naturally didn't mind giving them a favor, so he immediately invited them to board the big boat and asked Jiang Ruoxu to take the two little disciples to the small boat.
After walking for several days, they entered the Qizi Reef area.
The boat shuttled between large and small circular islands, as if entering a maze. Several important intersections ahead were guarded by Penglai disciples. Gu Pinglin ordered the boat to stop next to a small white stone island.
When they heard that he wanted to hunt the Moon Devouring Beast, Bu Shuihan and Jiang Ruoxu wanted to help, but Gu Pinglin stopped them: "The Moon Devouring Beast is not dangerous. Senior Brother Duan and I are capable of handling it."
Everyone thought about it and agreed, so they stopped insisting.
In the evening, Gu Pinglin and Duan Qingming got off the boat and flew in the opposite direction of Penglai Island until they stopped at the edge of Qizi Reef. They landed on a black stone island.
The pitch-black island is like a round chess piece on the huge dark blue chessboard. It is inconspicuous in the twilight. As the waves come in, this black chess piece seems to be washed away at any time.
On the reef, Gu Pinglin stood facing the wind. Half of his long hair was tied up by a purple gold crown, and the rest was scattered behind him, blending with the black cloak with dark red patterns, making him look more solemn than before. The hair on his forehead and temples kept shaking, making his handsome face with clear contours look more resolute.
Duan Qingming looked at it for a while, then stepped forward and said, "The full moon is approaching, and that is when the Moon Devouring Beast will appear."
"That's right, so I came here at this time on purpose." Gu Pinglin took out the soul stone. The Moon-Swallowing Beast likes the taste of life soul the most. Using life soul as bait is the easiest way to lure it over.
Duan Qingming suddenly said, "You don't look as good as usual these days."
"It's just practice. You also know that it's difficult for me to break through. It's a bit stressful, but it's okay." Gu Pinglin gently pinched the soul stone and was about to separate the soul.
"How can we let the Sect Master take the risk himself?" Duan Qingming reached out and took the Soul Stone, "Let me do it."
The soul is related to the spiritual consciousness of the cultivator. When the soul leaves the body, it will always have an impact. The more it is separated, the greater the impact. There are even people who lose their minds and become fools. Gu Pinglin also knew that he was not in a good mental state, so he did not insist: "Then I'll trouble you."
It didn't take much to attract the Moon-Swallowing Beast. Duan Qingming separated a wisp of his soul, and the soul stone slowly floated up and was sent to the high place of the reef by the sword intent.
"Your innate sword intent has become stronger."
"It's just a trifle, not worth mentioning."
The two hid behind the reef.
Gu Pinglin asked: "Have you perfected your Heaven-Repairing Technique?"
Duan Qingming looked at him sideways: "Why did you suddenly think of this?"
Gu Pinglin said: "Creation gave birth to all things, and the Creation Art has the ability to nourish all things. As the name suggests, your Heaven-Repairing Art should also have the effect of replenishing the missing life veins."
Duan Qingming smiled slightly: "You also said it, it's just as the name suggests."
Still flawless. Gu Pinglin turned to the sea: "Here it comes."
Between the sea and the sky, a cluster of water splashed towards this side quickly. In the blink of an eye, a small white ball climbed onto the black reef on the shore. It was very eye-catching. It was the moon-swallowing beast that the two were waiting for. The beast had no eyes, ears, nose, mouth, or limbs. It was like a ball of snow rolling, heading straight for the soul stone. When it arrived in front of the soul stone, the front half of its body suddenly swelled, revealing a scarlet mouth that was larger than its body!
The big mouth bit down on the soul stone, and there was a slight popping sound, but the soul stone did not break.
Although the Moon-Swallowing Beast is a ferocious beast, it is not very aggressive. Duan Qingming is probably at the seventh level of Qi Transformation, and is two levels away from forming an inner elixir. Combined with the advantage of his martial arts skills, his barrier is enough to block an attack from the Moon-Swallowing Beast.
While the Moon-Swallowing Beast was still in shock, Gu Pinglin summoned the Gu Ying Sword and slashed it with one strike.
The Moon-Swallowing Beast swallowed the sword, closed its mouth, turned over and rolled into the sea.
Gu Pinglin would not let it go, so he flew backwards and cut off its path with his sword. The Moon Swallowing Beast was instantly aroused to its ferocity, and it turned around and headed straight for where the two were hiding. It opened its mouth again, but Gu Pinglin dodged in time. Looking back, he saw that the reef, which was more than a person tall, had been sucked into its mouth.
After swallowing the reef, the Moon-Swallowing Beast's body showed no signs of swelling. It stamped its feet towards Gu Pinglin, and suddenly opened its mouth and spit out the reef. Although it did not hit Gu Pinglin, the impact of its magic power was so great that even though Gu Pinglin had the sword's protection, his soul trembled as a result.
Duan Qingming had retrieved the soul stone, and his soul had returned to its place. He bent his fingers and raised them to the void, gathering the sword intent into a white sword shadow, and threw it at the Moon Swallowing Beast. The Moon Swallowing Beast nimbly dodged the sneak attack, stood up, opened its mouth to the sky, and the airflow from all directions was forcefully sucked into its mouth. Gu Pinglin knew that this was its most powerful point, and decisively used "Moon Falling Eagle Flying" to block it from absorbing spiritual energy.
The full moon fell, and the majestic sword energy exploded. The Moon-Swallowing Beast was unable to dodge, and red blood flowed from its wounds. It jumped up angrily and spit out strong energy towards Gu Pinglin.
Gu Pinglin did not wait for it to catch its breath, and drove the Gu Ying Sword to meet it, while instructing Duan Qingming: "Use Feng Ying Qi Wu."
"You are familiar with my swordsmanship," Duan Qingming did not cooperate, "Be careful, trouble is coming."
It seemed as if a storm had arisen on the sea, the water surged up to the height of two people, a huge whirlwind descended from the sky, and the large and small reefs on the island were shaking and rolling. The Moon Devouring Beast suddenly became irritable, it stopped attacking, and rushed left and right, as if trying its best to escape, and it was about to break out of the sword energy blockade.
Gu Pinglin was stunned for a moment, then angrily said, "Duan Qingming, what have you attracted?"