Chapter 1650 (Raw 1632):
The moment Xiao Chen said that, everyone turned nervous.
That was right. The sky should have turned dark long ago. Why was there still a sun in the sky?
Xiao Chen looked up and looked carefully. Finally, he discovered something wrong. The sky was very bright, but there was no sign of the sun.
Right now, it was indeed night. However, there was indeed sunlight as well.
Furthermore, there was also warmth, the warmth of sunlight.
Heavenly Eye, Heavenly Divine Flying Eye!
With a thought, the Heavenly Eye flew out of Xiao Chen's forehead and soared.
As the Heavenly Eye flew up, Xiao Chen's field of vision expanded continuously.
At some point, the Heavenly Eye seemed to break through a barrier.
All Xiao Chen saw was darkness. The sky showed the night scene with stars dotting it.
When he looked down, this angle felt like he was a deity looking down on the world. He could see everything.
Xiao Chen saw a dome of light around the entire island where the Skeleton Dragon Hall was from above the pitch-dark starry sea.
This dome slowly and continuously shrank with the island as the center.
This dome was made up of many blue ships with war banners, emblazoned with a golden shield, hanging on them. The light came from these ships.
"Whoosh!" The Heavenly Eye returned to Xiao Chen's forehead. Then, he said honestly, "There is a ring of ships with golden shield banners around this place. Furthermore, the encirclement is shrinking."
"It's the Starry River Divine Shield! The Divine Shield Army! They mobilized all their forces. They must want to capture all the pirate groups in one fell sweep, not leaving any chance for the Savage Blood Pirate Group to survive," Elder Tang exclaimed in shock.
"The Starry River Divine Shield? One of the two armies subordinate to the Ocean's Star? It's over." At the mention of the Starry River Divine Shield, Xiao Suo's expression slowly turned unsightly.
"What is the Starry River Divine Shield?" Fei`er asked, feeling confused.
No one answered her. At this moment, Xiao Chen, Elder Tang, and Xiao Su were all in deep thought.
After a while, Xiao Chen reached a decision in his heart, then ordered in a low voice, "Xiao Suo, submerge the ship. The deeper, the better."
"There is no need to go to such lengths, right? Can't we find somewhere to slip out? I don't believe that they completely sealed off this sea region."
Diving into the starry sea was an extremely dangerous thing. It would place an immense burden on the ship.
Elder Tang said resolutely, "We need to submerge. Don't hold any illusions. No one can escape the light of the divine shield. Although the Starry River Divine Shield is not like the Heavenly Blood Sword, completely merciless to pirates, they are not going to be easy to deal with. This old man does not want to be captured by them as a pirate."
"However, our defensive shields were broken earlier. They will take some time to recover," Fei`er whispered.
"It's fine. Elder Tang and I will deal with this. Quickly, take action."
"Yes, Captain!"
At Xiao Chen's urging, the entire Black Cutlass turned and swiftly sank into the sea.
On the deck, Xiao Chen and Elder Tang exchanged looks. Then, they both took a deep breath and sent out a ferocious palm strike.
"Bang!"
The two palms met, and their Veritable Essence Energy merged, enveloping the entire ship in a Veritable Essence Energy shield.
The two's Veritable Essence Energy drained continuously as the ship descended into the starry sea.
"Young Master Xiao, if you cannot hold on, let me know. I will take on more of the burden."
"Thank you."
However, after ten minutes, Elder Tang was shocked to discover that Xiao Chen's expression remained calm and unhurried.
A Taiji Eight Trigrams diagram with Yin and Yang flowing in it had appeared under Xiao Chen's feet, forming an extremely peaceful aura.
[TL Note: The Taiji Eight Trigrams diagram is an expansion of the Taiji Yinyang diagram. It is basically the Eight Trigrams around the Taiji Yinyang diagram. Here's a picture: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagua#/media/File:Bagua-name-later.svg]
Serenity and emptiness merged with the world.
Although Xiao Chen's Veritable Essence Energy drained rather quickly, his absorption was not much slower.
Elder Tang thought to himself, In a sea region with dense Spiritual Energy, Xiao Chen can nearly accomplish a net-zero drain.
"Young Master really has a lot of secrets in your body. I have never seen anyone balance Yin and Yang Energies so naturally. You give off the impression of a Daoist sect outstanding talent."
Gazing at the Taiji diagram under Xiao Chen's feet, Elder Tang appeared startled. Now, his expression when looking at Xiao Chen changed slightly.
"Daoist sect?"
"That's right. Now, in this Great Thousand Realms, Confucianism is in decline; a Sage has not appeared for a long time already. Now, only the Buddhist sects remain to fight for dominance. I saw some Daoist sect experts execute the diagram under Young Master Xiao's feet when I was in the Central Great Realm."
Feeling excited, Xiao Chen asked softly, "Elder Tang, you have been to the Central Great Realm before? What is it like? Can you tell me a little?"
"That is something from long ago…when I was young and recklessly showed my sharpness. I was like a frog in the well that is the Grave Sea. I thought that my talent was incredible and did not listen to the advice from my sect, so I ran proudly to the Central Great Realm."
"In the end?" Xiao Chen felt somewhat curious now.
Elder Tang showed a bitter expression. Evidently, this was a very painful memory. "I'll skip past what happened at the end…there is an immortal dynasty there, a strong empire with boundless fortuitous encounters and tens of thousands of inheritances. There are four temples of the Buddhist sects, three Daoist sects, eight sword alliances, seventy-two Noble Clans…only the strongest geniuses of the Great Desolate Hundred Races' bloodlines can climb onto that stage."
Xiao Chen felt a yearning in his heart. He asked, "Have you heard of Ancestor Dragon City?"
"Ancestor Dragon City is the most ancient city of the Divine Dragon Empire. I heard that it has a history that goes even further back than the Dragon Capital. However, I never went there, so I do not know much. I did not even truly experience the glory of the Central Great Realm. There is really no need to talk about the past."
It looked like Elder Tang suffered in the Central Great Realm. The expression on his face could not be faked.
Seeing the situation, Xiao Chen did not ask any further.
Actually, Xiao Chen could figure out what happened without guessing. Elder Tang must have gone there feeling proud but ended up getting dealt a heavy blow. It might be even more miserable; he might have been ruthlessly humiliated by a genius of the Great Desolate Hundred Races.
Such matters were simply too common.
This was one of the main reasons why Xiao Chen was not willing to head straight for Ancestor Dragon City.
Xiao Chen believed that Liu Ruyue still remembered him, just like he remembered her. However, if he went there without sufficient strength, would he not end up hiding behind her?
"Captain, the defensive formation can be activated already."
Fei`er's voice rang out. Xiao Chen and Elder Tang pulled back and then took out Spirit Jades and sat down cross-legged.
The two started to work on recovering their Veritable Essence Energy.
---
At this moment, the expression of the Savage Blood Star Venerate, who was fighting the Skeleton Dragon Star Venerate above the Skeleton Dragon Hall's mountains, flickered.
The Savage Blood Star Venerate had sensed the light of the Starry River Divine Shield's divine shield.
"You! You actually called the Starry River Divine Shield over!" the Savage Blood Star Venerate roared in rage.
The injured Skeleton Dragon Star Venerate smiled coldly. "Let's die together. Since you've destroyed my sect, I will not let you off easy. I'll tell you honestly, I've already agreed to hand the incomplete manual of the Mahāmāyā Abstinence Violation Saber Technique to the Starry River Divine Shield's Sword General.
"The ones coming now are not just a small group of the Starry River Divine Shield but all its ships in the Grave Sea!"
"You!"
The Savage Blood Star Venerate's Mental Energy radiated out. He saw the divine shield's light, which was slowly approaching the periphery of the island. His expression changed entirely. "To think that you are willing to work with the Starry River Divine Shield and unwilling to hand the incomplete Saber Technique's manual to me! Skeleton Dragon Star Venerate, you must really hate me."
"Give it to you? Why should I? If I give it to you, I do not benefit at all. The Mahāmāyā Abstinence Violation Saber Technique is a Saber Technique directly comprehended from the third move of the Gautama Divine Palm. Although the manual is incomplete, it is the original. It contains the philosophy behind it. You cannot imagine what the Starry River Divine Shield promised me."
"You will regret it," the Savage Blood Star Venerate stated coldly.
The Skeleton Dragon Star Venerate guffawed. "Don't worry. You will be the one who will regret. You should not have destroyed my sect. You should not have coveted that Saber Technique's incomplete manual. Otherwise, your Savage Blood Pirate Group could still have continued to roam freely."