Chapter 425: The Eve of Departure, Whose Thoughts Did the Sea Breeze Stir?
Chapter 425: The Eve of Departure, Whose Thoughts Did the Sea Breeze Stir?
Lin Qingmo walked out of the Cultivation room and headed along the corridor toward the team’s quarters.
Pushing open the door to the team’s quarters, the scene inside made him pause.
Liu Erlong was sitting on a chair with her legs crossed, holding a cup of hot tea; her posture was like that of a mastermind in a gangster movie.
Seeing him enter, she raised an eyebrow, a smirk playing on her lips. "You finally decided to come out? I thought you were hatching eggs in the Cultivation room."
"You need eggs to hatch them." Lin Qingmo took the jab in stride without changing his expression.
Dugu Yan was leaning against the table, toying with a strand of her emerald green hair, twirling it around her finger out of boredom.
Seeing Lin Qingmo, she stood up abruptly, pushing her chair back half a meter.
"A-Qing, when are we leaving for that Sea God Island mentioned in the Chat Group? I’ve almost finished packing!"
"You call that packing?" Ning Rongrong remarked quietly from the side. "You’re trying to pack up the entire Heaven Dou City."
Dugu Yan didn’t blush or skip a beat. "What’s wrong with a girl bringing a few extra things when traveling?"
"What if Sea God Island has nothing? What if there isn’t even a place to buy clothes?"
"We are going there to Cultivate, not to go shopping." Zhu Zhuqing leaned against the window with her arms crossed, her voice as cool and detached as ever.
"Cultivating and shopping don’t conflict with each other." Dugu Yan argued confidently.
Before Lin Qingmo could reply, a pink and blue figure launched herself from the sofa.
"A-Qing!" Xiao Wu pounced like a spring-loaded cannonball, her legs wrapping precisely around his waist as her arms locked around his neck.
Her pink hair traced an arc in the air, the tips brushing against the tip of Lin Qingmo’s nose, carrying a faint scent of grass and trees.
Lin Qingmo caught her steadily and habitually reached out to ruffle her hair.
Xiao Wu narrowed her eyes and rubbed against his chest, like a cat that had finally waited for its owner to come home.
"Is everyone here?" His gaze swept across everyone in the room.
"Everyone is here." Liu Erlong set down her teacup, which made a crisp sound as it hit the saucer.
"These girls were happier than on New Year’s when they heard we were going to Sea God Island."
"You didn’t see it; Chenxiang almost filled a whole carriage with her luggage earlier, and I made her dump it all out."
"Teacher!" Bai Chenxiang’s face turned bright red instantly, her ears flushing pink.
"I just brought a few extra changes of clothes..."
"Five chests of clothes is ’a few’?" Liu Erlong raised an eyebrow. "Do you think I’m blind?"
Bai Chenxiang lowered her head, wishing she could bury her face in the cracks of the floor.
Lin Qingmo chuckled and peeled Xiao Wu off him, setting her back on the ground.
Xiao Wu refused to let go, switching to hugging his arm, hanging off him like a human accessory.
He walked to the center of the room and clapped his hands.
"Since everyone is here, I will make a formal announcement."
The girls fell silent simultaneously, their gazes locking onto him.
Dugu Yan let go of her hair, Ning Rongrong closed her geography book, Zhu Zhuqing turned from the window, and Ye Lingling looked up from the corner.
"In three days, the Royal Fighting Team will depart for Sea God Island."
Lin Qingmo’s voice was not loud, but every word reached the ears of everyone present clearly.
"The goal of this operation is clear: to obtain the highest possible level of assessment in the Sea God’s God Trial and strive for the Opportunity of increasing spirit ring age, obtaining a god-bestowed spirit ring, and receiving a baptism of divine force. This is our last collective sprint before the Continental Advanced Spirit Master Academy Elite Tournament begins."
He paused, his gaze sweeping across the group, his tone becoming a bit more serious: "Remember, we are not going to Sea God Island for a vacation; we are going there to Cultivate with our lives on the line."
"Act according to your abilities, and do not push yourselves beyond your limits; this is my bottom line."
"Understood!" The girls replied in unison, their voices as synchronized as if they had rehearsed.
After the group dispersed, everyone went back to pack their luggage.
The sound of Dugu Yan and Bai Chenxiang arguing about "how many chests of clothes are reasonable" could be heard in the corridor.
Ning Rongrong fanned the flames from the side, while Ye Lingling and Zhu Zhuqing walked silently at the back.
Lin Qingmo did not return to the Cultivation room.
He walked out of the team’s quarters alone, traversed the academy in the night, and arrived at the cliff at the back of the mountain.
The Heaven Dou Royal Academy was built against the mountain, and this cliff at the back was his favorite place.
Standing here, one could overlook the lights of the entire academy.
Looking into the distance at the outline of Heaven Dou City and the vast darkness on the horizon further away, that was the direction of the East Sea.
The night wind blew, lifting his short black hair slightly.
He took the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud from his bosom.
The azure crystal emitted a gentle halo under the moonlight, as if a miniature starry sky were sealed in his palm.
The light flowed across the crystal surface, each flicker carrying a certain unfathomable rhythm, as if responding to a call from something thousands of miles away.
"Sea God Island..." He whispered to himself, his voice scattered by the night wind.
"Tap!" Footsteps suddenly came from behind him.
Without turning around, Lin Qingmo knew who it was.
"Why are you here alone?" Liu Erlong walked to his side and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with him.
She had changed into a deep red robe, and the night wind blew her fiery red hair, making it dance wildly, like a cluster of flames burning in the darkness.
"Just catching some breeze and thinking about some things." Lin Qingmo didn’t turn his head. "Three days is tight, and we have a lot to prepare."
"It’s already been arranged." Liu Erlong crossed her arms.
"I’ve checked the route. From Heaven Dou City to the coast of the East Sea, taking the official road and switching to fast horses will take about seven days. We’ll need to find a boat once we get there, which is the more troublesome part."
She paused and turned her head to look at Lin Qingmo’s profile. "Regarding High Priestess Bo Saixi, can you be sure she won’t take action against us?"
Lin Qingmo was silent for a moment.
He lowered his head to look at the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud in his palm, the azure light flickering in his pupils.
"Not entirely sure." He said. "But she stated the iron law of the Sea God in front of everyone in the Chat Group: to treat everyone who comes to Sea God Island fairly."
"High Priestess Bo Saixi is the High Priest of the Sea God Temple; she may have her own selfish motives, but she cannot openly desecrate the iron law of the Sea God."
A person who has dedicated their entire life’s faith to the Sea God would not do such a thing.
He looked up, gazing into the pitch-black night sky to the east.
"At the very least, after we arrive on the island, she shouldn’t have the intention of killing us directly."
"As for the rest, we’ll deal with it when it comes."
"That’s enough." Liu Erlong turned around decisively, the hem of her robe tracing an arc in the air.
"Get some rest early."
Lin Qingmo chuckled.
Liu Erlong strode away.
Meanwhile, on the distant Sea God Island.
The waves were indeed crashing against the reefs, splashing white foam, sounding like beating drums.
High Priestess Bo Saixi stood on the terrace of the Sea God Temple, facing the direction of the mainland, standing there for a long time.
The sea breeze blew her long blue hair, making it dance in all directions, obscuring her expression.
"Lin Qingmo." She whispered the name.
The Sea God’s Heart was in her hand.
As the High Priest, she must obey the choice of the Sea God.
This was faith, the only thing that had never wavered in all her years of living.
But Tang Chen, Tang Hao, Tang San—these names, mixed together with Qian Daoliu, Bibi Dong, and Lin Qingmo, had become a web that she found increasingly difficult to see through.
What should she do?
High Priestess Bo Saixi closed her eyes and asked the Sea God in a voice only she could hear.
The Sea God did not answer her.
Moonlight spilled through the gaps in the clouds, dyeing the sea surface into a shattered silver-white.
"Fate..." High Priestess Bo Saixi reached out, her five fingers opening slightly toward the moonlight, as if wanting to grasp something.
"Really likes to play jokes."
She curled her fingers.
Her clenched palm held only the Void Realm.
The moonlight leaked through her fingers; she couldn’t grasp it, nor could she keep it.
After a long silence.
Then she slowly lifted her head.
Her long blue hair was blown out behind her by the sea breeze.
A faint light flashed in the depths of her calm eyes.
"Since you are coming."
"Then I shall see."
"What kind of person are you, the one chosen by the Sea God’s Heart."
The wind grew stronger.
It blew her robe, making it snap in the wind, and shattered the moonlight on the sea surface into millions of silver scales.
The waves crashed against the reefs.
Sounding like beating drums.
It was as if the countdown of fate had already begun.
(End of Chapter)
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