Despair filled Viviani's heart and she had no energy left. The Sacred Light Blood Art was a forbidden art that caused harm to her body. Let alone do anything now, she wasn't able to use any power for the next three days. There was so little energy that she was currently physically weak. At this moment, even an ordinary person was enough to ender life, let alone one of the experts of Savage Mammoth.

A look of hatred covered w.a.n.g Rui's face as he saw the ghastly pale Viviani thrown onto the deck of the cargo s.h.i.+p. He stood beside Qingcheng Mountain's old man for a long time in silence. At the same time, there was a smile blooming on Viviani's face, followed by the shape of her mouth that spoke 'thank you'.

"d.a.m.n b.a.s.t.a.r.d!"

w.a.n.g Rui clenched his fist as this was the second time he felt powerless, aside from the first time when he got defeated by Tang Xiu's subordinate in Saipan.

A chilling expression hung on the face of Qingcheng Mountain's old man. He shot an indifferent glance at w.a.n.g Rui and said, "This is my first time going out to spend leisure time with you, yet what I saw was you being immature and impulsive. I'll definitely report this to your grandfather when I get back; it will be up to him as to what kind of punishment you'll get."

Suddenly, w.a.n.g Rui turned around with a look of indignance on his face as he asked in a heavy voice, "You definitely have the ability to rescue her; why did you give up? I told you that she's my friend!"

"n.o.body has absolute friends in this world. Ever," sneered Qingcheng Mountain's old man. "Between protecting oneself and protecting others, the former comes first. I may be able to kill that old codger if I use my trump card, but then I'll lose that last resort for good. There's neither any gain nor obligation for me to help your… insignificant friend. It's enough as long as you don't die, no more."

'Is that really enough?'

w.a.n.g Rui could feel his face burning. He clearly remembered all the boastful words he had said before. He recalled why he stopped Viviani from leaving and let her rest on his s.h.i.+p. But regarding it bluntly, it was he who harmed her as she would have left directly otherwise, then she wouldn't have encountered Savage Mammoth's people and got captured.

"I can never accept this," said w.a.n.g Rui bitterly.

"Then throw away all those thoughts of indulging yourself in pleasure if you can't accept it. Go into seclusion to practice well in the mountain," sneered the Qingcheng Mountain's old man. "You may be praised as the best genius of Qingcheng Mountain in the past hundred years, but if you keep loitering around all the time like this, you can expect other youths to surpa.s.s you and trample your head. One of them might even become the future heir of Qingcheng Mountain!"

There was no chance that w.a.n.g Rui would give attention to this old man's words if he said that in the past. He thought he had done his very best already since after all, he had reached the grandmaster level at less than 30 years old. Another 8 to 10 years later, he believed that he could break through the limit of the grandmaster level and ascend to a higher level.

Now, however, all the pride and arrogance he had were practically smashed and disappeared. The harsh reality brutally forced him to see that even if he was able to reach a higher level, he would never become an invincible existence that he thought he would be as there still were many strong people in this world.

"Huh? What's that?"

The face of Qincheng Mountain's old man suddenly changed. He looked up toward the cargo s.h.i.+p that was gradually disappearing. He vaguely saw a pool of lightning looming several hundred meters above the cargo s.h.i.+p, along with an aqua-blue screen of light that rippled layer upon layer.

w.a.n.g Rui followed his gaze and was immediately stunned, a look of shock moving on his face. The lightning flashes became more distinct and the aqua-blue screen, which was as though descending from the firmament, continuously enlarged before his eyes.

Likewise, the silver-haired old man on the cargo s.h.i.+p had also perceived the peculiar situation up in the sky. His complexion turned incomparably solemn; the scales on his body that had not yet receded erected again as he readied himself for battle.

BOOM…

Lightning bolts the size of an arm and comprising of thousand branches gradually formed. The lightning arms flashed through the aqua-blue sphere, merging and dispersing from time to time, while the deafening rumble of thunders in the sky kept getting louder. It was as though an apocalypse was about to descend in this region, bringing a horrifying terror.

Crack… KABOOM!

A bolt of lightning suddenly flashed and broke free from the aqua-blue sphere. It flashed from 100-200 meters above to directly strike down the men in black robes on the cargo s.h.i.+p.

"BE CAREFUL! QUICKLY AVOID IT!"

Panic and horror filled the silver-haired old man whole being as he exclaimed loudly. Yet, he knew very well that however loud his warning was, the mighty power of lightning was so strong and fast that he wouldn't be able to avoid it, much less his men.

Crack… KABOOM…

Crack… KABOOM…

"…"

Lightning bolts kept flas.h.i.+ng and broke free from the aqua-blue sphere. The bolts were as though possessing eyes, as each strike accurately blitzed down to blast a Savage Mammoth member. More than 30 experts of Savage Mammoth were struck with lightning bolts and died a tragic death.

"How could this happen?"

Fear and horror engulfed the silver-haired old man more and more. He would have jumped into the sea to escape the predicament had it not been for this atrocious water. The lightning bolts were just too evilly frightening in that they didn't split and disperse anywhere else but instead struck down his men. It was no less than the very epitome of perfect accuracy.

However, no one could figure out a solution for such a situation, shown by only ten-plus of his men still alive out of the previous dozens. Most importantly, the remaining several people had taken shelter in the cabin and only the weakened Viviani remained on the deck beside him.

A thousand meters away from here, the old man from Qingcheng Mountain, w.a.n.g Rui, and several of his men were watching dumbfoundedly at the tragic situation brought by the peculiar phenomenon that was currently unfolding on the cargo s.h.i.+p.

"Is it because of the Heaven's anger, that it sent down its wrath toward the Savage Mammoth's people for what they've done?" w.a.n.g Rui's lips squirmed as he murmured to himself.

The Qingcheng Mountain's old man frowned and took a deep breath before shaking his head and said, "That's not it. This is not the wrath of Heavens. It's likely because of a G.o.d-like being who's targeting those mutants."

"Is it possible…"

w.a.n.g Rui couldn't finish his words as his voice was suddenly as though blocked by a sponge. At this time, he could clearly see two figures descending from the sky and directly land on the cargo s.h.i.+p.

It's him?

w.a.n.g Rui's eyes tightly fixated on the familiar voice, yet disbelief could be seen filling his eyes.

There was a smile on Tang Xiu's face the moment his feet landed on the deck and then he circled around the silver-haired old man twice. He watched the old man's round and staring eyes, whose fear was evident on his face. Tang Xiu raised his hand to touch his chin and spoke, "What an interesting mutated man; transforming one's body using an engineered beast's gene so that they possess the ability of beasts for a short time to enhance their strength. Unfortunately, the latent potential of the body has been overly stimulated, and ultimately lost the most important foundation to progress further."

The silver-haired old man wanted to move, but the terrifying force that directly imprisoned him was as though a mountain. However hard he exerted his power to break free, not only was he unable to move, he didn't have the strength to even lift his finger. He very much tried to speak but his mouth was as though it had been sewn, leaving the words he wanted to speak stuck in his throat; not even the faintest sound could come out.

Fear. It was as though a venomous snake was eyeing his heart, sending his whole being in a state like having fallen into an icy hole.

Tang Xiu shook his head as he turned around and walked toward Viviani who was struggling to get up. He reached out to her and propped her up as he squatted on the deck and let her lean on him. He smiled at her and said, "I'm really curious about something here. What on earth have you done? To think that these people spare no effort just to hunt and kill you?"

A trace of life finally appeared in the previously dead, hopeless-filled eyes of Viviani. She felt like she just had a dream. She could feel Tang Xiu propping her up as she watched the face that had been appearing in her mind countless times recently. She thought that she would never see him again in this life, resulting in a deep regret inside her.

But now, he unexpectedly appeared before her. He must even be related to that terrifying phenomenon that just happened.

"You…" Viviani's spoke in a hoa.r.s.e voice, yet she didn't know what to say all of a sudden.

"What?" Tang Xiu chuckled and said, "You never thought that I would appear here all of sudden giving you hope to survive, right?"

"Yes!"

Viviani did see such hope since Tang Xiu was someone deep and mysterious in her eyes. Back when she met him in Saipan, his strength was not that strong, but seeing him again at the present, she could feel a kind of unfathomable sensation coming out from him.

"Then go live well since you have seen the hope to go on living!" Tang Xiu chuckled and said, "The only real thing in life is being alive itself."

Viviani took a deep breath and tried to suppress the stirring emotions she had inside before she asked earnestly, "How come you appear here? Also, did you… just create that lightning?"

"What? Did you think that I have such an ability?" answered Tang Xiu with a pale smile.

"I don't know." Viviani shook her head.

"Then don't ask since you don't know, okay?" replied Tang Xiu with a smile. "It just happened that I saw you being hunted and came to help since I thought you're an old acquaintance. Anyways, you haven't answered my question yet. What on earth have you done, exactly? How come these people spared no effort and hunted you down?"

A smile suddenly appeared on Viviani's face and the will to live in her eyes kept getting stronger with the smile on her face getting brighter. She was thinking something that was worth celebrating and spoke with a bit of a cheerful tone, "I've killed my mortal enemies and some others. It was they who machinated all kinds of traps and engineered all the schemes behind my back that had killed my family members one after another."

"That's great." Tang Xiu raised his thumbs up.

Some redness appeared on Viviani's fair face. She looked a bit embarra.s.sed and said, "But the last one, the Savage Mammoth's people, found me and began to hunt me down. I've been on the run for half a month before they caught up to me here. At first, Savage Mammoth only sent weak people to hunt me down. I killed a lot of them; I can't remember exactly how many. But it should more than 100 people, no less. But later on, the people who hunted me kept getting more powerful, up until you came to save me just in time, fortunately. They would've killed me otherwise."