The fierce-faced assassin fell onto the boat's deck, then tumbled and plunged into the water. The resulting shock caused the other four assassins to simultaneously collapse together. With several "splash" sounds, they all rolled into the water.
"They're all dead."
Li Yuanling took a light breath, then looked at Li Musheng with blazing eyes and exclaimed in admiration, "My dear sworn brother, you truly deserve your martial arts cultivation that's as high as a dozen floors. My knowledge was too shallow."
Li Musheng chuckled and swept his gaze around the surroundings.
Shu Wan'er and the other two women were currently entangled in combat with Floating Boat City's experts. However, the three of them possessed superior martial arts strength and were clearly handling things with ease. In just a few dozen exchanges, they had already injured quite a few of their opponents.
Han Meiyan and Zhang He on the other side were in a similar situation. Though Floating Boat City's experts appeared evenly matched against them, fighting back and forth fiercely, in reality both parties were holding back.
Just then, Zhang He faced the siege of two assassins. While "barely resisting," he retreated from the boat's surface toward the underground palace's platform.
Soon after, he seemed to make a mistake in his attack and was struck on the shoulder by one opponent's blade. His clothes immediately tore and blood splattered.
Zhang He let out a pained cry. He barely managed to strike out with a palm to repel another expert who had rushed close, then his steps stumbled and he suddenly fell toward the water surface of the underground palace.
Those two assassins had no intention of letting him off. Instead, they pressed their advantage to finish him off, unhesitatingly leaping into the water to continue their pursuit.
Seeing this, Zhang He hurriedly dove underwater, plunging toward the depths below, while the two experts behind him continued their relentless pursuit.
Li Musheng saw this entire scene, but he merely narrowed his eyes slightly and paid it no further attention.
Crack!
A sound of metal scraping came from above the underground palace. A massive black ship suspended by chains, like a sweeping dark cloud, slowly came to a stop in midair, blocking out a large portion of the candlelight.
Shu Wan'er and the other two women all instinctively looked up, only to see Tu Yao in his black robe standing at the edge of the black giant ship, casting an indifferent gaze down at everyone below.
In the next moment, all three women's expressions changed. They suddenly struck back the Floating Boat City experts before them with one move, then their figures abruptly leaped from the wooden boat.
Their feet lightly touched the water surface as if walking on flat ground. Without the slightest hesitation, they suddenly transformed into three afterimages and turned to flee rapidly toward the outside of the underground palace.
Han Meiyan on another wooden boat saw this scene and glanced sideways toward Li Musheng's direction. Seeing that the experts around him were already all dead, her eyes contracted slightly.
Then, she took a deep look at Li Musheng and immediately struck back the expert before her without hesitation, likewise retreating rapidly backward.
Floating Boat City's experts naturally couldn't easily let them go and immediately all gave chase together.
In an instant, the entire underground palace quieted down. Only Li Musheng and Li Yuanling remained on the wooden boat on the water surface.
Li Yuanling looked around at her surroundings, then raised her head to look at the black giant ship floating above the palace.
Seemingly aware that the current situation had become grave, she immediately took a step to Li Musheng's side. Her jade hand grabbed his sleeve as she shrank behind him, saying, "Sworn brother, if you don't plan to run, then I'm completely counting on you from here on."
At the same time, the true qi of heaven and earth throughout the underground palace gradually began to stir restlessly. The rubble and dust on the ground jumped continuously, and the water surface around the floating boats kept trembling, creating ripples in circles.
The surrounding underground space seemed to be enveloped by a powerful force. The air was filled with a suffocating sense of oppression.
Li Musheng raised an eyebrow, but he pulled Li Yuanling's hand away with a somewhat disgusted expression, saying, "Sworn sister, the way you're cowering right now, if others see it, they'll think I'm incompetent!"
With that, he reached out and patted Li Yuanling's back, saying, "Straighten your chest, raise your head, and stand tall for me. Don't you think about who's standing beside you? How could this little scene be worth looking at?"
Hearing this, Li Yuanling pursed her lips. She could only take a deep breath and assume the dignity of a Great Li princess, standing upright and properly beside Li Musheng, feigning composure as she looked up toward the midair above.
At the same time, on the black iron ship, Tu Yao looked at gray-robed Elder Sheng, who had somehow already stood up, and revealed a strange expression, "Why is Elder Sheng so serious?"
At this moment, the black iron chains around Sheng Shi'an's body trembled and writhed. The copper rings on his arms spun continuously. Martial arts true qi from all directions surged toward him like a violent flood, pouring into his body as if swallowing whales and drinking oxen.
Several powerful true qi vortexes had already formed around Sheng Shi'an, causing his own martial arts aura to rise rapidly at an extremely terrifying speed.
He slowly raised his head. His originally murky yellow eyeballs now swirled with crimson blood light. His withered and wrinkled face resembled a lava field crisscrossed with thousands of gullies. Wisps of scorching scarlet true qi mixed within the wrinkled skin, seemingly like flowing molten lava.
"Just now when our people were killed, this old one still couldn't see exactly how the other party struck."
Sheng Shi'an suddenly spoke with a hoarse voice. He looked fierce and ferocious, inadvertently revealing an incomparably heart-palpitating aura.
He stared at Tu Yao, whose expression kept changing, and solemnly warned, "Be careful. That person is very strong!"
As his words fell, he suddenly raised his hand. The copper rings clasped around his arms abruptly flew out, glowing with green light. They seemed to tear through space as they violently bombarded down toward Li Musheng's position in the underground palace.
In an instant, the densely packed copper rings spun rapidly, as if breaking through the sound barrier. They covered the sky and earth as they arrived before Li Musheng and his companion. The terrifying true qi shrouding them was heavy and dangerous, as if it could crush everything.
As a princess of Great Li, Li Yuanling had been pampered and doted on since childhood. How could she have ever seen such a scene?
At this moment, she could almost foresee those terrifying copper rings immediately grinding her into pulp.
For a moment, a bone-chilling coldness rose on Li Yuanling's back. She immediately cried out urgently, "Sworn brother, aren't you going to make a move?"
"It's just a small scene, don't be afraid."
Li Musheng raised his head to look at the black giant ship suspended above the underground palace, his eyes narrowing slightly.
In the next moment, the space surrounding the wooden boat where he and Li Yuanling stood seemed to instantly freeze.
Those copper rings that had been spinning rapidly with only afterimages remaining came to an abrupt halt, suspended above the wooden boat and completely motionless.
Suddenly seeing this scene, Li Yuanling, who had originally been prepared to close her eyes, immediately breathed a heavy sigh of relief.
However, this feeling of facing a life-threatening crisis was truly too stimulating. She still couldn't help but pat her chest with lingering fear.
Li Musheng glanced at her sideways and smiled, saying, "Sworn sister, you can completely trust your sworn brother's strength. If you can't even trust my martial arts ability, to be honest, I don't know who else in this world you could trust."