Chapter 169: Securing the First Light Crystal

Looking at Xiao Kaitian as he returned, Bai Kou found it difficult for a moment to find the words to face him. She had witnessed the terrifying might of the wanderers once more, yet Xiao Kaitian had completely annihilated them by his own hand.

Perhaps this was an existence even more dangerous than the wanderers. The thought flashed across her mind.

Xiao Kaitian could certainly perceive the wariness and fear reflected in Bai Kou's eyes. He wore an expression of exhaustion; his final spiritual realm recoil had been a mental-type technique, and given his current physical strength, using it demanded a massive expenditure.

Superfluous explanations were unnecessary. No amount of talking could compare to concrete actions. He nodded at Bai Kou, and the two headed toward the direction of the steamship.

In this battle for the emergence of the spiritual crystal in Ceylon, the only ones who ultimately survived were Xiao Kaitian and Bai Kou. The remaining nearly two hundred martial practitioners—among whom were numerous masters from various nations and sects—were completely wiped out.

The resulting shockwaves through the martial arts world could be anticipated in advance, but this was not what concerned Xiao Kaitian.

Judging from the current situation, the mission was a total failure. The so-called spiritual crystal was actually a light crystal, a possibility for higher-dimensional existence. Although it represented a massive step forward, a light crystal was ultimately a four-dimensional object. One could not simply rely on luck and blindly search the entire world for such things.

Xiao Kaitian tossed the ship back into the sea, and Bai Kou resumed her duties piloting it. Silently, Xiao Kaitian sat cross-legged on the deck, circulating his divine source to repair his damaged mental energy.

In the distance, the tornado water column grew thicker and thicker. The sky remained filled with lightning and thunder, though the torrential rain had eased slightly. However, the air felt heavier, as if gathering some kind of power.

As the ship bumped along its course, Xiao Kaitian circulated his divine source and let out a slight breath of relief. Just as he was about to rise, he suddenly whirled around, gazed up at the sky, and an incredulous expression crossed his face.

"Could it be..." Amidst the vast expanse of thunder and lightning, Xiao Kaitian once again sensed four-dimensional fluctuations. Could another light crystal be about to fall in this area?

The thought lasted merely a fraction of a second, and his body had already begun to move. The opportunity for a light crystal to appear was fleeting. Surrounded entirely by the ocean, once it fell into the water, no one would be able to do anything.

Relying purely on his instinctive intuition of four-dimensional spatial fluctuations, his entire body leaped high into the air. This action startled even Bai Kou, and her eyes widened.

Xiao Kaitian put his all into this leap. Like a fired cannonball, he surged toward the lightning-filled sky. Almost simultaneously, an elusive streak of golden light cut across the heavens and plummeted rapidly toward the sea surface.

"A light crystal!" Xiao Kaitian shouted inwardly, marveling at his good fortune. Just a few seconds later, and he and the light crystal would have missed each other forever. He sped toward the light crystal. Just as the two were about to intersect, a bolt of lightning suddenly materialized out of nowhere, striking Xiao Kaitian directly as he hung suspended in mid-air.

"Damned spatial radiation. Iron Wall!" Xiao Kaitian's divine source spun rapidly, and an oval, eggshell-like protective layer manifested before him. When the lightning struck, the collision of the two forces blasted Xiao Kaitian backward.

The light crystal brushed past Xiao Kaitian, trailing a faint golden glow. Xiao Kaitian spun around frantically, paying no heed to fully neutralizing the lightning's power. Feeling a massive impact hit his back, he coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Leveraging the force of this impact, he accelerated once more in mid-air, hurtling furiously in the direction where the light crystal was falling.

By this point, Bai Kou suddenly understood Xiao Kaitian's actions. This was nothing short of suicidal behavior. The reason Xiao Kaitian was so obsessed with the light crystal was largely to take Zhao Qixi with him into a higher dimension—something he had stated himself.

But was risking his life for this worth it? As Bai Kou pondered this thought, Xiao Kaitian tailed the faint golden radiance and plunged simultaneously into the pitch-black sea.

"He's dead!" The thought flashed through Bai Kou's mind. Any doubts, hesitations, or wariness she held toward Xiao Kaitian were instantly cast aside. All that remained was the frantic pounding of her own heartbeat.

She spun the helm rapidly, steering the ship at maximum speed toward the spot where Xiao Kaitian had fallen into the sea. In such atrocious weather, stranded in the middle of the boundless ocean, no matter how heaven-defying he was, life and death hung by a thread.

"Xiao Kaitian!" Bai Kou circulated her divine source, shouting with all her might. But pitch-black darkness surrounded her on all sides without a glimmer of light. Accompanied by the deafening roar of thunder, no other sound could be heard, and her vision was filled only with the violent, rolling motion of the sea waves.

"Xiao Kaitian!" She could barely even hear her own shouted voice clearly.

The surroundings remained pitch-black and utterly devoid of visibility. When lightning occasionally slashed across the sky, all she could see was the rapidly swirling vortex of the ocean surface. The torrential rain poured down once more, and Bai Kou did not know whether the moisture on her cheeks was rain or tears.

"Xiao Kaitian!"

A flash of lightning tore through the sky, and a large hand suddenly extended from the bow, gripping the railing. Following closely, a drenched figure tumbled and hauled himself aboard. Seemingly exhausting his final ounce of strength, he collapsed heavily onto the deck.

Bai Kou hesitated, her feet seemingly unable to move. A few seconds felt as though an eternity had passed. The howling wind and rain around her seemed to slow down into slow motion in an instant, and she swallowed hard, her throat bobbing. "Xiao Kaitian..."

The dark shadow on the deck panted for a moment before slowly supporting himself into a sitting position. "Ah, that was a hair's breadth from death. This mortal vessel is still far too weak."

The familiar voice, the familiar rhythm—though she did not understand what he was talking about, Bai Kou could not help but laugh. "Are you an idiot? Even if you're a grandmaster, you're human at the end of the day. Is this how you act? Has your foolishness relapsed?"

"The value justifies the price." Xiao Kaitian smiled. In truth, his injuries were severe. Thanks to the support of his divine source, as long as he wasn't dead, he would eventually recover, but that still required a process. To pull off a stunt like the one just now—even if attempted by a peak grandmaster—would mean certain death.

He drew an object from his embrace: a golden inverted cone, roughly the size of a thumb. Despite its peculiar structure, it maintained an upright posture, clearly defying the physical laws of this world.

"This is a light crystal. The first light crystal is secured. Bai Kou, Xiao Qi's ascension to a higher dimension has finally taken its first step."

Never in her life had Bai Kou felt so childish or foolish as she did right now. Could Xiao Kaitian's foolishness be contagious? She actually cracked a wide smile. "What an idiot."

"Let's head back. I leave the steering to you; I need to rest for a bit. I'm running on empty." Xiao Kaitian unhesitatingly revealed his current condition. For the first time, absolute trust was thoroughly established between the two of them.

Bai Kou stepped forward to help him up, her tongue remaining as sharp as ever. "You deserved to get struck by lightning. It's your immense luck that you weren't killed. You're all soft and practically half-crippled now, but compared to those martial practitioners who died without anyone knowing why, I suppose you're doing well."

"Heh, heh, heh." Xiao Kaitian rarely let slip a slightly embarrassed smile. His injuries really were rather heavy.