Wang Xiao’s palm descended, and the very fabric of the Mi Jie trembled.

This palm *was* heaven, and everything else was destined to perish!

Strong as the Blood King might be, he was not so weak as to be utterly incapable of receiving this strike. Yet, before this Human Race strongman, a sense of powerlessness bloomed within him.

In every sense, a martial dao strongman cultivated to this realm was the nemesis of his blood core divine ability.

This was because martial dao strongmen specialized in cultivating the physical body. Their control over qi and blood far surpassed that of practitioners of other paths.

Muscle, bone, flesh, and blood – all were condensed into a single entity.

The Blood King, who could rely on his blood core divine ability to control fresh blood and effortlessly manipulate his opponent’s life and death, found it exceedingly difficult to shake the qi and blood of a martial dao strongman. Not completely impossible, mind you, but requiring a hundred, a thousand times the effort. In high-level confrontations, such a disparity was a fatal influence.

It could be said that in a battle against Wang Xiao, his strongest reliance was almost rendered useless.

He had received intelligence, and he had heard the arrogant pronouncements of that Human Race junior – things like “I thought the Blood King would be more impressive, but alas.” The White Elephant King’s explanation had also been presented to him.

His intention in coming here was precisely to see if the Human Race truly possessed a Heaven’s Chosen like Jiao Ming, and if the White Elephant King had dared to deceive him.

And, of course, to personally teach that arrogant junior a lesson, while conveniently crushing Ding Wei Floating Island to lay the groundwork for his plans against Futu Pure Land.

Everything had felt natural, reasonable, and well within his calculations.

But now, with the appearance of this martial man, Wang Xiao, a strong sense of alert immediately surged within him. He felt as though he had fallen into some kind of intricate scheme. This scheme was formless and traceless; he could not discern its origin, nor could he fully grasp its purpose. Yet, it undeniably existed!

To have earned the name Blood King and rampaged through Cang Hai and the Mi Jie for so long, causing both the Human Race and the Sea Race to speak of him with dread, he certainly did not rely solely on brute force.

Facing Wang Xiao’s single palm strike, his mind moved. His entire body suddenly exploded outwards. Within Wang Xiao’s palm, he shattered into countless streaks of blood light.

It was as if before heaven could even fully descend, he had already chosen to shatter himself!

The blood light shot out in all directions, towards every corner it could reach, including towards Sun Xiao Man and Jiang Wang.

Wang Xiao’s palm retracted, crushing vast swathes of blood light. He instantly appeared before Sun Xiao Man, stamping his foot down!

An invisible shockwave originated from his stomping foot, radiating outwards in all directions, directly repelling all approaching blood light.

Then, turning his body, he unleashed a punch. Surging qi and blood, like a mad dragon entering the sea, swept through everything, circling around and firmly protecting the Zhuo Ri Flying Boat.

With one palm, one foot, and one punch, more than half of the countless blood lights were nearly annihilated.

But the remaining blood light still smoothly dispersed into the distance.

A strongman of the Blood King’s caliber, a truly terrifying existence even among True Kings, had actually retreated without even engaging in a proper confrontation, not hesitating to expend a huge amount of energy, and with such decisiveness!

He had completely disregarded the self-respect of a strongman, seemingly not even daring to probe!

“Master is too awesome!” Sun Xiao Man excitedly clapped. “You truly are the world’s number one martial man! That Blood King, even if he is a hero in some respects, saw you and ran like a mouse seeing a cat! You are truly impressive!”

Wang Xiao looked at his disciple with a hint of helplessness in his eyes.

This child, for some inexplicable reason, had been brought along by him on his travels, originally with the intention of imparting teachings. But it seemed he had raised her with a slight bias. Her carefree and casual demeanor had no trace of a girl about her, completely unlike her mother.

Moon Brow was so gentle and quiet…

“Alright, alright,” he said. “You and your friend have also met. Narrate old times. We should go now; the previous training objective is not yet complete.”

While his disciple could praise him, he himself did not truly underestimate the Blood King. Precisely this decisive retreat instead heightened the threat the Blood King posed in his heart. Of course, he would not share these considerations with his disciple.

Sun Xiao Man’s face immediately fell. It was obvious that Wang Xiao’s “training” was far from relaxed.

But she only said, “Alright.”

Compared to her brother, who would lie down whenever possible, she, despite her delicate and cute appearance, possessed a core of toughness.

Seeing that they were about to leave, Jiang Wang hurriedly bowed. “Thank you, Senior, for your aid. If not for Senior this time, Jiang Wang would have…”

Wang Xiao waved a hand. “No need to thank me. I owe you no favor in this matter!”

He was too lazy to explain the cause to Jiang Wang, and he disdained to falsely claim merit. He directly reached out and grabbed Sun Xiao Man, like an eagle carrying a chick.

Sun Xiao Man felt no discomfort whatsoever, evidently accustomed to her master not treating her like a girl. Carried in Wang Xiao’s hand, she still happily waved to Jiang Wang. “Goodbye, good brother!”

“Good… bye.”

Before Jiang Wang could even decide whether he should call her good brother or good sister, the master and disciple pair had already vanished from sight.

Escaping death and reuniting with an old friend were undoubtedly happy occasions.

But because of Wang Xiao’s words, Jiang Wang’s mood could not relax.

Perhaps Wang Xiao was simply unwilling to falsely claim merit, but his words undoubtedly indicated that the Blood King’s sudden interception this time was no accident!

He had clearly saved him, yet he claimed to owe him no favor. Why?

There was only one explanation: his danger was, in fact, brought about by him!

Or rather… by “them.”

All the “coincidences” that had occurred along the way seemed to find an explanation. For example, why in Futu Pure Land, no matter where he went, there happened to be a flying boat at an island. For example, why the boundary river just happened to shift, and just happened to appear before him…

A scheme that used him as bait to fish for the big fish of the Sea Race? Jiang Wang silently pondered.

Great figures naturally had great figures’ calculations, great figures’ perspectives. Their chess pieces were the overall situation of the Mi Jie, the future of the Human Race.

But from beginning to end, not a single person had asked if he was willing to be the bait!

Until now, he had inexplicably walked a circle around the edge of life and death, not knowing what game this was! Not knowing why it was played, not knowing what was sought.

But what could he do?

Jiang Wang could only force a smile. He knew, and he pretended not to know!

After all, the shift in the boundary river that had just occurred still gave him a chance to escape.

After all, Wang Xiao had still made a move to save him, not sitting by and watching him die.

A small person should already be grateful, should he not?

With a normal expression, he flew back to the Zhuo Ri Flying Boat. The cultivator from Yang Valley was still tinkering with the cabin head.

“Can it be repaired?” Jiang Wang asked.

“It’s not a big problem.” Having witnessed the strongman’s confrontation just now, this Yang Valley cultivator’s attitude towards Jiang Wang was clearly more respectful. “It was just forced to exhaust its energy. We might need to return to the island once to get some Yuan Stones.”

The Blood King had probably only intended to capture him alive at that time, thus not using overly fierce methods.

“Use mine!” Jiang Wang directly took out Yuan Stones from his storage box and piled them in front of the man.

He didn’t want to delay for a single breath of time. He only wanted to return to the near sea as soon as possible. A suppressed resentment also festered within him, making his tone less than gentle.

“No problem!” This Yang Valley cultivator didn’t mind. It was normal for a Heaven’s Chosen to have a bit of a temper, and besides, the man was paying, wasn’t he? The one who paid was the big master!

He simply accepted the Yuan Stones and began to work on the flying boat’s array again.

“That… one thing,” Jiang Wang said after sulking for a while. “Return it to me after we return to the near sea.”

The boat-controlling cultivator from Yang Valley was stunned for a moment, almost flipping the flying boat.

Combining you only lent it, and yet you threw the Yuan Stones around so grandly! Someone who didn’t know would have thought you wanted to buy the flying boat!

He said somewhat speechlessly, “…Alright.”