With Ian Song's guidance, Rosie Ning switched over to cultivating the Myriad-Flame Divine Art. In no time, she converted all her Origin Core late-stage energy into the art’s unique flame true essence, though her apparent realm dropped from late-stage peak to just ordinary late-stage.
Still, her true essence was now dozens of times purer than before.
If she had to face Mason Wang again—
She was confident she could defeat him within ten moves. No wonder those disciples from top sects and clans, even at the same realm, are leagues ahead of ordinary wanderers.
Take that time, for example—
The Skysea Sword Sect disciple who crippled Aaron Long was only at early Sigilforge, half a step below Aaron’s realm, yet managed to pierce his dantian in just three sword strikes.
Afterwards, Ian Song passed down two King-Grade Techniques to Wes Wei and Holly Hong.
Both of them successfully switched over. After using two Fire-Marrow Crystals, Wes Wei broke through to late Origin Core. Holly Hong, with slightly less talent, didn’t progress as quickly—even with a Frost-Soul Pill, she lagged behind Wes and especially Rosie.
So she stayed at early Origin Core, but her strength still multiplied several times thanks to the King-Grade Technique.
In the blink of an eye, another month went by.
Thanks to Rosie Ning’s hard work—and Ian Song’s generous supply of resources—she made a direct breakthrough to early Sigilforge.
Wes Wei was also right on the verge of breaking through.
Holly Hong had reached mid-Origin Core about half a month ago.
After breaking through, the three of them were even more grateful and respectful toward Ian Song. In just over a month, their gains were massive—their strength had multiplied several times over.
"Young Master Chu, something’s wrong! Trouble!"
Around noon that day, Old Yang—the veteran sailor—came running over in a panic to report.
"Don’t panic, Old Yang. Take your time and explain," Ian Song said calmly.
"Yes, Young Master!"
Reassured by Ian’s words, Old Yang calmed down and explained the situation: apparently, some kind of invisible barrier had appeared ahead, blocking the ship’s path.
With years of experience, Old Yang didn’t panic—instead, he tried changing course several times. But no matter what he did, the ship couldn’t get past the barrier. That’s why he came to Ian for help, suspecting they’d run into the infamous 'ghost wall.'
"Let’s head out and take a look!"
Ian Song got up and walked outside. Once on deck, he glanced ahead and immediately understood—someone had set up a formation in the waters up ahead.
"Young Master, what’s going on?"
Rosie Ning, Wes Wei, and Holly Hong came over to the deck, curious about the situation.
"It’s nothing big. Someone set up a large array in this sea region," Ian Song said casually.
"A grand array at sea?"
Wes Wei was quietly amazed, and both Rosie Ning and Holly Hong looked just as stunned.
Ian Song withdrew his gaze, unimpressed. "The array covers a lot of ground, but the setup is nothing special. Old Yang, steer the ship about five kilometers to the right-front, then keep going straight!"
"Understood, Young Master Chu!"
Old Yang answered at once and hurried off to direct the crew. Sure enough, after heading right-front for five kilometers, the ship could move forward as usual.
Everyone was seriously impressed by Ian Song’s casual mastery.
"Young Master, I didn’t know you were a formation expert too!" Wes Wei said admiringly.
Studying arrays takes a ton of time—and even more, it demands real talent. That’s why most martial artists never bother, making formation masters a rare breed.
But among Immortal-Dao cultivators, plenty know their way around arrays—after all, with longer lifespans, they’ve got time to spare for research.
In no time, several more hours slipped by.
Suddenly, startled cries rang out from the deck.
"Young Master, there’s a giant sea beast corpse floating ahead!" Wes Wei rushed over to report.
"Oh?"
Ian Song stepped outside and looked ahead. Sure enough, hundreds of meters away, a massive sea beast—almost an acre in size—was floating on the waves, blood pouring out and staining the sea crimson.
But Wes hadn’t gotten it quite right—the beast wasn’t dead, just badly wounded and knocked out.
Just then, Ian Song recalled the earlier array incident. He guessed someone had set up the formation to hunt this giant beast—but it managed to escape and drift here.
"Young Master, what should we do?"
Rosie Ning asked. A beast like this had to be worth at least a hundred thousand gold.
"We’re claiming it, of course. You three go—just be careful, it’s not completely dead yet!" Ian Song said with a grin.
In Ian’s eyes, this beast at its peak had late-stage Sigilforge strength. Now, though, it was gravely wounded and unconscious, so letting Rosie and the others handle it was more than enough.
"Yes!"
In the next instant, Rosie Ning drew her longsword and flashed across hundreds of meters, appearing overhead.
Wes Wei and Holly Hong weren’t at Sigilforge yet, so they couldn’t fly—both dashed across the waves instead.
After a quick look, Rosie unleashed several massive blade strikes.
Blade energy—tens of zhang long—slammed into the beast, instantly severing its last thread of life.
The three of them worked together to butcher the beast, taking a full half hour to finish.
Just then—
Two figures suddenly appeared in the air over the sea.
When they saw the beast’s bones and meat piled up on deck, their faces instantly turned sour.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
With a flash, the two landed right on the deck.
Rosie, Wes, and Holly were all splattered with beast blood from the butchering, so they’d gone off to bathe—leaving only a few Divine Sea guards on watch.
"Who are you?"
The sudden appearance startled the Divine Sea guards, who asked warily.
"Who owns this ship? Tell him to come out and meet us!"
One of the young men spoke coldly. They’d poured countless resources into trying to catch this beast alive, only to lose it because of a single mistake.
So they split into teams, tracking it from every direction.
They never expected to find the beast already dead—killed by someone else. Its blood was special, able to boost the success rate of a certain pill, but only if drawn fresh from a living beast.
Now that it was dead, all their earlier efforts were wasted. Frustration, anger, and killing intent surged in their hearts.
"I’m the owner of this ship. Isn’t it a bit rude to barge in uninvited?"
Ian Song stepped onto the deck, giving the two a cool glance.
"Hmph!"
One of them snorted, fixing his gaze on Ian Song and demanding, "Did you kill this beast?"