Chapter 535: The New Airship

In the wilderness near the outskirts of the capital of Yu, Chu Liang gazed excitedly at the massive airship before him.

But as he continued to stare, his excitement faded into silence.

With Chu Liang's full support, Wen Yulong had worked tirelessly for months on the airship modifications, sparing no expense to achieve the vision he had in mind. Now, its exterior had been completely transformed.

But...

"Junior Brother Wen, I remember asking for... a color that looks neat," Chu Liang said slowly.

The enormous airship before him was a patchwork of red, green, and purple, coming together like the colorful winter coats worn in the Northern Regions, making it particularly eye-catching.

Compared to this, the previous dark, ink-black color seemed much neater and more refined.

"Heheh, Senior Brother Chu, you don't quite grasp the secret behind these patches of colors," Wen Yulong said with a grin. "The original material, Crow Gold Iron, is already top-tier for airships, so altering it wasn't an option. If I simply painted over it, the result would have been too plain and simple. After giving it some thought, I added a layer of Mystical Hundred-Flower Paint on the surface. It's a treasure that Taotie City had most recently produced and put up for sale!"

"Just watch!" Wen Yulong exclaimed and then rushed into the cabin, clutching the activation medallion.

With a loud rumble, he triggered the airship's enchanted formation.

Whoosh—

As the spiritual qi surged, the airship's colorful patchwork began to ripple, morphing into a smooth, water-like surface.

Wen Yulong's voice came from above, "As soon as you activate the spiritual qi, you can change the color to anything you like. It can even change to match the environment!"

As he finished speaking, the airship's exterior started to blend seamlessly with the surrounding mountains, gradually merging into the landscape. From a bird's-eye view, it would be nearly impossible to detect. If it were soaring through the sky, it could shift to the blue of the heavens, rendering it completely invisible to the naked eye.

𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

After the demonstration, Wen Yulong proudly jumped down. The moment the spiritual qi stopped flowing, the airship reverted to its original patches of color.

"Well? What do you think?" asked Wen Yulong.

"I didn't expect such mystical abilities..." Chu Liang paused for a moment before replying, "Not bad."

As long as the airship was powerful, its garish colors were something Chu Liang could live with. After all, a strong expert wearing flashy clothes was still an expert, and a colorful luxury vehicle was still a luxury vehicle—no need to be too picky. At least no one would recognize this airship as the one that once belonged to the Violet Gold Marquess. Even Hun Mengji wouldn't be able to find her way back home, so the goal had been achieved.

As Chu Liang boarded the airship with Wen Yulong, he asked, "What name did you give it?"

Wen Yulong would name every enchanted tool he made. It was a tradition that had formed between the two of them. Now that the Dream of Souls Airship had been modified, it naturally needed a new name.

Wen Yulong smiled and said, "Thanks to your support, Senior Brother Chu, I was able to modify it so freely. To show my gratitude, I've taken a character from each of our names. I'm calling it... the Lianglong!"

Pfft.

Oddly enough, the name of this second-hand airship matched its colorful design.

The inside of the airship had undergone a complete transformation.

Wen Yulong gestured with pride, explaining, "As you requested, I've removed all the high-damage enchanted tools... and replaced them with even more powerful ones."

As he spoke, he pressed the medallion onto the enchanted formation and the airship came to life.

"Those Soul-Suppressing Stone Statues are quite effective against ghastly creatures, so I left them onboard... and made a few enhancements."

Rumble.

With a loud rumble, four stone statues rose from the bow and stern, giving off a powerful aura that no ghastly creature could infiltrate.

Then, Wen Yulong activated another mechanism.

The stone statues' eyes opened at the same time. This was something they couldn't do before. Now, their eyes glowed with crimson gems, and with the activation of the enchanted formation, they opened their mouths and spewed black Soul-Burning Flames!

Whoosh whoosh whoosh—

The flames spread across the sky, their intensity so fierce that Chu Liang's heart raced. Anyone caught in those flames would have their soul scattered in an instant.

With another quick gesture from Wen Yulong, the airship became encircled by golden electric dragons, crackling purple-black lightning, and blazing crimson-gold flames. The flames expanded into a protective sea of fire around the airship but could condense into a raging sword that thrust forward with deadly force!

As the flames gathered, a thick pike extended from the bow of the airship.

"This Flame Pike at the bow may only be ten zhang long, but if this pike were to ram into something while the airship was at full speed, it could hurt even a seventh-realm demonic beast," Wen Yulong said with confidence.

Hearing this, Chu Liang caught something in his words. "You mean this airship could actually ram into a seventh-realm demonic beast when it's at full speed?"

If even a seventh-realm demonic beast couldn't avoid it, just how fast could this airship be?

"Heheh, now we come to the key part," Wen Yulong said with a grin. "To meet your request for more speed, I sought out several masters who specialize in these types of enchanted formations. In the end, I took it to a whole new level."

Rumble, rumble, rumble.

Wen Yulong activated the enchanted formation, and the airship began to lift off. "This formation operates in three tiers," he explained. "The first tier is powered by your own spiritual qi, giving it a speed similar to your usual wind-riding. The second tier would exhaust a large number of Spiritual Qi Jade Talisman, allowing the airship to almost reach the wind-riding speed of a seventh-realm Eminent One. As for the third tier, it instantly uses up all the stored jade talismans for a brief burst of extreme speed, covering a long distance."

As he spoke, he accelerated the airship, which shot forward with incredible speed, howling through the air.

"That already requires a Spiritual Qi Jade Talisman?" Chu Liang asked, momentarily surprised.

As the name suggested, the Spiritual Qi Jade Talisman stored spiritual qi within talismans, which enchanted tools could then consume.

However, these talismans had to be specially crafted by cultivators and were quite expensive. Chu Liang had wondered how such powerful effects were achieved—it turned out it was all thanks to the talismans.

In other words, increasing the speed of this airship was essentially burning money—and at an alarmingly fast rate, too.

It wasn't that Chu Liang minded spending money, but a single Spiritual Qi Jade Talisman could buy a heap of Soul Ambrosia Incense. Under normal circumstances, he'd much rather ride Old Fei than waste talismans on the airship.

"If you ever reach the seventh realm, you could power it with your own spiritual qi. But for now, that's not possible," Wen Yulong added.

"That's enough testing. Let's stop," Chu Liang said, abruptly shutting down the enchanted formation and pulling out the medallion.

"No, don't!" Wen Yulong suddenly shouted.

"Hmm?"

"I left a failsafe—if you shut down the formation, the airship will assume that the operator has lost consciousness and immediately switch to the third-tier escape mode!" Wen Yulong explained.

"Escape mode?" Chu Liang instantly recalled some unpleasant memories. "Could it be like last time...?"

"Exactly like that!" Wen Yulong confirmed.

As the two spoke, the top of the airship slammed shut with a thunderous noise, plunging them into darkness. The entire vessel, now resembling a flashy multicolored coffin, launched forward with a bang!

Back when Wen Yulong crafted the Green Leaf Enchanted Tool, it had a defensive mechanism that wrapped the user like a zongzi and propelled them into a high-speed escape. It seemed he had applied that same concept to the airship.

He had certainly taken it to the next level.

Fortunately, they hadn't adjusted the direction beforehand, meaning the airship was likely flying downward and wouldn't travel far before crashing into the ground.

Boom—

With a roar of wind and thunder, the airship abruptly launched, sending the two aboard tumbling through the air. Moments later, it came to a halt.

...

Bang—

After the airship's lid popped open, Chu Liang climbed out, looking rather disheveled. He glanced around and was relieved to find they were still in the wilderness. That was a relief—he had worried about crashing into some important place, like the Imperial Family's Ancestral Temple or even the capital of Yu itself. Surely, they would then think that he was a member of a diabolical sect.

But soon, he heard a surprised voice, "Chu Liang?"

Turning his head, he saw Xu Hongqiu, standing by the airship in her striking scarlet robes, staring at him in stunned disbelief.

Chu Liang and Wen Yulong climbed out and jumped to the ground.

"Miss Xu, what are you doing here?" Chu Liang asked.

"This is the hill area behind my house..." Xu Hongqiu answered blankly. "My esteemed teacher said he was going to teach me a new formation, so he brought me here to practice..."

So this was the hill area at the back of the Giant Whale Mountain Manor. Chu Liang had been here before.

This place was indeed close to the capital of Yu. Considering the distance, it made sense that the airship had landed here.

"Miss Xu, could it be that your esteemed teacher is none other than the world's top formation specialist, Dong Futu?" Wen Yulong asked excitedly. "I've been wanting to meet him for a long time! Is he here?"

As Chu Liang's friend, Wen Yulong had naturally interacted with Xu Hongqiu before and was well aware of her prestigious background. For artificers like him, formations were crucial. In fact, the inscriptions for enchanted formations were arguably the most important part of any tool. After all, while materials were provided by the heavens, formation inscriptions had to be carefully crafted by one's own hand.

Thus, artificers held formation specialists in very high regard.

During his work on the airship, he had even sought advice from several well-known formation experts.

Upon hearing his words, Xu Hongqiu's gaze slowly dropped to the airship, now half-embedded in the ground.

Chu Liang and Wen Yulong followed her gaze downward. Their pupils dilated simultaneously, and they exchanged a glance, each seeing a flicker of dread in the other's eyes.

Immediately, the airship began to rumble.

Puff—

The brightly colored airship slowly rose, revealing a battered figure in the pit below—a short middle-aged man who, after today, might appear even shorter. His already dark face was now blacker than usual.

Chu Liang had seen this man before. This was the man who had nearly killed Jiang Shenting using an evil and despicable formation.

It was none other than Formation Sage Dong Futu!

Dong Futu lifted the airship with one arm, forcing out a few words through his clenched teeth.

"You little rascals... better sleep with your eyes open from now on..."