The two Flying Boats streaked through the deep sea, dragging wakes dozens ofyards long behind them and completely ignoring the Demon Monsters and Demons on the seabed.

Their speed was so great that the Water Repelling Restrictions on the Flying Boats began to fail, unable to reliably part the seawater.

Bone-chillingly cold seawater splashed onto the deck.

BOOM!

Another One-Eyed Demon exploded, illuminating the abyssal depths.

Yang Jing pushed his Grotto Dark Dharma Eye to its absolute limit, his eyes flashing with a brilliant light. The distance between the two Flying Boats had shrunk to less than ten miles. At this rate, the Demon Sect Flying Boat would overtake them in less than an hour.

As they raced through the water at such extreme speeds, he could no longer command the Demon-Catching Tripod to keep pace with the Flying Boat. He had no choice but to find a thousand-foot-long Iron Essence Lock Chain on board and use it to tether the tripod.

This long chain completely compromised the Demon-Catching Tripod’s stealth in the deep sea.

Aboard the pursuing Demon Sect Flying Boat, just as the demonic light flared from the explosion, a powerful, condensed wave of Divine Sense erupted, instantly sweeping across the entire region of the sea.

The aftershocks of the Divine Sense even brushed against their Flying Boat.

A sinister, hair-raising chill crept over every Cultivator on the Flying Boat.

"What’s the Cultivation level of the Golden Core Cultivator on that Flying Boat?"

Yang Jing asked Zuoqiu Feng gravely, all while keeping his senses focused on the surrounding sea conditions. ’Such powerful Divine Sense... He’s definitely no Early Stage Golden Core Cultivator.’

"He must be at Late Stage Golden Core, or even Perfect Golden Core."

Zuoqiu Feng made her assessment only after a moment of contemplation.

"Even if that Cultivator used a Secret Technique to boost his Divine Sense, for it to cross ten miles through the deep sea... its strength must be more than double mine."

Yang Jing nodded.

Although they were all in the Golden Core realm, the power gap between the Early and Late Stages was even greater than the gap between Early and Late Stage Qi Cultivation.

Among Cultivators of comparable talent and resources, it would take at least three at the Early Stage Golden Core realm to contend with a single one at the Late Stage.

The commander of the enemy Flying Boat was extremely cautious. After losing so many One-Eyed Demons in a row, he stopped sending them too far out. He kept them just close enough to track the wake of the lead Flying Boat, detonating one at short intervals to light up the sea.

Even though Yang Jing directed the Flying Boat through several sharp turns, the Demon Sect Flying Boat remained latched onto their tail.

He was waiting for the right moment.

"Yinjiao, how much farther?"

"About three hundred miles, Master."

Yang Jing nodded. His face remained calm and composed, but the hand behind his back was clenched into a tight fist.

’We should be able to make it in time.’

Aboard the Demon Sect Flying Boat, the Cyan Demon Ancestor was also growing agitated. Throughout the chase, the vessel ahead had somehow managed to perfectly avoid every Demon Monster and Demon Fish in its path. In fact, they themselves had only encountered three Demon Monsters during the entire pursuit.

’With my ship’s speed,’ he fumed, ’all they needed to do was slow down for a single moment because of some monster, and I would have caught them easily.’

However, when he saw the method his quarry used to destroy the One-Eyed Demons, even the vastly experienced Cyan Demon Ancestor was taken aback.

’A Demon-Catching Tripod? Could the people on that Flying Boat be from the Western Demon Sect?’

He was widely experienced and recognized the Spiritual Artifact’s origins at a single glance. It was unmistakably the Demon-Catching Tripod, the signature Magical Artifact of the Western Demon Sect, as renowned as the Demon-Summoning Banner of his own Eastern Demon Sect. No one who wasn’t a True Disciple of the Western Demon Sect could possibly have learned its Refining Technique.

But the fleeing vessel ahead was definitely not a Demon Sect Flying Boat.

The Cyan Demon Ancestor was completely baffled as to the identity of the tripod’s owner.

The chase through the abyssal depths lasted for more than five hours. The gap between them shrank from over ten miles to less than four.

Once the gap closed to five miles, the pursuing Demon Sect Flying Boat began unleashing a constant barrage of attacks against Yang Jing’s vessel.

Streaks of emerald Demon Flame, burning fiercely even underwater, howled toward their Flying Boat. Most were blocked by the vessel’s Defensive Spirit Light. Zuoqiu Feng intercepted the few that got through with her Five Evils Demon-Slaying Flying Saber to keep the ship’s Five Elements Spirit Suppressing Array from overloading.

All manner of Celestial Demons traversed the deep sea, attempting to infiltrate the Flying Boat and possess its crew.

Yang Jing had already hauled the Demon-Catching Tripod back onto the Flying Boat, lest it be snatched away by the Late Stage Golden Core Demon Cultivator pursuing them.

He activated the Demon-Catching Tripod, capturing the swarming Celestial Demons and Refining them within. He would first injure the particularly vicious ones with Yang Fire and Five Elements True Thunder before dragging them into the tripod.

"What a magnificent Spiritual Artifact!"

The Cyan Demon Ancestor’s greed was piqued. An ordinary Spiritual Artifact-grade Demon-Catching Tripod could never possess such might. This one captured Celestial Demons as easily as snatching helpless children.

Although the Demon-Summoning Banner passed down in his Eastern Demon Sect was peerless at summoning Celestial Demons, its power of Banishment was far inferior to this Demon-Catching Tripod.

The Cyan Demon Ancestor went ahead and activated his own Demon-Summoning Banner, a Magical Treasure-tier artifact. All manner of bizarre Celestial Demons surged across the deep sea, swarming toward the Flying Boat ahead.

Some of the weaker Celestial Demons materialized in the deep sea only to be instantly crushed into pulp by the pressure. The Cyan Demon Ancestor just roared with laughter.

No matter how outstanding its foundation, the Demon-Catching Tripod was ultimately just a Spiritual Artifact. Soon, the number of Celestial Demons it absorbed began to overwhelm its Refining speed. It was reaching its limit, and some of the demons even threatened to break free.

Yang Jing immediately commanded the tripod to stop absorbing Celestial Demons and focus on suppressing those already inside. He then summoned the Celestial Waterfall Sword from his Dantian.

The Celestial Waterfall Sword transformed into an arc of crackling lightning.

Jia Wood, Geng Metal, Ren Water, Wu Earth, Bing Fire.

The Five Elements Yang Thunder crackled ceaselessly, weaving itself around the Flying Sword.