North of Meteor Island lay a mountain range with sparse spiritual energy, where even birds rarely ventured.
Today, a colossal entity suddenly appeared in the sky above these mountains.
This colossal entity was shaped like a flying vessel, hovering in the air like an aerial castle, complete with pavilions and towers.
Today was the day of the test flight for the Sky-Piercing Giant Ship, constructed under the supervision of Huang Feifei. All high-ranking officials of Meteor Island who were not in seclusion had come to witness the event.
"This flying vessel is 300 zhang long and 100 zhang wide, with twelve thousand rooms inside, capable of easily accommodating over ten thousand people.
Furthermore, the flying vessel features specially designed cargo holds, dining halls, assembly halls, lecture halls, and alchemy and artifact refining chambers, among other functional structures."
To refine this Sky-Piercing Giant Ship, Huang Feifei had gathered all the artifact refining elites on Meteor Island. It took her seventy to eighty years to complete, consuming countless resources and nearly depleting all of Meteor Island's wealth.
The engineering effort involved in refining the Sky-Piercing Giant Ship was no less than Xiao Fei refining a large number of puppets, and in fact, it exceeded it by a considerable margin.
Now that it was finally completed, Huang Feifei stood before the many Nascent Soul Ancestors, introducing the performance of this Sky-Piercing Giant Ship with a sense of accomplishment.
"Since the Lu Sect migrated to Meteor Island, it has developed significantly over the years, but now it has a total of only over 8,000 people," Ancestor Jin remarked, stroking his beard.
"By this account, this single Sky-Piercing Giant Ship can accommodate the entire Lu Sect's cultivators with plenty of room to spare."
The seasoned veterans present, who had lived for many years, immediately thought of many possibilities. If a dire situation were to arise, this Sky-Piercing Giant Ship could transport the entire Lu Sect to safety.
"The Sky-Piercing Giant Ship is equipped with 108 layers of defensive formations. These defensive formations can be activated individually or in multiple layers simultaneously.
If all 108 layers of these formations are activated and integrated into a single entity, they can defend against attacks from Soul Transformation realm experts."
As Huang Feifei reached this point in her explanation, she waved her hand. Immediately, a formation master cast a simple magical art at a jade plate.
A transparent light screen immediately rose from the Sky-Piercing Giant Ship, enveloping the entire vessel.
Following this, a second light screen quickly rose from the flying vessel, then a third, a fourth, and so on.
"For ease of use, the activation of these formations is very simple, almost instantaneous," Huang Feifei continued to demonstrate the functions of the Sky-Piercing Giant Ship to the crowd. Every component, every function, and every detail within it contained her immense effort.
"This Sky-Piercing Giant Ship is inscribed with a large number of levitation formations and wind-traveling formations. Despite its massive size, its flying speed is not at all sluggish.
Its normal cruising speed is comparable to that of an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator flying on a sword. This mode is long-lasting and stable, consuming less spirit stones.
However, there is also a restriction on the flying vessel. Once this restriction is activated, the Sky-Piercing Giant Ship, by consuming a large amount of spirit stones, can reach the speed of a Nascent Soul expert flying at full power."
As Huang Feifei spoke, the flying vessel had already slowly started and was moving forward.
Initially, the flying vessel's speed was not fast, only equivalent to the flying speed of a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
But as Huang Feifei ordered a formation to be activated, the flying vessel's speed increased, and it flew out of Meteor Island's range in mere moments.
Since the East Sea was vast and allowed them to fly freely, sitting on the Sky-Piercing Giant Ship and overlooking the entire East Sea, experiencing ultimate speed, was quite enjoyable.
"Hahaha... Excellent! With this Sky-Piercing Giant Ship, we can go anywhere in the world."
"Indeed! Traveling on this flying vessel allows us to easily advance or retreat a thousand miles."
This vessel could carry the entire Lu Sect's cultivators, allowing for surprise attacks when advancing and for the entire sect to escape thousands of miles away when retreating.
"Look! Ahead!"
Just as everyone was marveling at the Sky-Piercing Giant Ship, they saw a group of cultivators flying towards them, numbering at least several hundred.
These hundreds of people appeared disheveled and seemed to be fleeing in great terror, constantly looking back.
Upon seeing the Sky-Piercing Giant Ship, these fleeing cultivators treated it as a savior, flying towards it with all their might and shouting for help.
"Fellow Daoists ahead, save us! The Great Qin Dynasty will surely repay you!"
The flying vessel remained still for the moment. Although these hundreds of people had many powerful individuals among them, they posed no threat to the current Sky-Piercing Giant Ship.
Only when they got closer did many on the flying vessel recognize that the approaching individuals were indeed cultivators from the Great Qin Dynasty.
Among them was a prince of the Great Qin Dynasty named Ying Xian, who had visited Meteor Island multiple times and had business dealings with them.
Several others with him were also recognized as cultivators from the Great Qin Dynasty.
However, everyone was puzzled as to what kind of incident had occurred that caused a prince of the Great Qin Dynasty to be in such a sorry state.
After a few telepathic exchanges among the Nascent Soul Ancestors on the flying vessel, Huang Feifei finally spoke.
"Let them in!"
Upon receiving Huang Feifei's command, a gate opened in the defensive formations of the Sky-Piercing Giant Ship.
"Fellow Daoists of the Great Qin Dynasty, you are welcome to come aboard for a chat."
Seeing this, Ying Xian and the others were overjoyed and quickly flew onto the giant ship.
They had seen this colossal entity from afar and were greatly astonished.
Now that they had successfully boarded the flying vessel and their safety was temporarily secured, they had the leisure to carefully examine the internal structure of the ship.
The more they looked, the more astonished and awestruck they became. Such a flying vessel of this caliber was only found in some ancient texts.
While the Eastern Continent was not without large flying vessels, none had ever been built so large and with such complete functionality.
"So it is Prince Ying Xian. May I ask why you have fallen into such a state?"
On the other side, Ancestor Shangguan had already proactively approached and inquired about the reason.
"Alas! This matter is a long story. We were ambushed by the Demon Race and suffered a great loss..."
Just as Prince Ying Xian was roughly recounting the events, a group of demons indeed appeared in the distance, pursuing them.
This group of demons numbered only a few hundred, but their demeanor was extremely arrogant as they chased towards the Sky-Piercing Giant Ship with guttural cries.
"Listen here, you people ahead! The Sacred Race is pursuing fugitives. Anyone who dares to harbor fugitives will be punished as an accomplice!"
A black-scaled demon of the Nascent Soul realm, carrying a large axe on its shoulder, was at the forefront and shouted loudly, apparently the leader of this group of demons.
Upon seeing this, Huang Feifei smiled, seemingly quite pleased with the timely appearance of these demons.
"Fellow Daoists must be very curious about the spirit energy cannons on this flying vessel!
The flying vessel is equipped with a total of 1,000 spirit energy cannons. Now is the perfect time to test their might on these demons."
As Huang Feifei spoke, she sent out a communication talisman. Immediately, over 100 cannon barrels, thicker than a thigh, extended from the flying vessel, aiming at the demon group still more than ten miles away.
These spirit energy cannons were internally fitted with complex formations, powered by spirit stones. The formations converted the energy into powerful divine abilities before firing them.
At this moment, the more than 100 suddenly extended cannon barrels emitted dazzling light, and then over 100 beams of light shot towards the demon group ahead.
Wherever the beams of light passed, countless demons were reduced to ashes.