The pleasant-sounding way of saying it and the unpleasant-sounding way of saying it are completely different ways of speaking

At the estuary.

Donggua stared dumbfounded as the two approached from afar. By the time it snapped back to its senses, they were already standing right in front of it.

It didn't know if Xie Lingyu's breakthrough right in front of its face was meant as a deterrent to make it behave.

But standing before Chu Xingchen, it didn't have the courage to misbehave anyway.

Donggua's mind was a bit of a mess, but it quickly discarded these useless thoughts and immediately stepped forward to greet them. "Senior Chu, I heard you have instructions for me?"

Chu Xingchen looked Donggua up and down, then revealed a gentle smile and nodded lightly.

"Yes, there is indeed something I need to trouble you with."

"Please command me," Donggua replied first, then hurriedly reminded, "However, recently, with your disciple's assistance, I've corrected quite a lot of intelligence. At the same time, I've also been of great help."

Good deeds done in secret are worthless; good deeds shouted out loud are worth their weight in gold.

Donggua understood this crude and obvious truth, especially given its track record of having been caught red-handed before.

Chu Xingchen slightly raised his hand, and a massive beam of light drifted out from his spatial ring. In just a moment, that large beam of light transformed into a rather towering giant ship.

Only after doing this did Chu Xingchen answer,

"I heard from Bai Qing that you've been doing well lately, which is why I called you here today."

Donggua's expression stiffened slightly as it glanced at the giant ship behind him. It had a very bad premonition in its heart, but it still forced a smile and asked,

"Are you preparing to go on a trip...?"

"If you want to put it nicely, you could say that." Chu Xingchen took the lead in walking toward the giant ship, then asked in a slow, leisurely tone, "There's also a not-so-nice way of putting it. Are you interested?"

Xie Lingyu followed behind Chu Xingchen, casting a slight sideways glance at Donggua, whose expression had genuinely frozen.

If Chu Xingchen put it that way, then Donggua naturally did not want to hear it.

But Donggua figured it had no choice but to board this ship. In a sense, it and Chu Xingchen were truly grasshoppers tied to the same string.

Donggua also knew it had a flaw—even when it was supposed to play dumb, it wasn't very willing to do so.

"What's the not-so-nice way of putting it?" Donggua gritted its teeth and asked as it followed him.

A faint smile played at the corners of Chu Xingchen's mouth as he tossed the control array token of the giant ship to Donggua.

"That would naturally be striking a stone with an egg. We are going to make trouble for Xu Linglong."

"We've turned the entire Eastern Divine Continent upside down, and intelligence analysis suggests that Xu Linglong should be near the East Sea. We will set sail from here."

"Gathering the full strength of the three of us, we will find Xu Linglong and beat it to death, or be beaten to death by it."

Donggua subconsciously caught the giant ship's array token. Hearing these words, it suddenly felt that this array token, which was normally not heavy to it at all, was now so heavy that it could barely hold onto it.

Chu Xingchen looked out at the ocean and asked with a lively tone, "Donggua, which do you think is more likely?"

"Three of us..." Donggua muttered softly, then asked with a glimmer of hope, "I don't count as a person. I suppose Senior Chu has brought Bai Xuanling to lay in ambush in the dark, and you're luring Xu Linglong to come seek its own death?"

"Sorry, I misspoke," Chu Xingchen said lazily. "Two people and one demon. Once our forces are gathered, we will definitely be able to chop off Xu Linglong's head and kick it around like a ball."

Donggua didn't respond to this. It looked around, feeling certain that there must be Tribulation Crossing cultivators guarding them from the shadows.

Chu Xingchen was probably saying these words specifically for Xu Linglong to hear.

After all, who would go out of their way to seek death when they were living perfectly fine?

Donggua gripped the flying ship's array token tightly and ultimately started up the giant ship, heading out into the depths of the East Sea. At the same time, it began to flatter him,

"Relying on Senior Chu's cultivation, we can certainly do it."

Chu Xingchen leaned against the railing with one hand, his eyes calm and placid as he said,

"Naturally."

To say he didn't bring anyone wasn't entirely true. He still had three specially selected Tribulation Crossing cultivators hiding their cultivation and tracks, moving according to Chu Xingchen's direction. It was just that they were quite far away and wouldn't be able to arrive at the very first moment.

However, only with such a great distance could they ensure that Xu Linglong wouldn't detect the situation.

The rest of the setup was to divide the battlefield, ensuring that if any other Heavenly Demons besides Xu Linglong decided to make a desperate bid to kill Chu Xingchen first, he could hold out until reinforcements arrived.

Naturally, to fulfill these conditions, there was an extremely important prerequisite: Chu Xingchen had to be able to withstand Xu Linglong's initial attacks and hold out until the three Tribulation Crossing cultivators arrived to reinforce him.

For the Chu Xingchen who was previously in the Mahayana realm, this might have been somewhat difficult.

But now, Chu Xingchen was also in the Tribulation Crossing realm. Though there might still be a gap in cultivation, he had the Innate Primordial Dao-Fixing Dual-Qi Pearl, as well as the Myriad artifact he had reclaimed from Cui Hao.

If they really started fighting, regardless of whether he could beat Xu Linglong or not, holding out until support arrived would definitely not be a problem.

Naturally, anyone would realize that something was wrong with this obvious act of delivering himself to the enemy's doorstep.

But Xu Linglong hadn't taken the bait when he was acting so carelessly before; if he didn't play a little ruthlessly now, Xu Linglong would be even less likely to take the bait.

In this world, you just had to take some unconventional paths to make people suspicious and hesitant.

He just had to see how much Xu Linglong believed in his state of having unrecovered cultivation and lingering injuries.

Naturally, it wasn't enough for Chu Xingchen to just wander around aimlessly in the East Sea.

At the exact same time, Bai Xuanling and Huang Miao would personally lead teams to conduct a comprehensive sweep of the cross-realm grand array locations speculated by Bai Qing.

With both of these killing gods confirmed not to be by Chu Xingchen's side, especially with the only living True Immortal, Bai Xuanling, absent, this was the greatest opportunity.

This time, it would all depend on whether Xu Linglong could still remain as calm as still water.

Chu Xingchen shifted his gaze slightly back, looking at Donggua, who was tightly gripping the flying ship's array token. For this reason, he had even specially brought along Xu Linglong's wiretap: Donggua.

It was fake... but fake in a very interesting way, wasn't it?

Facing Chu Xingchen's backward glance, Donggua subconsciously asked,

"Senior Chu... where are we going?"

"Go with your gut," Chu Xingchen replied with a light smile. "You're so afraid of Xu Linglong, so just go wherever makes you feel afraid."

Hearing this, Donggua hesitated slightly. "This..."

Chu Xingchen immediately cut in, "Or we could hang you from the bow of the ship and use you as bait. After all, Xu Linglong's clone came personally once, so I think drawing out the true body is still possible."

Donggua's hesitant expression vanished instantly. It hurriedly began to operate the flying ship's array token and said in a serious tone,

"Rest assured, Senior Chu. I will definitely find Xu Linglong for you."

Xie Lingyu walked up to Chu Xingchen's side, her gaze also looking deeply toward the seemingly boundless sea ahead.

Chu Xingchen smiled and asked, "Are you nervous?"

"No," Xie Lingyu shook her head slightly, then said in a firm tone, "On the contrary, I'm looking forward to it."

Confused, Chu Xingchen asked, "Looking forward to what?"

The corners of Xie Lingyu's mouth curled into a smile as she reached out her hand.

And made a peace sign.

Chu Xingchen smiled in understanding.

And also made a peace sign.