A massive golden ship roared forward across the surface of a churning black ocean. The sails were tall and wide, flying proudly in the air and constructed from the finest of white silks. Yet they were embroidered in so many tiny glittering golden symbols they may as well have been beaten metal sheets from the perspective of a distant observer. The wind blew and its sails gently rippled as the enormous vessel roared forward across the wild sea.
The spectacular and heroic image was something that many would say was worthy of being immortalized in painting. A single work of mankind, alone it stood in the chaos of the primal waters. It was the dominion of man's will over nature, the destiny of civilization... That was if the vista was not somewhat tarnished by the massive lake of blood and viscera trailing behind in the boat's wake.
Around the solid metallic exterior of the craft, the ocean churned and writhed, not from wind or tide, but from the sheer mass of countless mindless, bloodthirsty Sea Beasts swimming within them. An organic mass of flesh so great the waters below were entirely blotted out in living meat.
There were millions of finger-sized fish, with green scales and huge, fanged maws that took up nearly half of their body mass. Little parasitical creatures that were designed to burrow into the flesh of larger beings and eat them alive. They were Fish Demons awakened by the unending hunger qi that flowed from the black depths. While even a first-realm human cultivator was leagues above any one of them in strength, such a horde of creatures would be able to slaughter and devour any living meat, unless it possessed at least a strength equivalent to Core Formation.
These fish were by far the most common Sea Demon in the upper layer of the Inner Sea, the waters closest to the Bird Talon Continent. They were named Burrowers, by common men, but had the more ostentatious formal name of White-Toothed Rainbow-Carp.
Literally walking over the surface of the water was a Second-Molt Four-Clawed Crab, a common Spirit Beast lineage in the waters patrolled by Snake Fleet. The creature, which was roughly the same power as a peak Foundation Establishment Cultivator, reached out with its four claws, skimming them below the surface of the waters, before pulling them back to reveal a clawful of crushed Burrowers that the creature began to rapidly devour.
Just as it was eating, a snapping noise cracked through the air, and one of the crab's arms was blown off. Two more sounds followed, and the crab's head exploded as twin jets of hyper-pressurized water impacted it.
A dozen hundred meters away stood an Aqua-Jet Lotus-Prawn. The powerful jets of water they fired would be threatening even to a Core Formation level Sea Beast, let alone the poor, unfortunate crab. The prawn zoomed through the air in a blur, ripping off one of the crab's arms. Dozens of purple tentacles extend from the prawn's mouth, injecting acid into the cracks of the dead crustacean. Then a loud slurping noise filled the air as the Prawns tentacles became like dozens of straws, sucking up the white goopy meat slurry that had once been the fellow crustaceans flesh and organs.
Of course, only moments later, the waves below suddenly depressed into a massive vortex as the prawn, the dead crab, and tens of thousands of Burrowers were swallowed whole into the waiting mouth of a Dense-Midnight Dragonwhale in the Core Formation Realm. The creature, clad in a thick cloak of shadow qi, blended in perfectly with the dark fathoms below and had gone completely undetected, until the moment it struck. Insectoid wings unfolded from the back of the Lotus-Prawn, desperately buzzing as the creature attempted to fly out of the gathering vortex. But it was all for naught. The jaws of the Dragonwhale closed and it began to digest its sumptuous meal.
Then, a harpoon exploded from the side of the galley and pierced through the skull of the purple-scaled cetacean. A cranking noise bellowed out as the chain slowly retracted, dragging the whale's massive house-sized carcass into a collection tube.
All across the mile-long pool of blood scenes like this were occurring, as Sea Demons, aquatic spirit Beasts and watery Undead slaughtered and fed upon each other in an orgy of blood, death and gore. From hundred-thousand-year-old immortal jellyfish that had outlived the rise and fall of countless human empires, to Burrowers awakened only a scarce few hours ago, anyone was a valid target. Here, in the sea, only strength mattered. And there was always a bigger fish.
Of course, the golden vessel itself was not merely a witness to this horrendous massacre. Pulsating booms lit up the sky, as golden beams of light fired from cannons in the shape of a dragon's mouth. Huge harpoons fired out, targeting and killing creatures in the second and third realms, and then dragging their valuable corpses back to the ship to be processed. Lighting crackled across the vessel's metallic surface, instantly frying any particularly brave sea beast that came just a little too close.
Floating high above the macabre scene was a vessel far more humble in appearance. A medium-sized ship made of red lacquered cherrywood, with tall yellow sails bearing the character for Heaven. Unlike the golden vessel that proudly dominated the waves, this boat instead sailed across the sky, leaving behind a shimmering trail of resplendent white clouds. It was the Heaven-Seeking Galley piloted by Ji Longyi. Normally, it would be manned by all his sworn brothers from the Son of Heaven Society. However, they had remained behind in Sky Swallowing Prefecture to continue hunting demons and devils, while their leader had been forced to follow Bing Meilu as her subordinate. Thus, he manned the ship himself. Ji Longyi comprised about 99.99726% of the entire society's strength, according to Bing Meilu’s calculations, so leaving them behind was no real issue…aside from making the Chosen of Heaven feel lonely.
The man in question stared down at the violet death orgy below and grimaced. A horrified look had become so common an appearance on his face these last few weeks one might mistake it for his resting expression. Fights with Sea Beasts, including both the Spirit Beasts that cultivated their bloodlines naturally with the assent of the Dao of Heaven, and the Sea Demons that were once ordinary aquatic life before awakening from exposure to ambient qi, were inevitable. Yet, the sheer amount of murder and death following the Galley was not standard at all. It less resembled a standard trip through the ocean and more the amount of death in a desperate siege against an Incursion.
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Normally, a vessel on the level of the Captured Slave Galley would have wards up, projecting a powerful aura of fear that would deter the infinite hordes of lesser Sea Beasts. Only the occasional Core Formation or Nascent Soul Beast would be able to overcome the fear-ward and cause problems for the ship. Those creatures were what the cannons were for, after all.
What had caused such a vicious situation to occur? It was none other than Bing Meilu. Not only had she intentionally turned off all the deterrence, but she had actually tossed out meat and bait. When the first few stragglers arrived, she shredded their bodies with guns and left their blood to fester in and disperse into the water, attracting even more Sea Beasts until the horrific feeding frenzy below had begun.
Bing Meilu did not want a clean, relatively calm journey. She wanted bloodshed. The reason would become quite clear if one looked at the side of the galley, whereupon dozens of massive tubes opened, vortices sucking in huge quantities of blood-tainted seawater. This was a module Bing Meilu had designed specifically for Xia Xuefeng.
The tubes would not only filter out the water but massively condense the blood as well, pouring thick pellets of hyper-dense blood gel directly into a massive reservoir chamber wherein Xia Xuefeng meditated. A vortex surrounded the girl, as thick, nearly solid blood ooze poured towards her body and was refined into her rapidly growing cultivation base.
Just three weeks after they had left Port Snake, Xia Xuefeng was already at the ninth stage of the Foundation Establishment. But, it was not enough to have power and not know how to use it. One lesson Xia Xuefeng’s master had learned from her first life was that cultivators could not be greenhouse flowers. You could keep a cultivator as safe as possible, and it would only make them weak. True, mighty geniuses arose from the mud and filth of slaughter and hardship. Bing Meilu had slaughtered numerous cultivators painstakingly raised as geniuses by their families, clans and sects, but who had little to no knowledge of how to bring to bear their prodigious might and natural abilities.
Which was why every now and then, the bottom of the reservoir would drop open and dump the girl directly into the fetid waters, alongside all the accumulated blood-ooze, which would, of course, serve as an impeccable bait for all the gathered Sea Beasts to lock onto her.
One might think Xia Xuefeng had a great chance of death in such a perilous situation, but it was not as dangerous as it first seemed. Number one, she may have only been in the Foundation Establishment, but the blood-affinity user also cultivated according to a profound method created by an ancient god from the distant past. She could easily fight well above her realm, in normal circumstances.
And these were not normal circumstances. Hundreds of thousands of gallons of masterless life essence pooled around her. In such a circumstance, a blood cultivator like Xuefeng became a god of death. A huge vortex of blood would form around her, shredding the weaker Sea Beats to goop instantly and rapidly growing in size. Xia Xuefeng clad herself in a formless bubble of congealed blood that could block any attack from a creature weaker than the third realm. Lances of spectral ghostly qi and hardened blood would fly out like a rain of arrows, ripping apart the larger and stronger creatures.
And lastly, Xia Xuefeng had on her person numerous valuable magical items taken from the treasury of the Son of Heaven Society, including healing items. Even if a particularly powerful third-tier Sea Beast, or even one at the level of a Nascent Soul came to play, she would at least be capable of surviving long enough for Bing Meilu and the others to retrieve her.
That did not mean she was having a fun time, however. It was not real tempering if it did not at least come with a high chance of grave bodily injury, in Bing Meilu's own humble opinion. This was why when the floor opened up once more with no warning, disrupting the meditating girl’s cultivation, a look of pure bitter helplessness emerged on Xia Xuefeng’s face as she prepared herself mentally for another hour of constant life and death battles.
“Bing Meiluuuuuuuuuuu!”
—
Meanwhile, on the bridge...
"Fire the fucking Dragonmaw! Six O'clock!" Li Ji shouted fervently. "That bastard with the big green shell!"
While the Captain of the Galley was Zhang Mubang, Li Ji had been made Vice-Captain. With the power to divine the flow of Karmic Wealth while chanting the Manyfold Good Fortune Dao-Enshrining Scripture, he could steer the ship away from unprofitable threats and toward fortune and opportunity.
Li Ji had expected a safe, cushy if tedious position in accounting wherein he would be tasked with recording the Sea Beast corpses and other treasures gathered by the faction, and how much they were worth. He was not expecting to have to essentially take command over the front lines!
'Goddamit! I knew I should have stayed back at the faction hall!' he cried internally.
Meanwhile, Jiang Hu and Ji Hui were lounging around, playing fucking cards and eating fresh Sea Beast sushi!
"You should try some of this, Brother Ji!" Jiang Hu called out with mock cheer. "This Black-Ringed Squid Sashimi is so creamy it's like it's melting in my mouth!"
The former Captain of the Redscale faction suddenly froze, his newfound draconic instincts tingling with fear as they recognized the approach of a predator.
"Say… you seem to have a lot of time on your hands?" Li Ji smiled sweetly. "The Manyfold Good Fortune Dao-Enshrining Scripture suddenly started pulsating. It says there is a treasure on the sea floor. Jiang Hu, go retrieve it for us, would you?"
"Um- Can I first finish my-"
"I said. Get. It!"
"But then who will play cards with me?" Ji Hui lamented, sighing. "And I was about to win too!"
"You won't be needing those cards, Ji Hui.” Li Ji gave the friendliest smile anyone had ever seen. “I just sensed a major problem coming from the sanitation section of the ship. Go investigate personally to see what the issue is.”
"Yes, sir!" Ji Hui stood up, a fierce gaze of determination growing across his face. "Don't worry brother! Me and Boots will crush whatever ruffian is messing around with the shitter!"
With that, the Lieutenant ran off, followed by his giant, murderous Corpse Refining Red Wolf.
Bing Meilu opened her eyes from her cultivation, turning to look at Li Ji, with a raised eyebrow. Noticing the unstated question, he shook his head in the negative. His boss merely rolled her eyes, before turning back to cultivation.
‘There are at least a few perks to this godawful position,’ the yin-metal cultivator slowly smirked.
Then he winced.
“Oh for Heaven's sake! There is a flock of Third Realm Locust Trout about to appear from the west. Activate the Pulsing Starlight Trebuchet now!” he shouted.