After a quick rest, the group of saints quickly resumed their journey, hoping to reach their destination sooner.
“Sadly, I wasn't able to retrieve any of the corpses of the saints who fell last night, but I did manage to collect quite a few of those giant crows.” Zhang said to the beauties as he sat at a round table located within the magical carriage.
“I might be able to use those to finish up those chimeras I was working on back home. The stronger the beast the parts belong to the more powerful the chimera will be.” Yuying said as her eyes lit up with a tinge of excitement.
“That's what I was thinking.” Zhang said with a chuckle as he tossed an interspatial ring holding his harvest from the previous night over to Yuying.
“Of the opportunity presents itself I'll try to fish up one of those things living in the water.” Zhang added remembering back to the short glimpses of the fearsome creatures that had propelled themselves into the air and dragged down saints and demon crows alike into the sea.
“Actually, instead of merely collecting their corpses, I would like to try and tame a few. Imagine commanding an army of monsters, each of whom are capable of contention get with a full or high saint.” Yuying said, igniting an array of fantasies within the minds of the other beauties and Zhang.
“If we come across any big and fluffy ones, their mine!” Ai said with sparkling eyes.
With wild fantasies of leading an unstoppable army of saints, undead and monstrous beasts across the land, and planting their banner on all walks of land, Zhang and the beauties continued to converse amongst each as their magical carriage flew through the sky.
================================
In a breeze, a couple days passed, each filled with more violence and bloodshed than the day prior. It seemed as if the further the group were from the Shoal of Serpents and the Demonic Reef, and the longer they stayed in their patch of sea, the more ancient demonic beasts they would encounter.
The occasional shadow lurking underneath the waves was replaced by the sight of countless squirming beasts fighting amongst each other. Scaly serpents, monstrous abominations armed with countless tentacles and hideous looking terrors of deep could be spotted at all hours of the day, locked in combat.
Although there were ancient demonic beasts dying every moment of the day, regardless of the sun was up or not, there would still be so many of them around that Zhang found it hard to recall a moment of the day when he was not watching these monsters battle with each other.
Luckily for the party of saints, the ancient demonic beasts were either too busy fighting amongst themselves or already has their appetites sated after gorging themselves on the corpses of the countless creatures bobbing up and down the ocean’s surface.
To the ancient demonic beasts, a saint couldn't even amount to a small snack, while on the other hand, the remains of the dead ancient demonic beasts which were hundreds of thousands of times larger were many times more appealing.
“There was so much fighting and death that the sea was actually dyed in a bloody red hue.” Zhang had thought in his head after watching how ferociously the ancient demonic beasts were fighting against each other.
“Everyone, we are now in the Bloody Sea, please be wary of spatial rifts! For those of you who don't know, these spatial rifts are the remnants of Long Shiji’s battle with his father. During their fight their father and son had opened up thousands of rifts in space, although many centuries have passed since their creation and causing many of the spatial rifts to shrink in size, even an unlucky encounter with the smallest of spatial rifts could spell one’s doom. Keep your eyes peeled and your sense sharp!” Lord Long Zhiming said, warning everyone of the coming danger.
“Looks like it's time to let everyone owe me a favor one again.” Zhang though as a grin crept onto his face.
With a flutter of his cape, Zhang summoned hundreds if not thousands of Abyssal Crows from his shadow.
Flying in all directions, these crows covered a massive perimeter around the group.
“Genius!” Master Shan Jin yelled as his eyes glittered.
“These crows will let us know if there are any spatial rifts in the area.” Zhang's said in a confident and reassuring tone.
“It seems that it was wise of me to allow you to join the Dragon God Palace.” Lord Long Zhiming said to Zhang through his divine sense as a smile crept onto his face.
This with Zhang’s swarm of Abyssal Crows to check for open spatial rifts, the group was able to continue forward at their current speed without having to slow down.
Under normal circumstances, the group would have had to slow their pace to a crawl while forcing themselves to be on constant high alert, however now thanks to Zhang, they did not have to.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
By now when Zhang spoke to the high saints within the group, such as Lord Long Zhiming, Master Shan Jin, and Master Yu Yui, he no longer felt they were looking down on him as much.
Before, whenever Zhang spoke to these people, he could sense that they were merely acting nice to him as a front, for face and what not, however after showing his worth, these so-called experts are currently viewing him in another light.
“In this world, besides one’s parents, one’s wives and one’s children, relations with everyone else is based solely on the amount of benefits one can give.” Zhang thought as he saw the gradual change in those around him.
“Besides mother, father, perhaps old man Jian Wei, those four and a handful of other people there aren't too many people out there I can completely tell trust.” Zhang thought to himself as the faces of a small group of people surfaced in his mind.
With his current state of mind, a certain saying drifted into Zhang’s thoughts.
“The wiser one is, the fewer one can trust. The less power one wields the truer one’s friends will be.” Zhang mumbled as he looked off into the distance while riding atop a fluffy white cloud with the beauties by his side.
“Brother! Look! Look over there!” Ai yelled in an excited tone as she directed Zhang’s attention toward the scene of six house sized ancient demonic wyverns attacking a house castle sized ancient Demonic King Crab.
With slim yet muscular limbs, murderous looking eyes, massive wings, scaly armor that covered them from head to toe, and sharp protruding fangs, the six wyverns lived up to their name of being of distant relatives of dragons.
Compared to the wyverns, the Demonic King Crab was much less intimidating look, the only fundamental difference between it and any other crabs was its size and the four massive claws protruding from its body. Otherwise, the ancient demonic crab was rather dull looking.
At first glance one would notice that the Demonic King Crab was actually injured, with a part of its shell being broken, leaving its innards vulnerable. Although the injuries to its body were not life threatening in the least to the Demonic King Crab, these injuries provided an opportunity to a myriad of other creatures.
Creatures such as the demonic wyverns who usually weren’t strong enough to break through the solid defense the Demonic King Crab possessed.
Using their razor-sharp talons, the wyverns repeatedly swooped in and tried to claw away at the exposed part of the Demonic King crab. One the other hand, enraged by the attempts to its life, the Demonic King Crab attempted to pinch the wyverns to death with its gigantic claw.
Of course, as powerful as the Demonic King Crab’s offensive and defensive capabilities were, the six wyverns had unmatched speed and coordinated with each other on a near perfect level.
“Depending on how the situation progresses, we may get a chance to try and tame a few ancient demonic beasts.” Zhang said while eyeing the six fearsome looking wyverns, causing a smile to appear on Yuying’s face.
Leaping off of the fluffy cloud that they were sitting on Zhang and the beauties fanned out across the sky, forming a perimeter around the area where the six wyverns and the Demonic King Crab was battling.
Keeping enough distance between them and the battle between giants, Zhang, and the beauties watched on and waited for their prey to tire.
“It won't be long now until they expend too much of their strength.” Zhang said to himself as he watched the deadly statement continue on.
Contrary to Zhang’s thoughts, however, the deadlock between the wyverns and the crab did not last long, because after all of their physical attacks failed, the wyverns resorted to using their special weapon.
Similar to a dragon’s devastating breath attack, the six wyverns began to spew large clouds of poisonous gas from their maw, causing a glint to appear in Lingqi’s eyes.
“They'll be the perfect mount!” Lingqi concluded in a heartbeat while her eyes were glued on the purplish mist that has enveloped the gigantic king crab.
Seeping in through the cracks within the crab’s armor like shell, the poisonous mist instantly began to take effect.
While the crab’s exploded flesh began to rot and fester turning into a vile greenish shade, its movements started to slow and its mouth began to bubble.
Despite its current ailments, the Demonic King Crab smashed it’s four claws into the sea, causing massive tidal waves to churn fiercely before unleashing a bright blue ray of essence shooting through the air. As if it was burning away it’s very being, the Demonic King Crab’s attack roared and shook the air.
While the blue beam of essence ravaged the sky, the water around the Demonic King Crab slowly froze over until a thick layer of ice had encased the surface of the sea within a dozen miles.
As far as Zhang and the beauties were away from the battle, and disregarding the fact that they were coated within a protective layer of essence, they couldn't help but feel an intense chill sweep through the air.
Surprisingly enough as the temperature in the atmosphere plummeted the moisture present started to clump together, creating small bits of hail that pelted the shell of ice that coated the ocean’s surface. With the appearance of hail, there was also a coming of wind and together they developed into a mighty blizzard.
Caught in the tempest of blade like wind and dagger like ice, the wyverns found their previously slightly favorable position completely reversed. Unable to fly away due to the unstoppable gales, the wyverns appeared like ragdolls as their majestic bat like wings were ripped and torn by sharp pieces of ice.
“A dual element demonic beast… Too bad it’s already on its last leg. Actually, even if it was in fine condition I wouldn’t be caught dead riding a giant crab into battle…” Zhang thought as he glanced at the Demonic King Crab for a second before refocusing his gaze onto the six wyverns.
Whilst their wings were torn and battered, thanks to the thick and sleek scales that covered their bodies, the wyverns actually didn’t suffer too much damage, but it was only a matter of time until they completely lost the ability to soar through the skies and fall onto the icy shelf below.
By then they would also fall under the mercy of the Demonic King Crab as their only true advantage was their ability to fly.
Once the wyverns fell from the sky, the Demonic King Crab would have a wide number of ways to inflict its revenge. It could smash the sheet of ice and drag the wyverns down to a watery grave or use any one of its four massive claws to pinch it’s helping enemy to death.
“Wait a bit longer, once those wyverns lose the ability to fly we will move in.” Zhang said to his wives through his divine sense, prompting them to all ready their weapons and various techniques.
Layers upon layers of bones filled the air around Yuying as she could be seen with eight black colored talismans, each clamped in between her fingers. Ai could be seen with her usual black colored spiked whip and an excited expression on her face while Lingqi stood motionless as she contemplated which type of poison would be best for the current occasion.
“Maybe instead of poison I should try something new.” Lingqi muttered as she withdrew an old looking zither from her interspatial ring.
While the other beauties and Zhang readied themselves, Ling simply stood in midair with a calm and confident look on her face, for she was currently within her element.
There was much more could one say about a water mage who was out at sea, surrounded by water as far as the eye could see.
Roaring and flailing their wings the six wyverns unleashed their poisonous breath up toward the heavens, without caring who may or may not be caught in the quake of their struggle and fury.
Due to the whipping winds, the deadly breath released by the six wyverns quickly unfurled, scattering in the four directions, causing Zhang and the beauties to further distance themselves from the battle.
“These guys are truly are ancient demonic beasts, descendants of fallen deities. Even after fighting for so long, both sides are still able to display so much vigor. If an unsuspecting saint were to be caught in the middle of their battle, there would be no way to escape.” Zhang said while praising the six wyverns and the demonic king crab for their endurance and resilience.
“What is that lad doing now?” Master Shan Jin asked as he could be seen standing beside his grandson, Shan Li.
“If anything, he is probably waiting for one of those beasts to drop dead and swoop in for a big harvest.” Shan Li said with a chuckle, feeling he had a good grasp on Zhang’s personality.
“Keep a close eye on them, if some kind of mishap occurs we have to help them. For now, we are still unable to truly stand on equal ground with the Dragon God Palace so losing them would only serve to further the gap between the two sides.” Master Shan Li said in a low whisper to Shan Li as he watched Zhang and the beauties from afar.