In the evening of the same day, priest Hong delivered the tools to Ubel and left to take a rest in his shack near the shore. After checking up what he had and their state, Ubel took a good night’s sleep.

The following two weeks, Ubel halted all spare time activities other than tending to the farm to focus on The Raven’s Shrine. For someone, whose experience in building came from his father, who had no big accomplishment or experience, doing something both delicate and refined like a shrine proved more difficult than he anticipated. He overestimated his skills.

Laying down the walls were not that hard and their shape wasn’t a problem, too. But he underestimated the weight of the main body of the shrine. The foundations he set turned out to be lacking, as well as short-lived, as they collapsed after placing the third wall upon the foundation’s ceiling.

So he had to make the foundation from scratch with more stone and less wood as well. Ubel spent a whole day mining and carrying large amounts of stone and boulders, the pickaxe helped him greatly. The next two days he used the hammer and chisel to grind the rocks into slim and long pillars, then engraved small slots around their sides to place the ceiling of the foundation. He found difficulties when putting the supporting beams, as carrying meters long pillars of stone were still hard on his back, but with time he managed to re-do the entire foundation with another day’s worth of time.

The remaining eleven days, he built the lower floor of the shrine and managed to construct all six walls. Of this time, he spent nine days to hunt the birds for their feathers to make the ceiling. Even as a hunter, and the son of a hunter, Ubel couldn’t track down these birds with ease. Owls and falcons were easy for the most part but the hawks were troublesome. They flew too high for him to shoot down and once he missed, they would fly away to somewhere farther and harder to reach. A few random tried to play with him though and he shot them down much easier.

The ravens were literal hell.

Unlike others, they were way too intelligent. They could hide their tracks, fly slow and silent to avoid his senses, hide for a few hours, or even a day, to be safe. Hell, they even tried to hunt him down by grouping up with fifty others. Honesty, were it not for their wrong assessment of his power, Ubel couldn’t guess how long it would have taken him to gather enough of them for their feathers.

But it was all done and now he stood in front of the shrine with Priest Hong under the moonlight.

The priest fell on his knees right next to the two meters large gates, upon the three-steps high stairs. Tears danced around his eyes, floated down his cheeks, and wet the hem of his ragged clothes.

‘’After years! Oh, Ubel! Oh! Oh!’’ He started to shout, Ubel took a few steps away from him with widened eyes. Umm, what?

‘’The Raven! My cruel, unmerciful lord! I, hereby, accomplished my mission as your minion!’’ Tears built upon other drops of tears, as if they were a waterfall continued to flow without a halt. From his hands, now clasped into each other, purple and black colored feathers spread out. In an instant, Hong Seng’s hands turned into a mass of feathers. Then his arms transformed to the wings, and his feet to gleaming claws.

‘’GHAGHAGHAGHAGHAGAHGAHGAH’’ Hong Seng’s tongue dropped to the ground, his teeth clattered one by one next to it, and a huge beak grew out of his empty mouth. His muffled cries and tears continued.

Yet, Ubel didn’t watch this all like a scared lamb. Instead, he rushed back to retreat until he was a dozen meters away from the Hong Seng, now a huge raven size of an adult mortal. Ubel grasped the hatchet from his leather belt and put his guard up. The Qi in the air noticeably drained. His fingertips sucked the Qi like a whirlpool and soon a screen of Qi covered his right arm and the hatchet.

‘’Priest Hong!’’ Ubel’s shout made the raven turn its head towards him. Its large, beady eyes gazed into Ubel’s, then it laughed.

It cackled. Like a lunatic at the brink of insanity, the raven cackled and snickered and tittered. It opened its beak and from within, a light shone. A blue even the moonlight couldn’t gleam upon light up the dark beak. And an eye popped up.

A huge, navy blue eye emerged into the open field.

‘’Bearer of my own, well done.’’ It spoke. Ubel took one more step back. He had enough experience to know that this thing wasn't something safe. Confronting existences above him would never, ever, result in something favorable in the long run.

‘’I like this one. It is simple. Ohh! The feathers are glorious!’’ The eye shot up towards the sky and circled the shrine several times in an ungodly speed. Ubel felt his heart sink at the sight. He couldn’t escape from something like that. But if the eye had no real power, if the raven was the one who wielded any strength, then-

‘’What might you be thinking, bearer of my own?’’ The eye’s voice sounded behind him.

Ubel turned only so slightly to his left, the color of his eyes lacked the luster of a man alive.

He felt something nudge his heart.

‘’GET LOST!’’ With a shout, he leaped back and swung his hatchet in front. The swing cut through a dozen trees and a large boulder, the wind even scratched the leaves of lone plants, but the eye had none of that. Its nightmarish purple still glowed with fervor.

Purple?

Ubel continued to retreat but the eye caught up to him. With a golden brilliance, it gazed down at his neck.

‘’Oh, how beautiful. You have the last on the list to gather, bearer of my own. You will continue to live, then?’’

‘’I said, get-LOST!’’ Ubel’s voice boomed throughout the area. Tens of flocks of birds flew up in fear and screeched, but the eye still followed him with its emerald iris.

‘’I will disappear, eventually. But why worry yourself over this, bearer of my own? Why not get anxious over what the eventual fate of that missionary would be? Or what is going to happen to your supposed reward? Else, about your own life? About the identity of yourself? About the origins of your prized necklace? About the state this forest is in? About how the Overseer will act? About how forsakens will slaughter their way into your lands? About how your kin is doomed to be a third-rate race?’’

‘’Of course, why would you worry about them? You are only an irresponsible, ignorant youth unaware of his presence in this stage.’’

Ubel turned around to run faster. If the eye hadn’t acted until now, he supposed the chances of it doing so wouldn’t be much even if he ran faster. But possibilities were possibilities and reality was the reality. As his speed increased, a shrill cry sounded behind and the image of the raven Hong appeared.

Its speed was ten times faster than him. With only three flaps of its wings, the raven came upon his head and clawed his back.

Ubel halted his steps and rolled on the ground to escape, the sharp tips scratched the corners of his shoulder. It didn’t draw any blood, yet Ubel’s body collapsed to the ground the same moment.

Wha- Ubel felt his body drain of strength. His limbs and torso went numb, yet his head still moved fine. But he couldn’t do anything else. Rolling a few more times and swallowing some dirt, Ubel landed face down on the earth. He could smell the soil and see the worms wriggling inside.

‘’Now, sit.’’ The raven made a low gurgling and sat on Ubel’s back. The weight collapsed on him like a mountain. Ubel felt that even if he wasn’t out of power, he couldn’t wrestle this bird out of his back.

‘’As befitting of my status as The Raven, I have to give you some reward. Else, how could I hold my promise to be fair to the world?’’ The white eye came before Ubel’s head and gazed down at him.

‘’I see you have no meridians, I also see you tried to temper your body to enchant it. But none of those paths leads to the excellency you need to reach...what to do? What to do?’’ Its mutters sounded like the whispers of a ghost in Ubel’s ears. ‘’Perhaps, knowledge? Yes, knowledge. It might help you. Or eyes, I can give you eyes that can see through any disguise and pierce any illusion.’’

‘’No, that won’t do. I can give you a pair of wings so you can fly, but it also won’t do. A new set of meridians? Your body can’t take them. Hmmm...’’ Ubel waited and waited. The man told of countless chances, each of them better than the former ones. But why was he rewarding him? Why did he think of something like this?

In the first place, he acted out of greed towards money. So that he could prepare some money for his future self without his grandma. His trust stemmed from the fact that he could take care of any problem that might occur because of the Hong Seng. He was weak, at the Peak Qi Creation, and had almost no awareness towards battle it seemed.

Not that Ubel had much. But experience was experience nonetheless. And Ubel, in confidence of his learned lessons, acted foolishly and trusted a man he shouldn’t have. It was a complete mistake on his part and even now the words of his grandmother ringed in his ears.

A simple priest with a huge religion behind him...huge? I never heard of The Raven before in my life, and I never saw a mention of this deity in any source of books. I didn’t even mention what kind of religion or how big it was. Then how did grandma knew of it?

Was it an empty assumption? Ubel didn’t think so. And there was the matter of...his god living? Even he didn’t know about that. It was supposed to be a shrine where Hong Seng would offer his prayers to his deity and would live. Then, where did the matter of his deity, The Raven, living in the shrine came from?

Is it related to something I’m unaware? It had to be. If by any chance this was something both she and his father knew, and he didn’t know of, then why didn’t she warned him about it? Or she warned...She implied, at least.

Why am I thinking about these? His priority was, his priority is surviving at the moment. What could he do, then?

‘’...no, giving you two celestial energies would be a bit too far. Then-’’

‘’Why are you here?’’ Ubel wanted to delay him a bit to think of a good question.

‘’Because I am here to see my home, my new home. I do not necessarily live in them, of course, I have a lair of a larger scale than these measly dwellings. But to improve my influence, I need to have some other places I can visit and control, and I need people to oversee these little details. And for these people to work efficiently, they need a base and a home of their own, am I right?’’

‘’Why did you choose my home, then? Didn’t you say you had a promise to be fair to this world? How is this fair to me?’’ Ubel continued to rack his brain.

‘’Because this will benefit both of us. You might think this isn’t fair but is it fair what the rulers of other realms think of to do your home? All I want is a plot of land that is near to some places I want to gain faith and control. And a single plot of land that is not even a thousandth of this forest shouldn’t affect you, bearer of my own.’’

‘’And how will this benefit me?’’

‘’Of course by ensuring your safety. Unlike those with fickle minds that only works for how to win a war, I do not have any more design on this forest other than having a home. And where I call home, I won’t let it be stolen from me. Or else, what point there is to call a place home?’’

‘’Then, one more question.’’ Ubel finally gave up on some intelligent answer that could take him out of this situation. Instead, he asked flat and outright.

‘’What if I want you to have no other relation or dealings with me further from here on as a reward, and what can you do to make me believe in your word?’’

‘’That is...hmm. Bearer of my own, you have to know that our fate was always intertwined with each other as bearers of seals. There will be an instance, or a few, where we will have to interact with each other. But by all means, I can promise that unless you seek me out, I won’t attempt to pursue you any longer.’’

‘’For the second part, that is the easiest.’’ The red eye narrowed. ‘’Seventy-three thousand four hundred eighty-three steps to the north is a small cave where piles of firewood are stocked in. And a hundred and fifty-one steps west to it is a small hut. In that house are an elderly woman, two spiritual foxes-one male other a pregnant female-, and a set of books imbued with consciousness marks.’’

Ubel’s eyes turned into tiniest of dots, like the tip of a needle, and his brows arched like a bow.

‘’You damned beast!’’

‘’I know, I am The Raven after all.’’ Ubel felt the brown eye smiling at him. ‘’But that is that, and this is this. Do you understand me, bearer of my own? This is how I, how strong people do the deeds. I have the power to see through everything you own and know everything you do. I also have the strength to crush each and every one of them to dust if you even displease me a bit.’’

‘’But I won’t do it, because we bear the same thing.’’

It was such a bullshit response that Ubel wanted to lash out at him. He wanted to curse and spit on his eye. But he couldn’t. Because he had no choice other than to listen.

‘’If you are satisfied, or not, let me grant your reward.’’ The indigo-colored eye floated away from him and shot a glance at the raven Hong. ‘’Stand up.’’ The bird flapped its wings and flew up, continuing to circle them.

Ubel also felt the strength return back to his body and immediately rolled to the side and leaped on the branch of a tree. He landed with his wobbling, numb legs and gazed at the eye at the same height. He also spat the dirt he had been munching for some time.

‘’You might have wasted a great chance, bearer of my own. But it is no longer of my concern.’’ The violet eye sighed.

‘’I accept your wish and from here on, I, The Raven, Deity Of Birds and bearer of the Crystal Hilt, will not attempt to converse with you lest you decide on your own. But try to harm me, my followers, my homes, or anything related to me and I will no longer hold onto my word.’’

I am not suicidal. Ubel muttered to himself. ‘’Then go already,’’ Ubel said through gritted teeth.

‘’Farewell, then.’’ The orange eye sizzled like a flame and dissipated into the air. In the meantime, the raven Hong let out a shrill cry and flew back towards his new home, Shrine Of The Raven.

And Ubel, once more left alone to face the consequences of confronting an unbeatable being way above his league, gnashed his teeth.

‘’I am...’’

*********

The huge raven landed in front of the shrine’s doorstep. The moment its claws contacted the ground, it opened its maws and shrieked. A moment later, an eye floated out of the darkness inside.

‘’It is done.’’

As the voice echoed inside the raven Hong’s ears, its body trembled. Falling on the ground, the raven continued to spasm and shake until all the feathers on its body fell and revealed a weak, naked, and aged body. Few lines of bones from the lack of nourishment pressed on his skin at his back.

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‘’My-my-my-my-my-my-my lord! What have I done! I have sinned!’’ Hong took a deep breath and rose. Tears gathered around his eyes again. ‘’My lord, why have you done this? Wasn’t he one you wanted to reward? Were they not your words that said you wouldn’t harm an innocent one?’’

‘’Oh, my poor zealot.’’ The eye looked at him with pitying eyes, Hong Seng’s complexion brightened. His lord was still merciful.

‘’What harm did I bring to him, tell me? Did I break his bones or tear his flesh? Did I destroy his life or damage his livelihood? Neither. I have only kept a promise to an old opponent and a friend, that is all.’’

‘’And-’’ A seven-colored light gleamed through the eye into his eyes. Hong Seng threw himself back to the ground, clutching his head and screaming. ‘’-Whatever I say or whatever I do is not the business of a mortal like you.’’ Hong Seng continued to roll on the ground. Tears of blood flowed towards his chin.

‘’Enough!’’ A wave of green light exploded and swept over both of them whilst roots protruded out of the ground towards the eye.

In the exact moment, the amaranth eye dissipated and appeared far above the forest. It looked down.

For a few seconds, it continued to watch over. Nothing more happened. The leaves on the trees continued to rustle, the grass kept swaying back and forth, the clouds still floated over the sky, and the birds proceeded to cry for their partners in the night.

The eye descended near the Hong, slow and silent, found him recovered from its soul attack, then gazed towards the north of its shrine with peculiar eyes.

‘’Don’t question me again, my poor zealot.’’ it gave one last command and dissipated, for real, at last.

Hong Seng awoke from his pain-induced nightmares three hours after, filled with regret and pain for causing harm to Ubel, but also with gratitude to his lord.

The Raven was, after all, worthy of believing in without faith and wisdom.

*********

Ubel didn’t return to his home that night. Or the following morning.

He traveled through the forest’s inner section and outer perimeters a few times. Even though he witnessed the power of a...deity first-hand, Ubel still had some faint hope that it was a bluff the eye pulled off to scare him. It better be what he thought, Ubel sighed, but even a faint hope couldn’t suppress the dominant fear in his heart.

After circling every inch of the forest and being sure it was free of invasion, and also getting to know the other parts of the Orabura better, he came back to his home. There wouldn’t be any problem for that, it wasn’t the first time he didn’t get back for a day or two. Only, he wasn’t that far from their home. But that was it. Once near, Ubel found the two foxes messing with each other near the water stream feeding the farm. The mud and dirt being shaken off from their furs clogged up the earth passage and blocked the water from flowing in. The gurgling also stopped.

Their small chuckles made him feel a bit better.

Inside, his grandmother was also awake and sound, holding another book in her hands. They trembled a bit.

Ubel didn’t greet her and neared the table with piles of books. He grasped the leather bag next to the desk and, with a swish of his sleeve, sent the pile of papers and books into it. Then he reached out to the one in his grandmother’s hand but hesitated.

It didn’t last long. His grandmother turned around and stuffed the book into his hands on her own. Now that he looked, her face looked a notch pale. And Ubel was too confident that it wasn’t because she washed her face with cold water.

‘’Grandmother.’’

‘’...Yes, dear?’’

‘’I still love you.’’ He said.

‘’I love you too.’’ She tried to stand up from her rocking chair but Ubel patted her back and kept her sitting.

‘’But now, I do less than before.’’ Ubel clasped her right hand and planted a kiss on her calloused palm. ‘’I hope it is the same for you. Because, if not, nothing makes sense anymore.’’

Without giving her a chance to talk, he stood up. ‘’I’ll spend more time inside the forest.’’ With a step back, he was already out of the room. ‘’I will visit early in the morning or late at night to bring my hunts and look after the farm. I have too many things to study and the house is distracting me.’’ Ubel took two more steps and came near the door. his grandmother gazed at him from her chair.

‘’I’ll see you later, grandmother.’’ Then he left.

Ubel ran with such a great speed that when he came to his senses, he was already thousands of steps away from his house. He halted to a stop near an ancient oak with a towering thirty-five meters long trunk. Its wide leaves didn’t let sunlight slip through and a cool breeze blew near it.

Also, the smell of fresh earth and a wily fox infiltrated the air.

Ubel slumped down to the ground, his back facing the wide trunk, and extended his legs to one of the major roots of the oak tree. A fox leaped on his thighs at the same time. A wily, red, and helpful fox.

‘’How did you keep up with me?’’ Ubel looked at the wily fox, reached out to his head. Ubel caressed him, it was soft and comfy. ‘’Because you are a spiritual fox?’’

The fox trembled in a faint shock and looked at him in the eyes. Then put his head down, again, under the assault of the faint pats.

‘’That is why you act...you understand me? Unbelievable.’’ The hard to understand part wasn’t the wily fox understanding his words, many beasts with great strength could also understand and communicate with mortals. But the unbelievable part was the lack of Qi, or the sign of power, around the wily fox. Most beasts carried a powerful aura around their skin like a brand or a symbol of their power. Weak ones showed because they couldn’t contain it, strong ones did show so that no idiotic beast wasted their time with them and tried to take over their territory.

‘’So are you a strong one?’’ Ubel laid his head back. The bark of the tree felt so mushy that he even felt an urge to sleep. The fresh smell around him also helped that impulse. From the corner of his eye, he saw the fox smile at him.

The strong ones are always around Path Establishing or Path Opening. Ubel shook his head in his heart, as he couldn’t bother to do so right now. Always strong people are around me...why is that I wonder?

One couldn’t help but wonder but alas, Ubel fell asleep before he could pursue that train of thought.

Unbeknownst to him, one of the hidden roots of the oak tree caressed the back of his head.

It was gentle, and soft as well.

*********

Thousands of miles away from the Haishen Empire’s capital and western port of Okyanung, in the fierce waves of the Grand Ocean, swayed a fleet of a thousand two hundred and sixty-nine ships. At the back of the fleet, near the dark and light colors of the ocean where the depth was divided, stood almost five hundred galleys. They were old, most of them served under the empire’s rule for about twenty years, though the crew changed a few times. And since Haishen improved greatly in ship making the last century, any able commander would expect these out shunned ships to be at the forefront to lead the others as cannon fodder and deceive the enemy.

In the eyes of the Haishen Haiyang, Emperor of the Haishen Empire and the sixth admiral of the collective fleet, this wasn’t the case. Or to be more precise, against the kind of enemy they faced, other than the center and the flanks, it didn’t matter where they deployed which ships.

After all, the Sea Beasts were the natural conquerors of the open water.

Thinking of them, Emperor Haiyang put the also experienced caravels around the flank, three hundred on each side, and to the center moved a hundred baochuans, literal swimming fortresses loaded with tens of Qi cannons and hundreds of soldiers. Their imposing red sails rose like spires into the sky and cast shadows over their little compatriots.

But even they faltered when compared to the clouds of smoke drifting from their front.

At the foremost of the fleet sailed sixty-nine iron vessels. Their sizes were half of the baochuans. The crews of the ships consisted of a hundred men and two hundred sailors. The amount of cannon they carried was laughable, only one on the hull and three on each side. But every sailor on their respective vessels knew the power these fire-ridden, Qi-boosted lumps of steel could unleash.

And it was no laughable amount.

On the leading iron vessel named First Steel, as it was the first on the line to be produced, Emperor Haiyang gazed at the deep ocean. Beside him, a few dozen sailors with scimitars and leather armor inspected the pieces of equipment and cannons. Behind the First Steel followed the Second Steel and the Third Steel, and it continued until the Sixty-ninth Steel, where the fleet showed a sign of breaking in their formation.

The Sea Beasts didn’t swallow the bait, though. Emperor Haiyang closed his third eye and sent a fluctuation from his mind to the skippers of the other Steels, who in turn relayed his orders to the baochuans and caravels and galleys at the back.

The fleet increased their speed to the top while First Steel and others kept theirs in check, although they were bulky and could only operate by burning Blazing Diamonds to progress they could still outspeed their old compatriots. Though their maneuverability wasn’t as good as half of a galley.

The sudden increase in speed alerted the Sea Beasts swimming under the waves. In response to the immortals' charge, the ocean swelled like a blood clot and rippled.

From the fleet’s front, a huge tsunami arose, rising as high as seventy meters and as wide as hundreds of meters, and flooded towards them.

Haiyang estimated that the baochuans could survive, albeit hurt, and Steels wouldn’t even scratch from the impact. The same wouldn’t be the case for the ships at the back.

In an instant, Emperor Haiyang concluded what he had to do.

With a flash, he appeared on the edge of the First Steel’s white gleaming hull, on his tiptoes and his purple hair waving around the air.

Emperor Haiyang narrowed his already slanted eyes, making their golden hue disappear, whilst raising his palms to the sky. The silver and jeweled bracelets around his wrists clanked like metal junk under the pressure.

‘’Mother Of Sea, Mazu, protect your children from the wrath of the sinners.’’ His voice boomed like a horn throughout the sea. The sailors behind him covered their ears and the ones far away started to cheer. No one showed any sign of fear towards the huge tsunami.

Well, Haiyang also wanted to ensure they wouldn’t.

Both of his palms started to glow with a royal blue and spread their brilliance like a spider web into the sky. Then everything rumbled.

The sea, the air, the fleet, the shadows under the ocean’s surface, the Third Sea Emperor launching the tsunami. All shook and trembled and swayed, then a thunderous boom struck.

Thousands of water giants rose around the fleet, each of them thirty meters. They all stepped on the surface of the water like they walked upon the hard ground and dashed towards the front. Waves rose from their stomps and hiding beasts scattered away in fear of their power.

‘’Peh!’’ A petty, selfish, and also a great leader spat inside the tsunami. Just as the water giants forced themselves into the wave, a huge roar sounded.

‘’RAAAAAAAR! UGH- MY THROAT!’’ An emerald breath of fire swept inside the tsunami towards the giants and evaporated them together with the huge wave. Steam started to cover the ocean's surface. Haiyang chuckled to himself and moved his hands down, everything rumbled again.

This time, a phantom appeared behind his back, the shape of a graceful woman carrying a scripture. She opened her mouth and in an instant thousand words flew out of her lips. Whoever heard it became dumbstruck, then nauseous. Ones who couldn’t hold in, namely the Sea Beasts still close, vomited not their meals but fresh blood and chunks of their internal organs.

‘’Damn it, you dirty ruler! Stop your offense!’’

The Third Sea Emperor realized what Haiyang was after, to reduce their overall combat before an all-out sea battle started.

After all, in a battle where most numbers concentrated on a single area and multiple strikes were unleashed, the Qi flow around the place would destabilize. Though immortals did not need to control the Qi on their own, even their meridians couldn’t sort out a chaotic wave of energy quick enough to act in a battlefield. And even if they, miraculously, managed to purify and refine the Qi they absorbed to execute a move, the moment they unleashed it the destabilized Qi flow would disturb its components and make its power many, many times weaker than it was.

That was why numbers were still strong and armies were still raised instead of powerful cultivators. That was also why sects were never considered a force or the lords of a region and were at most schools for local nobles to educate their offspring.

The only exception was The Sect, though, and Cindersnow was always an exception in every matter.

But did it matter that he thought of these at this moment? Haiyang could reply, and with a big, strong yes at that! Why?

Because the sect was gone? No. Because this made him remember the eventual fate this continent would face without a centralized, utmost power which controlled all three of the world; The earth, the heavens, and the ocean, against the Forsakens.

So he had to act fast. There were no more essence realm cultivators left on the Northern Continent and all the fools at the east and the south would first work for their influence, rather than the external threat.

Then what he tried to accomplish right now was not foolish? It was. Offending Sea Beasts, the second-largest force of the Beasts wasn’t that intelligent in the absence of The sect. But was it necessary? Yes, and they needed offending them the most right now.

‘’You will pay for this with your life!’’ The Third Sea Emperor rushed out of the veil of the sea he hid under and flashed his draconic, ultramarine scales and silver horns towards Haiyang. Following him thousands, then a dozen thousand sea beasts rose as well.

Serpents covered in lightning, dolphins with three or four horns on their heads, sea turtles hidden in spiked shells, sharks bearing steel-plated fins and many more rushed out. Waves of smaller beasts chased after them, including sea horses, whales, swordfishes and others.

Haiyang let out a smile. His pearly white teeth matched the silver horns of the Third Sea Emperor in brilliance as he turned around and opened his third eye again. His invisible consciousness spread over the whole fleet. With a command from him to the skippers, Steels and caravels distanced from their compatriots to cover more area.

Then Emperor Haiyang, Sixth best admiral of the Haishen Empire and the blessed one of the Mazu, Goddess of the Sea and Maritime, chuckled. Another order followed.

‘’Steels! Aim towards the flashy bastard!’’

So sixty-nine shots of purple blazing cannonballs flew from the hulls, some over some under the beasts, and rocked the ocean.

Sea Beasts lost a battle, in their homeland, for the second time in history.

*********

The body enchanting was one of the first attempts of the early cultivators to protect themselves from the dangers of the wild world.

As Quan wrote: ‘’After the establishment of Qi’s usage, then the first meridians, came the ways on how to control it better, as no race living in the world could survive the wild with only pure power.’’

And how could they control the wild, unruly Qi without negative consequences? There were many attempts to do before inserting the meridians into the evolutionary cycle of the mortals, of which some were; Blood Spells, Rune Smithing, Celestial Worship(Which still existed in some forms), and last but not least, Body Enchanting.

To call the Body Enchanting a culmination of all knowledge of the former three wouldn’t be wrong, as other than Celestial Worship that included stealing power from higher beings, the other two methods stemmed from the beasts’ and humans’ power. But the innate strength of the beasts, humans, or even the Celestial Beings were never powerful enough.

Only nature reigned, and nature encompassed the entire universe.

So, from the start, all these paths, supported not by nature but by the fragile constitutions, led to a dead end. For Blood Spells it was Qi Creation, for Rune Smithing it was Qi destruction. For Celestial Worship, it was half-step into Path Finding and Body Enchanting made one go as far as the second layer of Path Finding.

Which was only a level above of Ubel’s former cultivation base.

So regaining a semblance of his old power-nay, a little bit of a stronger strength was in the realm of possibilities for him. But Body Enchanting wouldn’t help with his control over Qi, nor would it enable him to get stronger more than that. It wasn’t called a dead-end for nothing, after all. But it was power, and he needed it.

Why was he to cultivate this technique for personal strength in the first place? The reasons Quan gave were more than a few, but two of them struck him the most because of his recent experience.

‘’Since the sect left the continent for good or bad, whichever only light knows, there will be more opportunities for new powers to rise. First ones will be vassal empires, seconds in the line will be religions, and the third ones will be the criminals. To protect yourself from the third, you need to know how to hide. To protect from the second, you need to know how to talk. But to protect yourself from the first, you need power. Actually, you will need power for each, but the first needs the most. And your most, my disciple, might be the worst of your compatriots.’’

‘’...And to talk about the difference between the religions you do know of their backgrounds and ones you don’t, the most dangerous ones are the anonymous ones. Mazu, Brynhildr, Hades, and other well-known celestials have what they wish from the start. But the small ones still seek power. They need to establish themselves as an influence first, then as a deity. They can’t contend with other celestial beings for control, so they are prone to steal from the weaker ones, the mortals. If you ever fail to meet eye to eye with an unknown power, beware, as no celestial being will tolerate ones aiming to take them down.’’

Ubel only wished he read these lines before. But even he knew he was too much of a greedy person to ignore these as well. In front of an investment that could lead him to a future he longed to see, no warnings could sway him from that decision. Even now, there was a small whisper in his heart that told him to approach The Raven again. He was one who had a great deal of knowledge it seemed, and also a power that might as well be as great as his knowledge.

But there would be a price. Definitely a big one as well. Then why bother? Ubel didn’t thirst for knowledge right now. So the whisper couldn’t be much of a trouble in his mind.

For the moment, of course, as right now there was something that troubled him more.

He stood among the last few trees separating the yellow and wetted brown sand from the green earth of the Orabura, peeking from a birch tree’s trunk. Dozens of meters away from him laid a sea beast on the beach, in a greenish pool of blood of its own. Its ragged breathing echoed louder than the crashing waves’ sounds and the oily stench from its body suppressed the clear breeze of the ocean.

A sea beast? It was clearly one. The important questions were, however, what kind of a sea beast it was and how high its cultivation reached.

Ubel didn’t even want to test the waters with the thing. Its visible upper body alone was around fifty to sixty meters it seemed and from the angle it coiled like a serpent’s body, it had to be thrice as long as that. The light blue scales on its body and the grey horns on its bloody head also gleamed with a threatening light. All in all, Ubel had a hunch that this thing could kill ten of him at his peak state.

Not eleven of him, though.

Ubel took three steps back. He made no sound. He slightly turned around, looked once more from his shoulders to the sea beat, then ran.

He ran with all his might, leaves flew up and trees shook as he got away from the shore as fast as possible.

Hell, he wouldn’t experience the same thing over and over again for nothing. He was too ignorant of a kid but at least, he wasn’t that much of an idiot.

But the not idiot Ubel, after going back and resting for two more days, came back to the shore to find the sea beast again in curiosity.

He found it at the same place, to his luck.

This time alive and less injured.

And also angry.