Chaos Sea.
The grayish fog was like a pot of burnt thick soup, sticky as it clung to the hull.
The Gods and Demons Black Ship creaked, the sound especially piercing over the deathly still sea. Chu Qing stood barefoot at the bow, his toes pressing lightly into the wet, cold deck with its rough, bony texture.
The bone-piercing chill crawled up through the Yongquan acupoints, calming the Purple True Blood that had been restless from cultivation moments ago.
Ahead, the fog was suddenly torn apart.
Several flashes of silver skimmed across the sea's surface at tremendous speed, trailing shrill cries as they tore through the air. They were five or six exquisite spindle-shaped boats, each only a dozen meters long, yet they moved through the viscous Chaos Sea as nimbly as fish.
The boats stopped, perfectly encircling the black ship.
Chu Qing swept his gaze downward.
The creatures standing on those small boats' decks were hideous beyond description. Some had necks covered in dense, quivering flesh tumors; others had arms that were simply several slick purple-black tentacles, their suckers opening and closing with wet pfft, pfft sounds.
Chu Qing's throat bobbed involuntarily, and a faint spasm passed through his stomach.
A purely physiological disgust.
It felt much like when he had seen maggots writhing in the dark gutters of the slums in Stone Rock County years ago.
Those creatures stared at the black ship, greedy Red Light glowing in their pupils as they locked onto that enormous Forbidden Zone Overlord spinal dragonbone.
[Profession Column: Chu Qing] [Detected: Chaos Sea Hunters.] [Status: Extremely greedy.] [Evaluation: Parasites that survive by plundering shattered Epochs.]
At that moment, a man in tattered black leather armor stepped onto the bow of a spindle-shaped boat to the left. Half his face was covered