A New Overlord of the East Sea

The vastness of the East Sea far exceeded Li Cha's imagination. As far as the eye could see, emerald waves stretched endlessly until the horizon merged with the heavens, as though there were no end. Even with his Mid Da Luo Spiritual Sense, trying to precisely locate the legendary, elusive Three Immortals Islands—Penglai, Fangzhang, and Yingzhou—which concealed themselves from heaven's secrets amid these boundless waters, was nothing short of a fool's dream. It was even harder than finding a needle in the sea.

"Forget it. Opportunities cannot be forced." Li Cha quickly adjusted his mindset and smiled faintly. "Since I am here, I might as well treat it as a journey and take in the sights of the greatest of the Four Seas. Perhaps I may find something else."

Riding upon Mo Ran's back, he drifted leisurely without any particular destination. Ever since the Dragon Clan had, because of Ancestral Dragon's great vow, retreated as a whole to the Four Seas to forever guard the sea eyes and ceased competing for dominance in the Primordial Wilderness, the vast East Sea had entered a new era of competing powers. After years of slaughter and annexation, a three-way balance had gradually formed:

The first was the Turtle Clan. Their defensive power was practically monstrous; among cultivators of the same realm, few could break their shells. They also possessed long lifespans, and their clan had accumulated a great number of powerful experts. Their weakness lay in their relatively limited offensive methods and slow movement. Though they had no ambitions of domination, no one dared provoke them lightly.

The second was the Whale Clan. Its members were individually formidable, especially in offense, where their immense and overwhelming power was nearly unmatched. However, their population was relatively small, and their naturally peaceful disposition made them dislike conflict. Though they possessed the strength to contend for supremacy over the seas, they had always remained detached from worldly affairs, living quietly in one corner.

The third was the Shark Clan. They reproduced rapidly and had a massive population. Bloodthirsty and cruel by nature, they feared no death, delighted in slaughter, and pillaged in every direction. Relying on their savage methods and immense numbers, the Shark Clan had effectively become the East Sea's new overlord after the Dragon Clan's retreat.

Li Cha had only entered the East Sea waters a few days earlier while riding the rare Ink Qilin, Mo Ran, when his aura—so different from that of the aquatic clans—and the auspicious spiritual aura radiating from Mo Ran's body became like a beacon in the darkness, immediately drawing a pair of greedy, cruel eyes.

The newcomer was a Sea Patrol General of the Shark Clan named Sha Bo. He possessed Mid Grand Unity Golden Immortal cultivation, slightly higher than Li Cha's. Nearly ten thousand minor demons served under his command. Most were merely Mystic Immortals, but he had two capable lieutenants: the Early Da Luo Overlord Squid and the equally Early Da Luo Lightning Dragon Eel.

From afar, Sha Bo saw Li Cha riding a qilin and sensed that he was only at Mid Da Luo. He immediately regarded him as a fat sheep that had wandered astray. Qilins were auspicious beasts and rarely acknowledged masters. Would someone capable of riding one not possess valuable treasures? With two Early Da Luo subordinates and nearly ten thousand demon soldiers forming battle formations, he believed his side could easily crush the enemy.

"Men, surround them! Kill the man, capture that Ink Qilin alive, and present him to the clan chief!" Sha Bo snarled, brandishing a Serrated Great Saber as he charged first. Demonic energy surged into the sky, stirring up a thousand towering waves. Behind him, ten thousand demons roared, their momentum terrifying.

However, they had picked the wrong target today.

Facing the oncoming horde of demons, Li Cha did not even rise from Mo Ran's back. He merely cast a calm glance at Sha Bo, who was charging at the front, then summoned the Spirit Origin Ruler into his hand and lightly drew it through the air.

"Freeze!"

An invisible ripple spread outward, carrying the mysterious power of the Tea Dao's serenity and suppression of the mind. Sha Bo and the demon soldiers under his command felt the surrounding space congeal. Their raging killing intent seemed to have been doused with a basin of ice water, and their movements instantly slowed by half a beat.

At that moment, Mo Ran moved! He was no longer the same as before. With Half-Step Da Luo cultivation, the innate divine abilities of the Kirin Clan, and the cultivation methods taught by Li Cha, his strength far surpassed others of the same realm.

His body flashed like lightning, and in an instant, he appeared before the enormous Overlord Squid. His qilin claw, covered in thick scales and carrying the force to tear apart space, shot forward!

"Squelch!"

The Overlord Squid did not even have time to use its abilities before Mo Ran's claw burst its enormous head. Ink and blood mixed together, dyeing a vast stretch of sea black.

At the same time, Mo Ran swung his massive head and bit toward the Lightning Dragon Eel on the other side like a bolt of lightning. Electric light crackled around the eel's body, and it was incredibly fast, yet it still failed to evade completely. Mo Ran clamped down on the rear half of its body. With a crack, the eel's tough body was instantly severed into two pieces. Blood poured freely. Though it did not die immediately, it had lost all ability to fight and writhed painfully in the seawater.

Meanwhile, the moment Li Cha swung the Spirit Origin Ruler, his body had already appeared like a ghost before Sha Bo, whose mind had been suppressed. He spread his five fingers, Dao patterns emerging in his palm. Carrying the power of the Five Elements' rotation and the sealing of all things, his hand lightly pressed against Sha Bo's forehead.

"Seal!"

Sha Bo felt an irresistible force of law surge into his body, instantly sealing all his mana and primordial spirit. He could not even self-destruct. His massive shark true form was forcibly reduced into a black shark over ten feet long, which Li Cha held in his hand.

Everything had happened in the span of a fleeting moment, too fast for anyone to react. By the time the minor demons regained their ability to move, all they saw was their commanding general captured and their two vanguards, one dead and the other severely wounded. They immediately scattered in terror.

Though captured, Sha Bo had lost none of his ferocity. He struggled in Li Cha's grasp and shouted, "Pretty boy! You dare injure a Shark Clan general! I have already used a secret art to notify the clan. You cannot escape! Release this general at once if you know what is good for you, or I will make sure you cannot live or die in peace!"

Rather than becoming angry, Li Cha laughed. "You have some backbone." Too lazy to waste words on him, Li Cha directly sealed his five senses and casually tossed him into the Chaos Pearl to be locked away for now.

He then collected the Dragon Eel, which had been severed in two and was barely clinging to life, and directed Mo Ran to land on a nearby island.

The island was called Flying Fish Island, named for the flying fish in the surrounding waters that could glide short distances through the air. According to the still-breathing Dragon Eel, this was Sha Bo's territory.

After landing on the island, Li Cha did not immediately begin the interrogation. First, he took out a large quantity of Five Elements Spirit Stones from the Chaos Pearl. During his years traveling through the Primordial Wilderness in search of Five Elements Divine Stone, he had also gathered many spirit stones of various attributes. Though these stones were not comparable to Five Elements Divine Stone in quality, they were vast in number and complete in attributes.

Using these spirit stones as a foundation, he set up an Inverted Five Elements Grand Array on Flying Fish Island. Li Cha had created this formation after comprehending the principles of the Five Elements' mutual generation and restraint. Within the array, the power of the Five Elements was deliberately inverted and confused. Those who entered would lose all sense of direction, their spiritual energy would fall into chaos, and countless invisible killing dangers born from the chaotic Five Elements power lay hidden within. Li Cha was confident that unless one was proficient in formations, even an Early Quasi-Saint who rashly entered this array would be lucky to survive without losing a layer of skin.

Only after completing the formation did Li Cha begin interrogating the Dragon Eel. The Dragon Eel had long since been frightened out of its wits by Li Cha's thunderous methods. Seriously wounded as it was, it naturally told him everything it knew in order to live.

From its words, Li Cha learned the Shark Clan's approximate strength. The strongest members of the clan were three elders at the peak of Da Luo. Beneath them were ten Late Da Luo experts, dozens at the Mid and Early Da Luo realms, and millions of clansmen. As for why they had attacked, it was simply because Sha Bo had become greedy upon seeing the qilin. Such behavior was commonplace within the Shark Clan. They believed in the law of the jungle, and killing others for treasure was as ordinary as eating and drinking.

While they were speaking, the sky darkened. Six figures radiating powerful auras arrived atop demonic clouds. At their head was an elderly Shark Clan member emanating the terrifying aura of peak Da Luo, followed by five savage Mid Da Luo Shark Clan experts.

"Listen, you thieving Daoist! Release my nephew Sha Bo at once and bind yourself to await judgment. This elder may yet leave you an intact corpse! Otherwise, I will rip out your soul and refine your spirit, then turn your mount into blood food!" The Shark Clan Elder's voice boomed like thunder, shaking the waves around the island into violent upheaval.

Li Cha stood with his hands behind his back and merely sneered. "What old trash is this, barking so wildly? If you have the ability, come onto the island and take me."

The Shark Clan Elder had never suffered such contempt. Enraged and desperate to save his nephew, he charged into Flying Fish Island with his five subordinates without a moment's thought.

The next instant, the winds and clouds over the island changed abruptly! The once-clear scenery became blurred and distorted. Five-colored light swirled, and countless fierce attacks came from every direction!

"Not good! There is a formation!" the elder cried out, but it was already too late.

The six Shark Clan experts trapped in the Inverted Five Elements Grand Array were like headless flies. Though they possessed immense brute strength, they had nowhere to use it. Under the endless illusions and attacks, the five Mid Da Luo Shark Clan members barely held on for less than a day before dying one after another within the formation.

Only the peak Da Luo elder, relying on his deep cultivation and a protective spiritual treasure, barely managed to preserve his life. Yet he was already at the end of his strength and incapable of putting up any resistance.

Li Cha calmly entered the formation and appeared before the elder like a master of fate.

Faced with the threat of death, the Shark Clan Elder, who had been so arrogant moments earlier, immediately became extremely cooperative and revealed everything he knew. He confirmed the Dragon Eel's account of the Shark Clan's strength and provided crucial information about the Three Immortals Islands. The Three Immortals Islands did not exist in any fixed location. Instead, they appeared once every Kalpa—one hundred twenty-nine thousand six hundred years—in a random region of the East Sea. Each appearance lasted less than thirty days before they vanished again. Moreover, the islands were protected by Innate Formations, and no one had yet broken through and entered them.

To save his life, he also voluntarily revealed a treasure land that the Shark Clan had coveted for a long time but had never managed to claim: a mysterious island shrouded by a powerful Innate Formation. The Shark Clan had gathered the strength of its entire clan and spent one hundred thousand years trying, yet they had failed to shake the formation in the slightest.

"Senior, every word I have said is true! The island's location is..." He hurriedly transmitted the mysterious island's location to Li Cha through divine sense.

Seeing this, the severed Dragon Eel became even more direct. Enduring the agonizing pain, it repeatedly slammed its head against the ground and begged miserably, "Immortal! Please spare my life! I am willing to acknowledge you as my master, to serve as your slave and servant, and to follow you for eternity. I only beg for your mercy and this lowly life!"

Li Cha looked at the Shark Clan Elder, then glanced at the Dragon Eel groveling and kowtowing frantically. He had already made up his mind. He was not bloodthirsty, but neither was he a fool.

"Very well. I will do as you say," Li Cha said indifferently to the Shark Clan Elder. "I keep my word. I will spare your life."

The elder had just revealed a trace of joy at surviving the disaster when Li Cha flicked a finger. A flash of light containing the power of destruction instantly entered his Purple Mansion within his dantian!

"Aaargh!" The elder let out a shrill scream. The vast mana throughout his body leaked away like air from a punctured balloon, his realm plummeting until he became an old shark with no mana at all.

Li Cha kept his promise and did not kill him. He merely crippled his cultivation and took a few things he had no use for. (Spiritual treasures, storage rings...) He dealt with Sha Bo in the same manner. When Sha Bo tried to resist as his cultivation was being crippled, he received another beating.

With a sweep of his sleeve, Li Cha threw the old shark and Sha Bo out of Flying Fish Island together. He removed some of the restrictions on them, but their voices remained sealed.

The two powerless, blood-soaked sharks fell into the sea. The thick stench of blood immediately attracted predators from the surrounding waters—the very flying fish they had once cruelly slaughtered at will! Now, thousands upon thousands of flying fish swarmed over like piranhas smelling blood, their not-so-sharp teeth tearing madly into the once-mighty Shark Clan Elder and general...

In mere moments, only two enormous white skeletons remained on the surface, slowly sinking into the deep sea. These were the atrocities they had inflicted upon other living beings in the past, now repaid in full upon themselves.

Li Cha no longer paid attention to the miserable scene on the sea. He looked toward the Dragon Eel lying prostrate on the ground and trembling, then casually sent out a stream of green light filled with life force, temporarily stabilizing its injuries.

"Since you are willing to serve me as your master, I will give you a chance. Remain by my side for now, and I will observe your conduct. If you dare harbor any disloyal thoughts, your end will be the same as those two sharks!"

The Dragon Eel felt as though it had received a great pardon. Ignoring the excruciating pain of its severed body, it repeatedly kowtowed. "Thank you, Master, for sparing my life! I will be utterly loyal, brave any danger, and never shrink from death!"

Li Cha nodded slightly and placed it inside the Chaos Pearl as well, ordering it to recover properly. He remained standing on Flying Fish Island, his gaze fixed upon the direction of the island given by the Shark Clan Elder.

The Three Immortals Islands were elusive, and opportunities could not be forced. But this island protected by an Innate Formation, one that the Shark Clan had been unable to breach despite exhausting the power of their entire clan for one hundred thousand years, had greatly piqued his interest.

"Perhaps this place holds the opportunity I need." Li Cha no longer hesitated and decided to investigate it.