Killing

When Jing Qian emerged from the cabin and reached the air above the deck, he was startled to discover that his ship had somehow joined up with three others.

At that moment, the four ships had blocked a small black-canopied boat from four directions.

Several sharp steel cables extended from each ship, hooked onto the small boat and locking it firmly in place.

A fierce-looking man stood on every steel cable, each wielding a razor-sharp blade. Their eyes were cold and savage, as if they were ready to devour someone.

That surge of Magic Power had come from the small boat.

Jing Qian strolled through the dimensional space and, as usual, made his way to the very center of the conflict. He claimed the best spot and began watching the show.

The canopy over the small boat's cabin had been ripped away completely, exposing the cabin within.

A tall woman was half reclining inside, cradling a teenage boy whose breath was as faint as a thread.

The woman had the same grayish-blue complexion and was grievously wounded.

She had barely managed to raise a protective barrier of Destiny Essence Magic Power, yet it trembled as if it might collapse at any moment.

She spoke to a burly man standing at the bow of the small boat:

"Wu Yan, when has my Jing Household ever mistreated you? Why must you drive us to utter destruction?"

Wu Yan's face was hard as iron, and a trace of disdain and cruelty flashed through his eyes.

The corners of his mouth curled into a cold sneer, and his voice was low and menacing:

"The Jing Household? Hmph. What are old favors compared to passing clouds and smoke? In the cultivation world, the strong prey on the weak. Your Jing Household has fallen into decline, yet you still expect us to remember old ties? How naïve!"

The woman was not surprised by his reaction. She continued, addressing everyone present:

"Every one of you here is a descendant of a comrade-in-arms from the Hun Ling Number."

"Our ancestors died together on the battlefield. They were brothers who had shared life and death."

"If they knew that their descendants have now turned against one another and were slaughtering each other, how could they rest in peace?"

The woman coughed up blood as she continued:

"Back then, before the compensation had been settled, my Jing Household exhausted its wealth and advanced the compensation for all our comrades. Only then did every household survive that crisis."

"Now the Maritime Affairs Office has cleared our ancestors' names. Once we return this time, we can officially receive the compensation."

"By then, all the suffering we have endured these many years can be overturned."

"Why must you insist on making things difficult for the Jing Household, regardless of the consequences?"

"If the murder of meritorious officials' descendants is exposed, not only will the compensation you were originally entitled to go up in smoke!"

"You will all have to pay with your lives for the two of us!"

"If you let the two of us go back, I am willing to swear that my Jing Household will voluntarily relinquish all the compensation we advanced before and will make no further claim."

At this juncture between life and death, the woman was doing everything she could to find a sliver of hope.

"A Bao, you can go back and tell Qian Yuan that my Jing Household is willing to hand over the Official Shop License he has always wanted with both hands!"

The one who answered her was a short, stout man standing atop one of the steel cables.

He spoke:

"Sister Ran, it is we who have wronged you. I, A Bao, have repaid kindness with betrayal."

"But this was something we had no choice in!"

"If Steward Qian alone had his eye on your household's Official Shop License, I would never have gone this far."

"But the House Master has already decided to grant the compensation to the Jing Household, and the news has spread."

The man's voice grew more and more urgent:

"One of the newly produced Ninth-Rank Sword Boats had already been promised by Steward Zhou to his own nephew."

"But now it has to be reassigned to the Jing Household."

"There is also a Determining Destiny Body Tempering opportunity for Xiao Qian. The House Master specially approved borrowing the Education Directorate's Seventh-Rank Destiny Furnace for it."

"And that opportunity had already been निश्चित to go to Steward Xu's youngest daughter."

"The Maritime Affairs Office has only three stewards, and every one of them holds immense power!"

"The Jing Household has offended all three at once. How could there be any hope of survival?"

"We all depend on the Maritime Affairs Office to make a living."

"How could we dare neglect what the stewards want?"

Though the fat man's words were tactful, the blade in his hand had not slackened in the slightest!

In his eyes, the Jing Household had become the target of everyone's attack.

In this world, good people truly received no good end!

The Jing Household possessed the inheritance of the Tidal Wave Destiny and had even produced a great cultivator of the Dragon Elephant Realm.

A hundred years ago, when disaster struck the Hun Ling Number, it had been the Jing Household that spent its wealth to advance the compensation for the crew.

But now, the family had fallen into decline. Their kindness had long been forgotten, and former friends and relatives had even turned against them!

This woman was already the Jing Household's only Destiny cultivator to have entered the ranks, but her sea of consciousness had been destroyed and her Magic Power exhausted. There was no longer any hope of survival.

Everywhere she looked, there were jackals and wolves. The woman's heart gradually turned cold as well.

She gently removed the mask from the nephew in her arms.

His pale face was covered in a layer of fish scales!

For the sake of the family's future, he had forced himself to swallow Sea Demon flesh at such a young age, desperately nourishing his essence. As a result, demonic essence had entered his body and produced side effects.

All of this was the result of the elders' incompetence!

When she had been young, the family had still possessed some foundation, enough to support her in entering the Dao and cultivating.

But after her elder brother met with disaster, the family lost its last ship as well, and everything took a sudden turn for the worse.

She spoke again:

"Fathers and brothers, everyone here—whoever can kill Wu Yan, I am willing to give you all the compensation owed to my Jing Household's ancestors. I will voluntarily seal this with a blood contract!"

"There are only the two of us left in the Jing Household. Once I die, the Jing Household will cease to exist. This is your only chance!"

"Hahahaha!"

Wu Yan, standing at the bow, threw back his head and laughed.

"Big Sister of the Jing Household, don't think anyone will really fall for that."

"Before coming here, we all signed blood contracts! This battle will never let the two of you escape alive."

"We have even made arrangements aboard the Hun Yi Number. Even if that great demon had not appeared, you still would not have gotten away."

"Besides, I have already condensed the Azure Wing Destiny Essence and advanced to the Dragon Elephant Realm. No one here is my match!"

"You should give up while you still can..."

Just as he was speaking, the ship behind him suddenly let out a thunderous boom:

"Boom!"

The sound was muffled and came from beneath the ship, as though something heavy had slammed into the bottom of the cabin.

"The ship is taking on water!"

"A huge hole has been blasted through the hull!"

Immediately afterward, the other three large ships could not escape the same fate. Within a very short interval, they too began to thunder one after another!

Without needing anyone to give orders, everyone present instantly charged toward their own ships.

Out on this vast, boundless sea, a ship was life itself!

There could be no room for the slightest mishap!

Even Wu Yan, who had only just entered the Dragon Elephant Realm, panicked for a moment.

He leaped from the small boat, lightly touched one of the iron cables, and descended toward his own ship.

But while he hung suspended in midair, he suddenly felt a blade-sharp chill sweep toward him from behind.

He had no time to turn around and could only circulate his Magic Power with all his might to block it.

From the corner of his eye, he saw a figure flash and vanish!

He knew he had not been mistaken. At the instant the figure appeared, a tooth-shaped blade had effortlessly pierced through his Magic Power and plunged into his chest.