Sea Beasts

Li Fan thought for a moment. Since the ore needed by the legion had now fallen into Zhou Chengxue's hands, perhaps he could use him to set up a trap to lure out and capture the spies within Penglai. However, this matter was not urgent and could be planned in the long term.

The more urgent task now is dealing with those two idiots over there. Li Fan didn't expect that Bai Yue would have such a change of events, actually finding the legion's mine directly, and then wandering around with Zhou Chengxue, which wasted a whole day.

According to the ship owner, the sea area where monsters frequently appear in the outer ocean is not just home to one or two monsters, and they are so troublesome that they have driven away the tribes of the Spirit Race. If those two weaklings go there, they will only be offering themselves up as food. Moreover, there may be more secret mines and guards of the Divine Cult in that outer ocean area. If they run into them, they will probably be in big trouble.

So Li Fan didn't have time to waste and used water magic to travel straight ahead and catch up with the two.

With the Si Nan pointing the way, and because Li Fan didn't have a mount and always relied on his fast-paced qi recovery to run away, he had become increasingly proficient in water escape techniques. He quickly arrived at the third mission area and found the sea monster without much effort.

This time it looks like a giant whale, something like Leviathan, at least the size of an aircraft carrier, like the kind of 'real Kun' that Li Fan used to see frequently in web game pop-ups.

Of course, Li Fan now knows that Kun is actually a very picky creature that refuses to drink water. This one in front of him is probably not related to Kun; it's simply some kind of whale that has been mutated by radiation, turning into a strange-looking thing. The light underwater is poor, so he can't see its full appearance clearly, except for a general outline perceived by his Divine Sense. But it's roughly bones growing wildly from its flesh, producing sharp and terrifying bone armor like armor, giant spikes, and whale horns. It looks pretty cool...

This guy's physical resistance is probably maxed out, and in the underwater environment, even Dark Underworld -type escape techniques probably wouldn't do much damage. As for mental attacks... it looks like it's already been deeply corrupted and mutated; it probably didn't have much rationality to begin with...

Li Fan followed stealthily behind, keeping a distance from the giant beast for a while. He observed its methods of hunting other sea creatures: it would spit water cannons to blast away those at a distance, and pounce on them, charging and tearing at those closer. It was clear that its pure attributes were not low; it possessed immense strength, high defense, and high health. It was exceptionally ferocious and violent, with extremely strong aggression. Furthermore, many tentacles extended from under its skull, snatching scraps of flesh and hunting smaller fish, shrimp, and crabs. It seemed to be a chimera composed of various organisms glued together and parasitizing each other.

However, this thing is not very agile and has no purpose whatsoever. It acts more on the instinct of a top predator and it's hard to say that it has any intelligence. Judging from its physical strength alone, it probably surpasses that of a typical Nascent Soul Stage Great Demon Beast, and it might not be much weaker than the true form of a Divine Transformation Great Demon King. But even with such a top-tier body, it has no brain, no Cultivation Method, and it doesn't even have the ability to sense hidden threats with its Divine Sense. So it's actually not much of a threat.

Why use a sledgehammer to crack a nut? There's no need to waste the flying sword's endurance on such a massive beast. After watching for a while, Li Fan realized that besides spitting, ramming, and biting, this thing didn't have any other tricks up its sleeve. So, before the two smaller creatures got in the way, he launched a water-based attack. Using the turbulence from the beast's tail swing as cover, he rushed into the beast's blind spot from the side and rear. Holding his harpoon, he first thrust it in from the back. Sure enough, most creatures have some vulnerable parts, which he easily exploited. The spear tip whipped around, dealing tons of damage—damage that even he felt pain watching it!

Leviathan paused, but then realized what was happening. It angrily tried to turn around and whip its tail, but its agility was too low and its speed was insufficient. Li Fan followed behind, maneuvering wildly and stabbing haphazardly. Soon, the seawater turned a deep crimson.

But the sea monster had no other choice but to fly into a rage of impotence, wildly spraying water cannons from its mouth, leaving the seabed in ruins and countless underground rocks collapsing and crumbling. However, it didn't know any water escape techniques and swam so slowly that it couldn't even turn around. How could it possibly escape from Li Fan's grasp?

So it churned and thrashed, rising and falling, rolling and thrashing for quite a while, while Li Fan continued to follow behind its tail and attack. He quickly took advantage of the opening behind it to inflict more damage on the wound, and even threw spears several times, then used chains to pull it back, and used barbs to add extra damage. He dealt damage without any pressure, completely dominating the monster without taking any damage.

Under such an intense and unpleasant experience, even Leviathan, with its thick health, couldn't withstand it. Its movements quickly slowed, and it crashed into the underwater mountains with a loud bang, burying itself and letting out a pitiful whimper.

Of course, Li Fan wouldn't let it go so easily. He continued to hurl and pull his spear at the wounds in the affected areas for a while, finally managing to kill the monster with great effort and obtaining a fish heart the size of a truck cab.

Hmm, I feel a bit better now. Does that mean things are stable?

It was pure slaughter, with absolutely no skill involved.

Li Fan took a couple of bites of sashimi and found it surprisingly delicious, so he grew a bunch of heads from his belly and gave them to the Dao bodies to try. Then he jumped onto the fish's back and swung his spear along the spine.

This monster is just too big; even the Storage Jade can't hold it. And its malevolent energy is so strong, it can't be left here to pollute the environment. He can only gnaw on it bit by bit. Damn, he's already stuffed after eating just one heart; he just ate a whole meal of Guiche, and he hasn't even finished digesting it yet, and now this...

Just as Li Fan was dividing the fish, those tentacles once again stretched out from the gaps in his skull and attacked him at lightning speed!

Wait, wasn't it declared dead? How come it's still maintaining bodily functions? It doesn't seem to be an organ, but some kind of parasite...

While dodging, Li Fan swung his spear horizontally, severing the tentacles as he thrust forward. He then lunged at the sea monster's head, thrusting his spear into the crevice of the skull, flipping the skull open with a flick of the spear tip, and then thrusting out a gigantic octopus... Wait, there's more than one, and why are there only four tentacles? It looks bizarre; is this really an octopus?

Li Fan used the tip of his spear to probe the octopus-like soft-bodied creature, extending the spear handle to observe it from a distance. This thing was about the size of a giant dog, with long, thick tentacles that could extend three or four zhang (approximately 10-13 meters). Its color ranged from pale purple, milky white, to bluish-gray, and its elastic skin, covered in reflective mucus, felt like rubber. Including the tentacles he had just severed, there were indeed only four tentacles connected to the octopus-like head. However, upon closer inspection, one could see that beneath the round head seemed to be bones, eye sockets, and eyeballs, similar to a human head, with two dark, round eyeballs. For a moment, it was impossible to tell whether it was a mutated squid or an octopus.

Li Fan flipped the spear tip, flattening the four-legged octopus against the whale's skull. He made two cuts, horizontal and vertical, slicing the creature open. He discovered it indeed had only four tentacles. Beneath the round, head-like torso, hidden beneath the tentacles, were V-shaped lungs and lamprey-like mouthparts filled with sharp teeth. The winch-like mouthparts contained a large clump of yellowish-white fluid. It seemed this creature had been locked in the whale's brainstem, hiding between the skull and the brain. A needle-like organ was also inside the mouthparts, deeply inserted into the brain to suck the spinal cord. Because Li Fan had pierced it with his spear, the fluid was now leaking everywhere.

Li Fan frowned. Was this some kind of parasite? It looked like a type of marine mollusc, perhaps a mutation that occurred while Moon Worship with whales?

Li Fan peered inside the whale's head again, and could vaguely see many four-legged octopuses hiding inside the whale's head. As they crawled, their tentacles swayed wildly, making the enormous whale sway back and forth.

Ugh... this really looks disgusting. I don't want to eat this stuff... let the Guiche eat it.

So Li Fan grew a Guiche bird head from his shoulder, pecked up the octopus and tentacles, and swallowed them. He tasted them for himself. Hmm... it seems... not bad? It's the kind of thing that looks disgusting but tastes pretty good. And...

'Li Fan consumed unidentified food, increasing Li Fan mood cap by 1 point.'

Wow! It can actually increase the mood cap! And the system can't even recognize it. It seems that this four-legged octopus, like the demons, is a new thing that has emerged to meet the needs of the times.

However, since it's a good thing that can increase your mood ceiling, you don't need to care what it looks like. As the discoverer of this new ingredient, Li Fan decided to name it... the Shatentacle.

Well, since it's full of malevolent energy and looks like an octopus, just adding the word "malevolent" will suffice, to avoid disputes over IP rights, cough cough.

So Li Fan didn't hold back. He used his harpoon to pierce the fish bones, pried open the skull, and as the Shatentacle tried to escape, he dodged and weaved, revealing his Ghost Hand, and forcibly ripped the brains off the fish, distributing them to the group of heads to swallow raw. He couldn't resist swallowing one himself.

You know what, eating octopus sashimi with fresh sauce and feeling the tentacles tickling your throat is a truly unique and novel experience that you can't stop! It's so delicious!

Moon Soul: "... Ugh, you're disgusting! Can you please stop stuffing everything into your mouth?!"

Wow! What do you mean disgusting? This is a precious ingredient brought by the descent of the False Moon! It's a delicious gift from nature! You know nothing!

In short, Li Fan disassembled the sea whale and searched for a long time, catching and eating about twenty or thirty Shatentacle. Anyway, the upper limit is something, every little bit helps. He wondered if these Shatentacle could continue to evolve like the demons, evolving into large, super large, extra large, or something like that.

However, judging from this, the East Sea is truly abundant. Needless to say, it has all kinds of resources needed by the Taiji Realm, and even the evil energy and various snacks needed by the Tai Su Dao are readily available. It is truly a blessed land with outstanding people and abundant resources.

However, Li Fan really couldn't eat this sea monster. He could only roughly divide it up, ignoring the bones and flesh with less malevolent energy. He would take a bite of the essential parts like the internal organs and liver, and smash the rest to pieces, absorbing and cleaning them up with his Jade Pure Bottle. He only broke off a piece of whale horn as proof of defeating the monster.

To be honest, if these monsters are born of heaven and earth, they will naturally mutate and evolve by basking in the Moon. In that case, this effort to subdue them is just a drop in the ocean and can only cover up the problem temporarily.

Let's set aside the debate about good and evil for now. If the False Moon continues to shine in the sky like this, the Taiji World will probably be assimilated into the Taiji World sooner or later. If we can't completely transform nature, then we should find a way to adapt to its changes as quickly as possible. Otherwise, the humans of this world will eventually become like the stone men of that world, unable to withstand the changes in heaven and earth and going extinct.

However, on the other hand, while the Tai Su Dao method of Mo Shan appears to be the correct path, Li Fan himself knows that the Tai Su transformations are far from perfect enough to be widely adopted by mortals. Just look at the numerous Celestial Devil Statue on Five Sons Peak; even Nascent Soul Realm cultivators have a high chance of losing control. How many can truly cultivate to the Nascent Soul Realm?

We still need to think of a solution, otherwise, even without the environmental purification from the company's system, the humans in this world illuminated by the False Moon will eventually be reduced to nothing more than fragments of cause and effect, won't they?

But the people of this world really have it tough. One minute there's this demon god, the next that system, and the world is on the brink of destruction. Yet they still have the nerve to scheme and fight each other. It's like the right people have been matched into the right game...

Li Fan shook his head, too lazy to think about it anymore. Back then, he was a cute, clueless boy who would be terrified and helpless at the sight of a dead person (as he called himself). Now, he's grown up (becomes numb) to the point where he can calmly utter an "Oh" when faced with a crisis of genocide...

Oh well, whatever, things will work themselves out. There'll always be a way... right?

After dealing with the monsters that needed to be defeated, Li Fan waited a while longer, intending to use a friendly tone, like "Go home and drink milk," to tease the two girls and send them back to Penglai. But strangely, he waited for a long time and still couldn't find any trace of the two girls.

No way, even at their pace, they should have arrived by now... Could they be lost?

Li Fan took out the Si Nan and examined it, then circled the sea again, but still found nothing, which made him suspicious.

On the bright side, maybe those two idiots got poisoned from traveling and gave up and went back on their own.

On the worst-case scenario, what if, besides this Leviathan, there were other sea monsters or high-ranking members of the cult nearby, who were ambushed and killed by the two of them?

Li Fan thought for a moment, no, there was no need to think about it. Whether in terms of combat strength or intelligence, he couldn't rely on those two chuunibyou (delusional teenagers). So he could only sigh, pick up his Si Nan, and use water escape to go back the way he came to find them.

But after searching for a long time, he couldn't find any trace of the two of them. Instead, he ran into another group of uninvited guests at the bottom of the sea.

They are also Spirit Race, but probably haven't reached the Nascent Soul Realm yet. They are all newly formed core-forming demon spirits, and their scales, claws, and teeth are very obvious. But at least they didn't use those evil magic tools to disguise themselves as humans. It seems that they have cultivated some kind of Cultivation Method and transformed into human-like limbs. It seems that Penglai, which is in charge of the East Sea, has done a good job of discipline, and the living Demon Race do not dare to cause trouble.

They are searching the seabed, seemingly looking for something.