As soon as the purple-haired woman finished speaking, bowstrings drew taut on both sides of the beach.
The island had more than three hundred pirates, and everyone standing in the front ranks possessed Soul Power. The woman leading them wore a short cape over her shoulders and stood barefoot on the damp sand. Six Soul Rings rose beneath her feet: two yellow, two purple, and two black.
A level sixty-eight Battle Soul Emperor: Zi Zhenzhu.
Bai Jin glanced over the curved blades, slowly sat upright, and plucked a strand of seaweed from his hair.
"Let me ask you something first."
He pointed at his white clothes, soaked through with blood. "Do we look like we came to seize your territory?"
Zi Zhenzhu sneered. "You arrived on Haider's ship wearing Spirit Hall insignia. You look more like a pack of unlucky fools who botched whatever dirty work they were up to."
"You need a better eye for people." Bai Jin sighed. "I'm the kind who's exceptionally good at dirty work."
Qian Renxue crouched beside him, rebandaging his shoulder. At that, her fingers tightened slightly, and the bandage dug straight into his wound.
Bai Jin sucked in a sharp breath and amended his statement sincerely. "Though I do botch it now and then."
Zi Zhenzhu studied him for a moment, unable to tell how badly he was hurt. Surviving a drift through the Demon Whale Sea was absurd enough. That this Silver Hair young man in an eyepatch still felt like joking made him stranger still.
Tang San stepped forward.
"Haider isn't with us. He poisoned our food to send us all into the Demon Whale Sea. We just fought the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King. Our ship was destroyed, and we drifted here."
A stir ran through the pirates.
Zi Zhenzhu's