Fish That Slipped Through the Net

Along with that shriek that pierced the clouds.

The demonic beasts on the distant horizon seemed to go mad as they charged toward Guang'an Prefecture.

The sheer number of demonic beasts even triggered a tsunami.

At the sight of such terrifying might of Heaven and Earth, every cultivator present paled.

At the very front line.

At this moment, the Zhou Family cultivators holding the foremost position all wore grim expressions.

The Zhou family members had never imagined that merely capturing Mermaids as they did every year would cause such enormous trouble this time.

No matter what.

The Merfolk Tribe had come knocking, and the Zhou Family could not possibly retreat.

Otherwise, the Zhou Family's prestige, built over a thousand years across the surrounding hundred thousand li of sea, would be destroyed in a single day.

At this thought.

One of the leading Purple Mansion cultivators shouted, "Zhou Family disciples, heed my command—Form a formation and defend against the enemy!"

As the order fell.

In less than the time it took to drink half a cup of tea, an enormous Formation had been set up before the shoreline.

All the Zhou family members held their breath, waiting for the charging demonic beasts.

"Sword Formation! Rise!"

At the command, Flying Swords pierced the heavens one after another, forming a Sword Formation of incomparable power as it slaughtered its way toward the surging horde of demonic beasts.

At this moment.

It seemed that only the surging horde of demonic beasts and the brilliant Sword Formation rising from the earth remained between Heaven and Earth!

BOOM!!!

In the blink of an eye.

The Sword Formation collided with the tsunami, erupting with a deafening roar like the collision of Heaven and Earth.

In an instant, the seawater was dyed red with blood, and great swathes of demonic beast corpses floated upon the surface.

The Rogue Cultivators in the rear saw this scene, and their expressions relaxed.

"Low-level demonic beasts are still low-level demonic beasts. No matter how astounding their numbers, they ultimately cannot stir up much of a storm."

Hovering in midair, Chen Xianhe watched the Zhou Family cultivators battle the sea beasts and sighed.

"The Zhou Family is truly formidable."

What Chen Daoxuan saw, however, was the Zhou Family's overwhelming strength. That strength was not merely reflected in the individual prowess of the Zhou Family disciples.

It was even more evident in their disciplined collective training. They were utterly unlike Rogue Cultivators, who could only rely on individual bravery.

At present.

The strongest wave of the demonic beasts' united assault had been shattered by the Zhou Family, leaving only the task of hunting down the scattered remnants.

These demonic beasts, frightened out of their wits, fled in every direction. No matter how desperately the Mermaids howled and tried to command them from behind, it was utterly futile.

"We've won."

Seeing this, the battle-hardened Chen Xianhe instantly judged the situation.

Sure enough.

Just as Chen Xianhe had judged, the seemingly enormous horde of demonic beasts was no match for the Zhou Family.

After a single clash, they had collapsed like an army in rout.

What followed was the cleanup of the fleeing demonic beasts by the Zhou Family cultivators and the Rogue Cultivators of Guang'an Prefecture.

Compared with crushing the massive demonic beast horde, this cleanup seemed even more taxing.

These demonic beasts were simply too good at running around. The Zhou Family cultivators had to ensure that not a single fish slipped through the net. Otherwise, if the demonic beasts entered Guang'an Prefecture's waterways, they would pose an immense threat to the Zhou clan's mortals.

After all, compared to cultivators, mortals had no means whatsoever to protect themselves against demonic beasts.

Even mortal martial artists at the ninth layer of Houtian could very well be killed when facing these unranked demonic beasts, let alone ordinary mortals who knew no martial arts.

Fortunately.

Sailing ships filled Guang'an Prefecture's harbor, and at this moment, these ships became a natural protective barrier for Guang'an Prefecture.

For the scattered demonic beasts to cross these vessels and enter Guang'an Prefecture's inner waterways was nearly impossible.

Aboard the Azure Dragon.

Chen Daoxuan and Chen Xianhe stood side by side.

Chen Daoxuan had originally thought he might personally slay a demonic beast, but now it seemed they would merely be watching the excitement in this battle.

Though the number of demonic beasts could not be counted.

One thing was certain: there were absolutely fewer of them than the cultivators present.

Moreover, most of the demonic beasts had already been slain by the Zhou Family cultivators. It was easy to imagine how many would remain by the time the Rogue Cultivators got a chance to act.

Seeing Chen Daoxuan's eager expression, Chen Xianhe chuckled. "Most of these are unranked demonic beasts. Even if you slay them, their corpses are of little use to cultivators like us. Why waste the effort?"

Chen Daoxuan grinned. "I know. My hands are just a little itchy."

Hearing this, Chen Xianhe was speechless.

Cultivators spent all year in seclusion cultivating. They possessed great power but had no chance to use it; given enough time, that could stifle a person into developing problems.

That was also why cultivators often broke into fierce fights at the slightest disagreement.

To put it in the words of his previous life, when one carried a sharp blade, the urge to kill arose of its own accord.

Not to mention that cultivators did not merely carry sharp blades—they wielded power capable of destroying Heaven and Earth. How could their tempers not be volatile?

Just as Chen Xianhe was about to say something, the Azure Dragon suddenly rocked.

"Not good, it's a Tiger-eyed Fish!"

With a sweep of his Divine Sense, Chen Xianhe discovered a strange fish roughly a zhang long, with four blood-red eyes growing from its head, ramming and biting at the hull of the Azure Dragon.

"You beast!"

Seeing the creature damage the Azure Dragon, the family's only Cargo Ship, how could Chen Xianhe tolerate it? He immediately sent out a Flying Sword and slashed toward the Tiger-eyed Fish in the sea.

Splash!

Sword Light flashed upon the Flying Sword. It made only one circuit beneath the sea before breaking through the water.

The next moment, the impacts against the Azure Dragon stopped.

Before long, blood surged up from beneath the sea. Then, floating to the surface was the demonic beast corpse Chen Xianhe had called a Tiger-eyed Fish.

Chen Daoxuan focused his gaze.

This demonic beast called a Tiger-eyed Fish had already been cleaved into two halves.

After some thought, Chen Daoxuan used true qi to draw the Tiger-eyed Fish's corpse from the sea and suspend it before him for a careful examination.

This was the first time he had observed a demonic beast so closely. During the demonic beast disaster in Changping County ten years ago, he had been too frightened to see clearly what the demonic beasts looked like.

"So this is a demonic beast? It's really weak!"

Chen Daoxuan muttered.

Who would have thought that upon hearing this, Chen Xianhe's expression would turn serious? He shook his head. "Demonic beasts are not weak. Rather than calling this Tiger-eyed Fish a demonic beast, it would be more accurate to say it is a wild beast corrupted by demonic power and turned demonic.

A true Rank 1 demonic beast is not so easy to deal with."

At this point, Chen Xianhe seemed to recall something and warned him, "If you encounter a demonic beast of the same cultivation level while alone in the future, remember not to fight it to the death. An ordinary cultivator fighting alone will find it difficult to be a demonic beast's match."

"Mm."

Chen Daoxuan nodded, indicating that he understood.

He knew full well that in terms of experience, Thirteenth Uncle, an old hand of the cultivation world, was streets ahead of him.

Seeing Chen Daoxuan's disappointed expression, Chen Xianhe said irritably, "Quit making that long face. You can kill the next demonic beast, and I'll watch your back. Is that enough?"

"Alright!"

Chen Daoxuan nodded with a smile, then tossed the Tiger-eyed Fish's corpse back into the sea.

"Hmm?"

No sooner had Chen Xianhe finished speaking than a demonic beast radiating dense demonic aura swam toward the Azure Dragon.

"A Rank 1 demonic beast!"

Not far away, other cultivators also spotted the demonic beast in the sea and cried out in alarm.

"Damn it, what are the Zhou Family and those people up front doing? How did they let a Rank 1 demonic beast through?"

The surrounding cultivators groaned bitterly.

Seemingly drawn by the Tiger-eyed Fish's blood, this Rank 1 demonic beast swam near the Azure Dragon and, surprisingly, did not leave. Instead, it began gnawing on the Tiger-eyed Fish's corpse.

The Azure Dragon was roughly fifty zhang long, or a little over one hundred and sixty meters. Though it was not an especially large Cargo Ship, compared with unranked demonic beasts like the Tiger-eyed Fish, it was still a colossal thing.

Yet the length of this Rank 1 demonic beast's exposed dorsal ridge alone surpassed the Azure Dragon's mast.

Its full body length was likely over twenty zhang!

Having lived two lives, this was the largest creature Chen Daoxuan had ever seen.

Even with his temperament, he could not help but feel a surge of fear.

Fortunately, this demonic beast was feeding and did not seem to have any intention of attacking the Azure Dragon for the moment.