A Horde of Demon Beasts

With a ripple of spiritual power, Lu Shang landed inside a teleportation formation.

The moment he landed, Lu Shang felt discomfort in his head.

It felt as though he had suffered a mental attack.

Lu Shang knew the teleportation formation was responsible for this sensation.

Normally, using a teleportation formation would not cause such a feeling.

But with such an immense distance involved, coupled with years of disrepair and disuse, these mishaps were difficult to avoid even after the system had repaired it enough to function.

Lu Shang surveyed his surroundings.

The teleportation formation had been built inside a grotto, with stone walls on almost every side.

Perhaps because it was so far from inhabited areas, hardly anyone had visited, and plenty of algae had grown around it.

Lu Shang looked up and saw a stretch of azure blue.

Lu Shang stamped down hard, collapsing the surrounding stone walls and damaging the teleportation formation.

Lu Shang had not destroyed it completely.

In a hundred years or so, Lu Shang still intended to use this teleportation formation again to return to the Heavenly South and properly repay the Ghost Spirit Sect's young master.

The thought of the Ghost Spirit Sect's young master filled Lu Shang with anger.

"When I return, I'll make you taste the death by a thousand cuts I read about in the history books!"

As he spoke, Lu Shang's expression turned cold and sinister, nothing like that of an orthodox cultivator.

Indeed, Lu Shang could be considered a demonic cultivator.

A moment later, Lu Shang gazed around him and fell into thought.

Now that Lu Shang had reached the Chaotic Star Sea ahead of schedule, he had to begin his preparations earlier.

Lu Shang murmured, "I reached the Chaotic Star Sea earlier than planned. In that case, perhaps I can raise my cultivation to the peak of the middle stage before venturing out."

Having settled on a plan, Lu Shang swiftly flew away from the small island housing the teleportation formation.

Truthfully, Lu Shang still had many things he needed to do.

Lu Shang knew relatively little about the Chaotic Star Sea, so it would be best to visit nearby islands and investigate.

I'll first visit an island and get a thorough understanding of the Chaotic Star Sea, then kill some demon beasts and take their inner cores to cultivate, Lu Shang thought.

Lu Shang was currently in the Outer Star Sea, where plenty of demon beasts roamed.

Hordes of demon beasts could appear either in the sea beneath his feet or in the sky.

Both the Sea Race and the avian race had plenty of demon beasts with Core Formation strength.

Since he was out in the outer seas, he had to quicken his search if he wanted to reach an inhabited island soon.

Finding an inhabited island in this boundless ocean was no easy task for Lu Shang.

Lu Shang was a newcomer, after all. He knew nothing about the layout of the Chaotic Star Sea and had merely heard of it.

Moreover, in this vast, endless Outer Star Sea, things like divine sense were of little use. He could only keep pushing onward in his search.

Before he knew it, Lu Shang had searched from broad daylight until the light began to dim.

Over those four to six hours, Lu Shang had scarcely stopped.

He only paused when he discovered an island, examining it carefully.

Just then, Lu Shang's divine sense detected an enormous fifth-grade demon beast swimming rapidly through the water.

At first, Lu Shang thought he had startled the beast.

But a moment later, Lu Shang realized that the fifth-grade demon beast seemed completely unaware of him.

Over a hundred low-grade demon beasts seemed to be following behind the fifth-grade beast, all swimming rapidly.

More than a hundred li away, beyond the reach of Lu Shang's divine sense, three massive ships were preparing to sail back.

Suddenly, the surrounding seawater began bubbling incessantly, as though it were boiling.

The crew noticed something was wrong and immediately cried out.

"Steward Chang, something's wrong! We've got trouble!"

At that shout, everyone aboard the three ships immediately reacted.

They readied themselves for battle, watching their surroundings warily.

"Pick up speed and get out of these waters! Everyone, stay sharp! Shout immediately if you notice anything!"

As he spoke, a slightly plump, middle-aged man with a small mustache appeared on deck.

This man was the steward of the three massive ships, a cultivator at the Qi Refining Stage.

Merchant fleets like this were generally run by mortals, with cultivators rarely joining them.

That was why a single man could become the steward of three ships.

Clearly different from the others, he leaned out to observe the changes around them.

A moment later, those changes left him uneasy.

Even with thirty years of experience, he was somewhat at a loss.

A situation like this most likely meant a small horde of demon beasts was approaching.

Usually, a horde of demon beasts would have one beast far stronger than the others serving as its leader.

Such hordes generally numbered at least hundreds or thousands, and the beasts commanding them were at least fifth grade.

At this thought, Steward Chang broke into a cold sweat.

Trembling, he pulled back the head he had extended to look outside.

Just then, another man, an elder who looked even older, emerged from the cabin and walked over to Steward Chang.

Seeing Steward Chang trembling as though he could barely stand, he immediately stepped forward to support him.

"Master Chang, what's wrong? Just how bad is it?" the elder asked.

"This... this!"

Steward Chang froze, unable to force the words out.

Seeing this, the elder seemed to realize something was amiss and looked down over the side of the ship.

But although he looked older, this was not his area of expertise, and he could draw no conclusions.

All he could tell was that the bubbles constantly rising around them were indeed strange.

Anyone would have felt uneasy in such a situation.

"What exactly is happening? Master Chang, give us a definite answer," the elder pressed.

"Ah, Old... Old Wang! I'm afraid this time we're... we're going to meet our end here..."

Steward Chang's words were filled with helplessness and sorrow.

"I'm afraid there's a horde of Sea Race demon beasts!"

Old Wang froze at those words as well.

However little he understood, he had lived in the Outer Star Sea for years. How could he not know what that meant?

Although Steward Chang had only mentioned a horde of Sea Race demon beasts, he knew they were facing no ordinary beasts, but a horde led by a demon beast of at least fifth grade.

Never mind a fifth-grade demon beast-even a hundred demon beasts would be more than these three ships could withstand.

The elder's face turned deathly pale, his eyes went blank, and his whole body went limp as he collapsed onto the deck.

Though both men had gone to sea many times to trade and fish, what low-level cultivator had ever faced a situation like this?

Steward Chang was at least a cultivator, however mediocre. After heaving a long sigh, he helped Old Wang up from the deck.

"Someone! Take Elder Wang back to his cabin."

At Steward Chang's order, two men immediately came forward and took Old Wang back.

Only Steward Chang remained where he stood, his eyes utterly hollow.

Although everyone aboard the three ships was braced for battle, Steward Chang knew it was of no use whatsoever.

Steward Chang had encountered a similar situation in his youth.

Back then, he had been nothing more than an ordinary guard, escorting the goods aboard a ship to another island alongside the others.

During that voyage, he had encountered a horde of demon beasts for the first time in his life.

It had been a horde led by a strange-looking, green-backed demon beast.

That beast had reached sixth grade, its strength comparable to middle Core Formation.

Before the sixth-grade demon beast even attacked, hundreds of demon beasts had punched straight through a massive ship twice the size of this one.

Just as the survivors thought they were about to die, a Nascent Soul elder who called himself a Star Official happened to be handling some business nearby.

Upon sensing what was happening, he scattered the entire demon beast horde with a mere raise of his hand.

The sixth-grade demon beast was crushed to death like a toy.

That was how Steward Chang had managed to cling to life.

After returning, he too had wanted to become like that elder, but with his waste spirit root, twenty years of bitter cultivation had left him at only the early Qi Refining Stage.

Afterward, he had thrown himself into learning everything about seafaring. With his strength as a Qi Refining cultivator, he had become a steward renowned among mortals in little more than a decade.

But this time, he feared he would not have the same luck.

At that thought, he heaved a long sigh, ready to accept his impending death.