The Guluan Islands

"Demon beasts are attacking!"

The shout came from one of the guards.

While keeping watch, he had suddenly spotted a demon beast poking its head out nearby, its gaze fixed on the three ships.

Everyone immediately heightened their vigilance again.

A middle-aged man looked toward the sea.

"Everyone, attack the water at once!" the middle-aged man ordered loudly.

In the brief moment he had spent observing, dozens of dark shapes had begun rushing toward the massive ships.

At his words, the others immediately hurled spears and other weapons into the sea.

Moments later, all three ships began rocking violently.

Steward Chang knew that demon beasts were attacking their hulls.

Once the ships sank, their countless goods and the hundreds of people aboard would become lambs awaiting slaughter, left for the demon beasts to devour.

Although Steward Chang knew there was little he could do, he could only keep attacking the water.

Only he knew how powerless those attacks were.

Before long, a demon beast nearly a hundred feet long burst out of the sea and smashed one of the ships apart with a single blow.

At the sight, the others immediately panicked, some even jumping straight into the sea.

"It's over. It's over. This time, we really are finished."

Steward Chang spoke feebly, as though uttering his last words.

As the hull shook ever more violently, Steward Chang slumped onto the deck.

Moments later, that enormous figure appeared again.

This time, its target was the massive ship carrying Steward Chang.

The demon beast leaped into the air, intending to repeat its earlier feat and smash this ship apart as well.

In the eyes of these mortals, the enormous beast was like a giant kun of the sea, blotting out the sky and sun and filling everyone's vision.

Everyone aboard stared blankly, their eyes lifeless, with nothing left but despair.

Just as the demon beast came within ten feet of striking the ship, a white halo appeared in the nick of time.

A single blow sent the demon beast flying over a thousand feet away.

Steward Chang finally noticed what was happening before him.

Moments later, a handsome man with loose black hair and black-and-red clothing appeared with the white light.

After noticing this group of demon beasts, Lu Shang had followed them out of curiosity.

He had never expected this group of Demon Beasts to travel over a hundred miles to attack three mortal cargo ships.

Lu Shang found this difficult to understand.

Afraid of disturbing the demon beasts, Lu Shang had kept following behind them, which had delayed his intervention slightly.

He had not expected this Demon Beast, which Lu Shang had never seen before, to destroy a ship in those few moments.

Seeing that the Fifth-Stage Demon Beast intended to keep attacking, Lu Shang immediately brought out his Life-Bound Magical Treasure, the Silver Frost Dragon Halberd.

But to avoid harming the mortals, Lu Shang could only gather spiritual power in his right hand and hurl it, knocking the demon beast over a thousand feet away.

Still, Lu Shang knew that demon beasts were unlike ordinary cultivators. Every one of them had thick hide and tough flesh; a blow like that could not possibly finish it off.

With no time to kill the Fifth-Stage Demon Beast outright, Lu Shang immediately unleashed over a hundred streaks of sword qi at the sea.

Then Lu Shang swiftly flew toward the demon beast he had knocked back.

Steward Chang, who had been standing there in astonishment, quickly came to his senses.

"Calm down and keep attacking the water!" Steward Chang shouted.

Steward Chang immediately began organizing the guards who could still fight.

After Lu Shang's sword qi attacks, many of the hundred-odd demon beasts in the sea had been killed or wounded.

Quite a few corpses floated to the surface.

Moments later, before the mortals could organize themselves, Lu Shang returned.

Seeing that the mortals' attacks could accomplish nothing of substance, Lu Shang had no choice but to enter the water himself.

Steward Chang watched in a daze.

This Steward Chang was rather fortunate.

When he had encountered a pack of demon beasts in his youth, a Star Palace elder had happened to be nearby on business.

Now, with his life hanging by a thread, he had happened to encounter Lu Shang, who had only recently arrived.

Moments later, Lu Shang emerged from the water with twenty or thirty relatively intact demon beast corpses and hovered beside the massive ship.

He had brought out these Demon Beast corpses because armor made from their hides offered quite good protection for ordinary people.

Some cultivators who were only at the qi refining stage also used such hide armor for basic protection.

Certain hides could be refined into magical artifacts suitable for foundation establishment stage cultivators.

Of course, hide armor of this level was of little consequence to Lu Shang.

As for the fifth-rank demon beast, nothing besides its core was useful to Lu Shang, but he could not simply give the rest away either.

After killing that demon beast, Lu Shang had already skinned it and stripped out its sinews.

Once everything was done, Lu Shang had placed these materials in his Storage Bag, to sell when he had the chance or save for some other use.

Now, Lu Shang placed the demon beast corpses aboard the two ships.

Lu Shang swept his divine sense over the area and immediately spotted Steward Chang, the only cultivator aboard the three ships.

Lu Shang turned his gaze toward him.

Seeing that the man's clothing was distinctly different from everyone else's, he confirmed that this was the steward.

When Steward Chang saw Lu Shang looking at him, he immediately reacted, dusting himself off and kneeling on the ground.

"Chang Hao, Steward Chang of the Guluan Islands, pays his respects to you, Senior."

Seeing Steward Chang show such respect toward this young man who appeared barely past twenty, the others immediately caught on.

"We pay our respects to the immortal master!"

Everyone knelt to greet Lu Shang, the immortal master whose reputation had drawn them.

Yet at that moment, Lu Shang felt somewhat regretful.

Clearly, none of them apart from Steward Chang were cultivators, yet they could all speak the language of the cultivation world.

Lu Shang approached the slightly plump, bearded middle-aged man.

"What can I do for you, Senior? This humble one will spare no effort!" Steward Chang said.

"You may have these demon beasts. Find me an empty room."

"Of course, Senior. Please come inside!"

Steward Chang then led Lu Shang into the cabin.

The space inside was enormous and had no unpleasant odor at all. Lu Shang found it acceptable.

Then Lu Shang asked, "I noticed that you are the only cultivator aboard these three ships. How can all the others speak the language of the cultivation world?"

"Oh! There is a reason for that."

Steward Chang continued explaining, "Because we spend so much time at sea, we occasionally encounter experts such as yourself, Senior."

"But asking these rough fellows to learn all of it would be too much, so we only had them learn that one phrase."

"So that's how it is!"

"By the way, you said you came from the Guluan Islands. Are you heading back there now?" Lu Shang asked.

"Yes, Senior."

"I spent a long time in secluded cultivation and know little of the outside world. Tell me about the Guluan Islands."

"Of course, Senior. Let me take you to your room first, and then I will explain."

Afterward, Lu Shang was led into a room, where he listened as Steward Chang explained everything in detail.

The Guluan Islands were an archipelago in the Outer Star Sea, made up primarily of twenty-seven islands.

There were very few cultivators there. Besides the twenty-seven main islands, numerous smaller islands scattered around them completed the Guluan Islands.

Because they lay on the outskirts of the Chaotic Star Sea, every trading voyage required at least a year of travel to reach a nearby island with a Teleportation Formation.

Lu Shang planned to settle on an uninhabited island near the Guluan Islands, then take a good look at the state of the Chaotic Star Sea and spend some time cultivating.

Lu Shang had gained quite a lot on this occasion.

Not only would he obtain books describing the Chaotic Star Sea, but he had also acquired a Demon Beast Core.

Although it was only the core of a Fifth-Stage Demon Beast, it was still a decent gain.