Seeking a Beast Tide

As the Chaotic Star Sea surged and churned, a man dressed in black with red trim hovered above its waters.

This man was none other than Lu Shang.

After leaving Kuixing Island, Lu Shang had received a system quest.

Hunt and kill one hundred demon beasts of sixth rank or higher.

This was not difficult for Lu Shang; at most, it would take more time.

However, Lu Shang had no intention of searching aimlessly.

Demon beasts were a formidable force in the Chaotic Star Sea.

There was a way to find High-Rank Demon Beasts quickly here.

"A beast tide. As long as I go somewhere beast tides occur frequently, I'll certainly find High-Rank Demon Beasts quickly."

"Beast tides are generally led by countless High-Rank Demon Beasts. Even if one or two tides aren't enough to finish the quest, it'll still be faster than searching all over the vast Chaotic Star Sea."

"Still, facing a beast tide would pose considerable danger even to me as I am now."

Lu Shang glanced at the sea.

"Fortunately, ordinary beast tides don't contain many Transformation Stage demon beasts. If I encounter one, I can simply flee. Most demon beasts in the Chaotic Star Sea belong to the Sea Race. Even those of Eighth Stage or higher can't match my escape speed."

"Besides, an Eighth-Stage Demon Beast might not care about someone at middle Core Formation like me. I'll only be hunting a few Sixth- or Seventh-Stage Demon Beasts, and every beast tide contains at least several thousand of those."

What drove Lu Shang to brave the danger was still the seal, and this time it would last a hundred years.

But the reward far surpassed those before it.

"A hundred rounds of draws should give me plenty of good things, worth at least a hundred thousand or more low-grade spirit stones."

"I might even get one or two top-tier magical treasures, like the Silver Frost Dragon Halberd."

With that thought, Lu Shang decided to head toward the barrier.

Although the Outer Sea had many demon beasts, it covered far too vast an area.

It was unsuitable, and there were no targets there for demon beasts to attack.

Beast tides only occurred in the Inner Sea, on either side of the barrier.

High-Rank Demon Beasts were almost never seen around the other islands in the present-day Inner Sea.

The Star Palace's Nascent Soul Stage cultivators had probably killed them all long ago.

But now, Lu Shang faced a problem.

Even in the Demon Beast-filled Outer Sea of the Chaotic Star Sea, beast tides did not occur every year.

Still, if he wanted to finish the quest quickly, a beast tide was clearly his best option.

After all, when Lu Shang first came to the Outer Sea, he had encountered few demon beasts despite flying around for so long.

"The boundless sea cleanses the heart; a lone, ungainly figure treads its waters."

By now, Lu Shang had spent seven days flying around the Chaotic Star Sea in search of beasts.

Beast tides were not as frequent as Lu Shang had imagined, or perhaps his luck simply was not very good. Even after searching for so long, he had only found a few beasts.

Underwater, both Lu Shang's divine sense and his vision were severely impaired, making it difficult to detect High-Rank Demon Beasts lurking in the depths.

From the surface, he could not find the demon beasts beneath the sea either.

If his cultivation had been sufficient, Lu Shang would have charged straight into the territory of the old Suanni or the old Flood Dragon King.

Some time earlier, Lu Shang had also planned to lure demon beasts with demon-luring grass.

Indeed, that method had worked somewhat, but not much.

Lu Shang had previously bought over a hundred stalks of demon-luring grass and taken them to an island in the Outer Sea to test their effects.

However, only low-ranking demon beasts came, with an occasional Fifth-Stage Demon Beast or two.

That did not meet Lu Shang's quest requirements at all.

Moreover, Sixth-Stage Demon Beasts already possessed considerable intelligence.

Generally speaking, demon beasts were also better than cultivators at sensing a cultivator's aura.

Although Lu Shang had already practiced the Mind-Cleansing Art, the baleful aura surrounding him from cultivating a demonic art was far stronger than that of others.

Human cultivators might have trouble detecting it, but demon beasts of sixth rank or higher could sense it clearly.

Thus, demon beasts always avoided Lu Shang.

Perhaps only packs of High-Rank Demon Beasts would not avoid Lu Shang.

Lu Shang grew irritated whenever he thought of how he had spent seven days searching, only to kill a handful of demon beasts.

Even though the quest had a time limit of fifty years.

Lu Shang did not want to spend so much time hunting a mere hundred Sixth- or Seventh-Stage Demon Beasts.

With the system's help, Lu Shang could reach the Nascent Soul Stage within a hundred years, perhaps even its middle stage.

In his anger, Lu Shang unknowingly began circulating the Wild Desolation True Demon Art.

Lu Shang's eyes turned icy, gleaming red.

Without realizing it, he had also gripped the Silver Frost Dragon Halberd.

Suddenly, a huge demon beast leaped out of the water a hundred zhang away, startling Lu Shang.

"You're courting death!"

With a furious roar, he sent the silver halberd hurtling toward the demon beast like thunder.

In an instant, the demon beast was severed at the waist, and an enormous mass of ice over thirty zhang across formed on the surrounding sea.

"A Sixth-Stage Demon Beast!"

Lu Shang came to his senses.

"It looks like my Pure Leaf Soul-Calming Art has fallen behind a little. I nearly lost control again!" Lu Shang recalled the Silver Frost Dragon Halberd and rubbed his forehead with one hand.

Because cultivating the Pure Leaf Soul-Calming Art was no less demanding than cultivating the Wild Desolation True Demon Art, Lu Shang had only cultivated its first level.

He had not expected to come so close to losing control again after so little time.

"Ah!"

Lu Shang stood where he was and sighed.

As he collected the demon beast's Demon Core, another question occurred to Lu Shang.

"This Sixth-Stage Demon Beast actually dared to come and attack me?" Lu Shang murmured in puzzlement.

He immediately extended his divine sense to its fullest range.

Lu Shang discovered that something seemed unusual about this stretch of sea.

The surface began churning as well.

"Could it be... a beast tide?"

Lu Shang's guess was not without foundation.

Generally, disturbances on the sea's surface were mostly caused by sea winds or the weather.

But although the weather was not particularly good, there was no torrential downpour.

Nor were there any strong winds over the sea, though intermittent sea breezes blew in from the east.

After ruling out these possibilities, Lu Shang could still think of several reasons for the churning waters.

One of them, and the most likely, was that a group of demon beasts had appeared beneath the sea-a sizable group at that.

After all, the demon beast from a few breaths earlier had been sixth rank.

In this part of the Outer Sea, such a High-Rank Demon Beast was unlikely to appear alone.

Lu Shang swiftly entered the sea.

Moments later, just as expected, he found many low-ranking demon beasts in its depths.

"Could it really be?"

Lu Shang flew out of the water and sped off in one direction.

Lu Shang suspected that his luck might truly be excellent: he had happened to encounter a beast tide that occurred only once every few decades while carrying out his quest.

For others, facing a beast tide might mean frustration or disaster, but for Lu Shang at this moment, encountering one would certainly be cause for excitement.

Even if he faced an Eighth-Stage Demon Beast, Lu Shang intended to unleash the full power of the Wild Desolation True Demon Art and exchange a round or two of blows.

Two hours later, Lu Shang arrived several dozen kilometers off an island.

"Hahaha, Heaven is helping me! There really is a beast tide!" Lu Shang laughed aloud.

Dozens of low-ranking demon beasts immediately charged at Lu Shang.

Lu Shang promptly summoned hundreds of streaks of sword qi around himself.

Lu Shang's targets were demon beasts of sixth rank or higher, not these low-ranking creatures, and he did not want to waste any time on them.

Although one or two streaks of sword qi would struggle to kill these third- and Fourth-Stage Demon Beasts, Lu Shang had unleashed hundreds of such attacks.

Lu Shang had not used the Heavenly Origin Sword Art to kill these demon beasts, but to drive the low-ranking beasts back while he searched for his targets.