Inside the small building, the vision of a black dragon and white phoenix coiling around each other slowly faded.
The wondrous sight of "spiritual energy turning to rain" still drizzled through the room.
By the window, a man and woman lay in a hammock suffused with fragrance.
"I need to go out for a few days."
Fang Hong toyed with a lock of Su Yao's glossy black hair, bringing it to his nose for a gentle sniff.
Su Yao nestled lightly against his chest, her two bare, fair legs clasping one of his thighs as she clung to him like an octopus.
The blush had yet to fade from her fair, exquisite face, and her manner was languid yet elegant.
"Where are you going?" Her voice was soft and sweet. The usual cold allure of her face had vanished, replaced by a softly seductive charm.
"After so much stillness, I'm itching to move. I'll head out to sea and find some demonic beasts to test my swordsmanship, then stop by Five Dragon Island while I'm at it."
Fang Hong let the hammock sway, savoring the effects of the essential oil with deep satisfaction.
"Getting out for a while would be good." Su Yao gave Fang Hong an apologetic look and rubbed her cheek against his muscular chest. "Unfortunately, I'm at a critical stage in refining a magical artifact, so I can't go with you."
With the Fish-Dragon Assembly approaching, she more or less guessed that Fang Hong wanted to hunt demonic beasts and get into fighting form.
"That's all right. I'll go alone."
The two lingered in each other's embrace for a long while, then soaked in the bath to relax before leisurely dressing and going about their respective business.
Fang Hong summoned the Flying Chariot and Snow Lion Talisman Beast and rode off alone.
Two days later.
The splendid Flying Chariot slowly descended onto a deserted island.
Beyond the island stretched the vast sea and sky, with clouds drifting leisurely overhead.
The island was only about a sixth of an acre in area, covered entirely in coral rock, without a blade of grass or a tree in sight.
This place was over eight thousand li from the Yin-Yang Sect. There was no spiritual nexus on the island, and the surrounding spiritual energy was extremely thin. There was not another island for hundreds of li around.
The tides roared as wave after wave struck the coastal rocks, throwing up countless snow-white sprays that only made the surroundings feel all the more empty and still.
Fang Hong put away the chariot and talisman beast, took out the Jade Water Formation's formation plate, and activated it with a spell. A sapphire-blue dome of light immediately covered an area more than ten zhang across along the shore.
He took out a stick of spiritual incense and planted it in the reef. With a flick of his finger, a spark flashed, instantly lighting the incense.
A strong, unusual fragrance spread, carried far away by the sea breeze.
This spiritual incense was called "Beast-Luring Incense," a renowned product of the Nine Cauldrons Sect, one of the Golden Core sects of the Donglai Sea Region.
The incense contained a special natural spiritual substance with an irresistible allure for demonic beasts, making it an indispensable treasure for the great Aristocratic Clans when hunting them.
Fang Jian had some ties with a Golden Core elder of the Nine Cauldrons Sect, so the Fang Household had never lacked this incense. Even many Lineages on good terms with the Fang Household had long relied on it to obtain their supplies.
Fang Hong sat cross-legged on a large rock within the formation and waited patiently.
Before long, large splashes began rising from the seawater a short distance offshore.
Suddenly.
A three-foot-long white sea fish leaped more than ten meters out of the water, tracing an arc through the air as it hurtled headfirst toward the Jade Water Formation.
Fang Hong looked up and saw that the white fish was translucent all over, its smooth, lustrous sheen resembling creamy jade.
Its tail made up half its body, like a plume of flame blooming behind it, with flowing golden markings across it that looked extraordinarily wondrous.
Bang!
The white sea fish struck the Jade Water Formation and bounced back into the sea.
Ripples spread across the formation's glowing barrier. The force of the fish's collision actually rivaled a full-strength blow from a mid Qi Refining disciple.
No sooner had that fish fallen than a second, a third... more than a dozen sea fish scrambled to leap out of the water, all hurling themselves at the Jade Water Formation to seize the Beast-Luring Incense!
Fang Hong raised his sleeve slightly, and a streak of golden sword light suddenly flew out of the formation.
The brilliant golden sword light was swift as thunder, moving in orderly sweeps, weaving and turning among the fish leaping through the air. In the blink of an eye, its sharp, deadly radiance pierced one fish's skull after another!
Ever since switching to the Black Water True Explanation, both the quality of his magical power and his cultivation had undergone a qualitative leap compared with when he had first transmigrated a year ago.
These first-tier sea fish did not even have a chance to dodge his sword light.
The moment they leaped from the sea, the sword light effortlessly reaped their lives.
In just a few moments, the water along the shore had turned red.
Seeing that these white fish looked rather good, Fang Hong put them away one by one, planning to take them back to his cave abode and cook them properly.
Suddenly, his expression shifted slightly. He rose and looked into the distance, where a great mass of dark shadows was rapidly approaching through the water.
The shadows were hundreds of fish and shrimp demons, all drawn by the Beast-Luring Incense.
Unfortunately, only a single octopus among them had a spiritual aura barely reaching the late first tier. All the others were in the early or middle first tier.
The octopus swam extremely fast, reaching the shore in the blink of an eye. It lunged at the Jade Water Formation, thrusting several tentacles viciously down at the glowing barrier.
Fang Hong's expression remained unchanged as he calmly directed his flying sword. The golden sword light flashed like lightning, circling and slashing around the octopus several times before abruptly stopping, hanging motionless in the air.
Wherever the sword light passed, the octopus's tentacles broke off. Its body abruptly split into a dozen or so pieces as well, tumbling onto the rocks along the shore.
The swarm of sea monsters-fish and shrimp alike-immediately surged forward, scrambling to devour the octopus's corpse until nothing remained.
The sea fish behind them continued leaping from the water, charging at the Jade Water Formation one after another.
Fang Hong simply treated it as sword practice. A streak of golden sword light roamed outside the formation, ceaselessly reaping the lives of the fish and shrimp monsters.
After over a year of "schooling" from Yan Suyue, a Golden Core elder of the Heaven-Reaching Sword Sect, his swordsmanship now had something of the mastery of a furnace burning pure blue.
In his eyes, these demonic fish and spiritual shrimp were too slow and had too many openings. They could not keep pace with the changes in his sword light at all.
He could easily kill them with only the slightest expenditure of magical power and divine sense.
Just then, several piercing bird cries rang out overhead.
He looked up and saw six or seven large sea eagles, their bodies shimmering with azure light, diving straight down.
"Late first-tier demonic birds?"
Fang Hong's interest stirred at once. Turning his sword fingers, he sent the golden flying sword soaring into the sky like a fine golden thread, sweeping past one of the sea eagles in an instant.
Slash!
The spiritual light around the sea eagle flashed and went out. Its body split in two and plummeted.
The golden sword light abruptly wheeled around, nimble and graceful, darting left and right as it swept past the necks of the remaining sea eagles in turn.
The next moment, six headless sea eagle corpses fell from the sky together.
A jade-blue wave several zhang high suddenly surged up from the sea and swept toward the rocky island.
A monstrous fish the size of a blue whale opened its sharp-toothed maw amid the waves and swallowed several sea eagles in one gulp.
"There it is!"
Fang Hong perked up, a keen light flashing in his eyes.
The second-tier demonic beast he had waited so long for had finally appeared!
With a sweep of his sleeve, he put away the Beast-Luring Incense and Jade Water Formation. Immortal light flashed over him, and the Azure Sky Divine Armor encased his entire body, turning him into a tall, imposing black gold divine statue.
The monstrous fish noticed him as well. After swallowing the sea eagles, it let out a strange, thunderous cry and leaped into the air, carrying a great wave as it lunged at Fang Hong!
Controlling the Black Tiger Mysterious Altar Heavenly Lord, Fang Hong pointed, and the golden flying sword instantly transformed into a hundred-zhang streak of sword light that slashed toward the monstrous fish.
Sword and fish collided in midair, and the sword light swept straight through!
The monstrous fish was instantly cleaved in two, scarlet blood raining through the air.
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