"Just about there. Get a little closer, sir, and pull it up!"
The fishing boat gave a low rumble, its bow cleaving through rolling white waves as it slowly approached the enormous creature.
On the sea, Razor Kelp thrashed its dark-green body like an enraged python. Every bladed leaf gleamed with a metallic chill, letting out a piercing hiss as it sliced through the air.
The seawater churned into a huge whirlpool, spray leaping thirty feet high, as though countless invisible blades were crossing and cutting beneath the water. The savage force pushed the fishing boat back two meters, and its hull creaked under the strain.
"Hold the boat steady!" Jiang Che barked.
The three young fishermen had already gone pale with fright. Only at his command did they snap out of their daze.
The boat rocked violently in the surging waves before their combined efforts finally managed to hold it barely steady.
Just then, a strange vibration came from beneath Jiang Che's feet, its eerie frequency making his heart tighten.
He looked down, and his pupils abruptly contracted.
Razor Kelp suddenly bent its entire body into a breathtaking bow shape, drawing its bladed leaves together in overlapping layers. A ghostly green light seeped from the folds on its surface, like a gigantic green scimitar drawn back to its absolute limit.
Seawater formed a thin film over its curved surface, and the acrid scent of scorched vegetation spread through the air.
Then it snapped straight.
Buzzz-
A nearly transparent, crescent-shaped Water Blade broke through the sea and skimmed past the gunwale, moving so fast that it left only a blurred afterimage in the air.
The Water Blade passed soundlessly through the bow rope. The hemp rope, three fingers thick, parted cleanly, its cut surface smooth as a mirror.
Immediately afterward, a second Water Blade came hurtling straight toward them, aimed at the middle of the hull.
Had Razor Kelp been at full strength, that blow would have been enough to cleave the entire fishing boat in two.
But now, the Water Blade left only a gouge a few centimeters deep as it cut across the planking.
Jiang Che's heart eased slightly, and the faintest curve tugged at his lips.
He could tell that Razor Kelp was already an arrow at the end of its flight.
Each Water Blade was weaker than the last. Had that slash been the first blow, he would probably have had to give it a very wide berth, but now it could not even cut through the boat's planks.
"Five meters!" the fisherman at the helm called, his voice trembling.
Jiang Che drew a deep breath. The bright-yellow Soul Ring beneath his feet suddenly appeared, its warm golden halo spreading across the deck like the rising morning sun.
Dozens of Blue Silver Vines shot through the deck planks with a series of swishes. As thick as a child's arm and shimmering with an emerald sheen, they writhed like living creatures as they reached over the gunwale. Their tips plunged into the seabed, shooting toward Razor Kelp like green arrows.
Sensing the threat at its roots, Razor Kelp shuddered violently and unleashed another Water Blade.
This Water Blade was noticeably dimmer than the first two, but when it struck the Blue Silver Vines, it still severed every main vine extending into the seabed with a sharp crack.
Jiang Che smiled calmly and lightly crooked a finger. Two more strands of Blue Silver Grass emerged from his palm, slipping silently into the seabed like nimble snakes.
At the same time, he took out a few more pieces of Salt Crystal and casually tossed them into the sea.
His strategy was simple: wear it down.
Wear it down until its Soul Power ran dry, until it lacked even the strength to swing its bladed leaves.
The fisherman and the three young men in the wheelhouse watched Jiang Che's battle with Razor Kelp through the window. Beads of sweat soaked the fisherman's entire body, while the three young men clutched the helm.
The fisherman muttered, "I never should have come here. This is terrifying. How could I have believed a Soul Master could beat a Thousand-Year Soul Beast?"
All the fisherman had seen was the terrifying power of Razor Kelp's slash just now, and the sight of the Water Blade easily severing the Blue Silver Grass.
"Uncle, why don't we tell the Lord Soul Master we should run?"
After seeing Jiang Che's calm gaze, then thinking of those several dozen Gold Soul Coins, the fisherman clenched his back teeth and said, "Wait a little longer."
Jiang Che remained calm at the sight of the Blue Silver Emperor being severed by Razor Kelp. He did not panic over it being cut apart.
This was because of the Blue Silver Emperor's extraordinarily tenacious vitality.
That supreme vitality gave the Blue Silver Emperor the ability to regenerate at tremendous speed.
In just a few seconds, Jiang Che could regenerate the damaged Blue Silver Emperor.
Razor Kelp kept cutting apart the Blue Silver Emperor approaching it. At first, a single slash could sever it; later, it took two slashes, then three, four, and five.
Razor Kelp seemed to have burned through the last of its oil, ignoring the Blue Silver Emperor reaching into the seabed.
At first, it could sever the Blue Silver Vines at their base with one slash; later, it took two slashes, then three, four, and five.
Razor Kelp seemed to have burned through the last of its oil, ignoring the Blue Silver Emperor reaching into the seabed.
In just a few breaths, the seabed trembled. Specks of green light rose around the previously withered Razor Kelp, and a Water Blade even fiercer than the first came hurtling toward Jiang Che.
The seabed trembled once.
A Water Blade several times fiercer than the first burst from the sea, shrieking through the air as it shot just above the water.
This slash targeted not the Blue Silver Vines, but Jiang Che himself.
It intended to finish Jiang Che directly. Razor Kelp's choice was entirely correct: once it dealt with Jiang Che, these Blue Silver Vines that were such a nuisance to it would disappear.
Killing intent honed to the utmost sharpness rushed straight at him.
The Water Blade was too fast, so fast that Jiang Che only had time for his pupils to contract.
Blue light flashed beneath his feet as he tried to dodge, but the Water Blade was already before his eyes. The air compressed into a white wall of wind, and the waves exploded before him into a skyful of mist.
Damn it. Jiang Che cursed inwardly. In a flash, True Qi gathered before his chest, hastily forming a translucent Qi Condensation Shield that barely covered his heart.
The Water Blade slammed into the Qi Condensation Shield.
Boom-!
The savage impact sent Jiang Che flying. His back slammed into the wooden railing along the gunwale with a bang, snapping the thick railing and scattering splinters everywhere.
He gave a muffled groan, and blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.
Looking down, he saw that the Water Blade had cut a foot-long gash through his clothes across his chest, leaving the flesh split and curled back.
Fortunately, the Qi Condensation Shield had blocked the deadliest part of the blow. No bones were broken.
Inside the wheelhouse, the old fisherman and the three young men witnessed it all.
"Uncle, the Lord Soul Master... is dead!" a young man cried, his voice cracking.
"Hurry, run! Or we'll die here too!" Another had already turned to pull the engine lever, his hands shaking so badly that he could barely grip it.
The old fisherman's heartbeat hammered against his eardrums like a drum. He was already preparing to turn around and steer the fishing boat away for his life, his back teeth clenched so hard they nearly shattered. However tempting the Gold Soul Coins were, they mattered less than his life.
But just then.
A muffled cough came from the deck.
Bracing himself against the broken railing, Jiang Che staggered to his feet.
Blood still trickled down his chest, trailing a dark-red streak across the deck.
He lowered his head to inspect his injuries and discovered with relief that the Qi Condensation Shield had dispersed seventy percent of the blow's force. What remained had only wounded his flesh, leaving his muscles, tendons, and bones untouched.
"Wildfire cannot burn it all away... with the spring breeze, it grows again."
"First Soul Skill: Profusion!"
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