Chapter 119 : Great Hui
Chapter 119: Great Hui
For ten thousand miles the sky was cloudless, and the wind pressure was sharp as a blade.
Chen Beiwu formed a seal with one hand, urged his spiritual power, and released Wind-Blocking Technique. A faint breeze barrier formed over his body, diverting and dissolving the salty sea wind that struck head-on.
In front of him, Senior Sister Wan’er lifted her head, spread her arms wide, and allowed the wind pressure from ten thousand feet above to billow her sleeves with a rustling sound.
When she spotted a flock of birds soaring in the distance, Li Wan’er’s eyes lit up. She controlled the flying boat to suddenly accelerate, transforming into a streak of rainbow light that scattered dozens of clustered eagles.
“Hehe, fun, fun!”
As soon as her voice fell, Senior Sister reached out and grabbed a heroic-looking male eagle.
“Junior Brother, can this one be roasted?” She turned her head to glance at Chen Beiwu.
Chen Beiwu said, “This kind of iron eagle has rather tough meat. The taste is average.”
“Then forget it.” Li Wan’er casually tossed it away. The iron eagle, lucky to have survived, immediately flapped its wings and shot off into the distance like a sharp arrow.
“Senior Sister, how far are we from Daxing Island?” Chen Beiwu asked softly, his gaze quietly shifting toward the golden Fate above the Three-Colored Star Toad’s head.
“Croak.”
The Three-Colored Star Toad perched on Li Wan’er’s shoulder suddenly felt a chill of dread, as though something was watching it, and instinctively looked to either side.
Seeing this, Chen Beiwu quickly withdrew his gaze.
“We’re here. It’s that island down below.”
The flying boat began to slow and descend, skimming across the shimmering waves before landing on a crab-covered beach.
Chen Beiwu released his divine sense in a sweep and discovered that this island’s spiritual energy was thin and its size small—hardly a place where heavenly treasures could be nurtured.
“Senior Sister, where did you find the loach?” he asked curiously.
A loach that even Senior Sister could not catch should be a Second-Realm Lesser Beast, which in the Southern Wastes’ terms meant a Foundation Establishment Beast.
By reason, such a beast would cultivate on a large island with abundant spiritual energy, not remain on a small island where the density was only Second-Tier.
Li Wan’er pointed toward the shallow shore below. “That time, it stuck its head out right here.”
After speaking, she took out from her storage ring a scale about the size of a coin and handed it to the Three-Colored Star Toad on her shoulder:
“From here on, I leave it to you. If we catch that big loach, we split four parts each, and the last two parts go to Junior Brother as cooking fee. You are not allowed to covet that.”
The Three-Colored Star Toad cast Li Wan’er a speechless glance, flicked out its frog tongue, and easily snatched the scale.
What were the low-blooded beasts of the outside world compared to the fragrant high-tier pills of the sect?
If it weren’t being forced to help, the Star Toad would never have bothered to come to such a remote sea region to track a loach of unknown cultivation.
“Croak!”
Yet the moment the scale entered its mouth, the Three-Colored Star Toad sensed a strange fishy aura.
“How is it? Can you find it?” Li Wan’er quickly asked.
The Three-Colored Star Toad said nothing, merely heading steadily in the direction of the scale’s aura.
Seeing this, Li Wan’er stopped asking and steered the flying boat into the sea, accelerating sharply.
…
Several hundred fathoms beneath the sea.
Strange-looking fish swam past the flying boat on both sides, and occasionally, one or two curious fish tried to charge into the vessel.
“Pop!”
As the surface of the flying boat flared faintly with light, the fish instantly exploded, their flesh and blood shredded and devoured by the surrounding school.
“Senior Sister, are you sure it’s a loach? Ordinary loaches don’t swim into such deep waters.” Chen Beiwu cast his gaze at her.
It was no exaggeration to say that at this depth, the water pressure could instantly crush the body of a Ninth Level Qi Refining cultivator.
Only Foundation Establishment cultivators, or fish that had long lived in such an environment, could survive.
Without reason, a loach that appeared in shallow waters should not have dived this deep.
“That’s not an ordinary loach. It’s a big, big loach.”
Correcting her Junior Brother’s wording, Li Wan’er reminded, “Junior Brother, be careful. I’m going to accelerate deeper.”
As the flying boat continued to descend, the corals around them were no longer dazzlingly colorful but instead obsidian-black, making Golden Egg tremble in fear.
“Glug!”
Golden Egg burrowed into Chen Beiwu’s arms, eyes warily sweeping the surroundings.
‘You’re a water-type Spirit Beast. How can you be afraid of the sea!’ Chen Beiwu tapped Golden Egg’s head with his knuckle. In the corner of his eye, he glimpsed a streak of Fate’s glow, which made his heart jolt.
“Senior Sister, wait!”
“What is it?” Senior Sister cast a puzzled look.
“There’s something nearby!”
Hearing this, Li Wan’er’s eyes shone with delight. “Junior Brother, you found the loach’s trail? Where is it?”
“Croak?”
The Three-Colored Star Toad also grew doubtful.
By its sensing, that loach of great fortune should still be ten miles away.
‘I feel that something in the due south is watching us. But it may not be the loach you’re searching for.’ Chen Beiwu conveyed via divine sense.
What he had glimpsed was no ordinary Fate’s glow. It was steeped in scarlet baleful fate and black calamity fate, with only faint traces of orange Fate remaining. It meant the creature’s fortune was dire, on the verge of perishing.
Upon hearing this, Senior Sister Wan’er immediately unleashed her divine sense toward the direction Chen Beiwu indicated.
“Come out!” She clenched her right hand in the air, running the Heaven-and-Earth Revolving Longevity Scripture.
Boom!
The next instant, the coral reef in the southern direction exploded. Waves tore apart, revealing a massive black shadow over twenty zhang long, its features indistinct.
Chen Beiwu’s mind moved, extending his divine sense, seeking to identify the creature.
“Roar!”
At that moment, a heaven-shaking dragon roar erupted, accompanied by a visible, solid wave of pressure.
Under this terrifying pressure, Chen Beiwu’s breath halted, his limbs went numb, his spiritual power froze in his meridians, and he could not even move a finger. His entire body felt locked in ice.
The raging torrents around the flying boat also froze still, and the entire seabed world fell silent.
‘Move, damn it!’
In the face of such sea-changing might, Chen Beiwu’s mind remained clear, but his body could not respond.
Golden Egg trembled violently, instantly hiding behind Chen Beiwu’s back.
“Eh, what a big catch!”
As soon as Senior Sister Wan’er spoke, a furious roar resounded in the distance, and the suffocating pressure on Chen Beiwu vanished.
“Hu… ha… hu… ha…” Chen Beiwu half-knelt on the boat deck, gasping heavily, his eyes full of shock.
He had thought himself powerful, far stronger than his fellow Qi Refining cultivators.
Even facing a Second-Realm Lesser Beast, he believed he could at least hold out, and with the Gate of Ten Directions, escape unharmed.
But when truly subjected to Second-Realm might, he realized how laughable his earlier thoughts had been.
Under such terrifying pressure, a Qi Refining cultivator could not even circulate spiritual power, much less cast a spell.
“Junior Brother, are you alright?” Li Wan’er turned, extending her left hand to help Chen Beiwu up, her face full of concern.
“This beast is troublesome. Senior Sister, be careful!” Chen Beiwu warned.
Senior Sister showed a childish smile, her voice full of confidence. “Junior Brother, rest assured. It’s only a Great Hui, close to transforming into a flood dragon.”