Grinding EXP From a Demon Hunting Ship

「Several months later.」

「Cloud Sea Immortal City.」

Although it was night, the sky was still bright.

An orange-red fiery glow, like sunset clouds, tirelessly burned day and night, enveloping this sea region in a way that defied the laws of nature. Even... the very seawater was stained by it.

"Tsk tsk..."

"A marvel of heaven and earth... Truly a spectacular sight."

The speaker sat lazily on the deck. With a heroic face and a scruff of stubble, he drank from a gourd, exuding the air of a free-spirited swashbuckler.

Below him, a colossal ship over a hundred zhang long, its seven masts and sails spread wide, rode the wind and waves across the surface of the sea.

Behind this colossal ship, it towed a long ’tail’ that stretched beyond the horizon—a fleet composed of nearly a thousand spirit ships of various sizes and designs!

A fleet of this scale could practically be called a "metropolis on the sea!"

At the same time, looking down, one could see tens of thousands of massive, white backs breaking the water’s surface on either side of the fleet.

These sea beasts showed no aggression. Instead, like loyal attendants, they guarded the fleet—the Cangyuan Dragon Palace commands all aquatic beasts!

Without a doubt, this fleet was none other than the reinforcement fleet dispatched by the True Treasure Pavilion!

At this moment, a figure walked out and stood beside the stubbled man.

He had the appearance of a young man, with impeccably sharp and exquisite clothes, not a single wrinkle in sight. On his fair face, he wore a silver monocle with a rather futuristic style.

His demeanor was the polar opposite of the stubbled man’s.

"Hahh..."

The acrid smell of alcohol made the young man with the monocle frown and cover his nose and mouth. "Feng Shaochai, stop drinking."

"We have entered the Day Flame Sea Region. According to Mr. Li, we could encounter Golden Core cultivators from the Star Casting Hall at any moment. We must remain vigilant at all times."

"Neglecting your duties is a serious crime!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa."

"Zheng Yunzhe, don’t be so quick to label me."

"Besides, what kind of person do you take me for? You think I’d actually neglect my duties?"

"You’re right... but could you please put down the wine gourd first?" Zheng Yunzhe said flatly, his face expressionless as he adjusted his monocle.

"Heh..."

"You’ve got me all wrong!"

Hearing this, Feng Shaochai grinned and gently shook his wine gourd.

A scent wafted from the gourd’s mouth. Besides the mellow aroma of Spirit Wine, there was also a fresh hint of mint.

"I added..."

"Wisdom Heart Elixir," Zheng Yunzhe interrupted. "I can smell it."

"It sharpens the mind and keeps the spirit clear, more than enough to prevent drunkenness... Feng Shaochai, you’re really something else. Going to such lengths just for a drink."

Zheng Yunzhe’s face twitched slightly, unsure whether to laugh or cry.

"This is called living in the moment." Feng Shaochai took another swig of wine.

"Besides, this battle for the Grotto Heaven is going to be extremely dangerous. You, me... of the nine Golden Core cultivators in this fleet, how many do you think will make it back in one piece?"

"Will even half of us?"

Feng Shaochai’s voice suddenly dropped low as he gave a cold laugh.

"Er..."

"The situation isn’t that bad..." Zheng Yunzhe hesitated.

"Heh... How is it not?" Feng Shaochai scoffed.

"Let me lay it out for you... The Star Casting Hall is already openly involved. There are their own core Golden Core cultivators, that whole pile of fiends locked in the Demon-Suppressing Tower, and the Sea Evil Cultivators they’ve recruited in recent years."

"The number of Golden Core cultivators they can mobilize is at least twenty!"

"And then there’s Immortal Peak Palace. You know how they are—the Star Casting Hall’s most loyal lapdogs..."

"They’re sure to follow along in a major event like this. Even after their civil war, and with their strength greatly diminished, Immortal Peak Palace is still one of the Nine Inner Sea Sects. They can scrape together at least five Golden Core cultivators to come help out..."

Feng Shaochai counted on his fingers. "That’s almost thirty Golden Core cultivators!"

"And us? Even counting the Flame Alliance, we only have twelve Golden Core cultivators... It’s going to be a tough fight no matter how you look at it."

"That’s not right... You didn’t count the Profound Light Cave," Zheng Yunzhe objected, raising an eyebrow.

The Profound Light Cave was one of the Nine Inner Sea Sects—one of the Lower Six—and had signed a mutual defense pact with the True Treasure Pavilion. Before this departure, they had agreed to dispatch Golden Core cultivators to assist in the battle for the Grotto Heaven.

"Tch."

"The Profound Light Cave... You can’t count on them at all," Feng Shaochai said with utter disdain.

"You might not know, but I was stationed in the Jade Balance Sea Region for thirty years, right next to the Profound Light Cave... I know exactly what they’re like."

"Let me put it this way: two hundred years ago, the Profound Light Cave was on the verge of becoming another Mixed Element Mountain. The only reason they managed to barely stabilize was because they saw Mixed Element Mountain collapse from internal strife and were scared stiff."

Feng Shaochai stopped talking, but his meaning was already perfectly clear.

Expecting a chaotic, strife-ridden ally to be of any real use was an unrealistic hope.

"By my estimate, we’ll be lucky if the Golden Core cultivators dispatched by the Profound Light Cave this time can just cancel out the ones from Immortal Peak Palace."

"Those old geezers have really lost their minds this time."

Feng Shaochai shook his head, his tone helpless.

"An illusory Divinity Transformation inheritance is enough to make them this crazy?"

"This isn’t just any ordinary Divinity Transformation inheritance," Zheng Yunzhe corrected.

"Throughout Xuan Continent’s history, during every struggle for the throne and change of immortal dynasties, there have always been those who failed in their bid for power, or remnants of previous dynasties—people with no place left on the continent—who fled to the Yaoguang Islands."

"On top of that, there were the fleets sent out to sea by various immortal dynasties, fleets that were ultimately never heard from again..."

"To say nothing of others, at the very beginning of this world’s immortal dynasties, the Immortal Qin Ancestral Dragon exhausted the resources of the Xuan Continent to send a fleet of alchemists in search of the Elixir of Immortality and the Overseas Immortal Mountains..."

"Finding even one of these inheritances would be enough to change the entire power structure of the seas today!"

"Alright, alright... I don’t care about any of that," Feng Shaochai said, waving his hand dismissively.

"Speed up the Spiritual Furnaces. I want to get to Cloud Sea Immortal City and relax in the arms of a beautiful female cultivator... What’s with that look? I’m answering the True Treasure Pavilion’s call to stimulate consumption, get it?"