Chapter 133: Talent of Tianyuan, The Great King of the Demon Palace

In the dead of night, the sea tides rose and fell. Thanks to the special defensive arrays enfolding the Dharma vessel, the passengers felt not the slightest bit of swaying.

Instead of staying inside the cabin, Fang Wang sat out on the deck, gathering spiritual qi and cultivating.

The spiritual qi out on the ocean was indeed much denser than on land; even with the activation of the Great Qi's dragon veins, it could not compare. No wonder so many cultivators headed south.

However, the sea was also far more perilous. As Gu Li had mentioned in her previous letter, even when setting out in large numbers, casualties were inevitable during sea voyages.

Fang Wang grew increasingly eager to establish his own Daoist sanctuary upon the ocean.

To claim an island brimming with spiritual qi, to immerse himself in the cultivation of immortality, and occasionally take on a disciple—that sounded quite interesting indeed.

Boom!

In the distance, the surface of the sea suddenly erupted. A mysterious giant fish leaped out of the water, then plunged back in, vanishing without a trace.

The waves surged unpredictably, and a thick fog gradually rolled in from afar, making the nocturnal seascape all the more terrifying.

At a single glance, Fang Wang could tell that the mist was formed from demonic qi.

The battle was drawing closer and closer!

Fang Hanyu walked over and said, "I swept the area with my divine sense. Just the monsters I managed to detect number over one hundred thousand. How many did you see?"

Fang Wang spat out a number: "Three hundred thousand."

Hearing this, Fang Hanyu's eyelids twitched violently.

Such a vast multitude of fiends...

Moreover, they showed no intent to attack yet, clearly waiting for something further.

"If we keep waiting, even if you go to slay the demon king, we won't be able to hold them off..." Fang Hanyu said with deep concern.

Gazing into the distance, Fang Wang replied, "Do not worry, I will protect you all with my spiritual treasure."

Upon hearing this, Fang Hanyu immediately felt reassured.

Behind them, Xiao Zi and Zhao Zhen also let out sighs of relief, as this had been their greatest worry.

Suddenly, Fang Wang looked toward a specific direction and murmured softly, "Someone is coming."

Fang Hanyu turned his head to look. At the edge of the horizon, a faint beam of light flickered in and out of view. There, demonic fog churned and the seas churned violently, as if a battle were taking place.

"Go bring them over. After all, they are suffering because of us. Do not mention anything about Xiao Zi," Fang Wang instructed.

Now at the Profound Heart Realm, Fang Hanyu leaped into the air instantly, transforming into a streak of white rainbow as he sped away.

Fang Wang kept his gaze fixed on the distance, remaining vigilant against any powerful fiends that might ambush Fang Hanyu.

Before long, combat broke out. Waves of roars echoed from afar, adding an even greater sense of dread to the night-shrouded ocean.

The space of a joss stick's burning later, a fleet of ships sailed into view. There were nine vessels in total, the largest of which was five times the size of the Dharma vessel beneath Fang Wang's feet.

Returning to the ship, Fang Hanyu said, "I told them to follow behind us."

Fang Wang nodded gently. His divine sense had already captured that within that fleet were three Condensation Realm cultivators, while the cultivation levels of the others varied wildly, and there were even over two hundred mortals among them.

Ordinarily, such a party would be fully capable of venturing out to sea, but today their luck was simply abyssal; running straight into Fang Wang and his companions had brought them sheer misfortune.

Though Fang Wang had killed his fair share of people, he disliked dragging innocent souls into trouble without cause.

"Let us continue onward. A major battle will likely erupt tomorrow."

With those words, Fang Wang turned around, returned to the center of the deck, and resumed his cross-legged meditation.

Meanwhile, aboard the largest ship trailing behind them.

Inside the main hall, a dozen or so people had gathered.

At the head of the room sat a middle-aged man with a full beard. Dressed in a black robe with a gloomy expression, he said in a deep voice, "We truly have run into abyssal luck, stumbling into such a beast tide. I have traveled back and forth across this sea hundreds of times, and this is the first time I have ever encountered a situation like this. We can only pray that the high-ranking expert backing that person is formidable enough."

The expressions of the others were equally unsightly.

A young man in blue robes asked nervously, "Father, can we truly survive this calamity?"

The bearded man replied, "Along this journey, we were attacked by ferocious beasts multiple times. Yet once we reached this point, those beasts did not dare to approach at all. This proves that the cultivator who called himself Zhuge Liang was not boasting; there are grand cultivators upon his vessel."

He raised his eyes to sweep over the crowd and said, "During this time, keep everyone on high alert. Furthermore, send someone to deliver some wine capable of restoring spiritual power to Zhuge Liang and his companions. No matter what, they have shown us grace."

Hearing this, the others immediately acknowledged the order.

With a wave of the bearded man's hand, the company withdrew one by one, leaving only the father and son in the hall.

"Father, I told you long ago, I do not wish to cultivate immortality... Yet you insisted on sending me to that so-called Canglan Academy..." the blue-robed youth said with a weeping expression.

The bearded man glared at him and said sternly, "Yin'er, our family's ancestor divined that you possess the aptitude of a Heavenly Origin. How can you not cultivate immortality? Even if your father agreed, the Chu family would never consent."

Chu Yin gritted his teeth and said, "I do not want to cultivate immortality. What is so good about it? Mother hated immortality the most. She often said how wonderful it would be if you were merely a mortal, Father, so our family could stay together for a lifetime..."

The bearded man, named Chu Song, felt his complexion darken as he listened to his son's words.

Chu Song had many sons; Chu Yin was merely the offspring of a tryst during one of his brief shore excursions, and the bond between father and son was not particularly deep. Had it not been for the clan valuing Chu Yin's potential, would he have bothered to comfort him so patiently?

Gazing at this cowardly, fretful son, Chu Song felt a deep surge of envy in his heart.

Why should this brat be blessed with Heavenly Origin aptitude?

The longer Chu Song looked at the lad, the less he felt the boy resembled his own flesh and blood, yet the ancestor's divination could not be mistaken.

"Go down and rest," Chu Song said, his tone heavy.

Chu Yin opened his mouth as if to speak, but ultimately lowered his head dejectedly and departed, even forgetting to offer a bow.

Watching his son's retreating figure, Chu Song could not help but shake his head. Listening to the rising and falling roars of beasts outside the window, anxiety gripped his heart once more.

He wondered if they would be able to weather this calamity safely.

...

As the morning sun arose, its rays sliced across the sea surface. One after another, the silhouettes of demonic beasts emerged from the water—fish and beasts of every bizarre and wondrous shape imaginable, shrouded in baleful qi that made their forms shimmer indistinctly.

Every single beast faced the exact same direction.

Looking up, thousands of avian fiends circled the sky, letting out piercing screeches from time to time, creating an atmosphere of suffocating oppression.

Chu Song flew on his sword to the side of Fang Wang's Dharma vessel. Though his gaze was drawn briefly to Zhao Zhen, he quickly averted his eyes and cupped his fists toward Fang Hanyu, who sat cross-legged on the deck. "Brother Zhuge, with so many beasts about, do you think we should discuss a combat strategy?"

Fang Hanyu glanced sideways at Fang Wang. Seeing that the latter remained completely unmoved, he looked down at Chu Song and said, "Just stay safely aboard your ships and do nothing at all—that is the best strategy. We will lead you through the encirclement."

Chu Song frowned, his gaze inevitably shifting to Fang Wang. Unable to read Fang Wang's depth, he felt a burning curiosity regarding his true cultivation level.

"Very well, if there is any need, call upon us at any time," Chu Song said before turning back.

Upon returning to his own vessel, a crowd of Chu family cultivators immediately swarmed around him to inquire about the situation. Chu Song relayed Fang Hanyu's words word-for-word, leaving everyone exchanging bewildered glances.

"Do you think they intend to use us as bait?" a woman asked cautiously.

Chu Song's eyes flickered. "Let us wait and see. They shouldn't. If that were their intention, they wouldn't have helped us last night; they could have simply fled on their own. Still, we must keep our guard up."

The others agreed with this reasoning, and the unease in their hearts subsided slightly.

Time continued to march on.

The sun hung high in the sky, yet it was completely obscured by the thick canopy of demonic qi, leaving the ocean dim and heavily oppressed.

As noon approached.

Fang Wang suddenly opened his eyes and murmured softly, "They are here!"

Boom!

A thunderous explosion echoed from the edge of the distant sea, as if some colossal entity had suddenly burst forth from the water.

Fang Hanyu, Xiao Zi, and Zhao Zhen fixed their eyes on the horizon. Behind the countless beasts in the distance, two titanic Flood Dragons appeared, dragging a palanquin crafted from white jade as they soared into the heavens.

Those two Flood Dragons were at least a hundred feet long, possessing twin claws and lacking dragon horns, but their tails were covered in thick fur. They roared wantonly in the high altitude, their cries echoing endlessly.

The Chu family fleet behind them was also stirred into a panic. Numerous cultivators immediately took flight to survey the distance, and the sight of those two Flood Dragons struck terror into their hearts.

"What is that?"

"Oh no, could it be the forces of the undersea demon palaces?"

"Demon palaces? The legendary demonic factions inhabiting the seabed? Impossible, aren't those just myths?"

"To command such a vast host of fiends is beyond the capability of any ordinary demon king. Furthermore, using Flood Dragons to pull a palanquin certainly matches the legends of the demon palace lords."

"What is happening? We are not carrying any supreme treasures; was it really necessary to mobilize such a massive force?"

The Chu family cultivators were seized with terror, for they could already sense an overwhelmingly formidable demonic qi concealed within that white jade palanquin.

Chu Song's expression turned ashen, and Chu Yin aboard the ship trembled violently.

They watched as the two Flood Dragons in the horizon circled several times before coming to a slow halt, facing the direction of Fang Wang's vessel.

The white jade palanquin slowly elevated, towering above the Flood Dragons that could no longer obscure it. The curtains parted, and a demonic-looking man with horns sprouting from his head stepped out. He was clad in silver chainmail and draped in a black cloak; his skin was a chillingly pale white, and his handsome features were rendered fierce and terrifying by the demonic aura between his brows.

"I didn't expect there really to be the aura of a true dragon here."

The demonic man muttered to himself, licking his lips as a look of greed surfaced on his face.

With a sudden bound, he leaped into the air and strode through the void toward Fang Wang's Dharma vessel.

Without a word, Fang Wang also took flight into the high heavens.

Everyone in the Chu family could see him, including Chu Yin who remained on the ship.

Clad in black robes with his long hair loosely tied back at the nape, and a treasured sword hanging at his waist, Fang Wang presented the very image of an peerless swordsman from behind.

For reasons unknown, the moment Fang Wang appeared, the crushing pressure bearing down upon the Chu family cultivators plummeted drastically, the oppressive demonic might neutralizing by more than half.

Gazing at Fang Wang's retreating figure, Chu Yin felt his heartbeat quicken.

In the past, he had detested the cultivation of immortality because his mother had died at the hands of a cultivator; coupled with his resentment toward the Chu family, he had believed that few cultivators were truly good people.

Yet for some reason, Fang Wang's back inspired a glimmer of anticipation within his heart for the very first time.

He yearned for Fang Wang to win; he yearned to become someone like Fang Wang.

Surrounded on all sides by monsters, with countless avian fiends circling the skies above—trapped in such a desperate wasteland, that man had dared to step forward entirely alone!

Chu Yin stared blankly at Fang Wang's back.

The demonic man did not halt his advance. As he walked toward Fang Wang, he raised a hand, summoning a massive saber into his grasp. Surrounded by roiling demonic qi, the blade glinted with a chilling light.

"Human cultivator, do you intend to defy this king?"

Lifting his chin slightly, the demonic man looked down upon Fang Wang with utter disdain.

Fang Wang raised his left hand, materializing the Six-Destinies Desolation Seal. Expressionless, he gazed at the demonic man and said, "Worm, are you courting death?"