49: Chapter 49 A Twist of Fate Leads to an Enemy

The Misty Sea was even harder to navigate than Lu Changyuan had anticipated.

This stretch of sea was already full of reefs and rapid currents. On top of that, the undercurrents had become increasingly chaotic after the unusual activity at the Dragon King Palace. Even the sense of direction provided by the heavenly secret jade slip felt as if it were filtered through a constantly swaying curtain of water, barely able to point out a rough direction.

The warship did not dare to charge through at full speed. It could only use the Formation Plate to disperse the mist while letting Leng Feng and several Foundation Establishment Cultivators skilled in water evasion take turns heading out to scout the way.

The mist grew thicker and thicker.

The seawater also grew colder and colder.

Gradually, even the sound of the waves around the hull grew muffled, as if the entire sea area were holding its breath, waiting for something to crash head-on into them.

Lu Hu stood by the gunwale, his hand never leaving the hilt of his saber, his gaze scanning the looming shadows of the reefs in the mist from time to time.

"My Lord, this doesn't look like a place where anyone would fall."

"It looks more suitable for burying people."

Lu Changyuan did not turn his head, only saying calmly, "That is why we must be quick."

To find the person one step faster.

To pull them away one step faster.

But fate is something that, more often than not, loves to play jokes.

Just as the warship passed through an exceptionally thick patch of white mist and rounded a cluster of black reefs jutting out of the water like canine teeth, Leng Feng, who was scouting ahead on the water, suddenly raised his hand sharply.

"Stop the ship!"

Almost at the exact instant his voice fell, a sharp, startled, and furious demonic howl suddenly erupted from the other side of the mist.

In the next moment, both sides saw each other clearly at the same time.

It was none other than...

Demon General Fuhai.

He was clearly more suspicious, ruthless, and afraid of death than Lu Changyuan had imagined. After losing his main tentacle, he actually did not return to his lair and treasury where he most belonged. Instead, leading hundreds of his remaining elites, he plunged headfirst into this Misty Sea, intending to lie low first.

Yet, Lu Changyuan's side happened to be breaking in along this very same direction.

Of the two groups, one was anxious to find someone, while the other was desperate to flee for their lives.

Neither side expected to collide head-on in this mist, the very place where they least should have crossed paths.

For a brief instant, even the air seemed to freeze.

Immediately after, Demon General Fuhai's eerie green demonic eyes suddenly turned blood-red.

He certainly remembered Lu Changyuan.

He remembered how that group of people had ganged up on him on the city wall, how his main tentacle had been severed right before the eyes of countless sea beasts, and the bone-deep humiliation of fleeing in wretched misery, dragging his severed arm and filthy blood.

What infuriated him even more was that, at this moment, Lu Changyuan did not have the entire city of Blue Moon Island by his side.

There was no Forbidden Great Array.

There were no fifty Spirit-Breaking Crossbows.

There were only a dozen or so people.

At this moment, the slight suspicion and urge to flee in Demon General Fuhai's eyes were instantly suppressed by an even denser surge of violence.

"Human Race..."

His mouthparts opened and closed, producing a voice as sharp as iron scraping against bone. "This general did not go looking for you... yet you delivered yourself right to my face."

Hearing this voice, Lu Hu gripped his saber so tightly that it almost cracked.

"My Lord, should we just clash with them directly?"

Lu Changyuan, however, did not strike immediately.

He only swept his gaze over them with the utmost speed.

There were many remnants around Demon General Fuhai.

At least three to four hundred.

Moreover, these were not the cannon fodder used to fill the lines in the vanguard tide, but the true elites who had survived last night. Although Demon General Fuhai had lost an arm and his aura was quite unstable, fighting a hard battle in this completely open Misty Sea with just these hundreds of elites would still be enough to drag them to their deaths.

What was more troublesome was that the direction indicated by the Jade Slip was shifting even deeper.

The target was nearby.

He simply had no time to get entangled in a fight with this mad demon.

But Demon General Fuhai clearly had no intention of giving him any way out.

He merely stared at Lu Changyuan for two breaths of time before suddenly letting out a furious screech. His remaining seven tentacles rose in unison, slamming fiercely onto the surface of the sea.

"Surround them!"

"Today, this general will tear you to pieces, piece by piece, to feed the fish!"

Following this command, the hundreds of elite sea demons in the mist, who had still been hesitating, instantly moved as if they had gone mad. Dark shadows lunged out from the reefs on both the left and right sides simultaneously, while the sea behind them was completely sealed off by a massive wave of bone spikes and scales. In almost just a few breaths, the area around Lu Changyuan's warship was blocked so tightly that not even a drop of water could trickle through.

Leng Feng was the first to draw his sword. A sword light like a white line instantly cleaved apart two sea demons lunging from the front-left. He shouted hoarsely, "Return to the center of the ship and form the array!"

Lu Hu was even more direct. Leading several Foundation Establishment Cultivators, he plunged straight to the bow. His saber light, swirling with arcs of lightning, slashed straight down, forcefully cleaving the head and spine of a black-armored sea lizard that was the first to pounce onto the side of the ship. But before that severed half of the corpse could even fall into the sea, more demonic shadows had already rushed in from the flanks to take its place.

Shi Jian abruptly propped up a heavy shield. The armored soldiers and several Dao soldiers quickly formed a semi-circle, firmly protecting the positions of the ship's most fragile Formation Plate and spiritual oars in the center.

For a time, saber light, talisman fire, blood, and spray clashed together in a chaotic mess.

The entire warship was shaking.

Not shaken by the waves.

But trembling from the impact of the sea demons constantly lunging from all directions.

Yet within this chaotic situation, Lu Changyuan suddenly sensed an even colder anomaly.

The direction pointed by the Jade Slip had not been cut off.

It had even grown brighter.

This meant that the Golden Core Sword Immortal was nearby.

Yet right now, they were surrounded in the middle by the deadly enemy they least should have run into.

This was not a coincidence.

Rather, it was fate pushing the people and the blades together.

Demon General Fuhai had clearly gone completely red-eyed with bloodlust, with no intention of holding back. He did not pounce forward himself immediately, but instead drove his elites forward first to wear down the Qi and strength of Lu Changyuan's group, clearly afraid of being ambushed in turn like he was on the city wall.

Suspicious.

But precisely because of this suspicion, he was even more difficult to deal with.

While wearing them down, he continued to constantly adjust the encirclement.

Wherever someone showed fear, the sea demons would press forward with another layer. Whichever section of the reef ridge was narrower, he would deliberately have heavy-armored sea demons block the exit, forcing Lu Changyuan and the others deeper and deeper, bit by bit.

As Lu Changyuan swung his sword to cleave apart the sea demons lunging from the front, he quickly lowered his voice and said, "Don't waste our strength on the ship. Retreat into the reefs."

Lu Hu was startled. "Retreat?"

"It's too open here; we can be surrounded on all sides."

Lu Changyuan said, "Entering the reefs will cut off at least half of his surrounding angles."

This judgment was extremely fast and extremely accurate.

If they defended the warship to the death now, it would be equivalent to pinning themselves to an exposed wooden plank, leaving themselves at the mercy of the enemy's slaughter from all directions. But once they retreated into that area of barren reefs ahead, although they would lose the warship's mobility, they could force the elite sea demons to squeeze into the narrow passes in batches, preventing themselves from being swallowed up in one breath.

"All hands abandon ship! Retreat to the forward reefs!"

Once the order was given, everyone hesitated no longer.

Lu Hu, Leng Feng, and Shi Jian each took a side to fiercely cover the rear, while several elite Foundation Establishment Cultivators guarded Lu Changyuan and the cold jade box as they rushed toward the nearest black reef. The warship was quickly torn open with several large gashes by the sea demons rushing in from behind. Its masts snapped, and its Formation Plate flashed violently; it was clear that it could not be saved.

But just as they barely managed to retreat onto the reefs, Demon General Fuhai finally saw the cold jade box in Lu Changyuan's hand clearly.

He did not know what was inside.

But he knew that something this Human Race lord would guard so desperately even at a time like this had to be something of vital importance.

Thus, whatever remaining thirty percent of tentative hesitation he had was completely crushed into a hundred percent intent to kill.

Consequently, the murderous intent in his eyes grew increasingly violent.

"Chase them!"

"Do not let a single one escape!"

Hundreds of bloodthirsty sea demons closed in from all directions. The mist was filled with the ear-piercing sound of scales scraping against reefs and the booming crash of waves breaking. Lu Changyuan's group fought as they retreated, quickly being forced deep into the reef cluster.

The sea route behind them was also completely cut off.

The wreckage of the warship was smashed by the sea demons, and the broken wood and snapped masts constantly slapped against the Reef Wall along with the undercurrent, as if to remind everyone that they now had no second path to survival except to slaughter their way deeper.

This was no longer a breakthrough.

It was being forced to gamble with their lives.

Win the gamble, and they lived.

Lose, and they would all be buried in this Misty Sea.

Whoever was a step slower would die first.

Lu Hu slashed apart a lunging sea demon with one strike, but his shoulder was also severely sliced open by another bone spike, blood instantly staining half his armor. Gritting his teeth, he held his ground and retreated several more steps, finally reaching Lu Changyuan's side. For the first time, his voice carried a hint of anxious hoarseness.

"My Lord!"

"We are surrounded!"

"That sword immortal... where on earth is he?!"