157: Chapter 156 Slaying Demons and Eliminating Evil

The sea monster moved first.

It had lost its last bit of patience.

It suddenly accelerated from beneath the surface, its massive body breaking through the water and kicking up waves several zhang high as it charged straight toward the flying boat.

The older Cultivator was the first to sense something was wrong.

He turned his head, and his pupils suddenly constricted—the beast had somehow closed in to within half a li. It was close enough to see every line on its scales, close enough to smell the pungent stench coming from its body. Its mouth was already wide open, revealing six rows of interlocking teeth arranged like six parallel serrated blades, with something squirming deep within its dark throat.

"It—"

Before he could finish his sentence, the sea monster arrived.

It simply rammed into them with its head.

The impact was casual, like a person using their shoulder to nudge open a door that wasn't properly closed.

The flying boat let out a piercing crack as its keel snapped. The entire ship folded in half from the middle, its formation patterns extinguishing simultaneously. Debris, planks, the broken keel, and the shattered Formation Plate, along with the two people on board, all smashed toward the surface of the sea.

The younger Cultivator was still in a curled position when he was thrown out. Like a tossed stone, he flipped several times in mid-air before crashing heavily into the water.

Seawater poured into his nose and mouth, salty and bitter, making him cough violently as if his lungs were on fire.

He struggled to float back up.

The older one landed more than ten zhang away from him.

The sea monster swam closer. Its mouth was slightly open, revealing those sharp teeth as if it were smiling.

Right at that moment, a person descended from the sky.

There was no warning, no sound of wind, and no spiritual light.

One moment the sky was empty, and the next, a person had appeared.

He fell straight down from the boundary between the twilight and the clouds, moving as fast as a falling rock, yet he came to a sudden halt less than three chi from the sea surface.

His robes didn't move an inch, his hair remained perfectly in place, and the seawater beneath his feet didn't even show a single ripple.

He wore moon-white robes, his long hair was tied up, and his face appeared young.

It was none other than Yun Ming.

Descending from the heavens, he suspended himself above the sea, his back to the two Cultivators soaking in the water, facing the sea monster that was as large as a small island.

The twilight spread out behind him, plating his entire figure in a layer of dark golden light.

The sea monster stopped.

It tilted its head, using its eerie green eye to size up this tiny thing that had suddenly appeared.

It was very small, not even as large as one of its scales.

But it instinctively felt that something was wrong.

This thing had no Spiritual Pressure, no killing intent, nothing at all. It was like a stone, like a gust of wind, like a beam of moonlight on the sea.

Yet it was right here, right in front of it, less than ten zhang away.

The sea monster opened its mouth and let out a low-pitched roar.

That roar made the sea surface tremble, made the ears of the two Cultivators in the water ring, and made the leaves on the distant island rustle.

It was a display of dominance.

The sea monster sensed danger.

It suddenly backed away, its flippers paddling frantically, kicking up waves several zhang high.

Then Yun Ming moved.

In almost the blink of an eye, he appeared on the sea monster's back, grabbed its dorsal fin, and pulled upward.

The sea monster was dragged out of the sea.

One chi, one zhang, three zhang, five zhang—that sea monster, as massive as a small island, was forcibly dragged out of the sea by a single person using one hand.

Seawater poured off its body like waterfalls, like a torrential rain, as if the entire ocean were falling down.

Its tail was still thrashing, its flippers were still paddling, and its mouth was still biting, but all its struggles were in vain.

It hung in mid-air, held by a hand ten thousand times smaller than itself, looking like a loach being lifted out of the water by a human.

The sea monster went completely mad.

It opened its massive maw, its six rows of sharp teeth snapping toward the man.

That mouth was as large as a city gate, and those teeth were as long as human arms.

It wanted to crush this bug, chew it up, and swallow it into its belly.

Yun Ming watched the approaching giant maw with an expressionless face.

He simply gripped the sea monster's dorsal fin and threw it toward the sky with force.

The sea monster was sent flying.

That sea monster, as massive as a small island, was tossed into the air by a single person using one hand, as if he were throwing away a tattered rag.

It tumbled through the air, its scales shimmering with a cold, eerie light in the twilight, as seawater spun off its body in long arcs.

Then Yun Ming pursued it.

A single punch.

A dull thud echoed.

The sound wasn't loud, but it was incredibly heavy, sounding as if someone had struck a drum in the heavens.

It was so heavy that when it reached the distant islands, Qin Wan, who was in the courtyard, heard it. She looked up at the sky, thinking it was thunder.

It was so heavy that the sea surface shook, and the hearts of the two Cultivators soaking in the water skipped a beat.

The sea monster stopped.

It no longer tumbled, no longer struggled, and no longer opened its mouth.

It hung in mid-air, frozen for a split second.

Then it exploded.

It didn't just break apart; it was completely pulverized.

Scales, flesh, bone, and internal organs—everything was reduced to dust in an instant by that force.

A vast mist of blood erupted, staining a huge expanse of the sea surface red.

Chunks of flesh and bone rained down from the sky; the large ones were the size of millstones, while the small ones were as dense as raindrops.

The sea surface began to boil.

Countless sea fish surged up from the deep, thrashing, leaping, and fighting over the scraps of meat. The entire surface looked like a boiling pot, with water splashing and schools of fish churning in a chaotic mess.

Yun Ming remained suspended in mid-air, his body clean, without a single drop of blood on him.

His robes were still moon-white, and his hair was still neat.

He looked down at the Golden Core in his hand. It was the size of a fist, incredibly murky and dull gray, as if covered in a layer of dust. This wasn't a Golden Core formed through proper Cultivation; it was forcibly condensed after consuming too much Mortal flesh and blood. Its aura was chaotic, its spiritual light was dim, and it lacked even the most basic purity of a Golden Core.

He felt a bit of disdain, but thinking it might be useful for Alchemy, he casually stowed it away.

On the sea surface, the two Cultivators were still soaking in the water.

Their minds were a complete blank. The Golden Core Stage Yao Beast that had chased them for three days and nights and nearly killed them was just... gone.

One punch. Just one punch.

The person before them had only used one punch.

They hadn't even felt any Spiritual Pressure fluctuations from him.

There was no pressure of the Golden Core Stage, no vastness of the Nascent Soul Stage—nothing at all.

He was like an ordinary person who had drifted over lightly, thrown a light punch, and then that island-like monster had shattered.

The older Cultivator was the first to snap out of it.

His hands were shaking, his legs were shaking, his whole body was shaking, but his mind was racing.

"Thank you, Senior, for saving our lives!"

The younger one followed suit, shouting, "Thank you, Senior! Thank you, Senior!" His voice was high and thin, sounding as if he were crying.

The man in the sky looked down at them.

The older Cultivator quickly added, "Senior, we are Elders of the Tianshui Sect! If Senior has time, please come visit the Tianshui Sect; our Sect Master will surely reward you handsomely! For Senior's great kindness, our Tianshui Sect—"

He didn't finish.

Because his head flew off. It didn't hurt; suddenly, his vision just started spinning. He saw his Junior Brother's face; his Junior Brother's eyes were wide, and his mouth was open as if saying something. Then he saw his Junior Brother's neck, which had a very, very thin red line on it. Then he saw the sea surface, the blood, and his own body still soaking in the water, with nothing left above the shoulders.

The younger Cultivator didn't make a sound either. His head also flew off. The two heads spun in the air a few times before falling into the water, creating two small splashes. The two headless corpses remained floating on the sea, swaying gently with the waves.

Yun Ming raised his hand and gave a slight, empty press.

Then those two Divine Souls shattered.

Silently and cleanly, like two drops of dew evaporated by the sun. The two corpses stopped moving, slowly drifting away with the ocean currents.

Yun Ming hung in mid-air, looking down at the two corpses drifting further and further away, his face devoid of any expression.

He had given them a chance.

When Yun Ming first discovered them, they hadn't even noticed the islands yet.

From the moment they first looked toward those islands, he was already flying above their heads.

If they had chosen to lead the sea monster away to a place without people, even if they had just tried, he would have stepped in.

He would have killed the beast, saved their lives, and let them return to the Tianshui Sect alive.

He didn't care what they thought in their hearts, nor did he care if they truly cared about the lives of those Mortals.

He only cared about what they did.

Unfortunately, they made the wrong choice.

Yun Ming turned and flew toward the islands.

After flying a few zhang, he stopped and looked back at the schools of fish still thrashing on the sea surface.

The fish were still fighting over the sea monster's scraps, water splashing everywhere with a pitter-patter sound.

He thought for a moment, reached out, and a chunk of meat the size of a millstone flew up from the sea into his hand.

Half a scale was still attached to the meat, and blood was still dripping from the edges of the scale.

He held the meat and weighed it; it was quite heavy.

The flesh and blood of a Golden Core Yao Beast was a great tonic, not just for Mortals, but even for Foundation Establishment Cultivators.

He would take it back for the villagers to have a taste.

Carrying the meat, he flew toward the archipelago.

Behind him, the schools of fish on the sea were still thrashing, and the water was still red.

The two headless corpses drifted in the bloody water, getting further and further away, smaller and smaller, until they became two black dots and vanished over the horizon.