171: Chapter 170 Blood Debt

The Shark Demon was dead.

From its infiltration to its death, the Late Golden Core Stage Shark Demon had lasted only a few breaths.

Its body turned into sludge, mixing with the seawater into a pitch-black mess, as if someone had dumped a bucket of ink into the ocean.

However, a layer of icy blue light did not dissipate.

It hung over the sea, hovering above that patch of black sludge.

Repelling all filth, it stood out strikingly against the sea surface.

Yun Ming reached out and grabbed it; the icy blue light membrane drifted up from the sea and landed in his palm.

It felt strange to the touch—slippery and cool, like a piece of jellyfish skin freshly pulled from the sea, yet far tougher than any jellyfish skin.

It trembled slightly in his palm as if it were alive, or perhaps as if it were breathing.

He turned it over and examined it several times, unable to discern the material or understand the patterns upon it. Regardless, it was a treasure; if a Late Golden Core Stage sea demon kept it close to its body and it could save a life in such a situation, it couldn't be bad.

He folded the light membrane, tucked it into the map of mountains and rivers, and decided to study it when he had time.

From the moment he struck to the end, only a few breaths had passed.

He turned and flew toward the archipelago.

As he reached the outskirts of the islands, he smelled blood.

It was thick—abnormally thick.

His heart sank abruptly, and his escape light accelerated, reaching the island's airspace in the blink of an eye.

Then, he saw it.

There were other sea demons on the island.

Not just one or two, but a whole swarm.

Two massive Late Golden Core Stage sea demons stood in the center of the village. One resembled a mutated octopus with thick, long tentacles and shredded meat hanging from its suckers; the other was a crustacean monster, pitch-black all over, waving two giant pincers.

They stood right outside the courtyard, looking down and studying something.

The spiritual light on Qin Wan was still glowing. The spirit essence heart-guarding pendant, xuan shuang protective gauze, and fifth-rank jade bracelet—all her defensive Magical Artifacts were activated, protecting her within an airtight light barrier. The two sea demons hammered at the barrier with tentacles and pincers; cracks had already appeared on the barrier, though it hadn't shattered yet.

They were pondering how to pry open this "turtle shell."

The other sea demons—over a dozen in the Foundation Establishment Stage and dozens in the Qi Refining Stage—were scattered throughout the village, eating people.

Some crouched over corpses, tearing and biting; some dragged severed limbs toward the shore; some had already thrust half their bodies into collapsed houses, dragging out struggling villagers. Blood was everywhere on the beach, as were mangled bodies. Old Chen's son was stepped on by a sea demon, half his body already gone, while another sea demon gnawed on his arm. The great banyan tree at the village entrance had fallen, and beneath it lay the corpses of several children. The youngest was only five or six years old; Yun Ming had just picked coconuts for him yesterday.

Hardly any living people remained in the village. Some were screaming, some were wailing, and some were so terrified they couldn't make a sound. A young mother ran toward the mountain holding her child, only to be overtaken from behind by a sea demon that bit off half her shoulder. Even as she fell, she desperately pushed her child forward. The child tumbled to the ground, crying out for mother. The sea demon turned its head and opened its mouth.

Yun Ming had not been this angry in a long time.

The mother qi cauldron of all things flew out from his sleeve, expanding as it caught the wind, growing to a hundred zhang in size in the blink of an eye.

The power of the golden crow feather was pushed to its limit. The flames at the cauldron's mouth turned from orange-red to bright gold, then from bright gold to pure white, so fierce they seemed ready to burn through the sky. The giant cauldron hung over the island like a falling white sun, illuminating the entire island as bright as day.

The two Late Golden Core Stage sea demons were the first to react. The octopus-like one jerked its head up, its tentacles contracting as it let out a sharp screech. The crustacean monster abandoned Qin Wan, raising its giant pincers above its head to wave at the sky. The other sea demons also stopped their feeding; some looked up at the sky, some ran toward the sea in a panic, and some froze in place, half an arm still dangling from their mouths.

"What is this!" the octopus demon shrieked, its voice full of terror.

"Run!" The crustacean monster had already turned to charge toward the sea.

Yun Ming gave them no chance to escape.

The mother qi cauldron of all things crashed down. The hundred-zhang giant cauldron smashed into the center of the island, and golden flames exploded, forming a massive fireball.

The fireball expanded, expanded, and expanded again, then suddenly contracted before exploding outward.

BOOM—!

The sound was deafening.

Far away in the Tianshui Sect, Xiao Wangzhou was processing documents in the main hall. Hearing this muffled boom, his hand jerked, and his brush drew a long ink streak across the paper.

He stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the distant horizon lit by white light, his neck shrinking back slightly.

He quickly summoned a Disciple and ordered someone to send a message to Wanze True Mansion.

He didn't know what was happening over there, but power of that level was not something he could manage.

The aftershocks of the explosion rampaged across the island.

Those Foundation Establishment and Qi Refining Stage sea demons were vaporized instantly in the golden flames, unable to even let out a scream.

Yun Ming had taken Qin Wan into the map of mountains and rivers; by now, she had fainted—fainted from sheer terror.

For a Mortal to witness their neighbors, whom they saw day and night, being torn apart and devoured by sea demons, reaching this point was already the limit.

Yun Ming's strike caused the entire island to sink completely, ensuring those Yao Beasts were buried alongside the villagers.

But Yun Ming still spared one.

He walked up to the crustacean monster, which had only half a breath left.

Half its body was gone, and fluid seeped from its charred wounds as its few remaining legs paddled feebly. It looked at Yun Ming, its eyes filled with terror.

Yun Ming didn't waste words. He raised his hand, pressed it against its head, and performed a Soul Search.

Images flooded into his mind.

The darkness of the deep sea, endless darkness. Countless sea demons gathered there, packed so densely they were impossible to count.

They were lined up in formation, like an army, or perhaps a migrating herd of beasts.

At the very front of the procession was a colossal sea demon.

That sea demon was so large that from the crustacean monster's memory, only parts of it could be seen—a single scale, a small section of a tentacle, one eye. That eye was golden with a vertical pupil, cold enough to make one's spine chill.

It hovered in the deep sea, radiating a terrifying pressure from its entire body.

Late Nascent Soul Stage. No, more than that.

Its aura fluctuated between the Late Nascent Soul Stage and Soul Transformation, as if one foot had already stepped over that threshold while the other remained outside.

Great Demon Lord.

That was what the Yao Beasts called it.

A Late Nascent Soul Stage sea demon was breaking through to Soul Transformation.

It needed a massive amount of blood food, needing to devour enough living beings to supplement the energy required for the Breakthrough.

It had divided the millions of sea demons under its command into several routes, launching an offensive from the deep sea toward the shallows, conquering territory and devouring every living thing along the way.

The slaughtered Mortals and the devoured Cultivators were all its rations.

And this crustacean monster, like the Shark Demon before it, had relied on a treasure to infiltrate from the front lines.

That treasure was called the Water Cloud Mirage Garment, made from the shed skin of the Great Demon Lord.

Donning it allowed one to conceal their aura and evade all detection.

Their mission was to infiltrate the Human Race's rear, committing arson, murder, and pillaging to create chaos and leave the Human Race unable to attend to everything at once.

They had already destroyed several small Sects and devoured the Mortals on dozens of islands.

This archipelago was merely a minor target they had hit in passing.

Water Cloud Mirage Garment.

The Great Demon Lord's shed skin.

If a piece of skin shed by a Late Nascent Soul Stage Yao Beast could be made into a treasure that allowed Golden Core demons to bypass detection,

Then how strong must the being itself be?

Yun Ming withdrew his hand, and the crustacean monster also breathed its last; with a wave of his hand, it too turned to fly ash.

He stood upon the ruins, gazing toward that dark, distant deep sea for a long time.

The wind blew, carrying the smell of blood, the scent of char, and the aura of death.

Those kind, simple, and peaceful villagers, the people who greeted him every morning, the children who brought him fish, the elders who played chess with him—all were dead.

Qin Wan was still here. She was alive. That was the only consolation.

Standing on the ruins, he took one last look at this place where he had lived for over a decade.

The beach was gone, the coconut groves were gone, the banyan tree was gone, and the village was gone.

Only a massive depression remained, with seawater pouring in, slowly swallowing the charred ruins piece by piece.

He turned around and, transforming into a streak of escape light, flew toward the deep sea.

He was going to demand an explanation for the villagers.

He didn't want help from Wanze True Mansion, he didn't want Ji Qingchuan to intervene, and he didn't want anyone else involved.

He would go alone.

He would infiltrate the Yao Race's rear and pay them back in their own coin.