Chapter 83

Chapter 83: Shadow of a Monster in the Deep Sea

This narration also told all Seven Blood Pupils disciples that if they were to encounter this scene out at sea, they shouldn’t move, shouldn’t touch, and shouldn’t disturb.

Xu Qing was silent.

As the information from the Sea Records Pavilion flashed through his mind, he sat down cross-legged inside the magic boat and looked up at the countless malicious ghosts flying in the air, grouping together and releasing ear-piercing shrieks.

“The most important thing about the information in the sea records isn’t the narration itself.”

Xu Qing looked up at the sky. Surrounded by this gloomy and eerie event, he muttered softly to himself.

“Rather… it’s that the description uses the word ‘narration’, not ‘legend’.”

“Unlike legend, the word narration implies a scene that actually happened.” Xu Qing took a deep breath and stared at his surroundings.

Countless malicious ghosts filled heaven and earth, and their shrieks became more and more ear-piercing. A more timid person might already be terrified and trembling in fear.

But for Xu Qing, this was nothing too unusual.

He had seen God’s eyes open, and he survived for more than half a month in that dead city full of mutated beasts and eerie existences. Moreover, he had already become used to seeing life and death when he was still a child in the slums, surrounded by the dark side of human nature.

In the forbidden area jungle and Seven Blood Pupils, he tempered himself through trials and tribulations. To him, the strange beings that arose from God’s influence weren’t the only things that could kill people. In this world, anything could snuff out a person’s life.

Thus, although this scene might invoke fear in others, Xu Qing was extremely calm.

As he stared calmly, Xu Qing could faintly hear the lingering sound of music amid the howls and shrieks of these malicious ghosts rising into the sky.

Xu Qing closed his eyes and remained motionless, as if listening to the music.

Looking from a distance, both he and his magic boat were insignificant specks in the sea. As time passed, they were gradually completely covered up by the Hundred Ghosts Night Parade.

But the lingering music in Xu Qing’s ears became clearer and clearer…

Hundred Ghosts Night Parade, Hundred Ghosts Night Dance, Hundred Ghosts Night Song.

The night passed slowly. Zhao Zhongheng stewed in his anxiety, Xu Qing listened solemnly, and Senior Sister Ding watched Xu Qing curiously. Soon, morning arrived.

When the morning sun rose into the sky, the night song dissipated. Xu Qing opened his eyes, but a faint melody still lingered in his mind.

Senior Sister Ding gazed at Xu Qing with her beautiful eyes and couldn’t help but ask.

“Junior Brother Xu, were you listening all night? Did you hear anything?”

Xu Qing ignored her, feeling a little displeased at the disturbance. He continued to immerse himself in the lingering melody without even blinking his eyes.

Senior Sister Ding became even more curious. Looking at Xu Qing, she patted her storage bag and immediately took out a jade box.

“Junior Brother Xu, there’s a Clarity Pill in here. It has a strong effect of nourishing the soul. I’ll give it to you, so can you please tell me?”

On the phoenix boat, Zhao Zhongheng’s eyes instantly widened, and his breathing sped up. Flames seemed to almost be jumping out of his eyes. This pill was something he had given to Senior Sister Ding earlier when he saw her impatience…

Now, Xu Qing was displeased, and Senior Sister Ding immediately took it out as a gift…

This scene completely drove him crazy.

"Clarity Pill?"

Xu Qing’s attention was immediately attracted over. He knew of the Clarity Pill. This pill was rare and extremely valuable.

Thus, with some surprise, he took the jade box and opened it. After taking a look and making sure that there were no problems, he put it away.

Seeing Xu Qing accept her gift, Senior Sister Ding was very happy. She smiled at Xu Qing.

“Junior Brother Xu, it’s okay to tell me now, right? The sea records mentioned that not many people can hear the Hundred Ghosts Night Song. Only those with keen senses are capable of listening to it.”

Xu Qing nodded, and a reminiscing look passed through his eyes.

“I heard the sound of teacher’s strict voice when he taught me about plants and vegetation.”

“Junior Brother Xu, you actually know the Dao of Vegetation. How amazing!” Senior Sister Ding was full of admiration. Over on the phoenix boat, Zhao Zhongheng revealed a disdainful expression, curling his lips and sneering.

“Who doesn’t know how to boast!”

Senior Sister Ding didn’t pay Zhao Zhongheng any heed, eagerly asking Xu Qing about the Dao of Vegetation.

Because of the Clarity Pill, although Xu Qing felt a little impatient, he reluctantly replied to her questions.

As they proceeded, Zhao Zhongheng became more and more anxious. In order to win his senior sister back over, he began to exercise various forms of flattery and frequently sent her gifts.

Unfortunately, Senior Sister Ding mostly refused him with a cold expression. When he really insisted, she would reluctantly accept his presents, but she didn’t make any move to change boats. Clear, bell-like laughter continuously rang out from Xu Qing’s boat, making Zhao Zhongheng burn with anger.

Over the next few days, Senior Sister Ding laughed more times than she would laugh even in a year when she was with him. From time to time, he saw Senior Sister Ding take the initiative to talk with Xu Qing, asking about medicinal herbs. However, Zhao Zhongheng knew very well that Ding Xue didn’t have even the slightest interest in medicinal herbs.

And if Xu Qing didn’t reply to her, she would take out gifts as a consultation fee. And those gifts… were all thing that Zhao Zhongheng had given her!

Seeing these sorts of scenes, Zhao Zhongheng fell into a daze. He vaguely felt that these scenes were very familiar, and that this Senior Sister Ding seemed… somewhat similar to himself.

This discovery caused sorrow to well up from the bottom of Zhao Zhongheng’s heart. However, he was unwilling to give up. He could only force himself to cheer up and do his best to follow along.

In order to attract Senior Sister Ding’s attention, Zhao Zhongheng simply released all of his cultivation along the way, constantly catching various sea beasts and inviting Senior Sister Ding to have a taste. This method seemed to work a little, making Zhao Zhongheng immediately liven up.

Soon, noon of the third day arrived. Xu Qing’s magic boat and the phoenix boat were moving along in tandem on the sea when a sharp cry echoed from the sky.

Xu Qing opened his eyes from meditation and saw a false-tooth bird circling in the sky. Its huge and slender wings were over six meters wide, and its blue body was covered in muddy speckles. The most eye-catching thing about it was its astonishing beak, which looked like two huge iron pincers. It could be imagined that its biting force must be terrifying.

At that moment, the calm and tranquil sea was just like a huge black mirror. Seabird frequently appeared in the sky.

This false-tooth bird was just one of them. Many black dots could be seen in the distance, which were different kinds of seabirds hunting for prey.

At that moment, the false-tooth bird flying high in the sky seemed to have designated Xu Qing and the others as its prey, so it circled above them. However, it seemed to detect danger. After a few circles, it turned to leave.

Xu Qing looked up at the false-tooth bird in the sky, then down at the tranquil sea. A sharp light flashed through his eyes, but he decided to just let it go.

However, on the phoenix boat, Zhao Zhongheng revealed a joyful expression. He smiled and shouted towards Senior Sister Ding.

“Senior Sister Ding, the sea records talked about the false-tooth bird. It seems to be a delicacy. I’ll catch it for you and we can eat it for lunch.”

“Junior Brother Xu, what do you think about false-tooth bird for lunch?” Senior Sister Ding looked at the false-tooth bird high in the sky, and smiled sweetly at Xu Qing.

Regarding Senior Sister Ding, Xu Qing had a somewhat positive impression. Her eagerness to learn reminded him of his past self. Furthermore, although she asked him a lot about plants and vegetation, she would always pay him. Overall, the value of the items he’d received weren’t less than 200 spirit stones.

At the same time, over the past few days, Xu Qing had a deeper understanding of these two core disciples of Seventh Peak. Of course, he wouldn’t carelessly look down on all core disciples just because of these two’s performance.

Core disciples were also human, so it was impossible for them to all be the same. Some were smart, some were stupid, some were cautious, and some were reckless.

Thus, among the core disciples, there were naturally some who were pure and naive, but there would also be those who emitted the same baleful aura as the gray-robed disciples who fought among each other at the foot of the mountain. Xu Qing believed that he had only not seen any such people because he hadn’t come into contact with many core disciples.

In fact, Zhao Zhongheng actually wasn’t bad. The only problem with him was that he was just insensible. As the captain had said, he was an idiot.

And it wasn’t that Senior Sister Ding was stupid, she was just too well-protected, making her personality somewhat incompatible with this chaotic world. However, this just proved that her background was extremely astonishing.

In fact, Xu Qing could also infer this point from Zhao Zhongheng’s attitude.

Moreover, he remembered the Hundred Ghosts Night Parade last night, and how her hand had always been on her storage bag. Xu Qing could conclude that she definitely had astonishingly powerful life-saving methods, which was why her elders were at ease allowing her to head out to sea.

Thus, Xu Qing decided to give her a reminder.

“The sea is too calm. Something’s strange.”

“Coward!” Zhao Zhongheng sneered. Raising his hands, he prepared to cast a spell to capture the false-tooth bird.

But at that moment, the false-tooth bird that was about to leave suddenly seemed to sense Zhao Zhongheng’s intentions. It instantly became aggressive and flapped its wings, no longer leaving but rapidly plummeting towards the pair of magic boats like a meteor.

Bursts of sonic booms rang out as its figure pierced the air and accelerated downwards.

“Nice, great.” Zhao Zhongheng laughed loudly. In a flash, he leaped into the air, ready to make a move.

Xu Qing’s expression changed, becoming extremely vigilant in an instant. He stood up and looked at the sea behind the magic boats. There, there was an area dozens of meters wide that was actually churning violently as the false-tooth bird approached.

It was as if there was something in the depths of the sea that was rapidly approaching the surface!

A cold light flashed through Xu Qing’s eyes, and he quickly formed a hand seal. Instantly, the magic boat went into defensive mode.

At that moment, through the eyes of the Dragonwhale, Xu Qing suddenly saw an enormous monster closing in at an astonishing speed. In the blink of an eyes, it reached the surface and broke out of the water.

Boom!

In an area dozens of meters wide behind the magic boats, the sea surface directly exploded.

An enormous pitch black head, covered in scales like a dragon or crocodile, broke out of the sea with unprecedented ferocity and savagery.

A fishy smell instantly spread in all directions, and waves rolled violently. The huge head opened its mouth and swallowed the incoming false-tooth bird with one gulp!

The false-tooth bird already seemed very large, but compared with the huge maw of this giant beast, it was like a tiny snack. It instantly disappeared into the crocodile-like mouth and with a boom, the beast’s head fell back into the sea.

Immense waves surged into the sky and billowed in all directions, making Xu Qing’s boat and Zhao Zhongheng’s phoenix boat involuntarily tumble backwards, like leaves on the sea. However, Xu Qing’s boat was orderly, while Zhao Zhongheng seemed on the verge of losing control.

Zhao Zhongheng’s expression immediately changed drastically, and his face was filled with horror.

At that moment, he had already jumped into the air. Fortunately, he hadn’t been too fast just now. Otherwise, if he had gotten too close to the false-tooth bird, he would have been swallowed up by that huge mouth as well.

As seawater soaked his body, the intense terror that came from a brush with death left his face pale. He backed up rapidly, using all his strength to retreat to his phoenix boat. Even when he finally planted both feet back down on the deck, he was still trembling violently.

It was as if he was afraid that if he retreated too slowly, that terrifying mouth would appear again.

However, as a disciple of the Seventh Peak, he was still able to instinctively control the magic boat, gradually allowing it to regain its balance.

“That was… a plesiosaur. Senior Sister Ding, come over here quickly, we have to leave immediately!

As the waves tumbled all around them, Zhao Zhongheng stood on the swaying phoenix boat and spoke urgently.

“Shut up. If you didn’t agitate the false-tooth bird with your stupid attack, it would have just flown away and wouldn’t come down to attack us! According to the sea records, the false-tooth bird is the plesiosaur’s favorite food. The plesiosaur was obviously hunting that false-tooth bird. If you didn’t move recklessly, it would have already left along with the bird.”

Senior Sister Ding’s expression was unsightly. Although plesiosaurs weren’t the strongest among the predators in the Forbidden Sea, any creature that could survive in the endless heterogeneity of the Forbidden Sea couldn’t be underestimated; moreover, plesiosaurs were famous for their ferocity and couldn’t be judged just by the strength of its cultivation base.

After all, its body was just too huge. Unless the difference in battle prowess was extreme, there was a high chance that the plesiosaur could win by virtue of its huge body alone.

Zhao Zhongheng wanted to defend himself, but he couldn’t find anything to say. He could only reply bitterly.

“Maybe it will leave after a while…”

Senior Sister Ding’s disposition was clearly better than Zhao Zhongheng’s. At that moment, even though her mind was in turmoil, she circulated her cultivation base and took out a blue longsword, ready to strike at any time.

At the same time, she placed her right hand on her storage bag, as if preparing to take out her trump card at any moment as she looked vigilantly out at the sea.

Compared to the other two, Xu Qing was much calmer. He had sensed something off about the sea earlier, so he changed his magic boat to defense mode in advance.

At that moment, the sea tossed and turned, and great waves rose up like the hands of a giant. The waves slammed down hard on Xu Qing’s magic boat, causing it to continuously be pushed along.

But overall, the magic boat was very stable. Instead of losing control and being swept along willy-nilly, it used the waves to retreat in an orderly manner.

At the same time, Xu Qing’s calmness also affected Senior Sister Ding, causing her to calm down from her frantic state. But suddenly, his eyes turned sharp.

“It didn’t leave!” Xu Qing’s eyes shone with a cold light as he spoke in a low voice.

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