Chapter 117: Acting Alone

Island defense mission.

There were four people in total, stationed at the four cardinal directions of the island, tasked with guarding the culverts that connected the island's interior to the open sea. Should any second-tier Sea-Swallowing Jiao fish escape through the culvert under one’s watch during the siege, that person would be held responsible.

Shen Lian was assigned to the southern side of the island.

He descended through the air onto the water surface south of the island, watching from a distance as Qian Dai led the remaining cultivators toward the hidden pool on the island. Without delay, Shen Lian submerged himself into the water.

A hundred zhang below the surface, he saw the seabed riddled with countless holes, varying in size. He could see fish with green foreheads and fangs, dragon-like whiskers on their lower jaws, and scales covered in Jiao patterns, darting through the water. These were the Sea-Swallowing Jiao fish.

Sensing them, Shen Lian realized these demon fish were quite weak; almost none of them reached the level of Qi Refining Tier 3. It seemed this particular school of Sea-Swallowing Jiao fish was quite large.

His divine sense swept out, carefully inspecting the demon burrows. Sure enough, they all led to the hidden pool inside the island. The Five Elements Spirit Puppet emerged from his main body, transforming into a transparent spirit entity that blended seamlessly with the rushing water.

Leaving a sliver of divine sense to control the puppet for reconnaissance, Shen Lian did not remain idle and began capturing the Sea-Swallowing Jiao fish. These Jiao fish were incredibly weak, but they carried a hint of dragon energy; catching them to take back as "spicy strips" for Sanqian to snack on wouldn't be a bad idea. Of course, he only bothered with those that had begun to undergo demonization; otherwise, they were useless.

"Rumble!"

A roaring sound traveled through the seawater along the culverts. Clearly, Qian Dai and his group had already started their operation in the hidden pool. As expected, Shen Lian’s divine sense detected countless Sea-Swallowing Jiao fish frantically drilling their way out through the dense network of holes. Although these first-tier Jiao fish possessed a sliver of dragon bloodline, their intelligence was not high, and upon sensing the crisis, they scattered in a panic.

Feeling the vibrations inside the tunnels, Shen Lian quickly located the largest culvert and directed his spirit puppet to drill inside. The stronger the demon beast, the larger its physique; finding the largest hole naturally meant blocking the largest fish. However, only first-tier Jiao fish were emerging; it seemed the second-tier ones were all trapped within the hidden pool.

The Water Spirit Puppet merged with the water, traveling along the deep tunnel until it entered the island's hidden pool. Immediately, he sensed that the hidden pool was shrouded in an incredibly brilliant spiritual light, with runes interlacing and binding the area. No wonder no second-tier Jiao fish were getting out; they must have been trapped by a formation. Through the formation, he could vaguely sense cultivators relying on the array to continuously suppress and kill the Jiao fish. Above the formation, a plump, hazy figure surrounded by spiritual light was actively driving the array to cage the waters.

"Huh."

"That is not Qian Dai's true body."

The spirit puppet moved along the edge of the hidden pool, inspecting the surrounding environment. Shen Lian had come here primarily to gain the qualification to share in the spoils of the Sea-Swallowing Jiao fish; the demon blood he needed was the most inconspicuous part, compared to the demon skin, bones, and pellets. He hadn't expected to discover that the Qian Dai controlling the formation was not the person himself.

So, where was he?

He glanced toward the depths of the hidden pool.

Below?

...

Deep in the hidden pool, coral and seaweed were piled high, and the bottom was paved with fish scales and bones. Qian Dai’s divine sense swept over the undulating bottom, and he soon sensed pulses of spiritual energy emerging from deep within the reefs. For second-tier Sea-Swallowing Jiao fish to nest and reproduce here, a spiritual vein was a necessary condition.

Qian Dai, however, did not care about the spiritual vein. He needed to find a suitable Metal-Water vein that could be used to nourish a Water Spirit Corpse. Since he couldn't accomplish this in the Profound Corpse Sect's territory, he had come to the border of the Sea Clan's domain to do it.

With a light wipe of his hand, a black spiritual treasure engraved with eerie runes appeared. It was square-shaped, with tiny golden dots flickering within the black surface. A chilling aura emanated from the treasure, and the runes seemed to come alive, transforming into swimming fish that dived downward.

The runes that sank into the underwater reefs returned not long after. The black spiritual treasure glowed with a dense black light, suppressing all the golden light. Seeing this, Qian Dai revealed a look of disappointment. This place only had a Water Spirit Vein; there was no accompanying mineral vein. Only a site where a spiritual vein and a mineral vein coexisted could be considered a "Metal-Water" land, capable of nourishing a Water Spirit Corpse.

...

Casting a spell, he quickly put away the black spiritual treasure. Qian Dai's plump body shuddered violently as a burst of scorching heat erupted from within him. This caused his expression to change. His Profound Yang Constitution had been triggered by the impact of the chilling aura.

...

After paying a heavy price, Qian Dai suppressed the fire rising within his body and quickly shot toward the surface. His Profound Yang Constitution and his Profound Yin Soul were mutually exclusive; as long as he didn't use this artifact, he could suppress it.

Several dozen breaths later, in the dim depths of the hidden pool, the water surged, and the spirit puppet flowed along with the current into a culvert hole.

"So, it really is connected to the Profound Corpse Sect."

The spirit puppet exited the hidden pool and returned to the vicinity of Shen Lian. The square black artifact that Qian Dai had pulled out in the depths of the hidden pool displayed the same runes that Shen Lian had sensed deep within Haiyuan Island.

This time, Shen Lian did not flee.

Qian Dai was using the guise of hunting demons to scout for underwater spiritual veins, which had nothing to do with Shen Lian; however, the demon beasts being hunted were his business. If that was the case, Qian Dai's earlier display of that square piece of Profound Spirit Jade Marrow raw stone made sense. They were all part of the same group as the Profound Corpse Sect; there was nothing wrong with selling a bit of their own stock. When he had chosen his piece of Profound Spirit Jade Marrow earlier, he had intentionally avoided the square one. He wondered if it was still in Qian Dai's possession.

The spiritual fluctuations in the hidden pool grew more and more violent, and more and more first-tier Sea-Swallowing Jiao fish came rushing out through the culverts. Shen Lian collected these first-tier ones into his storage bracelet without any effort. With the grand formation encircling the second-tier Jiao fish, his task of guarding the culvert presented no problems.

Shen Lian redirected his spirit puppet toward the vast ocean in the distance. This sea area was already far from the Ten Thousand Star Sea; perhaps there were other harvests to be found.

Clatter!

A school of Sea-Swallowing Jiao fish of this size required a massive amount of resources to survive every day. Even with a spiritual vein in the depths of the hidden pool, demon beasts were still beasts, and sometimes they would go out to hunt. For such a large group of Sea-Swallowing Jiao fish to thrive here, they shouldn't be without enemies.

Unfortunately, under Shen Lian's control, the spirit puppet could only travel within a radius of fifteen miles. In the boundless ocean, this distance was negligible. Before long, Shen Lian noticed the fluctuations coming through the culvert had weakened, so he recalled the Five Elements Spirit Puppet.

"The hunt is over. Fellow Daoists, you may return."

A voice sounded from the communication jade talisman. At the same time, a burst of magical power exploded on the north side of the deserted island. Fu Jingcheng, guarding the north, swung his dharma sword, slashing out a brilliant blue light that brought down a hideous Jiao fish.

Of the four people guarding the island's perimeter, only Fu Jingcheng had hit the jackpot. As Shen Lian flew up, he encountered the other two guards, noticing the look of desire in their eyes. According to the rules of distributing shares based on contribution, those guarding the gates naturally had little merit. Being given even half a share would be considered generous by the others.

Shen Lian didn't see it that way. This was his first time participating in a demon hunt, so he needed to observe and verify things for himself. Besides, a Tier 4 Foundation Establishment cultivator who was also an alchemist shouldn't be too conspicuous by hunting demons. After all, in the eyes of Qian Dai and his two little maids, he only knew how to refine "Happy Pills." He was an alchemist, yet not quite.

The Jiao fish Fu Jingcheng dealt with had a strength of around Tier 3 Foundation Establishment, and the others tacitly refrained from interfering.

Returning to the spirit ship, Shen Lian saw the plump Sea-Swallowing Jiao fish. There were seven in total: one late-stage second-tier, three zhang in size; two mid-stage second-tier, nearly two zhang; and four early-stage second-tier, about one zhang each. These demon beasts still retained traces of water, fire, metal, and earth elemental auras, and some had puncture wounds all over them.

"Boom."

As everyone examined the spoils, Fu Jingcheng's dharma sword flew up, turning into a streak of sword light. He opened his mouth and blew out a breath, pouring rolling spiritual power into the light. The three-foot sword light suddenly surged to three zhang in size, enveloped in rain, and slashed onto the forehead of the Sea-Swallowing Jiao fish, splitting its skull in two. He grabbed the bloody fish corpse and flew through the air, tossing it onto the spirit boat.

The dozen or so people looked at the spoils in the boat, all feeling envious. Shen Lian wanted to quickly grab a jar to collect some fish blood. Demon fish were different from other demon beasts; their demon blood was already scarce.

"Fellow Daoist Qian, it was hard to come out here. Are there any other targets?"

Qiu Qian's eyes shone brightly. With so many demon beast carcasses, based on his contribution, he could at least claim one mid-stage second-tier fish for himself. Once Qiu Qian said this, the others all looked at Qian Dai. The initial victory and the substantial haul had made everyone's ambitions grow.

Of course, Shen Lian's ambitions hadn't grown. At this moment, it wasn't the right time for him to say anything, so he just watched quietly.

Qian Dai pondered for a moment and said, "Let's leave this place first, find an island to rest, and then make further plans."

"Everything as the Young Master Qian says."

The spirit boat turned into a stream of light and disappeared over the ocean, flying three thousand miles away until it landed on a massive deserted island. There were traces of human habitation on the island, but it was now desolate and uninhabited.

After everyone settled down, Qian Dai spoke softly, "Ten thousand miles away, there is Gold Mountain Island. It is a volcanic island. A type of poisonous spider lives there called the Golden-Eyed Ring-Patterned Demon Spider. They are also gregarious, and their numbers are unknown, but there are at least two late-stage second-tier ones."

After Qian Dai finished speaking, he remained silent, waiting for the cultivators present to consider. The Golden-Eyed Ring-Patterned Demon Spider possessed both fire and poison attributes; for Foundation Establishment cultivators, being infected by this spider's venom was a significant problem.

Shen Lian looked at the jade slip in Qian Dai's hand. When Qian Dai had spoken just now, he had glanced at the slip first. This meant the slip recorded information about the Golden-Eyed Ring-Patterned Demon Spider. If it only contained information on this one demon beast, that would be one thing, but if it contained a map of demon beast distribution for the nearby sea area, its value would be immense.

Compared to hunting in a group, Shen Lian preferred to act alone. He had puppets and talismans; acting alone was worry-free, and he didn't have to worry about being backstabbed or spied upon.

"Further away, there is a group of Giant Bone Snake Fish, but there is only one mid-stage second-tier small fish king."

Hearing Qian Dai mention the specific location of another demon beast further confirmed the thoughts in Shen Lian's mind.

"Why don't we go to Gold Mountain Island and take a look?"

"If there's real danger, we'll just retreat?"

Qiu Qian and the others, who were at the seventh or eighth tier of Foundation Establishment, were tempted. These days, even if one wasn't a rogue cultivator, the cultivation resources of a family's Foundation Establishment elder were limited. With a large family to support, clansmen to cultivate, and several elders waiting to share second-tier resources, not to mention the cost of buying Foundation Establishment Pills—everything required spirit stones.

They wouldn't dare come to the deep sea alone. Having finally managed to board Fellow Daoist Qian's ship, these few capable Foundation Establishment cultivators really didn't want to miss this opportunity. Especially the family elders—if they didn't bring back enough spirit stones for a Foundation Establishment Pill, it would be a huge loss.

Seeing some hesitation, Qian Dai narrowed his eyes and scanned the group. "How about this? Let's go to Gold Mountain Island and take a look. Those who feel it's too dangerous can stay on the spirit ship and wait. If there are any spoils from the hunt, those who didn't participate won't share in the distribution. How does that sound?"

"That's a good method."

"Agreed."

Having reached a consensus, the spirit boat took off from the deserted island once more and fled toward the distance.

Gold Mountain Island gleamed with golden light from afar on the sea. The island spewed thick black smoke, and one could occasionally see erupting flames. The spirit boat slowly docked on the outskirts of the island. Qian Dai's maids quickly chose a location, opened a temporary cave dwelling on the island, and set up a defensive formation. Shen Lian glanced at it; it was a third-tier formation.

After securing their retreat, the six cultivators from Qiu Qian's group who were at the sixth tier of Foundation Establishment or higher, along with Qian Dai and two fifth-tier Foundation Establishment cultivators, headed toward the island together.

In the cave dwelling, only Shen Lian and Qu Yuren, who was also at the fourth tier of Foundation Establishment, remained.

The two looked at each other.

Shen Lian kept a straight face.

"I am an alchemist; I am not good at fighting."

As he said this, the two maids who had been left behind to guard the base also exchanged glances, each seeing the mockery in the other's eyes.

That was what he said.

But Shen Lian had already taken action.

The Five Elements Spirit Puppet burrowed into the earth, heading toward Gold Mountain Island. The entire island was large, filled with mountains rising hundreds of zhang high. Parts of it spewed black smoke, and the air was thick with the scent of sulfur. The mountains were covered in black stones formed after lava flowed and cooled, layer upon layer.

Some of the rocks were riddled with holes and wrapped in thick, red spider webs; one could see demon spiders of various sizes sleeping. In some places, one could see the carcasses of demon beasts and even the scattered bones of human cultivators.

Under the mountains where flames erupted, one could see giant spiders, two or three zhang long, with black bodies and rings of gold. The joints of their limbs were as thick as logs, their legs covered in dark, sharp barbs, and their closed eyes covered with dark golden scales.

"Let's choose one first, or I will control the formation to isolate the inside and outside, and everyone will work together to strike quickly and decisively to avoid being besieged by the spider swarm."

Qian Dai's group carefully crept into the mountains, with the Five Elements Spirit Puppet following behind. Shen Lian needed to determine where Qian Dai and the others would strike before he could choose where to act himself.