by Translator: BornToBe; Author: Ordinary Magician (平凡魔术师); Licensed From: 17k
“To put it simply, it’s a method of weeding out the weak. The Martial Heaven Sea-Ring is controlled by the sea demons, and in the depths of the sea, no one dares to provoke them. Even the continent’s peak experts are intimidated by them. As for the sea demons we’re killing, they’re just inferior members of the sea demon race. Their bloodline is impure, and the ninth rank is their limit. Only sea demons that can reach the tenth rank and above are true members of the sea demon race. Those who came with me to the Central Plains, you must still remember that we encountered a tenth rank sea demon on the way. They are the true leaders of the Martial Heaven Sea-Ring.
“Just like the continent, the sea is also a land of cultivation. But there are just too many sea demons, and when the numbers reach a certain level, it affects the pure-blooded sea demons’ cultivation as well. The beast tide is caused by the leaders of the sea demons who want to see the numbers go down,” said Long Chen.
This secret was actually something only a few people knew. The Xuan Master had told him so he would be prepared.
“Heavens, they can control such a huge army of sea demons? Then couldn’t they easily exterminate all human cultivators?” cried Gu Yang.
“It’s not that exaggerated. After all, they’re still beasts. They don’t know alchemy, forging, formations, etc. Once they come onto the land, experts will kill them eventually. They can only run rampant in the sea.
“The reason they cause beast tides is to suppress the number of sea demons. It’s through this balance that the number of sea demons stays low enough that the spiritual qi in the sea doesn’t grow thin. That would affect the true experts of the sea demon race.
“This is also why they will always put out some signs that the beast tide is about to start, so that the human race can prepare. It’s just a game of survival of the fittest. It’s not a bad thing for humans or sea demons.
“The sea demon race is using human cultivators to eliminate a portion of their wasted resources. As for human cultivators, they use this battlefield to temper their disciples, as well as gathering Neidans.
“This is also why the Martial Heaven Alliance forbids King experts from going hunting in the sea. They’re afraid they might kill some pure-blooded descendants of the sea demons. That would draw out the true leaders of the sea demon race, and then a huge battle would definitely erupt.”
As Long Chen explained, he scattered some medicinal powders he had previously refined into the sea. These powders also contained the blood of some of Meng Qi’s Magical Beasts.
Sea demons were very sensitive to Magical Beast’s blood. With Long Chen’s powders, their scent was magnified.
In just an incense stick’s worth of time, the sea began to surge, and countless huge figures charged over.
“Ninth rank sea demons!” Wilde was the first to charge out with delight. He directly summoned his Barbarian Blood Bronze Body and swung his club, blasting the first monster fish’s head apart.
At the same time, a bowl in his hand released a ray of light that drew the monster fish inside. Wilde directly swallowed it.
The others found that surprising and funny. Wilde was actually filled with such urgency because of hunger. They all went out to kill the sea demons.
Eighth rank sea demons were no longer useful to them, but ninth rank sea demons were treasures. Their corpses could be sold for money, and their Neidans were exceptionally valuable.
Long Chen’s bait was drawing over more and more ninth rank sea demons. Now that the Dragonblood Legion had all advanced to Foundation Forging, killing these ninth rank sea demons wasn’t at all difficult.
The sea was quickly dyed red with the blood of the sea demons. The scent of that blood drew over more sea demons, and huge waves began to surge.
Long Chen had the flying boat float over the battlefield. He looked at the intense battle below. Wilde was killing and eating them one by one. In just a bit, he killed dozens of them but still wasn’t full.
“Long Chen, what are you thinking about?” Seeing Long Chen frowning in thought, Meng Qi walked over.
“Have you noticed? The blood of these ninth rank sea demons, the energy within it quickly dissipates in the sea,” said Long Chen.
“Isn’t that obvious? When blood enters the sea, the sea will absorb it,” said Meng Qi with a teasing smile.
Long Chen shook his head. “That’s not what I was talking about. I’m thinking, the sea demons are using the hands of humans to eliminate their weak members. Then is our cultivation world also the same? Is there also a large hand pushing us forward?”
“I… I didn’t think of that.” Meng Qi was caught off-guard, never having considered such a situation.
Long Chen mulled over this possibility. In the Immemorial Pathway, he had gone to the depths of it with the Eastern Wasteland Bell. There, he had seen an altar with a huge skull.
Although the Eastern Wasteland Bell had refused to answer his questions, he still felt that the Immemorial Pathway might very likely be the same as the Martial Heaven Sea-Ring. It was being manipulated by someone.
If it was possible that the Immemorial Path was being controlled, then what about the Martial Heaven Continent? If there really was someone secretly directing the Martial Heaven Continent, what kind of existence did they have to be? A god?
“Cloud, come back! Don’t get greedy!” Meng Qi was distracted by her talk with Long Chen, and in that moment, Cloud had secretly eaten an eighth rank sea demon. But Meng Qi had still caught it.
Long Chen shook his head. This kind of problem wasn’t one he should be pondering. Just the Central Plains was already so enormous. He would find the truth sooner or later.
“Meng Qi, just let Cloud eat. Its innate deficiency is essentially fixed, and there are no problems with its body now. When we get back, I’ll refine a pill to completely make up for any slight deficiency problem there still is,” said Long Chen.
The Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow looked incredibly pitiful. It was like a starving child How could they not let it eat?
Cloud immediately let out a bird cry and charged into the battlefield.
“You imp, you only know how to play good cop.” Meng Qi rolled her eyes at Long Chen. But she didn’t order Cloud back.
Under her meticulous care, there was already no problem with Cloud’s body. Its innate deficiency was already made up for. But Meng Qi was a cautious and meticulous person, and she was afraid of any possible accidents. And so she didn’t let Cloud eat too much.
As for Long Chen, he didn’t think the problem was too big. Each time, Cloud would put on such a pitiful appearance. Cloud was very smart, and as soon as Long Chen spoke, it flew off. It knew Meng Qi wouldn’t refuse Long Chen.
“Hey, that’s a ninth rank sea demon!” cried Meng Qi as she saw a ninth rank sea demon’s corpse rapidly shrinking and flying toward Cloud’s mouth.
“Just leave it. Meng Qi, don’t worry so much. Cloud is an ancient species with its own inheritance. If there really was danger, it would sense it itself. By constantly restricting it and not letting it act on instinct, you’ll end up restricting its cultivation base,” persuaded Long Chen.
“Fine, I admit I was just too concerned.” Meng Qi thought about it for a while and bitterly smiled.
Long Chen held her hand. “It’s because you promised Cloud’s mother that you are feeling so much pressure. But in reality, you aren’t a god, and you don’t know what will happen in the future. Let Cloud be.”
Meng Qi understood what he was saying. She cared too much about Cloud, and pampering it wasn’t necessarily a good thing. It would be better if Cloud was given more room to grow.
After devouring a ninth rank sea demon, Cloud’s rainbow colors lit up, and a powerful aura erupted. Cloud’s body rapidly grew, and it instantly advanced to the seventh rank.
Meng Qi was startled. Cloud was truly worthy of being a Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow. That powerful ninth rank sea demon was instantly digested as soon as it entered it
s stomach.
Furthermore, its aura was still very stable. There wasn’t the slightest weakening or sign of an empty cultivation base. This meant that Cloud really didn’t need to be worried about so much and could grow on its own.
Seeing this, Meng Qi sighed with relief. At the same time, she felt slightly ashamed. If Long Chen hadn’t persuaded her, she would have inhibited Cloud’s growth.
After advancing to the seventh rank, Cloud suddenly let out a heaven-shaking cry and shot toward a ninth rank sea demon.
Meng Qi jumped in fright as Cloud was still only at the seventh rank. She had just formed a hand seal when she was stopped by Long Chen.
“Sometimes, trust is the best encouragement.”
BOOM!
That bull-headed fish-bodied ninth rank sea demon unleashed two rays of bright light at Cloud.
This was its full-strength attack, causing Meng Qi to turn pale. But when that light was about to strike, Cloud spread its feathers and vanished.
When Cloud reappeared, it was right in front of the ninth rank sea demon. It opened its mouth, and an azure thread of light shot out.
The thread of light pierced straight through the ninth rank sea demon’s head, instantly killing it. Then its corpse was pulled into Cloud’s stomach.
At this moment, a dozen ninth rank sea demons had surrounded Cloud. It simply flapped its wings, turning into a rainbow-colored light that vanished into the clouds.
Chapter 1146 Wang Zhen’s Distress Call
It was so fast that it was impossible to track. The attacks of the ninth rank sea demons completely missed.
“Nice work, Cloud!” shouted Long Chen. A bird cry rang out from above the clouds as if in response to Long Chen’s encouragement.
A rainbow light suddenly shot down like a meteor. Cloud had folded its wings and was shooting straight toward a ninth rank sea demon.
BOOM! A huge hole was forcibly pierced through the sea demon’s body. Everyone was shocked.
Cloud was only at the seventh rank. But it killed ninth rank sea demons so easily.
Not just anyone was capable of recognizing it for a Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow. After all, that was a legendary existence. In the Dragonblood Legion, only Long Chen, Meng Qi, and Tang Wan-er knew its origin.
The Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow had been expelled from the Xuan Beasts. That was why it was best not to tell everyone about Cloud’s identity.
However, even Long Chen, Meng Qi, and Tang Wan-er were shocked by Cloud’s power.
“The Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow is far stronger than I ever imagined. We definitely need to let it have its freedom.” Seeing Cloud completely dominating these sea demons, Long Chen was awed.
He saw that Cloud was hunting the ninth rank sea demons, and it was trying different moves, different angles. It was honing its instincts and hunting abilities.
Cloud was as quick as lightning, and its attacks only grew sharper and mightier. Any ninth rank sea demons it killed would be directly swallowed by it.
Seeing this, Meng Qi couldn’t help but sigh. She had always been worried about Cloud growing too fast because of its innate deficiency. But she had forgotten, the Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow was no ordinary Magical Beast. It had its own inheritance.
She had already helped make up for practically all of its innate deficiency. Whatever little bit remained could be naturally made up by Cloud.
Now that Cloud had advanced to the seventh rank, its core runes had been activated, and it was crazily absorbing flesh to make up for its deficiency. It was even more effective than when Meng Qi prepared special medicine balls for it. So Meng Qi couldn’t help but feel ashamed. She had clung too much to her knowledge as a Beast Tamer.
Although Long Chen wasn’t even a Beast Tamer, and he didn’t know much about the habits of Magical Beasts, he still saw more than she could.
“Cloud’s one thing, but Wilde really is a monster. How can he eat so much without his stomach exploding?” Tang Wan-er looked at Wilde with shock.
It had been several hours. Other people would directly put away the corpses of the ninth rank sea demons they had killed to be exchanged for points. But Wilde would kill one and eat one. Others had gathered a few hundred ninth rank sea demons during this time, but Wilde’s speed was probably ten times theirs.
Even after eating so many, he was still hungry. Each ninth rank sea demon was like a small mountain, and even though their corpses were shrunk with a King item, that was just a spatial restriction. They weren’t truly small. Once they entered his stomach, they would return to their original size.
No one dared to try eating a ninth rank sea demon like that. It would cause their body to explode. But Wilde was still eating them without pause.
“Wilde is also undergoing some kind of transformation. He needs lots of meat as well,” said Long Chen.
Long Chen had talked about Wilde with the Xuan Master. The Xuan Master had said that the Barbarian race only existed in legend and that there was no way to say anything about them for sure. Apparently, there had been some mix-blooded Barbarian races that were essentially the same as Magical Beasts. Due to their berserk natures, they had become the enemies of the entire cultivation world and were exterminated back in the immortal era.
After that, Long Chen just kept his mouth shut about Wilde. He knew too little about the Barbarian race. It was best to keep Wilde’s status as low-key as possible.
Wilde was starting to advance. Because he relied on the energy within the meat to advance, his cultivation path was different from everyone else’s. No one knew what his limit was. But after eating a thousand ninth rank sea demons, his expression still didn’t change, and that was a bit frightening. Wilde’s stomach was like a bottomless pit.
Looking from Wilde to Cloud, Long Chen bitterly smiled. It seemed trying to get rich off selling sea demon corpses wasn’t going to happen.
As soon as Cloud defeated and ate one, it would move on to the next. Its body was slowly growing as it ate more, and its runes began to activate, expelling impurities from the food it had eaten and keeping only the essence.
This was definitely a terrifying way to advance. It was constantly eating and getting stronger in battle, and it was a kind of flawless advancement.
Long Chen just watched as the Dragonblood Legion fought. He kept the flying boat on standby just in case they encountered a tenth rank sea demon.
Although he had heard that tenth rank sea demons would not appear when the beast tide was brewing, who could guarantee anything? It was better to be careful.
After fighting for three days, even the Dragonblood Legion was starting to get tired. Furthermore, because of this non-stop intense fighting, quite a few people had ended up being so tired that they were injured in battle.
But with the healing disciples present, everything was still fine. Long Chen didn’t give the order to retreat yet.
Meng Qi and Tang Wan-er had an urge to fight as well, but they were held back by Long Chen. A battle against the will was also important. The more tired they became and the more their will slacked, the easier accidents would occur. But it would also temper them more.
When there was no longer a tide of ninth rank sea demons charging at them, all the warriors sighed with relief. They sat on the flying boat, exhausted.
As for the Dragonmark warriors, they directly fell asleep, feeling like their bodies were empty.
Only Wilde and Cloud were still full of energy. Wilde’s bronze skin had some faint runes shining on it, and his aura was still growing. It was like a sleeping dragon was about to awaken within his body.
As for Cloud, it had just advanced to the eighth rank the day before. That kind of speed was absolutely shocking.
Long Chen immediately stopped Cloud from eating any more, because its aura was starting to fluctuate. That was a sign its realm was growing unsteady. It couldn’t keep eating.
He personally refined a few medicinal pills to stabilize its r
ealm. It could kill sea demons for rations now, but it couldn’t eat them immediately.
Now everyone saw how terrifying Cloud could be. It simply spread its wings, and its runes lit up. Millions of rays of light shot out, slaughtering the ninth rank sea demons.
Then it opened its mouth and a green line of light shot out, blowing apart the sea demons.
That light only flashed once, because if it was used twice, there wouldn’t be any rations left.
Even Long Chen and Meng Qi, who had personally seen the tenth rank Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow, were shocked by Cloud’s abilities. It had such terrifying abilities at just the eighth rank. This kind of power had surpassed their understanding.
Even if Meng Qi summoned all her ninth rank Magical Beasts, they wouldn’t necessarily be able to beat Cloud. Very likely, they would all be killed by it, because not only was it powerful, but it was also incredibly fast. Wanting to flee in front of it was just a joke.
They had truly killed an immense number of ninth rank sea demons this time. Millions of corpses had filled their spatial rings, and there was nowhere else to put them.
Long Chen tossed the leftovers that no one had room for into the primal chaos space’s black soil. The Iron Spruce Oaks rapidly grew and would soon reach their peak.
The primal chaos space was now flourishing with life, giving Long Chen confidence. He wouldn’t have to worry about being injured now.
“Hm?” Long Chen’s expression suddenly changed. A symbol lit up on a jade tablet on his waist, and an ear-piercing alarm rang out.
“Wang Zhen’s in danger!” Long Chen saw that it was the red symbol that represented Wang Zhen. It was rapidly flashing, meaning it was an urgent distress call.
This was one of the Xuantian Dao Sect’s tools. It could sense copies of itself within a range of half a million miles. And as long as they were within a couple hundred thousand miles, they could accurately pinpoint their locations.
“What happened? Did he run into a tenth rank sea demon?” asked Meng Qi.
“Meng Qi, Wan-er, look at these coordinates. Fly in that direction.” Long Chen then jumped onto Cloud’s back and said, “Cloud, use your fastest speed. Let me see what it means to chase the clouds.”
