Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Sea Beasts Come Ashore

Mo Ling and the other two stayed at their cave camp, reinforcing the spiritwood fence to guard against the sea monsters that could appear at any moment, while building a spiritwood raft and hoarding as much food as they could. Every morning, Ye Mo practiced his martial skills; in the afternoons, he would venture out to search for medicinal herbs.

Even stranded on this isolated island in the Eastern Sea, he still devoted himself fully to training, striving to improve his strength.

Yet, herbs were becoming increasingly scarce.

The island was only so large, and many warriors had escaped from their shipwrecks to take refuge here, all desperately in need of healing and body-tempering herbs. Nearly every plantable spot in the jungle had been scoured clean, even the lowest grade herbs were not spared.

Even dangerous cliffs, precipices, and deep ravines had been combed through by the warriors.

Time passed swiftly, and now it was mid-month. As the tides surged onto the island, the number of sea beasts increased day by day, becoming a dire threat to all the warriors here.

Night fell—another night of death.

A huge wave rolled up on the beach and receded quickly.

A blue sea python, more than thirty feet long, emerged on the sand, flicking its tongue, its blue-black scales flashing a chilling, soul-stirring light in the moonlight.

Surrounding it were dozens of smaller sea serpents.

Elsewhere on the island’s shore, a giant golden crab also washed up with the tide, raising its golden claws high, reflecting dazzling light.

The sea beasts that surged onto the island began searching through the jungle, urgently seeking anything edible.

The entire forest was shrouded in danger, and the night revealed its harsh, menacing side.

Across the island, more than a dozen small campfires dotted the forest—a faint glow against the darkness, each easily swallowed by the encroaching night.

…

Toward the island’s center.

In a camp encircled by a simple wooden fence, Huang Yi leaned against Gao Jian’s shoulder. The two gazed at the starry sky, reminiscing about happier times—smiles played on Huang Yi’s lips, and her laughter rang clear as silver bells.

The other seven or eight warriors in the camp chatted and joked, free of complaint.

They were wanderers from the Yan Kingdom, roving the martial world, robbing the rich to help the poor, without a fixed home. The hardships of the island scarcely differed from their usual lives.

Gao Jian held Huang Yi’s slender waist with one hand; in the other, he gripped his famed Frostblade Sword.

“There’s a powerful presence approaching. Everyone, prepare for battle!”

He suddenly sensed something, his expression darkening as he addressed the group. As the leading young expert of Yan, a peak late-stage martial artist, his intuition was razor sharp.

“An enemy? Who could it be—other warriors on the island, or sea beasts?”

“I heard a camp was overrun by sea beasts two days ago! The survivors said it was attacked by a python thirty feet long and thick as a bowl. It swallowed a fifth-level body-refining warrior in a single bite!”

All were startled, but none doubted Gao Jian’s warning. They swiftly drew their swords and knives, standing back to back, watching the dense forest beyond the camp with utmost vigilance.

Rustling—

Something was dragging across the dry leaves, the sound growing clearer, drawing swiftly closer to their camp.

Their faces paled.

Gao Jian’s brows knit tightly.

Whoosh!

A sea python, thick as a man’s thigh and thirty feet long, burst from the dense jungle, appearing just outside the camp. Its blood-red tongue flicked as it hissed menacingly, cold eyes fixed on the warriors within.

Behind it slithered a writhing mass of smaller sea serpents.

By the campfire’s light, the sight of the serpents outside made the warriors gasp in terror.

A deadly silence fell.

“Big brother, this python is enormous—how strong is it?”

“How do we fight it?”

Terrified, they turned in unison to Gao Jian and Huang Yi.

Hiss!

The python surged toward the camp, crossing sixty feet in moments. Its massive tail whipped up a gale and smashed through the crude wooden fence with a thunderous crash, splintering it wide open.

These were ordinary wooden fences, no match for such force.

“Attack! It’s do or die!” Gao Jian roared, his sword gleaming as he charged at the python.

The Frostblade Sword slashed at the python’s head.

A spurt of black blood erupted in the night as the sword pierced its tough scales.

Hiss!

Enraged by the pain, the sea serpent’s tail lashed out with blinding speed toward Gao Jian.

“Brother Gao! Careful!” the others cried.

There was no time to think—Gao Jian retreated, sword in hand.

Boom!

The serpent’s tail swept by, missing Gao Jian but shattering a large section of the wooden fence.

“This creature is stronger than a top ninth-level martial artist!” Gao Jian staggered back several steps, shocked at the python’s power—it was at least beyond the ninth level of body refinement.

The giant python charged into the camp, followed by the swarm of small sea serpents.

“Kill!” Surrounded, the warriors roared defiantly, slashing into the sea serpent horde.

Gao Jian battled the giant python, Huang Yi joining the fray as the fight reached a fever pitch.

Together, they unleashed sword energy at the python’s massive body. Its size made it impossible to evade all their strikes—each blow left a wound, not deep individually, but adding up to a serious toll.

The python, however, could not inflict a decisive injury on Gao Jian or Huang Yi.

Before long, the python was covered in bloody gashes, looking exhausted.

Gao Jian and Huang Yi exchanged a glance, a glimmer of hope in their eyes.

“One Sword to Light the Nine Provinces!”
“Frost Seals a Thousand Miles!”

They unleashed their strongest techniques together. Twin streams of sword energy burst forth, slicing into the python.

For a moment, the campfire seemed to dim, flickering in the chilling sword light.

With a sickening sound, two sword wounds, several feet deep, slashed across the python’s heart. More deadly still, the wounds carried the chilling inner energy of their martial arts, causing immense destruction.

The python shrieked and writhed in agony, its tongue flickering, enduring a long, desperate struggle before collapsing heavily to the ground, finally still.

The other warriors finished off the swarm of small sea serpents.

“We finally killed them all!” They were battered, two severely wounded, the rest lightly injured—everyone lay battered and exhausted in the camp, barely able to move.

“These fences were useless. If we’d listened to that young man and built them from the sturdiest spiritwood, maybe tonight wouldn’t have been so disastrous!” Gao Jian gazed at the shattered fence, recalling Ye Mo’s advice, and felt a pang of regret. The collapse had let the sea serpents flood in, turning the battle to chaos and leaving everyone hurt.

Worse, they were nearly out of healing herbs.

If things continued like this, as more sea beasts appeared on the island, even bloodier battles awaited them. How could they hope to survive here?

Gao Jian’s head throbbed with pain.