The sky was as blue as the sea, and the sea as blue as the sky.
No wind, no clouds.
The sea surface rippled gently, with the scorching sun hanging overhead and even the sea breeze feeling hot against their faces.
A ship fifty feet long and ten feet high cut through the waves, leaving rippling trails in its wake.
On the spacious deck, the breathtakingly beautiful Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox reclined on a soft couch, playing with one of her fluffy tails. Her delicate oval face remained fair and bewitching—despite days under the blazing sun, her skin remained as tender as ever.
Xu Qi’an sat cross-legged on the deck, with the gentle and weak mermaid dutifully attending to him, peeling open red, translucent shells that gleamed like agates.
These shells were called “Crimson Fire Shells,” growing near underwater volcanoes in the South Sea. They consumed fire’s spiritual power to grow, making them rare elemental creatures.
The Crimson Fire Shells’ outer shells contained extremely explosive energy—when crushed, the resulting explosion rivaled that of gunpowder.
But what truly attracted Xu Qi’an was their meat—tender, sweet, and melting in the mouth, without any fishiness, with excellent texture.
“Suddenly I don’t want to leave anymore. The overseas products are abundant, with all sorts of delicacies,” Xu Qi’an said after eating the last piece of Crimson Fire Shell meat, looking contentedly at the mountain of shells before him and patting his belly.
“Thank you, Queen Pearl. If you have any difficulties in the future, just ask me.”
He casually promised.
As guides, the Merfolk Queen and the Nine-tailed Fox were different. The latter only knew the sea routes, coming and going hurriedly in her previous sea voyages, purposefully searching for things.
But the Merfolk Queen was a native of the overseas territories—not only was she familiar with the overseas layout, but she also knew where to find delicacies.
The tourism experience suddenly shot up.
The silver-haired enchantress smiled and chimed in:
“You can trust him. This human male has never broken a promise to women, always keeping his word.”
Haven’t I kept my promises to men too? Everyone knows Xu Yinlang’s word is worth a thousand gold… Xu Qi’an grumbled inwardly.
Pearl appeared extremely pleased, displaying a gentle and pure smile.
She was certainly deliberately trying to please this human supreme expert, hoping to gain his friendship. According to human rankings, the Transcendent Realm was equivalent to the most powerful gods and demons, and even the First Realm below Transcendent was a formidable existence among gods and demons.
Of course, Pearl wasn’t yet clear about the status of First Realm martial artists among other First Realm beings, or she would have had an even clearer understanding of how terrifying Xu Qi’an was.
The silver-haired enchantress reminded her timely:
“But you should always remain vigilant, otherwise, in a few years, you might return to Merfolk Island carrying a human-merfolk mixed-blood child.”
Island Chief Raging Wave stood silently by the ship’s rail, listening. After several days of observation, he discovered that this human male was likely an expert on the same level as the Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox.
This could be seen from the attitudes of both the Nine-tailed Fox and the Merfolk Queen.
While remaining vigilant, Raging Wave was delighted—the stronger the allies, the better the chances of exploring God-Demon Island.
Xu Qi’an stood up and walked to the other side of the ship’s rail, gazing at the endless ocean. The hardest part of being at sea was the eternally unchanging scenery, monotonous enough to drive one mad.
Based on the temperature changes, it got hotter as they went south. He estimated they were approaching the equator.
Later, after the great calamity was settled, if he survived, he would bring Lin An and the others on an ocean voyage, with the Merfolk Queen as their guide, eating their way through wherever they went… Xu Qi’an briefly indulged in thoughts of future life.
After feeling satisfied and excited, he then realized that bringing them along would cause great inconvenience.
For instance, when he was “flower-planting,” would the other fish come to watch? When he and Lin An were being lovey-dovey, would the other fish be dissatisfied?
More likely, I would maintain a polite distance from each fish, trapped daily in a terrible battlefield of romance… He silently sighed, abandoning the idea of bringing fish on a sea voyage.
At this moment, in the vision of the Transcendent beings on the ship, several black dots appeared on the undulating blue sea surface in the distance.
As the distance closed between them, Xu Qi’an could see what kind of people—no, what kind of god-demon descendants—were approaching.
They were… ninja turtles!
And they were riding mounts that looked similar to dolphins. The only difference was that these ninja turtles were black, not green.
Additionally, Xu Qi’an noticed that these black ninja turtles all bore injuries—some had cracked shells, some had split black thick flesh, and the most severely injured one was missing an arm.
Dragon-man Raging Wave walked over and stood shoulder to shoulder with Xu Qi’an, transmitting mentally:
“They are the ‘Bu Clan’ from Turtle Island in the East Sea, allegedly descendants of an ancient god-demon skilled in divination. This lineage is extremely weak in combat power, without even any Transcendent Realm beings in their clan.”
At this point, the dragon-man sneered:
“Yet they dare to come to explore God-Demon Island.”
He called out in god-demon language:
“Bu Clan’s Great Elder, who attacked you?”
The group of ninja turtles had originally intended to avoid the unfamiliar ship, but seeing Raging Wave call out, the elderly turtle in the lead seemed to recognize the Dragon Island chief and immediately steered his mount closer.
“Ah, Island Chief Raging Wave, are you also going to explore ‘God-Demon Island’?”
The leading elderly turtle had only suffered some superficial wounds. He appeared very old, with loose skin and flesh.
Raging Wave nodded slightly.
The elderly turtle waved his hands repeatedly, saying:
“Don’t go, it’s very dangerous there.”
Raging Wave thought he was referring to the god-demon aura that could drive people mad, and said:
“I know. Before you arrived here, I had already explored it. I know how to avoid the god-demon aura.”
But the elderly turtle continued shaking his head:
“That’s not what I mean. A few days ago, a powerful and terrifying being came to God-Demon Island. He ate many god-demon descendants gathered outside the island and drove us away for hundreds of li.
“He threatened us not to approach God-Demon Island, or he would eat anyone he saw.”
A powerful and terrifying god-demon?! Raging Wave, the Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox, and the Merfolk Queen looked at each other in dismay.
Xu Qi’an, unable to understand the god-demon language, was temporarily excluded from the conversation.
Raging Wave pondered:
“Who is he?”
The turtle Great Elder shook his head:
“I’ve never seen him before, and none of the descendants gathered outside God-Demon Island recognized him.”
The loose-skinned Great Elder appeared to be recalling:
“His body was extremely vast, comparable to a small island. He had six curved horns on his head, with one horn having a broken gap. He had a face similar to humans, and his aura was like that of resurrected gods and demons…”
As the turtle Great Elder described this, the Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox’s expression changed dramatically. She looked at Xu Qi’an and exclaimed:
“Huang, it’s Huang…”
She knew Huang’s appearance characteristics from Xu Qi’an.
Huang has also come to God-Demon Island. Tsk, what a narrow road for old foes—no, God-Demon Island is related to ancient gods and demons, it’s inevitable that it would attract Him… Xu Qi’an’s expression grew solemn after hearing the Nine-tailed Fox’s translation.
He suddenly understood why Huang had brought the Supervisor far overseas.
“Did God-Demon Island appear because of Him?” The Nine-tailed Fox was quick-witted, immediately making many connections.
Xu Qi’an shook his head slightly:
“More likely, He knew when God-Demon Island would appear.”
The silver-haired enchantress nodded slightly, agreeing with Xu Qi’an’s judgment, and said gravely:
“He drove away the god-demon descendants, wanting to monopolize God-Demon Island? What meaning does this island have for Him? Hmm, perhaps there’s something on the island that He cares about.”
To know this answer, one must first understand exactly what kind of existence God-Demon Island is.
Xu Qi’an said:
“I told you before, that Huang’s true form met with an accident and has been sleeping. That’s why after sealing the Supervisor, He didn’t use His true form to destroy Great Zhou. If He had awakened in His true form then, the National Teacher and I probably couldn’t have withstood it.
“But He didn’t. Instead, He took the Supervisor and left His original sleeping place.
“There’s another thing—although Huang is powerful, He isn’t Transcendent Realm. In His current state, He can’t compete with Buddhas and Shamanic Gods in the Transcendent Realm.
“Putting these two things together, do you know His purpose?”
The Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox slowly exhaled, her voice unconsciously lowering:
“Restore His peak power, return to Transcendent Realm.”
Only this way could He contend with the Transcendent Realm beings of the Nine States Continent.
This made what was in God-Demon Island self-evident—something to help Him return to the Transcendent Realm.
The Merfolk Queen listened to them chattering in bird language, their expressions growing increasingly grave. After enduring for a moment, she seized a gap in their conversation and asked:
“What are you talking about?”
Island Chief Raging Wave and the turtle Great Elder both looked over—she spoke in god-demon language, which they could understand.
The silver-haired enchantress laughed “heh” and asked:
“Whose terrifying legends did you grow up hearing?”
Island Chief Raging Wave was the first to react. This dragon-man with silver threads in his mane’s expression changed drastically, his vertical pupils contracting violently, his face showing an extremely complex expression.
It was a mixture of deep anger and intense fear.
In very ancient times, a terrifying powerful being had rampaged across the ocean, carrying out bloody consumption of overseas Transcendent god-demon descendants, nearly exterminating all Third Realm and above god-demon descendants.
The Alsur Archipelago was also within the affected range. Raging Wave’s father’s father had died under that being’s fangs.
While his father, also Transcendent, had survived by not being high enough in the realm.
Raging Wave hadn’t personally experienced that terrible upheaval, but he had grown up hearing about it.
The Merfolk Queen and turtle Great Elder successively understood the Nine-tailed Fox’s words. The former’s lower body scales stood on end like a bristling cat, her beautiful face rapidly turning pale.
In the hot weather, she shivered, her snow-white arms breaking out in goosebumps.
The turtle Great Elder’s legs trembled, both fearful and horrified, stammering:
“Farewell, farewell…”
He immediately prepared to ride his fish away, fleeing back to Turtle Island.
A fluffy snow-white fox tail reached out and wrapped around the turtle Great Elder.
The silver-haired enchantress snorted:
“Finish speaking before you leave, or I’ll pry off your shell to make a pot.”
“Th-th-this…”
The turtle Great Elder repeatedly looked toward Island Chief Raging Wave, having met several times and having some friendship, hoping he would say something.
But to the Great Elder’s disappointment, Raging Wave maintained silence, adopting a posture of having no say.
The turtle Great Elder had no choice but to continue:
“We didn’t dare to challenge Him, so we retreated, thinking that since the island was isolated by powerful restrictions, He couldn’t enter anyway.
“But unexpectedly, He not only could approach God-Demon Island, but also forcefully broke through the restrictions with the horns on His head… Though if it’s That One, it’s not surprising.”
Raging Wave furrowed his brow:
“What about the other god-demon descendants? Did they all follow That One in?”
The turtle Great Elder shook his head:
“After He entered, the restrictions sealed again. Additionally, He subjugated Dragon Whale, Dark Horse, and Flame Bird, having the three descendants guard the entrance and drive away any descendants approaching God-Demon Island.
“They are too powerful. Before I retreated, Transcendent Realm god-demon descendants had already died at their hands.”
Among the three god-demon descendants, the Merfolk Queen had only heard of Dark Horse.
Raging Wave nodded, transmitting mentally:
“Dragon Whale, Dark Horse, and Flame Bird are all extremely powerful god-demon descendants. Dark Horse’s combat power equals mine, while Dragon Whale is much stronger than me.”
As for Flame Bird, sky and ocean weren’t the same domain—who was stronger depended on whose territory it was.
After the turtle Great Elder finished explaining everything, he mounted his ride and quickly retreated with his clansmen, leaving this troubled area far behind.
Raging Wave watched the turtles leave, then turned to the Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox, saying helplessly:
“Let’s head back.
“God-Demon Island has been occupied by That One. Approaching means only death.”
This wasn’t even counting the restrictions surrounding the island.