After Chen Zhu quietly dropped two drops of blood on the talisman on his chest, he calmed down.

Since Chen Zhu stopped scolding Er Sheng, she naturally didn’t go looking for trouble either. So the two of them spent their days quietly crouching in the cabin with its broken door. Er Sheng contentedly ate large white buns for several days, her face beaming with joy. With Chen Zhu’s level of cultivation, he no longer needed to eat mundane food daily, and whenever he saw Er Sheng’s satisfied expression, he would snort disapprovingly a few times.

These days of trepidation mixed with moments of peace were bound to be broken eventually.

At noon that day, the weather was clear when suddenly, at the meeting point of sea and sky, a mass of black energy arose, slowly spreading across the entire sky.

Er Sheng saw the distant scene from the cabin doorway and called Chen Zhu over: “Is that your Immortal Lord and the others coming to save us?”

Chen Zhu looked into the distance, his expression becoming grave: “That’s demonic energy surging to the heavens, it can’t be my Immortal Lord. It seems we’re approaching our destination.”

Destination? The place of the legendary sea demon that eats children? Er Sheng felt a chill thinking about it and hurriedly hugged the Scale Sword tightly: “What should we do?”

“Wait.” Chen Zhu was scared too, but hearing the increasing cries of children on the ship, the sense of righteousness he had learned since childhood wouldn’t let him retreat. Chen Zhu thought to himself, that if the Immortal Lord didn’t arrive in time, as the only cultivator present, he would have to fight these demons, even if it meant dying in battle rather than living in cowardice. This was also why he had been disapproving of Er Sheng lately – in his view, Er Sheng deliberately trying to converse with Beauty Kong and seeking to become his disciple was a cowardly act of accepting a bandit as father.

Er Sheng glanced at Chen Zhu, then genuinely went to sit in the corner hugging the Scale Sword. She lowered her eyes, stroking the Scale Sword, lost in thought.

After the black fog rose over the sea, someone reported to Beauty Kong, who then lazily got up from bed, unhurriedly washed up, put on a large robe, and walked to the deck while yawning. By then, the ship had completely sailed under the black clouds, with large raindrops pattering on the deck, making Beauty Kong look disgusted: “What ceremony is this dead sea demon putting on? If my clothes get wet, I’ll set this sea on fire.” With these words, he waved his hand, and a barrier with an orange glow stretched around Beauty Kong.

The raindrops fell on the barrier and turned to white smoke, disappearing with a hiss.

“Hey,” Beauty Kong climbed to the bow and called out softly, “This… lord doesn’t have time to waste with you. Come out, let’s make the exchange – I still need to go compare beauty.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a huge object slowly rose from the black sea ahead, churning the surrounding waters. The ship rocked from side to side as if about to capsize. Er Sheng, sitting in the cabin, rolled like a ball from left to right and back again.

Chen Zhu held tightly to the cabin doorframe, the solemn look in his eyes suddenly turning to horror when he saw the sea demon’s true form. But when the sea demon fully emerged, Chen Zhu’s mouth twitched: “Huh?”

By then, the waves on the sea surface had gradually calmed down. Er Sheng stuck the Scale Sword into the deck, struggled to stand steady, and staggered step by step toward the door. Her dizzy head saw the demon in the distance, and after being stunned for a long while, she finally grabbed Chen Zhu’s sleeve in terror and cried: “What is that! What is that? It looks so powerful! Oh my goodness, oh my goodness!”

Chen Zhu was silent for a moment: “According to the ‘Chronicles of Strange Seas and Lands’ in Wufang’s library, that thing… should be called a seahorse.”

“What kind of horse?” Er Sheng was shocked, “A horse with dead fish eyes! This is terrible, terrible!”

Chen Zhu rubbed his temples: “Theoretically, seahorses shouldn’t be this big. And… they don’t eat humans…”

As they were talking, the giant seahorse suddenly made a “shh” sound, spraying seawater mixed with its breath all over the ship. It said to Beauty Kong: “Peacock, fifty children, I want to inspect the goods first.”

Peacock waved his hand, signaling his subordinates to bring out the children. Children of all sizes were dragged onto the deck, by now completely terrified, huddling together and crying in a group.

The seahorse demon counted the numbers, nodded in satisfaction, and then raised its tail from the sea supporting a black pearl, suddenly releasing demonic energy in all directions.

Chen Zhu’s whole body shook when he saw the object: “The Demon Spirit Zhenzhu!”

Er Sheng was stunned again: “What pearl?”

Chen Zhu’s expression became even more serious: “A demon pearl formed from the gathering of heaven and earth’s evil energy, existing since the beginning of time. Its demonic energy can bewitch people’s hearts, control their minds, and make them lose their humanity.”

Er Sheng nodded in amazement: “What a powerful pearl.”

“I heard my Immortal Lord mention that hundreds of years ago, this object caused great chaos in the world. The Fallen Immortal Chang’an, in a fit of anger, cast it into the vast sea. It hasn’t appeared since then, I didn’t expect…” Chen Zhu frowned in deep thought, “What do these demons intend to do by exchanging fifty children for this object…”

Beauty Kong proudly raised his head to look at the seahorse: “Give me the pearl, and I’ll throw these children into the sea.”

The seahorse curled its tail, just about to deliver the pearl to Beauty Kong’s hand when suddenly, a burst of killing intent arrived. The seahorse was startled to see a young man soaring through the air, his hands quickly forming a seal that struck directly at its tail. The seahorse cried out in pain, its tail stretching out, nearly dropping the pearl into the sea.

Seeing his surprise attack fail, Chen Zhu violently released his spiritual power, intending to cut off the seahorse’s tail.

Suddenly, a long whip flew out from the side, wrapping around his neck and throwing him hard onto the deck. Beauty Kong smiled coldly: “Looking to die? This lord will grant your wish.” As he spoke, his hand applied gentle pressure, and the black whip gradually grew spikes from its base, about to reach the part wrapped around Chen Zhu’s neck. With such long spikes piercing his neck, Chen Zhu would surely die.

As Beauty Kong was coldly smiling, a black sword suddenly flew toward him. Beauty Kong snorted coldly, raising his hand to block with the whip, but unexpectedly, the sword was sharper than anticipated, instantly cutting through his whip and embedding itself in the deck.

Chen Zhu quickly pulled off the whip that had nearly suffocated him, his chest heaving rapidly. Beauty Kong raised an eyebrow, looking at the broken whip in his hand, then turned his cool gaze to Er Sheng at the cabin entrance: “This sword is unexpectedly sharp. Little girl, I’m becoming more and more interested in your husband.”

Without the Scale Sword in hand, Er Sheng backed away somewhat fearfully.

The seahorse now came to its senses and angrily said: “Peacock, you’re not sincere. You even brought a cultivator.”

“This cultivator boy and that girl were caught temporarily. What? Did you want Wufang’s idle people to know about our deal?”

“Hmph, in that case, leave both the girl and the boy here. I’ll deal with them.”

Beauty Kong touched his face and said: “You can take the boy, but I’m keeping the girl.”

“Peacock, I have the Demon Spirit Zhenzhu in my possession. You have to listen to me now.”

A shadow crossed Beauty Kong’s eyes as he narrowed them: “Sea demon, are you threatening me?”

Before the seahorse could speak again, Beauty Kong waved his hand, and a blade of fierce fire flew out, directly cutting off its tail, then returning with the Demon Spirit Zhenzhu to Beauty Kong’s hand.

The seahorse screamed in pain, and Beauty Kong disgustedly cleaned his ears: “This lord wanted to keep his word and do business properly with you, but you’re not to my liking.” He waved his hand, “Disappear from my sight before I cut off your head, quick, quick.”

The sea demon rose in extreme anger: “Little demon Peacock is too arrogant!” Along with the seahorse’s rage came immediately surging waves, nearly throwing the children on deck into the sea, with endless screams.

Er Sheng wanted to take this opportunity to retrieve the Scale Sword, but the ship was rocking too violently. Er Sheng hadn’t taken one step before being knocked to the ground.

I’m going to die, Er Sheng thought in her panic, glancing at the enraged seahorse. Chang Yuan, I’ll be buried in the great sea, unable to find you, but you must remember, I’ve always been thinking of you!

Amid this chaos, a white light suddenly shot from the horizon, directly piercing through the seahorse’s head.

The seahorse gave a terrible scream, and immediately the surrounding wind and rain decreased, the overwhelming black clouds gradually dispersing. Er Sheng looked up to see a man wearing Wufang Sect robes walking on clouds from the horizon. He appeared to be about thirty years old, with handsome features. He walked neither fast nor slow, with a somewhat lazy casualness, yet each step covered a thousand miles, reaching the ship’s side in the blink of an eye.

The man landed right where Chen Zhu was lying catching his breath. He patted Chen Zhu’s head: “Good lad, admirable courage, just a bit foolish.”

Chen Zhu looked up at the man once, his mouth twitched, but due to the other’s status, he still respectfully called out: “Grand Uncle Master.”

The newcomer was named Shen Zui, the closed-door disciple of the current Wufang Immortal Lord. He was naturally gifted and born with an immortal destiny, but had an extremely lazy disposition, not paying much attention to magical cultivation but being fond of alcohol. To date, he had only taken one disciple, whom Er Sheng actually knew – it was the immortal Ji Ling who had saved her from the zombies that day.

Shen Zui’s temperament made him unpopular among the younger generation at Wufang, as all the masters liked to gossip about him behind his back. But he didn’t mind.

His presence here now was only because he had left the mountain to travel around, and happened to be near Linhai City when he heard about the recent Wufang disciple recruitment matter. Knowing something was wrong, he had pursued them.

Shen Zui scratched his head: “What should be done about this? Of all things, I had to stumble upon such a matter. Don’t want to deal with it.”

Beauty Kong was completely indifferent to the seahorse’s death, looking Shen Zui up and down with a smile: “Wufang idler, leave now and this lord will spare your life.”

“Hmm.” Shen Zui thought for a moment. “Alright, I’ll leave immediately. But that pearl in your hand has to come with me.”

The beauty’s exquisitely beautiful face smiled bewitchingly: “How arrogant.”

Shen Zui rubbed his hands: “I’ve thought it over, I probably can’t beat you, but you’re seriously injured, and if I stake my cultivation, I might be able to cut you down. Either way, I can’t let the Demon Spirit Zhenzhu return to the world, so let’s fight.”

Chen Zhu instantly felt his Grand Uncle Master became more admirable, looking at Shen Zui with moist eyes.

The beauty still raised an eyebrow: “What about these fifty children on the ship and this boy? You’ll let them die with us?”

Shen Zui pretended to think deeply, then smiled and said: “For world peace, their deaths would be meaningful.”

Chen Zhu couldn’t believe it: “Grand Uncle Master!”

During their conversation, Er Sheng slowly crept over to grab the Scale Sword, trying to pull it out of the deck, but her earlier throw had been too powerful, embedding the sword tip very deeply. She spent a long time and only managed to pull it out a little.

At this time, three more silver lights urgently streaked across the sky. Shen Zui looked up: “Oh my, my senior brothers have arrived too.” He smiled mischievously, “Now I don’t have to fight to the death with you, I can leave that job to them.”

Chen Zhu looked at him with a hopeless expression.

Beauty Kong’s calm countenance finally began to show some stiffness. The demons on the ship who had been impersonating Wufang disciples also became panicked, all frightened into revealing their true forms. The children’s faces all showed joyful and expectant expressions.

Only Er Sheng paid no attention to what was happening around her, struggling to pull out the Scale Sword, using all her strength, bouncing up and down in that spot.

Beauty Kong suddenly said: “Fine, I don’t want this pearl anymore.” Saying this, he threw the Demon Spirit Zhenzhu behind him.

At that moment, Er Sheng had just exerted great force, suddenly pulling the Scale Sword out of the deck. To everyone’s surprise, the pearl Beauty Kong threw happened to hit Er Sheng’s drawn blade. Everyone heard Er Sheng give a mighty shout full of brute force: “Ha!” followed by a crisp sound “crack.”

The Demon Spirit Zhenzhu was forcefully cut into two halves.

Chen Zhu was dumbfounded.

Shen Zui whistled in surprise.

And Beauty Kong, hearing this crisp sound, stiffly turned his head, only to see two hemisphere-shaped pieces like ordinary stones lying on the ground. He looked at Er Sheng in disbelief.

Er Sheng was still happily stroking her sword when she suddenly received everyone’s attention, making her feel completely uncomfortable.

Just as she was about to open her mouth to ask what was wrong, Beauty Kong’s figure suddenly flashed, instantly turning into black smoke and disappearing, leaving only his almost teeth-grinding voice in the air: “Little girl! Remember this!”

Er Sheng blinked, and after a while with no continuation, she said somewhat puzzled: “Why did he leave halfway through his sentence, what did he want me to remember?”

Everyone sweatdropped. Only Shen Zui laughed heartily: “Interesting, interesting! The little girl managed to cut the Demon Spirit Zhenzhu!”

Er Sheng was startled again: “When did I cut a pearl?”

Shen Zui pointed at the two stones on the ground: “Isn’t this cut right here?”

Er Sheng’s expression suddenly became strange: “Why does this pearl look like this?”

Hearing her words, everyone was rendered speechless. Amid the commotion, no one noticed that strange black energy suddenly emerged from the Demon Spirit Zhenzhu that had turned to stone, slowly and leisurely being absorbed into Er Sheng.