Chapter 11: Sea Spirits (1)
Five Oceanids floated towards Su Chen on the ocean waves.
Actually, it was more accurate to say that the Oceanids were being carried towards Su Chen and the others by the waves.
The Oceanid at the front was a golden-haired youth. His hair parted at his shoulders, and when he arrived, the wave turned into a mountain that lifted the five of them up to the floating palace. The golden-haired youth confidently strode forwards to the foot of the palace, where he bowed in front of Su Chen before saying, “The Twelfth of the Sea greets Sir Su.”
“So you’re Prince Frostpoint,” Su Chen said with a slight smile. “Pleased to meet you.”
The Oceanids’ current ruler was named Greatcloud, and Prince Frostpoint was the twelfth prince that had been acknowledged by him. That was how Prince Frostpoint had come to be known by the moniker “Twelfth of the Sea.”
That’s right — he wasn’t Greatcloud’s biological son. And Princess Westminster wasn’t Greatcloud’s biological daughter either.
In the Oceanids’ culture, the youngest generation of Oceanid children were all raised together. Only after they reached a certain age would some individual Oceanid adults be allowed to choose some to raise. As a result, their “children” often weren’t biologically related to them.
This was why the Oceanids had no surname, as there was no point in having one.
They had developed this kind of child-rearing system to improve the unity and teamwork of their race as a whole. When faced with the threat of extinction by these powerful Sea Beasts, the Oceanids had no choice but to give up on the idea of distinct clans and focus primarily on the safety and preservation of their own race.
This was why the Oceanids were the most unified race amongst all of the Intelligent Races.
Almost every Intelligent Race experienced internal conflict, but the Oceanids did not.
They simply didn’t have the time or energy to fight each other — all of it was spent fighting the Sea Beasts instead.
And there was also no point in holding a grudge against each other, because none of them knew how long they would live for. To the Oceanids, past offenses and disputes over benefits washed away as quickly as water under the bridge.
The Twelfth of the Sea was the twelfth child who had been chosen by Greatcloud. There were eleven brothers and sisters before him, all of whom had died in battle. Princess Westminster, naturally, was the thirteenth.
The eleven youths that had died had also been the most promising Oceanid talents of Frostpoint’s generation — as the leader of the Oceanids, Greatcloud’s only privilege was that he was allowed first choice of the most outstanding children, who would then learn his most powerful techniques, and be given the most dangerous missions.
Frostpoint and Westminster were the only son and daughter that Greatcloud could have. Before one of them died, Greatcloud would not be allowed to choose a new son or daughter.
There was no room for affection or personal attachment. There was only the survival of the race.
This was how the Oceanids lived!
Frostpoint said, “Sir Su, you’re far too polite. The Oceanids have waited for this moment for an eternity. It is my greatest pleasure to finally meet you. We finally have an opportunity to be free.”
Both sides were incredibly polite to each other.
For this occasion, the Oceanids had sent four generals along with Greatcloud’s own son and daughter to “save” Su Chen.
The four Oceanid generals were roughly equivalent to Spirit Burning Realm cultivators, and Frostpoint and Westminster were each equivalent to Thought Manifestation Realm cultivators. They weren’t much older than Su Chen, so the fact that their cultivation bases had progressed this far was obvious indicator of just how talented they were.
Because they were making a request of Su Chen, the Oceanids treated the Boundless Sect with incredible respect. As such, they were able to get along quite well.
The two armies advanced relentlessly, eventually disappearing off into the distance.
In the Devil’s Quadrant.
This was a region of the Unlimited Sea populated by fierce and vicious demonic fish.
In addition to these feral fish, there were also Sea Spirits in this location.
The Sea Spirits were an Intelligent Race that lived in the sea, but they weren’t considered one of the five primary Intelligent Races.
For this reason, the Sea Spirit found their own way of survival — by committing evil for the villains.
The Sea Spirits served the Sea Beasts in a variety of different capacities.
They were bloodthirsty and vicious by nature, and cared very little for self-respect or prestige. Because of these factors, they were enemies against both the humans and the Oceanids.
A boat of humans was traveling across the surface of the sea.
Even though the Devil’s Quadrant was dangerous, it was also full of treasures and resources. Anything that could be found in this area was likely worth enough to ensure a comfortable life for quite a while.
Of course, that was under the assumption that they made it back alive.
The trawler bobbed up and down on the surface of the water as it slowly advanced forward. A person sat at the front of the boat, closely monitoring the surface of the water for any signs of danger that might appear.
“Six, see anything down there?” the captain of the boat, Old Spear, asked in a grizzled voice.
“Everything is normal. There are no problems,” Six replied.
“Everyone, let’s put in a bit more effort! We’re almost there. We’ll need to get in and out quickly. Once we finish this mission, none of us will need to suffer anymore!” the captain yelled enthusiastically.
The boatmen began to row with renewed vigor, as if boundless riches were right before their very eyes.
Old Spear wasn’t exaggerating, either; the Devilish Quadrant contained a Rainbow Seashell that was useful for Origin Qi Scholars of any cultivation realm.
As such, they fetched an incredibly high price on the market.
These precious shells could be found at the bottom of the Devilish Quadrant. As long as they were harvested them, it was essentially the same as holding money in their hand.
Handfuls upon handfuls of money.
Old Spear had seen people bring back these shells multiple times. Just a small portion was more than enough for these people to strike it rich.
But he had never gone.
Because he had also saw that there were more people who had went and never returned.
If it weren’t for the fact that his damned son had accrued a massive gambling debt, there was no way that Old Spear would have been willing to come all the way out and take on such a risk.
But he had no choice.
He only had one son. Therefore, he needed to go.
For this, he had dismissed the original crew of his boat and hired a completely new group of helpers.
Almost all of the boatmen with him this time had their own reasons for why they needed to take on this humongous risk.
For instance, Six needed to satisfy his greedy mother-in-law’s appetite so that he could marry the woman he loved.
His deputy needed to care for his wife, who was seriously ill.
They were all willing to throw caution to the wind for the sake of money.
They were determined to make this journey and had left their fate up to the Heavens.
When Old Spear saw the ripples on the surface of the ocean, he wiped the sweat from his brow and muttered, “May the Heavens protect us!”
They were almost at the place where they would be able to harvest the shells.
Rainbow-colored light appeared to be reaching out through the surface of the water.
That was the luster of the Rainbow Shells glowing from the sea floor.
“We’re here! We’re here!” everyone cheered, as if the treasure was already in their hands.
The boat quickly stopped in the middle of the area where the Rainbow Shells could be harvested.
They dropped anchor.
Without any explicit command, the divers leapt into the ocean.
There was no time to rest or to celebrate. They silently and efficiently got to work.
“Once you get them, we’ll immediately leave. Each person should only grab three. Don’t be greedy!” Old Spear couldn’t resist reminding them to be cautious.
He had learned this from the divers who had managed to make it back. While it wouldn’t guarantee their safety, it would lower the chances of the Water Spirits discovering them.
Yes, the Water Spirits were the greatest threat in this mission.
Old Spear waited anxiously as the seconds ticked by.
Harvesting the shells wasn’t easy, and it took some time for the divers to scour the ocean floor. Even though they were quite eye-catching, it still took a considerable amount of time to find them.
Every so often, a diver would resurface for air before descending again.
Time slowly trickled by.
Finally, a diver reappeared, holding a massive shell in his hand.
Very quickly, the second and third shell appeared as well.
It appeared that the Heavens were in a good mood today. The number of shells continued to grow. Finally, after an hour, they had managed to gather the bare minimum necessary for this trip of theirs.
“Get ready to leave,” Old Spear ordered.
It was best to stay in this kind of a dangerous area for as short a duration as possible.
“Captain, let’s just take a few more,” the boatmen said, unwilling to leave just yet.
“Yes. It’s not often that we get a chance to come all the way out here. We can’t leave this quickly.”
“It’s still early. The Sea Spirits won’t be able to discover us that easily.”
“This is probably the only time that we will ever come out here. It would be a disappointment if we didn’t harvest a few extra.”
“Let’s just stay a little longer.”
They all began to plead with Old Spear.
When he saw so many people staring at him thirstily, Old Spear gritted his teeth. “Fine. Each person can take one more, and then we’ll leave immediately!”
“Yes, sir!” Everyone excitedly dove back into the water.
But despite their hopes, they weren’t in the water for very long when Six yelled, “Sea Spirits! It’s the Sea Spirits!”
Old Spear was badly startled. He hurried to the front of the boat to take a look for himself.
It was possible to sea a few white streaks flying in their direction.
Even though he couldn’t see any of the Sea Spirits, both he and Six knew that those white streaks were indeed the Sea Spirits.
These demons were like sharks — bloodthirsty, voracious, and fast.
“Dammit!” Old Spear cursed as he turned to yell at the water. “Hurry back up! The Sea Spirits are here!”
Unfortunately, the divers had no way of hearing him.
“Captain, let’s get out of here! If we don’t leave now, then we won’t have a chance to do so in the future!” Six yelled.
“They’re still down there!” Old Spear replied.
“Forget about them!” Six replied.
Youths could often be quite cruel. Six was willing to do anything to survive.
Forget about them?
Old Spear was taken aback.
Was this really their only option?
Even so, before he could give a command, the boat began to move.
The boatmen were already making preparations to leave.
“No, stop!” Old Spear yelled.
He was unable to overcome his conscience.
However, no one listened to him. The boatmen quickly began to row the boat away.
Unfortunately, just because they had thrown aside their conscience didn’t necessarily mean that they would survive. The white streaks began to chase after the boat, leaping out of the water as they drew closer.
They circled the boat like streaks of white mist before condensing into humanoid figures. However, they were entirely made out of water, and their faces were eerily similar to that of humans.
They were Sea Spirits.
Even though they were called Spirits, they were actually just as fierce as the Sea Beasts themselves.
There was a total of six Sea Spirits, who simultaneously hissed at the boat. The Sea Spirit leading the group crowed ecstatically, “It’s time to hunt!”
They had discovered the trawler a long time ago, but had purposely waited for the opportune moment to strike so that the people on the boat would feel the maximum amount of despair.
This was one of the reasons why the Sea Spirits were considered to be a vicious race.
Because of how small and weak they were, they took great pleasure in tormenting the individuals from the larger Intelligent Races.
“Yes, it is indeed time to hunt.”
At that moment, a voice suddenly spoke.
