Secular Immortal of the Nine Realms - Chapter 239
Chapter 239: Grasping the Initiative
“E-everyone… I have already told you everything I know. There is no falsehood in my words, and you have caught up with that fellow too… Please, spare our lives and allow us to leave,” the captain said with a tearful face.
Shortly after parting ways with Fang Chen, the captain and the other passengers were captured by the Sea Dragon Sect’s cultivators. They didn’t want to make an enemy out of the Sea Dragon Sect, but neither did they want to offend Fang Chen too. They simply wanted to stay out of it.
“That fellow is right on that boat. I’m sure you can easily suppress him with your means. There’s no reason for us to stay here.”
“I-I’m going to visit a friend in the Beast Spirit Valley. Please let me go on his account…”
The captain and the other passengers desperately pleaded for mercy. In contrast, a middle-aged man and a little girl were relatively quieter in the crowd, but it was also for that reason that no cultivators noticed them.
“You’re visiting a friend in the Beast Spirit Valley?” The twelfth stage Ki Refinement cultivator who lost an eye laughed. “Do you think that our Sea Dragon Sect would be intimidated by the Beast Spirit Valley? It might be a top sect in your Infernoblaze, but it’s nothing in our eyes.”
“Of course, of course! The Beast Spirit Valley can’t possibly measure up to the Sea Dragon Sect. I have spoken out of place,” the cultivator immediately caved in.
The complexion of the one-eyed cultivator alleviated. “We won’t make things difficult for you as long as you have nothing to do with our young sect master’s death. However, words are empty. You need to wait for us to apprehend the culprit, and only then can we prove your innocence.”
Fear flickered across the eyes of the captain and the passengers.
In the end, they were still going to be implicated in this. Some of them hated Fang Chen for dragging them into this mess. If not for him, they could have safely reached Infernoblaze instead of being imprisoned and treated like criminals for two whole months!
Meanwhile, many of the cultivators by the shore also noticed the anomaly in the ocean.
Some recognized the Snake-grade boat Fang Chen was driving, and they also noticed the three huge boats behind it. They knew that all four boats belonged to the Sea Dragon Sect.
News quickly reached the upper echelons. A female cultivator led ten other cultivators to the port to take a look.
“Young miss, it is the Sea Dragon Sect’s boat,” an old man confirmed with a suppressed voice.
“The Sea Dragon Sect rarely visits our port. Something must have happened. That boat over there is one of the Sea Dragon Sect’s Snake-grade boats. Do you think there’s a Foundation Establishment cultivator onboard?” a young cultivator grimly asked.
This port belonged to the Bai Clan, a cultivator clan. The female cultivator was the Bai Clan’s powerful first miss, Bai Qianqian.
In terms of the Bai Clan’s hierarchy, she was only beneath that of the patriarch and their Foundation Establishment old ancestor, who had long gone into seclusion training. She had already begun taking up many responsibilities in the Bai Clan.
This port was the Bai Clan’s largest and most important business.
Any boats that stopped here had to pay them some ki stones.
Aside from that, there were also treasures to be acquired from the ocean, such as the sea beasts’ inner cores, and it was common for cultivators to sell those items here at this port. These made lucrative business for the Bai Clan.
However, there were many of such ports. The Bai Clan was no more than an ant compared to the Sea Dragon Sect, and they didn’t have any business dealing with them either, presumably because the Sea Dragon Sect didn’t have a high opinion of the Bai Clan.
Thus, the sight of the Sea Dragon Sect’s boat unnerved the Bai Clan.
“Young miss, should we call our old ancestor here?” the old man asked.
Bai Qianqian thought about it, but she shook her head. “Don’t trouble him. He’s in a critical phase of his seclusion training. Disturbing him at this juncture will impede his cultivation.”
She paused for a second before adding, “Let them sail to shore first. Figure out the intent behind their arrival, and we’ll try our best to fulfill their demands.”
With that, the crowd looked at the four boats in the ocean with worried faces. Time seemed to have stopped in the port, as everyone put down what they were doing and awaited the arrival of those boats.
Meanwhile, Fang Chen brought his soul back to his body and spent a moment in thought. He already had an idea in mind.
Little sword morphed into a silver flash and whizzed toward one of the boats with terrifying momentum.
“He dares to attack us!” The one-eyed cultivator was taken aback. He roared, “Stop that sword!”
Countless artifacts rose to the sky in hopes of stopping little sword.
“Trash!”
Fang Chen seemed to hear little sword’s taunt, then all of the artifacts simultaneously shattered. Little sword charged forth with unstoppable momentum before piercing through the one-eyed cultivator’s forehead.
The twelfth stage Ki Refinement cultivators on the other two boats finally snapped out of their daze, and they were horrified. The one-eyed cultivator had already put up his spirit ki barrier, but even so, the flying sword still killed him with ease.
Little sword returned to Fang Chen’s side after slaying the enemy.
In this single strike, little sword overcame eight artifacts and breached a twelfth stage Ki Refinement cultivator’s spirit ki barrier and killed him. These feats had emptied out Fang Chen’s spirit ki, and he was currently swiftly recovering it.
As he had expected, the enemy didn’t counterattack right away.
No matter how one looked at it, Fang Chen’s earlier attack resembled the means of a sword cultivator. Those two words were enough to intimidate all of the cultivators present, and that was the effect he intended!
As long as they dare not charge at me all at once, I’ll be able to catch a breather and recover my spirit ki.
“Manager Li Tianluo is dead!”
The Sea Dragon Sect’s cultivators exchanged looks. The remaining twelfth stage Ki Refinement cultivators felt goosebumps. If Li Tianluo hadn’t stood at the forefront, they might have been the ones to suffer that fate!
To cultivate for decades, only to die in a matter of seconds…
The faces of the captain and the other passengers turned increasingly pale, as they hadn’t expected Fang Chen to be so powerful as to snipe down a twelfth stage Ki Refinement cultivator right as the battle began.
“No wonder they say that sword cultivators are lunatics and monsters… Despite being at Ki Refinement, his sword wields the prowess of a Foundation Establishment cultivator…” someone murmured.
In the Bai Clan’s port, Bai Qianqian was utterly stunned. “What… just happened?”
The old man beside her was utterly shocked too. He suppressed his astonishment and replied, “Young miss, something is amiss, The person on the Snake-grade boat just killed a twelfth stage Ki Refinement cultivator with his sword.”
All of the Bai Clan’s cultivators were gripped by shock. This was their first time seeing a twelfth stage Ki Refinement cultivator being killed with such ease, as if an elephant trampling on an ant.
The Bai Clan’s port descended into silence.
It took some time before Bai Qianqian replied, “The Sea Dragon Sect wouldn’t engage in infighting in public. Someone must have stolen one of their boats.”
The old man nodded, having guessed as much.
The Bai Clan had no intention of getting involved in this matter. Someone who dared to make a move against the Sea Dragon Sect was anything but ordinary. At the very least, he wouldn’t be someone whom the Bai Clan could offend.
And that earlier attack reminded him of a legend!
While the crowd was gripped with shock, Fang Chen had already regained his spirit ki, and he unleashed his sword once more.
This time, he didn’t kill any cultivators, but he destroyed one of the boats. The Sea Dragon Sect’s cultivators hurriedly escaped to the other two remaining boats.
One of the twelfth stage Ki Refinement cultivators turned toward Fang Chen and bellowed, “You must be determined to become mortal enemies of our Sea Dragon Sect!”
Those words told Bai Qianqian and the others that the person with the flying sword was not a member of the Sea Dragon Sect.
