A few blue veins popped on Zongfang's forehead, but the dragon girl didn't notice at all—or rather, even if she did, she didn't care.
“It's been over a decade, yet she stays in the Kingdom of Qingqiu and still refuses to see you. Word on the street is that you're going to marry into our Rakshasa Sea Market and become a live-in son-in-law of my Dragon Palace.”
“I would certainly be willing. At worst, I'd just have to coax the fifty-five... fifty-six consorts back home, but you're the one who refuses.”
The dragon girl teased with a mischievous smile:
“If you ask me, you humans are just too stubborn. Do you expect a demon woman to stay chaste for you just because of one night together?”
“More than ten years have passed. For all you know, that Qingqiu fox has long forgotten you, enjoying herself with the male foxes of her clan and happily giving birth to a dozen or twenty cubs!”
“This is a matter between me and my wife. There is no need for Lady Dragon Girl to worry. In a few days, we will reach the source of the black mist in the Wuwang Sea.”
“If you fail then, the Rakshasa Sea Market will change hands and fall into that flood dragon's grasp.”
Zongfang had a favor to ask of the dragon girl, so he suppressed his anger and asked:
“If you plan to slay the demon on the Wuwang Sea, how can you be so sure it will come?”
“Back then, when that Nascent Soul Sky Demon wreaked havoc in the Sea Market and slaughtered the sea people under my rule, I bit off half of its arm, scaring it so badly it hasn't dared to come ashore for a hundred years.”
“Now that I am here in person, it will naturally recognize my blood. The Wuwang Sea is its domain, and that demon is cunning and vengeful. It has been waiting for me to enter the sea for a century. Now that it has the chance, how could it possibly let it go?”
The dragon girl sneered.
Nan Zhi couldn't help but applaud silently.
Legend had it that the Sea Market Master, Lady Dragon Girl, was decisive in her killings and had protected the Rakshasa Sea Market for hundreds of years.
Yet no one knew that the grand Sea Market Master was actually hiding aboard the Splendid Platform, using herself as bait just to slay the Nascent Soul Sky Demon that had plagued the Sea Market years ago!
Not to mention, she had invited Zongfang to assist her, planning to easily deal with Lord Jiao, who coveted the Rakshasa Sea Market.
What immense courage.
What a brilliant calculation.
But this also meant that with Nascent Soul powerhouses fighting, she could follow behind to steal kills and farm resources.
“?”
Nan Zhi suddenly turned her head and looked toward a shadow behind her—
The dragon girl sitting on the clam shell bed whipped around, her eyes flashing with a sharp light as she barked:
“Who's there?!”
Spiritual light flared outside the room. At her command, the trident on the weapon rack shot out, grazing Nan Zhi's cheek before pinning itself to the floor, where half of a furry fox tail flashed and disappeared.
Someone else had actually had the same idea of eavesdropping as her?!
Nan Zhi saw it clearly. The intruder had been detected the moment they appeared and had only managed to escape by hastily throwing out a fox-tail-shaped dharma treasure.
Wrapped in her Spirit Swallowing Grass blanket, she calmly shrank into the corner, pretending to be a mushroom.
Warm and secure.
Anyway, as long as she wasn't caught, it didn't count as eavesdropping.
“It must be a spy sent by that flood dragon. They have some decent treasures on them to actually bypass the guards. Unfortunately for them, my personal weapon detected the anomaly.”
The dragon girl's expression was cold:
“My weapon is coated in poison. Even if that thief doesn't die, they will suffer immensely. Since slaying the Sky Demon is imminent, why doesn't Master Zongfang seal off the Splendid Platform? I doubt that flood dragon has the ability to receive any messages out here on the Wuwang Sea!”
“Investigate! Investigate this for me! Anyone with the audacity to spy on me will be made to beg for life and wish for death!”
“Yes!”
“Yes!”
The disciples outside received the order and immediately stepped onto their flying swords, fleeing with flecks of spiritual light to seal off the Splendid Platform.
Zongfang's expression was somewhat complicated.
If he remembered correctly, the Splendid Platform was the territory of their Wuwei Sect, wasn't it?
Yet in just a few short days, she could command his disciples as easily as her own limbs?
No wonder the Rakshasa Sea Market had remained safe and sound over the years, rarely plagued by Sky Demon tides.
And that flood dragon actually dared to plot to kill this woman?
How truly laughable.
Before Zongfang left, he saw the Dragon Girl Mingzhu lay down a barrier and drag that Sea Dragon man over to seek pleasure. He could only shake his head helplessly, leaving the sound of giggles behind him.
Hiding in the corner, Nan Zhi slowly turned her head, her face completely blank: “...”
Dammit, she had miscalculated.
...
Upon discovering traces of the Sky Demon, the Splendid Platform was immediately sealed off, no longer docking along the coast. Although the people on board grumbled, there was nothing they could do.
—When tracked by a Sky Demon, the flying vessel does not land; this was a well-established convention.
Thus, for three consecutive days, security on the ship was extremely tight. No one was allowed to walk on the deck, and even the black iron chains attached to the Vermilion Bird Locks were retracted to prevent Sky Demons from taking the opportunity to board the ship.
Wanniang was naturally anxious when she couldn't find any trace of Nan Zhi. However, hearing that they were searching for an assassin on board, she hastily had Hongluo transform to fool the Wuwei Sect disciples who came to inspect the rooms, covering for her.
Fortunately, on the morning of the fourth day, Nan Zhi returned to the room with dark circles under her eyes, looking completely drained of life.
“I shouldn't have... I really shouldn't have... I...”
Nan Zhi's eyes were vacant as she muttered to herself:
“Three days, three whole days, twelve rounds... I knew the Dragon Clan was lustful, but I didn't know their stamina was on a whole other level—”
The barrier set up by a Nascent Soul cultivator was naturally not something she could break.
So, while swallowing Qi-Augmenting Pills, she hypnotized herself and endured listening to a live erotic show for three whole days.
If not for a Wuwei Sect disciple reporting the discovery of the Sky Demon's traces, prompting the dragon girl to open the barrier, Nan Zhi wouldn't have had the chance to fly out. Otherwise, she would still be pretending to be a mushroom in the corner.
Three days!
She now had an extremely profound understanding of the dragon species.
By the way, the Dragon Girl Mingzhu's true body was a water-blue, four-clawed dragon.
Don't ask how she knew.
Nan Zhi's expression was bizarre.
...
The swarm of Sky Demons arrived as expected.
Where the treasure ship sailed, beneath a boundless black mist, turbulent waves surged to the heavens. Accompanying them were tens of thousands of hungry ghosts and Sky Demons.
The Splendid Platform had its own defense formation. Seven Golden Core Masters stood in tight formation, riding the wind. Sword light flashed, and pill fire filled the air—
“Ga!”
“Si!”
“Ga!”
“Roar!”
Under the surging killing intent, the hungry ghosts and Sky Demons were ground to dust, unable to even get within a hundred meters of the ship, falling straight into the Wuwang Sea abyss.
Countless demon beast corpses fell, and the low-level cultivators naturally didn't let them go to waste. Tied to Vermilion Bird Locks, they lowered themselves into the black mist to collect them one by one, their faces filled with festive joy.
【Ding! Congratulations, cultivator, on slaying the Level 21 red-named wild monster "Wuwang Sea Eight-Clawed Octopus"! You have received EXP ×150 and "Eight-Clawed Octopus Spirit" ×1!】
【Ding! Congratulations, cultivator, on slaying the Level 28 red-named monster "low-level Sky Demon Zhemu"! You have received Upgrade EXP ×200, "Sky Demon Spirit" ×1, and Rejuvenation Pills ×5!】
【Ding! Congratulations, cultivator, on slaying the Level 18 red-named monster "low-level Sky Demon Zhemu"! You have received Upgrade EXP ×50, "Sky Demon Spirit" ×1, and Qi-Augmenting Pill ×2!】
【Ding! Congratulations, cultivator, on slaying the Level 11 red-named monster "low-level Sky Demon Zhemu"! You have received Upgrade EXP ×20 and "Sky Demon Spirit" ×1!】
A long string of system prompts rang out, but Nan Zhi turned a deaf ear. She leaped up, her Fish-Dragon Guillotine coming down ruthlessly to split open a fish-headed monster's skull. Crimson liquid splattered as it tumbled into the Wuwang Sea—
The more Sky Demons she killed, the clearer that faint, peculiar fragrance became.
Nan Zhi finally confirmed that the scent of the Sky Demon's blood was exactly the same as the one on the locust corpses and Huiyuan.
As for the connection between the three—
If she could find the origin of the Sky Demons, she might find the answer.
Nan Zhi violently threw out a massive fireball. The thirty-nine array-building foundation stones beneath her feet glowed brightly, continuously spawning wooden spikes and metallic stones that charged heavily into the black mist.
The other fellow cultivators also displayed their own skills. Dharma treasures and flying swords danced across the sky, formation discs flashed by, and pills infused with pill fire were thrown into the Sky Demon tide, raising a massive wave of heat—
“Boom!”
“Can you alchemists aim a bit better? Don't drag us down with you!”
Someone standing on an emerald bamboo pole shouted, “And you sword cultivators of the Wuwei Sect, stop interfering with our array setups!”
There were also those who, in a moment of inattention, were torn apart by Sky Demons hiding in the shadows and thrown into the Wuwang Sea. In an instant, both the person and their dharma treasures were devoured, their bodies perishing and their Dao dissolving.
Rate on N.U.
