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Similar to the broken face of the god above, the Forbidden Sea that surrounded South Phoenix forever caused humans to feel awe and reverence. It wasn’t just because the sea was wide and deep, but also because, in the hearts of humans, it was eternally mysterious. It was that sense of mystery that filled Xu Qing’s heart as he gazed at the distant horizon where the sky and the Forbidden Sea touched each other.

Compared to the vast sea, the boats and ships coming in and out of Seven Blood Eyes seemed like tiny feathers drifting about on the water. The people on the dharmaboats were the same.

Xu Qing looked at the boundlessness and felt minuscule.

The sea annals mention that when disciples go to sea for the first time, they feel tiny. It’s a normal reaction. At the same time, it makes you want to go out and conquer the world.

As Xu Qing looked out at the black water, he realized that this wasn’t just his first time going out to sea. It was also his first time seeing the sea from the sea. That said, he didn’t feel the urge to conquer the world. He had no grand ideals or lofty aspirations. He just wanted to stay alive in the chaotic world. And if he could improve his life a bit, that would be even better.

And thus, it was with full vigilance that Xu Qing sat down cross-legged for cultivation, while simultaneously keeping an eye on everything around him.

Time passed with nothing but the crash of the waves. However, at around noontime, a commotion from behind him caught his attention.

Eyes flashing, he looked over his shoulder.

Coming from the direction of the Seven Blood Eyes port were seven or eight dharmaboats, and the people aboard them were making quite a bit of noise.

Other than the dharmaboat in the lead position, most seemed to be class-five or -six.

As for the lead boat, the spirit power fluctuations coming off of it indicated it was probably class-eight or -nine. It looked amazing, being gold in color, with golden feathers all over it that glittered in the sun. It was especially ostentatious in contrast to the black water of the Forbidden Sea. In fact, it seemed like a chicken spreading its tail in the hopes of looking like a peacock. Altogether, it was vulgar and inelegant.

The prow was crafted to look like a phoenix, so it should have looked elegant and graceful. But with all the gold and other embellishments, the phoenix seemed to have lost its soul, and was worried that other people might not notice it.

Upon seeing it, Xu Qing’s eyes narrowed, and he took out a dagger.

The capital city of Seven Blood Eyes was a dangerous and brutal place, but at least there were rules there. For instance, Foundation Establishment cultivators couldn’t cause problems for Qi Condensation cultivators. But Xu Qing knew there was only one rule on the open sea, and that was... the weak were the prey of the strong.

It didn’t matter if you were dealing with humans or non-humans. It didn’t matter if you were dealing with fellow members of the sect, or dangerous beings native to the Forbidden Sea. If you ran into an enemy in the Foundation Establishment level, you could die in an instant.

Out here, anyone could be an enemy.

As the ostentatious dharmaboat neared, Xu Qing heard a voice from the deck that he detested, carried to him by the sea breeze.

“Elder Sister, a lot of people are curious about how many spirit stones I spent on The Phoenix. Honestly, I don’t want to go into that, since most people just get depressed when they hear the details. As I’m sure you know, to people like us, spirit stones are a constant source of frustration.

“Truth be told, I don’t think much about spirit stones. When the sect was establishing the rankings of the dharmaboats, they asked my opinion about it. They really wanted my boat to rank seventeenth. Anyway, I don’t really care about that sort of thing.

“In my opinion, it doesn’t matter how many spirit stones I spend on The Phoenix. All I care about is that the boat can further my dream. And what is my dream, you might ask? It’s to be like a phoenix and soar through the dome of heaven.

“Elder Sister, I also hope to have a companion to soar by my side, to see the beautiful scenery with me, and to share my troubles with.”

The voice carried to Xu Qing by the breeze was none other than the person the Captain had described as an idiot, Zhao Zhongheng. He stood on the deck of his golden dharmaboat named The Phoenix, and next to him was a young woman wearing a pale violet daoist robe. She was in her twenties, charming and slim, her garment making her seem like a beautiful violet flower. As Zhao Zhongheng spoke, her brow was slightly furrowed as if from irritation. As the sea breeze caused her violet gown to sway, she noticed Xu Qing on his dharmaboat in the distance.

As the sun shone down, a whale breached the water between Xu Qing and the young woman, soaring high up into the air.

The whale’s cry was like something from the ancient past, like a flute echoing out to make everything still and empty. Then the whale crashed down, sending water spraying up and cutting off Xu Qing and the young woman.

As for the young woman, the sun shining into her eyes made it impossible for her to see Xu Qing’s face clearly. However, there was something about him that she knew she wouldn’t forget.

A moment later, the dharmaboat convoy she was part of disappeared into the distance.

Xu Qing watched them go. After confirming that they really had just been passing by, he put his dagger away and continued with his cultivation.

Time passed. As he worked on his cultivation, his dharmaboat continued deeper into the Forbidden Sea. Slowly but surely, the ghastly and gruish nature of the sea became more apparent to him. He saw a school of zombiefish, whose power of will remained after death, like a black polluted shadow that stretched toward his dharmaboat. He saw the terrifying shadow of a giantfang shark, incomparably vicious as it tore its prey to shreds. [1]

There were some areas in which he sensed immense might emanating from the sea floor. He usually tried to go around those areas, and when he couldn’t go around them, he kept his guard up. Based on his study of the sea annals, he knew that none of these things were unusual. But he still felt the need to stay fully vigilant.

The mutagen in the Forbidden Sea was very strong, almost as if the sea itself were made from it. Because of that, Xu Qing’s shadow grew even more pitch black, as if it were made from ink. And then, suddenly, it seemed as if it wanted to move of its own accord.... When Xu Qing noticed that, he didn’t hesitate for a moment to use the power of the violet crystal to viciously suppress it. He had to repeat the process several times to make it work properly. Only when the shadow seemed to grow somewhat fainter did he feel a bit more at ease.

Eventually, the sun began to set, and Xu Qing prepared for his first night at sea. Perhaps because this part of the sea was so close to Seven Blood Eyes, he hadn’t experienced any serious dangers during the day.

As the evening light stretched out over the water, some aggressive swordfish appeared, leaping in and out of the water, leaving behind arcs of scintillating water before they shot beneath the surface again. With the sun reflecting off of their cyan bodies, they seemed to glow, making them incredibly beautiful.

Perhaps because of Xu Qing’s dragonwhale, most of the swordfish kept their distance. However, a few jumped up and slammed into his dharmaboat defenses, which hissed loudly as the fish were subsequently knocked back into the water. When the swordfish hit the shield, they were close enough that Xu Qing was able to get a good look at them. They had rows and rows of menacing sharp teeth, and red eyes that glowed ferociously.

At a certain point, Xu Qing waved his hand, causing numerous water droplets to form just outside the shield and create a buffer. That way, none of the fish would accidentally kill themselves from hitting the shield. The sea annals emphasized that when Seventh Peak disciples went out onto the Forbidden Sea, they should avoid killing sea beasts as much as possible. Killing sea beasts could attract the attention of grues that were native to the sea.

The sea annals didn’t go into details about such grues. However the thought of them caused Xu Qing to pay attention to every rustle of the wind during his first night.

According to the sea annals, nighttime was a lot more dangerous than daytime. On the open sea, anything was possible. That said, the sea annals also made it clear that though there was danger everywhere, a lot of things came down to luck. An unlucky person might die on their first outing. A lucky person could go out to sea countless times without any trouble.

It seemed Xu Qing’s luck was good, as he didn’t experience anything gruish on his first night, and didn’t hear anything other than the sea breeze and the crash of waves.

As dawn approached, he opened his eyes and prepared to relax a bit. However, that was when a sudden sensation of intense fear erupted within him like a volcano. He suddenly went tense from head to toe, his eyes opened wide as he scrambled to make sure his dharmaboat defenses were at maximum.

At the same time that he opened his eyes, his dragonwhale did the same. The dragonwhale could act as Xu Qing’s eyes and ears, and since it was in the water under his boat, he was able to look down toward the sea floor. However, he saw nothing in the darkness. But he heard something that sounded almost like the grinding of teeth.

C-c-crunch. C-c-crunch!

The sound caused Xu Qing’s breath to come raggedly as he thought back to the Singing in the forbidden region. The coldness he had felt back then was exactly what he was sensing now.

Expression turning even more serious, he tapped into his cultivation base and made sure his dharmaboat was completely in defensive mode. As he remained fully on guard, he kept watch through the eyes of the dragonwhale. Gradually, he saw something on the seafloor. It was a gigantic humanoid creature, covered with countless tentacles that swayed and writhed. Draped over one shoulder was a massive chain that stretched behind it. Shockingly, at the end of the chain was a bronze dragon chariot. [2]

The chariot was very rundown, covered with rust and other traces of extreme age. However, the body of the chariot had beautiful carvings that still emanated an imperial air.

The giant was pulling the dragon chariot along, and with each step taken, massive amounts of silt billowed up from the sea floor. It seemed to be simply passing by. And thanks to the distance, Xu Qing wasn’t able to see it clearly. However, despite the distance, the crunching sound of each step pierced into his heart and mind, filling him with fear, and causing him to tremble instinctively.

Only when the giant figure disappeared into the distance did he start to calm down, though the fear lingered within him.

What was that?

Face pale, he walked out onto the main deck and stood by the prow, looking off into the distance.

As for the dragonwhale beneath the surface, all it could make out was a vague shadow that was the giant.

The last bit of darkness before dawn retreated, and the sky turned bright. The sun was like a torch, evaporating the black waters to create the clouds overhead. The heat spread, until the sky was bright red. This was the beautiful morning glow of dawn.

1. The shark mentioned here bears the same name in Chinese as a megalodon. There are occasional creatures in this novel whose names are the same as dinosaurs (sometimes common dinosaurs, other times obscure ones). In Chinese, dinosaurs often have “dragon” in their name, and usually they sound very colorful and cool. For instance, a stegosaurus is a “sword dragon.” In my opinion, using the English dinosaur names usually comes across as silly. What’s more, when you see these creatures in xianxia games and whatnot, they often do not look like dinosaurs, but rather, dragons or other monsters that simply share the same name as dinosaurs. Therefore, I will be either directly translating these creatures’ names (for instance using ‘sword dragon’ instead of stegosaurus), or I will create near-direct translations that relate to the way the creatures are described. I\'ll also include an explanation in the footnote when this happens. This is a stylistic choice. I get that some people might think using dinosaur names is cooler, and I respect that. But for this translation, I will lean into a more fantastic style of translation that I feel is befitting fantasy genres. ☜

2. The ‘dragon’ aspect of this chariot implies that it’s something associated with a king or emperor. ☜