Chapter 153: The Army of Seafood
Giant Crab Archipelago.
This island chain got its name because its shape resembled an enormous crab. Of course, that's old news now. Nowadays, when people mention the Giant Crab Archipelago, the first thing that comes to mind is General Golden Claw.
A late-stage Tier 3 great demon, he's considered an overlord in this region. In particular, this General Golden Claw is said to have gained a great opportunity—he acquired an indestructible pair of golden pincers and changed his name accordingly.
General Golden Claw has a son, and in under a hundred years, this son has already grown to the peak of Tier 2. For a beast to reach the peak of Tier 2 in just a century, that's an extraordinary level of talent.
When it comes to cultivation speed, beasts are far slower than humans. However, beasts can gradually grind their way forward through sheer time and the strength of their bloodline. Human cultivators, on the other hand, may find themselves permanently stuck if they hit a bottleneck they can't break through.
"Young Master Jin, this humble one just got his hands on a few tender human girls and thought you might enjoy a little inspection." Inside a stone hall on Giant Crab Island, a bipedal turtle demon flattered a figure whose body was humanoid but covered in crab shell armor.
"Oh? Well, what are we waiting for?"
That crab-armored figure's face lit up with delight upon hearing the news.
This was none other than Jin Shijian, General Golden Claw's most prized son. His strange appearance was due to his consumption of a Morphing Pill. Beasts below Tier 4 cannot take human form on their own, but with a Morphing Pill, they can temporarily change shape—though the effect is far from perfect.
Unless it's a top-grade Morphing Pill. But even regular ones are incredibly hard to come by. Jin Shijian only got his hands on a low-grade Morphing Pill because of who his father is.
"This way, Young Master Jin!"
The giant turtle led Jin Shijian to a pleasure island built especially for sea demons. The place was filled with all sorts of luxuries from the human cultivation world. Despite looking down on humans for their fragility, sea beasts still craved their creations.
"That'll be all. You may go."
Jin Shijian's eyes lit up at the sight of the human girls brought before him. They were indeed rare delicacies.
"Yes, sir!"
The turtle gave a respectful bow and retreated.
Shortly after, the turtle arrived at a room and spoke in a low voice, "My lord, I have completed the task you instructed."
"Mm, you may leave. You know the rules." A calm voice came from within the room. Suddenly, the turtle felt something in his hand—several blue pearls. Eyes gleaming with excitement, he bowed deeply and departed.
"The bait has been set. Now we'll see if Jin Shijian takes it," muttered Master Xuan Shui, eyes calm as ever. He had secretly abducted a few human girls from the Crimson Coral Archipelago and sent them here to lure Jin Shijian. Next, Jin Shijian would 'accidentally' overhear a rumor—one about a Tier 3 water-vein spiritual land at Crimson Coral Archipelago.
Unclaimed Tier 3 spiritual lands had long since disappeared. All had been seized by powerful sea demons. If Jin Shijian wanted to advance to Tier 3, he needed a Tier 3 spiritual land.
On Giant Crab Island, there was only one such place, and it happened to be the high-quality cultivation cave of General Golden Claw. Even though Jin Shijian was the favored son, there was no way his father would hand over that spiritual vein.
Spiritual lands are the foundation of cultivation, especially for demons who can't concoct pills or lay formations. Only by staying within a spiritual land can a beast rapidly grow stronger.
For beastkind, growth equals increased power. As long as they haven't hit their bloodline limit, a good spiritual land can accelerate their growth without bottlenecks. Once the bloodline potential is exhausted, their strength becomes fixed. Breaking through this limit is nearly impossible unless they encounter a heaven-defying opportunity.
Take General Golden Claw, for example—those golden pincers enhanced his bloodline potential by a small tier, making him the dominant power in the region.
Jin Shijian benefited from his father's legacy, which slightly raised his bloodline potential as well. As long as he could find the right Tier 3 spiritual land, reaching Tier 3 would be only a matter of time.
To him, a spiritual land was basically a ticket to becoming a Tier 3 great demon—especially if the current occupant was merely a wandering human cultivator.
Master Xuan Shui was quite confident that Jin Shijian would take the bait. Once he did, the plan was to use Giant Crab Island's forces to eliminate the human Golden Core cultivator and solve a problem for Master Xuan Shui.
If the human cultivator turned out to be stronger than expected and killed Jin Shijian instead, even better. That would force General Golden Claw to retaliate, and the Golden Core cultivator would surely die.
"A Tier 3 water-vein spiritual land occupied by a foreign Golden Core human cultivator?" Jin Shijian wiped the remaining flesh from his lips, particularly intrigued by this bit of news.
He had been looking for a spiritual land for some time now. But all the good ones were taken. His only option was to seize one by force. Given the power of Giant Crab Island, he could probably take one—but the cost would be war with another great demon faction.
That would severely weaken Giant Crab Island and make the other powers restless. While powerful, his father was far from invincible.
There were still several great demons out there who were evenly matched with General Golden Claw. If they got involved, things would spiral out of control.
That's why Jin Shijian had hesitated all this time. The other great demons might yield out of respect to his father in most matters, but never when it came to spiritual lands.
But if it was a spiritual land owned by a human cultivator, that was a different story—especially a lone, wandering cultivator. That was the perfect target—an easy pick.
Of course, this was just what Jin Shijian had heard. He still needed to confirm whether it was true. He also had to ask his father for support.
He was only at the peak of Tier 2—not enough to go toe-to-toe with a Golden Core human cultivator. He'd need backup—another Tier 3 great demon—and then bring along Giant Crab Island's elite troops. That should be enough to take down a lone cultivator. In their own watery domain, sea demons were far stronger than human cultivators.
___
"Crabs again? I'm starting to get sick of them," Gu Mo muttered as he tossed a giant crab bound in seaweed to Shi Yuwei.
Ever since he obtained the Entangling Seaweed, Gu Mo had stocked up and spread it all around the waters near his island. Whenever a sea demon approached, they'd get tangled up, and Gu Mo would swing by to harvest his seafood.
Recently, a lot of crab-type sea demons had been showing up. He'd been eating crab for days.
"Senior, allow me to try a different recipe," Shi Yuwei offered.
She summoned her hairpin-turned-magical-tool and began dismantling the crab demon. Then, she prepared it using an elaborate variety of methods—steaming, frying, pan-searing, boiling, braising, stewing, and simmering.
"Not bad! You've improved!" Gu Mo said, nodding in satisfaction after biting into a crab leg.
"I'm glad you like it, Senior!" Shi Yuwei replied with a spark of joy in her eyes.
Since stepping onto the path of cultivation, Gu Mo no longer let her refer to him as "immortal." While it was fine for mortals to call cultivators that, cultivators doing so was said to shorten their lifespan.
Immortals—those legendary beings said to possess the power to alter the heavens and reshape the earth with a single thought. They were capable of annihilating the cultivation world at will. At least, that's what Gu Mo had read in ancient texts and biographies. As for what real immortals were truly like, no one could say for sure.
Still, reverence toward the term "immortal" was absolutely necessary.
"Yuwei, a crab's come ashore. Go take care of it," Gu Mo said to Shi Yuwei, who was carefully roasting crab legs.
He had laid entangling seaweed barriers around the island, but they weren't foolproof. Sea monsters could still get through. For instance, if multiple sea monsters arrived in succession, the first might get ensnared, but the ones following could bypass the entanglements entirely.
Whenever that happened, Gu Mo usually had Shi Yuwei deal with it. After all, she was already in the late stage of Qi Refining. Advancing so quickly in such a short time was enough to shock just about anyone. While her talent and unshakable determination to follow the Dao played a big role, the most crucial factor was the abundance of pills Gu Mo had given her.
Gu Mo sold pills to the Crimson Coral Archipelago at standard prices. But thanks to his low-cost refining and high success rate, he always ended up with an excess of unused Tier 1 and Tier 2 pills. He gave them all to Shi Yuwei, letting her pick out the ones she liked best, flavor and all.
As for whether she'd suffer from pill toxins after consuming too many? Gu Mo could cast the perfected-grade Cleanse technique, so it simply wasn't a concern.
"Yes, sir!"
Shi Yuwei stood up and rushed toward the shoreline, where she began fighting a late-stage Tier 1 crab-type sea monster that had just come ashore.
After glancing at the battle, Gu Mo turned his gaze toward the more distant waters. The recent increase in sea monster activity was clearly abnormal.
He recalled sensing the presence of a Tier 3 sea monster some time ago. It seemed likely that a more powerful creature was preparing to make a move, and these lesser sea monsters were just the vanguard.
His guess was spot on.
Far off on a remote reef, a massive crab with a faint golden sheen on its claws was agitatedly scraping the rock beneath it. This was Jin Shijian, a sea monster who had manifested his true form.
What agitated him was the complete loss of contact with the scouts he had sent earlier. That meant the human cultivator occupying the Tier 3 water vein had exceptional capabilities.
"Young Master, why not just attack directly?" a giant sea serpent suggested, its massive head rising from the sea. It radiated the aura of an early-stage Tier 3 demon beast—reinforcements Jin Shijian had specially requested from his father.
Despite only being at the early Tier 3 stage, this serpent's venom was fearsome. Even mid-stage Tier 3 demon beasts would avoid confrontation.
"Alright. Let's go with Uncle Snake's plan."
Jin Shijian nodded. He knew by now that further probing was meaningless. Since it had been confirmed that this was a Tier 3 water vein, he had to seize it.
No matter how strong that human Core Formation cultivator was, it couldn't be worse than dealing with the high-ranking demon beasts who had political backing. It would be much easier to deal with a lone cultivator with no connections.
With that, Jin Shijian clacked his claws together. At once, a hidden army of crab monsters rose from the ocean floor and began charging toward the distant island.
"So many crabs… How long will it take to eat all that?"
Using his spiritual sense to scan the ocean, Gu Mo quickly discovered the crab army charging toward him. But instead of panic, he only felt annoyance. He'd already eaten crab for days and was sick of it.
"Oh? New seafood!"
At the same time, he also detected the presence of a Tier 3 sea monster. Judging by the aura, this one wasn't a crab.
Whether it was a Tier 3 sea monster or an entire crab army, Gu Mo just saw them as more ingredients. Unless a Tier 4 demon king showed up, his island was impenetrable to standard Tier 3 monsters—no matter how many came, they'd only be delivering themselves to his doorstep.
If several peak Tier 3 demon beasts teamed up, it could pose a challenge. Gu Mo's stock of Tier 3 entangling seaweed wasn't enough to hold them all at once, and that might create a vulnerability.
But now? A single early-stage Tier 3 sea monster and a bunch of crabs? Trying to take over his base with that? Absolutely delusional.
He casually crushed the crab-type sea monster that was still fighting Shi Yuwei, scooped the girl up, and carried her back to the lake at the center of the island. He set her down on a lotus leaf from a Tier 2 lotus plant.
The lakeshore was about to become a battlefield, so Gu Mo naturally couldn't leave Shi Yuwei there. But the lake itself held many of his secrets, so letting her enter wasn't an option either. Using the Tier 2 lotus as a perch, he placed her safely within the protective range of the lake's formation.
"Senior…"
Shi Yuwei was still dazed from being suddenly whisked away. She wondered if she'd disappointed her mentor by failing to kill the crab monster on her own.
But that thought quickly vanished as she was overwhelmed by the sight of the advancing crab army. Dozens of crab-type sea monsters, each exuding murderous energy, stormed ashore like a rising tide, all heading straight for the lake.
Amidst the army, one crab stood out—its claws gleaming with traces of gold. Beside it was a massive sea serpent, its aura sending a wave of terror through Shi Yuwei's heart.
"That doesn't seem like the Tier 3 aura I sensed earlier." In the center of the lake, Gu Mo frowned as he observed the serpent. Its energy was different from the sea monster he had previously detected.
What's more, the crab with the golden-tinged claws seemed... special. Perhaps it had some notable background?
But then he shook his head. Regardless of its origins, it had come to seize his territory. Gu Mo had no choice but to eliminate the intruders.
As long as none of them had ties to a Tier 4 demon king, he wasn't worried. Judging from their actions, the crab and sea serpent probably didn't have that kind of backing—otherwise, they wouldn't bother fighting over a mere Tier 3 water vein.
"Young Master, be careful."
The Tier 3 serpent demon gazed at the lake, now cloaked in formation energy, and felt an uneasy premonition.
"I know, Uncle Snake."
Jin Shijian was well aware of how troublesome human cultivators' formations could be, especially for sea monsters. But with so many elite subordinates, they could probe for weaknesses and then let Uncle Snake smash through them.
Ding!
Jin Shijian clacked his claws again. At once, the crab army launched their assault on the lake. But just then, beams of emerald light shot out from the formation, instantly killing the crab-type sea monsters that got too close to the shore.
(Show your support and read more chapters on my Patreon: [email protected]/psychopet. Thank you for your support!)