Chapter 151
Pan Yue was stunned, recalling the last time. Last time the young master went missing, after that elder divined the young master's specific location, he collapsed. He was directly carried out by the city lord. Although the elder's face was buried in the city lord's chest, no one could see it, but that person appeared completely weakened...
This person before him hadn't seen it, but he happened to have. At that time, he knew that this divination was not without cost.
After the elder collapsed from the divination, he entered seclusion to recover. The city lord abandoned his original plan to lead the search for the young master personally and remained by the elder's side for months. He never left beyond the city walls since.
There were rumors in the city that the city lord not leaving the city was because of the elder. This was not without evidence.
Cheng Li was outside searching for Xi Yao at that time and didn't know about these matters...
Thinking of this, Pan Yue pressed his lips together and explained: "The elder is not in good health. Calculating the direction was probably his limit."
"..." Does it have to do with health? That elder is so mysterious, and his divination is mysterious too...
Perhaps sensing Cheng Li's confusion, Pan Yue didn't know how to explain further, as he himself only half-understood. So he changed the subject: "Regardless, having a direction is good. The elder clearly stated the young master is alive. We mustn't delay, let's quickly search towards the east."
"Alright." Cheng Li agreed, turned and instructed the other beastmen to search eastwards, while he and Pan Yue transformed into their beast forms and went ahead first.
"Whoosh!" Breaking through the water surface once more, Wang Jin felt he had lost half his life.
The Yin fish, terrified by the four adult Haiqiong, lost its composure and fled in panic. This suffering was passed on to Wang Jin on its back, who was tossed and thrown about, nearly flung into the gaping mouths of the Haiqiong several times.
Though he nearly lost his life multiple times, Wang Jin's thoughts became increasingly clear. He controlled the Li fish to attack the Haiqiong. While tens of thousands of Li fish could manage one Haiqiong, there were four here.
Maybe more...
Wang Jin looked back. The Yin fish, not knowing where it fled, had attracted several more. Now they were being chased by a whole pack of Haiqiong.
The Li fish's attacks were completely ineffective.
During another violent shake, Wang Jin gritted his teeth and simply let go. The water current rushed Wang Jin backward, towards the wide-open mouth of a Haiqiong. Just as he was about to enter the Haiqiong's mouth, a nearby Li fish shot forward like an arrow, propelling Wang Jin far away.
Wang Jin's waist took the force, hurting intensely. He quickly reached out and grabbed the Li fish's pointed mouth, controlling it to swim upwards. As soon as he broke the surface, half his body lay on the Li fish, gasping violently.
The Li fish carried him swiftly forward, followed by Haiqiong from behind. But the Haiqiong didn't follow for long before changing direction towards the Yin fish.
All the Haiqiong were chasing that Yin fish...
How delicious must the meat of that Yin fish be? So many Haiqiong were persistent in pursuing it.
Wang Jin caught his breath, patted the Li fish, and headed towards the Yin fish.
That Yin fish had saved his life, and it was very intelligent. It couldn't just be eaten by the Haiqiong like this.
In this world, any sea creature besides ordinary fish, shrimp, and shellfish that could attack people was classified as a ferocious beast. The Haiqiong was the dreaded sea ferocious beast of Ning'an City.
The Xi family specialized in controlling ferocious beasts. Since the Haiqiong was a ferocious beast, it should have been controllable.
However, this particular beast was simply too massive and savage. No one had ever succeeded in taming one before, not even the original owner of this body, Xi Ning, or their father.
Previously, the juvenile Haiqiong Wang Jin encountered made him fearful. Wang Jin had tried but couldn't control it, and didn't dare force the beast taming technique, afraid of backlash injuring himself... let alone these adult ones now.
But... watching the Yin fish being driven into a corner, he had no other options now.
Directing the Li fish to quietly approach one Haiqiong, Wang Jin exerted strength and jumped onto the Haiqiong's back.
The Haiqiong seemed to sense it, hissed, and swung its body left and right. Wang Jin lay prone, tightly holding its fin, not daring to move.
The Haiqiong shook for a while, probably thinking it had thrown Wang Jin off, and stopped bothering, instead continuing to chase the Yin fish.
Seeing this, Wang Jin cautiously moved to its head.
The Haiqiong's head had a sunken spot. From afar it looked like an eyebrow mark, up close one could see it was a place connected to the brain.
The essence of beast taming was to impose one's will upon a ferocious beast. Success hinged on two parts: first, the command had to be forcefully projected into the beast's mind. Second, the beast itself had to genuinely submit.
This was a world where strength was paramount, a principle even ferocious beasts understood. They would instinctively measure the power of the one issuing the command. If the mental intrusion proved the tamer's superior strength, the beast would yield. If not, it would rebel.
And if it rebelled... given Wang Jin's current distance from the Haiqiong, being devoured would require no effort at all.
Wang Jin's knuckles turned white. He gritted his teeth, clenched his fists, and shut his eyes tightly as he launched the mental command for the beast taming.
He had no time to consider. If he didn't control this Haiqiong while on the surface, once it went underwater, he would have even less chance.
After several attempts, the Haiqiong seemed not to hear the command at all...
Wang Jin frowned and opened his eyes, a sense of powerlessness washing over him.
He saw the Haiqiong lower its head, about to plunge into the water. He hurriedly held his breath, mustering all the strength he had in his life to command it.
This time, the beast finally reacted. But its huge, bell-like eyes rolled back, fixing directly on Wang Jin. Its expression showed no trace of submission; instead, it seemed...
It's over, failed.
Wang Jin's heart sank. He saw the fish swish its tail, creating a huge wave that washed Wang Jin off its back. All the Haiqiong chasing the Yin fish were attracted by the commotion.
Wang Jin's body sank uncontrollably through the dark water. In a panic, he stared upward, where the silhouettes of several Haiqiong circled above him before diving down. Their massive jaws gaped open, revealing rows of sharp teeth, seemingly ready to tear him apart.
"..." This is really the end.
Wang Jin clenched his jaw tightly. Having been in the water too long, his breathing was becoming difficult.
"Roar!" Suddenly a roar sounded, a white figure plunged from the sea surface into the water. Wang Jin felt a blur before his eyes, then his body was embraced by a pair of warm hands, and subsequently, he was carried out of the sea.
Once on the surface, Wang Jin struggled to open his eyes. The sunlight stung his eyes painfully.
"Ger? Ger!"
He heard a man's deep voice. Wang Jin's heart leapt with joy, looked up at the man. The man's brow was tightly furrowed, his expression solemn.
"Bro... Brother Heng..." Wang Jin called out weakly, his heart relaxing. The heavy weight pressing on him for days was finally lifted...
"..." That ger's face was pale, his whole body dripping wet, his body frighteningly cold. His hair, always neatly and smoothly combed, now lay like seaweed behind him, clinging to both sides.
Yuan Heng's heart ached with pain. A surge of overwhelming fury erupted from his heart, burning through his entire body, making him tense. The violent rage inside urgently needed an outlet.
At that moment, the Yin fish, trembling, swam over. The Haiqiong followed closely behind. Yuan Heng's gaze fixed on that pack of Haiqiong.
In that instant, both the Haiqiong and the Yin fish stopped moving forward. Their tails swished up and down uneasily, as if they had encountered something extremely terrifying, halting their advance but not daring to retreat rashly.
When Pan Yue and Cheng Li, following the trail of the Haiqiong, came eastward, this was the scene they saw.
That ancient beastman, somehow, seemed to have made his body weight vanish, standing lightly on the sea surface. He held a ger in his arms. The ger was delicate, completely drenched, protected in his embrace so his features weren't clear, but that set of clothes—both Cheng Li and Pan Yue recognized it—it was what the young master was wearing when he fell into the water.
The two looked at each other, seeing joy in each other's eyes. They swam a bit closer, but suddenly noticed the ancient beastman's expression was extremely off.
Cold as winter frost, those glass-like eyes were dark as the entire abyss. Meeting his gaze even slightly felt like being sucked in to die without a burial place.
He stood there quietly, his black robe clean and neat, his long hair neatly tied with a hairpin, flowing elegantly when lifted by the wind. If his expression were a bit better, he would look like an immortal official descending from heaven.
But, it was this person, who seemingly did nothing, whose expression didn't change a bit, yet the pressure emanating from him made the two men in the distance unable to withstand it, their legs weak, unable to move a step, even unable to look for more than a few seconds.
The two fearfully lowered their heads. They saw around them, underwater, was a pack of Haiqiong. The two trembled and retreated, only to see those Haiqiong huddled in the water, not daring to move. Their tails swished in small motions, trembling as if begging for mercy.
The two were astonished. They knew these Haiqionga were certainly like this because of that ancient beastman. Unable to control their curiosity, they looked at the ancient beastman. They saw him, at some point, had landed on a Yin fish the size of a small boat with the ger in his arms. He carefully placed the ger on the Yin fish, took off his outer robe and draped it over him.
Then, with a speed the two couldn't follow, he plunged into the sea.
The surrounding Haiqiong began to move restlessly, not to attack, but to flee in all directions, as if looking for an escape route.
Seeing this, the Yin fish silently carried the person on its back and swam away. The two wanted to pursue, but were hindered by the Haiqiong before them, unable to move an inch.
Soon, a bloody scent rose from beneath the sea. Red seawater churned up. The Haiqiong became even more restless, their agonized shrieks grew progressively louder, one after another. Huge waves surged everywhere. Instantly, the calm sea surface saw wave after wave rising horizontally, crashing over the two, forcing them to focus entirely on self-preservation, with no spare energy to note the Yin fish's location.
The waves churned for a full hour. By the time the two were exhausted, the sea gradually calmed. The originally azure seawater had turned into a pool of blood, floating with one corpse of a Haiqiong after another...
The two stared in shock at the scene before them, stunned for a full moment.
Pan Yue, hand trembling, went to inspect the nearest Haiqiong corpse. The corpse had its fins and crescent flesh removed, the rest remained.
Pan Yue withdrew his hand as if burned, his lips trembling, stammering, "...This... this is... the power of an... ancient beastman?"
"..." Cheng Li scanned the sea surface, roughly counting eight adult Haiqiong.
Back then, the city lord of Ning'an City lost his life just encountering one adult Haiqiong. Cheng Bai was severely injured only hunting back one juvenile Haiqiong. That ancient beastman actually killed eight adult Haiqiong simultaneously...
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