On the blood-soaked deck, no one dared to breathe loudly.
Because of Luo Chen's silence, the entire large vessel fell deathly quiet.
The Sea of Demons!
Hearing those three words, Luo Chen immediately thought of the Northern Sea cultivation world within the Five Continents of the Mountain Sea Realm.
There was no other reason—the Northern Sea was also known as the Sea of Demons!
It had earned that moniker simply because the sacred ground holding sway over the Northern Sea cultivation world was an out-and-out demonic sect.
During his years of secluded cultivation at Tianlan Peak, Luo Chen had read a great many books.
Most were cultivation manuals and secret techniques that helped enhance his strength.
Next came biographies of notable figures from the Eastern Desolation cultivation world. After all, if one intended to get by on that continent, one inevitably had to venture out into the world. It was fine when his cultivation was low, but once he reached the Golden Core stage, it was impossible to stay cooped up in a single region forever. If he went out and offended someone he shouldn't, he would bring catastrophe upon himself for no good reason.
Beyond that, he had also read numerous travelogues, local gazetteers, and records of strange customs regarding this world.
Among those texts detailing various local cultures and geography, systematic overviews of the Mountain Sea Realm were included.
There were few records of remote, perilous places or forbidden death grounds, but the descriptions of the Five Continents were of paramount importance.
Particularly concerning the overlords that dominated each of the Five Continents!
The Mingyuan Sect of the Eastern Desolation, the Life and Death Gate of the Southern Border, the Hanging Temple of the Western Desert, the Yuan Demon Sect of the Northern Sea, and the Tianyuan Dao Sect of the Central Plains.
Among these Five Continents, the Central Plains was thoroughly controlled by the Tianyuan Dao Sect. Free from natural disasters, man-made calamities, demons, and ghosts, it was an indisputable cultivation holy land for the human race under the heavens!
Rumor had it that over the three millennia since ancient times, every single person in the Mountain Sea Realm who had ascended had come from the Central Plains!
Because of that very reason, year after year, countless peerless prodigies from the other four continents flocked to the Central Plains in pursuit of that opportunity for ascension.
As for the other four continents?
The Eastern Desolation had the Million Barren Mountains eyeing it like a tiger watching its prey. Even after the ancient war and three thousand years of expansion, humanity had only carved out thirty-six domains; there was no telling how many natural treasures and top-grade spirit veins were still hidden deep within those untamed wilds.
Consequently, the overlord of the Eastern Desolation, the Mingyuan Sect, was exceedingly eager to support sects of all sizes beneath it.
Whenever a new Nascent Soul superior sect emerged, the Mingyuan Sect would do its best to mediate conflicts between the newcomer and entrenched local sects, bringing an end to their strife and turning their grievances outward to wage one Pioneering War after another against the Million Mountains.
Setting aside the petty intrigues and internal squabbles among Eastern Desolation cultivators, on a macroscopic level, the Eastern Desolation cultivation world stood united in solidarity when facing external matters.
By comparison, the Southern Border was shrouded in mystery.
The Life and Death Gate was proficient in all manner of gu techniques!
The art of gu relied on external things and was not inherently remarkable.
Yet the Life and Death Gate had combined gu with methods of cultivation, giving rise to the path of the gu cultivator.
Such gu were termed spirit gu!
Spirit gu were exceedingly bizarre and elusive, nearly impossible to defend against in battle.
Even with the utmost vigilance, a cultivator could easily fall prey to them with the slightest slip.
Therefore, no matter how curious an expert might be, unless they were a native of the Southern Border, they were unwilling to travel there.
As a result, among the five continents of the Mountain Sea Realm, news of the Southern Border was the scarcest. Over time, ordinary cultivators came to speak of it with caution, making it appear ever more mysterious.
Cultivators from the outside found it difficult to judge those of the Southern Border, offering only a single warning: minimize contact.
The Western Desert, on the other hand, had plenty to tell.
The Hanging Temple sounded like a Buddhist holy ground the moment its name was uttered.
Its inhabitants were predominantly monks.
However, unlike typical Buddhist factions boasting great numbers, the monks in the Hanging Temple's main monastery were surprisingly few. It was said that they maintained a roster of only one hundred and eight eminent monks year-round.
Yet anyone who underestimated the Hanging Temple because of that would be gravely mistaken!
For although the monks in the main monastery were few, that did not mean they lacked strength. The entire Western Desert was packed with Buddhist sects!
Furthermore, every single one of those Buddhist sects was tied to the Hanging Temple through countless intricate bonds.
One could even say that almost all Buddhist powerhouses in the entire Mountain Sea Realm shared connections with the Hanging Temple.
Though Buddhism did not flourish in the Eastern Desolation cultivation world, it still possessed the branch of the Tianji Zen Sect!
Rumor had it that Monk Huiping, who was in the late Nascent Soul stage, had once been one of the one hundred and eight monks of the Hanging Temple.
Finally, there was the Northern Sea cultivation world!
The Northern Sea was vast and boundless, its wealth of resources eclipsing the rest of the Mountain Sea Realm. Even the Million Mountains of the Eastern Desolation, celebrated for their peerless natural treasures, could not compare with the Northern Sea!
People had only ever heard of the Northern Sea's resources flowing outward to the other four continents; no one had ever heard of the Northern Sea actively seeking cultivation resources from the others.
When Luo Chen was younger, the primary ingredient he frequently used to concoct Myriad Wonders Pills—jade conpoy—had originated from the Northern Sea.
Separated by hundreds of millions of li, it could still be transported all the way to the Eastern Desolation, which went to show just how abundant the Northern Sea's resources were.
Yet beneath such bountiful resources lay countless hazards and perils.
For within the boundless ocean lurked an equally boundless multitude of monster beasts and sea abominations.
The mightiest among them could rival Soul Formation powerhouses!
Such a territory was utterly beyond the ability of ordinary sects to suppress.
Fortunately, the faction stationed in the Northern Sea was not some righteous sect devoted to benevolence.
Instead, it was the Yuan Demon Sect, hailed as the foremost demon sect under the heavens!
Within its ranks were innumerable demonic arts and wicked techniques. Its disciples and elders were merciless, savage, and cold-blooded, and those at the top were tyrannical without equal.
The entire sect adhered to the law of the jungle and the doctrine of the strong preying on the weak.
This was true not only toward outsiders, but even internally, where terrifying 'Blood Trials' were routinely held.
Consequently, every individual capable of distinguishing themselves from the Yuan Demon Sect was a demonic terror or an evil lord.
As such, the Northern Sea teemed with countless great beasts and rampaging fiends alike. Over the years, the other four continents had given the Northern Sea a distinct moniker—the Sea of Demons!
*A thoroughly upright and decent man like me, Luo Chen, has actually ended up stranded in such a perilous place?*
Even though he had mentally prepared himself beforehand, Luo Chen still felt a sense of surreal disbelief.
While he was lost in thought, the hearts of the dark-faced burly man and the others sank lower and lower.
Why had this Golden Core cultivator reacted this way upon merely hearing the names of the Flying Swallow Archipelago and the Northern Sea?
Recalling how the man had previously displayed immense divine might, incinerating over ten thousand sea snakes in a single breath, especially with that bizarre azure-red flame… a sudden thought sprang into the burly man's mind.
*Could he be a remnant of the Yuan Demon Sect?*
In the end, he could no longer hold back.
"Master, although our Flying Swallow Archipelago is governed by the Canghai Alliance, that has only been the case for the past thirty years. The people here still revere the Yuan Demon Sacred Sect at heart!"
It was a completely disconnected statement.
Luo Chen's brows furrowed. Snapping out of his reverie, he looked at him coldly. "What is your name?"
Under that chilly gaze, the dark-faced burly man's heart trembled.
Asking for his name…
"I… I…"
"Hmm?" Luo Chen stared at him, his voice laced with a dangerous edge. "I saved your entire ship, and you won't even tell me your name? Do you truly take me for someone easy to cross?"
*Thump!*
The dark-faced burly man fell to his knees in an instant, kowtowing in sheer terror.
"Master, appease your wrath! Appease your wrath! This junior is Cheng Haichang. My lowly name is hardly worth mentioning. I didn't speak before purely out of fear of soiling Master's ears!"
Luo Chen shook his head, a sense of absurdity welling up inside him.
In his eyes, this Cheng Haichang was at the respectable level of the third layer of Foundation Establishment. Back in Dahe Market, he could have been a local overlord, and even in Tianlan Immortal City, he would have been a chieftain of a small faction.
When meeting a Golden Core cultivator, even if one couldn't expect him to be neither servile nor haughty, there was no need to be this degraded.
It was merely a few questions. Why adopt such a groveling posture?
Suddenly, Luo Chen grasped something.
Perhaps this was the ethos formed over thousands of years under the rule of the demonic sacred sect in the Northern Sea cultivation world.
Absolute obedience from inferiors to superiors!
After all, demonic powerhouses were truly the sort to draw blades at the slightest disagreement.
Those of vile nature wouldn't even need to speak. If they took a dislike to someone, the disparity in cultivation meant they would simply pillage and kill on a whim.
After all, the term 'robber cultivator' had originally come from the Northern Sea cultivation world.
Yet if absolute obedience was the rule, why hadn't he directly given his name earlier?
Luo Chen did not pursue that question.
Right now, he only needed to gather enough information and discern the truth on his own. The deeper he probed, the easier it would be to expose that he was an outsider.
Unless he slaughtered everyone on board afterward.
But he was not a true demon; how could he be so devoid of humanity?
"Cheng Haichang, is it? Raise your head and look at me!"
Cheng Haichang stopped kowtowing. His forehead was covered in red bruises, showing just how hard he had struck the deck. Even the physique of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, tempered by marrow-cleansing, had suffered minor injuries.
He looked toward Luo Chen in trepidation. What met his eyes was no longer icy indifference, but a pair of benevolent, gentle eyes.
The feeling was as if he were seeing the old clan leader who had personally taught him his lessons back in the day.
Before him, he had no secrets, nor did he need any.
After all, this was an elder who treated him like his own grandson.
"Now, I will ask, and you will answer."
"Yes, Haichang will hold nothing back and speak of everything I know!"
Luo Chen's eyes were profound, his voice clear and cool. "What faction do you belong to?"
"The Cheng Clan of Black Swan Island. We are part of the thirty-six islands of the Flying Swallow Archipelago, ruled by the newly risen Canghai Alliance."
"Do you have a detailed map on you?"
"I do."
"Give it to me!"
Cheng Haichang obediently produced a well-preserved map and respectfully handed it to Luo Chen with both hands.
It felt smooth and slick to the touch, like fish skin.
Luo Chen unfolded the map, looking at the dense topography charted upon it. Guided by Cheng Haichang's finger, his eyes landed on a region in the bottom right corner.
There, an extremely tiny sea swallow seemed poised to spread its wings and soar.
A small black dot was marked at the most remote edge of the swallow's wing—the ancestral home of the Cheng Clan of Black Swan Island.
Extrapolating outward, the Flying Swallow Archipelago covered quite a large area.
Yet on the entire map, areas marked in detail that were far larger than the Flying Swallow Archipelago were too numerous to count.
Everyone said the Northern Sea was boundless and vast.
Now, a map obtained from a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator proved as much.
To Luo Chen's eyes, even if the Million Mountains of the Eastern Desolation had not yet been fully conquered, even if they were completely charted, they would likely still fall short of the Northern Sea's expanse.
For along the borders of the entire map, many uncharted sea regions were marked.
As he questioned the man, Luo Chen cross-referenced the map.
"How many cultivators of each realm does the Cheng Clan possess?"
"What is the overall level of cultivators in the Flying Swallow Archipelago? Are there Golden Core cultivators overseeing it?"
"What level of power is this Canghai Alliance? Why have I never heard of it before?"
Cheng Haichang answered each inquiry, truly holding nothing back and speaking of all he knew.
And when the words "The Canghai Alliance is the sacred ground of the Northern Sea" tumbled from his lips, Luo Chen's pupils contracted.
"What kind of joke is that? Isn't the sacred ground of the Northern Sea the Yuan Demon Sect?"
Cheng Haichang said earnestly, "A hundred years ago, great chaos erupted in the Northern Sea. The mountain gate of the Yuan Demon Sect, the Arctic Yama Heaven, was besieged by countless sea demons. Several ancient demons at the Soul Formation stage intervened personally, shattering it completely."
"Nonsense!" Luo Chen still couldn't believe it. "The Arctic Yama Heaven was hailed as the most impregnable forbidden ground under the heavens, backed by the Sunken Sea that manifests once every thousand years, flanked by Primordial Magnetic Auroras. How could it have fallen to a siege?"
"This junior does not know. I only know that the battle tore heaven and earth apart and boiled the oceans. It is said that even Soul Formation beings perished in it."
Luo Chen was thoroughly shaken.
A Soul Formation being had perished?
That sounded like an utter absurdity.
Soul Formation powerhouses were beings capable of ascending directly, practically immortals-in-waiting.
Even such beings could die?
Forcibly suppressing the turmoil in his heart, he asked, "Then what is the deal with the Canghai Alliance?"
Cheng Haichang replied without hesitation, "The Canghai Alliance was personally established after the Turmoil of the Northern Sea by a mighty figure surnamed Li. Rumor has it that although this person hailed from the Yuan Demon Sect in his early years, he was righteous in conduct and distinct from the fiends and heretics. Unwilling to watch the human race of our Northern Sea become food for sea demons, he founded the alliance solely to unite the islands in an array for self-preservation. The Canghai Alliance is also known as the Canghai Righteous Dao Alliance!"
"The Canghai Alliance? Uniting islands in an array?"
"Yes. That mighty figure differs from the powerhouses of the Yuan Demon Sect; he is exceptionally skilled in the Dao of formations. As long as a faction recognizes itself as part of the Canghai Alliance, he selflessly imparts a miraculous grand formation to link the islands together, thereby preventing sea demons from coming ashore."
Luo Chen felt a slight headache coming on.
Such a deluge of information shattered his previous impressions of the Northern Sea in an instant.
The new landscape of the Northern Sea set his thoughts spinning; he hardly knew where to begin making sense of it.
All he knew was that the former ruler had fallen, and the order under the demon sect—which had never been particularly good to begin with—had once verged on total collapse.
Fortunately, a human powerhouse had stepped forward, holding up the falling sky with a single hand to establish a new order.
Precarious though it seemed.
Still, a fragile order was still an order. Luo Chen was remarkably adaptable; where there was order, there were rules to follow. As long as he adapted, he could navigate it like a fish in water.
If this were truly a lawless wasteland, he would have had no choice but to find a secluded spot, painstakingly cultivate in seclusion, and slowly grind through his realms.
Strife was never Luo Chen's desire!
Rubbing his forehead, Luo Chen closed his eyes for a brief moment.
With a wave of his hand, he turned toward the depths of the cabin.
"Set sail. Take me to Black Swan Island."
On the deck, Cheng Haichang, who had been kneeling, suddenly shuddered all over, as if waking from some daze.
He glanced around to see the rest of his companions still standing dumbfounded.
At that moment, dread gripped his soul.
*Truly the conduct of a demon—mesmerizing people with mind-bewitching illusions at a whim!*
Amidst his horror, he hurriedly cast a Heart-Clearing Art to awaken the companions who had been caught in the trance.
A moment later, the faces of everyone on deck were drained of color.
The oldest, Cheng Ji, had to steer the demon-hunting vessel back, but before leaving, he couldn't resist sending a spiritual sense transmission.
"Haichang, bringing such a monster back to the clan—won't that cause massive trouble?!"
"Whether it causes massive trouble, I don't know, but if we don't set sail now, we're dead!" Cheng Haichang said irritably, waving a hand. "Besides, our Black Swan Cheng Clan is merely a petty Foundation Establishment clan. That Master likely won't spare us a second glance."
Cheng Ji asked again, "He personally asked for your name just now and is skilled in mind-bewitching arts. Do you think he might know the curse killing arts of the Yuan Demon Sect?!"
In an instant, Cheng Haichang's face turned deathly pale.
He swallowed hard. "Surely not. To kill me, why would he resort to a costly curse killing art? A wave of his hand would suffice."
That made sense.
Cheng Ji nodded. Looking at the deck strewn with corpses, sorrow surfaced in his eyes.
"I'll go steer the ship. You clean this up!"
Though sorrowful, he seemed accustomed to the sight.
After he departed, Cheng Haichang fell silent as well.
Under the gaze of several younger clan members, he abruptly retrieved that white banner from his storage bag, a vicious look hardening his features.
"With so many souls, it would be a waste to leave them. At the very least, these people and beasts should die with purpose."
As he spoke, the banner unfurled completely!
Streams of ghostly qi billowed forth from within.
The deck, previously soaked in blood, instantly filled with wails. Wisp after wisp of remnant souls—belonging to sea snakes, mortals, and even Cheng Clan cultivators—were drawn into the white banner.
With the influx of these souls, the spiritual glow on the white banner intensified by a few fractions.
Judging by its grade, it had reached the peak tier, just a step shy of becoming a magic treasure.
……
Inside the cabin, Luo Chen quietly watched the water mirror before him, taking in everything Cheng Haichang was doing. Even the brief spiritual sense exchange the man had shared with the elder had been laid bare under his formidable divine sense.
A Foundation Establishment True Cultivator who had been cringing without a shred of pride moments ago had turned around and discarded all clan sentiment, sweeping his kin's souls into that soul banner.
Such behavior demonstrated the word "fickle" to absolute perfection.
"Is this the way of survival for Northern Sea cultivators?"
Luo Chen murmured. Seeing one falling leaf reveals the coming of autumn; from this single individual, he could already perceive the atmosphere of the Northern Sea cultivation world.
He also understood why the man had been so terrified when asked for his name earlier, refusing to answer straight away even at the risk of offending him.
"A curse killing art?"
"It seems the Yuan Demon Sect did indeed possess a bizarre technique known as the Seven Astral Vitality Curse."
"The cultivation process is intricate and the cost enormous, and one must know the enemy's true name. Yet its power is extraordinary; even without seeing the target, across ten thousand li, a single word can decide life and death."
"If that's the case, if I am to walk the Northern Sea from now on, I will need to give careful thought to my name and origin."
Murmuring to himself, Luo Chen did not dispel the Water Mirror Art.
Although his magic power had been entirely converted to fire-attributed power due to the Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture, making spells of other elements less potent, a low-tier spell like the Water Mirror Art remained trivial to cast.
He had mastered this spell to Great Circle long ago, and Flowers in the Mirror, Moon in the Water was rooted in his eyes, completely unaffected.
Moreover, being deep within the ocean meant water-attribute spiritual qi was exceedingly dense.
He needed only to channel his cultivation slightly, condensing the Water Mirror Art before converting the attributes, and he could maintain it for an extended period.
Other low-tier spells could also be managed similarly if the environment suited them and his proficiency was high enough.
However, to what extent he could pull this off was something Luo Chen would have to test properly when he found the time.
Otherwise, if he instinctively cast a spell he used to excel at during a future battle and found himself unable to release it, that would be a terrible joke!
With thoughts flowing through his mind and the Water Mirror Art monitoring every corner of the ship, Luo Chen closed his eyes, his divine sense pervading his entire body.
It was time to take stock of his harvest!
Earlier out on the sea, using the Wither-Bloom True Fire to burn and refine over ten thousand first-tier sea snakes had yielded a peerlessly vast quantity of vitality.
Though the quality was low, the sheer quantity was staggering.
With just a slight sense of it, Luo Chen couldn't help but part his lips into a broad smile.
"This Northern Sea, known as the Sea of Demons… might just be the place of my greatest fortune!"
Chapter 525