The little cutie was reeled in.
Before long, it was sent off to be deep-fried.
The mercenary carefully put away the paper napkin Qi Yuan had gifted him.
Looking at Qi Yuan, Carnival inquired cautiously, "Mr. Qi, do you need sea monsters?"
Sea monsters were precious, but for a nobleman like Carnival, obtaining them was quite simple.
"I probably need ones like the one just now. Ordinary ones... I can take a look at as well," Qi Yuan replied truthfully.
What he needed were likely mutated sea monsters, and not just any mutated sea monster would do.
For instance, while fishing just now, he had kept his eyes on the ocean and had already spotted more than one sea monster.
Yet none of those gave him as profound a feeling as this little cutie.
"There are quite a few sea monsters aboard the Starfish Bay. I will have some collected for you right away," Carnival said hurriedly.
"Mm."
Qi Yuan nodded.
He also wanted to study these creatures.
They seemed, to a certain degree, somewhat... connected to martial arts.
It was just that Qi Yuan's current martial arts cultivation was still too weak, and he had not yet discovered what that connection truly was.
Before long, the deep-fried mutated sea monster was served.
One could tell the chef had tried his hardest, but the fried monster remained hideous, hardly looking appetizing.
The actresses present covered their mouths and knit their brows, looking rather disgusted.
Carnival could not help but speak up. "Meat from a mutated sea monster like this is hard to come by even at high-end banquets. Don't look down on this small portion; it is worth over a million."
Hearing Carnival's words, the furrowed brows of the actresses smoothed out.
Wu Qi's lovely eyes widened as well. "It's actually that expensive?"
Though she had lacked an appetite a moment ago, her mouth now watered, eager for a bite.
After all, at that price... not eating it would be a loss.
At that moment, Qi Yuan took out a chopstick and lightly tapped the mutated sea monster's head.
Instantly, a droplet of bewitchingly vibrant blood appeared.
The actresses watched in utter amazement.
Qi Yuan stared at the drop of blood, his expression unreadable.
He felt a faint tremor through his body, and his blood simmered slightly.
"I suddenly suspect that this mutated sea monster and I might share a common ancestor," Qi Yuan remarked with a smile in his eyes.
"How could that be?" The actresses laughed at once. "These sea monsters are just ocean fish mutated by radiation. How could they share an ancestor with us humans?"
"Exactly!" The others were equally puzzled, all assuming Qi Yuan was merely joking.
After extracting the drop of blood, Qi Yuan said softly, "Everyone, eat up. Mm... it's very nourishing."
To him, the most valuable part of this mutated sea monster was its blood.
Promptly, the soccer-ball-sized creature was divided into over a dozen portions, with everyone present receiving a share.
Holding her plate, Wu Qi wore a smug expression. Her only regret was that she had not brought her phone; otherwise, she would have taken a picture to post in her group chat with the girls.
After all, the small portion of meat on her plate was worth over a hundred thousand, more expensive than gold.
How could a starlet of her level normally afford something so costly?
She took a cautious bite. It was delightfully crispy, and a rich, savory aroma spread across her palate.
"Delicious! The flavor is wonderful!"
Wu Qi licked her lips, deeply satisfied.
With something so expensive, one was naturally predisposed to find it delicious.
The others felt the same way.
To them, the meat of this mutated sea monster tasted like an incomparable delicacy.
Qi Yuan did not eat the meat; instead, he swallowed that drop of blood.
Instantly, he felt a subtle transformation within his body.
His blood grew searing hot.
Qi Yuan closed his eyes and looked inward.
After about a dozen breaths, he opened his eyes, a strange look flickering within them.
"My martial arts talent... actually increased."
Indeed, his martial talent had improved.
If he went to Mingwu Dojo for a test, he would discover that the patterns representing his martial talent had gained several new lines.
"Are sea monsters truly related to martial arts?"
Or perhaps... to bloodlines.
Qi Yuan had already vaguely sensed it.
The martial arts of this world were likely tied to bloodlines.
The stronger the bloodline, the greater the martial talent and the faster one progressed in cultivation.
However... perhaps because the generations were spaced too far apart, the martial bloodlines had grown increasingly diluted, causing martial artists to become progressively weaker.
A leap of twenty meters was considered the mark of an unmatched master.
Qi Yuan guessed this was due to the thinning of the bloodline.
"Mr. Qi... is something wrong?" Carnival asked, noticing that Qi Yuan seemed lost in thought.
"It's nothing, just thinking about some interesting matters." Qi Yuan looked at Carnival and asked, "In ancient times, were martial arts masters recorded as being exceptionally strong?"
"Mm... extremely strong. There are even records of a single man charging through an army of thousands. But... most of that is historical exaggeration. Modern scientific research shows that martial arts have a limit; being a match for a hundred men is already the absolute peak," Carnival replied honestly.
The limit of martial arts was a match for a hundred men; high-grade gene medicine could easily shatter that ceiling.
At this point, Carnival could not help but lower his voice and ask, "Could the limit of the immortal path... be a match for ten thousand men?"
There were quite a few records regarding the immortal path and mythological legends on Arch Star.
Yet the people of Arch Star seemed to lack imagination and were poor at boasting; the grandest feats recorded of those legendary figures were merely soaring through the skies and crossing the seas.
Their embellishments could not hold a candle to those from a certain populous nation on Blue Star.
Being a match for ten thousand men already sounded extraordinarily exaggerated to Carnival.
If he could cultivate to the limit of the immortal path and become a match for ten thousand men, there would certainly be a place for him among the great clans of the Seven Martial Stars.
"You underestimate the immortal path far too much." Qi Yuan gave a languid smile. "Right now, I am... well, very weak. But killing ten thousand people or so... would still be effortless."
Hearing this, Carnival's heart skipped a beat, and his eyes filled with awe as he looked at Qi Yuan.
Naturally, he still harbored doubts about Qi Yuan's claim, as it sounded far too exaggerated.
The two spoke in very low voices and kept some distance from the others, so no one else overheard.
"As for martial arts, it may be in decline now, but in ancient times... it might have been formidable as well," Qi Yuan murmured.
The blood extracted from the sea monster made Qi Yuan realize that martial arts were not so simple.
It was just that the martial blood within modern humans was far too diluted, preventing them from unleashing its true power.
"Unfortunately... according to my guess, martial arts indeed have a limit. That limit is... the ancestor."
The ceiling of martial arts was the figure at the source of the bloodline.
In other words, descendants in martial arts could never surpass their ancestor.
Everything later practitioners possessed came almost entirely from the progenitor.
Yet martial arts also had an advantage: if the ancestor broke through again, it might trigger a bloodline leap for all descendants, thereby boosting their strength.
Looking back at Arch Star's thousands of years of history, however, there were virtually no records of such an event.
Evidently, the few ancestors at the source of the bloodline martial arts were either dead or had never broken through again.
Thus, no further bloodline leaps had occurred.
Yet this raised another question.
If Qi Yuan's strength were to surpass the ancestor's, when his own strength rose, would the ancestor's bloodline undergo a leap as well?
If so, the ancestor's potential would also jump a notch.
What if the ancestor was already dead? Would a pile of bones start boiling with blood?
The thought amused Qi Yuan.
If that were the case, couldn't he just lie back, father a bunch of children, and wait for them to break through the bloodline limits, which in turn would grant him a bloodline leap and elevate his strength?
Of course, that was merely a passing thought.
***
Elsewhere on the cruise ship.
Wang Xu looked at the burly man before him, his expression rather grim.
This time, their mission on the Starfish Bay was to retrieve the sea monsters and complete their assignment.
The person in charge of the Starfish Bay had been very accommodating, allocating a portion of the sea monsters to them.
Yet now, a single phone call from higher-ups commanded that these creatures be handed over to this group of aristocrats.
It meant he had made the trip for nothing and labored an entire day in vain, leaving him naturally full of grievances.
Even so, facing these suited men armed with guns, Wang Xu unconsciously bowed his back. "All the sea monsters are right here. Not a single one is missing."
"Good. Inspect them," the man in the suit instructed.
The other suited brutes opened the crates and checked the monsters inside.
"No issues."
"Good." Seeing that the monsters were in order, the lead man looked at Wang Xu. "Thank you for your trouble. We will be taking these."
With that, the suited men carried the crated sea monsters and departed.
Watching their retreating backs, Wang Xu could not help but sigh. "Lowly clerks like us can't even compare to the domestic servants of the nobility."
The man beside him nodded in agreement.
Those private family guards were essentially household slaves in ancient times.
"All we can do is work hard to become aristocrats ourselves in the future."
"Dream on. In today's society, what right do workhorses like us have to become nobles? Those great families of the Seven Martial Stars have held their seats for hundreds of years. How could there be room for people like us?"
"Haha, I suppose only a global upheaval would give us a chance."
"Forget upheavals. I just want to live a peaceful, stable life," Wang Xu said softly. "If the world truly turned upside down, people like us would be the first to die."
He was already quite content with his current life.
At least compared to Li Yan, and compared to old classmates like Qi Yuan, he was doing fairly well.
"Those nobles are truly too idle. Sea monsters are such repulsive things... yet they actually take them back to eat. Aren't they afraid of catching a disease?"
***
Time flew by, and night gradually fell.
Wu Qi looked at the distant crowd, disappointment visible in her eyes.
She had exhausted all her charms today, yet she had failed to offer herself successfully.
This left her deeply deflated.
She looked toward Qi Yuan and Carnival ahead, her eyes filled with envy.
Her manager walked over, looking at Wu Qi with a teasing gaze. "What? Failed?"
A trace of disappointment lingered in Wu Qi's envious eyes. "Yeah."
"What kind of beauties haven't those prominent figures seen? Genetically tuned beauties are far beyond what people like us can match. We might look glamorous, but in their eyes, we're nothing more than light seasoning," the manager remarked with a sigh, her voice tinged with a world-weariness that spoke of extensive experience.
Hearing this, Wu Qi's gaze suddenly hardened with resolve. "No, I refuse to just live like this!"
Meanwhile, Qi Yuan looked at the suited brute before him and said calmly, "You've been drinking. If you drive me, wouldn't that be drunk driving? If the traffic police catch you, you'll end up behind bars."
As the saying went: drive recklessly, and your loved ones weep.
Qi Yuan naturally would not take part in such illegal conduct.
"It's fine. We have special permits. Drunk driving laws only apply to ordinary citizens," the black-suited man replied without hesitation.
Carnival glared fiercely at the man, then stepped forward humbly to face Qi Yuan. "I'll drive!"
Carnival was rather furious with this subordinate. How could he have so little sense as to argue with Mr. Qi?
If Mr. Qi wanted a driver who hadn't been drinking, then that was that.
He hadn't touched any alcohol; he would be the chauffeur.
"Mm, that works." Qi Yuan nodded.
Carnival acted as the chauffeur himself, driving the car to take Qi Yuan home.
Four other vehicles followed along the way.
Those four cars were packed with various herbs and the sea monsters collected from the Starfish Bay.
As he drove, Carnival thought of something and spoke slowly, "These medicinal herbs and sea monsters take up quite a bit of space, and... they're rather dirty and carry an odor. As it happens, a friend of mine owns a property in your residential complex, Mr. Qi. Why don't I give it to you? Otherwise, the terrible stench of these sea monsters might foul your home."
Carnival took this opportunity to offer a house.
Over the course of the day's conversations, he had found Qi Yuan increasingly unfathomable.
Qi Yuan glanced at Carnival. "Sure."
He accepted these perks with a clear conscience.
Carnival was overjoyed.
Sometimes, successfully giving a gift was a delight in itself.
Ahead was a red light, and the car came to a stop.
Just then, Qi Yuan suddenly spoke up. "Is this car bulletproof?"
Carnival was taken aback and answered without thinking, "This is downtown. It's very safe, so it isn't bulletproof."
"Very safe?" Qi Yuan smiled. "Then why is someone aiming a sniper rifle at me?"
"What?" Carnival's mind went completely blank.
Right at that instant, a piercing gunshot cracked through the air.
As an arms dealer, Carnival recognized it immediately: the gunshot of a Tiger Type-1 sniper rifle.
That model was known as the king of sniper rifles.
It could pierce two centimeters of steel plate from a kilometer away.
Even a soldier injected with the latest gene medicine would be killed instantly by such a round.
How could he not be terrified that someone was sniping at Qi Yuan with such a weapon?
He could already envision the gruesome scene of Qi Yuan's head exploding.
Yet when he turned to look at Qi Yuan, he saw him sitting serenely in place.
Pinched between his fingers was an exceptionally large sniper bullet.
Seeing this, Carnival froze in disbelief.
Was... was this something a human could do?
The muzzle velocity of that sniper bullet could reach three times the speed of sound!
Suddenly, he recalled Qi Yuan's claim of being a match for ten thousand men. He realized then that Qi Yuan had not been bragging—it was the absolute truth.
Pinching the bullet, Qi Yuan wore a calm smile. "Fortunately, I made another small breakthrough on the cruise ship today, or that shot would have been quite troublesome. Heh, to think there are so many villains in this game. I've been keeping a low profile, playing it like a casual game, yet bad guys still want to harm me! Does someone really want to turn this into a war game?"
Many thoughts flashed through Carnival's mind.
Today's turn of events was completely beyond his expectations.
Someone had actually dared to target his guest with a sniper rifle right in front of him.
He was furious, but even more so, chilled to the bone.
This meant the other party did not put him in their eyes at all.
In Tianyue City, very few people dared to disregard a hereditary viscount like him.
Evidently, the waters behind this ran deep.
Then he heard Qi Yuan say, "Wait here for a moment. I'll be right back."
Carnival composed himself, looked at Qi Yuan, and said in a heavy voice, "Be careful, Mr. Qi. If things go south, I'll have my men escort you out of Tianyue City to Xinyang City—that's my home base!"
Qi Yuan merely offered a faint smile. "In this world, the ones who should be running are my enemies."
Chapter 288