Chapter 757: Arrival |
Through the slave seal, Zen could clearly sense the fear in Francis's heart. Since things weren't looking well for them, they started looking terrified. It seemed that some fierce beast had suddenly appeared right before them. As Francis shot up towards the sky, Zen did so as well.
In this boundless universe, humans were not considered as the sole rulers. Even in the Sea God Continent, there were many different types of intelligent races.
Also, in this world, the area that the sea occupied far exceeded that of land's. Because of that, the amount of fierce beasts that were inhabiting the sea was tens of thousands of times greater than that of the creatures on land.
Many of them dwelt in the depths of the vast ocean, and it bestowed upon them richer resources and a wider space to grow and develop. It was more than what land could ever provide for them.
This reminded Zen of the time when he had just entered Mist's celestial tomb. When he was on that journey, he encountered high-grade fierce beasts that were comparable to cultivators at the Life and Death Realm. But then, the place where Mist's celestial tomb was situated was not far from Central Region.
At the center the Chaotic Ocean of Stars, there existed beasts that were comparable to powerful warriors at the Soul Sea Realm. There were even creatures which were more powerful than masters at the Soul Sea Realm.
Splash!
Just as Zen and Francis were rapidly rising up to the sky, a gigantic black shadow suddenly appeared beneath the vortex!
As the loud sound of water splashing rang out, Zen looked back just in time to see a huge creature emerging from the water. Then, without warning, it leapt into the air!
The size of this fierce beast was probably not much smaller than that of the Mad Scorpion in the Dark Nether Cave!
As he was now in the Chaotic Ocean of Stars, which was unimaginably vast, he wasn't as shocked as he had been when he had seen the Mad Scorpion in the Dark Nether Cave.
'But then again, ' he thought, beads of sweat forming on his forehead. 'This fierce beast is more dangerous than the Mad Scorpion!'
“This is the Water-eyed Swallowing Beast! The creature is known for its gigantic size, and there are only a total of four of them in the Chaotic Ocean of Stars. We still need to go up!” Francis shouted at Zen. “If this creature leaps up, it can reach a height of millions of feet!” Truthfully, Francis was unwilling to help Zen in any way, shape, or form. Right now, running for his life was the most important thing to him. However, as Zen had planted the slave seal on him, he had no choice but to answer him.
“Millions of feet? How did you know? Have you encountered this creature before?” Zen said in a very calm manner. Despite not being as fearful as Francis, he still maintained his high speed as he flew upwards.
“Of course I know!” Francis shouted back, rolling his eyes. “Everyone in the divine kingdoms knows that. The four divine kingdoms had once sent many powerful masters at the Soul Sea Realm to capture one. They stormed the Chaotic Ocean of Stars as a single force to attempt to capture a young Water-eyed Swallowing Beast. They were successful, yes, but immediately after that, one of the Water-eyed Swallowing Beasts charged all the way to the Divine Kingdom Continent in anger, and it turned a third of the territory of our York Divine Kingdom into ruins before returning to the ocean!” he further explained.
Upon hearing this, Zen couldn't help but be speechless.
The warriors of the four divine kingdoms were virtually crazy. Fierce beasts of that level were definitely not something masters at the Soul Sea Realm would be able to contend with, but they actually dared to enter the Chaotic Ocean of Stars to capture a cub!
But Francis blew some parts of his story out of proportion. He mentioned that the Water-eyed Swallowing Beast destroyed one third of the York Divine Kingdom's continent, but truthfully, the York Divine Kingdom didn't suffer such a great loss.
It was just like what Francis had said before, the important cities of the four divine kingdoms were all built around the Feather Holy Sea which was situated at the center of the Divine Kingdom Continent. The areas surrounding the Feather Holy Sea were extremely prosperous. Each divine kingdom occupied a quarter of the Feather Holy Sea's coastlines.
But in the periphery of the Divine Kingdom Continent, the places were desolate. Even if a third of its land was destroyed, it wouldn't be a great loss to the York Divine Kingdom.
Despite that, this whole story only proved one thing to Zen: the martial artists of the four divine kingdoms were even crazier and greedier than he had imagined.
Ever since the incident with the four divine kingdoms, every time the Water-eyed Swallowing Beasts sensed any trace of a human, they would leap out of the water to attack.
As Francis and Zen were talking, the Water-eyed Swallowing Beast had already completely leaped out of the water. It pounced on Zen and Francis.
“Up! Up! We still need to go up!” Francis exclaimed anxiously.
Their figures continued to ascend into the sky. Soon, they broke through the clouds and into the deep sky.
“This... Can that thing really jump so high?” Zen asked as he gazed below him. He wanted to see how close the creature was to them but a thick layer of clouds had completely blocked his vision.
Just as he thought that they were not being pursued anymore, he saw the colossal creature break through the clouds once again and continue to chase after them. Its sudden emergence disturbed the flow of air and even opened up a large hole in the thick clouds!
“Good heavens! Keep on rising quickly!” Zen shouted once again, fear now evident in his voice.
As Zen continued his ascent, he suddenly saw huge gusts of wind blowing towards them.
“Strong gales are coming!”
These gusts of howling winds were not invisible or colorless - there were golden lines embedded around them. With that, he was able to recognize what those were - the convective gusts of wind in the deep sky that were said to crush and destroy anything that got in them!
Zen had seen such strong gusts of wind before.
In order to cultivate the Stellar Body, he had to take advantage of the gravitational force of the stars to project his spiritual sense hundreds of millions of miles away. Every time he cultivated the Stellar Body, Zen would have to pass through the layer of strong gales.
However, in the past, it was only his spiritual sense that went through such strong gales. But this time, however, he was facing them head on, and it was his physical body that had to pass through them.
Zen knew that these strong gales would be able to destroy almost everything in their path. Even if Zen's body was a top-grade fairy weapon, he probably wouldn't be able to withstand them.
With the intense wind coming nearer and nearer to him, Zen twisted his body and drew a circle in the air. He then rapidly flew towards the downwind of the layer of gusts.
Seeing this, Francis followed closely behind.
From his point of view, he couldn't wait to see Zen get killed by the strong gales. Not one being would be willing to carry a slave seal and become someone else's slave. No one in their right mind would agree to not have control over their own life. Not to mention, he was a master at the fifth level of the Life and Death Realm.
When he caught himself thinking this, though, he quickly shook his head, as if to shake it off. 'After all, ' he thought, furrowing his eyebrows. 'Zen could control everything I do and could decide my life or death!'
With this quick turn of direction, Zen avoided the strong gales in the sky. At the same time, the huge Water-eyed Swallowing Beast charged forward to the gales head first. The violent gales sliced the back of the Water-eyed Swallowing Beast and caused huge cuts on its back in an instant!
“Aooo!”
When the Water-eyed Swallowing Beast came into contact with the gales, its back suddenly became a mess of flesh and blood. Fresh blood started gushing out of its wounds like a huge waterfall.
With that, it stared resentfully at Zen and Francis with its huge eyes. Then it lowered its head and started going down, slowly disappearing from their view.
Fortunately, the Water-eyed Swallowing Beast couldn't fly. It only managed to reach so high by relying on its powerful leap. If it could fly, then the chances of them getting caught by the creature was high.
Floating silently above the clouds, Zen felt a lingering fear in his heart. He glanced at Francis, who was beside him, and said, “The Water-Eyed Swallowing Beast has formed such a deep grudge for the four divine kingdoms. It's astonishing how this beast is actually going to kill any human it sees…”
Francis wiped the sweat off his forehead and shook his head. “Perhaps it is right this Water-eyed Swallowing Beast's young cub that was stolen by the powerful warriors at the Soul Sea Realm.”
The beast's blood gushed out like a waterfall and colored the skies red when it spread and mingled with the clouds. If these clouds drifted into the Central Region or the divine kingdoms, they would probably cause a bloody rain. 'People think it would be an omen, ' thought Zen passingly, as he stared at the stained horizon. Snapping out of his thoughts, he turned to Francis and said, “I think it would be better if we move ahead above the clouds,” suggested Zen.
Even though the storm in the Chaotic Ocean of Stars had temporarily stopped, it was still filled with all sorts of dangers.
“Above the clouds? That would be even more dangerous!” Francis hurriedly said, a slightly fearful look flashing in his eyes.
“It's also very dangerous above the clouds?” Zen asked, his eyes gleaming with apprehension.
Just as Zen finished speaking, a bitter smile appeared on Francis's face, “Danger is coming, Zen. Let's go. We'll be safer under the clouds.”
At this moment, in the distant sea of clouds, Zen noticed a few black shadows flying. Although they were blurry, he could still make out that they were a type of a huge bird.
Although they didn't know how strong those birds were, it wasn't something they thought they could fight against.
The two of them didn't talk anymore and instead dove into the sea of clouds. They returned to the Chaotic Ocean of Stars and continued to fly towards the Divine Kingdom Continent.
Above the huge waves of the Chaotic Ocean of Stars, there was a large amount of dark red blood blobs. Needless to say, these were left behind by the Water-eyed Swallowing Beast who just got injured a while ago.
As the two journeyed, they encountered so many dangers.
For example, on the surface of the sea, a few reefs covered in mist suddenly appeared. They heard beautiful singing coming from them, the type of music that would seduce travelers to stop for a bit and rest.
Zen and Francis almost got hooked by it. It was only when Zen approached the reef and he saw a few indistinct black figures standing on it that he was jolted into consciousness once again by the cyan dragon in his mind. Although he did not know what those terrifying shadows were, it was very clear that if he were to go near them, he would definitely die.
On the other hand, Francis just smiled and kept flying towards the reef.
Zen had no choice but to use the slave seal to command Francis to follow him, effectively rescuing him from the claws of death.
They traveled cautiously through the treacherous Chaotic Ocean of Stars after that. After more than ten days of travel, Zen finally saw a continent in the distance.