Ye Qin whipped his head toward the direction the Shark-Silver Rice had shot from, and what he saw made his pupils contract sharply.

He had been entirely focused on capturing the spiritual elixir, his divine sense locked onto the fleeing item, while simultaneously dealing with the interference from the surrounding swarms of sea beasts and demonic birds. Caught completely off guard, he had failed to notice a streak of silver light rapidly approaching.

It was only when the silver streak reached several thousand zhang away that he finally detected it. And this streak of silver light was traveling incredibly fast; in the blink of an eye, it had already closed the distance to within a thousand zhang before halting, revealing its true form.

Given the terrifying speed of that silver streak, even this thousand-zhang gap would have been covered in an instant.

However, the silver streak emitted an "Yi" sound, seemingly quite surprised, having not expected to encounter an Eastern Sea cultivator in this location.

"A Silver Pomfret Demon Cultivator?"

When the silver light dissipated and the figure was revealed, Ye Qin was utterly shocked.

Although its appearance was humanoid, clad in silver, scaly armor, the slightly trembling gill slits on both sides of its elongated face and the row of cold, gleaming sharp fangs visible at the corners of its mouth clearly identified it as a Mackerel Shark Tribe demon cultivator that had reached the Transformation stage.

Ye Qin's gaze instantly turned icy.

The Silver Pomfret was a ferocious, high-tier sea beast occasionally encountered in the Blood Sea.

Most Silver Dragons were mid-to-high tier sea beasts, often appearing in schools of several dozen, preying on lower-tier sea beasts. The Silver Pomfret ranked quite high among all sea beast populations; they possessed extremely acute senses of smell, were brutally savage, and bloodthirsty killers.

In his many years in the Blood Sea, he had seen many Silver Pomfret schools.

But this was the first time he had encountered a Silver Pomfret demon cultivator that had achieved the Transformation stage. He hadn't expected to run into a Transformation-stage demon cultivator even after deliberately choosing the most remote and desolate Blood Sand Sea Area.

Ye Qin immediately recalled the five swords array of the Great Five Elements he was using to slay the sea beasts, and his right hand swiftly gripped the spirit beast pouch at his waist, staring intently at the Silver Pomfret demon cultivator, ready to throw it out at any moment.

Huangfu Bing'er instantly flashed to Ye Qin's side.

Ye Qin then quickly handed her another large storage pouch containing the Great Winged Warship.

Bai Xiu'er, still lingering on the Dark Cloud Barrier, was also immediately summoned back by Ye Qin; she looked at the demon cultivator now with profound terror.

The savagery of demon cultivators was something the people of the Earth Tribe clans understood best.

The elders of the Bai Clan had told her much about the history of the Eastern Sea tribes.

Although the Eastern Sea Immortals often attacked the Earth Tribe clans, once the clans submitted, the Immortals would cease hostilities and not wipe them out entirely. But if a demon cultivator suddenly raided an Earth Tribe settlement, there was no reasoning to be had; they would slaughter everyone, leaving not a single soul behind.

The fear and resentment the Eastern Sea tribes held for demon cultivators far surpassed that for the Eastern Sea Immortals. Every time a great war erupted between Eastern Sea Immortals and demons, the Eastern Sea tribes would rather align themselves with the Immortals than ever defect to the Demon Race.

"Husband, I can't discern the depth of this demon cultivator's strength! How should we respond?"

"I can't tell how long this demon cultivator has been transformed. However, Transformation-stage demon cultivators possess incredibly tough physical bodies and have mastered their racial innate divine abilities, making them significantly stronger than ordinary Nascent Soul cultivators of the same rank. If a fight breaks out, it will be extremely perilous. This demon cultivator's presence here must have been attracted by the fragrance of the spiritual elixir. Once the fight starts, I will control the Transformed Skeleton Demon to entangle it, and you must immediately activate the Great Winged Warship—be ready for either battle or flight!"

Ye Qin's expression was grave as he spoke quickly.

Although he didn't know if this Transformation-stage demon cultivator was at the early or late Nascent Soul stage, the Transformed Skeleton Demon was also at the Nascent Soul stage. At worst, it could hold out for a short while, which would be enough time for Bing'er to activate the Great Winged Warship.

"Understood!"

Huangfu Bing'er nodded, clutching the large storage pouch containing the Great Winged Warship. She understood that this was no time for hesitation. When fighting a demon cultivator, they had to commit their full effort.

She immediately threw out the large storage pouch, and a colossal warship hundreds of zhang long materialized in the sky.

She then rushed onto the Great Winged Warship with Bai Xiu'er from the Dark Cloud Barrier, and controlled dozens of Puppet Armored Guards to start the vessel.

The warship's massive sails, the azure wings on both sides, and the various arrays inscribed on the hull began to flash with light in sequence, the glow intensifying.

The warship required a short period to fully activate, gaining its protective shield and flight capabilities.

During this brief interval, the ship possessed no offensive or defensive capability, nor could it move quickly; it merely floated motionless in the sky, extremely vulnerable.

Ye Qin remained in place, controlling the flying swords with his right hand while tightly gripping the spirit beast pouch in his left, his gaze fixed coldly on the Silver Pomfret demon cultivator’s movements.

Until the warship was ready, his only reliance was the Transformed Skeleton Demon.

His greatest trump card was the Transformed Skeleton Demon, which was precisely why he was reluctant to reveal it easily.

"Since this Silver Pomfret demon cultivator is after the spiritual elixir, why hasn't it attacked directly but stopped instead?"

While his thoughts raced, Ye Qin felt a slight puzzlement.

He did not believe that a ferocious and violent Silver Pomfret would show mercy to a mere Golden Core cultivator like himself.

Ye Qin suddenly thought of something, and a subtle shift occurred in his mind.

His divine sense could only probe the cultivation level of other cultivators' primordial spirits; it was ineffective against members of the Warrior clans. He had to use other methods to roughly estimate the strength of Warrior clan members. Earth Warrior cultivators simply could not cultivate primordial spirits, possessed no outward divine sense, and thus could not gauge the true depth of a cultivator's power.

"Could it be that this demon cultivator also doesn't know its own strength?"

As Ye Qin considered this, a sense of ease settled in his heart. He continued to observe the demon cultivator without any visible change in demeanor, happy to stall for time, allowing Bing'er to fully activate the Great Winged Warship.

At this moment, the sea beasts in this area sensed an invisible, innate pressure emanating from the Silver Pomfret demon cultivator—the aura of a higher-ranking demon race. Terrified, they plunged into the deep sea or fled at incredible speed. The massive tide of beasts receded like a retreating wave.

The pressure exuded by a high-tier demon cultivator was extremely intimidating to these low-tier sea beasts.

The Silver Pomfret demon cultivator swept its gaze over Ye Qin and the others; it too seemed uncertain, a hint of excitement mingled with its caution, yet it did not rashly attack.

An experienced Eastern Sea cultivator could, in an instant, roughly determine a demon cultivator's strength through various means. Similarly, an experienced demon cultivator could, in a very short time, gauge the approximate strength of an Eastern Sea cultivator by external signs, such as the magical artifacts they employed.

However, Ye Qin lacked experience fighting demon cultivators, so he could not immediately discern the depth of the demon cultivator before him.

This Silver Pomfret demon cultivator had spent the vast majority of its life in the safety of the Demon Sea, and thus also lacked real combat experience against cultivators, failing to quickly determine Ye Qin's true strength.

"Golden Core stage!?"

Prince Silver Pomfret stopped a thousand zhang away. His pair of silver pupils swept over the five colossal artifacts, dozens of zhang in size, being manipulated by Ye Qin's hands, seemingly discerning something—they did not resemble the high-power magical artifacts used by Nascent Soul cultivators.

He also failed to sense any aura of danger emanating from Ye Qin, this Eastern Sea cultivator, leading to a trace of contempt.

"A mere Golden Core cultivator, and an Earth Tribe Warrior! What are they doing?"

Huangfu Bing'er's action of casting out a behemoth confused it. It had never seen such a giant boat before, nor did it resemble any of the flying swords or magical blades commonly used by cultivators.

It did not sense any dangerous aura from the massive object, feeling vaguely that something was amiss.

"That celestial treasure just now, you hid it away, didn't you? Hand it over immediately, and this little prince will spare your lives!"

Prince Silver Pomfret sneered coldly, revealing the cold, shining silver fangs in its mouth as it spoke. As soon as it finished speaking, its slender, clawless hands faintly shimmered with silver light. With a mocking expression, it prepared to strike, clearly not taking Ye Qin's strength seriously.

The Silver Pomfret Tribe was an extremely powerful faction within the Demon Sea region.

Its current form, Yin Han, was the Demon King's most favored second prince, immensely arrogant; no one in the tribe dared to defy him. Moreover, his strength had greatly increased after his transformation, making him even more haughty. Finding the calm Demon Sea tedious, he had deliberately journeyed to the perilous Blood Sea to hunt Eastern Sea cultivators.

He hadn't expected to find a celestial treasure here, and run into a few Eastern Sea cultivators who appeared weak.

"Little Prince?"

Ye Qin frowned slightly. Was this demon cultivator the young prince of the Silver Pomfret race?

Whether he was a prince or not made no difference to Ye Qin; he was still a demon cultivator. Asking him to hand over the spiritual elixir was out of the question.

Thoughts flashed through Ye Qin's mind.

"Prince jokes aside, that spiritual item is a spiritual elixir I refined; how could I hand it over to Your Highness? Furthermore, my life is not something Your Highness has the authority to decide. If Your Highness has no other business, then I shall bid you farewell..."

Ye Qin saw that the Great Winged Warship's shield and sails had activated. His heart settled, and he spoke coldly.

"Hmph! You refuse a toast only to be forced to drink the forfeit. Then die!"

Upon hearing Ye Qin's refusal, Yin Han’s last shred of patience vanished. The moment Ye Qin finished speaking, killing intent flared violently in his silver eyes.

His figure flickered, transforming into a streak of silver light that shot rapidly toward Ye Qin. He had clearly seen Ye Qin storing the spiritual item away.

"This prince's Silver Tooth Blade has never tasted cultivator blood; today, I shall use your flesh and blood to consecrate this demonic blade!" As the silver light surged out over two hundred zhang away, his voice echoed, and a fiercely brilliant silver chain of light shot from Yin Han's hand, coiling directly toward Ye Qin.

Ye Qin's gaze sharpened. The instant Yin Han unleashed his killing intent, he swiftly retreated while abruptly tossing the spirit beast pouch in his hand.

Whoosh!

A mass of ghost fog, dozens of zhang in size, enveloped the space a hundred zhang in front of Ye Qin.

A ten-plus zhang silver demonic blade plunged directly into the ghost fog.

"Kacha!"

A series of crisp cracking sounds, like shattering bones, erupted from within the ghost fog.

Bang~!

A massive skeletal palm within the fog clamped down tightly onto the silver demonic blade.

Dense corpse qi rapidly spread along the silver chain toward Yin Han.

"What is this thing, a ghost! Damn it!"

Yin Han shrieked with terrified rage.