Zhuge Siyu’s eyes were clouded with confusion, as were the faces of the others. Even the women being restrained by the soldiers ceased their struggles, and every eye on the deck fixed itself upon Ye Jingyu…
The sea wind howled, the waves building higher and higher, and the massive warship began to pitch violently. Ye Jingyu stared at the rapidly approaching monstrosity, his soul power beginning to coalesce furiously within him, his body slowly pivoting to face the beast…
“Taking the breath of the Earth as the bow… Harnessing the might of the Azure Heavens as the string… Forging ten thousand leagues of starlight into the arrow…”
A passage of ancient incantation flowed from Ye Jingyu’s lips. In his hand, a long, obsidian bow had materialized, its string a shimmering line of white light, and a single, silver arrow now rested upon it…
Nock the arrow, draw the string, release…
A streak of meteoric light sliced across the firmament… It was the Heaven and Earth Spirit Arrow…
With a sharp whoosh, the silver bolt traveled almost instantly to a distance of ten li the moment Ye Jingyu let go, striking the monster’s spine with brutal force. Immediately, a brilliant radiance erupted, a blinding flash that permeated the heavens and earth, forcing everyone to instinctively shut their eyes…
“Wuuuuhhh…” A titanic roar echoed from several li away, as if the creature had been stabbed to its very core…
The light slowly dissipated. When those watching could finally open their eyes, they beheld a mushroom cloud rising from the sea surface. A massive section of the monster’s spine had been utterly blasted away, and torrents of deep blue blood poured out like a waterfall—the spectacle was terrifying in its scale…
Yet, the monster, wracked by pain, let out a low, guttural bellow, sounding like nothing so much as someone weeping. The sound was immense, utterly desolate, and saturated with such sorrow that it seemed capable of tearing the hearts of all who heard it…
Slowly, a colossal head breached the surface of the water. It was the head of an ox—an ox head so vast it measured hundreds of zhang across, with horns nearly fifty zhang long. The entire structure was pitch-black, emitting chilling glints of cold light. Its eyes were the size of houses, and an icy glare shot forth from those abyssal pupils…
As the head emerged, its body followed, slowly rising from the depths. Apart from the section destroyed by the Heaven and Earth Spirit Arrow on its back, the rest of its form was covered in scales, and a pair of wings sprouted from either side. Aside from the bovine head, the creature largely resembled a fish…
But this was a fish on an impossible scale. Its body spanned seven or eight li in width and stretched for at least a dozen li in length. As it lifted its head further, its visage was less than ten li from where they stood. With the slightest movement, it could easily swallow their entire vessel…
Upon witnessing the monster in its entirety, everyone present drew a sharp, collective gasp. Even Zhuge Siyu’s expression was momentarily etched with shock…
Ye Jingyu had not anticipated the sheer magnitude of the beast. His single arrow had pulverized the entirety of its back, yet it seemed only to have left a gash—a monstrous gash hundreds of zhang wide—but to the creature, it felt no worse than a mere punch mark…
At this moment, Zhuge Siyu gently tugged Ye Jingyu’s sleeve. He turned to see her hand making subtle gestures in the air…
A sign for the character for 'fish' (), followed by the character for 'gui' ()—though the 'earth' radical () beneath the 'gui' was drawn with an extra horizontal stroke (making it resemble )…
“You mean it’s a Lu ()…” Ye Jingyu exclaimed in surprise…
Zhuge Siyu nodded softly…
The Lu, a fish from ancient legends, shaped like an ox, possessing a serpentine tail, bearing two wings, feathers beneath its forelimbs, hibernating in winter and only emerging in summer…
In that instant, Ye Jingyu grasped Zhuge Siyu’s implication. If it was a creature programmed for hibernation, then there must be a way to deal with it…
His soul power began to circulate, a silver flash crossing his eyes. Ye Jingyu stepped forward, launching himself into the air, treading step by step until he hung suspended high above the sea, horizontal in the open sky…
Gasps of astonishment erupted from all watching. This was a feat reserved only for Martial Saints—the ability to utterly negate gravity and hang motionless in the air…
But they had momentarily forgotten the existence of Soul Masters. Any Soul Master who reached the Soul Condensation realm could create ethereal steps beneath their feet using sheer willpower to stand aloft. Those at the Spirit Manifestation realm could control the wind with their spiritual arts to achieve flight, though not for extended periods, as it drained soul power excessively…
Currently, Ye Jingyu was using his mental force to construct invisible steps beneath him, holding his position mid-air while rapidly chanting an incantation. Waves of icy energy radiated from his body…
At this point, the massive Lu seemed enraged. Its mountain-like body began to stir. A distance of nearly ten li was but a single stride for it; once it moved, the ship, which appeared as insignificant as an ant before it, could not withstand a single blow…
“Drawing upon the essence of the Great Ocean as the guide, the aura of the Deep Earth as the conductor, my own hot blood to burn—One Thousand Li Ice Seal…” Ye Jingyu murmured softly, suddenly pointing a finger forward…
A beam of blue light shot from his fingertip, aimed at the colossal Lu, aimed at the boundless, surging sea…
Gusts of frigid wind swept over them. The ambient temperature plummeted rapidly. Many soldiers on deck shivered uncontrollably, their faces paling, teeth chattering audibly with a dry, clicking sound. The entire world felt as if deep winter had suddenly descended…
The previously churning seawater began to settle rapidly, and sheets of ice started forming across the surface…
A Thousand Li Ice Seal—to freeze the ocean itself? What an impossibly powerful spiritual technique! Of course, Ye Jingyu could not truly manage a thousand li of ice, perhaps not even ten, but as the blue light from his finger brightened, the surrounding cold intensified…
Though the sea surface could not be completely frozen, nor could the advance of the Lu be entirely halted, the enraged monster seemed to sense the intense cold ahead. Its massive form slowly began to sink, finally vanishing entirely beneath the waves, as if sensing the onset of winter and seeking its hibernation…
When the Lu's body disappeared completely, the shivering soldiers and even the captive women on the deck erupted in joyous shouts. The sheer euphoria of escaping death made them forget everything else…
But Ye Jingyu, suspended in the air, felt his vision darken the moment the colossal form vanished completely, and he plummeted straight down from the sky…
(The road must be walked step by step. I feel constrained in my heart right now, itching to write what comes next, but without the embellishments of the preceding events, how can the later brilliance be achieved? I ask everyone to read on with patience!)