Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
In the past few days, Jiang Li would occasionally use his Nine Nether clone to stare at the batch of spiritual root puppets that he had sent to the secret base under the lake.
The other party was very cautious and did not move much. However, one time, they opened all the jars and divided the “goods” according to age, talent, and cultivation level.
At first, Jiang Li thought that some demonic cultivator sect had some special intention to secretly do this.
However, on this day, a large number of beast tides suddenly appeared on the coastline without any warning.
According to the information exchanged by the Medicine King Pavilion, this time, not only were they attacked alone.
Instead, they had crossed thousands of kilometers and suffered such intense attacks from dozens of strongholds from the outside to the inside.
The spiritual root puppets that Jiang Li sent in happened to move at this moment.
While the various forces on the front line were compressed into defensive positions, those spiritual root puppets were actually being quickly brought to the battlefield from the safe area behind.
This sort of abnormal coincidence caused Jiang Li to be unable to help but think of something.
Children’s heads and kids with spiritual roots… No way.
The Armored Trolls liked to eat people’s brains. Every time a sect stronghold was defeated at the front line, there would be headless corpses left behind.
The puppets that Ink Sect later used their dead companions to create were all mechanical heads made of wood.
Could the buyers of those children’s heads actually be these Armored Trolls?
Jiang Li could not help but guess.
However, could those monsters that ate humans as food and fought each other for thousands of years really be traded?
Would someone really sell the lives of their companions to their greatest enemy?
Jiang Li recalled the high reward those rogue cultivators received. The more he thought about it, the more likely it was.
If it was not a deal to collude with the enemy, who would spend so many spirit stones to purchase the human heads?
Subsequently, Jiang Li felt a surge of anger. If he had not found Shenshan Qiuhua in time earlier, with her talent and aptitude, she would probably have been treated as a top-grade good and sent to the dining table of the Armored Trolls.
That group of villains could not atone for their sins!
Under the guidance of the Nine Nether clone, the speed of the spiritual root puppet was very fast. In just half a day, it had already passed through the strategic deep area and arrived at the front line that was on par with the Mechanism City.
There were a large number of sea beasts that covered the sky and earth outside. Without any special methods, even Soul Formation cultivators could not last long under this wave, let alone maintain this speed.
However, those people advanced so smoothly in the beast tide, so it was more likely that they colluded with the Armored Trolls.
“I discovered something. Everyone, guard the Mechanism City and don’t leave easily.”
Jiang Li instructed the few higher-ups beside him, and then his figure transformed into a sword rainbow as he left the city wall of Mechanism City and flew towards the distance.
The higher-ups of the Great Mountain Alliance were helpless about this.
Two of them should have stayed by the Alliance Leader’s side to protect him.
However, Jiang Li was too bold, and his strength had improved a little too quickly. If they waited a few more days, they would probably not be needed at all.
When the large number of sea beasts outside the city saw a target like him appear, they raised their heads and revealed ferocious gazes.
For a time, the water surface seemed to boil as hundreds of turbid currents shot into the sky. The water that shot out was enough to break metal and jade. High-speed water currents that were several meters in diameter formed a large net that enveloped Jiang Li, and it still struck him out of the Sword Rainbow state.
Then, more than a hundred flying fish that were more than ten meters long shot out from the water. They had sharp spiral bone spears on their heads as they stabbed towards Jiang Li.
They were sea beasts, but they still had the air force.
These flying fish jumped out of the water extremely quickly. The fins on their sides opened up, and they could still turn around in the air freely.
In the blink of an eye, countless bone spears landed on him.
Jiang Li could kill one with a slap.
However, these continuous attacks still caused him quite a bit of trouble. The Great Mountain embroidered robe on his body had several large holes pierced through it, and there was a fishy smell already.
How troublesome!
A sword technique was unleashed, and a vast amount of spiritual qi immediately surged into the Immortal Slaying Flying Sword.
In the next moment, Jiang Li transformed into a sword shadow that resembled a moving dragon dragon.
Two golden dragon shadows circled around a seemingly corporeal giant sword shadow and rushed forward.
A dragon roar roared and tore apart all the monsters in front of him, breaking through the dense siege with unstoppable might.
Shu Mountain! Fuxi Emperor Dragon Sword!
Jiang Li openly displayed the powerful sword technique of the top three in Shu Mountain and left under the overwhelming beast tide.
However, this sword technique shocked the Shu Mountain Five Elements Peak cultivators in Mechanism City greatly.
So this was how this sword technique was used? They had practiced it for decades, why had they never seen it like this before?
“Grand Elder… is that the Fuxi Emperor Dragon Sword?”
Jiang Li’s sword technique was personally taught by Shu Mountain, so naturally, no one would say that he had secretly stolen their technique.
However, the power of his sword technique was indeed a little ridiculous.
The sword shadow was incomparably noble, and the golden dragon was vivid and lifelike. Its power even surpassed them countless times.
Apart from the astonishing quality of his spiritual qi and the high quality of his flying sword, the most important thing was that Jiang Li had the Blood Qi of the Human Emperor in his body and the Dragon Pearl, Dragon Blood, and Dragon Qi. His compatibility with this sword technique could be said to be 200%.
Even if he did not deliberately mobilize these two forces, the power of the Fuxi Emperor Dragon Sword he displayed was more than ten times that of others.
Immediately, he disappeared from the eyes of the Great Mountain Alliance cultivators.
After flying for dozens of kilometers with the golden dragon sword shadow, there were at least seven or eight thousand sea beasts that blocked his path.
His sword shadow was finally erased and disappeared into the air.
He had just appeared from the sword shadow when he was immediately surrounded by dense sea beasts.
He definitely could not kill all of them like this.
Jiang Li looked gloomily at the bloody mouth that was about to envelop him.
He suddenly thought of something and did not immediately attack. Instead, he took the initiative to face it.
The Giant Tooth Shark with serrated sharp teeth closed its mouth and swallowed the Great Mountain Alliance Leader.
This creature, known as the King of the Shallow Sea, had reached the proudest moment of its life.
In the stomach of the Giant Tooth Shark, half of Jiang Li was soaked in the disgusting yellow-green liquid.
A stench of fish assaulted his senses. He resisted the urge to cut open the fish’s stomach and get out.
If he went out now, he would have to continue facing the countless sea beasts outside.
It was not important that he was exhausted from the battle. The key was that he had caused too much of a commotion while fighting among the sea beasts. If those people discovered him in advance, he might not be able to catch anything.
He had to endure it.
Jiang Li took out a spiritual root seed from his bosom.
He stuffed the seed into the shark’s stomach wall.
White roots immediately grew out and began to absorb the shark’s energy.
Under Jiang Li’s stimulation, a green-black sprout emerged from the spiritual root seed. Then, it found the Demon Core of the Giant Tooth Shark and directly entered without any obstruction.
The struggling Giant Tooth Shark also quieted down at this moment. It even took the initiative to empty the digestive fluids in its stomach, allowing Jiang Li to stay more comfortable.
This was the first time Jiang Li had seen the growth of a spiritual root seed in his body.
The growth speed of the seed was not fast, but before its sprout completely disappeared into the core, it was still very easy for others to discover the problem and resist.
This was also the reason why Jiang Li had never tried to deceive some high-level cultivators to eat the Earth Fruits.
Because that was impossible.
It would be immediately discovered and expelled.
For those above the Nascent Soul realm, he could only guarantee success after subduing and binding them. Or perhaps, after the Nine Nether clone’s level increased, this situation could be changed.
Of course, this Giant Tooth Shark did not have that ability.
Jiang Li used his ability and prepared to control the Giant Tooth Shark to change direction and continue traveling.
But at this moment, he felt another will that was driving a shark.
“Attack! Slaughter! Attack! Slaughter!”
As if ripples were spreading in the water, it repeatedly ordered the Giant Tooth Shark to surge forward and attack any building or cultivator.
This kind of order from an unknown source was the reason why the sea beast tide had been attacking the human camp against its biological instincts.
After the previous large-scale battle, the Great Mountain Alliance had dissected and studied a few Armored Trolls.
However, they discovered that the captured Trolls did not have the ability to control the sea beasts.
Previously, many of the higher-ups of the Great Mountain Alliance had also infiltrated alone in an attempt to find the culprit who controlled the sea beast, but in the end, that was only the enemy’s plan to lure them away.
The key enemy was not found, and their base was almost destroyed.
The other party could control the sea beasts, which was the biggest reason why humans had suffered such heavy losses. If they could resolve the source, their future battles would be much easier.
Now, he had two choices. One was to continue following the tree branch’s guidance and find the traitor who sold and transported humans.
The second was to follow the order to find the Trolls controlling a large number of sea beasts.
While Jiang Li was hesitating, the surrounding sea beasts suddenly stopped attacking desperately.
After a pause, they dragged the corpses of a large number of dead sea beasts and retreated into the sea.
The order that entered the Giant Tooth Shark’s mind also changed from attacking and killing to retreating with food.
They were leaving.
This large-scale surprise attack ended so quickly, Jiang Li did not expect it.
He looked at the branch on his wrist that was already completely pointed overseas.
It seemed that he was still a step late. The other party had already completed the transaction.
He stopped controlling the shark.
He let it follow the order and retreated with the group.
This journey lasted for half a day. The chaotic sea beasts were divided into several waves according to their breed and swam towards different seas.
The Giant Tooth Shark that Jiang Li was in was an ocean amphibian. After crossing a considerable distance, it was brought to a nearby sea coral reef by the fluctuation.
The temperature here was more suitable for shark beasts to stay in.
Then, the special fluctuation was followed by an order to “eat on the spot and reproduce”.
Through the intensity of the fluctuation, Jiang Li could sense that the existence who gave the Lurker Shark the order was already very close to them.
After letting the Giant Tooth Shark abandon the corpse of the sea beast in its mouth, he forcefully controlled the shark to swim in the direction of the order.
The quality of the water in this area was not bad. Sunlight penetrated more than a hundred meters of seawater. The underwater world did not appear dim.
However, what appeared in front of Jiang Li was a beautiful coral palace.
A group of beautiful humanoid creatures was releasing circles of special fluctuations above the palace.
When the fluctuations reached these sea beasts, it became an order that was almost impossible to disobey.
This was… the royal family of the sea, the “merfolk”, or rather, the merman race mentioned in the Classic of Mountains and Seas?!
They had a fish tail and were extremely beautiful. Each could control ordinary sea beasts without any difficulty.
In the current era where the dragon race did not exist, the merman race relied on their special talent to become the overlord of the sea.
So the merfolk were behind this. No wonder the front line was filled with so many sea beasts.
Wait, if these were mermen, what were those?
Jiang Li quickly discovered that something was wrong, because these mermen had bitter expressions. Their necks were covered in some kind of metal collar. There was a chain attached to them, and they were trapped within a certain range of the seabed, unable to move freely.
They were more like captives and slaves.
In addition, there were more than ten mermen with the same human body and fish tail, but their skin was red and their bodies were not beautiful at all.
The key thing that Jiang Li cared about was that the faces of these mermen actually had bone armor that was identical to the Armored Trolls.
This was a little shocking. How could the Armored Trolls have such a variant that looked like a merman?
It was one thing for them to look similar, but they could actually replicate the abilities of the royal family in the sea. This was a little unorthodox.
Through the eyes of the Giant Tooth Shark, Jiang Li could clearly see that the armored merman could also release that kind of innate fluctuation and control the few sharks to kill each other.
Armored Trolls were a monster-like race. Apart from being ugly, were there no other flaws?
At this moment, a few armored mermen swam over from the island not far away.
“Bring us… 20… more companions.”
Their voices were not very clear underwater, and coupled with Jiang Li’s understanding of the Armored Troll’s language, he could only read these words.
The new armored merman pulled the chains of the twenty orthodox mermen together with the other armored faces, waving the steel trident and escorting them upstream towards the island.
At this moment, among the 20 mermen who were taken away, a male mermen wearing a crystal crown suddenly attacked.
He turned around and collided with the armored merman who was holding onto his chain. He snatched the trident from the other party’s hand and suddenly emitted a ripple.
The shark beasts in the surrounding sea instantly went berserk and surrounded them.
The armored mermen hurriedly released their waves to counterattack, but their waves were clearly not as effective as the crowned merman, they only blocked a portion of the sea beasts’ attacks.
There were still a large number of shark beasts pouncing.
However, in the next moment, all the sea beasts stopped moving.
It was the crowned merman who asked them to stop.
Because one of the armored merman had an aqua-blue egg in his hand. The sharp sea trident had already pierced some cracks in the eggshell. If he moved again, this egg would definitely be destroyed.
An armored merman came forward and used a long whip made of a sea thorn ball to ruthlessly send the crowned merman flying.
Then, he swam up and grabbed the crowned merman’s hair, slamming into a rock repeatedly.
The difference in beast taming talent between a merman royal family and an ordinary merman was huge. If not for this merman egg, he might have really let the other party escape.
It was as if it was venting its anger, it continuously knocked its head on the rock, the crowned merman started to spit bubbles.
At this moment, a Giant Tooth Shark suddenly darted out and swallowed the two of them.
Then, it turned around and swam into the distance..