Elder Bai Qingshui clenched both hands around his weapon and bared his teeth.
“You bone-chewing piece of scaled dog meat! I knew it was you!”
“Come up here and die properly this time, you rotten red bastard!”
A terrifying roar erupted from the sea.
It was wet and ugly. A deep, warbling GLRRRRAAAA that sounded halfway between a crocodile drowning and a flute breaking.
The Crimson Bone Barracuda thrashed beneath the waves.
Its blood-colored eyes locked onto Bai Qingshui with instinctual hatred, maw lined with dagger-length teeth, thick bone fins slicing up through the water like blades.
Far, far away –
Two figures were already flying in the opposite direction.
Lin Yijun blinked.
Then blinked again.
“Did… Did Elder Bai just call a demonic beast ’scaled dog meat’ and challenge it to a one-on-one fight?”
Xiao Lianfeng’s jaw was slightly open. “I thought we were here for a formation ritual.”
It was the first time they’d seen Elder Bai Quisheng crash out like this.
Normally, he was that peaceful, chill elder who wandered around the sect with a fishing pole and sleepy eyes.
Half the time, people weren’t even sure if he was listening.
He once slept through a sect meeting and no one noticed.
And now here he was, screaming insults at a sea monster
Lin Yijun made a slow 180-degree turn in the air.
“Nope.”
Xiao Lianfeng followed right after. “Absolutely not.”
The two of them were already flying in the opposite direction, wordless and united in their decision.
By the time the Crimson Bone Barracuda broke the surface, they were nearly a kilometer away.
Lin Yijun held a Cola in one hand, sipping with eerie calm.
“Better be safe and alive than respectful and dead.”
Xiao Lianfeng nodded solemnly. “Elder Bai deserves to fight alone.”
He paused, then muttered. “Also, we’d just be free casualties standing anywhere near that monster.”
From a very safe and spiritually reasonable distance, they hovered over a fogless patch of sky.
Objectively speaking, it was the optimal position to observe without interfering.
Strategically sound.
Morally upright.
Totally not just two juniors running for their lives from a fight they were never invited to join.
Clearly a misunderstanding.
They were giving Elder Bai Qingshui the stage he deserved.
This was his moment, after all.
They were simply being respectful.
And definitely not terrified.
Not at all.
Behind them, a massive burst of spiritual qi filled the sky.
The sea trembled under the aura of a true cultivator who had nothing left to lose.
That pressure… was suffocating.
Even at this distance, it made their hearts beat faster!
It was no longer just a battle – it was a final showdown.
The very fog held still, as if nature itself understood what was about to unfold.
And Elder Bai Qingshui would meet it with his own hands.
The Crimson Bone Barracuda lunged out, jaws snapping.
Its tail alone was big enough to smash a warship in half.
But Elder Bai Qingshui didn’t flinch.
He spun his rod once, then twisted his wrists and pulled.
The fishing line tightened in an instant.
Blue light coiled along the length like lightning.
“Come on, you corpse-munching bastard.”
“Let’s see how much you’ve fattened up after killing my family.”
The Crimson Bone Barracuda shrieked again.
Fog parted around them, revealing a stretch of water as wide as a city plaza.
The beast thrashed violently, twisting and trying to dive back down.
But the line held firm.
Not a single lotus pad was touched.
Not a single ripple spread outside the formation boundary.
That was the power of the Floating Sword Isolation Field.
A prison with no escape.
Elder Bai Qingshui exhaled slowly, a flood of qi burst from his body, condensing into a faint silver-blue sheen across his back and arms.
He planted his stance in mid-air, arms pulling back with quiet, terrifying control.
Then the reel spun.
The rod screamed as it bent, the tension almost too much to bear.
But Elder Bai Qingshui stood stillcalm, cold, immovable – while the monster strained like a hurricane at the end of a thread.
The beast fought back with everything it had, but the man refused to budge.
Xiao Lianfeng, watching from afar, muttered under his breath. “Is… is Elder Bai actually fishing it out?”
Lin Yijun stared, then blinked. “Yes.”
“Elder Bai really is.”
There was a long pause.
“I don’t know what’s scarier – the monster, or Elder Bai after he got powered up by Cola and Lime Fizz.” Xiao Lianfeng said.
Lin Yijun wiped his face. “I’m not even sure.”
“But I absolutely want to know what kind of fishing rod elder bai was using…” His pupils sparkled faintly. A bit of drool gathered at the edge of his mouth, unnoticed.
Back in the battlefield, Elder Bai Qingshui took a deep breath. A powerful gust burst around him.
With one final pull –
The Crimson Bone Barracuda was yanked even higher, its monstrous body flung farther from the sea, past the arc of return. The beast twisted midair, jaw snapping wildly, but gravity would not save it this time.
“You’re not diving back down.” Elder Bai Qingshui said coldly.
“Not until I’ve carved you into bait.”
He didn’t look afraid.
In fact, he looked… calm. Silent. Still.
“This is for Yu’er.”
His daughter.
“This is for Mei.”
His wife.
The rod glowed with deep blue light, and his aura exploded outward.
It was time.
Elder Tang Sheng and Sect Master Jiang Xianwei silently backed away, also retreating to the edge of the formation.
They both understood.
This battle – this vengeance – belonged to Elder Bai Qingshui alone.
Even if he was pushed to the brink, even if he bled or fell, they would not lift a finger to help. Because he would never allow it.
It was why he had asked them here. To create the boundary. To keep others out.
Not the beast. Not himself. Just everyone else.
This was the moment he had waited for. The one he had carved into his soul after losing everything.
Sect Master Jiang Xianwei and Elder Tang Sheng had always assumed it would take decades more before the confrontation came.
Maybe thirty years.
Maybe fifty.
Maybe never.
But all it took… was one can of cola.
And one can of lime fizz.
That ridiculous shop.
That ridiculous storekeeper.
That delicious, divine, unreasonably powerful drink.
It changed everything.
Now, as they watched the ocean crackle with raw qi and killing intent, both men found themselves feeling a flicker of guilt.
Maybe they should have shared it sooner. Maybe Elder Bai could have gotten his revenge weeks ago.
But the existence of the Dimensional Convenience Store had to be kept secret. It was a calculated choice.
And Elder Bai Qingshui understood that. He didn’t blame them.
If he were in their place, he would have done the same. There was no resentment between them.
Only fate.
This… was always meant to happen!
First Cast.
Elder Bai Qingshui’s rod snapped.
The line gleamed silver-blue, already coiled around the barracuda’s neck like a lasso.
The Crimson Bone Barracuda opened its maw. A gout of boiling crimson mist burst out -blood fog laced with soul-rot poison.
The air warped. The line hissed.
But Elder Bai Qingshui flicked his wrist.
The reel spun once.
Click!
The poison missed. The wind curved around him unnaturally.
“Still Waters Flow.”
A ripple of sword intent pulsed from his feet. The mist dispersed like smoke.
The beast shot toward him. Elder Bai Qingshui stepped sideways onto the air.
A clean dodge.
Second Cast.
The reel spun again.
This time, the line split into seven threads, each darting toward a vital point – the eyes, fins, gills.
The barracuda roared and twisted in midair. Its bone armor shifted, plates sliding and snapping together like puzzle pieces.
Crimson Shell Defense.
An ability unique to its kind.
The threads struck bone and sparked – no penetration. The beast launched forward with blinding speed.
Its tail whipped down –
The sea split apart, sending a column of water high into the sky.
Elder Bai Qingshui leaned back, letting the tip graze past his robe. His fingers tapped the sword-handle.
The blade sang.
“Drifting Cloud Step.”
He vanished and reappeared five meters up, riding the wind with eerie stillness.
Third Cast.
The rod bowed like a crescent moon.
Spiritual qi coursed into the reel.
The threads wrapped around the entire body of the beast – tail to jaw, gill to fin.
The barracuda flared. Its eyes burned red.
A deep cry shattered the air!
Suddenly, the threads snapped – cut clean.
Crimson Bone Barracuda’s scales had turned black.
Bone Molt.
It shed its own armor in a flash, sloughing off all bindings.
Then fired a needle – like bone spear from its mouth. The weapon of a demonic predator.
Elder Bai Qingshui spun his sword, the rod’s hilt splitting into its bladed half. He drew a sharp line across the air.
Sword Intent: Fractured Reflection.
The bone spear split into shards.
But the recoil sent Elder Bai Qingshui sliding backward midair. His jaw tightened.
The Cola and Lime Fizz burned in his mind and body. His spiritual qi spiked again.
Now or never.
Final Cast.
He gripped the weapon with both hands.
The rod and sword fused – line trailing, blade gleaming. His feet pressed against the hovering sword.
One deep breath.
Suddenly, Elder Bai Qingshui’s eyes opened wide.
White light poured from his pupils like moonfire.
“White Line Burial.”
He dove.
The line exploded into a net – glowing hooks and threads wrapping around the barracuda’s body, tail, head.
Crimson Bone Barracuda writhed, baring its teeth with a deafening roar.
Elder Bai Qingshui swung down in a vertical slash.
“Severing Horizon.”
Sword intent howled through the net.
The glowing threads pulled tight –
Snapping inward all at once.
Shing!
A burst of clean, horrible silence.
Crimson Bone Barracuda’s massive body convulsed, its form contorting under the pressure – before tearing into neat, weightless pieces.
Chunks of red bone drifted down like feathers over the sealed sea.
Elder Bai Qingshui hovered above it all, eyes slowly dimming, chest rising with a quiet, steady breath.
“That was the fourth cast.”
“And the last.”
Behind him, nothing remained but fog and blood in the air.