The stone house door gently closed behind him, blocking out the uneasy gazes of Zhang Youtian and the others outside, as well as the salty smell carried by the sea breeze and the clamor of the Mortal world.
Inside the house, the damp, musty smell still stubbornly lingered, but at this moment, Lin Feng's mind was exceptionally calm.
He sat cross-legged on the stone bed covered with dry seaweed, placing the chipped Low Grade wooden sword across his lap. The cold touch of the scabbard penetrated the thin fabric, bringing with it a metallic chill.
He was not in a hurry to study the simple Water Mist Maze Formation Plate. The most urgent task was to verify whether the power brought by the Divine Ability Fruit Tree in his Sea of Consciousness was truly as it “said.”
With a slight thought, he sank into his Sea of Consciousness.
In the Chaos void, the three-foot jade tree floated serenely. The three illusory Divine Ability Fruits emitted their unique glows: the sharpness of Zhanyao, the vortex of 【Gather Beast】, and the mist of Rain Prayer. His consciousness, like an invisible tentacle, carefully extended towards the swirling fruit symbolizing 【Gather Beast】.
“Come on,” Lin Feng whispered in his heart, with a hint of uncontrollable tension and anticipation, “Let me see what you can attract for me.”
As his thought settled, an invisible fluctuation, seemingly originating from the depths of his Soul, suddenly spread out from him! This fluctuation ignored the rough walls of the stone house, instantly swept across the entire Black Reef Island, and extended towards the surrounding dark green turbulent sea. It was not Spiritual power, but more like a whisper directly targeting the Origin of life, carrying a strange power of summoning.
Divine Power -1.
In his Sea of Consciousness, one of the three faint lights representing the Divine Power limit instantly dimmed, like a burnt-out candle. A slight feeling of weakness, as if some spiritual support had been withdrawn, then surged into Lin Feng's heart. He immediately understood that this point of Divine Power would take a full day to recover.
He held his breath and listened intently. Outside the house, the roar of waves crashing against the reefs remained, and the wailing of the sea breeze through the stone cracks had not changed. It seemed… nothing had happened?
Just as doubts began to grow in Lin Feng's heart, wondering if this Divine Ability was merely a name—
“Shh… shh shh…”
“Click… click…”
An extremely subtle, yet unusually clear friction sound, mixed with the sound of the waves, came from far to near, from the direction of the coastal reefs! The sound was dense and short, with a hard, colliding feel peculiar to crustaceans.
They’re here!
Lin Feng suddenly opened his eyes, a sharp glint flashing through them. He grabbed the wooden sword from his lap and agilely darted out of the stone house like a civet cat, without alarming Zhang Youtian and the others who were anxiously waiting in the distance.
His goal was clear—to approach the jagged, moss-covered black reef area to the east. The terrain there was complex and rarely visited, making it an excellent place to verify Divine Abilities and handle “prey.”
In a few leaps, Lin Feng had already hidden behind a huge reef, polished smooth by the seawater. He suppressed his already weak Spiritual power fluctuations, blending into the shadow of the reef, revealing only a pair of sharp eyes, looking towards the source of the sound.
The sight before him made his pupils contract slightly.
He saw three creatures, covered in thick black-iron colored carapaces, shaped like crabs magnified several times, brandishing terrifying giant pincers the size of door panels with serrated edges. They crawled out of the murky waves of the shallow sea at a speed inconsistent with their bulky appearance, heading directly towards the reef area.
Their pea-sized eyes flickered with cold red light, white foam spewed from their mouthparts, and streaks of foul-smelling sticky liquid oozed from the gaps in their carapaces.
Ironclad Crabs! One of the most common and lowest-level Yao Beasts in the sea, usually only possessing the strength of Qi Refining first or second layer.
Their carapaces were as hard as iron, and their pair of giant pincers were incredibly powerful, capable of easily snapping a Mortal's leg bone. But for a Cultivator, as long as they were not surrounded and dealt with carefully, the threat was not significant.
“Three of them… Qi Refining first-layer aura…” Lin Feng quickly assessed, his heart involuntarily quickening a few beats. A sense of tension coiled around him like cold vines. This was the first time since his Transmigration that he had truly faced the “monsters” of this world.
His previous life’s virtual combat experience with keyboard and mouse seemed so pale and powerless in the face of the real bloody wind, the pungent stench, and the whistling of those giant pincers cutting through the air.
They were drawn by 【Gather Beast】! This realization acted like a shot of adrenaline, instantly overcoming the initial tension. The Divine Ability was effective! The first step of the plan was accomplished!
Just as his thoughts raced, the three Ironclad Crabs seemed to sense something, and their eerie red little eyes simultaneously turned towards the reef where Lin Feng was hiding! Their speed suddenly increased, their iron-hard crab legs tapping on the reefs, making a grating “thudding” sound, like three black whirlwinds rushing close to the ground, brandishing their giant pincers and pouncing! A fishy wind blew in his face!
“So fast!” Lin Feng’s heart tightened. There was no time to think, his body’s instincts had already surpassed thought. He suddenly leaped out from behind the reef, the thin Spiritual power in his Dantian furiously pouring into the wooden sword in his hand. The sword body lit up with a faint, almost imperceptible green glow.
“Qingfeng Slash!” He let out a low cry, using the Lin family’s most basic and his most practiced wind-element attack Spell.
Chish!
The green sword wind slashed at the joint of the giant pincer of the Ironclad Crab leading the charge. This was the weakness Lin Feng had judged based on his previous life’s gaming experience.
Clang!
A harsh clang of metal! The wooden sword struck the dark carapace, sparks flying! The Ironclad Crab merely sank its giant pincer, leaving a shallow white mark on the joint, its speed barely slowing! The recoil force traveled up the wooden sword, making Lin Feng’s wrist numb and the web of his hand ache faintly.
“Damn it! The basic Spell is too weak! The Spiritual power of a Four Spiritual Root is pitifully thin!” Lin Feng cursed inwardly, retreating rapidly, narrowly avoiding another Ironclad Crab’s sweeping giant pincer. The strong wind generated by the pincer scraped painfully against his cheek.
Passive! The passive of Zhanyao!
At the critical moment of life and death, Lin Feng suddenly remembered the sharp-edged Divine Ability Fruit in his Sea of Consciousness! His mind raced, and an indescribable aura, as if naturally countering the Yao Beast before him, instantly burst forth from his body, merging into the thin Spiritual power! He almost instinctively swung the wooden sword again, still that unremarkable “Qingfeng Slash,” but this time—
Buzz!
The sword body vibrated imperceptibly, and the edge of the green sword wind that was unleashed seemed to be covered with an extremely faint, yet incomparably sharp, dark golden light!
Pfft!
The sword wind precisely struck the crab pincer joint where the white mark had just been left! There was no clang of metal, only a soft sound like a hot knife cutting through butter!
The Ironclad Crab’s forward momentum suddenly halted! Its severed giant pincer, which had been struck, actually broke off at the joint! Dark, foul-smelling, viscous Yao Beast blood gushed out like a fountain! The severed pincer crashed onto the reef with a “clank.”
