Chapter 83: A Dragon from the Depths
The story was a way of telling the disciples of Seven Blood Eyes that if they encountered this strange event out on the sea, they shouldn’t engage with it, touch it, or do anything.
Xu Qing stood there quietly. Thinking about the sea annals, he sat down cross-legged and looked out into the cold darkness at the countless evil ghosts, shrieking as they flew up into the sky.
The most relevant aspect of this account from the sea annals isn’t the actual story itself. Rather... it’s the fact that it’s called a story and not a legend. Compared to legends, stories contain more aspects of truth.
As he looked at the countless ghosts, their cries grew even more piercing. It was a scene that would leave more timid people trembling. Xu Qing, on the other hand, was used to things like this. He had gazed into the eyes of the god above. He had lived for half a month in a city filled with grues and mutant beasts. From a young age, he had survived in city slums, surrounded by the worst humanity had to offer and witnessing countless deaths. In both the forbidden region jungle and Seven Blood Eyes, he had been sharpened as if on a grindstone. He knew that there were many things in the world that would try to take your life. There were many things that could kill you.
So while this scene would strike terror into the hearts of most people, to him, it actually seemed peaceful. To him, it was as if the shrieking of the evil ghosts was actually the lingering sound of a symphony. Closing his eyes, he sat still and listened.
From a distance, both Xu Qing himself and his dharmaboat seemed insignificant compared to the countless ghosts haunting the night.
However, the lingering sound of the symphony grew clearer and clearer in his ears....
Countless ghosts haunted the night. Countless ghosts danced in the night. Countless ghosts made a symphony in the night.
Zhao Zhongheng looked very nervous. Xu Qing listened to the music. Elder Sister Ding seemed very curious about Xu Qing. Time passed.
When dawn came, the music vanished, and Xu Qing opened his eyes. In his mind, he could recall various bits of the symphony.
As for Elder Sister Ding, she couldn’t help but ask, “Junior Brother Xu, did you listen the whole night? What did you hear?”
Xu Qing ignored her. Feeling a bit annoyed at being disturbed, he focused on the lingering symphony in his mind. That just made Elder Sister Ding more curious. Peering at him, she tapped her bag of holding and produced a jade box which she offered to him.
“Junior Brother Xu, here’s a clearbright lozenge, which can do a great job of nourishing your soul. Please take it. And... do you mind answering my question?”
Over on The Phoenix, Zhao Zhongheng’s eyes were wide with fury. That was the same pill he had given to Elder Sister Ding earlier when she seemed irritated.... And now, when Xu Qing seemed irritated, she was giving it to him....
Zhao Zhongheng felt like he was going to be overwhelmed with madness.
“Clearbright lozenge?” Finally, Xu Qing’s concentration was broken, and he looked over at the pill. He knew that clearbright lozenges were very valuable, and also rare. A bit surprised, he took the jade box, checked it to make sure it was safe, and then put it in his sack.
Elder Sister Ding seemed pleased, and looked at him with an expectant smile.
“Okay, Junior Brother Xu, now you have to tell me. I’ve read the story in the sea annals about countless ghosts making a symphony in the night. Not many people get a chance to hear it. Only people with very keen senses are able to.”
Xu Qing nodded, and a look of reminiscence appeared in his eyes. “I heard the voice of my teacher, patiently instructing me about plants and vegetation.”
“Junior Brother Xu, you’re skilled in the dao of plants and vegetation?” she said, her expression one of admiration. “That’s incredible!”
On The Phoenix, Zhao Zhongheng’s lips curled with derision, and he muttered, “Who can’t talk big?”
Ignoring the jealous Zhao Zhongheng, Elder Sister Ding politely started asking some questions about the dao of plants and vegetation.
Although Xu Qing still felt a bit annoyed, because of the clearbright lozenge, he forced out some answers. Shortly after, they started moving again.
Zhao Zhongheng was clearly getting very anxious, because he kept fawningly offering gifts to Elder Sister Ding in the hopes of getting her back onto his boat.
However, she coldly refused most of his offers. In some cases, she had no choice but to accept a gift, but even still, didn’t give any indication that she planned to rejoin him. Occasionally, Zhao Zhongheng would hear her laughing, and it caused his internal organs to burn as if with fire.
As the days passed, Zhao Zhongheng heard more of Elder Sister Ding’s laughter from Xu Qing’s boat than he himself had heard in an entire year. On many occasions, Elder Sister Ding would bring up the topic of medicinal plants with Xu Qing, even though Zhao Zhongheng knew that she generally had no interest in that subject.
Any time Xu Qing actually answered her questions, she would give him some gifts as a ‘consulting fee.’ And all of those gifts were things that Zhao Zhongheng had given her.
As for Zhao Zhongheng, he eventually started realizing that the scene actually seemed very familiar. It was... similar to how he acted around Elder Sister Ding.
It was a disheartening realization. However, Zhao Zhongheng wasn’t ready to give up yet, so all he could do was try to keep his spirits high and do his best to keep moving forward.
In fact, in the hopes of attracting Elder Sister Ding’s attention, he made a show of unleashing his cultivation base to kill various sea beasts that they encountered, and then prepare them as meals. Then he would invite her over to his boat to have a taste. Although she never accepted any invitations, it seemed like she might agree at some point, and that was encouraging.
At noon on the third day of travel, as Xu Qing’s dharmaboat and The Phoenix proceeded along, a piercing cry suddenly echoed down from the sky.
Xu Qing, who was sitting cross-legged, opened his eyes and looked up to see a pseudotooth albatross. It had long, slender wings, with a wingspan of over twelve meters. It was cyan, with brown spots all over it, but most eye-catching was its beak, which looked like a huge pair of iron pincers. One could only imagine how terrifying of a bite it had.
Right now, the sea was calm, making it seem like a huge, black mirror. And it wasn’t unusual to spot sea birds flying in the sky. This pseudotooth albatross was only one of many such sea birds. There were others, most of them tiny dots in the distance as they soared about hunting for food.
As for the pseudotooth albatross, it circled directly above, making it seem like Xu Qing was its next target. However, after only a short time, it apparently realized how dangerous Xu Qing was, and it veered away to leave.
Xu Qing looked at it for a moment, then looked back at the placid surface of the water.
In contrast, Zhao Zhongheng’s eyes shone brightly, and he looked over at Elder Sister Ding.
“Elder Sister Ding! The sea annals say that pseudotooth albatrosses taste amazing. If you want, I can shoot it down and we can have a wonderful lunch.”
Standing, Elder Sister Ding looked at the bird, then smiled at Xu Qing and said, “Junior Brother Xu, do you want to have pseudotooth albatross for lunch?”
Xu Qing was warming up to Elder Sister Ding. She was actually a good student, and reminded him of himself back when he would ask so many questions about medicinal plants. Of course, she also offered compensation. In fact, up to this point she had already given him nearly 200 spirit stones in exchange for information.
The past few days had given him a much deeper insight into these conclave disciples, and he had come to the conclusion that they weren’t bad people. That said, he would reserve judgment for conclave disciples in general. After all, conclave disciples were just people. And people were all different. Some were intelligent, some were foolish. Some were sharp-witted, some were impulsive.
Although some conclave disciples seemed somewhat innocent, there were others who had risen through the ranks of the Offpeak gray-robed disciples, people who had profoundly baleful auras. Xu Qing had the feeling that his lack of contact with conclave disciples explained why he hadn’t run into people like that. Zhao Zhongheng was no villain. He was foolish and, just like the Captain had said, was an idiot. In contrast, Elder Sister Ding was no fool. But she had clearly lived a sheltered life, which was unusual in the chaotic world they lived in. It just went to show that she must have an impressive background.
Zhao Zhongheng’s way of treating her was more proof of that.
When Xu Qing thought back to when the countless ghosts haunted the night, he remembered how she’d kept her hand on her bag of holding the entire time. She definitely had some astonishing life-saving items in there, given to her by senior members of her family.
As Xu Qing saw Zhao Zhongheng preparing to take down the bird, he said, “Don’t forget. When the sea is too calm, something is wrong.”
“That’s what cowards say!” Zhao Zhongheng replied, laughing coldly. Placing his hands together, he prepared a magical technique to snatch the pseudotooth albatross.
Just then, as the pseudotooth albatross seemed about to leave, it noticed Zhao Zhongheng about to attack it. Wheeling around, it picked up speed and shot down like a meteor toward the two dharmaboats.
“Perfect timing,” Zhao Zhongheng said, laughing. Jumping off of his dharmaboat, he stretched out his hand.
Xu Qing’s expression flickered with vigilance, and he shot to his feet. Looking back at the sea behind them, he noticed an area of roiling water many dozens of meters in diameter, following along just underneath the pseudotooth albatross.
There was something under the water, and it was getting closer!
Eyes flashing coldly, Xu Qing rapidly performed an incantation gesture, causing his dharmaboat to shift into defensive mode. At the same time, he looked through the eyes of his dragonwhale, allowing him to see something absolutely colossal moving up at high speed from the depths of the sea.
RUMBLE!
It shot out of the water behind them, creating an explosion of water fully 300 meters from end to end.
It was covered with black scales, and had an incomparably vicious head that seemed like a mix between a dragon and a crocodile. The salty smell of the sea grew stronger, and the waves seethed as massive jaws opened and chomped down on the pseudotooth albatross, consuming it in a single bite!
The pseudotooth albatross was big, but compared to that gigantic mouth, it was tiny. A moment later, the huge dragon splashed back down into the water and disappeared.
Waves surged out, causing Xu Qing’s dharmaboat and The Phoenix to spin like leaves on the surface of the sea. That said, the former was in control, while the latter was not.
Zhao Zhongheng’s face became a mask of utter astonishment. He had only just shot up into the air, and hadn’t been moving very fast. Otherwise, he would have been right in front of the pseudotooth albatross, and he would have been gobbled up as well.
Dripping with seawater, and feeling the lingering terror of having nearly died, he turned around and shot back toward The Phoenix. Even after his feet were planted firmly on the deck, he still trembled uncontrollably. He seemed terrified that the huge creature would appear again.
Despite his fear, he still had the heart of a Seventh Peak disciple, so he instinctively took control of his dharmaboat and got it back under control. As he picked up speed, he called, “That was a snakeneck dragon! Elder Sister Ding, hurry back here to The Phoenix. We need to get out of here!” [1]
“Shut up!” she shot back. “If you hadn’t been an idiot and provoked that bird, it would have left. The sea annals clearly state that snakeneck dragons eat pseudotooth albatrosses! The dragon obviously showed up because of the bird. If you hadn’t attacked the bird, the dragon would probably have just moved on!”
Seventh Peak disciples knew that, of all the beasts that hunted the Forbidden Sea, snakeneck dragons weren’t at the apex. But they could survive in the mutagen-infested waters of the deep sea, and their savagery was widely known. What was more, it was impossible to judge them by cultivation level alone. After all, they were so huge that, unless someone possessed clearly superior battle prowess, the dragon would always have the advantage.
Zhao Zhongheng knew all of this, so though he wanted to argue back, he didn’t have much to say.
“It’s probably gone already by now....”
Elder Sister Ding was much more on top of things than Zhao Zhongheng. Despite being flustered, she kept her cultivation base ready and pulled out a long, green sword, just in case she needed to take action. At the same time, she kept her right hand on her bag of holding, where she clearly had a trump card ready to use. Then she kept her eyes on the sea.
Xu Qing was the calmest of the three. He had sensed early on that something unusual was going on, which was why he had activated all of his dharmaboat’s defenses.
The rushing waves were like the hands of a giant that roughly shoved his boat off into the distance. That said, his dharmaboat was very stable, so he didn’t lose control, and instead used the momentum of the waves to aid in his retreat.
His calmness seemed to affect Elder Sister Ding, as she relaxed a bit, though her gaze remained sharp.
Then Xu Qing’s eyes glittered, and he growled, “It’s not gone!”
1. In Chinese, the “snakeneck dragon” is a plesiosaurus, a marine dinosaur from the early Jurassic period. As you will see from the description later, the “snakeneck dragon” generally resembles an actual plesiosaurus. As I explained in a previous footnote, though, I’m not going to use the Greek/Latin based dinosaur names, but will instead directly translate them. What’s more, the “snakeneck dragon” is often referred to as simply a type of dragon. ☜