Chapter 86: 86 Chapter 85: The Void Ring

Honestly, even if there weren't any martial artists, it only took a single saboteur to wreck the pirates' ship and leave them trapped onboard their hostage ship. Then again, the pirates weren't worried about that because they would just use force to commandeer the boat they had just boarded. So that recklessness wasn't as stupid as it seemed.

However, the Iron Mountain Sect trio did find a whole hoard of treasure, and they got ome of the crew and martial artists to go over and move them to the Mo Bi Di Ke once they had cleared out the pirate ship and secured it. With nothing better to do, I also helped. I mean, we were getting the lion's share of the pirates' stash, so it wouldn't be proper to leave all the work to the poor ship crew, who would only receive a pitiful amount.

Yi Shan had reasoned that we were the ones who risked our lives fighting the pirates in order to protect the crew, so it was only proper that we received the appropriate reward. No one complained, least of all the crew, who were grateful that they were still alive.

In fact, they were surprised when they saw me helping them out.

"No, no, no! You should just stay back! Leave this to us!"

"Yeah! We're grateful that you protected us, young hero!"

What the fuck? I was a "young hero" now? For some reason, I really, really hated being addressed as such, and I waved them away.

"Nah, since we're entitled to a share, it's only natural that I help out. I feel bad otherwise."

None of the other martial artists seemed to share my conscience. They seemed to think such menial labor beneath them. While the Iron Mountain Sect trio remained on the pirates' ship to ensure the safety of the laboring crew, the rest of the team was lazing around. Qiang Zhe was leaning against the railing and watching the foreboding scene of the stormclouds ahead, while his companion Mo Fa was lounging on a sun-chair to bask in the sun for one final time before we sailed into the shadow of the Void Ring. Du Yan was off somewhere, probably drinking in celebration of our victory over the pirates. The two elders, Zi Xiao Ji and her bodyguards were relaxing on the deck, even though the old men and tiny-looking girl contributed nothing to the battle.

"What do we do with the ship?"

Once we cleared out the pirate ship completely, I turned to the Iron Mountain Sect trio, who ere climbing back toward the Mo Bi Di Ke.

"We sink it," Yi Shan replied simply.

"How?" I asked with a frown. We didn't have any demolitions, and the Mo Bi Di Ke was not a naval destroyer. It wasn't armed with torpedoes or missiles. It didn't even have cannons. Neither did the pirate ship, come to think of it…

Yi Shan looked at me as if I had asked a stupid question. Turning around, he drew a sword and swung it. An arc of qi the size of a mountain rippled from his blade and cleaved the pirate ship in half. I watched in awe as the two halves of the pirate ship fell apart and bobbed for a few moments before taking in water and slowly sinking beneath the surface.

…yeah, I definitely asked a foolish question. There were no need for cannons, torpedoes or missiles when martial artists could literally shoot destructive energy waves and elemental blasts from their bare hands or weapons.
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With the pirate ship destroyed, that left the corpses of the pirates. We had dumped the majority of the bodies over the water, giving them to the fish and sea beasts that dwelled in the ocean's depths. However, the martial artists had taken measures to behead each and every pirate we had slain and kept their heads.

I had no idea what they expected to do with the grisly remains, but Qiang Zhe, Du Yan and Mo Fa led us – the martial artists – down to the hold of the ship to preserve the heads somehow. The crew couldn't handle such a gruesome task – several of the younger crew members had puked their guts out – and so we ended up doing it. Having gotten used to blood and gore during my time at the hands of Ba Yun's torture, I wasn't fazed by all the blood and heads.

I had seen worse, after all.

However, I was still curious. While we tramped down the stairs and proceeded toward the bowels of the huge ship, I couldn't help but inquire.

"Why are we keeping the heads for? Shouldn't we just dump them overboard as well?"

"Idiot." Du Yan turned to me with a smirk. "If we toss the heads, then how are we supposed to prove that we killed the Smoker Pirates? We need these heads as evidence, you know. Evidence!"

"…oh. Okay."

Somehow that made sense. I guess?

"But we need to…preserve them in the freezer…so that they won't…rot and decompose. And the stink…would be terrible if we…leave them just anywhere."

Mo Fa explained as she opened the door to the freezer. A cold blast of air wafted out and hit us, condensing into fog the moment it came into contact with the outside temperature.

"So that's why we're putting them in the freezer," Zi Xiao Ji remarked. She was the only one among us who looked distinctly uncomfortable with carrying the heads around. In fact, she didn't even touch them. She had Zhao Shi and Da Ge to do it for her.

"That's right."

"We should inform Chef Chu about this," I warned. "Otherwise he might mistake the heads for meat and cook them for our meals instead."

Everyone turned to stare at me, turning extremely pale.

"I was just joking," I muttered. As morbid as my joke was, I was pretty sure my sense of humor wasn't that off.

"That wasn't funny," Qiang Zhe growled.

"That…was in bad taste…" Mo Fa agreed.

"Even for a Fei Wu joke, that was terrible," Zhao Shi complained. I frowned at her. Fei Wu joke? What the hell was that!?

"Now, now…let's just get this done and over with."

Fortunately, Zi Xiao Ji stepped in and quickly changed the subject. Though, from her sick expression, I could tell that she did it more to move the attention away from my joke and into less morbid territory.

"Ugh…" Du Yan's pallor still looked ghastly. He glared at me with his single remaining eye. "It's your fault that I won't be able to eat meat aboard this ship again!"

"Sorry." I turned to Da Ge, hoping that the genial, affable fellow would remain my only ally under this circumstances, but he was looking a shade too green to offer any assistance, and was pointedly avoiding eye contact with the disembodied heads that we carried in the bloody satchels.

Well, I couldn't blame him.

Once all the heads were put away – and thanks to my warning, Qiang Zhe and Mo Fa made sure to separate them from the meat, place labels on them and took all sorts of precautions to ensure there wouldn't be any mix-ups – we returned to the deck above. Half of the crew were cleaning the ship, scrubbing the blood off the deck and rinsing it with seawater.

"Ah, you're back."

Chuan Zhang nodded when he saw us emerge. We had stopped by the kitchen to notify Chef Chu earlier, and Chuan Zhang was aware of that. We spared him the more grisly details, though. The old captain had a lot to worry about right now.

"How's the ship, Captain?"

Lao Ren was the first to ask.

"Undamaged. The pirates didn't dare sink it before they boarded us, so we got away completely unscathed."

"Then that means…"

Chuan Zhang nodded at Qiang Zhe's statement.

"That's right. We'll be proceeding straight into the Void Ring."

At his declaration, everyone turned to stare at the gloomy thunderclouds and dark space ahead. Lightning continued to dance around the shadows, ominous illuminating the inky surface of the sea enclosed within the ring.

"I trust none of you want to turn back now?"

"Oi, oi. What are you asking, Captain?" Du Yan wore a mocking grin. "That should be our question. How about your crew? Any of your men chickening out yet?"

Chuan Zhang shook his head, but he maintained his grim expression. The seasoned sailor had no intention of arguing with Du Yan and attempting to brag about the bravery of his crew, many of whom were newbies.

"They've been paid more than enough. They know their job. Anyone cowardly enough to abandon their duties in the face of danger will be summarily executed."

What, was he a commissar now? That peaked cap did suspiciously made him look like one. All he needed was that signature black coat and a bolt pistol.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Du Yan's grin expanded. "Let's go hunt ourselves a Void Whale!"

*

We sailed into the Void Ring without event…at least for the first few hours. Despite my trepidation, nothing major happened when we crossed the boundary between light and shadow. If I wasn't so keenly focusing my eyes on the Void Ring, I wouldn't even have noticed when we passed through the line and into the darkness.

The crew seemed as tense as me while they navigated the ship through the darkness. A terse silence had fallen over them and they glanced nervously over the seas, as if expecting the waters to rear up and consume us at any time.

The martial artists, in contrast, were relaxed and pretty happy. Even in shadow, Mo Fa continued to lounge upon one of the white sun chairs that she used for sunbathing. Qiang Zhe lay down on the deck, his hands under the back of his head, as he stared blankly at the clouds. Du Yan's single eye was closed as he leaned against a chair, most likely taking a nap after all that fighting earlier. The elders were nowhere to be seen.

The Iron Mountain Sect trio stood at the prow of the ship, their arms folded and their figures rigid like silent sentinels. They were most likely watching out for any threat that might surface in front of us as we sailed into the waters.

"We're finally here!"

Zi Xiao Ji seemed a little excited and nervous at the same time, fidgeting anxiously as she leaned against the railing to take a better look at the darkened waters. Not that she would be able to see anything.

I half-expected Zhao Shi to warn her mistress to be careful, but the young woman was perched nearby, one eye on Zi Xiao Ji and one eye on the sea. Her posture seemingly relaxed, she stayed silent while her charge chirped about.

Da Ge was looking as cheerful as ever, grinning broadly as he traded jokes with Zi Xiao Ji and pointed out some irrelevant facts. I initially thought he was pointing stuff in the sea out to her, then realized that neither of them could see anything swimming under the inky surface. There could be a 30 meter long Megalodon swimming underneath the Mo Bi Di Ke, and none of us would have realized its presence.

That was how black the waters were.

Then again, that was precisely why we were here. To locate the elusive Void Whale in these depths. The question was whether some other monster would find us before we succeeded in locating the Void Whale.

So I stood on the deck and waited, scanning the depths with my modified glasses. Even with the enhanced vision and additional sensors installed within my enchanted glasses, they weren't able to pick up a thing. No signs of life…or those signs of life were all blocked and disrupted. After an hour of searching, I finally gave up.

Well, that was anticlimactic.

To be honest, I wasn't sure what I was expecting. Of course we weren't going to run into a Void Whale or any other sea monster right from the get go. We might have entered the Void Ring, but it wasn't as if every surface area was teeming with magical beasts and aquatic monsters. Even if it was, magical beasts didn't randomly attack passing ships for no reason, unless we happened across its path. As long as the crew stayed vigilant, we should be able to avoid any mishaps.

That said, the Void Ring was notorious for a reason.

Wham!

"Whoa!"

"AAAAH!"

An hour or two after I descended from the deck and went into my room to train, I was rudely jolted out of my session by a gigantic tremor. The Mo Bi Di Ke shook violently and churned about, almost throwing me against the wall. Fortunately, I was practicing martial arts at that very moment, and thus I was able to maintain my balance.

What happened?

Obviously we were under attack. Even as I left my room in a hurry, I realized a more pertinent question was, what attacked us?

I had my answer the moment I surfaced to the deck. Several tentacles were coiling across the deck, sharpened suckers leaving scars on the white concrete. Another gigantic tentacle slammed down on the deck, causing the ship to tilt over, and left quite the crater.

"Kraken!" one of the crewmen shouted. A tentacle seized him and dragged him up into the air, causing him to scream.

"Tch."

Qiang Zhe clicked his tongue in annoyance and jumped up, severing the tentacle with his spear. The hapless crewman found himself dropped back onto the deck, still shrieking and thrashing around as he struggled to free himself from the amputated appendage. Qiang Zhe landed on the railing and spun around to face the Kraken…

"Watch out!"

Mo Fa's warning came almost too late. One of the Kraken's other tentacles lashed out and caught Qiang Zhe. The veteran spearman managed to parry the strike, but he was thrown across the deck. Flipping himself in midair, he reduced the impact with a roll and sprang to his feet with the support of his long spear.

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"…bastard…"

"We've ourselves quite the tough enemy this time."

Lao Ren strode through the mass of tentacles fearlessly. The Kraken reared up, showing itself, its gigantic, saucer-like eye glaring at us. I shuddered at the sight of the golden eye and inky, black pupil that resembled the maw of an abyss…the eye itself was the size of a small apartment, probably the same size as the apartment I had back in Tushan City.

However, Lao Ren remained unintimidated by the sheer size of his enemy. Even as the Kraken whipped out two tentacles at him, he merely performed a gesture with his hands. A halo of qi burst out from his body forming a protective aura that repelled the physical attacks of the Kraken and causing the tentacles to bounce elsewhere. The confused appendages leveled furniture and bent railings as they were hurled back by the forceful qi.

"Kreeee!!!!!"

The Kraken emitted a shrill, disturbing cry. Its curved beak snapped open, a ring of razor-sharp fangs cycling around as if trying to ensnare something. I was reminded of a thresher. If we got caught by those jaws, we would be in a lot of trouble. Unlike the Ice Soul Python, the Kraken obviously had no intention of swallowing its prey whole.

"What are you waiting for, you old fool? Attack it already!"

Lao Tou sprang forward impatiently when Lao Ren still hadn't counterattacked. The Kraken, sensing the danger, whipped its tentacles at him, but the bald old man dodged its attacks with a speed and graceful agility that belied his advanced age. Weaving through the mass of tentacles, Lao Tou leaped up and ran along one writhing tentacle before jumping onto the next when the Kraken tried to swat him off. Hopping from one wriggling appendate to another, Lao Tou closed in on the bulbous main body of the Kraken and lunged at it.

"Hah!"

Cocking his fist back, he punched the Kraken. There was a blinding explosion of qi that forced me to shut my eyes – my glasses automatically darkened to protect my eyesight – and the Kraken was momentarily dislodged from the Mo Bi Di Ke. When my sight cleared, I couldn't help but be surprised to see blood gushing oout of a huge rupture in its main body.

But the Kraken was far from dead. If anything, Lao Tou's lethal attack only served to enrage it more than incapacitate it.

Whoosh!

"Whoa!"

Lao Tou tucked his legs to his chest and spun away from one tentacle, then twisted around to punch another into oblivion. Unfortunately, even as he disarmed the Kraken, the gargantuan sea beast had more than twelve tentacles. Driven into a frenzy, it was attacking indiscriminately, its tentacles lashing out at the other passengers on deck.

"AAAAH!"

One of the crewmen was knocked overboard by the tenatcles, his body nearly reduced to a pulp. Even without knowing whether he survived the blow, Mo Fa reached out with her staff and used a technique to slow his fall and levitate his broken body back to the deck. Qiang Zhe was forced to protect her, standing in front to slice another errant tentacle.

"Mistress! Watch out!"

Zhao Shi and Da Ge jumped in front of Zi Xiao Ji to protect her, but they were overwhelmed by the sheer numbers. Despite cutting and hacking away, one tentacle managed to get through their defenses and knocked the poor girl off her feet.

I know this might sound strange, almost as if the Kraken was aiming for Zi Xiao Ji, but it really was a coincidence. The Kraken wasn't consciously targeting anyone…at least I didn't think so…but there were just too many tentacles approaching from too many angle for the pair of bodyguards to cover. Not to mention, Zi Xiao Ji was just standing around the deck, as if waiting for the Kraken to hit her. I later learned that she was looking for an opening to strike, but Zi Xiao Ji's skills were a bit unique, so even though she seemed useless in combat, she wasn't necessarily so.

It just took certain conditions for her to activate her fearsome combat techniques.

Unfortunately, being whacked by a tentacle certainly didn't seem like one of those conditions. Zi Xiao Ji's huge, cute eyes widened before she was struck.

Except that she wasn't struck.

The severed tentacle fell short just several centimeters shy of her face, flopping helplessly like a fish out of water. I landed, my swords dripping with blood. Before she could thank me, I was knocked away by another couple of stray tentacles that had broken away from Zhao Shi and Da Ge's attentions and were rampaging across the deck.

"Kuh!"

I managed to use a footwork technique to arrest my slide and alter my trajectory in midair so that I wouldn't drop into the sea. Just barely grabbing hold of the railing, I managed to swing myself around and threw myself back onto the deck. Kneeling, I glanced up, only to see another tentacle barreling toward me.

This time, I was the one who was saved. Da Ge cleaved the tentacle millimeters before it could reach me, causing the large appendage to crash onto the floor.

"That was close!" he told me with a grin, and then proceeded to deal with the rest of the tentacles still waving around.

"You idiot!" Lao Ren was shouting at Lao Tou. "You made the damned thing angrier! This is why I didn't want to carelessly attack it!"

"Huh?!" Lao Tou retorted. "If you're so smart, then why don't you find a way to solve this problem? Eh?"

"Both respected elders, please stop arguing," Yi Shan pleaded calmly before slashing at the Kraken with his sword. The massive arc of qi rippled through the frothy waters before slamming into the Kraken with devastating effect. The giant squid squealed and recoiled, but it was a lot tougher than the Smoker Pirates' ship and remained in one piece. A shadow flickered across Yi Shan's composed expression as he noted the enemy's resilience. "We need to work together to eliminate the threat in front of us."

"As ashamed as I am to admit it, the youngsters are acting way more mature than us old bones," Lao Ren remarked wryly with a shake of his head.

"Ugh…" Lao Tou had no rebuttal to that.

Using my footwork techniques, I tried to imitate Lao Tou's earlier maneuver by weaving through the mass of tentacles – which were steadily being reduced by the team of martial artists. Jumping on top of a tentacle, I ran parallel to Lao Tou, who had repeated the exact same move he pulled earlier. Both of us jumped and crisscrossed each other, even as the tentacles rose and tried to swat us off the appendages we were running on.

"Heh…impressive."

Lao Tou noticed my efforts and smiled grudgingly.

I was too focused on running and dodging to respond, however, ducking under a whiplike strike and then using Duo to switch tentacles. There were too many tentacles to eliminate, and at the rate we were going, we could spend days cutting them down and we would still get nowhere.

No, to overcome this crisis, we had to tackle the root of the problem. We had to eliminate the core of the Kraken.

Nearing the bulbous body, I leaped off another tentacle, and then bounced off another to reach a relatively unmoving one. Even as that final tentacle rumbled violently beneath my feet, I was already propelling myself into the air to ready myself for an attack.

Heavenly Draconic Meteor Strike!

Swinging both swords, I materialized my qi into dragon-shaped meteors that thundered down from the heavens and slammed into the Kraken's face. One even went into the Kraken's open beak, smashing several teeth apart and tearing a path through its gullet.

"KREEEEEE!!!!!!"

The Kraken wailed as it recoiled, withdrawing its writing tentacles en masse.

"Whoa!"

Realizing that my footwork wouldn't save me from sheer numbers, even as I executed Duo to the utmost of my ability, I raised both my swords to defend myself from the mass of thrashing appendages. I would have to cut a retreat path through that wall of suckers, but judging from the sheer strength and numbers I knew I wouldn't emerge unscathed.

"Geez…you younglings are always so impatient."

"?!"

I felt a hand seize me around the waist and snatch me up. Glancing up, my jaw dropped when I caught sight of Lao Ren. He was carrying me like a puppy, jumping on one of the tentacles that was relatively near the core of the Kraken. Holding out his free hand, he executed a Fiery Lotus Palm that obliterated the wall of tentacles and burned a massive hole through them. Without even waiting for the fires to go out, he kicked off and sailed through the opening he had just razed through the tentacles and elegantly landed on the deck.

"Going for the core of the Kraken was a good plan, but you didn't really think you could escape the Kraken's retaliation, did you?"

"Well, I…uh…"

"Still, for someone of your age, that was a good attack."

Lao Ren nodded approvingly before he dropped me on the floor. I blinked and sat up, still bewildered by what had just transpired.

"You…"

Zhao Shi was shaking her head as she, Zi Xiao Ji and Da Ge approached me. She placed her hands on her hips.

"…is it my imagination, or aren't you being overly reckless? This isn't the first time. Even during that time against the Ice Soul Python…"

"Oh? You youngsters fought against an Ice Soul Python?" Lao Ren stroked his beard as he turned to study us curiously.

"Yeah," Zi Xiao Ji replied excitedly with a nod.

"Speaking of which, you also risked your life to save our little mistress," Da Ge remarked as he fell into deep thought. He frowned. "I thought you were chasing after Junior Tang Qi Hong, though."

"Chasing…that's a bit…"

"It wasn't just Mistress, though." Zhao Shi sighed. "He also saved me during that time with the Ice Soul Python…it was my fault he almost got swallowed…"

Hey, I actually did get swallowed, you know…

"Oh, and that time with the Sea King too…" Da Ge recalled. "You tried to save everyone on the ship."

"Brother Wu is a true hero! That's why Sister Qi Hong likes him!"

I knew Zi Xiao Ji meant well, but her mention of Tang Qi Hong brought about a sting in my heart. Qi Hong had essentially rejected when I practically confessed to her a couple of months ago. But Zi Xiao Ji obviously didn't know that.

"Even so, your actions to save everyone are bothering on recklessness." Zhao Shi gave me a reprimanding look. "You should take care of yourself more. It's almost as if you were desperate…almost as if you were afraid that any of us would get hurt."

A faint memory of Hu Shi and her son, Hu Hai, came to mind, but I forcibly pushed that away. I had come a long way since that time. I had attained the strength I needed. This time, I was going to protect everyone. I was going to ensure no innocent ever got hurt in front of me again…

"Cut the chitchat and take care of this monster first!"

Lao Tou was hollering from the front as he, Qiang Zhe, Yi Shan and Du Yan were engaging the Kraken in bloody, brutal battle. Qiang Zhe carved a bloody path through the Kraken with his spear while Yi Shan cleaved more tentacles away with each swing of his huge sword. Du Yan dodged before stabbing parts of the Kraken with pinpoint accuracy, causing it to shriek in pain.

As for Lao Tou, he was literally beating up the monster with his bare hands, raining down massive blows that sent the fifty-meter long Kraken shuddering from the sheer impact. Somehow Lao Tou seemed more of a monster than the Kraken.

"You guys look like you have the situation in hand," Lao Ren called out mischievously. Lao Tou cursed him, but his swearing was drowned out by the screeches of the Kraken when he vented his fury upon its poor body. Literal whole chunks disintegrated under the power of his punches.

The bald old man was amazing. I knew that from the start, but witnessing his skills with my very own eyes…now I knew why he came along on this mission to hunt the Void Whale.

"Hey, you youngsters!" Lao Tou snapped at Qiang Zhe, Yi Shan and Du Yan. The three veteran professionals turned to look at him inquisitively. "I need you to open a path for me. Cut all the tentacles that are in the way. Can you do that?"

"Sure, but what are you…?"

Lao Tou grinned deviously at Qiang Zhe's question. "I'll deliver the finishing blow."

"I understand. I'll leave it to you then, Senior."

Yi Shan did not hesitate. Along with his fellow brothers from the Iron Mountain Sect, they swung their weapons and unleashed qi strikes that could cleave mountains into pieces. The Kraken shuddered and tried to protect itself with its tentacles, but the vast majority of them were annihilated in that single instant.

Qiang Zhe and Du Yan surged forward, swinging their spear and sword respectively. Crimson lances and azure blades of qi rippled outward from them and sheared off the remaining tentacles that barred the path to the Kraken's core body.

"Now, Senior!" Qiang Zhe shouted.

"You don't need to tell me twice!"

Hollering, Lao Tou shot forward like a missile, literally disappearing from sight. The next thing we knew, another tremendous explosion rocked the Kraken, which promptly blew up in a bloody mist of chunks and pieces.

"Finally." Standing on top of the water's surface, Lao Tou dusted off his hands in an attempt to shake the blood away. "That bloody Kraken was a nuisance."

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