Samsara Paradise: Dream Weaver of Connections.

Just as the little boy was answering the question, he suddenly started coughing violently.

The coughing came without warning, yet was unusually violent.

The little boy's thin body was hunched over like a shrimp, his shoulders heaving violently, and each cough seemed to be trying to cough up his lungs.

His hands gripped the edge of the table tightly, and the red veins on his face became even more prominent as he coughed, as if something was wriggling under his skin.

The noise in the tavern gradually quieted down with this cough.

Except for those pirates who were fast asleep on the table, all the other pirates stood up at this moment, their movements surprisingly synchronized.

They picked up their glasses, grabbed the clutter on the table, and began moving towards the tavern door.

The footsteps were quick, almost jogging, but no one dared to actually run, as if running in the tavern would trigger some terrible consequences.

But as they left, the pirates were still cursing and swearing.

"Damn it, why did I have to end up here of all places?"

A pirate with a full beard was squeezing towards the door while cursing. Half of the wine in his hand was spilled on his clothes, but he didn't bother to wipe it off.

"Let's go quickly, the Blood Raven is about to bloom, and I don't want to get infected with the Blood Raven disease."

The other pirate's voice was sharper, filled with obvious fear.

He squeezed through the doorway, practically hugging the frame, and disappeared into the night without looking back.

Blood crow disease.

Lin Yi's gaze fell on the frantically throbbing red veins on his face, and he understood what was going on.

The mark left on him by the legendary pirate known as the Black Sea King Agati is about to take effect.

The pirates inside the tavern scrambled to escape through the door, knocking tables and chairs over and over, and pushing and slamming the wooden door shut with a loud bang.

In less than a minute, the once lively tavern was almost empty, leaving only a few drunkards lying unconscious in a corner, snoring loudly, completely unaware of what was happening outside.

Shangyue stood up, her black wings slightly unfurled, and took a few steps back.

It wasn't fear, but caution.

In this strange world where you encounter an unknown curse, keeping your distance is the most basic rule of survival.

Mond also stood up. Although demons have strong resistance to curses, there was no need to risk his life.

Only Lin Yi remained still.

He remained seated, his gaze calmly fixed on the trembling little boy before him.

With a cracking sound.

The sound was soft, yet it was particularly jarring in the silence of the tavern.

The little boy's cheek was split open.

It's not a skin tear, but rather a blood vessel under the skin that can't withstand the pressure and bursts open from the inside out.

The vein slowly stretched out from the cheek, like a small red snake awakening from its slumber, peeking out from under the skin.

Then came the second one, and the third one.

One by one, the blood vessels burst open from under his skin, stretching out and forming a strange red pattern on his face.

Blood seeped from the wound, flowing down his cheek and dripping onto his clothes, quickly spreading a dark red stain.

This triggered a chain reaction.

More blood vessels began to throb, more skin began to crack, and those red lines spread from the cheeks to the neck, and from the neck to the arms, cracking the skin wherever they went to reveal the throbbing blood vessels and the vaguely visible muscles underneath.

The little boy touched his cheek with trembling hands.

His fingertips touched the first vein to extend, the touch warm and soft, like touching the body of a living thing.

At that moment, his body froze.

He looked down at his hands, at the blood on his fingertips, at the red lines that were still spreading, and his whole body began to tremble violently.

"Impossible, there are still several months to go, it can't be this fast."

His voice was hoarse and broken, filled with barely concealed fear and despair.

For the first time, an expression appropriate for someone that age appeared on that previously calm face.

It wasn't because of the pain, but because I discovered that fate was crueler than I had imagined.

He looked up at the tavern ceiling, then at the empty tables and chairs, and finally at Lin Yi sitting in front of him.

Something was going out in those overly bright eyes.

He opened his mouth as if to say something, but before he could utter a word, he was interrupted by an even more violent cough.

This time, he coughed up not only air, but also a large mouthful of blood.

The blood splattered on the table and on his clothes.

Just as the little boy was resigned to his death, Lin Yi suddenly placed his left hand on his shoulder.

The next second, a soft light shone from above the little boy's head.

The little boy felt a warm energy surge into his body from the top of his head, spreading through his blood vessels to his limbs and bones.

Purification technique.

Treatment techniques.

Two skills landed on his head at the same time.

Wherever the light passed, the wildly throbbing red veins seemed to have encountered a natural enemy and began to contract violently.

They retracted from the arms, from the neck, from the cheeks, and finally all returned to the original location of the crack.

The ruptured wounds began to heal.

Unbroken skin regenerates at a visible rate in the light, re-encasing exposed blood vessels.

The little boy, who had felt that everything in front of him was dark, suddenly found that his eyes had regained their color.

Following the hand resting on his shoulder, he saw the calm face of its owner.

If he still doesn't understand what happened, then he's wasted all these years on this sea.

He simply tilted his head back, looking at Lin Yi with those overly bright eyes, tears silently sliding down his cheeks, following the bloodstains that had not yet completely dried.

But before he could speak, the sound of flapping wings suddenly entered the tavern.

The voice was very soft, so soft that it was almost imperceptible, but the perception of the people present was far beyond that of ordinary people.

They both looked up at the same time, their eyes fixed on the direction from which the sound came.

Su Xiao slightly unsheathed the Dragon Slayer Blade, the blade sliding half an inch out of the scabbard, a flash of blue-green lightning disappearing from the blade.

His movements were subtle, but his meaning was clear.

If anything goes wrong here, the Dragon Slayer will immediately sever the enemy's head.

A crow had landed on the ceiling beam sometime during the night.

The crow was slightly larger than ordinary crows, and its feathers were dark red, gleaming with an eerie blood-red sheen under the dim light.

Its eyes were pitch black, so black they looked like two hollowed-out holes, filled with an indescribable indifference.

It shook its wings and flew down from the ceiling, landing steadily on the wooden table in front of Su Xiao.

Those dark eyes swept over Su Xiao, finally landing on Lin Yi, and the little boy under Lin Yi's command who was still crying.

"Is it you who killed my seed?"

The voice, indistinguishable between male and female, came from the crow's beak.

The voice was flat, without any emotional fluctuations, but what lay beneath that flatness was something that everyone present could sense—the indifference that only someone who held the power of life and death over others could possess.

Su Xiao remained silent.

His hand remained on the hilt of the sword, and the part of the sword that had been drawn from its sheath, Zanryusen, maintained that perfect angle.

Blue-green lightning slowly flowed along the blade, enveloping the crow entirely within its perception range.

Lin Yi withdrew his hand from the little boy's shoulder and turned his gaze to the crow.

"For no reason, I just don't like you."

His voice was flat, as flat as if he were saying that the weather was nice today.

But the content of those words caused the air in the room to freeze for a moment.

Even though his opponent was a legendary pirate, Lin Yi was not intimidated at all.

When it comes to numbers, Lin Yi has never been afraid of anyone. If it really comes down to a fight, he has hundreds of thousands of divine troops waiting to be summoned.

The reason they didn't summon it was entirely to use it as a trump card, since no one knew how many more rounds there would be in the battle for supremacy.

But if the other party really pisss him off, he doesn't mind showing them what an unkillable enemy is.

The crow remained silent for a few seconds.

Those dark eyes stared at Lin Yi, as if reassessing the weight of the person in front of him.

"why?"

Its voice was still the same indistinguishable tone for men and women, but there was a subtle change in its intonation.

It's not fear, but vigilance.

"We paid but haven't even asked for any information yet. We can't just let the person die like this."

The little boy was stunned when he heard this.

I see.

It turns out it was just because the intelligence hadn't been obtained yet.

Not out of sympathy, not out of pity, not for any great reason.

It's all about profit, transactions, and the most basic exchange of value.

But this, ironically, rekindled a faint glimmer of light in the flame that had been extinguished within him.

Because it means that he is valuable in this person's eyes.

They are not pitiful creatures in need of saving, but rather objects to be traded, bargaining chips for providing intelligence.

In this dog-eat-dog world, only those who have value can survive.

The crow witnessed the entire scene.

A complex light flashed in its dark eyes before it looked at Lin Yi again.

"I see. But... killing my seed isn't enough to let it go."

Its voice remained calm, but beneath that calmness lay a threatening undertone.

As the captain of one of the three legendary pirate crews of the Viking Sea, he couldn't tolerate someone killing his possession and then acting as if nothing had happened. It wasn't because the seed was so important, but because of his pride.

Pirates' reputation was built on blood and fire.

Once lost, it's very difficult to pick it up again.

Lin Yi's lips twitched slightly upon hearing this.

That wasn't a smile, but a more subtle expression—like looking at an overconfident provocateur.

He took something out of his pocket.

It was a prop about the size of a palm, dark gold in color, and shaped like a square cone.

This is a legendary item that Lin Yi obtained before. Its effect is very simple: it can directly give the opponent a kill mark.

Click.

A very slight, crisp sound.

The prop crumbled in his palm, turning into countless tiny golden specks of light that scattered in all directions.

The points of light scattered extremely quickly, and the crow sensed a strange fluctuation spreading from them, instantly enveloping the entire tavern.

Somewhere far away, on the cursed sail where the Black Sea King's true form resides.

It looked down at the back of its hand.

A mark appeared there.

The blood-red mark, about the size of a thumb, is in the form of complex runes and is deeply imprinted on the skin.

The edges of the mark continued to spread outwards, as if it were alive, spreading up his arm.

The most terrifying thing is that it has tried its best to remove this mark, but to no avail.

No method could remove the mark.

It tried to use the power of the curse within its body to erode the mark, but the mark remained unmoved.

The power of the secret artifact was used to dispel the mark, but it spread even faster.

This is completely beyond its comprehension.

The crow's words suddenly became sharp.

"What does this mean?!"

The voice was no longer the calm tone it had before; it was now filled with obvious shock and anger.

Its dark eyes were fixed on Lin Yi, as if trying to see right through him.

Lin Yi looked down at the crows in front of him.

His gaze was calm, so calm it was almost indifferent.

That condescending posture didn't look like he was looking at a legendary pirate, but rather at an arrogant ant.

"Get out of here."

He only said those three words.

The crow froze.

It stood on the wooden table, its dark eyes flashing with an uncertain light.

Anger, fear, hesitation—various emotions flashed across its eyes.

As one of the three most powerful pirates at sea, Black Sea King Agati cannot afford to lose face.

If we were to leave in such a disgraceful manner today, it would become a laughing stock throughout the entire Viking Sea.

But through the Blood Raven, it could sense the presence of the group of people in front of it.

He couldn't see through it.

It's completely unfathomable.

Putting everything else aside, Lin Yi's ability to track his own body in reverse through the Blood Raven was something that Black Sea King Agati, who had roamed the seas for so many years, had never seen anyone do before.

What does this ability mean? It means that if Lin Yi had wanted to, he could have followed that mark to find his true form and fought him head-on on the Cursed Sail.

The fact that he dared to do this shows that he had the confidence to do so.

A cold smile flashed across Black Sea King Agati's face.

"I will remember what happened today."

When it said this, its tone had returned to its previous calmness.

But what lay hidden beneath that ordinariness was something that everyone present could sense.

That was a temporary concession, not an abandonment.

The crows began to move.

It flew off the wooden table and landed on the head of a pirate who was lying in the corner.

A cold glint flashed in those dark eyes, and the raven lowered its head, gently pecking at the pirate's neck.

The pirate's body twitched once, then remained completely still.

The crow flew to the second pirate, and then the third pirate.

Each fall takes a life.

It is clearing out the surrounding pirates.

Even though it chickened out, it couldn't let others know that it had chickened out.

Those pirates who witnessed what just happened must die.

Those sleeping pirates were killed in their sleep, without even having time to utter a scream.

Their bodies slumped under the table, against the wall, or beside their companions, blood gushing from the wounds on their necks and pooling into dark red puddles on the ground.

As for the little boy...

Black Sea King Agati's gaze lingered on him for a moment.

He also wanted to get rid of this seed that had witnessed shame. But the other party was clearly being protected by Lin Yi, and since he had been on his ship before, there would be plenty of ways to find him later.

If he didn't want to die, he would never have blurted out what happened today.

To Black Sea King Agati, the death of a seed is a trivial matter.

It would be unwise to make an enemy of a powerful but unknown person over such a trivial matter; the effort put in is completely disproportionate to the reward.

It can be said that Black Sea King Agati brought the ruthlessness and shrewdness of pirates to the extreme.

After clearing away the spies around him, the crow flew back to the wooden table and landed in front of Lin Yi.

Its posture has changed.

It's no longer the condescending scrutiny of before, but a cautious, level gaze.

"So, what information do you want to find out?"

Its voice was still that indistinguishable tone, but the previous threat was gone, replaced by a pragmatic calmness.

Since Lin Yi is not someone we can provoke for the time being, it is best to try to improve our relationship.

Pirates may be ruthless, but they are not stupid. It's always better to have one more friend than one more enemy.

Lin Yi glanced at Su Xiao.

Su Xiao remained standing by the window, her hand resting on the hilt of her knife.

"Evil God".

He opened his mouth and only said two words.

But the moment those two words were uttered, the air in the tavern seemed to freeze for a moment.

The crow's body suddenly froze.

For the first time, genuine astonishment appeared in those dark eyes.

"The afterglow of twilight, the king of the night. The origin of despair, the master of all."

These are the ancient gods of this world.

"You're courting death, and that's not just a legend."

The crow's cries grew low, carrying an undisguised solemnity.

As a legendary pirate of the Viking Sea, it knew better than anyone what that existence meant.

That was not something pirates could covet, nor even something humans could covet.

That is the root of this world, the nightmare of this world, the source of despair in this world.

Anyone who tries to get close to it will go completely insane in despair.

Su Xiao's expression remained unchanged upon hearing this.

"That's better."

He only said three words, but what those three words contained made the crow's pupils contract again.

"You madman, do you even know what you're looking for?"

The crow's cries became shrill, carrying with them an undisguised fear.

It wasn't because of Su Xiao's words, but because it saw something in Su Xiao's eyes.

It had only seen that look in a very few people—the kind of look that only truly fearless people possess.

Su Xiao glanced at it, a cold glint flashing in her eyes.

"They're just gods, it's not like we haven't killed them before."

The moment those words were spoken, Black Sea King Agati was shaken to his core.

Looking at Su Xiao's expression, and at the calm, still light in those half-closed eyes, it suddenly realized something—these guys were the real lunatics.

They really did kill gods.

This realization made Black Sea King Agati feel a long-lost emotion for the first time.

regret.

It's starting to regret getting involved in this.

The pirates it had personally killed, now lying in pools of blood, were ironically considered lucky.

Because they don't have to face this fact, they don't have to know what kind of people they are dealing with.

The crow remained silent for a long time. (End of Chapter)