Yefutidaolu

Chapter 360 Test of Courage and Speed

The East China Sea has arrived.

They had reached the edge of the sea, about a thousand miles from the shore.

To be honest, this distance is just touching the edge of that vast and boundless sea.

Upon landing on the water's surface, Ancestor Yuanlu, carrying his profound insights, abruptly withdrew his escape light, retreating with the speed of a meteor, and gently landed on the sea like a falling leaf.

The sea surface shimmered, and the air was filled with a salty, fishy smell.

Gao Jian exerted a little force under his feet and stood firmly. He was now at the sixth realm, and walking on water was nothing unusual for him. However, as a martial artist, his main way of walking on water was not through magic, but by using his body to tread water at a high frequency and low intensity. Therefore, ripples always appeared under his feet.

Yuan Lu's situation was much simpler; standing on the water was no different from standing on land.

One is a magical method, and the other is a physical method.

Looking around, he saw a clear blue sky and sea, with seagulls soaring overhead—a scene of peace and tranquility, completely different from the treacherous Dragon Pool he had imagined. He couldn't help but wonder, "Senior, is this the place? The place for comprehending the 'True Explanation of Transformation and Return to Origin' is so close to the mainland? Do we still need to venture deeper into the East China Sea?"

Yuan Lu did not answer, but slowly raised his right hand. A small boat appeared out of thin air in his palm.

At first glance, this small boat appears to be nothing more than a toy in the palm of your hand, like a model. Its entire body seems to be carved from some kind of spiritual wood, exquisite and unparalleled, with every detail meticulously rendered. It features multi-story pavilions, carved beams and painted rafters, and windows with intricate latticework. The lines of the hull are smooth, and divine patterns are faintly visible on the keel. The bow is proudly shaped like a dragon's head, while the stern sways like a phoenix's tail. Although it is only an inch long, it exudes a majestic aura that can suppress the vast waves.

The next moment, Yuan Lu let out a soft shout, and the miniature ship model suddenly flew out of his hand, growing larger as it faced the wind.

As the ship surged, the calm sea was instantly engulfed by towering waves! The tiny model transformed into a colossal vessel with a capacity of tens of thousands of bushels in an instant!
It is over a hundred feet long and several tens of feet wide, with towering pavilions as majestic as mountains, its entire body shimmering with spiritual light.

The giant ship crashed onto the surging waves, and no matter how the raging sea crashed against it, the ship remained as steady as a rock, without even the slightest sway.

"Get on board." Yuan Lu's voice was indifferent. In a flash, he stood on the railing of the highest pavilion on the giant ship.

Gao Jian followed closely behind, landing on the deck. He felt incredibly stable under his feet, as if walking on flat ground, and the turbulence brought by the wind and waves had completely disappeared.

Only then did Yuan Lu answer Gao Jian's earlier question: "The depths of the East Sea are fraught with danger. Even with my protection, it is not foolproof. The creatures of this sea will stop at nothing for power and victory. Their audacity and treacherous schemes are enough to leave even the cultivators of the Divine Dynasty speechless. It is always better to be cautious."

His gaze swept across the calm sea, as if he had seen it.

The words have not yet been spoken!

"Ow—!"

"Hiss!"

Several sharp, eerie roars suddenly rang out from all directions! The calm sea surface suddenly exploded, and several dark figures, like arrows released from a bow, carrying a strong fishy wind and violent demonic energy, rushed straight towards the suddenly appearing giant ship with overwhelming spiritual energy!

Gao Jian stared intently at it, his pupils contracting.

The attacker was indeed a demon, but its form... gave him a strong sense of unease and astonishment.

These sea monsters were varied in appearance. Some had fish heads, but their lower bodies were connected to several tentacles that gleamed with a cold metallic light. Others had human-like bodies, but their arms had been replaced with hideous bone scythes, and several fleshy tubes that constantly spewed poisonous mist were stuck in their backs.

Another one had half its body a writhing mass of flesh and pus, while the other half was covered in rusty steel armor. One eye was a cloudy yellow, while the other was a cold, red crystal.

They are covered with rough and violent signs of modification.

The muscles were swollen and knotted from the drug's stimulation, almost bursting through the skin, and oozing disgusting mucus.

Unidentified metal bearings were embedded in the joints, emitting a harsh friction sound when rotated.

He roared intermittently, "Steal the ship! Baby...kill them all!" His eyes were filled with only the most primal greed and bloodlust, completely unaware of his own twisted and terrifying form, which clearly showed that he was suffering great pain!
It's impossible for someone not to be in pain, but to remain conscious indicates that enough anesthesia was administered.

“These marks…” Gao Jian frowned, a chill running through him.

This is not normal cultivation and evolution at all; it's a case of forcing growth and drinking poison to quench thirst! In pursuit of immediate combat power, they are willing to sacrifice all physical form and future potential, transforming themselves into pure killing monsters!

Yuan Lu did not turn around, but simply flicked the wide sleeves of his black robe behind him casually.

hum!
puff!puff!puff!
Like bubbles bursting, those menacing and terrifying modified sea monsters didn't even have time to scream before their bodies exploded in mid-air, dozens of feet away from the giant ship, like rotten tomatoes crushed by an invisible giant hand.

Various pieces of meat, metal parts, and foul-smelling bodily fluids rained down on the sea, only to be instantly swallowed by the surging waves, as if they had never existed.

Yuan Lu then slowly turned around, his voice still calm: "Be careful, these are just low-level fry from the East China Sea, not even cannon fodder."

"The East Sea is just like this." He stood with his hands behind his back, looking down at the vast sea. "Apart from the pure-blooded, high and mighty true dragons, and a few powerful clans with profound foundations, the rest are more or less tainted by this strangeness. Here, body modification techniques are as rampant as breathing. They are also very bold, daring to do anything, even if the method is wrong. So, it is common to see such modifiers who modify bodies as casually as children building sandcastles."

"There are countless examples of people who transform themselves into non-human monsters, or even replace their entire physical body with magical artifact components."

"Flesh mutation, mechanical implants, symbiotic poison sacs, soul cutting... all sorts of bizarre and disgusting techniques are emerging one after another, just to make themselves stronger in the shortest amount of time."

However, Yuan Lu shook his head: "But don't be fooled. These modifications sound impressive, but in reality, they are based on a weak foundation and have exhausted their potential. They have only turned themselves into walking arsenals, sacrificing everything to gain that seemingly fierce combat power. Such methods are nothing but dust in the face of the true Dao."

Gao Jian remained silent, only nodding slightly. He looked at the sea, which had been dyed red and then quickly returned to its azure blue, and felt a sense of感慨 (gǎnkǎi, a feeling of mixed emotions, including admiration and reflection).

Don't these monsters know that this kind of modification is wrong?

Then why continue?

There can only be one answer... and that is—

No choice.

If given a choice, who would willingly put themselves in this state?

The giant ship began to move, cutting through the waves and sailing towards the deep sea where the true dragon dwells.

However... what Gao Jian saw and heard during the next few days of the voyage completely overturned his understanding of cultivation, and also made him deeply understand how understated Yuan Lu's words "strange" were! He saw a monster with a shark's head but six spider-like metal limbs, crawling and hunting at high speed among the reefs.

He sensed a "aggregate" lurking in the deep sea, its aura raging, its size as large as a small mountain, but its body forcibly stitched together from countless small sea beasts, constantly howling and struggling.

He caught a glimpse of a moving "island" in the distance, which was actually forged from the remains of countless sea monsters and discarded magical artifacts, exuding an aura of chaos and despair.

He even witnessed a small-scale battle at sea, where the "techniques" used by both sides were mostly abnormal—there were techniques that burned life essence to instantly unleash several times the power, and there were "Plague Body" techniques that implanted highly poisonous spores into the body and sprayed deadly poisonous mist when attacking; even more extreme, some directly detonated unstable energy cores embedded in their bodies, intending to perish together with their enemies.

Life has no meaning here. They go to their deaths just to live, and the meaning of living is to die at some point. They have no idea what the meaning of this place is.

Sacrifice all sensory pleasures, sacrifice all future possibilities, sacrifice the basic form of being a living being! All for this moment, in this bloody arena called "East Sea," to gain a tiny advantage—to oppress others or be oppressed by others!

Gao Jian was not affected by the flood while on the boat, but what he saw while traveling was already horrifying.

Nine out of ten of the demons, or rather, the "living beings" here, have completely lost their original racial origins. They are a group of deformed creatures created by a mixture of greed, pain, and madness!

Gao Jian had heard of the eighteen levels of hell described in Buddhist scriptures. There were all sorts of hells, such as the Hell of Sharp Blades, the Hell of Tongue Pulling, the Hell of Boiling Oil, the Hell of Great Red Lotus, the Hell of Fire and Hail, and the Hell of Avici Hell.

And the East China Sea is simply a hell of involution!
Its cruelty surpasses even that of hell!

Madness is the dominant theme of this sea!

"Hanging one's head from the rafters and pricking one's thigh with an awl"? That's just a mild method used by ordinary students to wake themselves from drowsiness! Here, in order to maintain absolute clarity and excitement, and to squeeze out every bit of potential, the methods used by the sea creatures are chilling!

Gao Jian's gaze swept over a simple island made of coral and bones, where hundreds of low-level sea monsters of various shapes and sizes were gathered, clearly cultivating.

Some of them use large bone nails to nail their tails or limbs to the reefs to prevent themselves from fainting and falling into the sea during the excruciating pain of cultivation.

Some people wrap the highly venomous tentacles of sea anemones around their heads, allowing the toxins to constantly stimulate their nerves and keep them in a state of extreme excitement. The price is skin ulceration and huge wounds, but it keeps them awake.

Even more extreme cases involve cutting open one's own skull and stuffing it with a strange sea urchin that flashes with an eerie blue light and continuously releases electrical currents to stimulate the brain!
Every training session was a form of torture! They roared in pain, frantically circulated their techniques, their eyes filled only with an extreme thirst for power and a deep wariness of their fellow beings.

Sacrifice everything for that slim chance of a breakthrough!

They abandoned their comfortable forms, transforming themselves into ferocious fighting machines; they gave up their long lifespans, using secret medicines and modifications to overdraw their vitality in exchange for a brief burst of power; they abandoned emotions, reason, and even the most basic dignity of living beings, all just to climb up that insignificant little space on the chain of the survival of the fittest!

But the reality is cold and despairing.

It is obvious that even if you push yourself to the brink of exhaustion and sacrifice your body and soul to 'power', in the end... only one in ten thousand can truly break through their own shackles and struggle out of this boundless sea of ​​blood.

Vicious competition is everywhere!
Cooperation? Win-win? That's a pipe dream here!

Resources are limited, and opportunities are fleeting.

The discovery of a sacred cave is enough to turn peaceful neighbors into bitter enemies, locked in a life-or-death struggle.

A fragmented jade slip containing cultivation techniques could spark a frenzied struggle among dozens of races, resulting in rivers of blood.

Furthermore, to reduce potential competitors, a heinous "extermination" strategy prevails among the sea creatures—once a weaker group shows signs of producing a genius or gaining an opportunity, a stronger force immediately pounces and nipps it in the bud, sparing not even the young! They do not believe in common development, but rather in "If I can't have it, you can't have it either; if I can't have it, then I'll destroy everything!"

The air in this sea area is filled with a suffocating, highly toxic substance called "involution"!

Every living being, from the moment of its birth, is forced into this endless, brutal competition where life and soul are at stake.

Like spinning tops whipped by an invisible lash, they can only spin faster and faster, more and more frantically, until they are shattered to pieces, turning into an insignificant splash of blood in this hellish painting.

This is a 'test of courage' race.

Two people are driving a car and speeding towards the edge of a cliff to see who can stop first. The first person to stop loses, and the price of losing is death. However... if they don't slow down and keep going, the person who ends up off the cliff will also die.

All living beings in the East China Sea were caught up in this test of courage and speed.

If you don't brake and overshoot the mark, you'll die. If you brake and are overtaken by the people behind you, you'll also die. Everyone is trembling with fear, walking on thin ice, rushing forward frantically, not daring to stop for even a moment. Even if they have to use every means, even if they lose everything they have, they absolutely cannot stop.

Compared to the East China Sea, the competition within the Divine Dynasty is truly... mild and refined.

Gao Jian slowly closed his eyes and took a deep breath of the air, which was filled with the strong smell of blood and the sea.

When he opened his eyes again, the chill in his eyes was even greater, but there was also a hint of indescribable understanding.

"The way of natural selection... the survival of the fittest..."

This reminded him of cinnabar.

No wonder Dan Sha... has this attitude and that view of the world.

It could even be said that the fact that Dansha, living in such a place, has that kind of personality is enough to show that she is kind by nature. If she had any evil thoughts in her heart, they would only be spawned into something even more terrifying in a place like the East Sea.

Cruelty is an understatement to describe even a fraction of it!

The giant ship cut through layers of bloody waves and resolutely sailed towards the deeper and darker sea. What kind of scene awaited them in the core territory belonging to the true dragon?
Gao Jian took a deep breath.

No matter what, he has to go.

However, at that moment, Gao Jian saw a small demon being chased not far away, right in front of the giant ship.

The little demon leaped up, trying to rush onto the giant ship.

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(End of this chapter)