Sea Cultivation: Giant Ships and Heavy Artillery Knock on the Door to All Races

Chapter 292 Blood Rust Tide, Soul Devouring Incident
"According to historical records from the palace, a fragment that was lost was on this Daishan warship..."

Even the well-traveled Yun Suying felt a chill when she saw the seabed covered in blood rust and the Daishan ship thoroughly corroded by blood rust in the middle. However, the forbidden fragments were of great importance and there was no room for retreat.

"attack!"

"Eclipse Moon Slash!"

No one was willing to leave the Moon Goddess to investigate rashly. Instead, they tried to destroy the Daishan ship directly using the formation. No matter what dangers lay ahead, they were not a concern in the face of a near-fourth-tier warship.

Qiang~
The Moon-Eater's Slash, as gentle as moonlight yet as sharp as a weapon, struck the Blood-Rusted Daishan warship, which had been dormant for millennia.

The Daishan warship, which should have been cut in two and disintegrated like those Blood Rust Demon Kings, was not shattered. Instead, it burst forth with intense blood-red light, as if boiling water had been added to a frying pan.

"Not good! Defend with all your might!"

Boom~
The Daishan ship, which had been relatively stable, immediately erupted with a violent shockwave. Not only was it the shockwave from the slash, but the ordinary blood rust in the surrounding seawater was also activated by the strange power in the shockwave.

The Luna, being closest to the Daishan, which was practically face-to-face with it, naturally bore the brunt of the blood and rust impact and faced the crisis head-on.

Sizzle~

The activated blood rust was rapidly eroding the Moon God's defensive array like it was devouring germs. The original cloud-like shield was quickly covered with mottled blood spots, and its defensive strength was constantly weakening.

"What a strange corrupting force! It's devouring the spiritual energy on the array and constantly growing and expanding. Even a near-fourth-order defensive array can't stop it?"

Even though the Golden Core cultivators of the Eclipse Moon Palace were well-informed, they had never seen such a scene before. Although the blood rust was troublesome, it would take them a while to break through the Moon God's ship.

"Quiet! Keep moving! Retrieve the fragments as quickly as possible!"

Yun Suying quickly regained her composure and directed the Moon Goddess to approach the Daishan ship again. Her objective was very clear, and she did not easily consider retreating.

the other side,
The Zhentao warship was on high alert and prepared for any eventuality from the moment it spotted the Lunar Palace airship descending from the sky.

Upon discovering that the moon in the sky had suddenly turned blood red, and that a blood moon had simultaneously appeared in the sea and exploded, they immediately sped away at full speed, fleeing the scene of the impact.

The shockwave from the explosion caused by the Moon Eclipse Slash was not particularly strong, but it activated all the Blood Rust in the surrounding sea. Whether it was the various Blood Rust items in the shipwreck or the Blood Rust creatures in the sea, they were all undergoing visible changes.

"Quickly! Quickly! Get out of here!"

Inside the Zhentao Ship, not only were high-grade spirit stones burning to provide power, but three Golden Core cultivators and even several other Pseudo-Core cultivators were also working their best to power the ship's Spirit Source Well, causing it to unleash its greatest power since its construction and escape the scene with all its might.

The Zhentao ship also lacks flight wings; if it had corresponding functional components, it might actually be able to take off under the enormous thrust.

It wasn't just the Misty Rain Island side; third-tier ships from the other four directions were also desperately fleeing. Those with third-tier ships providing protection were somewhat better off, but the ordinary second-tier spirit ships clearly had little chance of escaping this disaster.

"Ah~~~"

The Zhentao ship escaped in time, and the blood rust shockwave did not break through the Zhentao ship's defenses. However, a small number of Qi Refining Ship Crew members on the ship began to have blood rust spots appear on their bodies. They were very active and even out of control.

"Help...help me!"

The blood rust spots spread very quickly. A shipwright who originally only had a few blood spots on his palms could see them spreading to his forearms, upper arms, and even shoulders.

He tried to circulate his internal energy to resist, but to little avail; in fact, it accelerated the spread of the blood spots, instilling boundless fear in the crowd.

Chi~
Lin Qianfan acted decisively, severing the infected arm immediately and then using Foundation Establishment True Fire to burn the wound until it scabbed over, preventing it from being reinfected by trace amounts of blood rust in the air.

"Ah~"

The man's face turned deathly pale, and he couldn't help but scream.

Lin Qianfan ignored his miserable state and instead used his Foundation Establishment True Fire to burn away his blood-rusted severed arm.

The Foundation Establishment True Fire was extremely hot, and it easily burned the arm, which was already stained with active blood rust, to ashes. However, the active blood rust in the ashes was not completely extinguished; some residual blood rust remained, and it even tried to find new parasites in the surrounding area.

"What tenacious vitality!"

Lin Qianfan manipulated the puppet to throw it into the sea, and then checked the condition of the other crew members one by one to avoid any potential problems.

Indeed, this was not the only case of the disease. Several similar cases of blood rust infection occurred on the Zhentao ship, but all of them survived thanks to the "decisive" help of the Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Without exception, these people had ignored warnings and touched the blood rust in the past few days. They had not shown any abnormalities at the time, but tonight, under the guidance of the blood rust shockwave, they were activated.

What exactly did the Eclipse Palace do?

The source of the disaster clearly points to the actions just now taken by the Eclipse Palace.

What secrets does the Daishan warship hold?

A new disaster has begun!

Master Wuxia sighed as he looked at the second-tier spirit ships that had already left behind the Zhentao Ship. It seemed that all the people recruited this time had been wiped out, and even the Foundation Establishment cultivators among them could not escape death.

These were the elite forces of Misty Rain Island, and their complete loss here will require a long time to replenish their numbers.

However, the situation of the other four families is certainly not optimistic either. Or rather, the larger the scale of the salvage fleet recruited this time, the greater the losses. The Zhou family next door is the most severely affected. They sent many people to curry favor with the Lunar Palace, and most of them were from the same family. This time, they have been skinned alive.

Misty Rain Island and Eclipse Moon Palace have no direct subordinate relationship; they were only temporarily recruited to help. Now that a life-or-death crisis has occurred, it's natural that they can no longer stay here to risk their lives.
Without any hesitation, the Zhentao ship fled towards Wuyu Island, until it was completely out of the waters of the shipwreck site and the sea returned to normal, although the sea creatures were all desperately trying to escape.

"Where is the Carp Dragon Demon King? How is the Ancestor doing?"

Only then did the Lin family members remember the Carp Dragon Demon King in the sea; it didn't have the third-tier defensive array of the Zhentao Ship. "I'm alright, I won't die!"

Just then, a carp demon shrunk countless times darted into the defensive formation of the Zhentao Ship. It was the Carp Dragon Demon King. Although there were no obvious blood rust spots on its body, it was clearly injured.

"Ancestor, how badly are you injured?"

"This power is too strange. It strongly suppresses my demonic power, directly devours my blood, and even tries to multiply using my blood. Fortunately, I decisively gave up 20% of my essence blood and forced it all out. If I had been any later, the consequences would have been unimaginable!"

The Carp Dragon Demon King, still shaken, frankly expressed its feelings. Unlike the Zhentao Ship, it hadn't ventured deep into the area, but instead, guided by a vague sense of danger, it lingered on the outskirts of the shipwreck site.
When the impact came, it rushed out immediately and waited for the Zhentao ship. This time, it was a close call.

"It seems that those Blood Rust Demon Kings that appeared before were controlled in this way. If we are not vigilant in advance, once we are infected by them, we will have to cut off our flesh to survive immediately, otherwise we will surely die!"

Although the Zhentao ship successfully escaped, these active blood rusts will obviously continue to spread and expand with the ocean currents. If a large-scale infection occurs, who knows how much disaster it will cause.

"Xinglan, do you know what's going on?"

Lin Qianfan had borrowed records of strange tales and events related to Misty Rain Island a few days ago, but he couldn't find anything about it. In other words, Lin Qianfan still knew nothing about it.

"I don't really remember it. The world is so big, and countless strange things happen every day. There are always anecdotes that I don't know about."

"Is there any precedent in history for this kind of event that can absorb spiritual energy, parasitize blood, and infect anything containing spiritual power?"

"There are indeed similar events, which are collectively referred to in history as the 'Soul Devouring Events.' Each one is a disaster. This is the first time I've heard of one that manifests as blood rust."

"The Soul Devouring Incident?"

"In the vast world of the Vast Ocean, spiritual energy is the source of all mainstream power and plays the most important role in operating the world. The phenomenon of spirit devouring is a very rare negative spiritual energy effect. Every time it occurs, the consequences are serious, just like a mortal's body getting sick. It is a major blow and a major test to the body."

"That serious? Doesn't that mean..."

"This shouldn't be as bad as you think! Otherwise, we would have been dead long ago! Although Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment cultivators can't defend against it, Golden Core cultivators can effectively avoid it if they are on guard in advance. We just need to wait for the Nascent Soul cultivators to make their move, and they should be able to wipe it out!"

This kind of thing has happened several times in history, all of them large-scale disasters that caused irreversible damage, but they were all brought under control through global efforts. This time, however, it is clearly not going to be large-scale.

After swiftly escaping the core infection zone, the Zhentao warship returned to Wuyu Island immediately. It then used the island's dedicated communication array to continue informing Chaochun City about the matter, as only they could handle it.

Fearing that the cultivators on Misty Rain Island would be affected, the island's officials notified them not to touch any blood rust, to destroy any items with blood rust on their hands immediately, and even to stay indoors if they or someone nearby discovered a blood rust infection.

But there are always some fearless people in the world, and soon, severely infected individuals began to appear on Misty Rain Island.
First, small blood spots appear, then slowly spread all over the body. During this process, the cultivator's control over their spiritual power becomes weaker and weaker until their dantian is completely devoured, they lose control of their body, and finally become a mobile source of infection, and then are eliminated.

The authorities on Misty Rain Island have organized a dedicated disinfection team. Once an infected person is found, regardless of their identity or how they were infected, they will be physically eliminated.

"What do we do now?"

The Lin family members on the Zhentao ship were in relatively good condition because everything related to blood rust had been disposed of. Lin Dayan had inspected the ship inside and out and found no blood rust residue. However, they were trapped in the port of Wuyu Island and could not evacuate safely.

"The flight route has been closed. We are now in an infected lockdown area. We can neither go to the City of Spring to seek refuge nor return to the City of a Thousand Stars. The only thing we can do now is to wait for further developments."

"What an unforeseen disaster!"

To be honest, Lin Qianfan felt regretful. If it weren't for his selfishness, and his decision to follow Yan Shu to find a few Yin-Yang True Qi Fruits, the Zhentao Ship wouldn't have been detained by the Eclipse Moon Palace under some pretext, and it wouldn't be stranded at the Misty Rain Island port now, unable to leave.

Don't be fooled by the fact that the Zhentao Ship is currently quite safe, with only a few Lin family members in the Qi Refining Realm crippled. In reality, it is in a very passive position. If the people of Chaochun City were to act irrationally and indiscriminately, the Zhentao Ship would be in grave danger.

"Don't take it to heart. These things are beyond our control. Let nature take its course. If things really don't work out, we still have a way out."

Although Lin Dayan didn't explicitly state his escape route, it was clear that he would abandon the Zhentao ship and take the majority of ordinary boatmen by water. Lin Qianfan certainly didn't want to see that happen.

Shipwreck site

The once azure sea has turned a faint blood red. It's not just a small area; a large surrounding area has been dyed red, and the area of ​​the blood sea is still expanding.

In the eyes of a Nascent Soul True Monarch, the source of this blood-red seawater is tiny blood rust in the water, a special life form that is not powerful individually but exists in an endless number.

Indeed, in the observational ability of a Nascent Soul True Monarch, these blood rusts are all real living entities, a special life form that feeds on all substances containing spiritual energy and has its own shielding ability.

In barren seawater, they develop relatively slowly, and may even fall into a state of dormancy. However, once they encounter substances rich in spiritual energy, they will multiply and invade by devouring and contaminating them.

As for their relationship with blood, the more powerful the creature, the more resistant it is. The most effective way to deal with these creatures is to infect them through their wounds.

"What terrifying proliferative capacity! Is this a mutation that occurred over the past ten thousand years, or did it exist all along?"

With a wave of her hand, a cold-faced female cultivator extracted a fist-sized pure blood rust ball from the sea. Although it could be easily destroyed, it quickly multiplied again after being nurtured for a while.

"Fellow Daoist Xiyue, aren't you going to tell us what good deeds your Eclipse Moon Palace has done?"

Shortly after True Monarch Xiyue arrived, an elderly cultivator following behind him frowned and questioned him.

Although the blood rust could not harm them, he discovered along the way that the marine ecosystem had been completely destroyed. Wherever the blood sea passed, there were no living creatures, and the area of ​​the blood sea was still expanding. Obviously, if it was not handled properly, an even greater crisis was brewing in the City of Spring.

"There's no need for Fellow Daoist Qinghe to worry about this. I will handle this matter properly. Please return now. I will give you an explanation afterward."

Although the Eclipse Palace had long declared that it would handle the matter entirely, the truth could not be hidden forever, and it was clear that someone had sent a message to True Lord Qinghe.

"Hehe! This sea area is the soil upon which the people of Spring City of our dynasty depend for their survival. Now that such a terrible and unknown disaster has occurred, it is only natural that I must take charge of it!"

(End of this chapter)