Endless Ocean: Survival Begins with a Dugout Canoe-Chapter 73 - 71: The Fall of the Demon Sword! New Troubles Arise
Yinping Sea Region. The Black Society.
Yan Dao Lin set down his copper pipe, tapped out the ash, and placed it to the side.
He was in a foul mood. Just moments ago, the ship’s leader had furiously reprimanded him for his recent profligate spending. Spending 600 Pure Dome Crystals on intelligence was one thing, but he had also used another 150 on some unknown venture, without a single word of explanation!
It was an incredibly presumptuous act.
In response, Yan Dao Lin had stated that he was preparing a surprise for the Black Society and Renhuang—one that would be well worth the cost.
It would just take more time.
"Let’s hope it’s a real surprise and not a scare."
Hearing this assurance, the leader’s anger subsided.
"Furthermore, how is the investigation into the intelligence on that S-rank sea beast in the 928 Sea Region coming along? Have you drawn up a plan to hunt it?"
Yan Dao Lin chose his words carefully.
"With the Black Society’s current strength, we are not yet strong enough to hunt that S-rank sea beast. You know that on the open sea, even an S-rank Awakened faces a considerable risk of death against an S-rank sea beast, to say nothing of an A-rank Awakened."
"That’s why I told you to come up with a plan! If it were easy to hunt, we wouldn’t need one!"
The leader’s anger flared once more.
There was nothing Yan Dao Lin could do about it.
When it came to managing his superiors, he couldn’t be like those from the Great Wilderness, constantly brown-nosing and catering to his boss’s every emotional need. As the Admiral of the Sea, he had earned his position not through flattery, but through real merit and strength.
’It’s just a bit of anger. Let him stew in it.’
’Once Demon Sword returns and I present the Map of the Endless Sea, I’ll no longer have to prove a thing.’
’The empire’s plan can also take a great leap forward.’
The two discussed a few other matters.
The leader steered the conversation toward another topic that interested him.
"I heard the Lighthouse made a new discovery recently. They’ve released a batch of top-secret files free of charge and invited researchers from all the major organizations to the Lighthouse to study a small piece of skin from a mysterious sea beast?"
Yan Dao Lin nodded.
"That small piece of skin was reportedly discovered deep in the oceanic abyss. It’s suspected to belong to a Holy Hall-level Sea Beast."
The leader’s expression shifted slightly.
A Holy Hall-level Sea Beast.
’If the Lighthouse were to learn that their Black Society was lying in wait for a real, sleeping Holy Hall-level Sea Beast, then the very next day, the King-level Wanderer Ship Lighthouse would undoubtedly summon its eleven warships and march on the Yinping Sea Region in the name of "making the world great again," tearing Fujing Mountain apart to find it.’
’The Lighthouse has real S-rank Awakened, and more than one at that.’
’When that happened, this treasure would only end up enriching someone else.’
’There are no principles when profit is at stake.’
’Weak wandering ships have no diplomacy.’
’And because they’d made so many enemies, the other factions would be more than happy to watch it happen.’
’But fortunately, only a mere ten people knew of this secret—all of them fiercely loyal to the empire, willing to lay down their lives at a moment’s notice.’
’Besides, in this Wandering Era, detection technology wasn’t so advanced as to be unbelievable.’
’The secret was well-kept.’
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...
...
"Excellent!"
"Just excellent!!!"
Her left arm reduced to mangled flesh and shattered bone, Demon Sword endured the searing pain, shot back several meters, and grit her teeth.
The greater her disadvantage, the less she dared to let her guard down for even half a second.
’No matter how much she refused to believe it, she had already confirmed it. This person was very likely an S-rank Awakened. It was that incredibly powerful skill that had completely nullified her own attack and shattered her arm.’
’An S-rank Awakened!’
’Admit defeat, and then let him kill me?’
’No, not yet!’
’If I don’t even dare to face an S-rank Awakened, what chance will I ever have of killing an S-rank sea beast?’
’Everyone else is dead. If I die here, this mission is a guaranteed failure, and it will likely never succeed in the future. The lost treasure will never be recovered. That’s something I cannot allow.’
’It’s just one broken arm!’
’I still have my right hand!’
Shi Ming’s follow-up attacks surged toward her like a tidal wave. Powerless to launch her own offensive, she could only use her superior speed to barely evade them. In a brief opening, she tore a strip of cloth from her clothes, wrapped it tightly around the stump of her broken arm, and yanked it taut.
Her strength was immense.
The bleeding stopped for the moment.
But the pain grew even more intense.
The blood and ruined flesh of battle damage gave her face a forlorn, wretched look, but her eyes showed not the slightest hint of retreat.
In fact, they were now tinged with madness.
RIP!
The black glove she always wore on her right arm suddenly ripped apart, allowing Shi Ming a glimpse of her right hand—it was covered in calluses and scars. She was indeed left-handed, but she had clearly trained her right hand just as hard, leaving the skin rough and heavily scarred.
’The strong cannot afford weaknesses.’
’If you have one, you train twice as hard to overcome it!’
The "aura" of the Eightfold Wall coalesced in her right hand. Wielding the Crescent Moon Blade Scabbard, she struggled to hold her own against Shi Ming.
The two clashed brutally, both using every trick they had.
But it was a pity. Even at her peak, Demon Sword couldn’t have shaken Shi Ming’s defense,
much less in her grievously wounded state.
After just a few more exchanges,
BAM—
The King Slayer Saber collided with the Crescent Moon Blade Scabbard. With unstoppable force, it once again sheared through the scabbard—which was far less durable than the Xianyue blade itself—and the heavy saber slammed viciously into Demon Sword’s body, drawing a great spray of blood.
Her solitary figure was sent flying, slamming into one of the ship’s masts before bouncing heavily back onto the deck.
CRACK. The recently repaired mast snapped in two.
The cloth on Demon Sword’s left arm burst open, and blood began to pool around her.
She tried to struggle, but a flash of steel descended from the sky. Amidst a spreading red mist, she lost consciousness completely.
And so, Demon Sword Xianyue perished.
...
Shi Ming withdrew his saber.
Whew...
Even with his abundant Physical Strength, the high-intensity battle had left him somewhat fatigued.
He was no five-minute man, but slicing the Water Arrow in a single blow had taken a fair bit of his Physical Strength. On top of that, fighting a high-offense Awakened like Demon Sword was mentally and physically taxing, demanding his full concentration.
Moreover, the Black Tortoise Shield consumed a real, fixed percentage of his maximum Physical Strength.
He now had only thirty to forty percent of his Physical Strength remaining.
Now that the fight was over, the taut string of his focus had slackened, and a wave of weakness washed over him.
’I need to get back to a sleep pod and recover.’ 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶
He waved, and the crew swarmed out from the cabins.
"Clean this up. We need to get out of here, fast."
’I killed the underling this time; who’s to say the master won’t show up next?’
’The Black Society isn’t a big deal, but the Lighthouse is someone I really can’t afford to provoke.’
’Of the Thirty-Six Stratagems, fleeing is the best.’
He put down his saber and picked up the Sea Patrol Radar display that had been dropped on the deck during the fight.
He gave it a casual glance.
!!!
"Holy shit!"
"There’s another enemy?!"
He stared in disbelief at a corner of the ship. A jolt ran through the deck as the King Slayer Saber leaped back into Shi Ming’s hand.
The string of tension grew taut once more.
...
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CLAP. CLAP. CLAP. The sound of applause rang out.
"Impressive, truly impressive!"
From a corner of the ship, Huang Mao emerged, his clothes in tatters, a smile on his face. A huge, ghastly scar was visible on his body. It wrapped all the way around him, as if he had been sliced in half and then crudely stitched back together.
But that wasn’t the most conspicuous thing about him.
On his chest and abdomen were seven eyes, arranged in a circle.
Two were closed, and five were open.
Huang Mao smiled and clapped, and the eyes on his torso lit up one by one, like a spinning wheel. The light finally came to rest on the third eye.
That third eye blinked.
Shi Ming thought he heard the distant cry of a whale.
The calm surface of the sea began to ripple, and the incessant roar of the tide began to rise.
