Starting at the Nascent Soul stage, a rogue cultivator is incredibly poor.

The flying boat traveled for three days, traversing a vast sea of ​​clouds.

During this period, Qingyouzi and Wentao had many conversations and gained a better understanding of each other.

Wen Tao was born into a mid-level cultivation family in the central part of the Southern Xuan Continent. He cultivated diligently for over four hundred years before finally forming his Nascent Soul. However, he was already quite old and had not yet reached the mid-Nascent Soul stage. He decided to participate in the battle to try his luck and fulfill his long-cherished wish.

The two often stood at the bow of the boat, exchanging their cultivation experiences and discussing various matters after arriving at Zhenhai Pass.

How to deploy defenses, how to take turns on duty, and how to deal with attacks from the demon race.

Mo Xuanjun remained quietly by his side, meticulously recording the key points of the discussion and handling matters with utmost care and thoroughness.

The journey proceeded peacefully, and the voyage was halfway complete.

On the fifteenth day, a sudden change occurred.

Qingyouzi was meditating in the cabin, but a wisp of her divine sense remained attached to the outer wall of the flying boat, sensing the surrounding movements like a whisker.

This is a habit formed during my three hundred years of wandering as a cultivator; even in seemingly safe places, I dare not completely let my guard down.

At first, there was only unusual churning on the distant sea.

Before half an incense stick's time had passed, a cry of surprise suddenly came from outside the cabin!

"Waves! Huge waves—!"

"Monsters! So many monsters!!"

The noise, running sounds, and the sound of magic weapons being drawn were all mixed together.

Qingyouzi suddenly opened her eyes and appeared on the deck in a flash.

The scene before me was chilling.

A colossal, pitch-black wave, over a hundred feet high, surged in from the horizon, its crest like a wall, blotting out the sky and the sun!

Even more terrifying, countless low-level sea monsters, including armored shrimp, stinging jellyfish, and sawtooth swordfish, clung densely to the crests of the waves... a diverse array of species.

Most of them were only at the first or second tier, but their numbers numbered well over ten thousand. A pungent, nauseating aura of demonic energy mixed with the stench of the sea assaulted the senses.

The twelve flying ships were as insignificant as leaves in the face of such natural disasters and calamities.

Chaos reigned on the deck. The Qi Refining disciples were pale, the Foundation Establishment cultivators were barely maintaining the formation, and although the ten Golden Core cultivators could still calmly command, sweat was beading on their foreheads.

"Senior Qingyou!" Mo Xuanjun flew over on his sword, his voice urgent. "This wave is no ordinary matter, and it's further aided by a horde of demons. Only a Nascent Soul cultivator can withstand it! Please, Senior, take action!"

As soon as he spoke, the nearby cultivators saw him as a savior and cried out in unison:

"Please, senior, make a move!"

"Please, senior, save me!"

Qingyouzi's gaze swept over the panicked faces of the crowd, then turned to the towering waves that had approached within ten miles, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.

"furious."

As soon as he uttered those two words, his figure soared into the sky!

A figure in a green robe appears as small as a mustard seed against the backdrop of towering waves.

But the next moment.

"Buzz!"

Thousands of blue silk threads surged forth from his sleeves!

The silk threads swirled and intertwined rapidly in the air, like serpents returning to their nests, and in the blink of an eye, they twisted into a giant azure rope with a diameter of ten zhang! The giant rope stretched across the sky, its surface faintly glowing with ancient azure demonic flames, and it lashed out horizontally at the waist of the oncoming wave!

"boom--!!!"

A deafening explosion!

The hundred-foot-high wave was actually snapped in two by this rope!

The upper half of the wave crest collapsed with a roar, turning into a torrential downpour.

The lower half of the wave lost its support and disintegrated into countless turbulent currents. The low-level sirens clinging to it fell like dumplings, crashing onto the sea surface and creating sprays of blood.

"It's blocking it?!"

"You're awesome, senior!!"

Cheers of relief erupted on the deck as countless reverent gazes focused on the blue figure in the air.

Qingyouzi stood in mid-air, but his expression showed no sign of relaxation.

His divine sense was fixed on the area behind the collapsing giant wave, where the seawater was rising strangely!

"No..." His pupils suddenly contracted.

"Splash—!!!"

A dark tsunami, taller, wider, and thicker than before, rose from behind the crashing waves like a mountain! The wave reached two hundred feet high, blotting out the sky and the sun. Dozens of powerful demonic energies, all of them third-tier demonic beasts, were visible within the wave!

This is no longer a natural disaster.

This was a premeditated demon attack!

"Early Nascent Soul stage... can't withstand it." Qing Youzi's heart sank.

A tsunami of this scale, coupled with the combined attack of dozens of third-tier demonic beasts, far exceeds the limits of what an ordinary early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator can handle. To withstand it head-on would inevitably result in severe injury.

The cheers on deck abruptly ceased.

Despair, like ice water, seeps into everyone's heart.

Just now.

"Fellow Daoist Qingyou, I, Wen, will assist you!"

A clear shout rang out from the flying boat below!

Wen Tao transformed into a blue rainbow and rushed to Qing Youzi's side, his expression solemn as he rapidly formed hand seals. His spiritual energy surged wildly, condensing into hundreds of rotating vortex water columns in front of the tsunami. These columns, like barriers, crashed into the waves, though they couldn't stop its momentum, they noticeably slowed the tsunami's advance!

"Fellow Daoist, let's join forces to break it!" Wen Tao said urgently.

Qingyouzi nodded, and a plan was formed in the blink of an eye.

"I'll go left, you go right."

As soon as he finished speaking, he flicked his sleeves! Thousands of threads surged forth again, but instead of twisting into giant ropes, they spread out in mid-air, transforming into a colossal azure net that blotted out the sky! Azure flames raged on the net, the contradictory auras of life and destruction intertwined, piercing fiercely into the thickest part of the tsunami!

"Hiss hiss hiss—!"

The azure flames, instead of being extinguished by water, festered like a malignant tumor, relentlessly burning the demonic power mixed within the tsunami's body! The giant net sliced ​​through the tsunami in two, as easily as a knife cutting through tofu!

"Excellent tactic!"

Wen Tao gave a thumbs-up, and then changed the hand seals again!

"Swallow it whole!"

A vast amount of water elemental power condensed before him, transforming into a phantom of a deep blue whale hundreds of feet in size! The whale opened its abyssal maw, aimed at the right half of the tsunami, and suddenly inhaled.

A deafening roar.

The tsunami on the right was pulled by this terrifying suction force, like a reversed waterfall, continuously pouring into the whale's mouth! Countless monsters hiding in the waves screamed as they were swept in and shredded into bloody foam!

On the left, Qingyouzi manipulated the giant net to sweep across like a giant shovel, catching half of the tsunami along with the demonic beasts within. With a burst of azure flame, the demonic corpses fell into the sea like rain.

The two worked together seamlessly, and in just over ten breaths, the devastating double tsunami was completely dismantled and incinerated!

"Huff... huff..."

Qingyouzi and Wentao stood in mid-air, their breathing somewhat disordered. The previous attack had consumed nearly half of their magical power, and their faces were slightly pale.

But in the end... it was blocked.

"We won! The two seniors won!!"

"The power of a Nascent Soul cultivator is terrifying!"

On the flying boat, the ecstatic joy of surviving the catastrophe erupted. Qi Refining disciples embraced and wept, Foundation Establishment cultivators clenched their fists in excitement, and even the ten Golden Core cultivators were filled with shock and longing in their eyes.

This is the power of a Nascent Soul cultivator...

With a flick of the wrist, one can create clouds; with a reverse, one can create rain. In dire straits, one can hold up the sky with a single hand.

Qingyouzi and Wentao exchanged a glance, both seeing a trace of weariness in each other's eyes, yet also a tacit smile of understanding as they fought side by side to defeat the enemy.

However, before the smile could even appear, another unexpected event occurred!

The sea below suddenly boiled violently!

Countless bubbles surged and burst, the seawater churned as if boiling, and the twelve airships were tossed about violently. A terrifying, chilling pressure slowly rose from the depths of the sea, like an invisible hand gripping the throats of everyone!

"This is...?" Wen Tao's expression changed drastically.

Qingyouzi tried his best to probe downwards with his divine sense, but it was like a mud ox entering the sea. He could only sense a bottomless darkness and a pair of giant scarlet eyes slowly opening in the darkness.

"Hahaha……"

A deep, resonant laugh came from the seabed, shaking the water and causing the protective light barrier of the airship to flicker.

"Good, good, good. I never expected that the magic weapons and spells of a human Nascent Soul cultivator could be combined so exquisitely. If I were to rashly force my way in, I'm afraid I would suffer a minor loss."

As soon as he finished speaking, the sea exploded with a deafening roar!

A tall figure emerged from the water and stood in mid-air.

The newcomer appeared to be a middle-aged man, dressed in a dark blue scale armor robe. His face was sinister, half of which was covered with fine blue scales, and his eyes were blood-red, with a demonic light swirling within his vertical pupils. The demonic aura surrounding him was as deep and boundless as an abyss, vast and immeasurable.

"A great demon in human form!!"

Qingyouzi and Wentao both fell silent, their faces turning ashen instantly.

Fourth-tier demonic beasts are comparable to human Nascent Soul cultivators. And those capable of human form, even if only at the early fourth-tier stage, are not much weaker than human Nascent Soul mid-stage cultivators.

The demonic cultivator's gaze swept over the two of them, a hint of mockery flashing in his scarlet vertical pupils:

"I, 'Cangming,' have guarded this sea for three hundred years. Today, as you pass through, how can you not leave some... toll?"

He slowly raised his hand, his five fingers loosely clenched.

The entire sea suddenly darkened.