Cultivating immortality in the seas, I created an immortal island of eternal life.

Above the clouds, the cold wind was as sharp as a knife.

Zhou Cheng stood with his hands behind his back on the clouds, with a continuous, surging layer of gray-white clouds beneath his feet, like old cotton wool spread all over the ground.

The screams from the sea, the splashing of oars, and the tearing sounds of sharks could be heard muffledly through the clouds.

Looking down, about three hundred boats looked like a pile of scraps of paper scattered by the wind, drifting haphazardly near the entrance of Shark Sea, huddled together, unable to move forward or backward.

"It's still too slow," he said calmly.

Li Su stood half a step behind him, holding a jade slip in his hand and writing something on it. Hearing this, he looked up and followed Zhou Cheng's gaze downwards.

"We've only been traveling for an hour, and the traffic is this bad. We probably won't arrive until dark."

"It's getting dark?" Zhou Cheng sighed and shook his head. "It would be good enough if we could get across Shark Sea before dark."

He didn't turn around, and his voice was somewhat scattered by the wind, but Li Su heard it clearly: "Elder Zhao is urging us, saying that the ritual cannot be delayed, otherwise the formation will backfire."

Li Su paused, then asked in a low voice, "So, you released the sharks ahead of schedule?"

Zhou Cheng did not answer, which was taken as tacit agreement.

Li Su lowered his head and continued to record on the jade slip, but his handwriting was a bit more sloppy than before.

He couldn't see the details of the hundreds of ships on the sea, but he could see that bloody chaos expanding, like a drop of ink falling into water and slowly spreading.

The boats grew closer together, some even colliding, and fragments of wood glittered in the sunlight.

Something was churning underwater, its grayish-white dorsal fins slicing through the surface of the sea, one after another.

Looking at the dorsal fins on the sea surface, Li Su suddenly felt a chill.

He knew where these sharks came from; the attack on the convoy carrying the carcass of the armored tortoise two months ago was no accident.

The silver sharks were lured here, and the purpose of using the flesh and blood of that turtle corpse was to get these beasts used to living in shallow waters and to the taste of human flesh.

Now, sharks are lurking in this area, waiting for the fishermen to walk right into their trap.

Hundreds of fishermen sailed their boats through the Shark Sea to catch sacred fish and complete the ritual at Whale-Watching Reef.

These fishermen believed that the autumn harvest was a ladder to heaven, like a carp leaping over the dragon gate, but in reality, they themselves were part of the ritual.

Li Su suddenly remembered what his master had told him when he first started learning the craft.

The path of cultivation is paved with bones.

"Is it worth it to feed the Dao beasts?"

"Whether it's worth it or not is not up to us to decide. The sect only cares about the result; the process is not important."

The chaos continues to spread, and the lone boats and small groups on the outskirts are already starting to crumble.

Some were knocked over, some were bitten to pieces by the sharks, and some desperately paddled outwards, only to find that they had nowhere to escape.

Zhou Cheng watched this scene, his lips twitching, his expression unreadable: "The first to die will definitely be these lone boats."

Li Su followed his gaze and saw the small boats that were the first to sink into the sea and turn into blood foam.

Indeed, when those large groups gathered together, the sharks that rushed over only managed to crush a few of the outer vessels, while the central area remained completely unharmed.

On the contrary, those lone boats and small groups, with their small boats and few people, tend to scatter like birds and beasts when danger strikes.

"I'm afraid very few lone boats can survive," Li Su said in a low voice.

Zhou Cheng nodded.

On the sea, another lone boat was capsized by a group of sharks.

The boat was upside down, and people were struggling in the water, with blood churning up, which quickly attracted more sharks.

No one from the boats nearby stopped to rescue people; instead, they rowed even faster, as if afraid of being dragged down.

"In this situation, those who manage to escape are either incredibly lucky or truly capable," Zhou Cheng said again, his tone carrying an ambiguous meaning.

Li Su turned to look at him: "Do you think there are such people among this group?"

"It's hard to say," Zhou Cheng paused, "but if it were, that would be interesting."

......

The chaos continues on the sea.

In just a moment, the crimson area expanded again.

The number of sharks is increasing, their grayish-white dorsal fins like blades, cutting blue and red patches across the sea.

With each slash, a scream was heard, and with each scream, another patch of crimson blood appeared.

Gao Yao gripped the oar tightly, his throat tightened, and his palms were sweaty.

He glanced back at Ye Zi; the girl's face was deathly pale, and her lips were pressed together so tightly they were almost blue.

"Wait a little longer," Gao Yao said in a low voice.

Ye Zi nodded without saying anything.

Gao Yao turned his head and glanced at the sea.

He noticed something.

Because of their large numbers and close-knit grouping, the four major gangs suffered the least damage and preserved their fighting strength the most intact.

Seventy or eighty boats in the northern fishing area were crammed together, connected by cables, like a fortress floating on the water.

The same applies to the Blue Flag fleet in the southern fishing area, with fifty or sixty boats forming a circle, protecting the high-level boats in the middle and the low-level boats acting as shields on the outside.

Needless to say, the groups of men in gray and red were even better. Their boats were identical in design, their handling techniques were consistent, and their teamwork was impeccable. When the sharks charged, the large groups were able to adjust their formation with ease, minimizing losses.

On the contrary, the small and medium-sized gangs and lone boats suffered the most damage. They were unorganized and uncooperative, and when they encountered danger, they fled for their own lives.

Ships collided, people were packed together, some died, some fled.

Sharks are clever; they only target the easy targets.

Gao Yao felt a chill run down his spine as he looked at the scene before him, and a thought popped into his mind: this can't go on.

The shark swarm won't disperse anytime soon, and the longer it drags on, the greater the advantage of the large group.

They had many men and boats, so they could take turns resting and defending.

What about small and medium-sized gangs and lone boats?

With few people and few boats, we can't afford to lose them.

Once the small and medium-sized gangs and lone boats have been largely depleted, the large gangs will have to come back and clean up the mess.

By then, who will have the strength to compete with them?

Gao Yao gritted his teeth, a ruthless thought rising in his mind: he had to break them up!

How can we fight this?

As a mere Qi Refining Level 6 character, with a timid girl by my side, what right do I have to break up their group?

For some reason, Gao Yao suddenly remembered the carp with the scar on its head.

Scarred carp.

How did it survive in the fishpond?

In the fishpond, it doesn't stay with the other fish, but swims close to the pond wall.

It swims among the spirit fish, inciting them to fight each other.

It is not the strongest, nor the largest, but it is the smartest.

Instead of confronting the spirit fish head-on, it sows discord among them, letting them fight each other while it reaps the benefits.

If we can steer the sharks towards the four major gangs...

The sea breeze rushed into his mouth, the heat wave mixed with a faint, metallic taste, making his throat dry.

He suddenly had an idea, an idea that was somewhat risky, even a bit crazy.

But right now, it seems there's no better way.

Gao Yao turned around and glanced at Ye Zi.

"Miss Ye."

"Um?"

"What follows may become even more chaotic."

Ye Zi paused for a moment, then nodded without asking any further questions.

......