Deities: Rulers of Nature

A soft white light enveloped all the snake-men who entered the vortex.

The process of passing through the interdimensional passage was without any discomfort; all that happened was a sudden blur before my eyes, and then a salty sea breeze, unique to the sea, blew in my face.

Qinglv and Qingdao were the first to step out, and the snake tail landed comfortably on the fine sand.

The emerald green snake, its tail swaying, reached the edge of the island, gazing into the distance where the boundless ocean and the distant sky seemed to merge into a single line.

The waves crashed against the nearby rocks, making a splashing sound.

"I never imagined it would be such a vast ocean," Aoki remarked as he walked up to Aomori.

The Mountain and Sea Divine Realm also has a sea, a world-encircling sea, but it is too far from the Xishan Tribe. Only Qinglu and Jinyan from the entire Xishan Tribe reached the seaside during a long exploration.

Their lament at the time was no better than that of the other snake people now.

The other snake people who emerged stood on the beach, staring wide-eyed at the sea, occasionally letting out a few sighs, but none of them seemed very cultured.

The snake people only sketched out what it looked like to cross the sea in their descriptions of green and golden rocks.

The Xishan Serpent People are skilled in naval warfare, even though they do not have gills like other scaled people such as humans or sea serpent people, which allow them to breathe underwater.

Even small snake-men can swim for more than half an hour in one go, while adult snake-men can engage in fierce battles underwater for at least half an hour.

So even though this demiplane is mostly covered by seawater, the snake people are not at a disadvantage.

If the clan were replaced with purely terrestrial races like ratmen or goblins, Ji Xuan would be in real trouble.

Ji Xuan wasn't unwilling to take action; he simply had to resist the suppression of the intruders by the will of the plane.

Don't underestimate this demiplane; Ji Xuan is only a demigod, and everything still depends on the snake people themselves.

"This ocean is our battlefield; the battle for glory is about to begin."

"This is both a test and a blessing from our Lord. If we succeed, the spiritual resources here will become stepping stones for our people's growth."

"Warriors, for the glory of our Lord!"

"For the glory of our Xishan tribe!"

"Appeal to our lord with your most formidable fighting spirit!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a faint red ripple spread across Qingdao's body, which was the divine spell - Boost Morale.

[Boost Morale: Level 1 General Divine Spell. Consumes the caster's own mental energy to channel and condense the energy within Mars, creating a pale red ripple. Friendly units affected by the ripple will have fatigue removed and their morale greatly increased.]

This was naturally bestowed by Ji Xuan. Although he had only served as the High Priest for half a year, Qing Dao was already a mature and reliable High Priest.

"We swear to defend our Lord's glory to the death!"

All the snake-man warriors, including Qinglu, became excited, eager to rush into the ocean to fight the enemy. However, no snake-man acted on their own. After years of training, they had long been able to obey orders without question.

All the snake people remained in place, waiting for Green's command.

Green and the other seven leaders each led a team of ten snake-people warriors into the ocean. The snake-people swung their tails rapidly, and their speed in the ocean was not only unaffected, but even faster.

The seawater was crystal clear, and sunlight shone through the surface, casting dappled shadows on the seabed.

The coral reefs are colorful, and various fish swim among them.

Red claw crabs strut about arrogantly with their large pincers raised, while sea urchins and shellfish hide in the crevices of rocks and in the sand, only a little bit of their shells showing.

The snake-men ignored the small fish and shrimp that scattered at the sight of them, and swam quickly into the depths of the ocean in an orderly formation.

Before long, a large patch of red shadows appeared ahead; they were red-tailed pomfret.

Against the backdrop of verdant reality, a few streaks of black are scattered across the gray.

"Everyone be careful, there are five Black Iron Rank members among this group of Red-tailed Pomfret. Split up and be careful to dodge," Qinglu instructed before leading the team forward.

The group of red-tailed pomfret also spotted the snake people. They suddenly turned around and swam quickly towards them.

The ordinary-level red-tailed pomfret is only twenty centimeters long, but it has a mouthful of sharp teeth. Hundreds of them rushed up and bit the snake man's scales, making a piercing sound, but only leaving some white marks.

The Black Iron Tier Red-tailed Pomfret is nearly a meter long. Their teeth are sharper and can even cut through the scales of the snake-men leaders, but they are not as agile as the snake-men.

The battle was almost without suspense; thanks to the snake people's skillful coordination, the group of red-tailed pomfret made no waves.

Green led the team to continue advancing, clearing out the Iron-tier creatures around the King Squid's territory to prevent them from affecting the subsequent battle.

They encountered several more waves of enemies, including the spiny sea snake, the blackback sea bass, the yellow cat shark, and the blue wolf fish.

These Dark Iron-tier beings failed to halt the Serpent People's advance. The warriors coordinated seamlessly, and the leaders possessed formidable strength, making each battle a swift and decisive victory.

The unlucky few who were accidentally injured also returned to the island to receive treatment from Seido.

Around noon, they finally cleared away all threats around the King Squid's territory, and Green led the team back to the island.

A campfire burned on the beach, and the snake people sat around it, roasting their freshly caught spoils.

"Chief Qinglv, try this roasted red-tailed pomfret. Don't let its fierce appearance fool you, the meat is incredibly delicious. It tastes completely different from the green-backed carp in Mirror Lake."

"Yes, this spiny sea snake is delicious too; its meat is especially chewy."

People who eat snakes don't mind eating snake meat.

"This yellow cat shark is awful. It's sour and astringent, and it even has a fishy smell, but it's still quite nutritious."

"Wait a minute, I remember the elders in the tribe saying that their ancestors ate Helicoprion and said it was delicious!"

-----------------

After resting, Qinglu led the team back into the sea, this time heading straight for the gathering place of the giant squid.

The deeper you swim, the dimmer the light becomes, and the fewer fish there are around.

Soon, Qinglu and his group spotted their target: a dozen enormous giant squid swimming slowly in the deep sea, each over ten meters long.

Their skin appears to be a deep purple at first glance, but upon closer inspection, it seems to have changed color.

King Squid

[Rank: Iron]

[Information: A apex predator of the ocean, adults reach 10 to 15 meters in length, possessing eight arms and two long tendrils covered with countless suckers, each edged with a sharp keratinous ring. Though soft-bodied, it is extremely flexible and can expel ink to obstruct vision.]

A look of seriousness flashed across his green eyes as he watched the swarms of enormous creatures slowly swimming ahead.

He had never seen such large creatures before. Even the bronze-level Brown Rock Tiger looked small and insignificant in front of this group of King Squid.

Not to mention that one of them was even bigger.

Giant Squid

[Rank: Bronze]

[Skills: Wrist Regeneration, Mystic Ink]

[Information: Nourished by moonlight dew for a long time, this is the evolved form of the giant squid, reaching a length of 20 meters and possessing considerable intelligence.]

Fortunately, these giant squid were used to their dominant lifestyle and weren't very wary of the creatures in this ocean.

Apart from a few that were swimming around on guard, the rest were all lazy. But that's not entirely true; two of them were full of energy and working hard to create baby squid.

And that giant squid was still fast asleep by the Moon Reflection Spring.

Qinglu gestured for everyone to stay put and wait.

After observing for a while, he decided to bring one out to test the waters.