Immortal Reincarnation Tribulation

Chapter 215 The Mystery of the East China Sea

And so, in the following days, the three of them did not deliberately search for monsters in the vast ocean as before. Instead, they sailed at full speed in a circular path, crossing more than twenty sea areas and casting nets along the way.

Finally, on the seventh day, the three of them sailed in a wooden boat, circled the sea, and returned to the place where they had first cast their fishing nets.

However, to Zhao Chong and Yuan Li's dismay, the fishing net did contain some sea fish and shrimp, as well as two crabs and a sea turtle, and even a few other sea creatures that Du Fan did not recognize... but there were no demonic beasts among them.

Left with no other choice, Du Fan removed the sea creatures and then retrieved the fishing net.

Zhao Chong and Yuan Li quickly regained their composure, smiled, and offered Du Fan a few words of comfort.

After half a day, the three of them took a boat to the next sea area, but the result was the same, and they gained nothing.

"Is this method not working, or are there simply not many monsters in these seas..." A few days later, when Du Fan had collected five fishing nets in a row and still hadn't caught anything, he couldn't help but mutter to himself.

Just as Du Fan sighed inwardly, having given up all hope, he discovered a low-level demonic beast in the seventh fishing net. The beast was caught in the net and could not escape no matter how much it struggled.

Although it was only a low-level, beginner-tier demon beast, it still delighted Du Fan and his companions.

"Haha, Brother Du, you really have a good method. I admire you!" Yuan Li laughed heartily. Without waiting for the other two to greet him, he immediately flicked his wrist, and several half-foot-long water blades flew out of his hand. In the blink of an eye, he killed the trapped monster by himself.

With a single gesture, Zhao Chong retrieved the pale yellow demon core that had emerged from the monster's belly, while Yuan Li swiftly collected the monster's remains.

This immediately invigorated the three men, who then urged their wooden boat forward with great anticipation, speeding off to the next place to cast their nets.

To the three's great joy, there was another low-level demonic beast in the next fishing net, whose cultivation level was almost the same as the previous one.

Yuan Li and Zhao Chong worked skillfully and had a clear division of labor. In just a few breaths, they had dealt with the monster.

Over the next few days, on average, one demon beast was found in every two fishing nets. By the time they pulled up the last net, Zhao Chong had accumulated seven demon cores.

Among them was a demon core, which was a medium yellow color, and its quality was clearly several levels higher than that of the pale yellow demon core.

"Haha, I've forgotten when I last completed a mission like this. Thanks to Brother Du's ingenious ideas, our trip went so smoothly, and we even exceeded our expectations." Zhao Chong first let out a hearty laugh, then patted Du Fan on the shoulder with one hand and said sincerely.

"I can only say I admire Brother Du. Not only did we exceed our mission requirements, but Brother Zhao and I didn't have to lift a finger along the way. Neither our spiritual sense nor our magical power suffered any loss. It was truly a leisurely trip." Yuan Li couldn't hide his joy as he cupped his hands to Du Fan and spoke with a smile.

"You're too kind, both of you. Actually, I didn't expect it to go so smoothly. Now that this method has been proven to be feasible, we can squeeze out some time for cultivation when we do similar sea missions in the future." Du Fan's expression remained calm as he smiled faintly and spoke meaningfully.

The other two reacted quickly. As soon as Du Fan finished speaking, Zhao Chong's eyes lit up and he slapped his thigh, saying, "Brother Du is right. Thinking about it carefully, we have indeed experienced some great joy and sorrow in the past few days, which has led to a waste of a lot of manpower."

If we follow Brother Du's method to hunt monsters, there's no need to involve all three of us. Tasks like controlling the wooden boat, setting up fishing nets, and hunting monsters can be done by one person alone.

The other two can then seize the time to cultivate. By taking turns, we can indeed save a lot of cultivation time.

"Brother Du, we owe you a favor for this matter, and we will repay it in the future!" Yuan Li took a deep breath, his eyes flashing with shrewdness, looked at Du Fan with gratitude, and spoke solemnly.

For the two of them, the time for cultivation was extremely precious. At this moment, he was overjoyed and excited, with no pretense or concealment in his expression.

"You two don't need to be so formal, eh?" Du Fan cupped his hands in greeting, smiled slightly, and was about to say something when his eyes suddenly flashed, and he let out a soft exclamation.

"Hmm? Brother Du, have you discovered something?" Zhao Chong was taken aback, and immediately released his divine sense. However, after scanning the area with his divine sense, he found no abnormalities within a hundred feet. Surprised and suspicious, he couldn't help but ask.

"They should be cultivators from Crescent Island, just like us, tasked with hunting demonic beasts," Du Fan said casually, glancing in one direction.

Yuan Li and Du Fan were startled by what they heard, but they had no doubt about Du Fan's words. Their eyes flickered, and although they were surprised by the other party's methods, what they were most concerned about at the moment was another group of cultivators whose friend and foe were indistinguishable.

"We've gained a lot from this trip, so let's not cause any more trouble. Let's change direction and bypass them," Zhao Chong said after a moment's thought.

Yuan Li nodded, having no objection.

However, Du Fan frowned and sighed, "I'm afraid it's too late. If they find out we've escaped, we'll be in even more trouble."

At this point, Du Fan didn't need to say anything more. Although Zhao Chong and Yuan Li still couldn't detect it with their divine senses, a ship had already appeared in their field of vision, heading directly towards them.

On the other side's wooden boat, there were five cultivators: a beautiful young woman, a girl who looked about seventeen or eighteen years old, two middle-aged men, and an old man who was over seventy years old.

With a determined heart, Zhao Chong simply steered his wooden boat to meet the enemy head-on. Before long, the two wooden boats stopped when they were about ten feet apart.

"Fellow Daoists, I am Lu Ping from Bigou Mountain, Crescent Island. Are you cultivators from Crescent Island?" On the wooden boat opposite, a middle-aged man cupped his hands and spoke loudly.

"So it's Fellow Daoist Lu. Those who can appear in this sea area are naturally from Crescent Island. I am Zhao Chong from Langlin Valley." Zhao Chong nodded slightly and returned the greeting with a cupped hand.

"Haha, Fellow Daoist Zhao is too kind. Judging from your appearance, you are preparing to return to the island immediately. I suppose you all have gained a lot from this trip." Lu Ping laughed and said casually.

"Fellow Daoist Lu is joking. How many demonic beasts could possibly exist in these waters east of Crescent Island? Moreover, due to the mists of the East Sea, we cannot venture too far in, which is why every mission ends in failure."

Zhao Chong's expression turned somber at the opportune moment, and he said with a bitter look on his face.

Upon hearing this, Lu Ping's expression changed several times. After a long while, he finally smiled again and said:

"That's a bit of a pity, but Fellow Daoist Zhao, there's no need to be so discouraged. Even if the mission fails, according to the island's usual practice, it's just a matter of being absent from work for a few days. It's not a big deal."

"Haha, that's what we thought too. Judging from your appearances, you don't seem to be going out to sea on a mission." Zhao Chong chuckled first, then changed the subject, saying with a half-smile.

"Fellow Daoist Zhao, your wisdom is truly remarkable. Indeed, we have no missions recently, so we plan to go out to sea to try our luck. If we are fortunate enough to capture one or two demonic beasts, we can bring them back and sell them to supplement our cultivation expenses."

The middle-aged man wasn't too surprised by Zhao Chong's words. He smiled slightly and readily agreed.

"In that case, I wish you all a fruitful journey. It's getting late, and we need to hurry back to complete our mission. We can't stay any longer, so we'll take our leave now." Zhao Chong clasped his hands together and said goodbye.

"Thank you for your kind words, Fellow Daoist Zhao, but... something's wrong!"

Lu Ping smiled and was about to say something when his expression suddenly changed drastically. His pupils contracted sharply, and an indescribable look of fear appeared in his eyes.

The other four people on Lu Ping's wooden boat turned pale instantly when they looked behind Du Fan and the other two. They all gasped in shock, and one of them raised his trembling arm and activated the magic array at the bow of the boat without hesitation.

The wooden boat immediately hummed and transformed into a streak of light, disappearing from its spot and appearing dozens of feet away in the blink of an eye.

Upon witnessing this scene, Du Fan and his companions' hearts pounded wildly. They turned around abruptly and saw a white mist, about ten feet in size, approaching their wooden boat like a ghost.

"This is... a cloud of mist! Run!"

Zhao Chong's eyes widened instantly, his expression one of horror. Just as he was about to make a hand seal and prepare to propel the wooden boat away, the white mist seemed to teleport and appeared right in front of them, within arm's reach.

"Crack..." A series of terrifying cracking sounds suddenly rang out.

Du Fan's eyes twitched. He saw that the corner of their wooden boat had completely vanished the moment it was swallowed by that strange white mist, and the entire plank had disappeared without a trace.

"Abandon ship!"

At this moment, Zhao Chong and Yuan Li were completely dazed. After shouting, they were about to rush out.

"Brothers, don't jump yet." Du Fan's breathing was rapid and seemed a bit strange as he quickly spoke up.

"Huh?" Zhao Chong and his companion were taken aback. After glancing around, they couldn't help but widen their eyes in disbelief, their expressions extremely complex, neither happy nor sad.