Deep beneath the Endless Southern Ocean

In the mysterious lands of the Immortal Jade Continent only the strong survive. Whether one was man or beast, one’s life was forfeit the moment they showed weakness to another.

That fact of life is no different underwater than on land. Territory and hunting grounds are constantly fought over by deep-sea monsters of all sizes. The winners reap the rewards, while those losers are, in turn, fought over by the lesser creatures for carrion.

Today, then, was no different than any other day. Somewhere in the murky depths of the Endless Southern Ocean, two massive beasts fought over what they perceived to be a valuable thing: a wreck under the water.

One monster won, the other lost.

The loser fled with its life, yet suffered grievous wounds. It did not leave empty-handed, however, for it held the most valuable item within the wreck: the one that radiated the most Spirit Energy.

If it could find a safe place to recuperate and drain the Spirit Energy from this thing, it may yet be able to take revenge…

South of Green Blade Forest, near the sea shore.

“The rule is: the first to arrive at the scene gets the first rights to the resource. My Green Blade Forest Sect arrived here earlier than any of you. So, clearly, we get the carcass.”

“Don’t make me laugh! Ye Xiang was the first to find this Three-Eyed Squid beached on the shore. The Ye Clan will have it.”

Inner disciple Feng Yan held back the urge to hit the arrogant idiot before him.

When the deep sea buoys his sect crafted gave off an alarm, Green Blade Forest Sect wasted no time in sending him and his five-man team of outer disciples to investigate. They were the first to arrive at the scene: on a beach near Slow Wind Village, the body of a great sea monster had beached itself on the shore.

The Endless Southern Ocean was filled with all manner of territorial creatures, so sea monster carcasses would float towards the shore time by time. On such an occasion, the local powers would send out teams to see if there was anything to harvest from the corpses.

Such bodies were known to hold all manner of rare cultivation resources and materials. Arguments, and even fights, would occur for the right to have them.

And such a fight might happen right now. Feng Yan and his team stood before a squad of guards from the nearby Ye Clan, one of the local powers. It took all his willpower to maintain a calm look and keep his hand from reaching for his sword.

“You are too shameless. There were no other groups here when we first arrived. Right, village chief?” said Feng Yan

Slow Wind Village’s chief and three other villagers stood nearby, listening to the argument.

“Village chief here will attest to Ye Xiang’s claim. Isn’t that right, old man?” said guard leader Ye Xiao. He gave the chief an intimidating glare, causing the village chief to look down.

Feng Yan’s blood boiled. This Ye Xiao was knew that this small village chief couldn’t directly offend the Ye Clan and risk their wrath.

“Shameless!” cried one of the outer disciples.

Another chimed in. “The Ye Clan are nothing more than a bunch of bullies!”

“Only the weak are bullied! Are you saying you’re weak?” retorted one guard.

“Your sister’s weak!”

“Shut up! Do you want t-”

“Enough!”

Feng Yan waved his sleeves, silencing his side of the banter. “Leave now and pray we do not involve the local governor for this breach of the rules.”

The guard squad leader, a cocky youth named Ye Xiao, stepped forward. “We won’t leave our claim so easily. Why not duel it out, hm? Only strength matters here; laws and rules matter not before power.”

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. ‘I suppose it always ends like this.’

Drawing his sword, Feng Yan spoke in a slow tone. “You shameless guards truly earned this. Come. And when you’re beaten, kindly leave the area.”

Ye Xiao took up his spear while the others stepped back to make room for the duelists.

Both he and Ye Xiao stood at the Foundation realm, but Ye Xiao was on the third level while he was only on the second. He also possessed a Metal Spirit Vein, while Feng Yan had a Wood Spirit Vein.

‘These were likely the causes for his goading’ thought Feng Yan. ‘Let’s make him regret it.’

Ye Xiao took the initiative, wasting no time to execute a technique from the get-go. With a great burst of speed, he jabbed out with his spear several times in quick succession.

“Iron Talon Strike! Ye Clan’s legacy technique! So senior Ye Xiao was indeed allowed to practice it!”

“Hah! This will be over quickly.”

‘Legacy technique, huh?’

Parrying the strikes and dodging the rest, Feng Yan was able to close in to execute his own technique.

Dancing Blade of the Forest!

His sword spun quickly, parrying Ye Xiao’s panicked counterattack and leaving scratches on his breastplate and armguards. Ye Xiao jumped backwards, his arms suffering minor bleeding from the gaps in his armour.

It was clear who the victor was from watching the battle. “Your technique was flawed.” said Feng Yan cooly as he sheathed his weapon again. “Leave.”

“You’ll get yours in time, sect dog.” spat Ye Xiao. He and the rest of the guards left the sandy shore.

___

Some minutes after finalising negotiations, the locals began harvesting the squid carcass. They clearly knew what they were doing, being fishermen and sailors who have lived next to the shores for a long time and seen such corpses before. Slowly but surely, the squid was slowly dismantled.

Feng Yan walked around the corpse himself, resisting the terrible stench to inspect the squid’s wounds.

‘Teeth marks and claws… by the size of them, the attacker was even bigger than this squid. The Endless Ocean sure is- Wait... ‘

He saw something near the squid’s beak. Wrapped around several tentacles was a large object, black in colour. Calling for an outer disciple and a few locals, they cut away the blocking appendages to get at the object.

“What is it?” asked the outer disciple as he wiped some viscera off the object’s surface.

“I don’t know.” replies Feng Yan. “But it looks like a container of sorts. Like a chest. Or a… coffin.”