Chapter 745: Scolding (II)
That insult was like a massive stone thrown into a still lake, turning the calm waters into huge waves.
The room fell silent.
The Sea Master had never imagined that this subordinate of his, who had followed him for centuries, would dare speak so audaciously there. He was so taken aback that he could not even think of a response.
Nevertheless, that did not matter because Squid King was not done yet.
"You may look like a human, but your brain's that of a dog! What's even in that head of yours? Is it just mud mixed with your mother's ashes?" Squid King spat out. His eyes turned bloodshot as he continued his tirade. "You know what? Don't call yourself the Sea Master anymore. Change your name to 'Sea Dog'. That suits your level of intelligence way better! You never take responsibility for your own failures; you always blame them on us instead. When exactly are you going to step the fuck up and take responsibility for your failures?! Every damn time your plans fail, you take it out on us. You know, maybe it's because you've never done anything good in your life that we're always plagued by bad luck! Whenever you get us to do something, it always fails. Why don't you just drop dead already..."
The Sea Master took in a deep breath. "Huu..."
His mind was buzzing all throughout Squid King's tirade. He felt lightheaded and needed a moment to recover from that verbal onslaught.
If it had been mindless cursing, the Sea Master would not feel this angry. However, the things Squid King had said were clearly his true feelings that he had suppressed and buried in the depths of his heart over the many years he had worked for the Sea Master. And every single one of them stabbed right into Sea Master's insecurities!
Seeing his subordinate turn into a raging devil, and in front of outsiders no less, the Sea Master could no longer contain his fury.
He struck Squid King with an explosive palm strike.
Wham!
That palm strike was meant to kill. There was no point for the Sea Master to keep a traitorous subordinate. It was better to make an example of him.
Squid King was a seventh-realm Eminent One, but how could he withstand a furious blow from the Sea Master?
Blood spewed from Squid King's mouth as he was sent flying. He crashed into the reinforced walls of the pavilion with a deafening rumble.
Squid King died on the spot.
If the pavilion had not been reinforced, he might have been able to smash through the wall. Then the wall would have absorbed some of the impact from the palm strike, and Squid King might have been able to hang on by a thread.
Unfortunately, the reinforced walls were too sturdy, and Squid King felt the force of the palm strike—all one thousand jun of it.
Of course, that could be credited to the man standing before them, Chu Liang. After all, he was the reason why the Sea Master had reinforced his pavilion in the first place.
Even after killing Squid King, the Sea Master still berated him furiously, "Wretched traitor."
"T-t-this..." Tiger Whale trembled with fear. "Squid King must have gone mad! Something's not right about this. Esteemed Sea Master, you—"
Whoosh!
Another beam of light descended unseen.
Tiger Whale's eyes immediately turned bloodshot. His shadow grew and transformed into a devil with a pair of horns.
"You're someone who eats foul-smelling, rotten fish!"
This insult seemed weak, but it was packed with venom for the Sea Master. He was left utterly dumbfounded once again.
I thought Tiger Whale was about to persuade me to calm down, but it turned out that he was just picking up the baton for another round of verbal assault?!
Before the Sea Master started his cultivation journey, he had lived an extremely miserable life. He barely survived by gathering and eating the rotten fish he found at the edges of the Ruins of Return. That was the darkest period of his life—one that he found incredibly difficult to talk about.
And now, his traumatic past was ruthlessly being used to hurt him.
"If it's not because you're an eighth-realm Eminent One, do you think we would follow you?! We'd have chopped you into 18 pieces and fed you to 36 sharks long ago!" Tiger Whale spat furiously. "Squid King risked his life fighting for you for so many years. All he did was throw out a couple of insults, and you killed him straight away?! Have you ever treated us like actual people? Was he wrong? In all these years, when have you ever acted like a true leader even in the slightest?? Under your rule, the Ruins of Return Cult is bound for destruction! You better sleep with your eyes open tonight. Because even if I can't kill you, I'll be pissing outside your bedroom door to make sure you slip and fall face-first into it tomorrow morning like a dog eating shit!"
Boom!
Tiger Whale's fiery outburst lasted for just a while before another muffled explosion rang out.
In the blink of an eye, the Sea Master had killed two of the Ruins of Return's generals with his own two hands. He was so enraged that his hands were trembling as he slumped back into his chair, exhaling deeply.
"These two traitorous scum followed me for centuries, yet I never knew they harbored such rebellious thoughts," the Sea Master said, his voice still brimming with fury. "What an embarrassing scene I've let you witness."
Chu Liang replied, "Sea Master, was that really necessary..."
Although Chu Liang had orchestrated this entire mess, he had not expected the Sea Master to be that ruthless. Two seventh-realm Eminent Ones had perished in the blink of an eye.
Even with Chu Liang and Xu Ziyang's combined force, it would be impossible for Chu Liang's group to escape if they did not succeed in deceiving the Sea Master. For Chu Liang, it didn't matter if his clone died. At most, he would just lose some of his equipment. However, that wasn't the case for his friends. What would Xu Ziyang and Lin Bei do then?
"A subordinate who betrays is worse than an enemy," Sea Master stated coldly, without even sparing a glance at the corpses of his subordinates. "If I had let them live and they ended up leaking news of today's events, and Wuchao got wind of it... we would all be doomed."
"Wuchao..." Chu Liang blinked. "Is he truly that powerful?"
"Haaa! If not for him, why would I need to act with such great caution? The Ruins of Return and the South Sea would have become my domain long ago!
"If we had failed to rescue Grand Ancestor Fuyou this time, I would've been in deep trouble. You diabolical cultivators sure are very good at committing bad deeds."
Huh?
Chu Liang, Lin Bei, and Xu Ziyang froze.
We... rescued Grand Ancestor Fuyou?!
The Sea Master called out, "Grand Ancestor, please reveal yourself."
Tiny crystal-like orbs of red light emerged from Lin Bei, Chu Liang, and Xu Ziyang. They were even smaller than a mayfly, looking much like mayfly eggs.
The tiny red orbs multiplied, gathering together until they condensed into the form of an old man.
"I thought I had deceived even the heavens, hohoh."
The old man was none other than Grand Ancestor Fuyou.
He turned around and gazed at Chu Liang, Lin Bei, and Xu Ziyang.
With a smile, Grand Ancestor Fuyou said, "So, you three came specifically to rescue me."
"Uh..." Chu Liang uttered, staring at the old man before him.
He quickly figured out the truth of the situation. It now made sense why Grand Ancestor Fuyou had been so eager to help them leave. This whole time, all he had needed was a host to latch onto, and he could escape. It also explained why Madam Hongyu had been so desperate to keep them on Misty Island.
This old guy's demonic skills are truly insidious.
After a brief pause, Chu Liang beamed and praised, "Grand Ancestor, your divine abilities are indeed incredible."
"Oh, please don't call me Grand Ancestor," Grand Ancestor Fuyou replied humbly with a deep bow. "How can I possibly repay you for freeing me? Perhaps I should kneel and kowtow to you three instead..."
"No, no, no!" Chu Liang, Lin Bei, and Xu Ziyang quickly stopped him, finding this knee-jerk kowtowing habit a bit too much to handle. "That's not necessary, really!"
"But it is, it truly is," Grand Ancestor Fuyou insisted, maintaining his overly polite demeanor.
The source of this c𝓸ntent is frёeweɓηovel.coɱ.
"..." The Sea Master, who had been watching this scene in utter confusion, finally stood up and spoke. "Grand Ancestor, I am the current leader of the Ruins of Return Cult. I would like to invite you to join forces with me against Wuchao.
"I'm preparing to invite the land demons of the Far West as well. If the two of us combine forces with the land demons, we will definitely be able to overthrow Wuchao. Once we succeed, you and I shall reign over the Divine Ruins of the South Sea. All the sea clans will bow to our command. What do you think?"
Upon hearing the Sea Master's sincere invitation, the ever-so-humble Grand Ancestor Fuyou slowly turned to look at the Sea Master. A cold, piercing glint suddenly flashed in his eyes.
His next words left the Sea Master completely stunned.
Grand Ancestor Fuyou snarled ferociously, "I think you should die!"