120 Chimera Shark 2
Hearing the warning, Xu Miao had the urge to retort, "What kind of shark living in a freshwater river!?"
Still, he was now living in a fantasy cultivation world where logic and common sense were thrown off the windows. Even if a talking tentacle eggcat that could spit acid were to appear, everything would still make sense.
Facing the emergency, the ship captain accelerated his boat's speed.
The ship's nose raised half a meter before the engine roared. Xu Miao and everyone had to grab a part of the boat, so they wouldn't fall off.
At the same time, the monster also increased its speed. It dove into the water.
Two 5th-stage cultivators flew above the boat. They nocked their bows and aimed at the large shadow, which occupied half of the river width.
*WHOOSH*
Suddenly, a water bullet shot up from the shark silhouette, aiming at one of the flying cultivators.
In reflex, the targeted cultivator unleashed his bow aura and revealed his persona avatar. He fired the empowered arrow at the water bullet.
*BOOM*
Upon the contact, the red bullet exploded. The cursed water splashed everywhere.
"Not good!"
The other flying cultivator, who hadn't fired his arrow yet, got hit by a few droplets of the Crimson River's water. In an instant, he lost control of his body and fell into the stream while he acted like a chicken.
The shark's eyes noticed the falling prey. It changed its target to the fallen cultivator and ignored the runaway boat.
*ZOOM*
The monster shark jumped up from the river, revealing its true form. The chimera shark had everything that the great white shark had, but it had a chicken head extended from its tail. It was the chicken head that spat the water bullet.
The shark opened its mouth wide. It snapped on the fallen cultivator and dove back, splashing more water everywhere.
The massive water waves and splashes hit the boat!
"INCOMING!!" The ship crews screamed in fright upon the sight of the massive river wave and droplets.
The ferry boat didn't have a roof or side barriers that could protect the passengers from high waves or rain. If the massive water current got on, everyone here would get the chicken curse.
"WHITE ALBUM!!" Xu Miao shouted as he transferred 1,000 drops of yin essence to the familiar.
White Album detached from Xu Miao's body and pointed her palms toward the droplets and the wave. The surrounding temperature in front of her sharply dropped to minus 100 degrees Celsius, freezing every particle of liquid in the surroundings.
The river wave froze. All incoming droplets turned into hailstone.
However, the frozen river only maintained its form for 3 seconds. The will of Rooster God broke the power and returned the red river to normal.
Without waiting for the order of the captain or the crews, Xu Miao grabbed Wei Yuan and one of the slaves. He leaped to the dry land. Jia Shan also carried two slaves and brought them over to Xu Miao's side.
Jiang Lan and Kang Yan copied their actions. They brought four weaker yin slaves with them.
The last 3 slaves looked back and forth in reluctance. They could easily jump from the boat to the dry land, but the fear of cursed water and the shark petrified their legs.
Xu Miao and Jia Shan jumped back to the ship to grab the remaining girls.
But when they got into the boat again, the monster shark flipped its tail and hit the boat.
*BOOM*
The boat got sent flying to the air along with its crews.
[Feed me your essence, hooman!]
While Xu Miao was holding onto two girls, Killer Queen woke up and demanded some emergency food.
Xu Miao didn't care about his remaining energy during the crisis. He fed her 1,000 Yang Essence, which he had spent the entire night collecting it.
[Alright! Stand on me and maintain your balance! If you slip off, you'll fall into the river!]
KQ placed herself under Xu Miao's feet while the latter was still carrying two yin slaves on his shoulders. The talking sword emitted a magnetic force and glued Xu Miao's shoes with her blade. Then, she took flight.
Though Xu Miao was caught off guard, he maintained the balance with the two girls. They shuttled 50 degrees upward and fleeing from the tumble boat in mid-air.
Behind them, Jia Shan had already leaped out of the boat with the last yin slave and the "living luggage". Even without Qi, he landed on the ground and avoided all water drops as if he was an insane bullet-hell gamer who could dodge every bullet in the highest difficulty bosses.
Jia Shan and the other girl was safe. However, Xu Miao and the two remaining yin slaves were not in the clear yet.
Below Xu Miao, the chimera shark was still lurking in the river. Its red eyes were glaring at him and the other 5th-stage cultivator.
The flying soldier didn't care about the boat or Xu Miao anymore. He bellowed in anger as he created another energy arrow. Then, he fired at the monster.
As if the chimera shark had high intelligence, it waved its tail, sending river water at both Xu Miao and the cultivator.
The flying soldier and Killer Queen shuttled away from the water. The water splash missed the targets.
KQ ignored the fight and changed her flying course. She rushed toward the land as she couldn't maintain flight for very long with only 1,000 drops of essence.
On the other hand, the flying soldier had collected 3 seas of essence. He could fly as long as he wanted while fighting. For the sake of avenging his colleague, he summoned more energy arrows to shoot at the monster fish.
As for the boat crews and the ship captain, they were unlucky. All of them touched the cursed water and lost their body control. They fell into the river.
The shark didn't miss the free meal. It gobbled all victims.
"AAAAHHHHH!!"
The flying soldier got angrier. He fired over 200 energy arrows into the river.
All arrows pierced the shark's skin, but they were too shallow. The chimera shark descended into the river bottom, fleeing from the 5th-stage cultivator.
The flying cultivator kept shooting. Even if he couldn't see the shark anymore, he used all possible arrow techniques he knew, firing various arrows into the river.
Meanwhile, Xu Miao exited the battle and regrouped with others on the dry shore. He dropped the two yin slaves to the ground.
"Everybody okay?"
"Pok! POK!"
One of the slaves was pecking dirt nearby. It was the last yin slave, whom Jia Shan had rescued.
Jia Shan shook his head, "I'm sorry. There's a casualty."
Wei Yuan scoffed, "You used her as a shield."
"No. It was a few water drops on my raincoat. I didn't notice that my raincoat was wet."
Xu Miao immediately jumped in and stood between Jia Shan and Wei Yuan. As the two were enemies, Xu Miao couldn't leave them alone.
"Alright. That's enough. Let's leave here before that shark or that flying man wants to involve us."
Everybody nodded. They abandoned the wrecked boat, running away from the scene. All that mattered was, they were safe.
Jia Shan glanced at Xu Miao, Killer Queen, and the familiar spirit with Xu Xiuying's appearance. He had many questions to ask him, but he deemed it impropriate at the time like this. Everybody ran toward the north, following Xu Miao without saying anything.
After running for 10 minutes, everybody stopped.
"Let's rest here for a moment," suggested Xu Miao.
Nobody declined the suggestion. Just now, they escaped death by a hairbreadth. Everyone needed a few minutes to calm their mind.
Jia Shan recovered first. He looked at Xu Miao's katana and the spirit of Xu Xiuying's clone.
"Since when did you learn how to use a Flying Sword technique? If I remember correctly, that skill consumes at least 500 essence drops per second."
Xu Miao sat and panted, "I didn't use it. I fed her 1,000 drops of essence, and she brought us out of there."
Jia Shan looked at KQ again. He recalled that it was a sentient heaven-grade weapon, so it was normal for KQ to do that her master couldn't sometimes.
"What about that spirit?" Jia Shan pointed at White Album.
"That's my spirit familiar."
"Why does her face look like Xu Xiuying?"
Xu Miao snickered and lied through his teeth, "Long story short, it's a random spirit that I found in the underground mine. Since I hate Xu Xiuying so much, I asked her to take Xu Xiuying's form."
"…"
The explanation was somewhat suspicious, but Jia Shan didn't mind it. What interested the old man was White Album's abilities.
"Do you know how many drops of essence we usually use to freeze a river for one breath, especially the cursed one?"
"How many?"
"At least 500. Your familiar froze the wave for about 2 or 3 breaths."
Xu Miao tilted his head, feigning ignorance, "So?"
"How many drops of essence did you use? No, how many essences do you have at the moment?"
Ordinary 2nd-stage cultivators wouldn't have a single drop of essence since they were too weak to condense Qi strands into essence. However, Xu Miao and Xie Tian had proven that they were the exceptions.
Jia Shan was curious about the source of Xu Miao's power and his potential. He didn't have any ill intention for pursuing this information.
Xu Miao sighed and glanced at his status menu. There were still a few thousand Yang Essence and Yin Essence remaining, but he didn't want to tell the truth.
"About a thousand or two thousand drops, I guess. I don't know how to count."
Jia Shan revealed a faint smile. He knew that Xu Miao was still hiding his true strength.
While Xu Miao was sitting, Jia Shan patted the former's head, "Alright. It's good that you have some reserved essence with you. But remember, don't use those flashy techniques in non-crisis circumstances. It will attract unwanted attention from stronger cultivators. We're lucky that the soldiers were occupied with the monster, and they didn't notice your skills."
"… Okay."
"Let's keep going. We need to get further from here before the sun rises."
…
Back at the Red Sun Port
6 AM
The news about the chimera shark's appearance had already spread as many people died during the event. Moreover, a new development occurred.
In the early morning, imperial court officers sent an order to the protector via SMS. They were the arrest warrants.
A group of suspicious female cultivators had slain good soldiers of the Yu Clan, who was in charge of protecting the Rooster Port. The royal court demanded the port protector to shut the Red Sun Port, just in case that these fugitives came here. They also sent sketched portraits of the runaway criminals.
They were the sketch of Jiang Lan, Kang Yan, and Wei Yuan's faces in their disguise forms.
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