Chapter 34: An Innate Realm Great Demon

The moment the boatman finished speaking, the ship suddenly gave a violent jolt.

Everyone aboard staggered, and the scholars nearly fell over.

A bone-piercing chill shot from the soles of their feet straight to the crowns of their heads, and a trace of fear appeared on their faces.

“Everyone, do not panic. That was only a sudden wave striking the hull,” the boatman explained.

“Hahaha, I knew it. The boatman was obviously just trying to scare us.”

“We are less than a day away from Azure Cloud Academy. What ghost or demon would dare stir up trouble here?!” One of the scholars’ eyes shone with a knowing light.

After hearing that, the other scholars nodded in agreement, and the fear on their faces faded away.

One after another, they began accusing the boatman of deliberately frightening them.

For a moment, the boatman was left speechless and could only lower his head and continue working with a bitter look on his face.

“Young Master, that boatman does not look like he is lying,” Shi said in a deep voice as he looked at the distant boatman.

“Mm. There may be few demons within the Great Xuan Dynasty, but that does not mean there are none.”

“Besides, Hengzhou is a land blessed with spiritual mountains and exceptional terrain. Its Spiritual Qi far surpasses that of the other four prefectures, so it would not be strange for it to give birth to a few demons,” Chu Feng said with a nod.

“Young Master, should I have some Darknet members deal with it?” Shi asked.

“There is no need. It has already set its sights on us.” Chu Feng looked into the surging river, and the corners of his lips curled slightly upward.

The moment Chu Feng finished speaking, the bottom of the ship seemed to slam into something, and the entire vessel began to rock violently, far more fiercely than before.

Aside from Chu Feng and his two companions, everyone else on board was thrown to the deck, and curses immediately rang out.

At that moment, the boatman lay on the ground, his body trembling uncontrollably, his face filled with terror.

“The water monster... the water monster is here! We’re finished!”

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Thunderous impacts sounded from beneath the ship. The vessel swayed violently with each crash, and iron plates fell from the hull into the river, splashing up wave after wave.

A massive figure slowly rose from the river, its body blotting out all the sunlight above the ship.

A head twenty to thirty meters across hovered before the vessel, its eerie eyes fixed on everyone aboard.

Only then did the crowd clearly see the water monster’s true appearance. It was actually an octopus monster!

Its size, however, was far beyond all reason. Its head alone was already this enormous, so the length of its tentacles was almost beyond imagining.

The river suddenly churned, and eight tentacles burst from the water in an instant, each one as long as the ship itself!

The eight tentacles wrapped around the vessel, lifted it from the water, and fed it toward that gaping, blood-soaked maw.

Seeing this, the people on the ship could do nothing but let out despairing cries.

At that very moment, an azure radiance suddenly flashed forth, swift as lightning, its sharp might tearing through the sky.

The eight tentacles wrapped around the ship were severed at the roots. The broken tentacles, together with the ship, crashed down into the river with a thunderous splash.

The severed tentacles sank into the water, while a gentle force rose beneath the vessel and supported it, preventing the ship from capsizing.

“Who?!” the octopus monster roared in fury, its eyes blazing with viciousness as it glared at the people on the ship.

“So it is actually an Innate Realm great demon?” Chu Feng and his two companions slowly stepped forward. Chu Feng looked at the octopus monster with a trace of surprise.

After circling through the air a few times, the azure radiance flew back to Chu Feng’s side. As the light faded, a thin green sword, as delicate as a cicada’s wing, appeared.

When the octopus monster heard the voice and looked over, its eyes instantly turned cold the moment it saw Chu Feng and the other two.

“So it was you who injured me just now? Die!” the octopus monster roared.

In the next moment, dozens of columns of water surged up from the river around the ship and shot toward Chu Feng and his companions.

Chu Feng, however, remained utterly calm. He merely gave a light wave of his hand.

“Spring Chant”, floating before him, suddenly erupted with dazzling sword light. Every water column shattered apart and turned into countless droplets that fell from the sky like an autumn rain.

When the octopus monster saw this, its pupils shook violently. It immediately realized that it was no match for the man before it. Without the slightest hesitation, it turned around and tried to flee.

But Chu Feng gave it no chance at all. He raised his hand and clenched it in the air.

An invisible force took the shape of a claw and seized the octopus monster’s head in an iron grip.

“I do not like wasting words. I will ask one question, and you will answer one question.”

“If your performance displeases me, then you already know what your end will be.” Chu Feng stared straight at the octopus monster and spoke coldly.

The octopus monster looked at Chu Feng in terror and hurriedly nodded.

“First question. How did you reach the Innate Realm?”

It was not that Chu Feng was making a fuss over nothing. Rather, ever since the founding of the Great Xuan Dynasty, there had never once been a precedent of an Innate Realm great demon within its territory.

That was because one of the Five Great Dynasties was composed entirely of demons, so the other four dynasties were extremely hostile toward demons. Whenever one appeared anywhere, an order would be issued to kill it.

For that reason, the Great Xuan Dynasty had even specially established an organization called the Demon Extermination Association.

Whenever demons brought disaster upon the people somewhere, members of the Demon Extermination Association would appear and kill them.

Under such circumstances, very few demons ever had the chance to cultivate to the Innate Realm.

After hearing Chu Feng’s question, the octopus monster’s eyes grew evasive. It stammered for a long while without saying anything.

Chu Feng gave a cold snort. The invisible claw gripping the octopus monster tightened slightly, and a violent wave of pain instantly swept through its entire body.

“My lord, spare me! I’ll speak, I’ll speak!”

“Some time ago, a demon threw a pill into this stretch of water. A few days after I swallowed that pill, I broke through to the Innate Realm,” the octopus monster said hurriedly through the pain.

A demon, and a pill?

Chu Feng was taken aback. “What kind of pill?”

“I do not know that. I only know that the pill was dark red all over and carried the smell of blood,” the octopus monster answered truthfully.

When it mentioned that pill, its eyes even revealed a trace of longing.

“Do you still remember what that demon looked like?”

“I do not. Before I swallowed that pill, I had not yet gained intelligence. I was only drawn over by the aura the pill gave off,” the octopus monster said.

“After you swallowed the pill, did you ever see that demon again?”

“No.” The octopus monster shook its head with complete certainty.

After failing to obtain any important clues, Chu Feng could not help feeling somewhat disappointed.

He raised his eyes and glanced at the octopus monster, then clenched his hand.

With a bang, the octopus monster’s head exploded into chunks of flesh that rained down into the river.

Before this, that octopus monster had already claimed the lives of the people aboard more than a dozen ships. From the very beginning, Chu Feng had never intended to spare it.

After seeing the demon slain, the others on the ship all stepped forward to express their thanks to Chu Feng.

The boatman also stumbled back into the cabin and hurriedly steered the ship away from that stretch of water as quickly as possible.

“I am Zhu Zhu, a nominal disciple of Azure Cloud Academy. Many thanks for saving my life, Sir.”

“I know a little about the pill that great demon mentioned.” A youth of fourteen or fifteen, dressed in white, stepped up before Chu Feng and cupped his hands respectfully.

Unlike the other scholars on the ship, although a trace of lingering fear still remained on his youthful face, his eyes shone like stars and were filled with a fearless spirit.

His strength was only at the Sixth Rank, just a little stronger than an ordinary person. Clearly, he had only just stepped into the ranks of martial artists.