Free Web NovelChapter 310: Chapter 309: A Show of Force, Straight for the Spider Demon
「A few days later.」
Su Ye had finished resting and regrouping.
He led the United Fleet and set sail from Dingfeng Port.
Their destination: the main lair of the Spirit Control Sect.
Spider Demon Island!
After the annihilation of their main fleet, the Spirit Realm Sect’s Sea Region was now like an unguarded garden for the United Fleet, a place they could stroll through at their leisure!
It was as if they were entering an uninhabited land!
「Meanwhile.」
As the United Fleet advanced,
news of the battle at Dingfeng Port spread like a hurricane and a tsunami throughout the Spirit Realm Sect’s Sea Region!
The United Fleet had launched a surprise attack on Dingfeng Port.
The Spirit Control Sect’s main fleet was annihilated there!
Furthermore, of the Spirit Control Sect’s Crystal-level elders—the Four Shadows—Jueying and Chengying had been defeated and captured, while Phantom Zhenren, intimidated by their might, had chosen to surrender!
And if you added Wuying, who had been sent as an envoy to the Cyan Profound Sect only to be detained on the spot and had yet to return...
...did that mean the Four Shadows of Spirit Control had been wiped out in one fell swoop?!
When the news got out,
it caused an immediate uproar!
Some found it hard to believe.
"How is that possible?!"
"You’ve got to be kidding me."
"Jueying and Chengying... both of them are Crystal Perfection experts!"
"What’s more, the Spirit Control Sect’s main fleet was extravagantly equipped. That fleet had as many as four third-rank spirit ships!"
"In the Alkaid Outer Sea, a navy of that caliber is considered second to none!"
However,
these doubtful voices soon melted away like ice and snow.
They had no choice.
Su Ye had presented irrefutable evidence.
He had specifically salvaged the wreckage from the Spirit Control Sect’s fleet.
At every port and market city the United Fleet passed, he had the wreckage towed by spirit ships and put on display for the local cultivators!
"Come one, come all, have a look! This is the main fleet of the Spirit Control Sect!"
The spirit ships of the Spirit Control Sect’s fleet.
Their hulls were all made with special crafting techniques and marked with unique formation patterns.
They had a high degree of recognizability and were difficult to counterfeit.
Besides, even if someone managed to fake one, it would be an isolated case at best.
However, the wreckage Su Ye was displaying wasn’t just one or two pieces, but hundreds of tons of it!
At this scale... forging it was basically impossible!
In addition to that, the exhibition wasn’t limited to just ship hulls.
There were cultivators too!
After the wind calamity had scoured the land,
some Spirit Control Sect cultivators within Dingfeng Port had managed to survive.
Most of them had contracted earth-burrowing Spider Spirit Pets. By relying on their pets’ digging abilities, they escaped underground and luckily survived the wind calamity!
However,
after the calamity, the tunnels they had dug almost completely collapsed.
And the Spider Spirit Pets, exhausted from digging through the hard black rock, had fallen into a deep slumber.
Many Qi Refining cultivators with low cultivation bases and little Magical Power were left awkwardly trapped underground.
If they hadn’t been rescued in time, the consequences would have likely been dire.
Not that their current situation was much better...
Wearing tattered magical robes, their faces gaunt and weary, they were publicly displayed like animals before countless Loose Cultivators!
Looking at these ragged cultivators and the dilapidated shipwrecks... many cultivators in the Spirit Realm Sea Region were lost in a daze.
"No way..."
"This pile of junk, these beggars..."
"This is the Spirit Control Sect?"
The Overlord Level power that ruled the sea region?
This sight was a far cry from what they knew!
For many, their worldview was shattered!
Before this, the Spirit Control Sect, with its fourth-rank existence,
had been widely considered by the cultivators of the sea region to be a stronger power than the Cyan Profound Sect!
But now, that belief was beginning to waver.
...
On the Ghostly Flood Dragon.
In the captain’s cabin.
Su Ye leaned back in his chair, his palm upturned.
In the center of his palm, a white, fluffy baby spider the size of a ping-pong ball was clumsily crawling about.
It was one of the spoils from the battle at Dingfeng Port.
The larva of a Celestial-grade Bloodline Spirit Beast, the White Jade Frost Snow Spider. It possessed multiple innate abilities... but of course, that wasn’t the important part. The important part was that it was incredibly cute!
Its compound eyes, like lapis lazuli, were shiny and magnificent.
The feel of its white fuzz was unlike that of a spider-type demon beast; it was very pleasant to the touch!
If Su Ye had to describe it...
’Hmm... a bit like The Radiance from *Hollow Knight*?’
Other than that,
its temperament was very docile, without the common nasty habit spiders have of jumping in your face.
So, for the past few days, whenever Su Ye had a spare moment, he would play with the little spider for a while.
Just as he was playing with his pet,
suddenly,
Su Ye’s brow twitched, and he said lightly,
"Come in."
CREAK.
The oak door opened automatically under the force of his Divine Sense.
Bai Xiuying strode in.
In her hands, she held a stack of Communication Talismans.
The talismans were flashing with multicolored lights, like a neon sign!
"Mr. Su, these are the Communication Talismans we’ve received recently."
"They’re from the various powers within the Spirit Realm Sea Region."
"Just as I thought."
Su Ye was unconcerned.
With a flick of his Magical Power, he casually drew a Communication Talisman to his hand.
His Divine Sense swept over it, reading the entire message.
The content was very simple.
After stripping away the ornate and complex verbiage, the main point was simple.
It was: ’Hostility toward the Spirit Control Sect, a welcome for the United Fleet, and a veiled expression of willingness to act as guides at the appropriate time.’
"The cultivators of this sea region are all eagerly awaiting, ready to welcome the righteous army with food and drink."
"Heh... a ’righteous army’."
A playful, mocking smile appeared on Su Ye’s face.
"I doubt many of these talismans are signed with real names, are they?"
"That’s correct."
"Out of these hundred-plus talismans, only seven are marked with a real name and their respective power. They’re the only ones showing some sincerity."
"As for the rest... they were all sent anonymously. Just a bunch of fence-sitters!" Bai Xiuying shook her head slightly, her tone disdainful.
"That’s to be expected." Su Ye’s gaze was indifferent, his expression calm.
As he spoke, he placed the White Jade Frost Snow Spider on the desk and fed it a Beast Food Elixir.
Then, Su Ye continued.
"After all, we’ve only destroyed their main fleet. The Spirit Control Sect’s fourth-rank Demon Emperor has yet to make a move... and that Demon Emperor is the key to victory or defeat!"
High-rank combat power is what truly decides the outcome of a war!
"Therefore..."
"Until we demonstrate the ability to fight a fourth-rank expert, not many people will be willing to bet on us..."
"To be honest, the fact that there are even seven signed talismans is a little surprising to me... The Spirit Control Sect’s rule over its own territory is truly pathetic..."
’To lose the hearts of the people to this degree? Pathetic.’
Su Ye’s lips curled into a slight smile as he chuckled.
As for the reason why, he understood it.
In the Cultivation World, the great power wielded by individuals was enough to burn cities and destroy nations.
Therefore, unless one was deliberately attentive, it was inevitable that control over vassal powers would become lax.
’This must be the arrogance of an Overlord Level power, I suppose?’
"But, for that very reason,"
"once we defeat the Sun-Eating Demon Spider Emperor, the Spirit Realm Sea Region will be pacified!"
Su Ye said nonchalantly.
His tone was filled with the confidence of someone who had a well-thought-out plan!
