"This is impossible!"
The protector Daoist of Lan Hai Kingdom exclaimed in shock, "This is the Ninth Princess's private ship! Before setting sail, the National Advisor had already placed a barrier around the ship to prevent any detection by sea beasts, so how could..."
Before he could finish his sentence—
Boom!!!
A deafening crash erupted, followed by violent shaking!
The entire ship began to sway wildly, and the beautiful Ninth Princess, her face pale with fear, looked visibly distressed.
The soldiers, looking anxious, reported, "The soldiers are using bows, arrows, and ballistae to fight off the sea beasts. But we are only mortal men, and against stronger beasts, we are powerless. Protector, please head to the deck!"
The protector gritted his teeth and said, "Your Highness, the situation is dire. Please follow the soldiers and take refuge in the ship's hidden chamber!"
"I won't!"
To everyone's surprise, the delicate Ninth Princess stubbornly refused.
"Don't be foolish!"
The protector scolded, "Your Highness! Now is not the time to be willful!"
"I'm not being willful!"
The Ninth Princess's voice was resolute, "I'm about to apprentice under Daoist Qianshui. How can I hide at the first sign of danger and hardship?"
"If I do that, how can I represent Lan Hai Kingdom with pride when I reach Hundred Stars Kingdom? Do you want people to think the royal family of Lan Hai Kingdom is full of cowards who fear for their lives?"
"You..."
The protector was taken aback but eventually sighed, shaking his head, "Ah, the princess has grown up and developed her own ideas."
"Very well! But if you insist on staying, Your Highness, you must stay close to me and not take any risks! If anything happens to you, none of us will be able to bear the responsibility."
"I know! Stop nagging me so much!"
The Ninth Princess pouted adorably, her rosy lips making her look even more charming.
"Senior, I apologize," the protector turned to Lin Li, "I'm afraid I can no longer accompany you. Please retreat to the cabin for safety, and once this is over..."
Before he could finish, Lin Li smiled lightly and interrupted, "You already addressed me as 'senior,' so do you think a little storm like this would scare me?"
"Let's head to the deck together!"
Meanwhile, Lin Li was thinking to himself, "Being attacked by a sea beast is a great opportunity to use the Blood-drinking Demon Sword to improve my cultivation! Though I've reached Foundation Establishment stage nine, I'm still a ways from reaching the perfection stage and forming a pseudo-core. If I had to cultivate, who knows how long it would take, but if I can slay some sea beasts, I might reach pseudo-core soon!"
Having been idle on the deserted island for so long, Ye Fan also perked up, "Finally! Bloodshed! I've been waiting forever for this!"
At this point, Ye Fan only needed about thirty to forty thousand more evolution points to reach the level of a top-grade magic weapon.
So, he was just as eager as Lin Li for the upcoming battle against the sea beasts. He was ready to evolve into a top-grade weapon!
...
On the deck of the Ninth Princess's private ship of Lan Hai Kingdom.
Soldiers clad in armor stood at the sides of the deck, holding bows and arrows, aiming at the sea with intense focus.
Some soldiers were operating ballistae, launching massive arrows and cannonballs into the water!
Whoosh!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The entire sea surface was being churned up by explosions, ballista bolts, and the movements of massive sea beasts, causing huge waves to crash around the ship.
The ship, tossed about by the surging waves, looked like a fragile leaf, struggling to stay afloat.
The protector and the princess, now on deck, turned pale with fear.
"This?!"
The princess exclaimed, "How can there be so many sea beasts attacking us?"
The protector's lips turned white, and he was unable to speak.
The vast sea was teeming with shark fins, but that wasn't the most terrifying part.
Because those sharks could still be injured by the soldiers' arrows, and the more powerful sea beasts could be brought down by ballista bolts.
What made the protector truly despair...
Was the massive shadow moving under the water!
"That size..."
The protector's forehead was drenched in cold sweat as he thought, "Only an orca beast could have such a massive body!"
Even the weakest orca beasts, due to their immense size, were far stronger than shark beasts, with combat power equivalent to that of cultivators at the seventh or eighth level of Qi Refining!
Worse still, this wasn't land...
It was the ocean!
For human cultivators, their combat abilities were severely limited, but for sea beasts, the water was their element, making them even more powerful!
With this advantage in play, even though the protector was at the ninth level of Qi Refining, he had no confidence that he could dive into the sea and defeat the orca beast.
"It seems the tremors from earlier were caused by that massive sea beast, correct?"
Lin Li asked, looking excited as he assessed the situation.
"Indeed."
The protector smiled bitterly, "That's an orca beast. Even the weakest of them have strength on par with a cultivator at the seventh or eighth level of Qi Refining. But based on that shadow, I fear this orca beast's strength is likely equal to mine."
Suddenly!
The shadow in the water grew rapidly!
Swoosh!
A massive orca beast, pitch-black all over except for two white patches resembling eyes on its head, breached the water's surface, leaping several dozen meters into the air before splashing back into the sea!
Sploosh!!!
In that brief glimpse, Lin Li realized that this orca beast was even larger than the giant toad he had fought in the demonic sect's outpost!
Its body was at least seventy to eighty meters long!
Utterly terrifying!
The moment it splashed back into the water, massive waves shook the ship violently.
Boom!
Another powerful crash sounded!
"Damn it!"
The protector's face turned pale, his lips trembling, and cold sweat poured down his face as he said, "It's that damned beast ramming the ship again!"
"Thankfully, the barrier created by the National Advisor is protecting the ship, making it harder for the sea beasts to destroy it. Otherwise, if the ship were destroyed, everyone onboard would..."
The princess, too, was filled with terror.
But what made the situation even more hopeless was when the protector added, "That orca beast's size is simply too monstrous!"
"It's over... we're doomed... Regular orca beasts are usually only about ten meters long at most. Even the orca beasts that have become monsters are only around thirty to forty meters long. But this one... it's seventy to eighty meters long!"
"I'd say this beast is at least at the early Foundation Establishment stage, or perhaps even mid-stage!"
"This time, we're finished... No matter how hard I try, I won't even be able to scratch that beast..."
Yet just as the protector sank into despair and everyone aboard was gripped by fear...
Lin Li let out a carefree laugh, "A sea beast at mid-stage Foundation Establishment?"
"Hahaha, excellent!"
Laughing loudly, Lin Li rushed toward the edge of the ship.
"Senior, what are you—?!"
The protector shouted in shock.
At the same time, the beautiful Ninth Princess and all the soldiers fixed their confused and uncertain gazes on Lin Li.
The princess's sparkling eyes were filled with doubt, and...
A final glimmer of hope!