"Bi Ji." She spoke up suddenly. "Do you think human emotions are troublesome?"
Bi Ji blinked, startled for a moment, then nodded. "They certainly are."
She understood immediately: her lord's strange behavior these past few days had been because of Arthur all along.
"The world of soul beasts is simple." she said softly. "The strong rule, if you like something you seize it, if you don't you kill it."
"But humans are different."
"They hesitate, they retreat, they use all sorts of excuses to talk themselves out of facing things directly."
She paused, the corner of her mouth curling into a self-mocking smile. "Taking human form and cultivating again, perhaps that was the wrong decision."
Bi Ji looked up at her mistress's back. "My lord, you've already done wonderfully."
"Besides, hasn't Lord Na'er, who represents your human nature, already separated from you?"
Had they really separated, though?
Gu Yue fell silent for a moment, then suddenly asked, "What do you think he's doing right now?"
Bi Ji thought it over and answered, "Probably having a meal with his companions."
"Or perhaps," she paused, "thinking of you."
Gu Yue let out a light snort. "He wouldn't be thinking of me."
"That mutt doesn't have a thoughtful bone in his body, not for a single day."
Watching her lord's mood shift so drastically the instant Arthur's name came up, Bi Ji sensed that something was very wrong.
Over a month later, on the sea surface near the ship, the once deep blue ocean had somehow turned a dark purple.
A massive water column dozens of meters in diameter shot up from the distant sea and slammed hard into the ship's already-activated Soul Guidance barrier, sending out ripples and violent tremors.
A pod of deep-sea demon whales had surrounded the great vessel.
Strangely enough, there were even schools of demonic great white sharks among them.
A dense mass of dark shapes rose and sank in the water. Several of them rivaled in size the soul beast Arthur had once "made off with," and two of them carried an aura even more terrifying than that.
"Warning! Warning!"
Piercing alarms blared throughout the ship, and the once-calm decks descended instantly into chaos.
"Everyone report to your designated positions immediately!"
"Soul Guidance barrier, full power!"
"Combat soul masters, prepare to engage!"
...
On deck, Zhuo Shi was the first to rush out from the cabin, looking up at the dark purple sea.
"This is..." His eyes narrowed slightly. "There are at least two soul beasts here with cultivation of over a hundred thousand years."
Tang Wulin, Xie Xie, Yuanen Yehui, Xu Xiaoyan, and the others hurried onto the deck as well, and at the sight before them, every one of them couldn't help but suck in a cold breath.
"That many?!" Xie Xie couldn't help but curse. "Did we offend heaven itself or something?"
A dark purple water column, thicker than all the others, shot skyward from the sea's surface, carrying a terrifying pressure, and slammed down hard against the Soul Guidance barrier.
"BOOM!"
The barrier shook violently, and the entire ship trembled as though it might capsize at any moment.
"They're testing the barrier's strength." Zhuo Shi said in a low voice. "At this rate, the barrier won't hold much longer."
The other powerful figures traveling with them began to appear one by one.
Five Titled Douluo, the ones known openly, took up position at the front.
Just as they were about to make their move, a single sentence stopped them cold.
"Human!" The voice of the deep-sea demon whale king rang out, furious beyond measure. "Give me back my son!"
That single roar landed like a bomb dropped onto a calm sea, and the deck erupted into an uproar in an instant.
What the hell, your son?
The deep-sea demon whale king's fury was justified: in searching for his suddenly missing son, he'd called upon every distant relative he had.
At last, over a month later, he'd finally detected his son's presence aboard this very ship.
In another stretch of ocean, on the sea's surface, Arthur lay sprawled atop a deep-sea demon whale, sunbathing.
"Human, there's quite a show brewing." The deep-sea demon whale watched the collision happening in the distance, gloating. "Would you look at that, some soul beasts actually came looking for a fight with your people."
Having spent so much time around Arthur, it knew exactly how strong the human side was. Those soul beasts were in for a world of hurt.
"Oh?" After getting word from the ship, Arthur's expression turned strange. "My teacher says those soul beasts are here helping some deep-sea demon whale king look for his son."
"Looking for his son?" The deep-sea demon whale froze. "Holy crap! That's my dad!"
It shot off wildly in that direction.
"Dad!" the deep-sea demon whale bellowed as it accelerated. "Stop right now!"
Having been caught by Mu Ye once before, it knew perfectly well that its old man wouldn't survive even a single punch from him.
The deep-sea demon whale king was just about to launch another attack when it suddenly froze mid-motion.
"Hm?" Its enormous body gave a slight shudder as it turned toward the source of the voice.
There, it saw a deep-sea demon whale slightly smaller than itself charging madly toward them, shouting as it came:
"Dad! Stop fighting! Keep this up and they'll beat you to death!"
The deep-sea demon whale king, the pod of deep-sea demon whales around it, the school of demonic great white sharks, even the humans up on deck, all of them fell silent at once.
The air went dead still.
The deep-sea demon whale king, enraged, was about to dole out some fatherly discipline when it suddenly froze. "Little Black, you broke through?"
"That's right." Little Black said proudly.
Then it lowered its voice. "Dad, how many times do I have to tell you, call me Black King when we're out in public."
A vein twitched faintly at the deep-sea demon whale king's temple, clearly none too pleased about this "Black King" business, but in the very next instant its attention was seized entirely by the aura radiating from Little Black, an aura far beyond anything it had before.
"You really broke through to a hundred thousand years?" The deep-sea demon whale king's voice carried a note of disbelief.
The pressure unique to a hundred-thousand-year soul beast radiated faintly from Little Black. "Of course."
"This is exactly why I haven't been home in over a month."
As it spoke, it lowered its head to reveal Arthur on its back. "All thanks to this human."
Only then did the deep-sea demon whale king take notice of Arthur.
At first it paid him no mind, but the moment its gaze landed on Arthur, an inexplicable chill ran through the depths of its heart.
Memories from some unknown number of years ago began to surface.
"So that's how it is..."
The deep-sea demon whale king's massive body pulsed, and a small mote of spirit light appeared, drifting down toward Arthur.
"Human."
The deep-sea demon whale king's voice was low and solemn, carrying a faint, barely perceptible note of reverence.
"Please, at some point, come pay a visit to the end of the sea."
With that, it let out a low roar.
Every sea soul beast there followed it away, Little Black among them, naturally.
"Human, farewell for now. Come visit again when you have the time."
Arthur leapt back onto the deck, watching the departing soul beasts, feeling inexplicably puzzled.
He raised his hand, and there in his palm hovered the small mote of spirit light the deep-sea demon whale king had given him.
Arthur extended his Spiritual Power into it.
Was this some kind of way-marker?
Gu Yue walked over. After more than a month of withdrawing into herself, she'd finally managed to return, more or less, to how things had been between her and Arthur before.
"What's this?"
Arthur explained, "A way-marker. Going by what the deep-sea demon whale king said, it should point toward this 'end of the sea,' whatever that is."
He looked at Gu Yue, seeking an answer from the Silver Dragon King, whose wisdom was said to be beyond the world's. "What is the end of the sea?"
"It's something like a place where one can ascend to godhood." Gu Yue said, looking at the way-marker thoughtfully.
"The Sea God's Island?"
"Impossible." Gu Yue smiled disdainfully, and said nothing further, leaving Arthur thoroughly confused.
Damn riddler.
The rest of the journey passed without incident.
After a long voyage across the sea, the great ship finally arrived at the Xingluo Continent.