All right, that’s it, the alpha dolphin said. It’s our time to shine. We’re going to grab the boys and go beat up those sharks. Where did you say they were?
Fifty miles from here, Huxian said. Due east.
The dolphin trilled, and soon a contingent of five hundred fully grown dolphins scrambled to attention.
Here’s the deal, the alpha dolphin said. Our friends here say they found a den of sharks.
Some dolphins hissed, and others groaned.
They’re hurt, and bad. I talked it over with my babe, and she said we should go out there and do something about it. I think it’s high time we did the right thing once and for all. What do you all think?
Seems a little fishy to me, a lone dolphin said, glaring at Huxian and the others. They don’t even look like deep-sea creatures. They’re just badly morphed surface dwellers. I—
The dolphin was smacked upside the head by another’s flipper.
What do you all think? the alpha dolphin repeated.
I think it’s a great plan, the large dolphin who’d slapped the other said.
I agree, another said. It’s high time we bring justice to the seas.
Plenty of other voices joined in, leaving the glaring dolphin alienated, and it eventually joined the group that agreed.
Then it’s settled, the dolphin said. We’ll head out in four hours. What do you guys say?
The dolphins nodded profusely.
Great! Do your thing. And we’re off! The alpha was then urged away by a few teasing females, leaving the four surface-dwelling demons shaking their heads in amusement.
So, Lei Jiang said, what’s next?
We follow the dolphins, sneak out amid the chaos, and pillage the treasure mountain, Huxian said. And if all goes well, we double back and kill off any stragglers to look like heroes.
He turned to Gua. Are you all right, bud?
Gua blinked and looked around in confusion. Did something happen? How did the meeting go?
Just fine, my friend, just fine, Huxian said. Just make sure you bring your A-game in four hours. We’ll need all hands on deck when the fighting breaks out.
The fighting broke out suddenly and violently. Blood splashed as razor-nosed demonic dolphins impaled weaker sharks and toothy demons of death and despair ripped each other apart. The water turned dark almost instantly, providing helpful cover for the hundreds of weaker creatures in the immediate vicinity.
While the dolphins and sharks killed, Huxian and the others slipped away under cloak of darkness. They made their way toward the small underwater mountain where the seabreeze lily grew. Only two of the original four guardians were still there, and the remaining two swam about nervously.
They’ll need to send out the rest, Huxian said. Those five dolphins are more than a match for them. It’ll take ol’ sharkhead to give them an edge.
Time trickled by. Stray blood radiated from the small bubble of slaughter at the entrance, prompting two more sharks to leave. Huxian and the others observed with tense nerves, hoping the powerful demon would join the fray.
Then, after much indecision, he did just that. Huxian sighed in relief and summoned an illusion of light and darkness that hid their presence on the mountain.
The seabreeze lily, Huxian said as he approached the flower. So beautiful, yet so bold. The very best nectar for maturing demon eggs, but also the best catalyst for transcending. He looked at it longingly but shook his head. He and his friends didn’t need such help, but the egg he’d obtained on Jade Moon Planet was in dire need of it.
Huxian willed the egg to exit his storage space and carefully placed it above the seabreeze lily. A violet mist seeped out from the bud below the lily and drifted into the stone egg. As he supervised the process, his three friends got to work. They pillaged the valuable herbs growing in the immediate vicinity, leaving nothing but the weakest, youngest herbs to continue growing on the sea floor for whatever replaced the sharks and dolphins after they killed each other off.
As Huxian stared at the egg, he fantasized about what it would become. What kind of variant demon or Godbeast would it be? Would it be male or female? His thoughts wandered off. For some reason, he imagined a pale black-robed man with red pupils. No, it would be terrible if his demon became a human. Huxian wondered why he suddenly thought of Zhou Li as he woke from his stupor.
Let’s go see what other goodies there are, Huxian thought. He swam around the small mountain and noticed that it contained not just a Water Essence Core, but many other valuable things. Priceless shells, high-quality spirit stones, and other baubles were piled high. Demon bones were the most common treasures, however. He noted that while most were just normal bones filled with vital energy, some of them were covered in intricate runic patterns. Were they demon-bone relics?
Demon-bone relics were very valuable, to humans and demons alike. The odds of them dropping were tremendously low, and to obtain one, a demon would have to kill countless others. They tended to form inside monarch-level demons or stronger, and while they were more common in peak-level monarchs, they were still extremely rare.
Yet somehow, on this mountain alone, he found three peak-grade relics and a dozen high-grade ones. Hundreds of mid-grade relics were also there. Excited, he took all of them and put them into his storage space, barely noticing a flicker out of the corner of his eyes. But when he looked, nothing was there. Only ocean.
I should fetch these treasures as quickly as possible, Huxian thought. He scooped up precious ores and precious stones. He harvested precious shells and even normal demon bones. He even recovered many core-grade weapons, the only metallic objects that had survived their time at the bottom of the ocean. He found over two dozen initial-core-grade sabers, swords, and staves. There
