Inside the Demonic Sea.
Wu Tianjun watched the horde of Demonic Beasts charge toward him. Far from showing any fear, he grew incredibly excited, accelerating as he lunged into their midst.
"Boom!" Without using any martial skills, relying purely on physical strength, he threw a punch at a first-level God-grade Demonic Beast. Without any suspense, the beast exploded, its soul shattering as it died instantly.
"Oh! A bit tougher than God-grade spirit beasts!" The Demonic Beast Wu Tianjun had just blown up was a massive black-and-white octopus, nearly a hundred zhang tall! Its size was likely quite a bit larger than spirit beasts of the same God-grade.
Just as Wu Tianjun blew up the octopus, countless other Demonic Beasts rushed past him toward the Xuanming Merchant Guild's ship. Simultaneously, three God-grade Demonic Beasts attacked him, the strongest among them being at the fourth-level God-grade.
In this horde of Demonic Beasts, besides the White Shark, who was a God-Venerate, and three God-Lord-grade Demonic Beasts, there were over fifty God-grade Demonic Beasts—an incredibly powerful lineup! *No wonder merchant ships that unfortunately encounter a Demonic Beast horde usually suffer heavy losses,* Wu Tianjun thought to himself.
Seeing the three God-realm Demonic Beasts attacking, he didn't dodge, letting them strike him directly. His body, strengthened by Demonic Veins, was already comparable to a God-Lord-grade body refiner; how could he fear a few God-grade beasts?
"Boom!" The three attacks landed on Wu Tianjun, only making him tremble slightly, without harming a single hair on his head.
"..." From afar, Ma Lian saw the three God-grade Demonic Beasts, like three mountains, charging to attack Wu Tianjun, but he didn't react much, only narrowing his eyes slightly. Wu Tianjun had already brought too many surprises. As for the people on the ship, they were anxiously watching the Demonic Beasts attacking the ship's protective barrier, so they paid no attention to the distant events.
"Huh! The attacks are quite strong!" Wu Tianjun said after taking the blow from the three Demonic Beasts. "No challenge! You can all die now!" He swung his fist again at the Demonic Beast closest to him, a Demonic Crocodile at the fourth-level God-realm.
"Boom!" "Grraaa..." The Demonic Crocodile cried out in pain, its mountain-like body slammed straight into the sea by Wu Tianjun's punch. Its rear left leg and tail were crippled by this strike, but it hadn't yet turned into black mist like the octopus had from a single punch!
"Hah! A bit tough!" Wu Tianjun said, looking at his fist. The Demonic Crocodile's scales were very hard. After all, he was only using physical strength, purely bodily power!
"Graoooo!" The Demonic Beasts seemed fearless of death, and several more charged toward Wu Tianjun, but their cultivation levels weren't high, only at the Heavenly Core Realm and Spirit Communication Realm.
"Hm? Seeking death!" Wu Tianjun didn't like fighting weak opponents, so he only chose to act against God-grade Demonic Beasts. Now, with several "small" Demonic Beasts charging at him, how could he not be annoyed? He immediately swung his fists, and with just two punches, those Demonic Beasts, along with a second-level God-grade Demonic Beast caught in the crossfire, were blasted into black mist!
"What's wrong with these demonic beasts? Aren't they supposed to gain sentience once they reach the God-grade? These ones seem to have gone mad!" After dealing with those demonic beasts, he paused and muttered. The main horde of demonic beasts had already surrounded the merchant ship.
"Human! How dare you kill my clan's God-realm members! Die!" As Wu Tianjun was thinking, a demonic beast opened its mouth to speak and charged toward him.
"Oh? You're not mad?" Wu Tianjun turned to look at it. It was a giant bird! Sixth-level God-grade.
"Going mad?" The giant bird was doubtful, but it didn't slow down at all, swinging its massive claw to attack Wu Tianjun.
"Hmph! No answer?" Seeing the giant claw strike, Wu Tianjun stopped talking and swung his fist toward it. If it wouldn't talk, he would beat it until it did.
"Boom!" Fist and claw clashed. The giant bird was pushed back nearly ten miles before it stopped! Wu Tianjun, however, was only pushed back three steps.
"You... How is that possible?" the giant bird exclaimed in horror. Its giant claw had a black, inky blood hole punched into it, its bones shattered.
"Ah! What resilience!" Wu Tianjun narrowed his eyes, looking at the giant bird. It seemed he would have to get a little serious! Defeating this giant bird with just brute strength wouldn't be easy at all.
"..." From afar, Ma Lian narrowed his eyes, completely ignoring the surrounding demonic beasts attacking the protective formation, which was trembling and could shatter at any moment. The passengers on the ship were already somewhat panicked, seeing how overwhelmingly powerful this demonic beast horde was. There were many God-level beasts, like giant mountains, surrounding and attacking the grand formation!
Wu Tianjun didn't pay attention to this either, instead walking toward the giant bird.
"Speak! Why are you able to remain sane while those other demonic beasts seem to have gone mad?" Wu Tianjun asked again. "If you don't speak, your death is beyond doubt!" he added coldly.
"Hmph! I was just careless earlier!" The giant bird snorted coldly. "Nine Slashes of the Wounded Wing!" It swung its wings in a profound pattern, slashing toward Wu Tianjun with astonishing power.
"Hmph!" Wu Tianjun snorted coldly. "Let me show you the difference!" He stepped toward the giant bird and swung his fist.
"Boom!" This time, Wu Tianjun was pushed back nearly a mile, while the giant bird was pushed back just over two miles.
"Ah! A martial skill!" Wu Tianjun looked at the marks on his hand. This giant bird wasn't simple at all, and that martial skill wasn't weak!
"How... How can this be?" The giant bird was utterly shocked and terrified to see Wu Tianjun take its divine ability without a scratch. That guy seemed to have no cultivation at all, yet his physical strength was terrifyingly powerful!
"Hmph! Let me give you a taste of a martial skill! Demon-Slaying Fist!" An illusory power enveloped his fist as he struck toward the giant bird.
"Fist... Fist Intent?! Impossible!" the giant bird exclaimed in horror, immediately turning to flee. This person, without even using martial skills, was already no weaker than it. And with this incredibly profound Fist Intent, how could it possibly fight back? It fled with incredible speed, barely managing to dodge Wu Tianjun's punch in time.
"Huh? Stop right there!" Wu Tianjun was a little stunned to see it flee, pausing for a moment. The giant bird had already run nearly a hundred miles. He immediately flew off in pursuit, his face purple with rage! "I still don't know the reason!"
"..." Ma Lian was also astonished to see this scene. That giant bird's combat power was already close to the peak of the Divine Lord level, yet it only endured three of Wu Tianjun's punches. And this was because he wasn't even being serious! However, his subsequent actions made Ma Lian sigh; his actual combat experience was still very poor.
As Wu Tianjun was giving chase, an enormous mouth, like a cave, suddenly snapped towards him! It was unexpectedly a Divine Lord-level demonic beast!
"Ah! This one's also gone mad," Wu Tianjun said as he dodged the gaping maw and turned back. The giant bird had already fled far away. "Hmph! So fast!" He looked at the giant bird. It seemed that among this entire horde of demonic beasts, only the giant bird was sane. "Ah! And that Bai Sha." He immediately looked towards the merchant ship. The grand formation was about to collapse, and the number of demonic beasts hadn't decreased much; there were still over twenty thousand of them frantically attacking the grand formation.
Wu Tianjun dodged the wide mouth, and immediately a giant tail struck. The Divine Lord-level demonic beast attacking Wu Tianjun was a strange creature similar to a shark, but its tail resembled a scorpion's tail; its name was unknown.
"Fiend-Slaying Fist!" Wu Tianjun swung his fist, striking directly at the tail.
"Boom!" Wu Tianjun was immediately sent flying over ten miles, his hand feeling a little numb.
"Haha! Finally, a worthy opponent!" Ignoring the tremor in his hand, Wu Tianjun laughed excitedly and charged towards the demonic beast.
"..." Ma Lian, who was observing from afar, ready to intervene and protect Wu Tianjun at any moment, was startled by this sight. Starry Sky-level geniuses were called such because they could achieve what ordinary cultivators dared not even dream of: transcending major cultivation realms. A Spirit Comprehension Realm cultivator could not possibly defeat a Divine-level powerhouse! Yet, some individuals could do it. Starry Sky geniuses were those at the Spirit Comprehension Realm who could transcend realms to slay Divine-level powerhouses! However, whether they could slay a Divine Lord while at the sixth stage of the Divine Realm was another matter entirely! Reaching the Divine Lord realm was a new threshold; not only did it extend one's lifespan, but compared to the sixth stage of the Divine Realm, it was like heaven and earth. Even Starry Sky-level geniuses wouldn't dare claim they could achieve it! As for Divine Lords and Divine Venerables, the gap was even wider! At this moment, Wu Tianjun, using only his raw physical strength, was already not far inferior to a Divine Lord. How could Ma Lian not be startled?
"Crack!" Suddenly, a cracking sound jolted Ma Lian from his thoughts. The great protective formation had been destroyed. The demonic beasts immediately surged forward to attack the merchant ship, but the Divine Venerable Bai Sha and the two Divine Lords were nowhere to be seen.
"Everyone, don't panic! The Demonic Beasts are weakened! We must unite if we are to overcome this!" The old Divine Lord drew his magic treasure, a sword, and cut down several Demonic Beasts around him as he spoke to the crowd. He wasn't wrong; these Demonic Beasts, in their frenzied assault on the protective formation, had expended no less than thirty percent of their strength. They might indeed overcome this if Bai Sha and the two Divine Lords didn't attack. But was that even possible?
"Young Miss! Always stay behind me!" the Old Nanny said worriedly to the Third Young Miss.
"Mhm." The Third Young Miss knew the situation was perilous, so she said nothing more, staying close behind the Old Nanny.
"Ah! Save me...!" Someone, caught off guard, was bitten by a Demonic Beast and screamed in pain.
"Argh! Die!"
...All sorts of sounds—martial arts techniques, shouts, and the roars of Demonic Beasts—erupted.
At the bow of the ship, where Ma Lian stood, no Demonic Beasts approached. More accurately, any that came within three zhang of him were annihilated by an invisible force! The scene was somewhat eerie, as while chaos reigned all around, it was perfectly quiet in his immediate vicinity. He was still observing Wu Tianjun in the distance, who was battling the Divine Lord Demonic Beast. At this moment, Wu Tianjun was only using his physical strength and Demonic Clan martial arts techniques. He was temporarily at a disadvantage, but not in any great danger.
"Capture that Bai Sha!" Suddenly, Wu Tianjun's loud shout echoed across to the merchant ship!