On Board

A female cultivator flew from the ship, wielding a large blade, and engaged in battle with the monster fish.

The monster fish was a beast with a powerful physical body, while the female cultivator was a body-refining practitioner. Both possessed extremely strong physical forms.

The female cultivator brandished her great blade, while the monster fish used its fins. They clashed violently near the ship's hull, with a cacophony of "clangs" and "clatters" ringing out. Sparks flew in the dark night, falling into the vast sea.

Watching the flashing blades and grand, sweeping battle movements, hearing the "ding-ding-dang-dang" of blade meeting scales, Qin Ran felt his blood begin to boil.

...Indeed, close-quarters combat with fist meeting flesh was the most authentic form of battle.

He couldn't help but think of Li Shiyin... Fortunately, his foolish disciple had comprehended sword energy, otherwise her battle scenes wouldn't be much better than this female cultivator's.

The female cultivator's speed and strength were surprisingly not inferior to the monster fish. The two hacked at each other on the ship's hull, then flew into the air, before plummeting back into the water.

They battled in the water for a while before the surface exploded. It was the monster fish, flapping its fins as it flew out of the water...

But Qin Ran could see clearly that it was actually escaping.

In the water, it couldn't beat the female cultivator.

Qin Ran, merged with the water, could sense the taste of blood, but it wasn't human blood. The monster fish had been injured.

That female cultivator was too fierce!

She was excessively violent, bursting out of the water again to clash hard with the monster fish in mid-air. Her blade was broken by the fish's head, so she resorted to using her fists. Finally, she mounted the monster fish's neck, raining down punch after punch, beating it from the sky back into the sea.

Huge waves spread out in all directions from where they were fighting.

But...

As time passed, the waves gradually weakened until no more were produced.

The sea surface became calm.

The seawater falling like rain from the sky, the still-rocking ship, and the fish floating belly-up on the surface all bore witness to the extremely violent battle that had just occurred.

The ship gradually steadied, and the rain slowly lessened...

A graceful figure flew out of the seawater, holding the monster fish in one hand.

...She had beaten the monster fish to death with her bare hands.

She flew to the deck and tossed down the fish.

"Wow, ohhh..."

Cheers immediately erupted from the ship.

The battle was over, and Qin Ran couldn't help but sigh at how passionate it had been.

He listened carefully to the cheers on the ship, judging the number of people aboard. Slowly, he revealed his form from the seawater. The Water Flower Pearl flew out, using water to form a set of clothes on his body. With a thought, he made numerous wounds appear on his body - knife wounds, abrasions, injuries from fish fin strikes, and so on. His clothes were correspondingly damaged, creating a miserable appearance of someone who had been adrift and injured.

"There should be about twenty people."

Having made his judgment, he swam towards the ship's hull.

As he got closer, he heard someone shouting "Captain Iron is mighty," while others cheered "Ruonan is unrivaled among her peers."

"That female cultivator is probably called Tie Ruonan."

Someone else was saying: "This winning fish was indeed formidable. If Captain Iron hadn't been traveling with us this time, we wouldn't have had any way to deal with it."

"So that monster fish is called a winning fish."

He also learned that the female cultivator called Tie Ruonan was likely the top combatant on this ship, which meant that the highest level of strength on board was below the Golden Core Stage.

Another person said: "Even the winning fish chased all the way here. It seems the spatial fluctuations that appeared in this area truly indicate the presence of an extraordinary treasure."

"?"

Qin Ran was startled. Spatial fluctuations? Could it be that they were caused by his teleportation to this place?

So, these people and that winning fish were all drawn here because of him?

"Winning fish love disaster and are fond of magical treasures, especially this kind of..."

"Who's there?!"

The people on the ship were still talking when they were suddenly interrupted by a light shout.

"There's someone else?"

There was a "clang" sound from the ship as people drew their weapons.

The next second, the light that had been shining on the winning fish was now directed at Qin Ran.

He floated on the sea surface, facing the light, unable to open his eyes or see anything.

Soon after, he was fished out of the water by the people on the ship.

On the deck, Qin Ran was soaking wet all over. His cyan robe had suffered many "disasters," with seventeen or eighteen wounds turning it into tattered cloth. Through the tatters, one could see sword wounds, irregular abrasions, and other injuries on his body. These wounds were still seeping blood, turning the cyan robe into a blood-stained garment.

About twenty people surrounded him, looking at his miserable state.

Qin Ran's face was completely pale, swollen from being in the water. He weakly turned his eyes, sweeping a glance across the people on the deck - men and women, indeed about twenty in number.

A big-bearded, bare-chested man with skin tanned dark by sea winds and sun stepped out from the crowd. He stood in front of Qin Ran and asked in a rough voice:

"Who are you?"

"This humble one is Li Feiyu," Qin Ran replied weakly.

"Where are you from?"

"Little Bamboo Peak."

"Little Bamboo Peak?" The burly man looked around and asked, "Does anyone know which island Little Bamboo Peak is on?"

Everyone on the deck shook their heads.

"Our place is very small," Qin Ran explained vaguely, his voice weak. "It's a very small place."

"Oh!" The burly man nodded. "It's a small island."

"Why did you appear here?" he asked again.

"I was passing through this area when I sensed an anomaly in heaven and earth. I thought some heavenly treasure might have appeared, so I came to seek an opportunity," Qin Ran said. "Who would have thought I'd encounter a winning fish."

"Hah!" The burly man sneered, "The cultivation world is full of people like you, seeking opportunities, snatching treasures, taking advantage. If you hadn't run into me, you'd be dead for sure this time!"

"Yes, yes..." As Qin Ran spoke, more blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

"Damn it, he looks like he's about to die!" Seeing Qin Ran's condition, the burly man spat in annoyance and asked those around him, "Give him a fairy fruit!"

A man came forward, took out a black, finger-sized pill, and roughly stuffed it into Qin Ran's mouth.

As the pill entered his mouth, the taste was bitter and indescribable. Qin Ran was an alchemist and could tell that this was a kind of healing pill, but of extremely low quality. Forget about the essence of the medicine, even the dregs hadn't been properly cleaned out.

He, the great Qin, had never eaten such an awful pill before.

"Find a room..." The burly man glanced at Qin Ran. "Throw him in there."

Two men came over, lifted Qin Ran from front and back, walked into the ship's cabin, found a room that could barely be called such, and tossed him inside.

In the room, there was a narrow bed, a narrow passage, and a small table on the bed. That was all.

The two men carelessly threw Qin Ran onto the bed, then left, laughing and joking.

"The boss is really too damn kind..."

"Yeah, even taking in this kind of damn trash..."

After they had walked far away, Qin Ran, who had been carelessly thrown onto the bed, slowly opened his eyes.

He covertly scanned the environment, finding nothing strange or dangerous, before slowly closing his eyes again.

The vigilance of the people on this ship was lower than he had imagined, and it had been much, much easier to get on board than he had expected.

Thinking about how the highest combat power on the ship was at the Golden Core Stage, he couldn't help but suspect that he had arrived in a very remote place, perhaps even more remote than the Land of Immortal Legacy was to the Lingnan Region.

"However..." A slight smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. "The lower the cultivation, the better. The lower the vigilance, the better. The more remote the location, the better."

It might have started as a hellish beginning, but things were slowly improving.