A Mortal's Start in the Spirit Beast Mountain

Chapter 4 Azure Dragon

The young lady had never seen such a dangerous situation before, and she immediately lost her balance and staggered.

Although she was quite curious about the howling winds and towering waves outside, she was ultimately just a mortal and could not withstand such terrible weather. She could only be escorted by Old Qin downstairs in a hurry.

However, before going down, seeing that Luo Ming was still sitting firmly in place, she kindly reminded him, "This young master would better get away quickly." After saying that, she hurriedly left with Old Qin.

Luo Ming naturally didn't need to avoid the wind and rain. A faint blue magical shield appeared around him, blocking the wind and rain as soon as they reached the outside, leaving him completely unaffected. However, he was quite pleased with the young lady's kind reminder, secretly thinking, "She's beautiful inside and out!"

If he were just an ordinary martial artist, he might actually be somewhat attracted to this woman. Among young ladies from prominent families, there aren't many with such upbringing, which shows that this family has a decent reputation.

His gaze remained calm as he looked at the river. Just then, he caught that fluctuation of spiritual energy once more. This time, he clearly sensed that the fluctuation wasn't coming from the boat, but from beneath it—more precisely, from beneath the river's surface.

"Is it a demon?"

He focused his attention and finally discovered that beneath the surface of the river, a gigantic Xuan Turtle demon beast was quietly swimming towards the bottom of the boat. If it weren't for the faint fluctuation of spiritual energy that the Xuan Turtle had just emitted, given its ability to conceal its presence, Luo Ming might not have been able to detect it.

"Aquatic monsters have a significant advantage underwater, and their combat power is more than twice that on land, making them truly difficult to deal with," Luo Ming thought to himself. "This is just a level one Xuan Turtle; it has no way of controlling such a vast phenomenon. Could there be even more powerful monsters underwater?"

Luo Ming was immediately in a dilemma. He never expected that his whim to experience the life of an ordinary person would lead to such trouble. Now he was caught between a rock and a hard place.

"Oh no! A huge ship is sinking over there!"

"I think there was a tail that just surfaced in the water. Was that a monster?"

"What should I do? I forgot to check the almanac before I went out today!"

The crew and passengers on the ship were in complete chaos, with panicked shouts echoing everywhere.

"The Dragon King is enraged! Quickly throw in the offerings!"

Someone let out a roar, and people frantically threw their belongings into the river, but this did nothing to quell the strange phenomenon in the river.

At this moment, a hundred feet away, a large ship of similar size to theirs was struck hard on the bow by a huge blue tail, instantly creating a large hole in its hull and beginning to slowly sink.

Just then, a majestic shout suddenly came from afar: "You beast, how dare you stir up trouble here!"

Before the words were finished, a dark shadow pierced through the leaden rain curtain and came swiftly. With the flapping of its wings, it brought a strong wind. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a hawk with a wingspan of several feet. On the hawk's back stood a cultivator dressed in a blue Taoist robe. The man's face was cold and stern, and his eyes were locked on the underwater monster. A stream of red light shot out from the storage bag at his waist and suddenly unfolded in the air, transforming into a three-foot-long flying sword.

"cut!"

"Swoosh—" The crimson sword energy struck the underwater target with precision, and a sharp metallic scraping sound mixed with the sound of flesh tearing suddenly rang out. A furious roar of extreme rage came from underwater.

The monster thrashed violently in pain, creating huge waves on the river. Most of its body burst out of the water, revealing itself to be a giant azure dragon, several dozen feet in size!

This dragon was covered in bluish-black scales that shone with a metallic luster. It had a pair of short, bluish-gray horns on its head and a pair of lantern-sized eyes that were fixed on the human cultivator on the eagle's back.

"Huh? Isn't that Deacon Qin? What's he doing here?" Luo Ming recognized the voice. Upon closer inspection, he realized that the cultivator who had made the move was none other than Deacon Qin from Spirit Beast Mountain, who was also his superior.

Caught off guard, the azure dragon was struck in the tail by the flying sword. It was filled with extreme hatred for the human cultivator who had ruined its plans. With a roar, the river water condensed into countless water arrows as thick as an arm, which shot densely toward Steward Qin.

Faced with such a fierce attack, Deacon Qin remained calm. With a flick of his wrist, a small cyan shield appeared in his left palm. As he channeled his magic power into it, the shield emitted a deep hum, and its size suddenly increased to several meters. The powerful water arrows slammed into the shield's light barrier one after another, each impact producing a dull thud. The light barrier trembled violently, yet it remained standing.

"Is this how Foundation Establishment cultivators fight? It's really impressive." Luo Ming was secretly shocked. "That sword energy can actually condense into a size of several feet, with formidable power. In contrast, my magic weapon flying sword, even when fully activated, can only produce sword energy of less than one foot. The difference is truly enormous."

Just as Luo Ming was intently observing this rare battle between Foundation Establishment cultivators, the ship beneath him suddenly began to shake violently. The mortals on board were terrified and clung tightly to the ship's sides or beams, fearing they would be thrown into the river.

Luo Ming glanced down at the hull, his eyes narrowing. "Heh, I haven't even bothered you yet, and you dare to make a move. I might not be able to defeat a level two demonic beast, but I can handle you, you old bastard?"

Just now, seeing its leader make a move, this black tortoise also took the opportunity to act.

He snorted coldly, and with a thought, a black shadow suddenly darted out from the spirit beast pouch at his waist, transforming into a ten-zhang-long giant python that fell into the river below. It was the rock python that he had cultivated for many years.

"Go, take care of that black tortoise down there."

Under Luo Ming's careful nurturing for more than two years, this rock python has grown to more than ten zhang in length, and its demonic aura is thick and heavy, almost reaching the limit of a first-level demon beast.

Luo Ming spared no expense in raising it, not only feeding it spiritual liquid from the Spirit Gathering Cauldron year-round, but also frequently buying low-level demonic beasts to improve its diet, treating it even better than its owner.

If he weren't currently short of spirit stones, an ordinary Qi Refining stage cultivator simply wouldn't be able to afford to raise him.

At this moment, the giant black tortoise at the bottom of the ship was arching its limbs to gather strength, intending to capsize the ship and devour the mortals on board.

Just before it unleashed its power, an extremely ferocious aura suddenly attacked from the side. The giant tortoise froze and turned its head sharply to look—it saw a gray shadow more than ten feet long rushing towards it, its scales standing on end, its scarlet tongue flicking in and out rapidly, carrying a cold killing intent, and a pair of vertical slit pupils locked onto it. It was the rock python that had just entered the water.

Although the giant tortoise was somewhat puzzled as to why this demon was causing it trouble, it still subconsciously retracted its limbs into its shell, letting out a low, guttural roar. The surface of its black shell instantly shimmered with a dark, demonic light, making it appear very heavy.

It was originally a subordinate of that Azure Dragon, and this time it followed Lord Azure Dragon here to have a feast. Unexpectedly, there was a traitor among its kind.

At this moment, Luo Ming kept an eye on Deacon Qin's side, ready to run away immediately if he was outmatched, while also keeping an eye on the movement under his feet. He wanted to know just how strong his rock python really was, so that it wouldn't mess things up when its master was fighting other cultivators.