Stellar Transformations

B5C2: The underwater world of demonic beasts

It has been a half month since the journey on the boundless ocean began. During the last half month, sometimes Qin Yu flew on the sword, sometimes he trod on the waves and sometimes he rested on the big ship. He and Xiao Hei have only come across several islands in a half month and they were merely ordinary small islands with no traces of human presence.

It is still very far from the Overseas Immortal Islands.

“Xiao Hei, why do you want to learn angling with me? Won’t it be faster if you come directly into the water and catch fish?” Qin Yu lies down on the deck and enjoys the ocean winds as he pleases. But there is a fishing rod beside him. A stream of stellar energy is connecting his fingers with the fishing rod.

As soon as there is a sign of a fish, he can easily pull it out of the water.

A dark golden stream of energy comes out from Xiao Hei’s body and is attached directly to a fishing rod. Xiao Hei has unexpectedly been fishing with a rod as well. Hearing Qin Yu’s question, he says using his holy sense: “Then why are you angling, big brother? Won’t it also be faster if you come into the ocean to catch fish?”

“The mood, angling is to enjoy the mood. The mood, do you understand?” Qin Yu says smilingly.

Xiao Hei uses holy sense communication: “The mood, angling is to enjoy the mood! Hah, so simple, who wouldn’t understand this reason? Could it be you haven’t noticed that I’m enjoying the mood too?” Xiao Hei even waves his wings proudly.

“...” Qin Yu does not know what to say.

After a short while,

“The mood my arse, I haven’t been able to catch even a single fish.” Xiao Hei becomes impatient and throws his fishing rod directly into the cabin. Then, with a shake of his wings, he dives into the ocean like an arrow that is leaving a bow. In a little while, he flies back onto the deck with each of his sharp claws holding a fish.

Xiao Hei gloats: “Big brother, take your time enjoying the mood. I’ll go make some grilled fish.”

As Xiao Hei is very intelligent, after seeing Qin Yu use the grill, he has totally understood how to use it too and therefore now he is going to grill the fish himself. Qin Yu has nothing to say. Suddenly, his fishing rod shakes. He hurriedly lifts it up with a grab. With a ‘hey’ sound, he pulls a fish out of the water.

“Ha-ha, such a big fish.”

Angling feels much more enjoyable than catching fish directly does. In a happy mood, Qin Yu fetches the fish and conveniently throws it straight into a vat that is specifically used to store fish in the cabin. Xiao Hei looks at the fish then looks at Qin Yu.

“Hmm ... why can’t I catch fish with a fishing rod?” He really does not want to accept this. Of course, he will not tell Qin Yu about this thought. Instead, he feigns a disdainful expression: “Isn’t it just catching a fish with a rod? What’s there to be proud of? How can it possibly be as fast as me grasping fish?”

Hearing Xiao Hei’s voice through his holy sense, Qin Yu cannot help getting astounded: “Xiao Hei, I’m not proud of this at all. Could it be ... you’re jealous of me?”

......

Luckily Qin Yu can chat with Xiao Hei. Otherwise he would only be able to pass time by practicing. This one day, after enjoying a sumptuous dinner, Qin Yu and Xiao Hei begin to meditate and rest in the cabin.

It is already dark. The ocean looks terrifying in the dark. With apparently not the slightest amount of light in sight, the only thing that is surrounding them is the surging ocean.

However, to Qin Yu and Xiao Hei, the billowing ocean is not a danger at all because it is actually very simple for them to tread on the waves, not to mention such an easy thing to do as flying.

The inside of the cabin is very quiet at the moment. Qin Yu and Xiao Hei are slowly practicing. An indistinct light silvery nebula is flickering in Qin Yu’s vicinity while various flashes of lightning are moving around on the surface of Xiao Hei’s body.

Suddenly --

Qin Yu’s ears slightly move. He immediately opens his eyes and jumps onto the deck from inside the cabin. Staring south into the distance, he cannot help getting startled: “Good Heavens, so high, so big!”

“Big brother, what’s happened?” Xiao Hei has also come out of the cabin. As soon as he takes a look south, he is stupefied too.

He only sees huge waves that are 100 m high moving north nonstop in the south like a large army. There are even frightening cyclones behind the waves. Those cyclones are covering a very large area. At least Qin Yu can see at a glance that several hundred li in the south is full of cyclones.

“Big brother, should we go through the waves to have some fun, eh?” Xiao Hei says via his holy sense.

Looking at the huge waves in the distance, Qin Yu cannot help feeling his heart beating faster. He says audaciously: “All right, but this ship has to be put away first. If it gets lost in such big waves, it’ll be very hard to find it back.” He then sucks the ship into his spatial ring at once.

“Whoa ~~~ let’s surf!” With a shake of his wings, Xiao Hei pierces through the air directly, rushing towards those huge waves along the surface of the ocean. He then spreads his wings and cuts straight through the waves very wildly like a knife.

“Xiao Hei, wait for me.”

Qin Yu also rushes towards those endless billows on the surface of the water. One huge wave after another is pushing north unceasingly. Eventually they crash into Qin Yu. With a bang, Qin Yu breaks through a billow directly, but it is immediately followed up by the 2nd billow.

When a huge wave that is over 100 m high strikes down, it creates a really deafening noise.

Qin Yu can only feel that he is being engulfed in explosions. However, Xiao Hei’s voice rises in his mind through holy sense communication: “Big brother, you’re too slow. Quickly catch up with me.”

“Don’t get cocky, brat.” Qin Yu’s entire body sometimes goes through the waves like a flash, sometimes flutters on the tops of the billows like a butterfly, and sometimes stands on the billows like a sea god. He is amusing himself as he pleases. He and Xiao Hei continue to go south for an indeterminately long period of time while the billows keep rushing north. They have totally come into the middle of the billows. Suddenly --

Qin Yu looks southwards in stupefaction.

“Good Heavens.”

He finally knows the main culprit that has been creating these endless billows. Those cyclones are strong but they still cannot shake him and Xiao Hei up. However, he finds the main cause of those immense cyclones and endless billows somewhat difficult to face head-on.

“Big brother, what’s that?”

Xiao Hei has flown up to Qin Yu. Both of them are looking southwards. At the moment, a huge maelstrom is spinning nonstop several tens li to the south of their location. The sky above the maelstrom is filled with dark clouds, which seem to be touching the ocean’s surface, and various thunderbolts are striking down continuously from them.

This enormous maelstrom keeps absorbing the thunderbolts from the sky and even creates a huge tornado above it. That sky-high tornado in turn has been causing the cyclones within a several hundred li radius of the maelstrom. Even though Qin Yu is very far from the tornado, he dares to confirm that he cannot resist the power of its rotation.

“Big brother, what should we do?” Xiao Hei seems not certain about being able to handle it either.

One man and one eagle only stand on the waves, looking at the terrifying maelstrom and tornado in the distance.

Qin Yu then opens his mouth, saying: “I’d like to beat this tornado, but ... I don’t want to become a toy for it. Once we’re pulled into it, we’ll definitely be spun to the point of dizziness then get sucked in by that maelstrom.”

“Then we ...” Xiao Hei looks at Qin Yu.

Qin Yu’s face relaxes into a smile: “Let’s dive down. It’s said that the underwater world is the territory of demonic beasts. Shouldn’t we experience it a bit?” Xiao Hei of course has no objection to this. Immediately afterwards, a man and an eagle dive down into the water.

As they go down, the water pressure gradually increases.

“Xiao Hei, you’re really formidable. They say that water isn’t suitable for birds to go into but you seem not to be affected by it at all.” Qin Yu says using his holy sense.

Xiao Hei says: “Big brother, the underwater world is only unsuitable for ordinary birds. Jindan-stage birds have already become Xiuyaoists so they naturally can go underwater. Plus, I’m not only a Jindan demonic beast, but also an extraordinary demonic beast.”

Since Xiao Hei and Qin Yu have talked to each other a lot, he also knows that he is not an ordinary demonic beast. How can ordinary demonic beasts possibly compare with him, who cannot transform into a human after going through the 4-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation and, moreover, possesses hereditary memories?

Both Qin Yu and Xiao Hei have very strong bodies so the water pressure does not affect them much.

“It’s very quiet under the water indeed.” They dive down 1000 m without taking a break. At the moment, it is very quiet at a depth of 1000 m in the ocean. Various multicolored fish are swimming. Seemingly not afraid of Qin Yu and Xiao Hei in the slightest, they swim past them.

There are also small fish whose entire bodies radiate rays of light. Fish are the most commonly seen kind of animal in the ocean and Qin Yu and Xiao Hei usually encounter densely populated shoals of fish. But once in a while, they see other kinds of underwater animals as well.

Qin Yu and Xiao Hei keep diving down to a depth of 2000 m.

“What a large whale. It should be several hundred years old.” Looking at an over 100 m long huge whale that is swimming in the distance, Qin Yu cannot help getting startled inwardly. However, Xiao Hei beside him suddenly becomes excited.

Many flashes of lightning spread out from his body.

Qin Yu only feels his body get a shock. It turns out some flashes have reached him.

“Xiao Hei, what are you doing?” He immediately looks doubtfully at Xiao Hei, who however says in excitement via holy sense communication: “Big brother, this whale has a lot of life essence. There’s a method for absorbing blood and flesh in my hereditary memories.”

9 flashes of lightning then shoot out from the surface of Xiao Hei’s body and hit different parts of that huge whale squarely. With a miserable cry, that whale begins to shrink at a shocking speed. Various streams of blood essence continuously flow into Xiao Hei’s body along the 9 flashes of lightning.

Qin Yu’s eyes pop out of his head.

In just a short while, the blood essence of a 100 m long whale has been gobbled up completely. What that is left of the whale is only a layer of skin and its bones. Xiao Hei has just absorbed a whale but his stomach has unexpectedly remained unchanged. Qin Yu cannot imagine where so much blood essence of that 100 m long whale has gone.

“Wow, it felt really good to refine the blood essence and absorb the life essence of a Xiantian level whale. In terms of life essence, it wasn’t inferior to an ordinary Jindan demonic beast.” Xiao Hei praises highly.

Qin Yu is almost speechless.

“Xiao Hei, that whale was so big, how was it able to go down your stomach?” He looks at Xiao Hei.

Xiao Hei however says: “Big brother ... I didn’t eat it. I only absorbed its blood essence and refined its life essence. But ... absorbing blood essence and refining life essence are a special skill. According to my hereditary memories, not many demonic beasts can absorb the essence of flesh and blood like me.”

Qin Yu has nothing to say.

Not many demonic beasts can do this? No kidding? The Xiuzhen books he has read talk about demonic-beast-related matters, and according to them, demonic beasts are only said to be able to absorb jindans and yuanyings, and no one has ever heard of a demonic beast that can absorb the essence of flesh and blood.

“Big brother, do you want to learn it? I can teach you if you want.” Xiao Hei says to Qin Yu.

Qin Yu is startled.

“Ha-ha ... just kidding, this method of absorbing flesh and blood is only suitable for me. Also, it can only be executed with my Dark Lightning.” Xiao Hei says using his holy sense. Absorbing other demonic beasts’ flesh and blood is not something an ordinary demonic beast can do.

Only some unusual demonic beasts can have such a special skill.

A divine beast Hong Luan cannot use such a skill, but this does not mean that Xiao Hei is more formidable than a Hong Luan. A blood-red anaconda is not a divine beast but it can absorb flesh and blood. Xiao Hei having such a special skill only means that he is unusual.

“All right, let’s keep going down. We haven’t seen any formidable demonic beasts until now.” Xiao Hei says smilingly via his holy sense.

He then continues to dive down with Xiao Hei. On the way Xiao Hei absorbs 3 huge carnivores successively then stops. This is already his limit of absorption and he has to digest what he has taken in.

At a depth of 3000 to 4000 m, Qin Yu eventually discovers the 1st Jindan-stage demonic beast -- a blue shelled black turtle. As soon as that blue shelled black turtle sees him and Xiao Hei, it transforms into a human and goes away extremely fast at once, seemingly scared.

Qin Yu and Xiao Hei look at that fleeing blue shelled black turtle with eyes popping.

“Big brother, what’s going on? Why did he run away? We didn’t want to kill him.” Xiao Hei becomes doubtful. Just now he even tried to communicate with that blue shelled black turtle in a friendly manner using his holy sense.

Qin Yu also shakes his head.

He and Xiao Hei keep going down to a depth of nearly 5000 m. There are many demonic beasts at this depth. Sometimes they encounter a demonic beast, but as soon as a demonic beast that is weak notices them, it immediately runs away. The strangest thing is those weak demonic beasts unexpectedly do not flee when encountering strong demonic beasts.

It seems ... those weak demonic beasts are only afraid of Qin Yu and Xiao Hei.

This is strange, very strange.

“Ha-ha, where are those 2 fellas from? It looks like they don’t know any rules. I bet they won’t live more than a half day.” A late Jindan demonic beast in the distance says to another demonic beast. At this moment, both of them transform into humans.

These 2 demonic beasts do not avoid Qin Yu and Xiao Hei either. What they are saying via holy sense communication is even rising in Qin Yu’s and Xiao Hei’s minds.

“A half day? 2 foreign blokes, I bet they’ll die within 2 hours.” The other demonic beast in human form says disdainfully.

Qin Yu and Xiao Hei exchange a look. They both find this strange. What is actually going on?

“The others can bugger off! These 2 fellas are mine.” Suddenly a huge holy sense spreads out. The voice of that holy sense’s owner rises in the minds of all the other demonic beasts, and even of Qin Yu and Xiao Hei. Those few humanoid demonic beasts go away in an instant.

“No good.”

Qin Yu has realized that the situation is not good thanks to his holy sense. But it is already too late. In just a moment, 10-odd huge blue octopuses come at him and Xiao Hei from all sides, surrounding them. There is no way for them to escape. These blue octopuses have all unexpectedly reached the Jindan stage.

“Ha-ha ...” The voice a moment ago rises again. A huge red octopus appears. This one is 4 to 5 times bigger than the other 10-odd octopuses and has a much more terrifying aura. Its 8 tentacles are like aquatic dragons, looking very frightening.

Qin Yu’s and Xiao Hei’s faces change color at once.

That red octopus looks at them with blazing eyes, which flash with greediness!

End of b5c2.