Chapter 37

Above the West Sea, water and sky merged into one, vast and boundless.

Su Chen stepped on green clouds, flying eastward at a steady, unhurried pace.

The sea wind, carrying a salty dampness, blew against his face, making his Daoist robe flap loudly and broadening his chest with openness.

“This West Sea truly has no horizon.”

Su Chen had flown for three full days, and as far as his eyes could see, there remained only an endless blue ocean, not even a single proper island in sight.

During this time, he had encountered several demonic creatures stirring up trouble in the sea.

There were colossal whales, as large as mountains, whose breath could summon waves stretching a hundred li; and packs of ferocious, bloodthirsty shark spirits, whose passage turned the seawater red.

Yet these demons possessed little intellect and mostly low cultivation, and upon sensing the immortal aura radiating from Su Chen from afar, they all panicked, scrambled into the deep sea, and dared not surface.

Su Chen had no interest in bothering with them.

His goal was clear: reach Dongsheng Shenzhou as quickly as possible and find Sun Wukong.

“I wonder how that monkey is doing now,” Su Chen mused inwardly. “He calls himself the Great Sage Equal to Heaven and stormed the Dragon Palace—such a commotion. The Heavenly Court must have already taken action.”

He was not going to aid Sun Wukong in fighting the Heavenly Court.

He had never forgotten the warning from Patriarch Bodhi.

A great calamity was coming; one must not enter the fray lightly.

He merely wished to observe from the sidelines and, at a critical moment, offer the monkey a slight hint.

If he could cause even the slightest deviation in Sun Wukong’s actions, altering the predetermined karma, he would gain Heavenly Mechanism Points.

Only with Heavenly Mechanism Points could he unlock the secrets of that mysterious scroll.

“Boom!”

As Su Chen pondered, the clear sky darkened without warning.

Vast clouds gathered from all directions, and in moments, completely obscured the entire sky.

Daylight vanished instantly, replaced by darkness; only occasional blinding flashes of lightning pierced the churning clouds, illuminating the sea below, now raging wildly.

Raindrops as large as beans pattered down, soon forming a curtain of rain.

Howling winds whipped up waves dozens of zhang high, crashing violently with deafening roars.

“Anomalous heavens herald demonic mischief.”

Su Chen halted his auspicious cloud, hovering midair, his brow slightly furrowed.

This storm came too strangely, carrying a faint, elusive demonic aura.

Clearly, it was not a natural phenomenon, but the work of a demon.

He extended his spiritual sense, instantly covering hundreds of li of ocean.

Soon, he detected an unusually powerful demonic aura thousands of zhang beneath the surface.

That aura was far stronger than any demon he had encountered before.

“So this is someone’s territory,” Su Chen understood.

The West Sea was vast, hiding countless powerful demonic clans who ruled the seas as kings.

For him to fly over their domain, it was only natural they would come out to “greet” him.

Following the principle of avoiding unnecessary trouble, Su Chen prepared to detour and avoid this region.

Yet as he turned to change course, the sea below erupted with a “boom,” forming a massive whirlpool.

A thick column of water shot skyward, and a three-zhang-tall sea demon—a nightmarish yecha with twin horns, blue scales, and wielding a massive steel trident—burst from the waves, blocking Su Chen’s path.

The yecha’s copper-bell eyes locked onto Su Chen, bellowing in a deep, rumbling voice: “Halt! Who are you, Daoist, daring to trespass into my Great King’s territory? Stop at once and state your name!”

This yecha possessed only Qi Refining to Primordial Spirit cultivation, and in Su Chen’s eyes, was no different from an ant.

But even when beating a dog, one must consider its master.

Su Chen bowed respectfully, his voice calm: “I am Wu Chen, a wandering Daoist from Xi Niuhe Zhou, bound for Dongsheng Shenzhou. I meant no offense—merely passing through. I humbly ask for your courtesy.”

The yecha crossed his trident, sneering: “Hmph. You say you’re just passing? That’s your word alone? My Great King has ordered: all who pass through this Black Wind Sea must pay toll!”

Su Chen couldn’t help but laugh bitterly.

He, a True Immortal, was being extorted by a mere yecha.

“And if I refuse?” Su Chen’s tone grew colder.

“Refuse?” The yecha swung his trident, roaring with laughter. “Refuse, and leave your life as a snack for my Great King!”

Before he finished speaking, he raised his trident, summoning a monstrous wave, and slammed it toward Su Chen’s head.

Facing this foolhardy yecha, Su Chen didn’t even lift his eyelids.

He merely raised his right hand, forming a sword finger, and lightly pointed at the demon.

“Still.”

A single word, softly spoken.

The yecha, moments ago charging with furious might, froze midair, his manic grin locked on his lips.

His body, along with the surrounding rain and waves, seemed held fast by an invisible hand, utterly motionless.

The yecha’s eyes rolled in terror; he tried to scream, but could not produce a sound.

“Go.”

Su Chen uttered another word.

The binding force vanished instantly. The yecha felt an irresistible force hurling him backward—he shot through the air like a cannonball, tracing a parabolic arc before crashing “plunk” into the sea a hundred zhang away, sending up a colossal splash.

Su Chen finished this, didn’t even glance back, and prepared to depart on his cloud.

Yet at that moment, a cold, sinister voice drifted up from the sea below.

“Heh. Quite the show of power. You strike down my man in my Black Wind Sea—and think you can just walk away?”

As the voice spoke, the sea below churned violently.

A demonic aura, countless times stronger than the yecha’s, surged skyward.

The entire sea seemed to awaken in that instant.

Su Chen halted, gazing down at the roiling sea.

He knew—the master had arrived.

“Splash!”

The sea parted, and a young man clad in a black royal robe, handsome yet sinister, rose slowly from the depths, standing atop a colossal black octopus.

The moment he appeared, the violent storm instantly calmed.

The dark clouds dispersed, sunlight returned, as if the apocalyptic scene moments before had been but an illusion.

“You are the master of this place?” Su Chen asked the black-robed youth.

The black-robed youth’s cultivation had reached the peak of Demon Immortal, just one step from Earth Immortal realm.

His true form was surely a black dragon that had cultivated for thousands of years.

No wonder he ruled this territory with absolute dominion.