The speed of the blade of water was not fast, it could even be said to be slow.
But the slower it was, the more the crowd felt their hearts pounding!
Because this indicated one thing: the entity beneath the water was likely extremely large!
Otherwise, it wouldn't be able to swim so slowly!
"Judging by the length of the water ripples, this thing is at least forty meters long!"
He Chongxu stood at the edge of the deck, observing the sea surface with a grave expression.
Upon hearing He Chongxu's words, everyone was startled.
Forty meters!
It was terrifying!
Perhaps many people had watched too many monster movies and felt forty meters was nothing. But when encountering a forty-meter-long being in real life, one would instinctively feel fear!
Because forty meters was equivalent to the height of over a dozen floors.
And humans were at most a little over two meters tall!
It would take over twenty of the tallest humans to even compare with this thing!
"Young Master Ying, it seems cautious and doesn't dare to approach easily."
"Or rather, it's assessing our intentions. Until it clearly understands, it won't act rashly."
"This proves its intelligence is not low, and it possesses a certain degree of sentience."
Ying Chen nodded, acknowledging He Chongxu's deduction.
The length of this creature indeed exceeded Ying Chen's expectations.
The Xuan Yin Hook Serpent he had killed at Shennong Sect was only thirty meters long.
He had thought that was the limit, as Xuan Yin Hook Serpents were naturally anomalous and consumed Mountain Lord Flowers for years, making such growth understandable.
But he hadn't expected that in this mysterious sea area, there was something even larger than the Xuan Yin Hook Serpent!
Unfortunately, this creature was extremely cunning, keeping its main body hidden deep beneath the seabed, never revealing itself.
It merely deliberately created ripples to attract attention.
Anyone else, perhaps, would have been deceived by it and attacked along the ripples.
But Ying Chen was certain: the entity beneath the ripples was absolutely not its true body, or at least not its vital parts.
If anyone dared to attack the rippling water, its head, hidden somewhere unknown, would likely emerge and devour them.
This creature's intelligence far surpassed that of the Xuan Yin Hook Serpent.
It made sense; if it didn't possess such high intelligence, how could it have formed a master-servant contract with the Hidden Dragon Daoist?
The Hidden Dragon Daoist was the servant, and it was the master.
"Young Master Ying, what do we do next?"
He Chongxu looked at Ying Chen and asked.
Ying Chen waved his hand, signaling He Chongxu to move aside.
Then, with a sudden burst of movement, he leaped off the cruise ship.
His toes lightly touched the surface of the sea.
Like a fighter jet performing a low-altitude dive, the intense sonic waves directly caused the sea surface to surge, parting to reveal a deep chasm!
Beneath the chasm, the vague outline of the creature was revealed.
Dark scales, a ferocious form, emanating a terrifying aura!
It was undeniably a colossal black snake!
However, Ying Chen's single step had only allowed everyone to glimpse a part of its body.
Its tail and head were still hidden somewhere unknown.
Ying Chen seemed unwilling to give up, and his toes touched the water surface again!
Rumble!
A large splash erupted, like the explosion of a deep-sea torpedo.
The spray rose tens of meters into the air before slowly descending.
The crowd watched the spray expectantly, waiting for it to disappear completely to get a clear view of the black snake.
But to everyone's surprise, as the spray was about to fall and vanish, a massive head emerged from the water!
Silently, without any warning!
As if this head had been part of the spray all along, belonging to it!
It was a natural assassin!
"Oh!"
Everyone on the cruise ship gasped.
Zhuang Ruoting's face turned pale, and she cried out, "Mr. Ying, be careful!"
However, if Ying Chen needed them to remind him to react, he would have long since become the black snake's meal.
The moment the black snake's head appeared, Ying Chen had already ascended rapidly.
Like a feather without weight, the surge created by the black snake's head only propelled him upward, preventing it from biting him!
"Hiss," the black snake let out an angry hiss.
The next second, a scene that widened everyone's eyes occurred.
The black snake spewed a ball of water from its mouth.
The water ball was about the size of a basketball, surrounded by a dark, bluish hue.
After leaving the black snake's mouth, the water ball began to expand.
Simultaneously, an intense and terrifying pressure was released with the expansion of the water ball.
"Xuan Yin Water Thunder!"
"It knows Xuan Yin Water Thunder!"
On the cruise ship, He Chongxu exclaimed in shock.
He recognized the move the black snake was using, a technique the Hidden Dragon Daoist had once taught him.
It contained a large amount of Yin Sha energy, which, upon explosion, would enter the enemy's body and freeze them into ice crystals!
"Of course, it knows it. After all, the techniques of you two disciples were derived from it!"
At this moment, Ying Chen's voice echoed leisurely.
Then, Ying Chen grabbed the air with his five fingers.
Even though there was still some distance between it and the Xuan Yin Water Thunder, the rapidly expanding water ball seemed to be restrained by something, unable to expand further!
"Using his own method against him!"
"Go!"
Ying Chen pointed downwards.
Instantly, the Xuan Yin Water Thunder plummeted down towards the black snake's head!
The black snake clearly hadn't anticipated this. It had no time to dodge.
With a boom, the water thunder exploded, scattering Yin Sha water vapor like shrapnel.
Some directly entered the black snake's mouth.
The explosion caused the black snake to let out a pained roar!
Its gaze towards Ying Chen became even more ferocious and hateful!
It was only then that the crowd finally got a clear look at the black snake's face.
Its head was like a snake's, yet also like a fish's, with two curved horns on its head.
If one had to describe it, it was more like a short-snouted crocodile with two horns attached to its head!
"This is..."
On the cruise ship, He Chongxu stared at the black snake with a look of shock.
"That's not right. Although our sect is said to have been an organization that helped the Yellow Emperor raise auspicious beasts in ancient times, it's impossible to verify after so many years. All records in the sect have been lost. We only vaguely heard that the sect still had an auspicious beast two hundred years ago, called..."
"Qing Qiu!"
"Could this be that Qing Qiu?"
"And my uncle, being the last elder-level figure in the sect, finally found traces of Qing Qiu after collecting information over the years, and then formed a master-servant contract with it?"
"No wonder my uncle had mediocre strength back then and was predicted to only reach the fifth tier of magic. But surprisingly, he advanced rapidly, directly entering the eighth tier."
"So, my uncle was borrowing Qing Qiu's power!"
"Then, that entity that appeared as a shadow at the peak of Nine Dragon Mountain back then was also its power manifesting?"
He Chongxu murmured to himself.
He had deduced the situation with about eighty to ninety percent accuracy!
Ying Chen, hearing He Chongxu's words on the sea, his gaze flickered slightly.
"Qing Qiu, huh?"
"That's quite rare. Legend has it that a Qiu is an immature young dragon, possessing true dragon bloodline. Judging by this creature's strength, it's far superior to the Xuan Yin Hook Serpent."
"Most importantly, its intelligence is extremely high. Not only does it understand various schemes and ambushes, but it also knows how to form contracts with humans."
"The only pity is that it cannot speak. Otherwise, it would truly be a sentient spirit or demon."
"But not being able to now doesn't mean it won't be able to in the future. Perhaps with the spiritual energy resurgence, this thing could instantly transform into a dragon that commands clouds and spits fog, and controls wind and thunder!"
"From this perspective, the best option seems not to be to hunt it and make ground paste. Instead, it's to force it into a master-servant contract and wait for it to transform into a dragon in the future."
"Of course, I would be the master, and it could only be a servant."
"Even then, it's flattering it. Otherwise, at most, it would be a pet!"
Ying Chen mused inwardly.
While Ying Chen was contemplating, Qing Qiu was not idle.
Its head remained still, its eyes fixed on Ying Chen, as if it were assessing the opponent's strength.
"This creature is practically sentient. It can also judge the situation and estimate the opponent's strength."
"Once it finishes its estimation, it will either attack or flee."
He Chongxu exclaimed repeatedly.
But to everyone's surprise, just as He Chongxu finished speaking, a massive tail suddenly emerged from behind Ying Chen!
The tail tore through the sea surface, carrying surging and violent power, whipping viciously towards Ying Chen's back!
The sonic boom caused by its passage indicated how fierce this strike was!
It was definitely a fatal blow!
This creature was more cunning than imagined!
It wasn't assessing Ying Chen's strength at all; it was deliberately acting that way to mislead Ying Chen!
The true killer move lay in the ambushing tail!
"Good beast!"
Ying Chen cursed with a smile.
Then, he spun around abruptly, drawing a large circular fist stance in front of him.
The moment the stance was formed, it resembled the sun in the sky, emitting a fierce and powerful yang aura!
Concurrently, a phantom sundial, inscribed with the cycles of the sun and moon, materialized before Ying Chen's arms.
With each rotation of the sundial, a ripple of fist intent spread outwards.
Qing Qiu's tail, like it was hitting layer upon layer of glass.
The sounds of cracking and popping were incessant.
With each collision between Qing Qiu's tail and the sundial's ripples, its power diminished.
By the time it had struck all the ripples, Qing Qiu's tail had long since lost its momentum!
Let alone delivering a fatal blow, it was incapable of even causing Ying Chen any harm!
"As expected of a prodigy who cultivates both magic and martial arts, this simultaneous use of magic and martial arts is simply breathtaking!"
He Chongxu praised sincerely.
Meanwhile, Huo Sheng and others silently cursed two words in their hearts: "sycophant."
In the sea.
Qing Qiu had not expected its ambush to be so easily thwarted by Ying Chen.
It let out an enraged roar.
The sound was so loud and sharp, like a witch's chant, causing everyone to sway and lose their balance!
Seizing the opportunity, Qing Qiu violently swung its head and rammed towards Ying Chen.
Rumble!
Caught off guard, Ying Chen was sent flying by Qing Qiu.
Like a kite flown backward, he stumbled all the way, crashing into the hull of the cruise ship!
The solid hull was dented visibly!
Everyone was startled.
Huo Sheng and Officer Lin exchanged glances, revealing excitement.
It seemed Ying Chen was not Qing Qiu's match!
This meant that if Qing Qiu killed Ying Chen, Huo Sheng and Officer Lin would regain their freedom!
They didn't believe this Qing Qiu could swallow the entire cruise ship!
As long as they hid in the cockpit, they would surely escape!
"Young Master Ying, are you alright?"
He Chongxu quickly asked.
Ying Chen feigned weakness, pressed his hand against the hull, and instantly soared into the air, landing back on the deck of the cruise ship.
"I'm fine."
"I can handle it."
Ying Chen shook his head.
Yet, the way he appeared made everyone realize that Ying Chen had suffered a serious injury this time!
Qing Qiu had gained the upper hand!