307: Chapter 307 Establishing a Defense Line

While they were defending the Sihai Island Market, both Yang Province and Ying Province also came under attack by large numbers of sea monsters.

In Ying Province, the Huang and Mu Families immediately mobilized a large number of Cultivators to head to the sea territory to guard the archipelago.

In the past, sea monsters were few in number, so the Huang and Mu Families did not pay much mind to them, merely treating them as resources; thus, sea monsters would more or less slip along the rivers into Ying Province.

However, things were completely different now. With a massive influx of sea monsters attacking, if they did not establish a line of defense across the sea islands to thin out their numbers, it would become troublesome once they reached the mainland.

Fortunately, this beast tide was merely vast in quantity, with no sea monsters exceeding the fourth rank appearing.

Therefore, relying on the Purple Palace Cultivators under their command, they were able to keep it under control.

Of course, if a Tier 4 sea monster were to descend, it would no longer be the sole responsibility of the Huang and Mu Families, but the collective responsibility of all factions in Yan Country.

Huang Shouye, as one of the Purple Palace Cultivators dispatched by the Huang Family, had a heavy task: he had to lead several Purple Palace Cultivators and tens of thousands of Cultivators to guard the northern archipelago of Ying Province.

Meanwhile, the Mu Family's people were responsible for the southern part of Ying Province.

A few months ago, the loud boom in the depths of the ocean was not only heard over in Han Country, but also in Ying Province—in fact, almost all coastal areas had heard it.

At that time, they had made a few preparations, but like Han Country, because nothing happened for over a month, they did not take it too seriously.

Otherwise, their situation would not be so dire right now.

Watching a large swarm of sea monsters attacking, Huang Shouye immediately instructed the lower-ranking Cultivators to prepare, while he and the other Purple Palace Cultivators discussed their upcoming deployment.

For some reason, during this sea monster turmoil, the sheer number of sea monsters far surpassed previous occurrences, yet there were very few high-tier sea monsters.

In the past, whenever the number of sea monsters exceeded several hundred thousand, Tier 4 sea monsters would inevitably appear. Yet this time, there were far more than a few hundred thousand—probably reaching millions—and let alone Tier 4 sea monsters, even Tier 3 sea monsters were scarce.

The Cultivators led by Huang Shouye occupied eighteen islands, with only two to three thousand Cultivators stationed on each island, having to cope with attacks from tens of thousands of sea monsters.

Huang Shouye and the other Purple Palace Cultivators would also step in from time to time to slay Tier 2 sea monsters.

Although there were not many Tier 3 sea monsters, they were facing a beast tide of over five hundred thousand. Even if high-tier sea monsters accounted for less than one percent of the tide, their absurd numbers meant there were still several thousand of them, whereas the Human Race only had a few hundred Foundation Establishment Cultivators.

If these Purple Palace Cultivators did not step in, they might hold out for a while using Formations, but ultimately, they would still be overwhelmed by such massive numbers of sea monsters.

The combat power of humans and Yao Beasts was rarely a one-to-one match. A major reason for this was that humans excelled at using various treasures, such as Magical Artifacts, Medicinal Pills, or Formations.

Every time the Human Race fought against the Yao Race or Sea Race, despite a vast disparity in numbers, humans could rely on Formations to turn around part of their disadvantage, or even completely reverse the course of a war.

This was precisely where the Yao Race and Sea Race suffered disadvantages.

But once they transformed into human form, everything became equal; members of the Yao Race and Sea Race in human form naturally possessed the capability to use Magical Artifacts, Formations, and Medicinal Pills.

However, transformed Yao usually had high cultivation bases, and their proportion was low; precisely because of these limitations, the Yao Race and Sea Race could not steamroll the Human Race at will.

Otherwise, if they could transform right at birth and learn all of humanity's methods, humans would never be able to survive against them.

Because the gap in total scale between the two sides was far too immense.

Huang Shouye pressed his palm downward, instantly crushing several Tier 2 sea monsters to pieces. Just as he finished dealing with them, he suddenly felt a jolt of apprehension. Turning his head, he saw a giant squid staring at him.

It was a Tier 3 Xuanwu Beast.

The Xuanwu Beast's two thick, long tentacles, stretching over a thousand zhang, whipped toward Huang Shouye in an instant.

Alarm bells rang in Huang Shouye's heart as he hurriedly dodged. But just as he avoided one tentacle, the other followed right behind.

Seeing this, he stopped dodging, slapped his Storage Pouch, and a giant yellow cauldron appeared out of thin air, blocking the incoming blow for him.

*Bzzz!*

The tentacle struck the wall of the cauldron, producing only the clanging sound of clashing metal, failing to push the giant cauldron back even half a step.

A visibly humanlike confusion appeared in the Xuanwu Beast's eyes, but it immediately launched another attack.

A torrential storm of lashings was completely unable to harm Huang Shouye, who hid behind the giant yellow cauldron.

Huang Shouye commanded the giant yellow cauldron to slam down onto the Xuanwu Beast. With just one blow, it slammed the monster down into the sea, turning the water red with blood where it had just been.

He glanced at it, quietly waiting for the Xuanwu Beast to surface.

That strike had been immensely powerful, its residual force even crushing a swarm of surrounding sea monsters, but for a Tier 3 Medium Grade Xuanwu Beast, it would inflict heavy injuries at most, not death.

Had they been on land, with his cultivation at the eighth layer of the Purple Palace realm, that single strike would have been enough to finish it off. Unfortunately, they were on the surface of the sea, and both his Cultivation Technique and Magical Artifact were of the Earth attribute.

Although Earth counters Water, Earth Spiritual Qi was scarce here, so even with the elemental advantage, the effect was limited.

After a while, the Xuanwu Beast still did not show itself. Huang Shouye felt a bit puzzled; that strike definitely couldn't have killed the creature, unless...

Just as he moved toward that area, two tentacles suddenly burst out from beneath the ocean surface, whipping straight at his body.

Huang Shouye's eyes widened, a smile curling up his lips. "Not bad! You beasts have even learned to use schemes now."

He immediately commanded the giant yellow cauldron to block right in front of him.

*Bzzz!*

Seeing that its sneak attack had failed, the Xuanwu Beast hid back in the depths of the ocean, refusing to show itself again.

Shaking with rage at the deceitful creature, Huang Shouye wanted to chase down and tear the sea monster to pieces, but he also understood that it was intentionally luring him down.

Sea monsters were far too numerous here, and their Divine Sense was naturally suppressed by the Wuwang Sea, preventing them from accurately probing what lay beneath the waters.

Thus, after careful consideration, he refrained from diving down and returned to oversee the island instead.

In any case, his intervention had already achieved its purpose; he hadn't held much hope of slaying a Tier 3 sea monster to begin with.

Across the sea, sea monsters swarmed everywhere. Some broke through the Human Race's defense network and headed toward Ying Province.

Seeing this, Huang Shouye and his companions paid no heed. Their duty was to intercept and slay large hordes of sea monsters; as for those that slipped past them, that was a headache for the Huang and Mu Families in the rear.

After several days of intense battle, the sea monsters temporarily retreated. Most of the human Cultivators were exhausted, making full use of the lull in combat to restore their spiritual energy and Divine Sense.

Meanwhile, over in Han Country, the numerous islands in Han territory had been the first to encounter the sea monsters. The fighting there had reached a white-hot intensity: many Cultivators died horrific deaths, and numerous islands fell one after another. Compared to Ying Province and Yang Province, the situation there was dire indeed.