Martial Arts: Starting with Upgrading the Dilapidated Temple

At noon that day, chaos suddenly erupted on the deck.

"Pull! Pull harder, you bastards! It's a big one!" Luo Meng, shirtless, gripped the thick rope, as thick as a child's arm, his neck veins bulging.

A dozen or so sailors leaned back, their feet carving water tracks into the deck.

"Brother Luo, what on earth is in the net? It's too strong, won't our net break?" A sailor gritted his teeth, his face turning red.

"Bullshit! This net is made of twisted iron wire; even a giant ironback shark could be pulled up by me!" Luo Meng cursed. "If we pull this off today, the boss's essence beads will be enough for two rounds!"

Upon hearing about the essence blood bead, the sailors immediately perked up and exerted all their strength.

But things didn't go as planned.

Instead of being pulled up, the object in the sea suddenly sank.

The massive Zhenyuan was pulled and tilted, its bow plunged into the waves, and it was dragged off course.

The bottom hatch was kicked open with a bang.

Xu Hao walked onto the deck shirtless, his body still emanating the white vapor of the Extreme Cold Martial Forging Pool.

He frowned as he looked at the sailors who were staggering about.

"What are you doing up there in broad daylight, performing some kind of shamanistic ritual?"

"Boss! We've caught a big catch!" Luo Meng exclaimed anxiously, sweating profusely. "But this beast's strength is unbelievable; it's pulling our boat along!"

Xu Hao walked to the side of the ship and peered out into the sea.

The seawater had changed color at some point, its original gray-blue turning into a deathly gray-black.

Without warning, a thick, impenetrable black mist rose up all around, even swallowing up the illusionary mist that the Zhenyuan ship carried.

Luo Meng lay on the deck, pressing his ear against the wooden plank to listen for a long time, then suddenly raised his head, his face ashen.

"Boss, something's wrong! There's not a single living thing moving around underwater."

The Zhenyuan was forced to sail into a dead-dead sea area where even the waves were completely still—the Zanggu Trench.

The black fog obscured the view, making it impossible to see the distant scenery. However, by the light of the torches that were quickly lit on the ship, one could vaguely see that the sea surface was densely covered with countless decaying ancient warship wrecks.

The broken mast pierced straight up the gray sky.

The hatch to the lower deck was pushed open again, and Chen Yuanzhi came out carrying a ceramic jar that was bubbling with green foam.

He had just finished brewing a new pot of poison downstairs, and his body reeked of a nauseating, fishy stench.

He walked to the ship's side, glanced at the churning black mist, and his brows furrowed into a deep knot.

"Cut the net immediately." Chen Yuanzhi placed the pottery jar on the deck, his tone unusually solemn. "This isn't ordinary sea fog. It's filled with extremely dense corpse poison and resentment."

Xu Hao raised an eyebrow and looked at Chen Yuanzhi.

"Second Master, you've really put your knowledge of poisons into practice; your nose is sharper than a dog's."

Chen Yuanzhi ignored Xu Hao's teasing and pointed to the decaying wreckage of the warship in the distance.

"Boss, the fate of Daheng has crumbled in recent years, and resentment has spread throughout the land. This place is probably a remnant of the naval battle. Too many people died, and the resentment couldn't dissipate. What couldn't be suppressed has all revived underwater."

As soon as he finished speaking, the enormous dragging force underwater suddenly disappeared.

The taut hemp rope hung limply over the sea.

Just as everyone breathed a sigh of relief, the black fog on the sea surface began to churn violently.

The mournful opera singing drifted on the stagnant water, the intonation so strangely controlled that it sent chills down one's spine.

Following the sound, several paper boats adorned with pale white lanterns drifted along the stagnant water to the side of the Zhenyuan ship.

Several life-sized paper figures stood on the paper boat, their faces painted with cheap blush, their mouths stretched to their ears, and their empty black eye sockets staring intently at the living people on the deck.

Luo Meng, knife in hand, approached the ship's side and peered down.

"Boss, whose shoddy work is this? It looks pretty creepy. How many merit points can I get for it?"

Several sailors who had just emerged from the frigid forging pool also joined in the commotion.

"Brother Luo is right. This paper figure looks eerie. It might just be some low-level pirates around here using it to scare people."

Xu Hao leaned against the mast and didn't reply.

A distinct sense of disgust emanated from the image of the blessed land in his mind; the Zhenyuan seemed to have no liking for such eerie things.

"Don't touch it!" Chen Yuanzhi's expression changed drastically. This is a monster tainted with resentment! Step back!

late.

The paper figures suddenly stopped singing, their painted red lips splitting open as they let out a shrill, ear-piercing laugh.

Immediately afterwards, the paper effigy burst forth, transforming into several gusts of cold wind that swept directly up the ship's side onto the deck.

"You're playing tricks! Smash it!"

A sailor named Crab reacted quickly, drawing his broadsword from his waist and slashing it fiercely at the paper effigy that was rushing towards him.

The blade, imbued with the power of the Bone Forging Realm, cleaved through the air.

There was no sensation of skin being torn apart.

The broadsword pierced directly through the paper effigy's thin body, striking the deck and sending sparks flying.

The crab was stunned, watching the perfectly intact paper effigy pass right through its blade.

The paper effigy's empty eyes stared at the Shanghai crab's face, and its pale arms suddenly stretched forward.

puff.

There was no bleeding.

The paper effigy's arm pierced straight through the crab's chest.

Before the crab could even let out a scream, its once robust body shrank at a visible speed, and in the blink of an eye, it was drained of its yang energy and turned into a skin-and-bones desiccated corpse, which slammed straight onto the deck.

"Old crab!"

Luo Meng, his eyes blazing with fury, swung his sword to strike, but his blade missed its mark, forcing him to retreat repeatedly.

Extreme panic instantly spread across the deck.

These daredevils, who dared to fight sea monsters hand-to-hand, were completely panicked when faced with this elusive and untouchable monster.

"Run! Swords and blades are useless against this thing!"

What the hell is this?!

The sailors scrambled backward to avoid the cold wind, afraid of even brushing against it.

Chen Yuanzhi stamped his feet in frustration, "These are monsters formed from the resentment of the dead! Ordinary physical weapons can't harm them at all; only the blood and qi of a high-level martial artist can suppress them!"

Having tasted success, the paper effigies, laughing shrilly, pounced on the crowd again.

"What's the panic?" Xu Hao took a step forward and stood in front of Luo Meng.

He drew the black sword Devouring Sea from his back with a backhand motion, the cold blade leaving a trail of afterimages in the black mist.

"Boss, you can't cut him down..."

Chen Yuanzhi swallowed his words before he could finish.

Xu Hao didn't even use the blade to cut.

His body's Qi and blood, at the peak of the Yi Jin Realm, erupted with a thunderous roar, the scorching Qi and blood bursting out of his body and directly pouring into the Devouring Sea Blade.

The black blade emitted a joyful hum, its extremely cold and yin energy perfectly merging with Xu Hao's violent blood and qi.