Qingwei Sea Region.

WHOOSH.

The sails were furled.

The United Fleet slowed, approaching a spirit island and docking in its harbor.

As towering as mountains, its masts like a forest, this terrifying fleet made the Foundation Establishment family that controlled the spirit island tremble in fear!

The fleet possessed enough firepower to raze the entire spirit island to the ground!

BZZT.

An Escape Light descended upon the harbor, emitting the spiritual pressure of a Fake Core Level cultivator.

"Greetings, Senior..."

The cultivators at the harbor prostrated themselves respectfully.

Their bodies trembled slightly, beads of cold sweat trickling down.

The Escape Light dissipated, revealing a figure.

Qi Chengjian stood there in his wide-sleeved robes, his expression indifferent.

His gaze shifted as he looked down upon the kowtowing cultivators below.

The leader among them, judging by his attire, was a cultivator at Foundation Establishment Perfection—likely the patriarch of this Foundation Establishment family...

Looking at this scene, a flicker of emotion appeared in Qi Chengjian’s eyes.

After all.

This family patriarch’s strength and status.

To be honest.

...were almost identical to what Qi Chengjian’s had once been!

Furthermore, in the Spirit Control Sect’s Sea Region, the Beast Taming Skill was widespread, rare Spirit Pets were relatively easy to obtain, and most cultivators had bonded with a life-bound spirit beast...

Before Qi Chengjian refined the Demon King’s Inner Core...

...if he had fought this family patriarch...

...the odds of victory would have been, at best, probably four to six against him?

But now?

He had pledged his loyalty to Su Ye, been granted a Demon King’s Inner Core, achieved the Fake Core realm, and stepped into the Third Order!

Qi Chengjian’s status now completely surpassed that of the cultivator before him, allowing him to look down from on high and be addressed as ’Senior’!

This feeling...

Even with his steady temperament, he couldn’t help but feel a certain sense of superiority!

A Fake Core Zhenren!

A Third-Order existence, with a lifespan of four hundred years!

’Refining a Demon King’s Inner Core to become a Fake Core cultivator was a great stroke of fortune for me!’

By now, Qi Chengjian had come to terms with it.

’A Fake Core is a Fake Core!’

’Crystal Formation Zhenren are a minority, after all... To a Foundation Establishment cultivator, I’m still a Zhenren, a Senior!’

Besides that, following Su Ye’s hint, the Qi Family had received inside information and invested heavily in the Nanyaoguang Corporation ahead of time.

Now, that investment was paying off.

He was extremely satisfied with the annual dividends!

His personal cultivation realm.

His family’s development.

Both had made significant progress.

This solidified Qi Chengjian’s loyalty even further.

The only thing he was dissatisfied with about the current situation was that Qi Shuhui had fallen out of favor.

But there was nothing to be done about it.

After Su Ye became the City Lord, the various factions sent him too many beautiful women. Qi Shuhui’s competitiveness, in comparison, was somewhat lacking...

Being a concubine was a very competitive job.

’Sigh... I can only hope that the Master will favor the two new main-branch daughters our family just sent...’

Qi Chengjian shook his head slightly, dispelling the stray thoughts from his mind.

With a flash of light from the Storage Ring on his hand, he tossed a jade slip toward the kneeling crowd below!

"This is a procurement list."

"If you have anything on this list, we’ll buy it."

"We’ll pay market price."

They were resupplying their provisions.

For example: food, medicine...

After all, the United Fleet was large, with sixteen hundred naval crew members!

For instance, a large spirit ship like a Weiyuan Class vessel required about two to three hundred crew members to operate nimbly!

And this manpower requirement was based on the fact that all crew members were cultivators and that the high-level arrays provided a certain degree of automation!

In Su Ye’s previous life, in that ordinary world without supernatural powers, one had to understand that the number of people needed to control a large ship-of-the-line was even more astonishing!

First-rate ships-of-the-line with three decks, like the ’Victory’ and the ’Santísima Trinidad’, had a designated crew of over eight hundred men!

And besides the crew...

...hundreds of prisoners from the Spirit Control Sect were being held in the spirit ships’ holds.

This brought the total number of people in the United Fleet to nearly two thousand.

Therefore.

If they didn’t want to subsist on foul-tasting Fasting Pills...

...it was necessary to replenish their supplies.

At the same time...

’This is also a signal to the Spirit Control Sect’s main fleet!’

Inside the captain’s cabin.

Su Ye opened a window, letting the fresh, salty sea breeze blow in.

His eyes narrowed slightly, like a lazy apex predator at the top of the food chain.

Right now.

Nearly a week had passed since Su Ye decided to implement reciprocal measures and retaliate.

However, the main fleet of the Spirit Control Sect had yet to appear!

’A little strange...’

’How... can they be so patient?’

’It couldn’t be... that me suppressing Wuying scared them off, could it?’

Su Ye twirled a lock of his hair around his finger.

He murmured to himself, a thoughtful look appearing in his eyes.

As the hegemon of the sea region, the Spirit Control Sect’s current inactivity was clearly abnormal.

They were very likely plotting something...

"Heh..."

Su Ye chuckled, his demeanor graceful and composed.

"No matter..."

"I’ll deal with whatever comes my way."

"Plots and schemes? I’ll just crush them!"

’During this time, I can farm some experience points...’ 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Su Ye’s eyes shifted, and he glanced at the pale blue virtual panel.

[Occupation: Pastor of the Sea Lv. 6 (18021/60000)]

Over the past week, the United Fleet’s reciprocal actions—sinking and seizing spirit ships from the Spirit Control Sect—had earned him nearly 4,000 experience points!

"What a delightful time to be farming points~"

...

「Meanwhile.」

Qingwei Sea Region.

A Black Rock Island, barren and lifeless, like a dead volcano.

BZZT.

The Spirit Control Sect’s main fleet slowly furled its sails and docked.

"This is Dingfeng Port."

"It’s one of our sect’s hidden forbidden grounds. This island doesn’t exist on any nautical chart available on the market."

"Our sect has set up a misdirection array here, making it difficult for outside spirit ships to discover this place."

"As for the very few lucky ones who manage to break through the misdirection array and reach this place..."

"One of the Four Shadows, Chengying, along with a few sect elites, is permanently stationed here. They will mercilessly kill any Loose Cultivators who approach, thereby creating a restricted sea zone!"

"And the Gui Cang Wind Stone, as well as the Wind Stabilizing Orbit, are located here..."

"At the same time, this island is one of the few safe havens in the Qingwei Sea Region during the raging wind calamities."

"For the time being, our fleet will be stationed here."

On the Spirit Control Sect’s main fleet.

On the bow of the flagship’s deck.

Jueying stood with his hands behind his back.

He was explaining things to Phantom Zhenren, who stood beside him.

"I see..."

Phantom Zhenren nodded slightly after listening.

Her gaze shifted, and she looked into the distance, curiously observing the environment of the Black Rock Island.

The ordinary crew members were confined to their spirit ships, forbidden to leave the harbor.

Then.

The two Crystal Formation Zhenren headed for the core of the island.

On a steep sea cliff, there was a deep and rugged underwater grotto.

An old man in gray robes, looking like a withered tree, sat cross-legged with his eyes closed in meditation, guarding a large orbit embedded in the wall!

Three sky-blue, pebble-like stones were placed within the orbit.

Looking closely, one could see the sky-blue color within the stones swirling like air currents, outlining the shape of a hurricane!

The Gui Cang Wind Stone!