When Geng Kun announced that Shi Feiyang would henceforth lead all the Water Clan of Roc Bay, the gazes of all the demons turned toward him, teeming with various emotions.

Qian Jiquan's eyes were filled with unwillingness and hatred. Kneeling at the bottom, he prostrated with his head touching the ground, turning his face sideways, looking hatefully at Shi Feiyang.

Geng Kun used to favor him the most. In Roc Bay, the status of the avian creatures was the most revered, and the strength of the Water Clan was the most formidable. As the Leader of the Water Clan, who was accustomed to throwing his weight around, he was the fourth most powerful creature here, following only Geng Peng, his brothers, and Su Nanyi.

Now, having been publicly stripped of his power, his dignity trampled upon, how could he not harbor hatred?

Yet, Shi Feiyang's strength was there for all to see—as if he could simply spew out his inner core and scatter him into a sky filled with fire and rain at a whim. Moreover, with Geng Peng's oppressive might above him, where could he dare to utter even half a word of dissent? No matter how intense the pain, he could only silently swallow it down.

Geng Peng then praised other meritorious demons, some he gifted with spells, others with treasures, and finally, he happily dismissed the assembly and returned to Chuitian Palace to refine the Green Spirit Saber and the Green Blood Divine Net.

Shi Feiyang had become the Leader of the Water Clan. Once Geng Peng and the others had left, the Water Clan crowded around, babbling and hailing "Shi Longwang."

One of the demons, named Bai Guanhong, with a grotesquely ugly appearance resembling a giant insect standing upright, had a body round and bulging like two gas tanks stacked on top of each other. Beneath were four little short legs, scarcely longer than a foot, and above, six arms—three on either side—also very short, barely exceeding half a foot, with the front slowly evolving into the small hands of humans, just newly formed like those of an infant. He had no neck; his head and torso were directly connected and also semi-circular in shape, crowned with two beanlike little eyes that gleamed.

This creature sidled up to Shi Feiyang with a hint of flattery and said, "Dragon King, now that you have become our Sea King, why not bestow that guy to us to eat?"

He was referring to the Merfolk Qian Jiquan.

Shi Feiyang was taken aback, "Bestow him to you to eat?"

He saw that several other demons were also itching to try, faces filled with anticipation, whereas Qian Jiquan had curled up in a corner, baring sharp, fine fangs, readying for the fight of a cornered beast.

Upon further inquiry, he learned that it was a tradition here that when a previous Leader was usurped, the new one would allow the group of demons to tear the old Leader to pieces and devour him.

Here, the Leader wielded great power, essentially holding the right to life and death over them. Every Leader in power was incredibly cruel, either beating or scolding their subordinates. The slightest dissatisfaction would lead to various means of humiliation and bullying, forcing their submission in the most degrading ways. The most common method was forcing subordinates to consume their excrement. Should they refuse, they would be tortured with brutal punishments.

Thus, whenever someone new ascended, they would take their revenge on the old ruler, sometimes flaying them alive and distributing the flesh piece by piece for the group of demons to devour.

Shi Feiyang couldn't accept this tradition, "Forget it, forget it. Since he has already gone from Leader to 'three fatties', let's not strike him with another blow on the head."

The group of demons paused, trying to grasp the meaning of his words.

Qian Jiquan was capable enough to have become a Leader. Regardless of his capabilities, at the very least he was extremely quick-witted. Hearing Shi Feiyang say "two forget it's," he knew the other had no intention to eat him. Although he didn't understand the latter part of Shi Feiyang's words, he grasped three words directly, crawling forward to kneel, and thumped his head in gratitude, "This lowly one thanks the King for the bestowed name! From now on, I shall be called 'Three Fatties'!"

He kept kowtowing, his eyeballs rolling to look up, noticing Shi Feiyang indeed had no desire to kill him, which gave him some confidence. He straightened up and, baring his teeth to the other demons, roared loudly, "From now on I am called 'Three Fatties'! Whoever dares to call me Qian Jiquan again, I'll bite them to death!"

Shi Feiyang was momentarily stunned, not expecting the creature to be so perceptive. He was amused.

As a leader, he first inspected his territory below and gathered all the members of the Water Clan to understand the overall situation.

He dived into the water, surrounded by numerous members of the Water Clan, and descended to the seabed.

Roc Bay was a crescent-shaped island, its arc back facing the north, with steep cliffs that plunged straight to the sea floor—if they were on land, they would have been thousands of feet of sheer cliff face.

The bay faced south, where the shallow waters extended for more than ten miles of gently sloping beach before it too dropped steeply, though not as sharply as the back side.

Down at the seabed were three large, continuous mountains, with the central one being Roc Bay. Below that was a tens-of-miles-long depression, with nine underwater springs on either side. These springs constantly gushed out seawater, making the waters here exceptionally clear. The springs resembled the finger holes of a flute, and the stone was incredibly hard; this place was known as Iron Flute Depression.

In the deepest part of Iron Flute Depression lay an Immortal Mansion, the secret Immortal Palace where the brothers Geng Kun and Geng Peng cultivated, named Tunan Palace. It was originally left by an ancient Immortal. The Geng brothers built palaces on the island's surface and dug tunnels that led all the way down to it.

To prevent damage to the Earth Plate, Geng Kun prohibited the Water Clan from living here, so they all made their homes on the underwater mountains on either side, carving out caves and nitches—round ones, square ones, some just a crack, some even installed stone gates, some doorways were inlaid with shells, some used the silk to weave spider webs...

Shi Feiyang's eyes were opened wide.

He gathered his motley crew and asked the Merfolk known as Qian Jiquan, "Fatty, how many of the Water Clan are there in total here?"

The Merfolk, Fatty, pondered, "There should be more than three thousand, maybe five thousand. I don't really know the exact number."

Upon inquiring further, Shi Feiyang discovered their management was extremely lax; the Leader did not know how many subordinates were actually under him, and naturally, Geng Kun didn't know either. When it came time to fight, they'd just temporarily pick out those who looked capable and eager.

"This won't do at all," Shi Feiyang decided on his first small goal as a leader.

He asked the group of demons, "Which one of you can write?"

The demons looked at each other in confusion. Being able to speak a lot and express oneself clearly was already considered great, and those who could speak a few human words were even more amazing. But write human script? That was harder than flying to the sky.

Shi Feiyang asked Qian Jiquan, "Can't you read?"

Qian Jiquan nodded and then shook his head, "I recognize a few characters, not many, maybe around a hundred or so."

He turned to Bai Guanhong, "What about you?"

Bai Guanhong replied with some frustration, "I can read, but I can't write." He waved his six baby-like small hands clumsily, "I can copy characters, but if you ask me to write any random character, I can't do it."

Just as Shi Feiyang was feeling a headache over this group of illiterates, a timid voice rose from a corner, "I can read, um, and write as well."

Shi Feiyang looked over to find a giant white serpent about eighty to ninety feet long, with a pair of rudimentary snake-skin hands sprouted on its chest. It was lisping through a scarlet forked tongue and spoke in a timid voice.

Shi Feiyang asked about its origins, "You look like a snake from the land. How did you end up here in the sea?"

The serpent replied, "My name is White Spirit Serpent. I used to drink stalactite droplets frequently in the Holy Mother Cave of Qingcheng Mountain in Central Earth, until I was driven away by a Sword Immortal and fled overseas to this place. Having listened to human speech and seen human characters for a long time on the mountain, I can recognize them."

"Write a few characters so I can take a look."

The White Spirit Serpent mimicked holding a brush with its right hand and condensed a large brush with its Dan Qi, quickly writing in front of it. The milky Dan Qi lingered in the seawater without dissipating, forming characters.

"Clouds enshroud Qingcheng Mountain high, the Dragon Carriage seeks Dao, approaching Emperor Xuan. Crowned as Wang Yuezhang to oversee, slicing heaven and earth into Immortal Village." Shi Feiyang read softly, "This snake demon seems to be quite learned."

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