Chapter 426: Chapter 204: Sea Spirit Festival, Ink Flood Dragon, Fighting Crab

Since ancient times, various legends about the Sea Spirit have been told in the Nanlao Sea.

The Sea Spirit is not a specific deity or a particular faith.

The Sea Spirit is simply the Sea Spirit—a natural presence, like the cycle of day and night or the changing of the seasons, that presides over everything in the Nanlao Sea.

From praying for safety on voyages to seeking sudden enlightenment in one’s cultivation.

From hoping for a good marriage to wishing to find money on the street.

Practically anything could be tied to the Sea Spirit, as long as you believed it existed.

One of the more famous legends claims that every April, vast numbers of Fighting Crabs, guided by the Sea Spirit, make their way to the eastern seas to reproduce.

In late June, the Fighting Crabs, having finished reproducing, return to their habitats in massive swarms.

The resulting tide of Fighting Crabs happens to pass near Hundred Herbs Island.

At this time every year, the Cultivators on the island seize the opportunity to catch them.

After a bountiful harvest, they hold a grand celebration and offer the largest of the catch—the Crab King—back to the sea as a sacrifice to the Sea Spirit.

The ritual sacrifice begins precisely at Midnight.

If a Cultivator had a particular wish they wanted the Sea Spirit to grant, or if they simply wanted to pray for good fortune, they could catch or buy a Fighting Crab beforehand and then, at night, toss it into the sea along with the Crab King, entrusting it to carry their wish to the Sea Spirit.

To help visiting Cultivators better participate,

Hundred Herbs City had specifically dispatched disciples to post notices on the streets explaining the event.

Thus, Xiao Chen easily learned the origins of the festival.

At the bottom of the notice, a line in red ink emphasized that any Cultivator, regardless of origin, who participated in the Sea Spirit Festival could leave a message on the wishing wall for free to receive the Sea Spirit’s blessing.

Furthermore, various special celebratory activities would be held throughout the city in the morning.

In the afternoon, a market would open in the eastern part of the city, allowing visiting Cultivators to trade freely.

"Free wishes?"

After reading the notice, Xiao Chen thought for a moment and decided to go check it out.

’It’s free anyway, so I might as well believe in it a little.’

’Getting a blessing for free is better than nothing.’

Following the instructions on the notice, he first arrived at the south gate of Hundred Herbs City.

A wishing wall, thousands of zhang long, had already been erected here, evenly coated in white paint.

Every hundred zhang, a small table was set up with a brush, ink, paper, and an inkstone.

A Cultivator simply had to write their wish on a piece of red paper and stick it to the wall to receive the Sea Spirit’s blessing.

There were virtually no restrictions on what could be written, and no one was monitoring the process.

Most Cultivators’ wishes related to their cultivation, like hoping for smooth progress or a swift breakthrough of a bottleneck.

A few mentioned the Hundred Herbs Secret Realm, hoping for good fortune and success in finding High-Tier Spirit Grass.

However, Xiao Chen noticed that someone had even wished for Huo Xinghuai, the City Lord of Hundred Herbs City, to be struck by lightning.

Others wrote curses, wishing for people to meet with disaster at sea.

’It seems these wishes really are anonymous. Otherwise, no one would be this bold.’

’What should I wish for?’

Xiao Chen mulled it over. ’My first instinct is to wish for a better Augment, but logically, that’s probably not under the Sea Spirit’s purview.’

’In that case, I’ll just go with the flow.’

So, he picked up the brush and wrote on a red slip of paper: "I hope the Sea Spirit brings me good luck, so that I may find Treasures of Heaven and Earth in the upcoming Hundred Herbs Secret Realm."

He then found a blank spot on the wall and posted his wish.

He saw plenty of other strange wishes along the wall.

"O, Great Sea Spirit, please reveal your power and let me join the Dragon-Slaying Sea and become a Sword Immortal."

"Lord Sea Spirit, please grant me three wives: one charmingly cute, one mature and elegant, and one who is kind and understanding."

"I hope the Sea Spirit blesses me so that one day I can become the most powerful Cultivator in the entire Nanlao Sea—a hundred times stronger than those people from Hundred Herbs City!"

’That last one was a bit over the top.’

After all, the Nanlao Sea had produced its fair share of Nascent Soul True Monarchs, and more than one was still around.

Xiao Chen couldn’t help but chuckle to himself. ’To be a hundred times stronger than them, you’d need an Augment.’

’And even an Augment might not be enough. Your cultivation level would have to be on par with theirs, if not higher.’

’After all, with different Spiritual Root aptitudes, there are disparities even among those at the same level.’

As he walked away from the wishing wall, Xiao Chen saw a large crowd of Cultivators gathered not far off.

Normally, he wouldn’t bother joining a crowd to see what the commotion was about.

But since he had come out specifically for the festival today, he went over to take a look.

In the center of the crowd lay a ten-zhang-long Three-Clawed Green-Eyed Ink Flood Dragon, its eyes narrowed as if it were dozing.

However, its body was wrapped in bright red ribbons that almost completely covered its plain, dark scales.

A large red flower was also tied to its forehead, making it look like a fake dragon.

While a Flood Dragon isn’t strictly a True Dragon, with "dragon" right in its name, the two are considered very closely related.

Moreover, True Dragons were exceedingly rare. In the Eastern Domain, they were the stuff of legend, never actually seen.

So, when a relatively uncommon Flood Dragon made an appearance, it naturally drew a large crowd of onlookers.

"Fellow Cultivators! For just ten Spirit Stones, you can experience what it’s like to ride a dragon!"

A high-pitched voice suddenly cried out, "No Cultivation level required, and your safety is guaranteed! An opportunity like this doesn’t come often, so step right up, don’t miss out!"

Xiao Chen followed the voice with his eyes.

Only then did he see a tall, thin young man standing beneath the Ink Flood Dragon. He had a high-bridged nose, a drooping mustache, and a pair of shifty eyes that darted about, scanning the crowd.

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