Chapter 3315: Cursed Aquatic Beasts Appear!

The ship moved steadily, neither too fast nor too slow. Any faster risked crashing into a rogue spatial rift. Any slower risked the waves striking the hull with devastating force. Daoist Chu guided the movement with practiced skill while Lin Mu maintained the barrier.

Cattaleya remained on watch at the bow, arms crossed and gaze sharp. "Beasts are not approaching us. At least that is something."

Elyon nodded. "Whether it is the aura of the ship or Lin Mu’s sword intent, I am not sure. Either way, I will take the good fortune."

Even so, Lin Mu’s mind was not calm.

While controlling the barrier, he examined the curse energy more closely. The sensation was strange. It did not feel like baleful energy, nor did it resemble any other hostile force he had encountered.

Something about it felt old. Ancient. As if it had been placed here not by nature but by a higher power.

It was at that moment a familiar voice echoed through Lin Mu’s mind.

Xukong’s tone was solemn. "This is a potent curse. I already suspected something unusual, but now I am certain. It would take the combined strength of at least five or more Transcendent Immortals to execute a curse of this scale."

Lin Mu’s eyes narrowed as the waves crashed around the ship.

A curse requiring five Transcendents was no ordinary ancient spell.

Something massive had happened here in the distant past.

Something the Shanhu Clan had only scratched the surface of.

Something that had carved the Ninth Sea into existence.

Lin Mu steadied himself on the deck as the ship pushed deeper through the swirling black waters. The cursed pressure was unrelenting, and the oppressive silence around them felt like the ocean itself was watching.

His eyes narrowed while he listened to Xukong in his mind.

"Senior, do you know what kind of curse this is?" Lin Mu asked. "Or anything more about its nature."

Xukong’s reply came slowly, as if he were tasting the curse through Lin Mu’s senses. "I cannot determine the exact type. Not without studying it’s source directly, which is impossible from here. But one thing is certain. This curse is custom created. Someone made it with the specific purpose of preventing anyone from entering this Ninth Sea."

Lin Mu frowned. "A barrier turned into a curse."

"Exactly," Xukong said. "Only a curse of great complexity could blanket an entire sea like this. And to maintain such potency for what appears to be thousands of years, the Transcendents involved must have had an exceptionally powerful Curse Master among them. This is not the work of formation masters or ordinary immortals."

Lin Mu glanced at the five Shanhu youngsters resting near the rail, their blue bloodline glow shimmering faintly. "Then why can the fully awakened bloodline of the Shanhu Clan resist it."

"There is a high chance," Xukong said, "that the ancestors of this clan played a role in forming the curse. Perhaps they took part in the ritual. Or perhaps they created a key into the Ninth Sea. They might even have intended the curse to harm everyone except themselves."

Lin Mu’s brow rose. "But their bloodline weakened over time. They probably never expected that to happen."

"That is my assumption as well," Xukong replied. "Either they miscalculated, or the curse was formed in an emergency. In such cases, fine tuning becomes difficult. Still, there must be a power source sustaining this curse. Something on this scale cannot continue for thousands of years without being actively fed."

"Do you think we will see it," Lin Mu asked.

"We may. But it depends on how deep the source is placed within the sea. For now, we can only continue forward."

Lin Mu nodded and focused back on the ship. They had no choice but to keep going.

The ship continued its journey through the Ninth Sea, illuminated only by faint lights from the arrays and the glow of Lin Mu’s Sword Intent shell. They weaved around spatial distortions that suddenly opened like jagged tears in reality.

Some rifts inhaled vast quantities of water, creating violent whirlpools that dragged anything nearby into the Lesser Void. Others closed with crushing force, sending shockwaves through the sea.

Three times they had to backtrack an entire kilometer after finding themselves blocked by a cluster of distortions that looked like silver cracks in a black glass sheet. Twice they had to wait for a passing maelstrom to calm before moving forward.

The journey was slow and draining. Even with Lin Mu and Daoist Chu managing the ship together, progress was painfully gradual.

By the time fifteen hours passed, they had traveled roughly halfway across the Ninth Sea.

The cursed pressure thickened. The waves rose higher. The air grew colder.

And then the first beast appeared.

A massive shadow surged under the water. The hull of the ship vibrated. The water around them swelled before erupting as a colossal eel-like creature burst forth, jaws wide open. Its scales glowed with black energy, and its eyes held no life, only malice.

"That is a cursed beast," Shanhu Guimen said sharply. "Be careful. They are nothing like beasts from the Eight Sea."

Before she finished, eight more beasts burst from the depths. Serpents, sharks, squid-like creatures, and even a creature resembling a manta ray with razor sharp fins. All of them radiated the same twisted cursed energy.

Elyon snarled and spread his arms. Waves of shadowy claws erupted outward, slicing apart a serpent that lunged at the hull. It screamed before dissolving into dark mist.

"This is bad," Elyon said. "They are ignoring the ship’s aura completely."

"That is because they are no longer natural beasts," Lin Mu replied. "Look at their eyes."

The youngsters shivered. The beasts had no pupils. No light. No will.

Then the sea itself bulged upward.

A whale emerged. If it could still be called a whale.

The creature was monstrous, almost one thousand meters long. A bone carapace covered its back like fused armor plates. Giant spines jutted from its sides. Its mouth stretched into a maw lined with serrated teeth that curved inward like hooks. Its eyes were hollow black pits leaking thin trails of cursed energy.

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