Elder Song secretly prayed that Elder Zhou’s mission would fail.
Though, he couldn’t possibly say it out loud.
Just then, he heard a loud rumble from outside.
“What’s going on?” Elder Song frowned, and immediately after, a subordinate ran in to report the situation, “Boatman’s pet beast returned but it seems off… like it’s going on a rampage.”
Boatman belonged to Elder Zhou’s faction.
As they spoke, there was another loud noise.
“Go and see what’s going on.” Elder Song wore an ominous expression. No matter the reason, having one’s pet beast running rampant here was an unforgivable sin.
Even the Demonic Appraisal Association had its rules and whoever broke them was to be severely punished.
The group left the hall and hurried to the shore. Thanks to the tiny size of Turtle Island, they could see everything where they were standing.
A part of the lake was dyed crimson with blood. A lake catfish about the size of a small boat was madly ramming into boats, causing the vessels around it to shatter into pieces. Pieces of broken wood planks covered the lake surface.
“What is it doing? Where’s Boatman?” Elder Song flared up in anger at the sight. The catfish had destroyed all the boats on their island so it was impossible for them to leave Turtle Island now.
Everyone else exchanged uneasy looks, not knowing what to do.
“Elder Song, we only saw the catfish return, but not Boatman,” someone answered.
Elder Song made a swift decision. “Restrain the catfish. We’ll deal with Boatman when he returns.”
Several demonic appraisers stepped forward, but before they could take action, the catfish simply flipped over and died.
At the same time, they heard a mysterious voice coming from the fog up ahead.
“This man-eating beast is cursed by vengeful spirits. By accessing the spiritual eye with a spirit amulet, it’s easy to tell just how many people this catfish has eaten. Even death cannot erase its sins.”
The people on the island were startled.
“Who’s there?”
“Stop feigning mysteriousness and show yourself!”
Someone grabbed a harpoon and threw it in the direction of the voice. Like a sharpened arrow, the harpoon shot forward only to disappear into thin air without even entering the fog. No sound came back.
For a moment, there was only dead silence.
Bearing a grave countenance, Elder Song looked ahead and spoke, “I wonder which deity has descended upon Turtle Island. Would you mind showing yourself?”
His voice reverberated in all directions. It seemed like Elder Song’s cultivation was quite prominent as well.
In the foggy air, the silhouette of a man started to take shape.
“Why isn’t there a boat?” one of the islanders couldn’t resist asking. They kept thousands of man-eating piranhas in the water surrounding their island. Without using boats that were made from wood soaked in unique medicine, one couldn’t possibly reach the island alive. What’s more, that person wasn’t even on a boat.
Without a boat, could he be walking on the lake surface instead?
Those piranhas weren’t for decoration. Whoever the intruder was, those beasts would swarm over and start devouring the poor soul.
As the silhouette got closer, Elder Song and the rest were able to catch a better glimpse of the mysterious entity that was approaching their island, and what they saw frightened them.
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Indeed, the man wasn’t on a boat nor was he walking on the lake surface. Instead, he was floating about one foot above the water. Each time he took a step forward, the thick fog would gather beneath his foot, forming what looked like planks for him to walk on. Such a sight made them think that an immortal was approaching them and that scared the wits out of islanders.
This man looked pretty average but there was something off about him. Despite being alone, more than ten of the demonic appraisers on this island felt immense pressure following his arrival.
Of course, that mysterious intruder was none other than Lin Jin. He had followed Boatman’s pet beast here, to Turtle Island that was hidden in the middle of Nine Crescent Lake. Admittedly, an average person wouldn’t have made it this far. There were just too many obstacles on the way. Besides the danger of a foggy lake, the water was swarming with hungry piranhas. Had anyone else been in his place, they sure couldn’t locate this place. Even if they could, they wouldn’t be able to handle these demonic appraisers.
However, such challenges wouldn’t stop Lin Jin.
Having learned Carrier Cloud, the fog here was Lin Jin’s to manipulate. If there were piranhas down below, he just had to keep himself above the water. Even if he were to fall into the water, with his Beast Deterrence ability, no piranha would even dare to swim near him. Lin Jin chose to travel by cloud for two reasons. The first reason was that it would intimidate his enemies, and the second reason was that he didn’t want to soil his clothes.
He stopped about ten meters from the shore to take a look at the demonic appraisers on this Turtle Island.
“Is this the Demonic Appraisal Association’s headquarters?” Lin Jin asked.
Didn’t seem like it. Turtle Island was too small to be their headquarters so this might be just a branch office.
Lin Jin didn’t actually know much about the Demonic Appraisal Association besides them being evildoers and how they were scorned by righteous beast appraisers.
The island had a foul atmosphere. No doubt, many innocent lives were lost here. If Lin Jin hadn’t come across them, he would have left them alone. But now that he did, he didn’t mind upholding justice for the greater good once more.
These people couldn’t match up to him if they attacked all at once anyway.
“This isn’t headquarters but it’s still one of our main branches. May I know who you are and the reason for your visit?” Elder Song asked. Clearly, he was unable to make out Lin Jin’s intentions.
In most cases, these people preferred violence over persuasion. The fact that they resorted to persuasion implied that their chances of winning a battle were zero. While the Demonic Appraisal Association had more people on their side, they were still inferior and overwhelmed by Lin Jin’s aura.
It wasn’t just Elder Song but the other demonic appraisers on the island felt the presence of a great enemy as well. And so, they prepared to take action.
“Branch? Just one of the eight branches and not headquarters?” Lin Jin was mildly shocked. However, if the Demonic Appraisal Association only had this many people, they wouldn’t have been a threat in the first place. That didn’t matter though, since Lin Jin planned to wipe out this place by the end of today as well.
At that instant, two demonic appraisers exchanged glances before one of them invoked a spell. Water burst from below Lin Jin’s feet and out came a large crocodile with razor-sharp fangs. Its jaws were wide open, ready to tear a chunk out of Lin Jin.
‘Whoever strikes first wins’ was the mantra of these demonic appraisers.
The attack came so unexpectedly that even Elder Song was startled. He hadn’t expected his subordinates to be this rash but it was too late to stop them now. He could only wish for the attack to succeed. No matter who this person was, killing him was their number one priority.
Only dead men posed no threats.
However, the croc failed to kill Lin Jin. The latter already knew what was going on beneath the murky water. He was a genuine Rank 3 beast appraiser after all. He could easily sniff out the aura of pet beasts around him.
Hence, when the crocodile opened its mouth, Lin Jin’s deterrence ability came crashing down like turbulent waves, smashing the creature back to its domain. The crocodile may be humongous, but the poor creature was a mere Rank 2. Under Lin Jin’s overwhelming pressure, the crocodile simply fainted and sank to the bottom of the lake like a stone.
From their perspective, the crocodile was knocked out instantly, and Lin Jin didn’t even have to move a muscle. They had never come across such an odd situation before.
The crocodile’s owner was dumbstruck. Despite his desperate attempts to cast more spells, the crocodile remained unresponsive.
“Since you’re here for trouble, don’t blame us for being rude,” Elder Song declared. Then, all demonic appraisers called their pet beasts forward.
There were water snakes, eels, spiders, and venomous insects. These demonic appraisers’ pet beasts were just as brutal as their owners.
“White Ape!” Lin Jin called.
The next instant, they heard water splashing as a behemoth made its way over. It was White Ape in his original size. In fact, he was now a couple of feet taller than before.
White Ape was currently the size of a hill, standing at more than a hundred feet tall. Even at the deepest point of Nine Crescent Lake, only half of his body was submerged in water.
The sight of White Ape had frightened every demonic appraiser. Their pet beasts just couldn’t compare to White Ape in size. The difference was too great.
Without the need for words, a lethal battle ensued.
At first, Elder Song and his group thought that they were fighting on an equal footing. They thought that they could win the battle, albeit with a bit more effort. However, they were quickly proven wrong and they would soon realize that their assumptions had been nothing more than wishful thinking.