The soul lantern was something unique to the Lantern Fish Clan. Only those with a soul lantern could cultivate the clan’s martial arts.
The martial arts manuals Ling Xiao had found were all from the Lantern Fish Clan, but this wasn’t an issue for him.
Through his Mountain River Martial Soul, the soul lantern could be transformed into a Soul Lantern Martial Soul!
This allowed him to cultivate the Lantern Fish Clan’s martial arts as well.
Ling Xiao flipped through the martial arts manual and gave a slight smile.
This time, he had truly struck gold.
He had previously obtained the Soul Clan’s innate martial arts, and now he had acquired the Lantern Fish Clan’s innate martial arts!
These weren’t high-level techniques, as only the Lantern Fish Clan could cultivate them.
But for Ling Xiao, they were absolutely treasures.
His soul force was incredibly powerful, but the only technique he could use was overly potent, with severe side effects that left him in agony after each use.
The technique, however, wasn’t as strong initially. It was a progressive martial art that could control the souls of all things, though this effect required reaching the perfection stage.
Moreover, the ability to control depended on the strength of one’s soul force.
If the soul force was too weak, it naturally wouldn’t work.
Still, it was definitely a valuable asset.
Ling Xiao smiled faintly, first sending the soul lantern into the Mountain River World, then transforming it into a martial soul through the Mountain River Martial Soul.
After that, he memorised the manual completely and stored the book in the Mountain River Martial Soul for safekeeping.
This could later be placed in the Divine Sword Sect’s library; perhaps other disciples might be able to cultivate it.
After disposing of the Sea Clan Demon General’s body, Ling Xiao headed in the direction the Demon Fortress Master had gone.
He had just used his soul force to scout the surroundings and confirmed a massive formation was in operation. Cracking it would be difficult.
Moreover, the formation’s core was within the Demon Fortress, so he had no choice but to go there.
This eerie place was easy to get lost in, but with Ling Xiao’s powerful soul force and the Mountain River Martial Soul’s exceptional mapping function, getting lost was nearly impossible.
About a quarter of an hour later, he reached the edge of the dark forest.
Swish, swish, swish!
The sound of water being parted reached his ears.
Ling Xiao opened his eyes, activating the Mountain River Martial Soul, his pupils glinting with black-gold light.
In his line of sight, a massive ship was approaching, and surprisingly, the people on board weren’t Sea Clan but humans!
Time to check it out!
With that thought, Ling Xiao used his movement technique to dart towards the ship.
On the sea, the ship was anchored at the edge of a landmass, where people were loading the corpses of various demon beasts and ferocious beasts onto the vessel.
It looked like a hunting expedition.
Ling Xiao mused.
“We caught so many demon and ferocious beasts this time. After handing over the required amount to the Demon Fortress, we’ll finally have a good meal. This place is truly a blessed land. We should come here more often. I can’t believe we even got a fifth-level ferocious beast. That’s impressive!”
The speaker was a man in his forties, with a scruffy beard but a lean build.
He seemed thrilled, as the hunt had been a great success.
“Father, why do we have to pay taxes to the Sea Clan? We’re clearly humans. Can’t we contact the Moonlight Sect?”
Sitting on the ship’s railing, looking sullen, was a girl in a pink dress, about fourteen or fifteen years old. She was delicate and pretty, the girl-next-door type.
She wasn’t a stunning beauty but had a unique charm.
Her petite frame was quite endearing.
“Shh, don’t talk nonsense. We don’t even know where the Moonlight Sect is. How could we find them? Besides, haven’t you seen? Even Ninth Mortal Realm experts who come here obediently become vassals of the Sea Clan. What are we compared to them? If we resist, it’s a death sentence.”
The man hurriedly covered the girl’s mouth, speaking in fear.
“Hmph, they’re all cowards!”
The girl grumbled, then her eyes suddenly widened in fear, “Father, someone’s there!”
At the mention of someone, everyone on the ship was startled.
Seeing a person in such a remote place was practically unheard of.
Following the girl’s gaze, the man saw a figure rapidly approaching.
Ling Xiao wasn’t afraid of being spotted. He was heading to the Demon Fortress anyway, and without a guide or a ship, it would be troublesome.
“Greetings, I’m a warrior who wandered in from the outside, looking for the Demon Fortress. Could you give me a lift?”
He got straight to the point.
“Are you here to seek revenge on the Sea Clan or to join them?”
The girl, with her childlike candour, asked directly.
“I’ve no grudges to settle. Just visiting the Demon Fortress for fun.”
Ling Xiao smiled.
The man hesitated for a moment.
The Demon Fortress had a rule: any human found outside, regardless of reason, must be brought to the fortress. Taking Ling Xiao there wouldn’t be an issue.
Still, as a fellow human, he decided to warn the young man.
“The Demon Fortress isn’t a place for fun. You could die there!”
Ling Xiao smiled, “No worries. I often court death, but no one’s managed to kill me yet.”
“Arrogant. If you want to die, I won’t stop you, but to board the ship, you need to pay ten thousand low-grade spirit stones. Do you have them?”
The man asked.
Without a word, Ling Xiao tossed out ten thousand low-grade spirit stones, nearly filling the ship.
To him, this was a trifling amount.
The man’s face lit up with joy, and together with the others, he moved the spirit stones to the ship’s hold. The vessel was large enough to accommodate them without issue.
Oddly, despite their decent cultivation, none of them had a storage ring, which was strange.
It seemed the Sea Clan’s exploitation of these people was severe.
“Let’s go. With all these spirit stones, we don’t need to keep hunting.”
The man arranged the best room for Ling Xiao and ordered those loading demon and ferocious beast corpses to stop.
The ship, no matter how large, had a weight limit. With so many spirit stones, they couldn’t take all the hunted beasts.
“Set sail!”
The man directed the crew to raise the anchor, showing little interest in Ling Xiao, the reckless young man, and even avoiding him.
The girl, however, was bold and approached Ling Xiao, asking, “Big brother, are you really from the outside?”
“Yes, don’t you believe me?”
“But you’re so young. Are you strong?”
The girl asked innocently, “At the Demon Fortress, even as slaves to the Sea Clan, there are ranks. If you’re not strong, you’ll be bullied.”
“I’m decent enough.”
Ling Xiao nodded.
“Boasting! You’re definitely not as strong as my father. He’s a peak Ninth Martial Vein Realm warrior.”
The girl said proudly.
