Devour

Chapter 419: The Demon King's Finger Bones

Suddenly, a slight vibration came from the Jingshen Rod, and the weapon spirit Jingru whispered, "Master, I hooked something strange. Do you want to pull it up?"

How could he just give up on the prey he had finally caught? Cheng Bai's mind raced as he carefully asked, "What type of monster is it?"

Jing Ru answered truthfully: "It's not a scale or a catfish, I just caught a bone."

Cheng Bai was amazed. "What kind of bone requires so much thought? I've hooked it, so I'll just take a look at it first."

Jing Ru said slowly, "From what I can tell, it's a small finger bone from a humanoid creature. However, it's as heavy as a mountain and difficult to obtain, hence the delay!"

Cheng Bai was even more shocked after hearing this and asked, "Even if it's an ordinary mountain, how can it be difficult for it to contain a Heavenly Grade Horcrux? Could it be that a single finger bone is equivalent to the weight of an entire mountain?"

Jing Ru responded with a serious attitude, "The mass of the mountain varies too much to be accurately compared. I estimate it to be around 2 billion tons! The Jing Shen Pole's limit is actually slightly higher. It can be pulled up, but it needs a stable support to hold it."

"The buoyancy of Jing'ao Island is unpredictable. There's no guarantee it can accommodate the finger bone, and it might even sink to the bottom of the sea." Cheng Bai thought for a moment before making a decision. "That's fine. We can store it in the Shengjin Pagoda and pull it up first."

Jing Ru reminded him, "If the Master were strong enough, he would be able to quickly reel in the hooks using the Shocking God Pole. But now the Master's strength is clearly insufficient, so it will take more time to complete the task."

"How long will it take?" Cheng Bai suddenly realized his current situation and thought to himself, "With my cultivation level, not only can I not unleash the true power of an immortal weapon, but I can't even match the power of a soul weapon. In fact, my most suitable magic weapon should be a spiritual weapon at the level of the Killing Blade."

Jing Ru suggested, "It will conservatively take more than twelve hours to pull it out of the water. My Lord, you have to be patient. Of course, if you think it's too slow, you can give up on this finger bone and try fishing for something else."

Cheng Bai was having a heated discussion with the weapon spirit when Master Li, laughing and joking, reeled in a river-turning fish and excitedly called out, "Friend Baidi, cast your line quickly. Most of the strong sea creatures are running ahead, and those lagging behind are obviously weak. Their overall rank is probably going to plummet! Look! The river-turning fish is only a level 27 monster."

A decision must be made! Cheng Bai calmed himself down and immediately ordered Jing Ru, "Try your best to get the finger bone out for me!"

"Yes, sir!" As Jingru responded, Jingshen Gan faithfully carried out the order.

Time passed unknowingly, and Cheng Bai was not disturbed by the successive harvests of his fellow anglers beside him. He watched his nose with his eyes, his mouth with his nose, his heart with his mouth, and his nature with his heart, calmly waiting for the harvest.

"Holding a pen, one can conceal the tip of the sword and adapt to changes; carrying a sword, one's mind is not on the body.

"A sword once conquered all the scholars in the world, and two fishing rods leisurely caught fish in the sea."

Master Li hummed softly, then with satisfaction lowered his head to count the catch inside the gui, and said with a smile: "I have caught a gui full of big fish tonight, and I have written a seven-character ancient poem "Hidden Blade". It is indeed a great joy in life!"

"I'm unlucky tonight, really..."

Cheng Bai chuckled, pondering the poem over and over in his mind: "This poem combines both literary and martial arts, and is almost perfect in its ability to advance and retreat freely. It implies the utilitarian logic of 'retire after success' rather than pure detachment... The ambition to conquer the world and the indifference of leisurely fishing in the sea are ultimately the sublimation of ideals. How can we truly achieve a harmonious balance?"

The two of them fished for a whole day and a night.

During this time, Bei Tingjun occasionally came to Diaoyutai to take a look and was quite surprised by Cheng Baimo's attitude of working so hard: "Your Majesty, you are really addicted!"

Cheng Bai said awkwardly, "Fishing is a pleasure, but you need a good temper and patience to have a good catch."

Bei Tingjun chuckled and went back to sleep.

As the moon goes by, the sun comes, and the North Sea is bathed in the light of a new dawn.

Cheng Bai tightly gripped the Jingshen rod and slowly raised it. The mysterious finger bone finally broke through the water, revealing its full appearance.

The moment it emerged from the water, a miracle occurred in the ocean. The surging schools of fish panicked and scattered, wisely avoiding a large open area, trying to escape the inexplicable fear.

"Huh? This is..." Master Li had extraordinary eyesight and keenly noticed the small bone at the end of Cheng Bai's fishing line. His expression became extremely solemn.

At first glance, the finger bones appear cylindrical, slender in the middle and slightly swollen at both ends. They are thicker than ordinary people, white as the first snow in winter, and smooth as deep-sea pearls.

In terms of size, this bone of unknown origin was vastly different from the large fish caught by Master Li. Yet, it caused the Confucian sage's expression to shift from confusion to shock, then to deep thought.

"The fishing rod you used is definitely not comparable to the spiritual weapon in the hands of the scholar. It's not even restricted by conventional space. Otherwise, the hook has been in the water for so long, even if you caught a fish, it would have been swept away by the surging sea creatures."

Master Li felt even more puzzled after hearing this, and continued, "This bone is beyond common sense. Perhaps... perhaps it has some special connection with the sea tribe's southward migration?"

Cheng Bai tried to use his internal energy several times to speed up the pulling of the fishing rod, but he found that the finger bones on the hook were so heavy that he could not move them at all. He could only rely on the Jingshen Rod to go slowly.

"Fortunately, I upgraded the magic weapon earlier, otherwise I would be powerless to do anything about this bone... Shi Chi, go and put it away." Cheng Bai couldn't help but be shocked. With a thought, the Shengjin Pagoda flew out from the sea of ​​consciousness.

The tower body flashed with a faint light, and an invisible suction force gushed out, covering the finger bone and steadily collecting it into the tower for safekeeping.

Cheng Bai asked, "Shi Chi, can you tell the origin of this bone?"

Shi Chi whispered, "My Lord, this item is a rare and precious immortal treasure. It was originally a fingertip bone of a demon king."

Cheng Bai was overjoyed when he heard this and said, "This treasure is very impressive, but its purpose is unclear."

Shi Chi suggested: "It would be best to use it to upgrade the Dionysus Gourd, which will surely greatly increase its power."

"What a great stuff! It's much simpler and more practical to upgrade the magic weapon than to catch a group of sea creatures!" Cheng Bai was overjoyed and used his spiritual sense to recall the Shengjin Pagoda.

Without further ado, Cheng Bai immediately arranged for the Dionysus Gourd to enter the Golden Pagoda, collect and refine the finger bones, and allow them to transform into a higher stage.

Feeling the brilliant golden light emanating from the Dionysus Gourd, sublimated gracefully amidst the lingering Daoist rhyme, Cheng Bai pondered it with a puzzled mind, and wondered, "The North Sea is so vast, how could the Demon King's skeleton be left here?"

Master Li stopped casting his fishing rod and went into the sea. He stroked his beard and thought for a moment before saying, "You just said these were the bones of the Devil King? Could the legend be true?"

Cheng Bai asked curiously, "Master, do you know any stories about the Demon King?"

Master Li said solemnly, "One of the ancient great emperors, the ancestor of the World Honored One Sect—Acalanatha. Before achieving perfect enlightenment, he encountered numerous obstacles and traps set by the demon kings in the heavens to hinder his practice. However, the king used his supreme wisdom to decipher them all. Among them, the four most formidable demon kings were successively defeated and eventually suppressed by him in the depths of the four seas, where they would never rise again."

Cheng Bai listened intently, a feeling of admiration rising spontaneously, and asked, "What are the origins of these four demon kings?"

Master Li hesitated for a moment before reluctantly saying, "Over the years, the classics have been lost, and even Confucian scholars know only a limited amount. It's difficult to verify their identities. Currently, we know one was a former Night Demon Mistress, and another was likely the last Rakshasa Demon King. The identities of the remaining two remain unknown."

"The Night Demon Mistress? She must not be the one under the Nine-Layered Abyss..." Cheng Bai changed his mind and looked into the east. He saw a bright dawn in the sky. The sun was rising and the sky was about to brighten.

"There's nothing good in the water, so I don't want to fish anymore." Master Li glanced casually at the sea. Although the sea creatures were still very lively, he was no longer interested.

Since yesterday, the rank of the sea monsters has plummeted. Now, the only common seafood found are red lobsters, bluefin tuna, and manta rays. These fish and shrimp might delight ordinary fishermen and low-level hunters, but they are of no value to cultivators.

Atop Xuandao Peak, a sudden burst of bells rang out, a stark contrast to the melodious nine tolls of the past. The tolls were exceptionally rapid, each one abruptly followed by the next. The intense, unrhythmic sound echoed across the peaks, piercing the thick clouds.

Cheng Bai frowned slightly, a hint of alertness in his eyes, and whispered, "Has Jingtao Sect experienced another major incident?"

Master Li put away his own magical weapon and said solemnly, "That is the sect's warning bell, designed to gather all disciples on and off the island as quickly as possible. It is usually only rung in times of serious crisis, such as invasion or disaster."

"It's getting even colder!" Cheng Bai quickly packed up his fishing gear and glanced at the ground. The frost crystals glittered in the rising sun. "Maybe Elder Wang Sheng has scouted the area and brought back important news. Let's go check it out."