Chapter 438: Ba Qi’s Strength
Ruan Tang Ren was desperate to prove himself, but actions spoke louder than words, gradually eroding Lady Sea Snake’s faith in his claims.
Yet what followed unfolded exactly as Ruan Tang Ren had predicted: the gold level sea serpent’s strength steadily waned.
Lacking wisdom, the serpent had recklessly squirted venom and slaughtered fishmen early on, severely depleting its power. Later, during its struggle with Ruan Tang Ren, it failed to take proper measures against the nearly transparent fishing line, instead persistently dragging the submersible. As time stretched on, the effect of the Weakening Fishing Line accumulated, steadily draining the sea serpent's strength.
Ba Qi held onto Ruan Tang Ren with one hand while planting his foot on the gunwale, leaning over to observe the sea surface.
Activating his battle qi to investigate, he observed the thrashing sea serpent deep below and murmured praise: “You've chosen your target well this time.”
This constituted early-stage intelligence gathering.
Lady Sea Snake's choice of target wasn't arbitrary. It followed extensive reconnaissance and observation, revealing the nature of the serpent's racial magic. They prioritized those posing minimal threat to fishing lines.
The sea serpent she was currently attacking clearly lacked any line-severing racial magic.
“Weakening Fishing Line, quite impressive,” Ba Qi remarked with a hint of admiration.
Regardless of the situation, the silver level Ruan Tang Ren was genuinely using this equipment to take on a gold level sea serpent beyond his tier.
Ruan Tang Ren's lips trembled, wanting to respond to Ba Qi's praise, but he couldn't manage it.
His face grew paler by the second. Though he'd taken stimulants earlier, their effects had worn off. His battle qi reserves were plummeting, and he was on the verge of collapse.
“I'm about to act.” Ba Qi pressed a hand down on Ruan Tang Ren, aware of his condition, and spoke calmly.
The next moment, he began a long, deep inhalation.
This breath lasted over ten seconds, stirring the air in the windless sky. The residual force caused the Fluffy Cloud to sway several times.
When Ba Qi finished inhaling, his chest swelled, and his entire body seemed to grow several centimeters taller.
He leaned forward, gazing at the sea surface, then gently parted his lips to exhale.
His lips tightened into a thin slit. The compressed air and battle qi surged through the opening, erupting outward.
A piercing, shrill whistle nearly ruptured the eardrums of those nearby.
Battle skill - Single Breath: Needle Form!
Ba Qi cultivated the Air Pressure battle qi, excelling at compressing air currents. The air he expelled was violently compressed, turning milky white and forming a slender needle.
Thinner than silk, the needle plunged into the sea in an instant, piercing hundreds of meters through the water to strike the sea serpent's body.
In a normal battle, Ba Qi would naturally aim for the gold level sea serpent's vital points, its skull, throat, and so on. But this battle aimed to capture the sea serpent alive, so he redirected the qi needle to pierce its spine instead.
The wound was too small, causing at most a slight tingling sensation.
The gold level sea serpent continued to struggle fiercely. Its massive size was its advantage, as long as the attack didn't hit a vital spot, its combat effectiveness remained largely unaffected.
Ba Qi's expression remained unchanged as he continued to blow steadily.
Yet silently, he activated his second battle skill.
Battle skill - Finger-Circling Softness.
This auxiliary battle skill altered the form of other battle skills.
Single Breath·Needle Form, originally linear and only capable of straight paths, could now bend and curve under Finger-Circling Softness's influence.
The qi needle extended and lengthened, piercing into the sea serpent's body, then emerging before thrusting back in again, as if stitching a long strip of flesh.
With each penetration, the needle pierced through the serpent's bones, sinking deep into the marrow.
The skeleton was the toughest, most resilient part of the gold level sea serpent's body, yet it offered no defense against the qi needle's assault.
Lady Sea Snake, observing the battlefield through her spell, witnessed this scene and couldn't help but reveal a look of shock.
On the ghost ship silently drawing nearer, Jian Gui also felt a slight sinking in his heart.
Ruan Tang Ren indirectly sensed Ba Qi's strength, for the gold level sea serpent had once again increased its strength, becoming extremely frenzied.
Yet the pressure Ruan Tang Ren endured was significantly reduced compared to before.
This was because Ba Qi used his needle to assist Ruan Tang Ren, substantially lightening his burden. Most of the resistance was absorbed by the interwoven air threads of the needle.
The needle continuously pierced through, sewing countless white threads onto the gold level sea serpent's body.
Each penetration of the needle precisely avoided the Weakening Fishing Line. The number of threads rapidly increased, soon outnumbering the fishing line.
Ba Qi's mastery of these two battle skills was profoundly intricate, his micro-control truly breathtaking.
The transparent Weakening Fishing Line remained invisible, but the white air threads grew increasingly conspicuous.
They densely entangled the gold level sea serpent, as if knitting it a sweater.
Soon, the density of the air threads surpassed that of the gold level fishing net.
The sea serpent struggled desperately, its blood spilling continuously, staining the surrounding sea red.
“You can try reeling it in now,” Ba Qi instructed.
Ruan Tang Ren obeyed, beginning to reel in the line spool by spool.
After all, the Weakening Fishing Line was physical; the compressed air needles and threads couldn't haul the sea serpent up.
After a few pulls, Ruan Tang Ren was already panting heavily.
He had to order the first mate to pour several more bottles of potion into him.
The potions swiftly restored his strength, allowing him to slowly and painfully haul the sea serpent upward.
The sea serpent naturally resisted, attempting to dive deeper into the ocean.
Ba Qi coordinated his efforts, slightly opening his mouth. The expelled airflow instantly swelled, causing the air threads to expand and thicken five or six times over. The damage inflicted upon the sea serpent surged fifty to sixty times!
The sea serpent let out a piercing shriek, the excruciating pain rendering it nearly immobile for an instant.
Ruan Tang Ren seized the opportunity to reel in the line forcefully, dragging the sea serpent upward by over ten meters.
Ba Qi controlled the airflow, shrinking the air threads back to its original thinness.
The sea serpent regained its ability to move and resumed struggling. Ba Qi once again thickened the air thread's diameter, inflicting fresh wounds and instantly crippling the serpent's mobility.
Ruan Tang Ren seized the moment to reel in another dozen meters.
After repeating this cycle multiple times, the sea serpent was now just over 100 meters from the surface.
As if sensing its impending doom, the gold level sea serpent unleashed its most ferocious counterattack yet.
It desperately unleashed every racial magic it possessed, wildly attacking the surrounding sea surface, even striking itself in the process.
Countless air threads shattered, and its own attacks left its body torn and bleeding.
Ruan Tang Ren saw black spots before his eyes, nearly fainting, as the fishing line was pulled out another 80 meters.
Witnessing this brutal tug-of-war and exhaustion, the Sea Snake Woman's face clouded with worry. She couldn't help but warn, “Lord Ba Qi, at this rate, the sea snake will kill itself!”
Ba Qi nodded slightly.
If this battle were merely about eliminating the sea serpent, it would be far simpler.
But they needed to capture it alive and subdue it, a task exponentially more difficult.
This challenge did not faze Ba Qi.
His eyes widened. While maintaining the first two battle skills, he effortlessly unleashed his third battle skill.
Battle skill - Airtight Seal!
In the next instant, the air threads expanded a hundredfold, fusing seamlessly with the surrounding threads.
Yet the strands embedded within the sea serpent's body remained unaffected, retaining their original thickness.
The external air threads instantly enveloped the serpent, forming wide, bandage-like strands that shielded it from its own suicidal assault.
The gold level racial magic possessed extraordinary power, but the airflow bandages continuously drew sustenance from Ba Qi. After over a minute of stalemate, the sea serpent collapsed first, utterly drained of the strength to cast any further racial magic.
Its expenditure had been too immense; the magic crystal within its body could no longer fuel a single racial magic.
The air-flow bandages continued spreading, layering over it like a mummification process.
The sea serpent's vitality plummeted to its lowest point, leaving it utterly unable to struggle.
Ruan Tang Ren was nearly drained of strength too, but under the encouraging, expectant gaze of Lady Sea Snake, he squeezed out a fresh surge of power.
Finally, gritting his teeth, he succeeded in pulling the sea serpent up to the surface.
The mummy-like sea serpent floated motionless on the sea surface, helpless and vulnerable.
Ba Qi continued to blow air, sustaining the three battle skills.
In contrast, Ruan Tang Ren slumped against the ship's rail, gasping for breath. His entire body was drenched in sweat, as if he'd just been pulled from the water.
For the sake of his beloved, he had truly given his all this time.
“It's my turn now,” Lady Sea Snake said as she flew down from Fluffy Cloud, not forgetting to express her gratitude, “Thank you both for your tremendous help.”
Hearing these words, a new spark of vitality suddenly burst forth in the weary, lifeless eyes of Ruan Tang Ren, and he felt his strength returning.
Lady Sea Snake landed on the water's surface near the sea serpent and began its examination.
Though she had observed the battle, this close-up inspection required different spells to truly gauge the sea serpent's condition and determine if it was suitable to be taken as a magic pet.
The results were promising.
Lady Sea Snake immediately produced a spell scroll.
The scroll radiated a silver level aura. Unfolding it revealed a hexagram-centered magic formation diagram, densely packed with contract spell runes. Flanking it were crescent and square magic formations. Most distinctive was the serpentine pattern at the hexagram's core.
These were no ordinary magic lines; it was a totem!
Lady Sea Snake employed not only conventional spell scroll crafting techniques in this scroll but also incorporated beastman totem alchemy.
This magic scroll was meticulously transcribed and crafted by her own hand. A scroll of this caliber typically consumed at least a month of her time. Of course, she did not neglect other duties during this month, but rather dedicated five to six hours daily to crafting spell scrolls.
The alchemy materials alone consumed exceeded 200 gold coins. Factoring in time and labor made it even more costly. Yet these exorbitant expenses were entirely justified.
For such a scroll enabled a silver level Lady Sea Snake to command a gold level sea serpent beyond her own level.
Commanding higher level creatures was not unheard of, but the significance and value grew exponentially with each tier.
A silver level controlling a gold level was exceptionally rare.
The former belonged to the lower echelons of the transcendent hierarchy, while the latter had already reached the middle, a clear distinction in social standing.
Many coveted such scrolls, willing to pay any price, yet they remained elusive.