On the afternoon of the third day, when Xu Qing's magic boat and the Phoenix were advancing on the surface of the sea, a sharp cry rang out from the sky.
Xu Qing, who was meditating on the magic boat, opened his eyes and saw a pseudotooth bird spinning in the sky. Its huge and slender wings were more than 20 feet long and its green body had some mud spots on it. What was most eye-catching was its astonishing beak that was like two huge iron pincers. One could imagine how terrifying its bite force was.
At this moment, the sea was calm like a huge black mirror, and seabirds showed up frequently.
The pseudotooth bird was only one of them. Many small black dots could be seen in the distance. They were different types of seabirds searching for prey at noon.
The pseudotooth bird circling in the sky seemed to have determined that its prey was Xu Qing and the others as it kept close to them. However, it also seemed to have sensed danger, so it circled a few times and was about to leave.
Xu Qing lifted his head and looked at the pseudotooth bird in the sky before lowering his head to look at the calm sea. A sharp glint flashed in his eyes but he didn't bother with it.
However, Zhao Zhongheng, who was on the Phoenix, revealed a look of joy in his eyes. He smiled and shouted at Senior Sister Ding, who had noticed this scene in the sky.
"Senior Sister Ding, the sea record mentioned this kind of pseudotooth bird. It seems to taste quite good. I'll get it and we can eat it for lunch."
"Junior Brother Xu, do you want to eat the pseudotooth bird for lunch?" Senior Sister Ding looked at the pseudotooth bird in the sky and smiled sweetly at Xu Qing.
Xu Qing still had a good impression of Senior Sister Ding. The other party's eagerness to learn reminded him of his past self. Although she asked a lot of questions about herbs, she paid him as well. The value of the items she gave was almost 200 spirit stones.
At the same time, after interacting with them for the past few days, Xu Qing had a deeper impression of the two core disciples of the Seventh Peak. However, he wouldn't carelessly judge all the core disciples just because of these two's performances.
Core disciples were also humans, and as long as one was a human, it was impossible for them to have the same personality. Some were smart, some were stupid, some were vigilant, and some were rash.
Among the core disciples, some were innocent, but there would definitely be those who emitted the same baleful aura as the gray-robed disciples who moved up from the savage environment at the foot of the mountain. Xu Qing felt that he had not seen them because he had come into contact with very few core disciples.
As for Zhao Zhongheng, he wasn't bad either. He was just very stupid. As the captain had said, he was a good-for-nothing.
Senior Sister Ding also wasn't stupid. She was just too well protected and didn't match this chaotic world. However, it was precisely this that further proved the strength of her background.
This point could also be verified from Zhao Zhongheng's attitude.
This was especially so when he thought of how her hand had been on her storage bag during the Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts. Xu Qing was sure that she must have astonishing life-saving methods and was the reason her elders were at ease letting her go out to sea.
Hence, Xu Qing reminded her.
"The surface of the sea is too calm. Something is wrong."
"Coward!" Zhao Zhongheng sneered. He waved his hands, preparing to cast a spell to capture the pseudotooth bird.
The pseudotooth bird that was leaving seemed to have sensed Zhao Zhongheng's intentions and stopped; its aggressive nature was stimulated. After circling in the air, it suddenly sped up and descended from the sky like a shooting star, shooting toward the magic boats.
Its figure tore through the air, creating waves of sonic booms.
"Good." Zhao Zhongheng laughed loudly. With a sway of his body, he leaped up from the boat and was about to attack.
Xu Qing became vigilant. He looked at the surface of the sea behind the magic boat. He saw that the area of hundreds of feet there was actually churning intensely as the pseudotooth bird approached.
It was as though something was rapidly approaching the surface from the bottom of the sea!
A cold glint flashed in Xu Qing's eyes as he quickly performed a series of hand seals. In an instant, his magic boat went into defensive mode.
The instant the defensive mode was formed, through the eyes of his dragonwhale, he saw a gigantic creature approaching at an astonishing speed from behind the magic boat. In the blink of an eye, it arrived from the bottom of the sea and broke through the surface of the sea.
Boom!
About an area of hundreds of meters of the sea's surface directly exploded.
A gigantic head that was pitch-black and covered in scales like a dragon or crocodile broke out of the sea with unprecedented ferocity and cruelty.
The fishy smell instantly spread in all directions, and the waves churned intensely. The head opened its mouth and directly swallowed the incoming pseudotooth bird!
The pseudotooth bird looked very large but compared to the beast's open mouth, it was like a small snack. It was instantly swallowed by the dragon crocodile-like mouth. With a boom, the beast's head fell back into the sea.
The waves surged into the sky and spread in all directions, causing Xu Qing's boat and Zhao Zhongheng's Phoenix to be like leaves on the sea, involuntarily tumbling backward. However, the former was orderly, while the latter was on the verge of losing control.
Zhao Zhongheng's expression changed drastically and horror appeared on his face.
At that moment, he was already in the air. Fortunately, his speed wasn't very fast. Otherwise, if he had gotten close to the pseudotooth bird just now, the bird wouldn't be the only one devoured.
The intense palpitations brought about by the line between life and death made him unable to block the seawater from soaking him. His face was pale as he retreated rapidly to the Phoenix. Even when his feet landed on the deck, he was still trembling.
It was as though he was afraid that if he retreated too slowly, that terrifying mouth would appear again.
However, as a disciple of the Seventh Peak, his intrinsic quality still allowed him to instinctively control the magic boat, allowing it to gradually regain control.
"That's… the plesiosaur. Senior Sister Ding, come here quickly. We have to leave this area immediately!"
As the waves churned, Zhao Zhongheng, who was standing on the swaying Phoenix, spoke anxiously as he controlled the magic boat.
"Shut up. If it wasn't for your stupid idea to agitate the pseudotooth bird, it would have flown away. Why would it attack! The sea record mentioned that the pseudotooth bird is the favorite meat of the plesiosaur. It's obvious that the plesiosaur was attracted by the pseudotooth bird. If you didn't act recklessly, this plesiosaur would definitely have left with it."
Senior Sister Ding's expression was ugly. Although plesiosaurs weren't the strongest among the predators in the Forbidden Sea, being able to survive among the endless anomalous substances meant that they were ferocious. Moreover, it was very difficult to judge the strength of each of them by their cultivation.
After all, with its huge body, unless the difference in combat strength was obvious, there was a high chance that the victory would belong to it.
Zhao Zhongheng wanted to defend himself, but he couldn't say anything. He could only reply bitterly.
"Maybe it will leave in a while…"
Senior Sister Ding's intrinsic quality was clearly much better than Zhao Zhongheng's. At this moment, even though her emotions were in turmoil, she still circulated all her cultivation and took out a green longsword.
At the same time, she placed her right hand on her storage bag, ready to take out her trump card at any time. She then looked at the sea warily.
Compared to the two of them, Xu Qing was much calmer. He had sensed that something was wrong with this sea area earlier, so he got the magic boat to use the defensive state in advance.
The huge waves rolled over like a giant's large hand, ruthlessly slapping Xu Qing's magic boat, causing it to keep moving away in the waves.
However, overall, the magic boat's stability was very good, so it didn't lose control. Instead, it retreated in an orderly manner with the help of the waves.
His calmness also calmed Senior Sister Ding's emotions. Her gaze slowly turned sharp.
"It didn't leave!" Xu Qing's eyes gleamed as he spoke in a low voice.
