There were soldiers in the ships surrounding the area where the old man and the fish were fighting. They were apparently here to kill the aquatic beast that had been causing trouble in the past few months. And since this beast was also at the Nascent soul realm, the royal general of the kingdom had to come here personally.
No one else was a match for the beast. Lin Mu watched the old man fight for a while before seeing him retreat in defense.
~REEEE~
An inaudible sound wave spread from the fish that the old man had been battling. The sound wave moved through the water uninterrupted and spread in a wide area. Lin Mu narrowed his brows as he guessed what was happening.
The old man reacted quickly to and directly rose up from the water.
"RETREAT!!!! I REPEAT RETREAT!!!" The old man shouted loudly.
His words sent the soldiers into a frenzy as they quickly raised the anchors and turned their ships around.
~SWOOSH~
Unfortunately for them, they were a little too late. Out of nowhere, waves as tall as ten meters appeared!
Several such waves surrounded the ships and slammed into them.
~BOOM~
One of the ships directly cracked from the impact and many of the soldiers on it fell to the ground.
Lin Mu who saw it all, observed the tens of thousands of fishes hidden in the waves. These fishes looked the same as the one that was fighting the old man, except they were much smaller in size, with the smallest being less than a pinky finger in size.
"That Nascent soul realm fish can actually control its spawn to raise waves like these? Aquatic beasts are truly on a different level." Lin Mu muttered before flicking his finger as a gray blur shot out from it.
Back in the ocean, the old man looked at the ships in anger.
"DAMN YOU ALL BEASTS!" He shouted in rage.
He could see that from the ship that had sunk, over half of the soldiers were already dead and were being feasted upon by the fishes.
In a small kingdom like the Echo Conch kingdom, man power was valuable as well, especially skilled manpower like the soldiers that needed quite a few resources and effort to train.
~SWOOSH~
The old man tried to attack the Nascent soul realm fish, but it was faster than him in the water. It easily dodged his attack and controlled its spawn to attack once more.
Several tall waves rose in the air, this time even bigger than before.
The soldiers who watched it all were left terrified and frozen in despair.
"Is this our end?" they wondered.
~SHING~
Unknown to them, a gray streak had suddenly entered the water.
~SHUA~ SHUA~ SHUA~
Suddenly, the waves turned red, as if roses were blooming within them!
"What?" the old man was confused too.
His spirit sense spread around and detected something. Snapping his neck to the back, his eyes locked onto a particular spot.
"How?!" The old man was stunned to see the foe that he had been battling was already dead.
The corpse of the Nascent soul realm fish floated up, its head having been pierced and a finger thick hole present there now. The large waves that had formed earlier had disappeared as well and melded back into the ocean, leaving behind patches of blood that were rapidly fading away in the water.
"We… we're safe?" the soldiers couldn't believe their eyes.
One moment they were in the jaws of death and could only watch on in despair, and now they were free.
The old man was the same, but he quickly composed himself. He picked up the corpse of the Nascent soul realm beast before returning to the biggest ship.
~thud~
The corpse fell on the deck of the ship, while the old man landed as well.
"What happened, general?" the commander of the ship asked.
But the old man didn't answer him. Instead, he cupped his hands and raised them in the air.
"This old man thanks great senior from the bottom of his heart!" the old man exclaims loudly.
His voice was heard in all the ships nearby. The soldiers who heard this were surprised at first but quickly followed after the old man.
"WE THANK GREAT SENIOR FOR SAVING US!"
Everyone stayed in the same position for about a minute before the old man assumed his normal self.
"Who saved us, general?" the commander asked in a low voice.
"I don't know either… but from the way they acted and how swift they were, they should be a great expert." The old man replied.
"Huh? Is there someone from the sect visiting us?" the commander asked.
"No… there are none. This should be a passing expert who decided to help us on a whim." The old man answered.
"Then the great senior is truly benevolent." The commander said with gratitude.
While this was all happening, Lin Mu stood several kilometers away with a plain expression. A thin gray blade floated beside him, stained with blood.
Waving his hand, Lin Mu stored it away and looked in the direction from where the swarm of fishes had come from.
"Did you sense it too, Little Shrubby?" Lin Mu asked.
"Mmhmm… that aura is similar to the mutant beasts." Little Shrubby replied.
"Hmmm… if those fishes had traces of their aura, it means they have been staying somewhere close to a 'Reborn'. It does make sense, Gu Yao wouldn't stay calm without a contingency plan." Lin Mu spoke. "But if there is a Reborn there, then… the node of the plane should be there as well. I doubt Gu Yao would let the reborn be without his control." He guessed.
This was the reason why Lin Mu had decided to help out the old man and the soldiers. He sensed a hint of mutant beast aura from the fishes and upon killing them, all the auras hidden within their bodies was released.
This helped him get a proper trace of the aura and estimate where the said reborn might be hidden. After all, Lin Mu's duty as a world's ordained was to eradicate all traces of the invader, which would include the Reborn as well.
Finding a node to the plane was simply an additional bonus.
