Chapter 1 The Beginning

Su Lun and his two companions rode the speedboat, tearing through the waves. Naturally, the pirates on the North Sea Fleet's three pirate ships saw them too.

The pirates crowded onto the decks, ready to watch the show.

"Yo... Barrett finally isn't trying to hold on and is coming to surrender?"

"He only brought two people. He must be here to negotiate."

"That's not right. Look at their warship, and what's the deal with that three-masted sailboat without a flag at nine o'clock? It feels like they're approaching us?"

"If they dare enter the firing range, sink them. Hmph, those blind dogs deserve to die. The large-caliber artillery that the Mafa Empire supports us with will finally come in handy..."

"Have you sensed any other stealth units?"

"Boss, no. Perception feedback confirms that, besides Barrett, the swordsman is Fifth-Order, and the guy driving the boat is only Fourth-Order."

"..."

On the deck of the pirate ship.

The pirates stood there in small groups, laughing and joking.

The Sixth-Order Deputy Fleet Commander, "Ghost Hand" Dorosel, along with several Fifth-Order squadron leaders and Fourth-Order squad leaders, watched the approaching speedboat with relaxed expressions. No one took it seriously.

No matter how they looked at it, the other side seemed to be coming to negotiate.

After all, there were only three people. Without a Seventh-Order professional, any malicious intentions would be a waste of life.

But as the speedboat approached, Dorosel didn't know why, but an ominous premonition gradually rose in his heart.

Being able to advance to the Sixth-Order meant that his sense of crisis was extraordinary.

He picked up the long telescope again, squinted at the approaching speedboat, and his expression grew more and more solemn.

But he didn't know where the unease in his heart came from.

......

On the speedboat, even the battle-hardened Barrett's breathing was slightly heavy.

The three pirate ships in front of him put immense death pressure on him. The closer they got, the denser the hostility from the ships pressed down like a mountain, making his scalp tingle.

In all his years in the military, he had never tried such a crazy "tactic."

The supreme commander going straight into the enemy's main camp, with the legion behind?

However, he didn't ask any more questions.

When he agreed to this tactic, he had already put life and death out of his mind.

Su Lun didn't dare to be careless either. After all, the North Sea Fleet was the ceiling of combat power in the pirate world. There were many Fourth and Fifth-Order experts on the three ships, and these more than a thousand enemies were not to be underestimated. The situation was changing rapidly, and he was still analyzing every possibility in his mind based on the current situation.

Qian Tiao didn't say a word the whole time. Her hand was on the hilt of her sword, constantly accumulating sword qi.

At this moment, Su Lun also noticed that the pirates on the opposite side seemed to be a little alert, and said, "Get closer, preferably within a hundred meters."

Barrett frowned when he heard this and said, "Dorosel might not let us get that close. After all, that guy is a Sixth-Order professional. He should have sensed something."

"Then we'll raise the flag to negotiate."

Su Lun had a prepared expression on his face.

As he spoke, he took out two small flags and used flag language.

There was a set of universal flag language for sailing at sea, for long-distance communication between ships.

Almost every ship was also equipped with a "flag language officer."

Su Lun had previously stripped this skill, and waved the small flags with extremely skilled movements, sending the signal: We want to negotiate.

This action would also make the pirates on the opposite side think he was just a "small character."

Su Lun didn't care about his image at all. Small character, big shot, it didn't matter.

With a big battle about to begin, the more low-key he was, the safer he would be.

Barrett watched his actions, and a strange look flashed across his face. He thought to himself: He really did come prepared.

......

Sure enough.

Because of the negotiation flag language that Su Lun used, the cannons aiming at them didn't fire, and they approached the pirates smoothly.

The three pirate ships surrounded the speedboat in a "品" (pǐn - goods) shape.

The pirate minions didn't realize the danger was approaching, and gathered around the ship's rails to watch the fun.

"Ghost Hand" Dorosel, although uneasy, didn't think that these three people had any chance of winning.

Where did the sense of crisis come from?

Out of caution, he didn't let Barrett come directly aboard. Instead, he asked condescendingly, "Captain Barrett, what is it? Have you thought it through and want to talk?"

"..."

Barrett looked at the pirates with mocking expressions, and his heart was full of disdain.

He would rather die than submit to these pirates.

However, Barrett also knew that he needed to buy some time for Su Lun behind him.

So he didn't rush to express his position.

Su Lun was at the stern of the boat, looking like he was controlling the engine, quietly playing his role as a "transparent small character." The invisible silk threads in his hands, however, hung down into the sea.

Dorosel wasn't stupid either. Looking at Barrett's micro-expressions, the suspicion in his eyes grew more and more intense.

A squadron leader on the side immediately understood. He threw out a pair of handcuffs and said, "Barrett, since you want to negotiate, put on the 'Magic Restricting Handcuffs' and come aboard to talk."

Barrett didn't look at the handcuffs. He looked angry and humiliated, and shouted, "Is this the hospitality of your North Sea Fleet? Heh, I, Barrett, am here to negotiate, not as a prisoner!"

Now he was just stalling for time, since they were going to fight anyway.

As he spoke, he didn't forget to mock, "Dorosel, are you really this timid as a fleet commander? Heh..."

As soon as these words came out, the atmosphere instantly became awkward.

Dorosel frowned, not because he felt mocked and unhappy, but because the unease in his heart grew stronger.

But he didn't know where this unease came from.

A one-armed "Beast" Barrett wasn't worth him treating like this.

But after all, three of his squadrons and more than a thousand subordinates were watching, and it was impossible for Dorosel to back down.

People were saying they wanted to negotiate. Surely the dignified North Sea Fleet wouldn't lack the courage to even negotiate, right?

Just as he was about to ask Barrett to come aboard...

Suddenly,

An accident happened!

Not all of these pirates were fools. There were all kinds of capable people and strangers on the ship, and those perception-type professionals also keenly discovered that there was something wrong in the sea.

At this moment, someone shouted.

"Captain, it's bad! There's something in the sea!"

"It seems like a lot of giant octopuses. They're coming towards us!"

"Damn it, we've been tricked! Fire, kill them!"

"..."

The pirates on the three pirate ships immediately reacted.

If they didn't understand what was happening in this situation, they would really be fools.

Hearing this, "Ghost Hand" Dorosel's face changed drastically. He saw the group of transparent shadows quickly approaching the sea ships in the sea, and finally understood where the unease in his heart came from!

Barrett was feigning negotiation, but in reality, he was going to fight to the death!

But even at this moment, he still couldn't figure out why the other side had the confidence to attack with his more than a thousand brothers?

......

The surface of the Mechanical Octopus had a special light-absorbing coating. Especially in seawater, once the light was absorbed, it looked like transparent jelly, making it difficult to detect with the naked eye.

Even "transparent octopuses," a new species, wouldn't be strange in this resource-rich endless sea.

Even if it was discovered, it would probably be regarded as a new species, and it wouldn't be the first reaction to consider it as a means of attack.

But after all, the behavior of clustering close to the sea ship was too obvious and was still discovered.

Su Lun's eyes flickered sharply as he heard the pirates discover the mechanical octopuses approaching in the water.

But he wasn't surprised at all.

Being able to stall for so long was already perfect.

Now that they had been discovered, there was no need to sneak or hide any longer.

A cruel smile rose on the corner of Su Lun's mouth. He grabbed the air with his fingers and suddenly pulled out dozens of silk threads. As soon as the kinetic energy system was activated, the mechanical tentacles of one octopus after another suddenly contracted and propelled, like compressed springs ejected, and the speed increased several times.

In just a few breaths, dozens of octopuses had stuck to the bottom of these three ships!

As long as one tentacle of the Mechanical Octopus was attached to the bottom of the ship, all other tentacles could wrap around it.

In an instant, fifty Mechanical Octopuses climbed onto the three pirate ships and began their ship-breaking operation.

"Boss, something doesn't seem right!"

"Damn it, those octopuses are made of steel, and firearms can't hurt them at all! Harpoons are useless!"

"It's not good, those monsters are destroying our warships!"

"..."

Soon, the pirates discovered a terrifying fact.

They thought it was a sea monster attack, but they didn't expect it to be "mechanical creatures" they had never heard of before.

This simply subverted their understanding.

Although they reacted quickly enough from discovery to response, the Mechanical Octopus was a "ship-breaking weapon" designed mostly for breaking ships. Once launched, it wouldn't give people a chance to react at all.

More than a dozen octopuses were attached to each ship, and in an instant, the sound of "crack" and "crack" of wood breaking was endless.

The exaggerated strangling power and ship-breaking equipment of the mechanical tentacles instantly tore the entangled hull into pieces.

A large amount of seawater poured into the cabins, and the three sea ships sank rapidly almost simultaneously.

Even though a few Fifth-Order pirate squadron leaders reacted quickly enough and used their space abilities to cut off a few tentacles, they still couldn't stop the three sea ships from being damaged and sinking into the sea.

The pirates screamed and fell into the water, each one in a state of embarrassment.

"This... how could this be..."

Unbelievable light flashed in "Ghost Hand" Dorosel's eyes.

He never expected that his three warships would be sunk right before his eyes in just one exchange!

At the same time, dozens of speedboats came down from the warship and the three-masted sailboat in the distance, and hundreds of people were rushing towards them.

"Damn it!"

The fleet commander's face darkened, and he stomped his feet and rushed towards the speedboat, shouting, "Kill them first!"

Instinct told Dorosel that he must kill the three people in front of him first, or there would be big problems.

Moreover, he realized now that the "flag language officer," who he thought was a minion before, seemed to be the culprit controlling these mechanical octopuses!

......

The pirates were caught off guard and were all shocked.

But similarly, when Barrett saw what was happening in front of him, the shock in his heart was no less than that of the pirates!

"Mechanical Octopus?!"

Although he expected that Su Lun would solve the problem with some unexpected means, he never expected that it would be such means.

But looking at the mechanical tentacles rolling on the sea like boiling water, he still couldn't believe that he had seen the "mechanical creatures" that only existed in theory!

He was once a high-ranking general in the Lu Ying, so he naturally knew some insider information about cutting-edge technologies.

Looking at these mechanical octopuses, he immediately guessed something.

"So he has already mastered the neuro-mechanical technology..."

A storm raged in Barrett's heart for a long time.

He really did it... He sunk three main warships of the North Sea Fleet in one exchange.

Moreover, what shocked him even more was yet to come!

......

After all, "Ghost Hand" Dorosel was a Sixth-Order professional. At the first moment he realized something was wrong, he rushed towards the speedboat that Su Lun and the others were riding in.

Barrett had been staring at this guy. Seeing the disappearing figure, he put away his shock and prepared to fight.

He had already learned about this guy's strength in previous battles. Spatial teleportation and the "True Damage Ghost Hand" were definitely the nightmares of any professional of the same rank.

There was no fear on Barrett's face. He had made up his mind that even if he had to fight to the death, he would never let this guy hurt Su Lun!

But before he could move, he suddenly felt an overbearing and unparalleled sword intent rising into the sky from beside him.

Suddenly, he seemed to hear the sharp sound of a sword being unsheathed.

In an instant, the wind and clouds changed color.

Thunderclouds suddenly rolled in the sky, and the sky instantly darkened. A purple-red lightning flashed from the dark clouds, and with a "crack" sound, it fell on the sea, reflecting a strange ruddy color on the faces of the thousands of people.

Thunder rumbled, Qian Tiao's face was full of fierce fighting intent, and the clothes on her body fluttered because of the domineering aura being released.

The sword qi accumulated for so long was released in an instant when the "Yōtō Sōsa" (Demon Blade Master) was unsheathed, like a dyke being breached.

After she drew her sword, the six-armed Rakshasa phantom behind her instantly solidified.

Looking again, the three thunder drums led countless thunder serpents in the sky, gathering at the point where the blade pointed, and slashing down sharply: "Raiming Ichitō-ryū: Ryūfū Zanken!" (Thunderclap One-Sword Style: Gale Ship-Slicing Flash!)

A sword qi "唰" broke through the air.

It was really terrifying.

......

At such a close distance, Barrett felt it most deeply and instantly had a sense of death crisis that made his hair stand on end.

Even though the sword qi wasn't aimed at him, he felt as if countless blades were brushing past his body, with a stinging sensation like a steel knife scraping his bones.

"Is this her way of the sword... such an overbearing thunder sword intent."

Barrett couldn't describe the shock in his heart.

The bit of sword intent that Qian Tiao released on the ship before was not even one-ten-thousandth of what it was now!

He had never seen a Fifth-Order Sword Saint who had condensed such an overbearing and terrifying sword intent.

Moreover, not only was it this exaggerated realm of the sword, but Barrett looked at the Second Awakening Rakshasa woman phantom behind Qian Tiao, which was the rarest thing.

"Second Awakening [Rakshasa Woman], such a monstrous talent..."

Thousands of thoughts flashed through Barrett's mind in an instant.

He had seen too many talented geniuses in Lu Ying in his life. He himself had grown up carrying the halo of a "genius" since he was a child. But looking at Qian Tiao in front of him, he felt that he had seen a truly amazing "monster."

And that knife with a monstrous demonic aura... was definitely not an ordinary product either.

Everything...

Exceeded Barrett's previous expectations by far.

He had already highly valued the strength of this "Captain Qian Tiao" and the "Dawn Squad." But now he saw that he had underestimated them too much.

No wonder they dared to fight head-on even though they knew that this was a deputy fleet commander of the North Sea Fleet.

It turned out that they really had the strength to fight head-on!

......

Qian Tiao slashed out with this ghost-repelling thunder sword qi, and a figure escaping in the void was immediately forced out dozens of meters away.

"Ghost Hand" Dorosel avoided this deadly sword qi. But no one dared to block the sword qi at all. In the blink of an eye, it broke through the air for a hundred meters and slashed the half of the warship that a few squadron leaders were still trying to save into pieces.

Now, everyone was soaked in the sea.

But not everyone knew "Sky Walking," and not everyone had a mechanical equipment for moving in the sea...

The warship was destroyed, and the combat power of these thousand people was instantly weakened by seventy or eighty percent.

Looking at this, "Ghost Hand" Dorosel's face was so gloomy that it could drip water.

He now knew that the "Fifth-Order" he had just not taken seriously was actually a "Sword Saint" with such an overbearing sword dao realm.

But what was done was done, and there was no room for regret. He rushed over again.

Qian Tiao also didn't show any weakness and jumped up from the speedboat.

After a series of explosions of "pa", "pa", "pa"... she fearlessly met the pirate boss who was a whole rank higher than her.

Because she knew about this guy's ability in advance, Qian Tiao didn't foolishly clash head-on. She slashed out a few sword qi from a distance. Although the Sixth-Order professional was strong, he didn't condense his domain after all, and he was very afraid of this sword qi, so he could only dodge.

But after all, Dorosel had mastered space ability and was flexible in moving. This kind of long-range sword qi couldn't do anything to him for a while.

Seeing this, Barrett, where would he watch the show from the sidelines?

He and Su Lun looked at each other, intending to ask: Should we help?

Su Lun shook his head.

Barrett didn't hesitate anymore and rushed over fearlessly.

Although he admitted that the dozens of mechanical octopuses had surprised him quite a bit. But he also didn't think that Su Lun could rely on his own strength to fight against the more than a thousand pirates. After all, there were also many Fourth and Fifth-Order professionals among those pirates, and more importantly, almost everyone in this entire fleet had space ability. Mechanical products could be fierce for a while, but they could never completely suppress this group of people.

If it was before, Barrett would have doubts and thought it was impossible.

But now, he had an almost blind trust in Su Lun.

He was sure that this man would bring him even greater surprises!

......

The battle was about the life and death of the "Judgment Squad," so Barrett naturally had to fight hard. Qian Tiao would also not let Su Lun fall into a dangerous situation. Even if she herself fell into a dangerous situation, she would never let that guy approach Su Lun.

Dorosel was entangled by two experts and couldn't take care of himself.

Seeing this, Su Lun also breathed a sigh of relief.

He looked at the more than a thousand people who had fallen into the water, and the sorcerer seals in his hands also changed rapidly.

Those pirate squadron leaders and squad leaders naturally saw him, and a group of people with wings flew towards him.

A cold light flashed in Su Lun's eyes, and he muttered, "It's my turn to perform..."

Void Fleet?

In Su Lun's eyes, as long as they were enemies, they were void experience.

Seeing Qian Tiao and the others holding back the enemy commander-in-chief, Su Lun felt that he could finally let go and make a bet. As he condensed the sorcerer seal, the eight-armed spider spear behind him had already revealed its hideous form.

With another change in the sorcerer seal, as the hexagram alchemy array under his feet lit up, a huge cross with a diameter of one hundred meters had slowly condensed above his head.

"Puppet Secret Art: Puppet Theater!"

He threw out five scrolls casually.

"Peng," "Peng," "Peng"... a burst of white smoke exploded, and five hundred runic puppets stood suspended in the sea out of thin air. With a pull from the spider spear behind him, one puppet after another, with rouge on their cheeks and a weird smile on their faces, suddenly seemed to come alive, making a "crack" and "crack" biting sound from their mouths, and killing towards the thousands of people.

Looking again, he conjured a [Runic Human Skin Umbrella] in his left hand, and in his right hand, he held the [Scythe of Hypnos Night].

It had to be said that space ability was the natural enemy of mechanical equipment.

Even mechanical octopuses with high-level magic patterns couldn't withstand a few cuts in the hands of those Fourth and Fifth-Order professionals, and there were incomplete tentacles everywhere.

This "Void Fleet" was not only full of space professionals, but they also had more or less some cursed objects with space abilities in their hands. Those weapons that could cut out space cracks were really tricky. Even if they only cut open a little, it would have a very fatal impact on mechanical products.

Su Lun didn't want to see the fifty pieces of property he had worked so hard to accumulate destroyed by these guys.

The loss of a few of them already made his heart ache.

Fortunately, the mission of the mechanical octopuses had been completed, and Su Lun had also sunk them all into the water, waiting for an opportunity to move.

And now, it was the main battlefield of the runic puppets.

He wasn't afraid of killing the puppet army.

It didn't hurt or itch anyway, and there were plenty of spares.

Su Lun controlled five hundred puppets alone, fighting on the sea in various ways.

Not all of the pirate groups were Fourth and Fifth-Order leaders. Even in the North Sea Fleet, more than 80% of them were First and Second-Order professionals.

Although these guys had awakened certain space abilities, they might be extremely sharp against other professionals, but against puppets...

You can kill them if you want.

No matter how sharp your knife is, are you afraid of cutting wood?

Puppets were simply nightmares for low-level professionals. That kind of suicidal group charge broke up those pirates after a few waves.

Of course, the most lethal was Su Lun himself.

At this moment, he was holding a black scythe in his hand, and a phantom of the God of Death rose behind him.

The sea was like dumplings in a pot, with people everywhere, on broken sea ship fragments, on wine barrels...

Su Lun's black scythe swept down a few times, and he could hit a few enemies almost without aiming.

Although the hit rate of the black scythe against high-level professionals was not high, the other party had almost no time to react to low-level professionals.

Often, one slash would send limbs flying and blood splattering.

The more corpses there were, the sooner the blood would dye the entire sea red...

And Su Lun himself was not idle. Looking at the groups of "gray fog" on the sea, he also rushed over and harvested them.

[You stripped the soul of 'Akum Ryder']

[You have obtained some casting skills of "Space Magic", experience +13]

[You have obtained a small amount of space law understanding]

[...]

[You stripped the soul of 'Oga Kingsley']

[You stripped the soul of 'Sayam Boli']

[You stripped the soul of 'Mike Tyson']

[...]

Experience +18, experience +9, experience +131, experience +12, experience +41...

These low-level pirates relied on fusing space equipment and more or less understood some space laws. Although the understanding was shallow, the good thing was that there were many of them!

Even if the experience gained less and less later, Su Lun also saw his understanding of the "Law of Space" soaring in a short time.

As for those Fourth and Fifth-Order pirates, wanting to besiege and kill him?

Su Lun couldn't handle four hands with two fists.

In the "Puppet Theater," his combat power was extraordinary.

Even if he couldn't beat them, he could run away.

Su Lun's space ability was no worse than any of the pirate squadron leaders here.

His ability to save his life was very strong.

What's more, not far away, the people from the "Dawn Squad" and the "Judgment Squad" were also riding speedboats and fiercely surrounding and killing them.

.......

The battle was pushed to a climax the moment the mechanical octopuses destroyed the three warships.

Also, because the ship was destroyed, there was no room for escape at all. In this life-and-death battle that was about to wipe out the entire group, both sides fought very fiercely.

Not far away, Qian Tiao and Barrett were also in a heated battle with "Ghost Hand" Dorosel.

Because they were fighting desperately, the two sides were fighting back and forth, inseparable.

Dorosel was a professional in the "Fighter" sequence and was good at close combat. Whether it was the cursed object gloves in his hand or the [Void Ghost Hand] equipment he fused, they were very compatible with the profession. One of his punches could shatter the void, ignore armor and elemental body protection, and hitting the opponent would make them doubt their life.

Dorosel was very confident that even if he fought one against two, he had a chance of winning.

But the problem was that the other party didn't clash head-on with him at all. It was like punching cotton, and he couldn't exert his true combat power at all.

Dorosel vaguely sensed that they seemed to be stalling for time.

But he didn't know why they were doing this.

Did they have reinforcements?

It didn't seem like it...

If they were coming, they should have come already.

Don't look at the fact that the warship was destroyed. Dorosel didn't panic much.

After all, he still had excellent space movement ability. If he really wanted to leave, no one could keep him!

Even if he really found an opportunity to kill the two guys who were缠着 (chánzhe - entangling) him, Dorosel felt that he could still turn the tables!

But he never thought that the Su person was waiting for the enemy to have this "I can counter-kill" mentality.

If "Ghost Hand" Dorosel chose to escape in the first place, Su Lun would really have no way to deal with him.

But he chose to stay, and when Su Lun freed his hands, then the ending would probably not be as he expected, "coming and going freely."

Su Lun felt that he was going to have a big meal again today.