Chapter 22

As night deepened, the trees within dozens of feet around the cave camp had already been cut down, providing a clear view and allowing the short wooden arrow towers to shoot far. In the distant jungle, it was pitch black, and the branches swayed in the wind, making a rustling sound, accompanied by the faint chirping of insects, casting deep shadows.

Yang You stood on a three-zhang tall short wooden arrow tower, holding a spirit wood javelin, vigilantly staring at the distant jungle.

However, after a while, his eyelids gradually became heavy.

Suddenly, a low shadow crawled out from the jungle. It was taken aback, as the scene around the cave camp was somewhat unfamiliar, seemingly different from its last visit.

While Yang You was still dazed, he saw a clumsy sea beast crawl out from the bushes, which instantly startled him, making him fully awake.

"Sea crab?!"

Yang You widened his eyes, unable to contain his surprise when he saw the sea crab.

He had never seen such a large golden sea crab, over two feet tall, larger than a child's wooden bathtub, with a span between its claws reaching a zhang, capable of easily hugging a large tree horizontally.

"Brother Ye! There's a situation, a huge sea crab!"

Yang You immediately cried out in alarm.

Inside the cave camp, Ye Mo, Mo Ling, and Wang Hu were awakened.

Ye Mo leaped onto the wooden tower and saw the young demon crab about twenty to thirty zhang away from the camp.

The young demon crab was still dazed, trying to recognize the camp. When it saw Ye Mo, it immediately recognized his familiar face, angrily raised its claws, and quickly crawled towards the cave camp.

"It seems this young demon crab remembers me and comes to greet me every now and then!"

Ye Mo felt a bit frustrated.

This young demon crab kept纠缠着他，破坏山洞营地的灵木栅栏围墙，会给营地带来很大的隐患。万一要是被它闯进来，它的力量比高阶武者还强，他都挡不住，更别说墨灵、王虎、杨友三人了。挨上一击，非死即伤。

"Ye Mo, is it the same demon crab from last time?"

Mo Ling immediately thought of the crab from the night before last.

"Yep."

Ye Mo nodded at Mo Ling, then gripped the green saber tightly and shouted, "Wang Hu, Yang You, you two use the spirit wood javelins to attack from the wooden tower, shoot it hard! Mo Ling and I will face the enemy below to prevent it from destroying the spirit wood fence."

After saying that, Ye Mo jumped down from the wooden tower and approached the spirit wood fence, preparing to battle the young demon crab.

Last time, he had relied on the camp to repel this young demon crab, but he still dared not be the slightest bit careless. This young demon crab's strength was even stronger than a high-level martial artist, and it could even release a terrifying mystic demon technique—water arrows.

"Alright!"

Wang Hu and Yang You felt a strange fear; this was their first time fighting a powerful sea demon beast.

"Shoot!"

Wang Hu, on the high wooden tower, raised a spirit wood javelin and roared.

He and Yang You almost simultaneously shot their spirit wood javelins.

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

Two spirit wood javelins, carrying a fierce wind, suddenly shot towards the young demon crab twenty zhang away.

The young demon crab was startled and quickly dodged to the side.

"Clang!"

One of the spirit wood javelins hit its crab shell and was deflected by the incredibly hard shell.

"Pfft!"

The other sharp javelin fiercely pierced into the mud next to the young demon crab, burying itself a foot deep, splashing a lot of soil and gravel.

The range of the short wooden arrow tower was quite far, reaching twenty to thirty zhang. However, from the wooden tower, the two of them had a lower accuracy when shooting from such a distance, making it hard to hit vital spots, purely relying on luck.

The young demon crab, feeling the impact, continued to rush towards the cave camp.

Wang Hu and Yang You continued to shoot, but the killing power of the spirit wood javelins was still too small for the young demon crab, unable to penetrate its incredibly hard shell.

It rushed to the spirit wood fence.

Under the light of the bonfire, its golden crab shell shone brilliantly, captivating the heart.

The young demon crab, just two zhang away from the fence, stopped and crouched down slightly.

Ye Mo had already drawn his green saber, his right hand tightly gripping the hilt, fully focused on the demon crab's every move, ready to attack it as soon as it tried to destroy the spirit wood fence.

At two zhang away, Ye Mo, inside the spirit wood fence, could not reach the young demon crab.

"What is it crouching down for?"

Mo Ling seemed puzzled by the demon crab's sudden stop, "Could it be trying to jump over the fence?!"

"What, can demon crabs jump?"

Ye Mo was startled, immediately reacting, and his green saber rose, ready to meet the demon crab's leap.

The spirit wood fence was too hard to cut, and there wasn't enough time, so it was only built to a height of one zhang, slightly taller than an adult man.

Could this demon crab's full leap exceed this height?

"Fortunately, I recently broke through to the seventh layer of the Body Tempering stage and mastered the 'Double Wave Slash.' Otherwise, we would have had a big problem tonight. It's clear that improving my strength as soon as possible is always the right choice. The camp's fence wall also needs to be heightened and reinforced!"

Ye Mo was inwardly amazed.

At that moment, the young demon crab suddenly exerted its strength, leaping towards the top of the spirit wood fence. It was indeed planning to avoid the hard fence and jump directly into the camp.

Ye Mo was greatly startled.

It was clearly learning from the previous night's lesson, truly a smart demon crab, much more intelligent than ordinary crabs.

"Double Wave Slash!"

Ye Mo would not let it have its way, rushing forward and instantly slashing at the leaping young demon crab with the Double Wave Slash.

The green saber trembled violently, emitting two almost overlapping cold rays!

"Clang, Clang!"

Ye Mo's Double Wave Slash hit one of the young demon crab's front claws in mid-air.

Under the force of a six-hundred-jin slash, the young demon crab was directly slashed away.

Bang!

The young demon crab was thrown back, landing outside the spirit wood fence, failing to jump into the camp. A two-inch deep wound appeared on its claw, and a stream of yellowish-green sticky liquid spurted out.

Ye Mo also suffered from the massive force's rebound, retreating several steps, almost losing his grip on the green saber, with his internal qi and blood surging.

The Double Wave Slash just now had consumed a lot of his strength.

Ye Mo's face showed undisguised disappointment. He had hoped that the previous strike might sever one of the demon crab's claws, but it only caused a two-inch deep wound, not even a serious injury.

It seemed that defeating this young demon crab would be extremely difficult.

"This demon crab's strength is too great, much stronger than a high-level martial artist! One strike probably has a force of four to five hundred jin!"

"Fortunately, Brother Ye has mastered the Double Wave Slash, which can unleash a force of over six hundred jin, otherwise, it would have been impossible to stop it from rushing into the camp!"

Mo Ling, Wang Hu, and Yang You were all terrified.

The young demon crab, in great pain, was enraged. Anger overwhelmed its already low intelligence, and it began to madly attack the temporary camp's fence.

"Bang—!"

The young demon crab used its hard golden claws to fiercely collide with the spirit wood fence.

The spirit wood fence trembled violently, caving in a large section.

"Looking for death!"

Ye Mo instantly slashed with his green saber, leaving deep and shallow sword marks on its front claw.

Mo Ling took the opportunity to stab at its wound.

"Clang!"

Two spirit wood javelins flew down from the wooden tower, lightning-fast, piercing the young demon crab's wound.

The combined attack of the four martial artists forced it to dodge.

The young demon crab, having suffered a loss, realized it could not break through the spirit wood fence and injure Ye Mo and the others inside.

It glared at Ye Mo with a fierce look and fled into the distant jungle, injured.

"Finally, it's gone!"

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, feeling weak in their limbs.

Ye Mo didn't dare to chase it. With his current strength, he was not a match for the young demon crab and could only defend by leaning against the spirit wood fence. If he chased out into the open, he would definitely be at a disadvantage.

After the young demon crab was far away, Wang Hu and Yang You went out to retrieve the thrown spirit wood javelins and put them back on the wooden tower.

One person continued to stand guard on the wooden tower, while the others rested.

"Tomorrow, repair the damaged parts of the spirit wood fence! And don't relax your body tempering training for a single day! It's only mid-month, and there's still a long way to the end of the month. Even a young demon crab is so hard to deal with. If the sea beast tide really comes, it will be a great disaster."

Ye Mo came into the cave, sat cross-legged against the cave wall, and began to meditate.

He took out a seven-grade red blood vine from his chest, cut off an inch-long piece, and slowly chewed it.

So bitter!

Ye Mo frowned as he swallowed.

The intense bitter and spicy taste stimulated every taste bud on his tongue.

A warm current gradually rose in his abdomen, spreading to his veins, tempering every inch of his muscles and bones.

The new qi and blood generated in his bone marrow made Ye Mo feel warm and comfortable all over. His blood shone with a stronger luster than before, filled with strong vitality.

Ye Mo absorbed the medicinal power of the body-tempering herbs to the fullest.

After half an hour, he had completely absorbed the medicinal power of the inch-long red blood vine, feeling full of strength.

"Using all the red blood vine, seven-leaf lotus, and dragon blood palm herbs, my physique will at least be strengthened. With other body-tempering herbs, I should have a good chance of breaking through to the eighth layer of the Body Tempering stage, or even the ninth layer, before the end of the month! I must survive this island's great tide and live on."

Ye Mo opened his eyes, gazing at the burning bonfire, his heart resolute.

Only by overcoming this challenge and surviving on this isolated island did he have a chance to continue searching for the Sea Immortal Village.

Midnight, the starry sky was brilliant.

At the cave camp.

The sound of burning wood crackled, and even the night guard, Yang You, fell asleep. Ye Mo was the only one left to watch the bonfire.

That night, on this isolated island, more than just Ye Mo's cave camp was attacked by the young demon crab.

Other martial artist groups' camps on the island were also attacked by sea beasts.

On the southeastern part of the island, a simple martial artist camp.

A blue-black sea snake, over two zhang long, appeared outside this simple martial artist camp.

It moved quickly, its blue-black scales rubbing against the ground, making a "shushing" sound, reflecting a chilling light under the bonfire and the night sky.

It raised its head, as big as a human head, looking at the martial artists resting inside the camp. Its eyes glinted with malice, and it flicked its blood-red tongue, quickly crawling towards the fence.

"Ah, such a big snake!"

"There's a situation! Wake up, kill it, don't let it get into the camp!"

A martial artist guarding the camp entrance shouted in alarm, loudly calling his sleeping companions, unaware of the extreme danger he was in.

"Be careful, behind you!"

A martial artist rushing out of the camp shouted in panic, his face filled with fear.

The guard was startled and turned around.

In an instant, another sea snake was behind him, opening its huge mouth to bite him.

"Ah!"

The guard screamed in pain, his voice filled with endless fear and despair.

The sea snake bit the guard and began to swallow him.

This scene deeply shocked the other mid-level martial artists in the camp.

"Kill!"

"Kill the beast!"

The martial artists, shocked and angry, rushed forward with their weapons, slashing and chopping.

The sea snake lashed out with its tail, creating a fierce wind, instantly causing sand and stones to fly.

Several martial artists were swept away by the fierce wind, and the camp's fence was directly broken.

"This sea snake is too strong, its strength is probably on par with a late-stage martial artist!"

They got up, shocked.

Faced with this sea snake, fear and panic began to spread in their hearts. They no longer had any thoughts of resistance, only thinking about how to escape and avoid being swallowed by the giant snake.

"Two sea snakes stronger than late-stage martial artists, we are no match for them!"

"Run!"

A middle-aged martial artist led a young martial artist to flee the camp.

The other martial artists also scattered.

"Zzz~!"

Another sea snake broke through the fence, rushed into the camp, and opened its huge mouth, revealing its venomous fangs, pouncing towards the middle-aged martial artist.

"Ah!"

The middle-aged man hastily drew his sword, but before he could strike, the sea snake's huge mouth bit into his body and began to swallow him.

"Uncle! Ah! I'll fight this monster snake to the death!"

The young martial artist, seeing his uncle, who had raised him since childhood, being swallowed by the giant snake, was overwhelmed by grief and raised his iron sword to slash at the sea snake.

"Don't go!"

"Run!"

The other martial artists were terrified.

"Clang!"

A cold ray instantly slashed at the sea snake's head, leaving a few-inch deep sword mark. For a sea snake over two zhang long, this wound was nothing.

The sea snake, in pain, this slash successfully attracted its attention, and its tail lashed out.

"Ah... save me..."

The young martial artist was terrified as the sea snake tightly coiled its two-zhang-long body around him.

It seemed to enjoy the distorted face of the person who had just injured it.

Two more martial artists rushed forward in a frenzy!

"Shh!"

Two cold rays slashed at the sea snake.

The sea snake's tail lashed out fiercely, sweeping one martial artist several zhang away.

The martial artist, after being thrown to the ground, spat out a mouthful of blood and fainted.

The other martial artist, seeing this, tried to escape but it was too late.

The sea snake suddenly bit the upper body of the fleeing martial artist and began to swallow him, leaving only his legs flailing in the air. Gradually, the exposed part became less and less until it disappeared.

The surviving martial artists were terrified by this scene and fled into the jungle in a panic.

Half an hour later.

The two martial artists were panting heavily in the jungle, constantly looking back to see if the sea snake was chasing them.

The younger martial artist was still in shock.

"Now only the two of us are left. The sea beasts on this island are too powerful. We can only survive by joining other martial artist groups on the island!"

The middle-aged martial artist looked back at the direction they came from, terrified and sighed.

The young martial artist nodded.

Under the moonlight, the two of them searched the jungle for other martial artist camps.