Jia Shan and the two girls returned in the late afternoon. When they got into the lobby, the hotel staff gave them a disgusted look, which confused them.

But the group found out the reason as soon as they heard the loud moaning noise.

“Ah, those fuckers.”

Jia Shan’s reaction was the same as annoyed hotel workers. Xu Miao’s room was too loud.

However, Jiang Lang and Kang Yan had other ideas.

“Ugh, I’m jealous.”

“Ah, so vexing. They should have waited for me!”

Everyone: “…”

Jia Shan ignored the gang that day. He went to his room to rest while Jiang Lan and Kang Yan joined the fun. Still, he didn’t forget to leave Xu Miao a message that they had to be ready to move out before 3 AM.

.

The next day, at 3 AM, Xu Miao and the gang checked out from the hotel per Jia Shan’s instruction. They put the rescued girl into a human-sized chest, which had been bought by Jiang Lan.

While the gang was leaving the hotel, receptionists looked at Xu Miao as they gossiped. It wasn’t hard to tell what they were talking about after all the lewd noises and the messes they had left behind.

When they got out of the brothel, dragging a big chest that could stuff a human inside with them, they found a squad of patrol soldiers, waiting for them.

“Follow us, please.”

Xu Miao knitted his brows and looked at Jia Shan. Because he was too busy making love with Wei Yuan and other girls yesterday, the old man didn’t brief him of what they had done in the past two days.

Also, after waking up, Xu Miao’s right eyebrow twitched several times. He didn’t feel good today.

Jia Shan pushed Xu Miao forward, “Follow them and keep quiet. It’s still dark.”

“…”

Despite having many doubts, Xu Miao kept his mouth shut and followed after the soldiers.

The Port City before dawn was dead quiet. Every street they had passed, they saw units of 4-stage cultivators patrolling and maintaining the order. Also, a couple men in imperial soldier uniforms with the strength of 5th-stage were floating above the port city, watching everyone.

From the hotel and to the port district, the trip was unusually peaceful.

The soldier squad guided them to a lone modern ferry boat at the dock.

“The ship will depart as soon as the ship crews arrive. Please be patient,” The squad captain gave them a tourist pamphlet before he returned to his post. Several patrol units and flying cultivators also formed battle formations to protect them as if they were VVVIP.

Now, the girls, except Jiang Lan and Kang Yan, stared at Jia Shan, wondering what he did yesterday.

Jia Shan boarded the ship and picked the nearest seat, “Sit down. Standing around will arouse suspicion.”

Everyone got on the ship. Xu Miao picked the seat next to Jia Shan, “What did you do yesterday? Why are they protecting us?”

“Ha! Obviously, I bribed the fucking city lord with our refined stones. Do you think they are usually this discipline?”

“Huh? I thought you and the girls went out to shop for supplies.”

“Normally, we can’t use this port to cross the river without the consent of the royal family since there’s a risk of flash flood and chimeras. The ship that we’re on belongs to the city lord, but those crooked guards have reserved it for us.”

Jia Shan elaborated. Crossing the Crimson River was usually safe most of the time. However, during September, which was the current month, flash floods often occurred. The flood current wasn’t dangerous, but what came afterward could threaten all sailors.

Chimera beasts always appeared whenever a flash flood happened, and they always attacked nearby cities and living beings.

The chimeras were mutated beasts that consumed Crimson River. Their appearance varied, depending on their original forms, such as giant ants with chicken wings, human-sized mosquitoes with eagle legs, or elephants with rooster heads. Their strength randomly ranged from 1st-stage to 6th-stage, which made them unpredictable.

“I paid the city lord 10 refined stones to get us out of here in this season. Well, we still had enough funds to buy a lot of local specialties, clothes, common weapons, and food. We won’t have food issues for a while.”

Xu Miao’s right eyebrow twitched. He glanced at Jiang Lan and Kang Yan, and the two girls nodded in confirmation.

“Won’t we get into trouble if the flash flood happens?”

“Flash flood always happens 2 hours after heavy rain. It didn’t rain last night, so we’ll be fine.”

Xu Miao’s right eyebrow twitched. His instinct was crying again.

“Can pseudo-aura protect us from the river curse effect?”

“… No. Why do you ask?”

Xu Miao didn’t say anything. He looked around, searching if there were life jackets or life rings on the boat.

Unfortunately, there weren’t any.

The eyebrow twitching got more severe. It repeated every 5 seconds.

“Get out of the ship.”

Xu Miao hands pulled Wei Yuan and Jiang Lan off the boat. The girls gazed at Xu Miao in confusion, but they got out of the ship.

Other girls followed Xu Miao’s instruction, but Jia Shan was still on board.

“What are you doing?”

“Get out of the ship, master.”

“I said, what are you doing?”

“GET. OUT.”

Xu Miao’s voice turned cold. The twitching got faster to the point that it couldn’t stop.

Jia Shan glared at Xu Miao. Although he didn’t understand why his disciple suddenly acted this way, he stepped out of the ship.

Xu Miao grabbed Jia Shan’s hand and pulled the latter back to the dock.

Within five seconds, they heard a rumbling sound from the river.

*BOOM*

As soon as Jia Shan stood on the dock, something from the river jumped up, slashing water everywhere.

Xu Miao, Jia Shan, and all girls’ feet reacted as if they were programmed to do so. They ran away from the dock to the land as soon as the loud boom sound occurred.

The water splashes missed the group.

When they turned around to see what had happened, they could see a 10-meter long salmon with chicken wings, flying from the river and dove back into it. That chicken fish was trolling them.

The commotion didn’t escape the flying 5th-stage cultivators.

“A CHICKEN FISH HAS APPEARED!!”

“KILL!!”

The two flying soldiers took out their bows. They nocked their spiritual arrows and fired into the water.

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

Their arrows caused more explosions, which splashed more dangerous water.

Fortunately, Xu Miao and others already hid behind the lines of soldiers. Some of them raised their shields to guard against the water.

“POKGOK!”

“POKPOK!!”

Some of the cursed water got on a few soldiers. They instantly acted like chickens.

Their sacrifice wasn’t in vain. The two flying cultivators used their telekinesis and pulled the dead chicken fish from the water. Then, they tossed the fish to the dry land without touching it.

One of them descended to the ground and cupped his fist, “I’m sorry for the incident. Is everybody alright?”

Xu Miao rubbed his right eyebrow. The twitching was still there, but it wasn’t as severe as before, “We’re fine. None of us touch the water.”

“Then, it’s all good. I’ll go check if the ship captain is ready.”

“Thank you.”

…

Five minutes later, the ship captain and his crews arrived. The crews and the captain wore thick rubber gloves, raincoats, and rubber boots, and rubber suits as if they had prepared to sail in a rain. They also gave Xu Miao’s group raincoats to protect themselves against splashing water.

Xu Miao and everyone hurried and accepted the raincoats. They put them on right away.

After putting on the raincoats, Jia Shan, Xu Miao, and others returned to the ship.

The ferry boat departed right away without waiting for others. After all, Xu Miao’s group was the only passenger.

When the ship departed for a moment, Xu Miao’s eyebrow twitched again. He immediately looked outside the ship, checking how long they were away from the shore.

They had only sailed 100 meters away from the dock, but Xu Miao’s eyebrow was sending an alarm again.

As if the right eyebrow was mimicking the Jaws theme, it slowly twitched faster. His heartbeat also got louder inside his chest.

Da – – – Dump

10 seconds later

Da – – Dump

9 seconds later

Da – Dump

Xu Miao kept counting time as his bloodshot eyes glared at the destination shoreline, which was over 500 meters away. The ship took a long time turning and accelerating with its unknown arrays or engines that Xu Miao didn’t care to check.

8 seconds later

Dadump – – Dadump

The Jaws Theme Song in Xu Miao’s mind got louder and clearer.

The ship was picking up speed. 400 Meters remained until everyone reached the destination.

7 seconds later

Dadump – – Dadump – – Dadump

Xu Miao felt as if someone had been observing him from somewhere. He got goosebumps. Also, the theme song didn’t go away.

6 seconds later

Dump-Da-dump-Da-dump-Da-dump

200 meters remained, but Xu Miao couldn’t sit still anymore. He summoned Killer Queen and stood. He turned toward the west.

Jia Shan looked at Xu Miao and was about to ask what he was doing. But then, he paused for a moment.

“Shit!” The old man stood up and drew his sword as well. He looked in the same direction that Xu Miao was staring.

5 seconds later.

The Jaw theme in Xu Miao’s mind kept getting louder. He could even hear the drums and the trumpet sound, which signaled that the danger was close.

150 meters remaining until they could get to the other side, the boat’s speed decelerated as it was about to reach the dock.

At this moment, even Wei Yuan, Jiang Lan, and Kang Yan could sense the danger. They armed themselves and called the others to be careful.

4 seconds later, the ship captain and the crews felt it, too. They screamed, “INCOMING!!”

Two flying 5th-stage cultivators, who had been watching from afar, flew to the boat. They also saw the shadow silhouette of a large creature in the river.

A large fin surfaced along with the creature black scales. The creature’s large glowing silver eyes glared at the moving boat and the crews on board.

The distance between the creature and the ferry boat was 200 meters away, and it was approaching the ship at a rapid speed.

The ship crews were alarmed.

“CHIMERA SHARK!!”