Cultivating for a hundred lifetimes to ascension

Although the other party spoke ambiguously, Zhao Sheng had fully understood his meaning.

Generally speaking, during the Sea Demon tide period, it's rare for sea beasts to attack islands and massacre the Human Clan.

After all, most sea beasts are marine creatures that either cannot clamber onto land or are extremely unaccustomed to terrestrial environments.

Of course, once the sea beasts reach the third-tier realm, neither land nor air environments pose a barrier to them.

If they wish, slaughtering the inhabitants of an entire island is not an issue. However, most sea beasts above third-tier have developed significant spiritual wisdom and generally do not purposely kill mortals, who seem like ants to them. On one hand, they fear the retaliation of Human Clan Golden Cores, and on the other hand, Golden Core demon beasts lacking in clan concepts are quite "lazy," indifferent to the affairs of weak humans, and too lazy to act without any benefit.

In fact, the impact of the Sea Demon tide on the Human Clan of the Shattered Star Sea is not primarily the killing, but rather the devastating disruptions to the Shattered Star Sea's transportation network.

One could imagine, with billions of sea beasts driven and led by Great Demons, wave after wave crashing into the inner and outer Star Seas, destroying every ship in their path.

Even worse, if the beasts' rampage continued unabated, the swarms of sea beasts and demons would persistently and crazily attack every ship at sea.

Facing endless hordes of crazed sea beasts, ships would struggle to travel, severing sea transportation. The islands of the Shattered Star Sea would inevitably become isolated "lonely islands," and if the blockade lasted too long, the cessation of trade would be the least of their problems; starvation would be the true horror.

The Human Clan of the Shattered Star Sea has proliferated to this day, and the population on most islands far exceeds their capacity. The production from a single island is far from enough to meet demand, requiring constant replenishment of food from the outside world.

If the siege were to last long, and there wasn't enough food on the island, it would inevitably lead to a ghastly tragedy of people resorting to cannibalism.

This isn't sensationalism but a certainty that occurs during every Sea Demon tide.

Of course, no matter how tragic the plight of the mortals might be, it generally does not affect cultivators themselves.

Therefore, a considerable number of cultivators are indifferent to the suffering of mortals, and some even welcome a reduction in the redundant population.

Some despicable Demon Cultivators even jokingly call the Sea Demon tide the Heavenly Dao's "population screening" of the Human Clan, aiming to eliminate the useless and stupid, filtering out the superior bloodlines.

For some Cultivation Forces, what concerns and pains them even more are the spirit veins, spirit fields, and spirit mines laboriously developed on the seabed being destroyed and occupied by swarms of sea beasts.

This is the real "catastrophe." The reason why all cultivators detest the Sea Demon tide primarily boils down to this.

But back to the main point!

The Zhao Family has over two hundred thousand kin scattered on the islands near Dome Turtle Island.

With the onslaught of the Demon tide, sea routes were severed.

Kin are the foundation; the Zhao family could not just watch helplessly as over two hundred thousand of their kin were killed or starved to death, so it was imperative to ensure that communication between the islands remained smooth.

Zhao Sheng had just arrived and was already entrusted with a heavy responsibility, which clearly showed the Zhao Family's shortage of manpower.

Understanding the meaning behind Zhao Yunxian's words, Zhao Sheng nodded, "Thank you for trusting me, Family Head. I will take good care of the Dome Turtle Treasure Ship."

Zhao Yunxian's expression showed great emotion, "Daoist, you truly understand the greater good; I am at a loss for words. I am well aware of the dangers of navigating the seas during the Demon tide. To ensure your safety, here are a few defense Spiritual Artifacts collected by our clan. Please choose one."

With that, he took out five items radiating spiritual light from his Storage Bag and placed them in front of Zhao Sheng.

Zhao Sheng glanced at them and immediately ruled out the two armor-like Spiritual Artifacts.

Although he was not strictly a Sword Cultivator, he followed a path that favored lightness and agility, and the armors were too heavy, completely unsuitable for him.

Excluding the armors, there were three remaining shield-like Magic Artifacts. One was a black-brown turtle shell shield, another was a light red shield of an unknown metal, and the last Spiritual Artifact had a very peculiar design.

The peculiarity of this Spiritual Artifact was that its surface was a round black shield, about a foot in diameter, yet startlingly, it was composed of six palm-sized pure black small shields stacked together.

Even with Zhao Sheng's Eye Power, he couldn't discern what material it was made of.

At first glance, it appeared to be a hard, smooth material like keratin Beast Skin, but it also had a clear metallic luster. Upon closer examination, one could see the skin surface was covered with countless tiny black scales.

It seemed Mr. Zhao was most interested in this special magic artifact, Zhao Yunxian smiled slightly, reached out to pick up the artifact, and introduced, "Daoist, what excellent discernment! This Six Harmonies Mayfly Shield is the highest grade among these five spiritual artifacts. Each shield by itself is a mid-grade spiritual artifact, but when combined, it ranks as top-grade.

The key is that it's a very rare composite spiritual artifact, made up of six child shields.

Each child shield is refined from the most tenacious part of the underbelly hide of a second-order Mayfly Demon Ray.

As you may know, the Mayfly Demon Ray is renowned for having the strongest defense among sea beasts of the same tier, so the robustness of these spirit shields goes without saying.

Not only that, but the key is that the material for all six spirit shields comes from the same Mayfly Demon Ray, and the spirit prohibitions inside are nearly identical. They also contain an extremely rare Divine Communication Spirit Restriction.

Let me demonstrate its marvelous features for you, Daoist."

As he spoke, Zhao Yunxian extended his hand and pointed at the Six Harmonies Mayfly Shield, and a flash of divine light gleamed in his eyes.

Then, one could see the Six Harmonies Mayfly Shield slowly floating up from the table into the air.

In a blink, it suddenly dispersed into six streams of black light, like swimming fish, spinning and darting around Zhao Yunxian in all directions, appearing extremely agile and swift.

What was even more eye-opening was that each child shield could freely combine with the others.

In the air, sometimes a single shield would circle alone, other times they would pair up in threes or twos, and at times all six would merge into one.

Watching this spectacle, Zhao Sheng's eyes sparkled continuously, his heart filled with longing.

Seeing Zhao Sheng's expression, Zhao Yunxian couldn't help but proudly say, "This Six Harmonies Mayfly Shield is one of the last three masterpieces of our ancestor Zhao Xuanji. If it weren't for your sake, Daoist, I would never have brought it out."

After hearing his words, Zhao Sheng first nodded, then shook his head and said, "Taoist Zhao, are you really willing to offer this Six Harmonies Mayfly Shield to me? Aren't you afraid that after I take the spirit shield, I will break my promise and run away?"

"Not afraid! I always trust those I employ and do not hire those I mistrust. And I also believe that you are not that kind of person," Zhao Yunxian said confidently.

Hearing this, Zhao Sheng nodded inwardly, feeling that indeed the inhabitants of the Shattered Star Sea had made a reliable choice in their family head twice over.

Zhao Xuanji was a key figure in the resurgence of the Zhao family, leading them away from the brink of extinction and with great effort, fostering their growth until they eventually occupied an island rich in spirit land. His achievements were unrivaled in the Zhao family.

Although Zhao Yunxian did not match Zhao Xuanji, as the head of a family he could still be considered excellent.

Under his leadership, the Zhao family developed further, and the atmosphere within the clan could be considered harmonious and united.

While thinking this, Mr. Zhao by his side laughed and said, "Not to hide from you, Daoist, this Six Harmonies Mayfly Shield isn't perfect—it has its fair share of flaws.

First off, the control is overly complex, demanding a cultivator's Divine Sense to be both strong and precise, making it best suited for those with a talent for multitasking. Ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators simply cannot manage it.

Moreover, since it's composed of six mid-grade spiritual artifacts, this means six times the spiritual power consumption rate. This fact alone disqualifies cultivators below Mid-stage Foundation Establishment."

Having said this, Zhao Yunxian paused, then tentatively added, "If the Daoist dislikes this Six Harmonies Mayfly Shield, perhaps consider this Nether Bone Heart Shield instead."

"No need! This one will do," Zhao Sheng suddenly gestured with his hand, cutting the other off mid-sentence in a decisive tone.

Zhao Yunxian's heart leapt with joy at those words.

Seeing the tone and demeanor in which Mr. Zhao spoke, it seemed his cultivation level was at least at Mid-stage Foundation Establishment, quite possibly even Foundation Establishment Late Stage.

If that were truly the case, then the Zhao family had truly gained a great ally.

As these thoughts swirled in his mind, Zhao Yunxian's face suddenly changed, and the Six Harmonies Mayfly Shield instantly reassembled into a single black round shield, wobbling as it floated toward Zhao Sheng.

Observing this scene, Zhao Sheng smiled faintly, a surge of Divine Light flashed in his eyes, and his powerful Divine Sense burst forth instantly, enveloping the Six Harmonies Mayfly Shield in the blink of an eye. Find your next adventure on My Virtual Library Empire

With a thought, he effortlessly "seized" ownership of the spirit shield.

Watching the Mayfly Child Shields flutter about like butterflies piercing through flowers and feeling the astonishing Divine Sense in the void, Zhao Yunxian's eyes shone with excitement, his heart throbbing with elation: "Foundation Establishment Late Stage! It really is Foundation Establishment Late Stage! This... this is truly a blessing from the heavens for our clan. Thank you, ancestor Zhao Xuanji!"