The Blackfin Island—a small island that had a sharp fin of fish if one spotted this island from the sky, the land mostly covered by lush green forest, with an active volcanic mountain at its sea side and a radius of only 150 kilometers—was incredibly tiny compared to the vast scale of other islands in the Southern Sea.
Hidden deep within a vast sea of the Southern Sea, surrounded by dangerous reefs, the spirit storm, and the illusionary curtain formation that disorients intruders.
Only those with a special mark of the pirate alliance can enter safely.
This island is the base of the Pirate King and his crew, the Black Shark Pirate Group.
It is also the lair of all pirates active around the Southern Sea. They come to this place once a year to tribute their loot to the Black Shark Pirates in exchange for protection against pursuit by the kingdom.
The Black Shark Pirate Group, the owner of Blackfin Island, is a pirate group led by the Pirate King and consists of a thousand members.
They are all cultivators.
The weakest among them is at the Spiritual Foundation Realm. Picture a group of thousands of cultivators, where even the weakest one possesses the strength to destroy a mortal city—this makes this pirate group the most dangerous in the Southern Sea.
They have already stood as the rulers of the Southern Sea for a thousand years, ever since their captain, the Pirate King Black Shark, entered the Spirit Integration Realm.
With his strength, even the Xi dynasty, which used to rule the kingdom, had to compromise and allow them to roam freely within the Southern Sea, so long as they didn't provoke the dynasty.
Presently, there are no other pirate groups on the island, as the Black Annual Tribute—the event that happens once a year when all the pirates must gather to hand over their loot to the Pirate King—had just ended.
All the other pirates have already left the island, returning to their territories to continue robbing those crossing the sea, leaving only the Black Shark Pirate Group, who are now counting the tribute they received this year.
The thousands of Black Shark Pirates gathered at the center of Blackfin Island, forming a circle around the pile of treasure, their eyes filled with greed.
The Pirate King, Black Shark, appeared like a muscular middle-aged man, even though he was already 6,000 years old.
He had small black eyes, a long beard, and long black hair. His entire body gave off the scent of filth, like someone who hadn't bathed for a year.
Despite being a cultivator who could clean himself with qi at any time, he chose to remain filthy for some reason.
Sitting on a throne made entirely of gold, he looked at the pile of treasure with a wicked smile.
The vice captain of the Black Shark Pirates, standing beside the Pirate King, was reporting the count of their gains for the year tribute to the Pirate King.
"…There are 5,000 both men and women mortal slaves on the ship. Lastly, the spirit stones—we have 100 million low-grade spirit stones, 500,000 middle-grade spirit stones, and 1,500 high-grade spirit stones. The yield this year is 300% higher than last year," the vice captain finished his report.
The Pirate King, Black Shark, hearing that this year's loot far exceeded expectations, burst into laughter, clearly in a good mood—until he remembered someone had lied to him.
"HAHAHA! 300%!" He laughed.
"…Didn't you say the loot would decrease because the Xi Dynasty failed? It seems… You were wrong…" Black Shark said coldly to the young pirate standing beside the Vice Captain, he was a predictor.
The young pirate turned pale and quickly pleaded, "Lord Black Shark, please! The Endless Wealth Company is a new variable—they couldn't be predicted yet! Please give me another chance!"
"You're just unlucky, then," Black Shark said, his wicked smile widening as he raised his hand toward the young pirate.
"NO!" the young pirate screamed as he felt his soul being pulled out of his body.
SPLRRRCH!
The young pirate's body burst into a million pieces under the spiritual pressure induced by Black Shark; the iron scent of blood spread everywhere, but no one here seemed disgusted since they were already used to it.
The young pirate's soul floated from the unrecognizable corpse and was sucked into Black Shark's mouth. He licked his lips, savoring the taste of something delicious.
Black Shark pointed his finger randomly at one of the newly recruited pirates.
"You! Now take his position!" Black Shark shouted.
The fat pirate who was pointed at swallowed his saliva in fear; he didn't dare to refuse. He thought to himself how unlucky he was.
The position of the predictor was meaningless—only a role for Black Shark to kill whenever they were wrong and consume their souls.
He began to think about fleeing from this group, going far away where Black Shark would not find him.
"Thank you for your generosity, Lord Black Shark!" the fat pirate said.
Seeing the fat pirate nod repeatedly in obedience, Black Shark was satisfied. The counting was done; now it was time to celebrate!
"Since this year is so fruitful, I will reward you all! Bring the wine! Bring the women! We will enjoy our immortal life! HAHAHA!" Black Shark declared.
The crew cheered as the sinful party was about to begin. Some brought out the wine, while others headed to the tribute ship to bring women to entertain them.
…
However, before the sinful party could begin, a new presence, a mysterious figure, appeared out of nowhere near the pile of tribute treasure.
The Pirate King, Black Shark, was the first to notice this.
"You dare!!!" he roared and rushed toward the mysterious figure, who was about to steal his wealth.
But it was too late. The mysterious figure waved his hand, and the entire pile of tribute treasure disappeared, stolen into a space storage.
Black Shark, seeing what just happened, his fury rose.
He aimed his fist at the figure's chest, intent on killing the thief who dared to steal from him—the Pirate King!
Before the Pirate King's fist could reach the man's head, numerous wooden roots appeared midair and wrapped around his arms, stopping his fist. He was shocked.
Then, the mysterious figure hovered closer to the Pirate King, and both of them disappeared into the purple vortex.
All of this happened in less than 1 second.
The Vice Captain was shocked by what had just happened—the tribute treasure was gone, his captain Black Shark, had disappeared.
And the next moment, he spotted an unfamiliar young man appear where the tribute treasure used to be. He assumed this person must be involved!
Sensing that the other side was just a First Gate True Body Realm, he shouted.
"Catch him! Don't let him escape!" the Vice Captain shouted.
The other pirates had just realized the sudden event that had taken place—their captain had disappeared to somewhere unknown.
Hearing the Vice Captain's order, they immediately sprang into action and rushed toward the unfamiliar figure!
SHING!!!!!
The dozen Black Shark Pirates closest to the unfamiliar figure were cut in half in an instant, their bodies dropping lifelessly to the ground.
"He's a True Body Realm expert! Spiritual Foundation Realm—fall back!" someone among the pirates shouted, sensing the unfamiliar figure's cultivation realm and trying to warn the others.
Hundreds of True Body Realm pirates swarmed the unfamiliar figure, intending to overwhelm him with numbers, but it did not appear to be fruitful—one after another dropped dead.
In the blink of an eye, dozens more of the Black Shark Pirates fell under the wooden sword of the unfamiliar figure.
The Vice Captain's eyes narrowed.
At first, he did not intend to join, but the sword intent he sensed from the unfamiliar figure's sword was more profound than he expected.
If he let others do the work, many of his crew would surely die.
He decided to act!
The Vice Captain, with a saber appearing in his hand, rushed toward the unfamiliar figure, aiming to cut off his limbs with the intent of capturing him alive!
The saber and the wooden sword clashed.
CLANG!!!
The Vice Captain's eyes were wide; he could not believe that his saber had been stopped by someone who was still at the First Gate!
He changed his plan—capturing an enemy of this level of strength was not practical.
Killing intent appeared within his eye; he now intended to kill the unfamiliar figure!
He continues the attack!
His saber danced like a raging storm toward the unfamiliar figure!
The saber swept.
Dodge.
The saber slashed vertically.
Redirect.
The saber thrust.
Close in.
The unfamiliar figure's sword moved swiftly, passing through the Vice Captain's saber and nearly cutting his neck, but the Vice Captain dodged in time and reappeared far away from the unfamiliar figure.
The other pirates were stunned when they saw a shallow cut appear on the Vice Captain's neck.
They stopped in their tracks, not wanting to be the next ones cut in half, as they realized how dangerous the unfamiliar figure was.
The Vice Captain wiped the blood from his neck and said coldly to the unfamiliar figure, "Who are you…"