Ryan Ling blinked, stunned, as two little underworld clerks suddenly appeared on the deck—carrying a wooden chest between them.
The System Ghost had told him before: by conquering Wuzhou and winning the martial heart for all of Harbor City, he’d made Hell very happy, so they were going to promote him. Ryan hadn’t thought much of it at the time, but now, here it was—his Seventh-Grade Spirit Officer Uniform, delivered right to him. That meant he’d just leapfrogged two ranks, making him a full-on county magistrate in the Netherworld.
Seeing the Seventh-Grade Spirit Officer Uniform up close, Ryan could only think: this thing was next-level gorgeous. Compared to his old Ninth-Grade gear, it was on a whole different tier. The robe shimmered with all sorts of colors—totally wild—and you could feel the official might packed inside.
But nobody else could see any of this—only Ryan could sense it.
"Sir, let’s get you suited up!" The two little clerks eagerly pulled out the uniform, hat, and boots and started dressing Ryan, all while chattering their report into his ear.
"Sir, since this is a special promotion, we can’t give you all the perks at once. For now, here’s your uniform. We’ll also be assigning you some ghost soldiers and ghost generals, but the Netherworld’s Ghost Department is still sorting that out, so please be patient!"
"Thanks, really appreciate it!" Ryan nodded quickly. Never mind the other perks—just the Seventh-Grade Spirit Officer’s aura alone was enough to overawe all the sea corpses.
"Sir, you’re too polite! Wishing you a stellar career in the ghost world—if there’s nothing else, we’ll take our leave!" The clerks bowed, and in a flash, they were gone.
Ryan’s mind snapped into focus—every trace of shock from earlier was gone. Right now, Jason Lin and Warren Yuan were clearly starting to falter, and the whole ship was cracking. The sea corpses’ main goal was obviously to flip the boat; if everyone fell in, even grandmasters probably wouldn’t last more than a few minutes.
At this point, half the Chen and Zheng entourages in the cabin had already fainted from terror. Anqi Chen was clutching a pillar, crying her eyes out, face totally drained of color.
Meanwhile, on the distant reef, the Japanese swordsmen were grinning smugly, some already prepping their boats to go collect bodies. Gabriel Xue and his people, sweating bullets, couldn’t do a thing to help—they could only watch as Ryan Ling and the others looked about to be devoured by a swarm of corpses.
But just then, Ryan Ling suddenly shot into the air again, his qi surging wildly, whipping his clothes in the wind.
“Kid, trying the same old trick? That move worked on living things, but you think it’ll scare corpses?” Shigeru Fujita sneered coldly, clearly thinking Ryan was wasting his energy.
Shigeru Fujita finished his taunt, but Ryan Ling didn’t play by his script. He just shouted into the air: “You dead things, you’d better look close at who I am. Back off, all of you, or I’ll toss you straight into Hell’s Oil Cauldron!”
Everyone froze. Even the Japanese swordsmen were stunned—then burst out laughing.
“Did the kid get scared stupid? Who does he think he is—gonna scare away a bunch of corpses?”
“What a joke. He really thinks he’s some emperor—open his ‘golden mouth’ and the corpses will bow down? This martial arts champ must’ve fried his brain.”
“Fried his brain? More like filled it with crap! Enough talk—let’s get the ritual going and have the corpses rip this kid apart!”
...
As the Japanese swordsmen finished mocking, they moved to act. On the other side, Gabriel Xue was sweating even harder, never expecting Ryan Ling to suddenly shout like that. No matter how loud you yell, corpses can’t understand human speech—Gabriel figured Ryan was strong, but at this point, he seemed out of tricks.
But just as everyone was either gloating or worrying, the corpses that had climbed onto the ship suddenly froze. Their hollow eyes locked onto Ryan Ling, filled with shock, like they were witnessing something utterly impossible.
“What’s going on? What are you idiots doing—Corpse-Driving Ghost-Binding Onmyō Arts aren’t toys! Hurry up and take him down!” Shigeru Fujita barked, furious at the sight.
The Japanese swordsmen were stunned too, stammering, “We—we didn’t do anything! It’s like the onmyō arts just stopped working!”
“Impossible! This is an advanced onmyō technique—it doesn’t just fail for no reason. Let me try!” Shigeru Fujita, not one to lose face, quickly formed seals and cast his spell. To his shock, the corpses refused to budge.
“I’ll say it one more time—get lost, or I’ll send every last one of you to Hell!” Ryan Ling shouted from midair, his voice booming like thunder in the ears of every corpse. In a split second, the entire horde panicked and retreated, scared out of their minds.
On the reef, several Japanese swordsmen—including Shigeru Fujita—looked like they’d been hit by a sledgehammer. They coughed up blood and stared at Ryan Ling in utter terror.
“He—he shattered the Corpse-Driving Ghost-Binding Onmyō Arts with just a shout? What the hell is this kid?” Shigeru Fujita clutched his chest, blood pouring out.
“Captain Fujita, we—we need to get out of here! The corpses are attacking us now!” another Japanese swordsman yelled.
“This can’t be happening! He’s way too strong now—go notify my big brother, Tsuyoshi Fujita. He has to step in! Go, now!” Shigeru Fujita barked, then glanced at the three mysterious men.
“Relax. If he sets foot on the island, we’ll go all out. Plus, we’ve got other experts lying in wait—he steps onto Shark-Hook Island, we’ll ambush him from all sides. No matter what tricks he’s got, we’ll cut him down right there!” one of the mysterious men promised, voice full of menace.
“Good, we’ll work together and take him by surprise!” Shigeru Fujita nodded, then stared off at Ryan Ling in the distance, secretly thinking, "Kid, don’t get cocky. If you dare set foot on Shark-Hook Island, that’ll be your grave."
With that, Shigeru Fujita and his men immediately withdrew from the reef.
A few minutes later.
“Commander, the Ghost Kelp just pulled back—we’re safe now, and so are Ryan Ling and his crew. You really have an eye for talent. If I hadn’t seen it myself, I’d never believe this kid was so powerful!” Gabriel Xue’s adjutant wiped sweat from his brow, still in disbelief.
“A real powerhouse. With Ryan Ling here today, those Japanese maniacs on Shark-Hook Island are finished. After all this humiliation, today’s the day we finally get revenge!” Gabriel Xue was fired up, watching the corpses scatter. The Japanese Water-Breaker swordsmen were notorious for their weird tricks, but in front of Ryan, none of it worked.
“Damn right—revenge! Today we’re gonna wipe out every last one of those Japanese bastards!” the adjutants chimed in.
“Alright, listen up—if Ryan Ling pulls this off, you all get ready to disguise yourselves and go ashore. My rule is simple: leave no one alive. Not even a Japanese dog!” Gabriel Xue finished, and everyone echoed their agreement.
...
With the corpses gone, the ship pressed on. Ryan Ling straightened his new uniform—the Seventh-Grade Spirit Officer robe really worked. The deterrent power and authority were leagues above Ninth-Grade. And he could tell this uniform had more tricks up its sleeve he’d have to figure out later.
After half an hour of calm, everyone had started to relax—except Anqi Chen and Zheng Huai'an, who refused to leave the cabin. Jason Lin and Harvey Jin headed up to the cockpit, while the captain was still shaken. Without their help, this ship was never making it to Shark-Hook Island.
“Look, up ahead—that’s Saint Trace Island! Finally, we can catch our breath!” a crew member shouted, pointing at an island split neatly in two.
Seeing the island appear, the captain visibly relaxed, his face softening.
“What’s the deal with Saint Trace Island?” Ryan Ling was a bit surprised. But as soon as he set foot here, his fatigue vanished. He’d burned through his true yuan fighting those blood sharks, but now, without even meditating, his energy was slowly recovering.
Warren Yuan, Ryan Ling, and the others were just as surprised—their bodies felt exactly the same.
The captain lit a cigarette and headed down to the deck. “Master Ryan, everyone—since you’ve come to the East Sea, haven’t you heard the legend of the ‘Hell-Blade Demon’ Guihai One-Blade?”