The Village Chief's expression was grave as he whispered, "Quinn, put away the jade pendant. Don't show it off. Let's first see who these newcomers are."
Quinn Shepherd flipped his hand, and the jade pendant in his palm vanished instantly.
The massive blue-green kun fish radiated a powerful aura, capable of stirring rivers and seas. Under the ghost ship's lantern light, it carried a host of demigods to the edge of the great vessel.
Compared to this Feather-Guard Corps warship, the kun seemed much smaller.
Quinn Shepherd was no stranger to kun; a million years ago, many kun lived in the Celestial River. Those kun were a kind of demigod, able to swim and fly through both water and sky.
Back then, the kun in the Celestial River often earned their keep by ferrying passengers and collecting spirit pills.
The demigods on the kun's back mostly had human bodies, but their faces varied greatly, and some bore multiple heads.
Demigods are descendants of ancient gods, their veins flowing with divine blood. Ever since Hao Heavenly Venerable pioneered the method for demigods to take human form, they too could cultivate the Divine Treasury and Heaven Palace systems.
Yet demigods cannot fully turn into humans, always retaining some physical trait. Only a handful can completely assume human form.
These demigods saw them but didn't pause, continuing straight toward the ghost ship.
"Hook-snakes, stop that ship!" A hunched elderly demigod on the kun's back shouted, leaning on his staff.
"That's the Ancestral Dragon King!" Quinn Shepherd exclaimed in surprise.
The river currents surged around them as huge serpentine bodies appeared—monstrous snakes hundreds of zhang long, their hides armored with bony plates studded with sharp spines, and their tails tipped with scorpion-like barbs.
The hook-snakes lashed their tails, snagging the ghost ship's mast and hull, pulling the vessel to a halt.
Their bodies stretched taut; several hook-snakes were instantly torn apart, blood spilling into the surging river.
The kun swam toward the ghost ship, and the elderly demigod calmly tossed his staff, which transformed into a divine dragon, weaving through the black qi chains and embedding itself into the ship.
Only then did the ghost ship finally stop.
The elderly demigod produced a mirror, which shone brilliantly over the river, hovering above them and illuminating the kun and its riders.
Whenever the ghost ship's black qi chains touched the mirror's light, they recoiled, unable to approach.
The kun reached the ghost ship's deck; suddenly, its body shimmered, transforming into a radiant golden divine bird, then folded its wings and became a bird-headed, human-bodied god.
The other passengers on the kun's back also descended one after another.
The Kun clan has three distinct forms: kun, roc, and bird-headed, human-bodied.
The Village Chief felt a chill in his heart and whispered, "That old man is very powerful—I'm no match for him. The demigods at his side are no weaklings either, and the kun itself is formidable! Mu'er, we'd better fetch the First Ancestor if we want a chance to explore this ghost ship..."
He had just finished speaking when a beam of light suddenly shone down on the river, like a pillar descending from the heavens, as if a moon were falling, bathing the ghost ship in moonlight.
Within the beam, a small boat carried a one-armed man and several one-armed youths, drifting downstream. The boat glided along the pillar of light, plunged into the river, and headed straight for the ghost ship.
The one-armed man sat at the bow, appearing especially sacred under the moonlight.
"Logan Cross!"
Qin Mu’s heart skipped as he looked toward the boat, spotting Zechariah Lee among them—the only one with both arms intact.
Just then, flames roared across the river’s surface. Qin Mu and the Village Chief, watching underwater, saw a blazing fireball rolling along, vaporizing the Celestial River’s waters.
Their underwater view was unclear, but as the fireball drew closer, it suddenly plunged into the water and transformed into a seven-colored phoenix, swimming toward the ghost ship.