"Return us our sacrifice! The sea god is on his way here!" the anxious merpeople shouted.

One of the elders spoke up. "This brat ran off right as the sacrificial rites were about to take place, and we've wasted enough time already. The sea god is almost here, and if there's no sacrifice in sight, none of us will be able to bear the brunt of his anger."

Zhang Lie smirked. "Is that so? I'd like to see this sea god for myself, then."

With a terrible tremor, roiling waves gathered by the sea and were about to smash down onto the village when Zhang Lie strode forward.

"[Fists of the Silent Sea: Quake]!" His fist sent a shockwave of force outward, causing heaven and earth to tremble. The wave fell apart before it could land on shore.

More and more tidal waves appeared over the horizon. Zhang Lie leapt high into the sky. The waves swamped the merpeople, who begged the sea god for mercy even as they were swept into the sea.

The skies filled with dark clouds that came out of nowhere. The sea roared, and waves continued crashing onto the beach, swallowing the village whole.

Nine twisters of water broke the surface of the sea like dragons ascending to the skies, so thick that thirty men hand-in-hand wouldn't be able to encircle them. Zhang Lie flew out to see this so-called sea god for himself.

"[Fists of the Silent Sea: Soar]!" Zhang Lie's technique possessed such strength it made the very air warp. Ripples of energy spread out all around him, tearing the pillars of water apart.

Zhang Lie's gaze landed on the shadow barely visible under the surface of the water. "Found you. [Fists of the Silent Sea: Fade]!"

The image of a serpent appeared behind him. As he punched downward, the serpent splashed into the ocean and caused water to explode all around the point of impact. It tussled with something underwater and finally managed to drag it up toward the surface.

The creature that emerged was pitch-black with an elongated body and nine heads. Out of its coarse black skin grew long feelers, and each of its nine heads was equipped with an unusual and frightening proboscis.

This was a gigantic nine-headed sea cucumber.

"Che! It's still a peak-grade lifeform!"

Even though it was almost at the level of a disaster-grade lifeform, it hadn't quite managed to breach that boundary.

"This can hardly be considered a sea god."

Indeed, it was overwhelmingly difficult to find disaster-grade lifeforms.

The merchild that Zhang Lie still held in his arm looked toward him in shock. Even though she didn't believe that there were gods in the world, the nine-headed sea cucumber looked unimaginably strong—but Zhang Lie didn't seem to pay it any heed.

The surface of the sea began to ripple. Waves, growing magnitude and reaching an impossibly high crescendo, swept toward the beach. A disaster was taking form!

The nine-headed sea cucumber launched another attack. Its body ballooned, and nine pillars of water spouted from its heads. Its body contracted as the pillars twined about each other and focused on Zhang Lie, who was forced to dodge the attack.

The pillars of water brushed the surface of the sea, dividing it in two. When it struck land, a huge spray of water burst into the sky, causing the nearby cliffs to crumble.

The sea cucumber looked monstrous, but it did have monstrous strength as well.

The merpeople swam back to land. They were particularly talented swimmers, and it would be very difficult for them to drown.

They frowned when they saw Zhang Lie.

"How dare you challenge the sea god! Your death is nigh!"

"Could a mortal like you compete against a deity? Everyone, look at this example of what will happen if we invoke our sea god's wrath!"

"No lifeform can defeat the sea god in the ocean!"

They couldn't wait for Zhang Lie to perish. If he hadn't interrupted the ceremony, their village wouldn't have been destroyed by the tidal waves. All they had to do was sacrifice the kid—but Zhang Lie had taken her away! Otherwise, the sea god surely wouldn't have become enraged.

The nine-headed sea cucumber launched another attack. Its body ballooned, and nine pillars of water spouted from its heads. They merged to form a gigantic dragon that looked as though it would swallow Zhang Lie whole.

Rather than dodging, Zhang Lie manifested a pair of blades.

With strokes so swift none of the spectators could catch his movements, Zhang Lie sliced the dragon apart. Scales appeared over his hands and arms, and he transformed into a dragonwolf in the blink of an eye.

The nine-headed sea cucumber manifested even more tidal waves.

"[Blade of the Heavens: the Sea Swells]!" Energy poured out of Zhang Lie in waves, honing the edge of his blade. The pulses of energy struck the realm like a tsunami, devouring everything within and sapping the waves of their energy. 

The attack arced toward the sea cucumber, slicing it apart. However, the sea cucumber boasted particularly strong regeneration. It managed to take Zhang Lie's attack head-on, healing rapidly even as its body became wounded.

"Oh? Take this—[The Boundless Blade: the River Lethe]!" An underworld river hurtled into existence, roaring into the sea. The sword energy roiled like black waves as they tore the sea cucumber apart so wildly that even its regeneration faltered in light of Zhang Lie's attack.

The merpeople gaped as they saw their deity perish at this outsider's hands. That was their sea god—and now it had been killed!

Unexpectedly, Zhang Lie had taken on their god and survived. None of them would have been able to replicate the feat, but Zhang Lie refused to bow down to their constraints. He had taken up his blade against the sea god, and he had succeeded in what they would have claimed to be an impossible task.

"God-killer!" a merman shouted.

"He's a god-killer!" the other merpeople echoed.

The merpeople began to run from Zhang Lie in fear that he would target them.

Indeed, unlike the Baimei, the merpeople behaved rationally and sensibly.

Zhang Lie sighed. "This supposed sea god was far too weak. Where will I find stronger lifeforms to hunt?"