Chapter 98: Hitching a Ride

Ning Zhuo was very troubled at the moment.

Because he had discovered that beneath his cargo ship, a group of Nether-Tailed Profound Fish of unknown numbers had appeared.

Every merchant who traveled the Ning River knew how troublesome the Nether-Tailed Profound Fish were.

They always acted collectively, and once they set their eyes on prey, they would strike with ruthless ferocity.

They could even rely on their astonishing leaping ability to directly jump onto a cargo ship and launch an attack on the people aboard.

Among the common demonic beasts in the Ning River, the Nether-Tailed Profound Fish were absolutely one of those that river merchants least wished to encounter.

“All personnel, to your positions immediately! Repel the Nether-Tailed Profound Fish!”

Ning Zhuo shouted and rang the alarm bell.

Instantly, all the crew aboard the cargo ship rushed to the deck.

Everyone looked down at the Nether-Tailed Profound Fish beneath the ship and swallowed hard:

“H-how could there be so many Nether-Tailed Profound Fish? Why would they gather under our ship?”

Meanwhile, several Nether-Tailed Profound Fish had already begun leaping, attempting to jump onto the deck.

Ning Zhuo brought Ning Ruirui back into the cabin, then stepped back out:

“Now isn’t the time to worry about why they’re here. The urgent task right now is to drive them away as quickly as possible!”

He grabbed a staff and fiercely struck down a Profound-Rank Nether-Tailed Profound Fish that had jumped aboard, knocking it back into the river.

Indeed, as a river merchant of the Yongzhou Chamber of Commerce, Ning Zhuo himself was a top-grade Profound Rank cultivator, and he wielded a staff with great skill.

With three strikes in five moves, he knocked back every Nether-Tailed Profound Fish that attempted to leap onto the deck.

Seeing that they could not get onto the deck, the Nether-Tailed Profound Fish turned in anger and began ramming the ship’s bottom instead.

If they managed to smash a hole in the hull, this fully loaded cargo ship could very well capsize.

Thus, while Ning Zhuo kept striking the Nether-Tailed Profound Fish with his Coiling Dragon Staff, he shouted loudly:

“Hard to starboard!”

The massive sails unfurled on the mast.

The strong wind that swept across the river filled them, carrying the cargo ship toward the right, where there were fewer Nether-Tailed Profound Fish.

“Whew~”

Carried by the wind, the cargo ship gradually distanced itself from the area of the Nether-Tailed Profound Fish.

Ning Zhuo finally let out a sigh of relief.

“Still… why did these Nether-Tailed Profound Fish suddenly attack us like mad?”

He frowned, puzzled.

To reduce the risk of their cargo ship being attacked by demonic beasts when crossing the river, their ship was equipped with certain magical items at the hull.

These items were of lower grade, made mainly from rotting corpses.

They served no real purpose except to release a foul stench in the water, repelling most demonic beasts—

After all, even demonic beasts did not like the smell of filth.

Yet, despite smelling the stench of the magical items, the Nether-Tailed Profound Fish kept ramming the ship’s hull endlessly, as if they bore some kind of grudge against the cargo ship itself.

“Heh.”

Ning Zhuo chuckled.

Of course, that was impossible.

None of the crew had left the ship, nor would anyone be foolish enough to provoke the demonic beasts lurking beneath.

Thus, he could only classify this sudden assault by the Nether-Tailed Profound Fish as them simply being itchy-finned.

That, after all, suited their temperament well enough.

After giving the crew a few brief instructions, Ning Zhuo returned to the cabin to check on his daughter.

In a shadowed corner, unnoticed by anyone, the little Grass Snake Mo Lin poked its head out:

“I only hid aboard this cargo ship to avoid conflict with the Nether-Tailed Profound Fish.”

“I was thinking, if the people aboard couldn’t withstand the attack, I’d let them draw the fish’s attention while I slipped away and flew off.”

“But unexpectedly, the people on this ship actually had some skill, managing to repel the attack of the Nether-Tailed Profound Fish.”

Mo Lin’s eyes flickered with thoughtful light:

“In that case, perhaps this cargo ship could be useful to me?”

In the Ning River, every demonic beast could only survive by its own ability—fight and win, flee if outmatched, or die if unable to escape.

Unless one hid at the river bottom, there were very few places to take shelter.

Mo Lin was no exception.

Originally, he had thought that if he had to run, he would swim up to the river’s surface and fly away.

That had indeed been his plan when he encountered the school of Nether-Tailed Profound Fish.

But if the crew of this cargo ship possessed sufficient strength, perhaps he could consider a different approach.

He could follow the ship’s movement in the river while hunting, then return to the ship when trouble arose, letting its crew handle the problem—or simply rest on board.

And if the crew could not solve the problem, well, he could always fly away then.

After all, could there really be another creature in the river like him, capable of surviving equally in water, on land, and in the air?

After pondering, Mo Lin deemed the idea highly feasible.

With his Earth-Rank cultivation, if he chose to conceal himself, no one aboard the cargo ship should be able to detect him.

......

“Clang clang clang!”

This was already the fourth time today the ship’s alarm bell had rung.

Counting the three times after yesterday’s encounter with the Nether-Tailed Profound Fish, it had rung a total of seven times.

These seven times weren’t all due to direct attacks like the Nether-Tailed Profound Fish.

Four times, it was because crew members had noticed abnormal turbulence in the river near the cargo ship.

Based on Ning Zhuo’s many years of experience traveling the river, this meant demonic beasts were fighting nearby.

To prevent their struggles from endangering the cargo ship, they rang the alarm bell.

But the bell ringing so frequently left the crew utterly exhausted—sometimes they had barely fallen asleep before being roused again by the sound.

As a result, the crew looked fatigued and listless that day.

Sure enough, this time the alarm rang because on their left side, the waves were surging abnormally.

Moments later, a crimson hue spread across that section of the river.

The crew all understood: this meant the battle between demonic beasts beneath the surface had already reached its conclusion.

“Haah~ so tired~”

A crew member yawned and looked at Ning Zhuo:

“Don’t you think these past two days have been strange?”

Ning Zhuo stared at the rolling crimson waves in silence.

How could he not find it strange?

Ordinarily, encountering demonic beasts on the river was quite normal.

But over these two days, the number of incidents involving demonic beasts near their cargo ship had been far too many.

In the past, when a cargo ship encountered demonic beasts, it was usually the beasts attacking and the crew defending.

But in the past two days, aside from fending off beasts that attacked the ship, they also had to remain vigilant against numerous beasts battling near the ship, leaving the crew weary to the bone.

Why was it their ship in particular?

After all, the cargo ship was sailing downstream.

Normally, it shouldn’t encounter the same type of trouble for two days in a row.

Could it be that something aboard their ship was attracting the demonic beasts in the river?

Ning Zhuo stroked his stubbled chin, his gaze turning thoughtful as he looked toward the interior of the ship.