Zhao Xuan had no intention of making the same mistake twice.
Once bitten by a snake, one fears the rope for ten years.
Less than a day ago—
No, not even a full day had passed—
His carelessness had nearly allowed the Black Shark Pirates' Third Leader to cart away the thirty to forty billion worth of resources he had painstakingly accumulated, little by little.
If not for the Golden Rat—
If not for its extraordinarily keen sense of smell—
By the time Zhao Xuan caught up to the Black Shark Pirates transporting his spiritual herbs and medicines, they might already have reunited with their main fleet.
One didn't even need to think about it.
Between a spatial ruin worth several hundred billion and a ruin that could only produce sixth-tier spiritual herbs—
Which was more valuable?
Even if that ruin produced sixth-tier spiritual herbs capable of accelerating the growth of Armament Haki, its value would still—without question, without exception—be far inferior to Zhao Xuan's Desert Spatial Ruin.
Rather than calling it a ruin—
It was more accurate to call it an independent small world.
Its area was immense.
Immense enough to serve as the headquarters of certain major powers in the Endless Sea.
And—
It was a headquarters that could be moved at any time.
What kind of concept was that?
An explosive one.
In truth, Zhao Xuan had never believed that the Desert Spatial Ruin in his possession was worth only a few hundred billion.
After all—
It was simply too vast.
One had to understand—
In Dragonman form, even when he ran at full speed without stopping for over half an hour, he still couldn't see the edge of that desert world.
What did that mean?
At his current level, under the tenfold attribute boost of Dragonman form, his speed was already approaching the speed of sound.
And what was the speed of sound?
Three hundred and forty meters per second.
From this—
One could easily infer just how enormous the Desert Spatial Ruin truly was.
So—
Once the Black Shark Pirates' leader learned what had happened here—
He would, without a shred of hesitation, abandon his standoff with the White Emperor Pirates and lead his men straight here.
At that point, Zhao Xuan would be in real trouble.
After all—
Whether it was the Black Shark Pirates' leader or their second-in-command, neither of them was weak.
They weren't low-tier seventh-rankers.
Both were solidly mid-to-upper tier among seventh-rank ability users.
One-on-one, Zhao Xuan feared neither of them.
But—
Once they realized that Zhao Xuan possessed a spatial ruin worth several hundred billion—or even over a trillion—
How could they possibly fight him one-on-one?
They would undoubtedly attack together, killing Zhao Xuan immediately to prevent him from escaping.
That was exactly why—
Zhao Xuan's methods were now so ruthless.
Why his strikes were so merciless.
"Huff… huff… huff…"
After taking several rapid breaths, Zhao Xuan spent another one or two minutes using the medicinal effects of nearly ten billion worth of spiritual herbs and medicines he had just consumed to recover his condition.
Once he reached roughly seventy percent recovery, he could no longer sit still.
His figure flashed—
And he plunged straight into the ruin before him, beginning the ruin trial.
First stage!
One sixth-tier Land King–type creature!
To save as much time as possible, Zhao Xuan had no intention of holding back, nor of using the creature to temper his abilities.
He directly entered Dragonman form.
With a thunderous roar, Zhao Xuan charged straight at the sixth-tier Land King creature and smashed a punch into its head.
Pop!
Its head exploded instantly.
The next moment—
A flash of white light.
Zhao Xuan arrived at the second stage.
Same as before!
Before the two sixth-tier Land King creatures in the second stage could even charge, Zhao Xuan rushed toward them.
Boom! Boom!
Two punches—
Both creatures died on the spot.
The entire process took less than a second.
Then came the third stage!
The fourth stage!
The fifth stage!
…
Facing five sixth-tier Land King creatures, Zhao Xuan remained completely fearless.
Five?
Even if there were ten, with his current strength, he would still crush them effortlessly.
After brutally smashing the five Land King creatures of the final stage with five consecutive punches, Zhao Xuan closed his eyes and waited for the ruin baptism to begin.
The next moment—
Woooo—! Woooo—!
A wind suddenly swept through the trial space.
No—
It was more accurate to call it a spiritual wind.
Immediately after—
A massive spiritual energy vortex formed above Zhao Xuan's head.
The vortex spun at high speed, its terrifying suction drawing spiritual energy from all directions.
In the end—
That energy was compressed into a single drop of milky-white spiritual liquid.
Drip.
It fell onto the top of Zhao Xuan's head.
The ruin baptism had arrived.
Zhao Xuan's mental strength and physique began to surge upward rapidly.
At the same time—
Outside the ruin.
Above the deserted island.
The celestial phenomenon caused by the ruin baptism quietly took shape.
In the sky—
In the blink of an eye, a massive spiritual energy vortex appeared.
Several nautical miles away, over the sea—
"T-that… that is!!!"
On a White Emperor Pirates ship, a pirate grunt suddenly screamed in panic.
Instantly—
Swish, swish, swish!
The pirates on the ship all looked up at the sky, seeing the enormous spiritual energy vortex.
"Th-this…"
"That… that guy… that guy actually… actually cleared the ruin trial that fast!"
"The final stage of that ruin had five sixth-tier Land King creatures!"
"Heh, five sixth-tier creatures? What's that supposed to mean? Have you all forgotten? That guy—that brat—he's the one who punched our leader to death!"
At those words—
Almost everyone simultaneously recalled the scene of the Black Shark Pirates' leader and their own leader being beaten to death by Zhao Xuan's fists.
In that instant—
Fear flooded their faces and eyes.
Some of them even began to tremble uncontrollably.
That alone showed just how deep a psychological shadow Zhao Xuan had cast over them.
As usual—
The ruin baptism lasted about one minute.
One minute later—
The baptism ended.
At the instant it finished, Zhao Xuan immediately opened his attribute panel and glanced at it.
"Thirty points each? Not bad!"
His eyes lit up slightly, genuine delight flashing through him.
But—
The joy vanished quickly.
Replaced by dense killing intent.
He efficiently picked up the ruin core on the ground, pouring a massive amount of mental energy into it.
The next second—
The ruin core was successfully bound to him.
After binding the core, Zhao Xuan didn't pause to rest for even a moment.
Without stopping—
With a single thought, he exited the ruin.
Although he really wanted to enter the ruin and thoroughly plunder a batch of sixth-tier spiritual herbs—
He couldn't do that right now.
He had something far more important to handle.
After casually sealing the ruin entrance, Zhao Xuan opened the Desert Ruin entrance and stepped inside.
The moment he entered—
He immediately took out five cactus flowers.
Whoosh!
Almost simultaneously—
The Golden Rat, which had been lying on the ground not far away, belly up, hugging a cactus flower and inhaling deeply, instantly appeared in front of Zhao Xuan.
Its eyes locked onto the five cactus flowers in Zhao Xuan's hand, tail wagging furiously, its face filled with excitement and anticipation.
"A new task."
Before Zhao Xuan could finish speaking, the Golden Rat chirped eagerly:
"Chirp chirp chirp! Leave it to me! I guarantee success!"
"I haven't even said what the task is yet."
Zhao Xuan rolled his eyes at it.
"Chirp chirp! Don't you trust my abilities?"
The Golden Rat puffed out its chest proudly, patting itself.
"This task might be a bit troublesome. But as payment, once it's done, all five cactus flowers are yours. And if everything goes smoothly, I'll throw in one extra."
The moment Zhao Xuan said this—
The Golden Rat's eyes shone even brighter.
"Chirp chirp chirp! Hurry! Human! Tell me the task!"
It urged him eagerly.
"It's your specialty."
Zhao Xuan said, "Help me find some people."
"Chirp! Leave it to me!"
The Golden Rat patted its chest again.
Immediately after—
One man and one rat hurried out of the Desert Ruin.
"Chirp chirp! Which people?"
The Golden Rat asked energetically.
"Everyone who appeared on the island today but isn't on the island now."
Zhao Xuan said, then added sarcastically, worried the task might sound troublesome:
"With your ability, that should be easy, right? After all, you're so impressive."
As expected—
When the Golden Rat heard the task, its enthusiasm deflated slightly.
But—
The moment it heard Zhao Xuan's follow-up—
It puffed out its chest again and chirped loudly:
"Chirp chirp! Of course! With my skills, finding them is a piece of cake!"
Then—
The Golden Rat began sniffing the air.
It took about ten minutes.
The reason it took that long was because it had practically sniffed around the entire island.
Ten minutes later—
The Golden Rat suddenly stopped and turned toward Zhao Xuan.
"Done?" Zhao Xuan's eyes lit up.
"Chirp chirp! Obviously!"
The Golden Rat nodded.
"Then let's go. Closest first, one by one."
After that—
Zhao Xuan took the Golden Rat back to his small boat.
Sails up. Departure.
Before setting off—
To boost the Golden Rat's morale, Zhao Xuan prepaid one cactus flower.
The Golden Rat beamed with joy.
Then—
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The familiar sound of fists striking filled the air once more.
With Zhao Xuan punching again and again, the small sailboat, guided by the Golden Rat, sped toward a certain direction in the Endless Sea.
…
On the sea—
A White Emperor Pirates ship was sailing slowly forward.
"Haa… we're safe now. We've gone this far—we should be safe, right?"
On the deck, a pirate grunt let out a long sigh of relief.
"Of course!"
Another grunt replied.
"That's obvious! We're more than ten nautical miles from that island by now. No matter how strong or monstrous that kid is, how could he possibly find us in the vast sea?"
"True, true…"
"Haa…"
For a moment—
The deck filled with the sounds of relief.
After a while, one pirate sighed.
"What do we do next? The boss is dead. We're all fifth- and sixth-tier mid-level ability users. Without a seventh-tier protector, we can't survive in these waters."
"Let's join the Red Skulls next door. Sure, we won't be as free at first, but at least we'll have a place to belong and can keep living in the Endless Sea."
"No, no, no—maybe not!"
One pirate suddenly shouted excitedly.
"Maybe not? What do you mean?"
Everyone looked at him in confusion.
"I mean—if we go over, the Red Skulls might not look down on us. If we tell them everything about that ruin, the one that produces spiritual herbs that accelerate Armament Haki growth, they'll definitely be tempted. They might even value us!"
At those words—
Everyone's eyes lit up.
"Yes, yes, yes!"
"Exactly!"
"That makes sense!"
"Hahahaha!"
Just as they laughed—
Suddenly—
From the distant sea behind them came a series of rapid booming sounds.
"Did you hear that?"
One pirate asked nervously.
"I heard it—booming sounds. Like someone fighting!"
"The sound's coming from behind us!"
"Behind us? Impossible! We just came from there. We didn't encounter anyone!"
As confusion spread—
A panicked scream suddenly rang out from the stern.
Swish!
Everyone turned to look.
The pirate holding the monocular telescope was deathly pale, his body shaking violently.
It was as if he had seen something utterly horrifying.
"W-what happened?"
Someone asked.
"I-it's… it's… it's that kid! The kid who killed the bosses! He—he—he's catching up!"
The moment those words fell—
The entire ship froze.
Everyone went blank for a split second.
Then—
Thump!
Their hearts slammed violently.
Unbidden, the images replayed—
Zhao Xuan smashing the Black Shark Pirates' leader's head apart with punch after punch.
Their own leader fleeing desperately across the beach, chased mercilessly by Zhao Xuan.
In an instant—
Fear and dread enveloped everyone.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds.
…
After three seconds—
The brief silence shattered.
The deck erupted into chaos.
"H-how is that possible?! That kid—how could he find us?! How could he catch up?!"
The pirate who had confidently claimed Zhao Xuan could never find them screamed hysterically.
"Run! Run! Run!"
"No, no! Maybe he's not after us! Maybe we just got unlucky—yes, unlucky—and ended up on the same route! Quick! Change course!"
The entire ship descended into utter panic.
These White Emperor Pirates, already scared out of their wits by Zhao Xuan, frantically tried to maneuver their medium-sized three-masted ship.
But—
To their despair—
The moment they changed course, Zhao Xuan immediately adjusted his direction as well, charging straight toward them.
Within minutes—
Zhao Xuan reached their ship.
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"
"He's coming straight for us!"
"Fight him! Let's fight!"
The moment Zhao Xuan's feet landed on the deck—
"Kill!!!"
"Kill him!"
Boom!
More than ten White Emperor Pirates charged at Zhao Xuan with killing intent.
"Hmph. A mantis trying to stop a chariot."
Zhao Xuan's face was icy.
Golden light flared across his body.
Facing the encirclement, Zhao Xuan didn't move an inch, directly tanking the attacks with his grandmaster-level Iron Body.
Then—
Boom!
With a single punch, he smashed the head of the peak sixth-tier squad captain leading them.
Blood sprayed everywhere, splattering across many of them.
The remaining pirates instantly lost all will to fight.
"S-surrender! We surrender!"
"We submit!"
"Don't kill me! I have two young children to raise!"
"Sir, we're both from Kyushu! Please, for the sake of our shared origin, spare my life!"
One after another—
They dropped to their knees, begging loudly.
If they had encountered a saintly protagonist from some novel—
They might have lived.
But—
Unfortunately—
Zhao Xuan was no saint.
"If you chose to become pirates, then you should have already been prepared to be killed."
As his words fell—
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Ignoring their pleas, Zhao Xuan showed not the slightest mercy.
Punch after punch fell.
Before long—
Everyone on the ship was beaten to death.
Not a single one was spared.
--------------------------------------------------
Read Chapters ahead: [email protected] / KaiOynx