Li Youcai had been a wide and heavyset man, resembling a giant mountain of lard. Now, however, he appeared wan and deflated, his complexion a sickly shade of yellow. No longer a hale and hearty fat man, he was an exhausted and weary one.

Onboard his ship were Dusk’s cultivators, including the heads of the aristocratic families that’d attended the Dusk River Sacrament, and genius cultivators who had performed well during the governor reselection tournament. But now they were all here, struggling against the terrible monsters.

They were on the fringe of the ocean, so the monsters here weren’t as threatening as those in the depths, but they were...