They were met with a small accident when landing on Heaven Heart Island. When the ship reached the shore, it was suddenly struck by a huge wave, causing it to crash into a reef.
Although this collision did not bring the ship any risk of sinking, it did slightly dampen the fiery hearts of Meng Changyou and the others, making them much more placid.
After the ship sailed into the natural harbor, the mortal boatmen immediately lowered the sails and threw down the anchor to stabilize the ship.
Under the reverent gazes of the boatmen, Wang Ping and the seven other cultivators then jumped off the boats one by one.
After the boat reached the shore, Wang Ping and the others pulled the sampon onto the beach. Then, using the "Light Body Technique" together, they rushed into the forest on the island, heading straight toward the center of the island.
The island was large, but there were only a large number of seabirds with their nests here. There were no other land beasts. Wang Ping even saw a few land birds that couldn't fly.
After traveling for about two hours in the forest, Wang Ping and the others finally stopped by a pool in the middle of the island.
The pond that sat in the middle of the island was over three hundred acres in size. The east, south, and west sides of the pond were all relatively flat forests. Only the north side was a mountain ridge of about two to three hundred feet tall.
The cave abode of the senior cultivator that Gu Feng and the others had discovered happened to be located on the peninsula from where the water was flowing into the pool.
"Fellow Daoists, that's the peninsula covered in clouds. That's where the cave abode left behind by a senior cultivator is at. The clouds are formed by the array formation protecting the cave abode, this array formation isn't some powerful lethal array. We can break through it with our combined strength."
"But if we try to break through the formation, we will definitely alert the five Black-Scaled Crocodiles living in this water pool."
"Among these five Black-Scaled Crocodiles, two of them are high-grade tier-1 demon beasts, while the other three have the strength of a mid-grade tier-1 demon beast. Furthermore, as they are amphibious, their combat strength won't weaken even after they go ashore."
"Therefore, if we want to break through the array and explore the cave abode of the senior cultivator, we would have to kill these five Black-Scaled Crocodiles first to prevent any future troubles!"
In the forest, about a thousand feet away from the pond, Meng Changyou pointed at the serene pond in the distance and whispered to Wang Ping, Wang Jun, and Du Ming regarding the situation.
In this team, the three of them were the people who were temporarily invited by the other members of the originally four-people team.
What was interesting was that their cultivations were all lower than the original four.
After hearing Meng Changyou's words, the seemingly simple and honest yellow-clothed youth, Wang Jun, immediately responded respectfully, "Boss Meng, please make the arrangements. We are willing to listen to your plans."
"Yes, we all believe in you, Boss Meng."
Du Ming, who was wearing a green shirt and had a green-black birthmark on his right cheek, quickly agreed as well.
When Wang Ping saw this, he naturally followed suit and expressed his absolute obedience.
"That's good. Since you Fellow Daoists trust me so much, then I will deal with a high-grade tier-1 Black-Scaled Crocodile by myself. Brother Zhou and Brother Zhao will deal with the other high-grade tier-1 Black-Scaled Crocodile. Brother Gu, you will team up with Fellow Daoist Wang Ping to kill a mid-grade tier-1 Black-Scaled Crocodile. Fellow Daoist Wang Jun and Fellow Daoist Du Ming will each hold back a mid-grade tier-1 Black-Scaled Crocodile, and wait for Brother Gu and the others to help do the killing. Finally, we will deal with the remaining two high-grade tier-1 Black Scaled Crocodiles together."
Meng Changyou clearly already had a plan in his heart. When he saw that no one had any objections, he spoke about his arrangements straight away.
His plan was not directed at anyone in particular, instead, it was a reasonable arrangement that was made based on the actual situation. Therefore, no one objected to it.
Everyone then meditated on the spot for another hour. After recovering their Dharma power and their own energy that they had expended during the journey, they circled around the pool, in peak condition, and directly attacked the array formation on the peninsula from the north.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
It was exactly as Meng Changsheng had said earlier. When the cultivators attempted to attack the formation of the senior cultivator's cave abode, the sound of rushing water could be heard from within the water.
Five huge creatures appeared from the blue water surface.
These five were the Black-Scaled Crocodiles Meng Changyou had mentioned. The largest two were about sixty feet long, and their backs were wide enough to fit two people standing side by side. Both their sides, back, and most of their heads were covered in a layer of black scales.
The remaining three appeared to be slightly smaller, but they were still over 50 feet long.
Their black scales gave off a feeling of thickness and toughness, while their black eyes revealed an icy murderous intent, making one feel intimidated just by looking at them.
The five huge creatures emerged from the water and rushed toward the shore with their tails wagging.
Seeing this scene, Wang Ping and the others nervously prepared to unleash their attacks.
Unexpectedly, Meng Changyou spoke up to stop them. "Don't be in a hurry to make a move. We'll split them up according to plan after they get ashore!"
Upon hearing this, Wang Ping and the others hesitated for a moment before obediently dispelling their hand seals.
After less than ten breaths, the five Black-Scaled Crocodiles had already climbed onto the shore. They roared as they pounced at everyone.
"We can attack now!"
Meng Changyou shouted and immediately waved his hand. A silver-black saber weapon, that had been hidden in his leather sheath on his back, unsheathed itself automatically. It transformed into a silver light, slashing at a Black-Scaled Crocodile.
If one were to take a closer look, one would notice that there was an old wound on the back of the Black-Scaled Crocodile's neck. Although the crocodile had fully recovered, one could vaguely see the wound. It was left behind by the intense battle Meng Changyou had with it previously.
Perhaps it was because the memory of the injury was etched too deep, or perhaps it was because not much time had passed.
Either way, when it saw the silver saber beam that injured it before, the Black-Scaled Crocodile was immediately attracted to Meng Changyou. It took the initiative to pounce at Meng Changyou in fury.
The other cultivators who each had their own tasks also took out their Dharma weapons and attacked their own Black-Scaled Crocodiles. After provoking them, they quickly brought their targets away from the other Black-Scaled Crocodiles.
Wang Ping knew that he was playing support this time. Thus, he knew his limits and did not attack any Black-Scaled Crocodile.
After Gu Feng lured a Black-Scaled Crocodile away, he took a detour in a direction that would not attract the Black-Scaled Crocodile's attention.
Gu Feng led the Black Scaled Crocodile to a certain area and stopped there. Wang Ping took the opportunity while Gu Feng and the Black Scaled Crocodile were engaged in a fierce battle, to secretly use the "Illusory Body Technique" to create a huge Water Illusion Avatar that resembled Xiao Feng. Then, he whistled to signal to Gu Feng that he could come over.
The "Illusory Body Technique" was a unique spell recorded in Wang Ping's cultivation technique, the "Cloud Water Technique." It was a water-elemental illusionary technique.
When using this spell, Wang Ping could use water vapor to form a Water Illusion Avatar of anyone or any animal at his will.
This Water Illusion Avatar looked almost identical to an actual person. It also possessed an aura of Dharma power. However, at best, the Water Illusion Avatar's Dharma power aura could only be one minor level higher than Wang Ping's cultivation base. It also did not have any offensive techniques.
Therefore, if he used this spell to fight against cultivators, it would be very difficult for him to hide from the opponent cultivator and it wouldn't be very useful.
However, demon beasts generally had low intelligence, and unlike cultivators, they weren't able to use their divine sense to determine whether the illusion was real or fake.
In an intense battle, it was very difficult for them to distinguish the authenticity of the Water Illusion Avatar in time. Moreover, it was very easy for them to stimulate their combat instincts and use powerful attacks on the Water Illusion Avatar that was close to them.
In the past, Wang Ping had used this spell to trick many demon beasts of their innate spells, creating opportunities for other cultivators to kill those demon beasts.