"W… What did you say?!"
"The mission is to catch a young Skylark Shark and Elder Shui gave us the coordinates of where a young Skylark shark was last spotted." Jin Tao responded.
The sound of thunder and heavy rain along with screams and battles swarmed Xu Kai's consciousness causing his expression to distort.
However his rising panic was quickly subdued by something else — experience. The experience he had fighting that adult Skylark Shark a hundred times subdued his fear.
'It's a young shark. There's a chance of survival.'
They all boarded the boat, held long wooden spears and sailed into the calm sea.
****
Time tricked by and the sun rose to its peak causing the six youths seated in a boat to sweat.
Xu Kai saw nothing but seawater stretching to the horizon all around him yet he kept paddling with both hands while others were exhausted.
"Hey beggar, don't force yourself. We're not going to win." Jin Tao sighed heavily.
"What? Why give up without trying?!" Xu Kai bellowed.
"Don't yell at us! Know your place, beggar!" Another sneered.
"Look, we don't even know how to attract the sea beast and even if we do we can't kill it!" Jin Tao expressed their setbacks with a downcast expression.
He could only blame his fate as someone who awakened a mortal grade talent.
"I can attract the beast." Xu Kai suddenly said, causing all of them to turn toward him.
Tightening his grasp around the spear's shaft, he brought the tip close to his palm and sliced his flesh, revealing a crimson liquid.
Before others could react, he dipped his hand into the water. "Since a young Skylark shark has been spotted in this area, it will surely perceive my blood but in case we attract a more deadly beast, get ready to move this boat."
"You…! Get your hand out of that water!" A youth screamed out of fright.
Smiling, Xu Kai fell into the water and vanished from sight but they could see crimson tainting the sky-blue water.
"He's going to kill us! Let's go!"
"Are you alright? We came here to participate and at least gain experience!" Jin Tao retorted, his confidence rose as a result of Xu Kai's actions.
"That's Rubbish!" Another countered Jin Tao.
While they argued, Xu Kai emerged from the water, grabbed the edge of the boat and jumped in.
"Shut up and ready your spears. The Skylark is coming," his calm tone filled with authority silenced the group.
Every group was expected to hunt one young Skylark Shark which meant only one in each group would be accepted and made to compete for the three jade tags.
However, there were cases when some groups couldn't catch a beast and there were cases where some groups had no leader who would take the tag.
The gray group was moving in the direction of the latter.
"T… the Skylark is what?!" At that moment, a dorsal fin emerged from the water causing two of them to fall on their knees panting heavily.
Xu Kai's eyes widened. "Useless! You aspire to be martial arts practitioners, killing demons and protecting your loved ones but you can't even raise a spear against a ferocious beast!"
"They're called ferocious for a reason!"
Xu Kai's eyes twitched.
"Don't worry, I'll help." Jin Tao said, tightening his grip around his spear and aiming at the shark.
"You two, move the boat back!" When the boat still remained in place, Xu Kai turned his head. The remaining two who he had hope in stood in a frozen state, their eyes trembling as they gazed at the sea beast's renowned fin.
"Xu Kai, it has disappeared!" Jin Tao's alarming words made him turn back. His eyes slowly narrowed.
"Get out of your stunned state and move this boat or we might not survive!"
Boom—!
The 10 feet long sea beast hit the boat flipping it upside down. Instantly, from breathing air, Xu Kai found himself in the sea floating downward.
Quickly locating his group members, he spun and saw the teeth of the Skylark Shark about to snap off his head.
With a light gasp, his experience launched into action. He hit its nose, borrowing the force to leap above it.
Before he could hold the dorsal fin, his hand missed by a narrow margin and the tail slammed his abdomen launching him into the distance.
"...!" Jin Tao's eyes widened. Clenching his fist, he raised his spear and stabbed the beast only for his spear to be repelled by its thick skin.
As he battled the beast, others were struggling to flip the boat over. After a short while, they flipped the boat and scrambled in.
"W… where's Jin Tao."
Like the owner of the voice summoned Jin Tao, the youth emerged from the water riddled with deep wounds.
Behind him was the shark swimming behind. They could see it toyed with him.
"Go! Forget him, let's go!" A youth in the boat screamed.
A large amount of water splashed as Xu Kai shot out of the water, piercing his spear into the Shark's right eye!
He tried piercing deeper but it flung him away. It sank into the sea, disappearing from their sight.
Xu Kai who brought Jin Tao into the boat suddenly experienced a quick flash of the battles he had been through. Although this shark was at the Marrow Unleashing Realm's initial stage, it's strength was five folds stronger than his!
'I don't have a good feeling—!'
"Jin Tao is bleeding, we should throw him into the water or we'll all die!" A youth screamed.
Xu Kai turned toward him. "You'll die? Isn't there a team to save those who failed?" He trusted the lineage families won't risk the lives of their children but the look of despair on their faces made him gasp.
'We were made to sign contracts. Those who survive will be given herbs that will surely make us break into the Marrow Cleansing Realm. This info is restricted to us alone, I can't tell you,' Jin Tao sighed internally.
Proving its name as a killer stealthy beast, the Skylark shark suddenly split the boat into two parts and instantly chomped on the youth, insisting that Jin Tao should be thrown into the sea.
Seeing trials of blood flying mid air, Xu Kai's heart pounded. Another scream rang as another youth was attacked leaving only four of them.
Four of them were on some floating parts of the boat, however they all knew the shark would get to them.
"We're doomed." Jin Tao sighed, gazing at the beautiful sky.
"No, we're not." Xu Kai picked up a spear and dashed forward.
He fell into the water, heading for the shark which was busy dealing with its two prey. Sensing him, it turned and sped toward him, opening its mouth, highlighting a set of knife shaped teeth.
Forcing himself out of its way, Xu Kai held his spear which was still lodged into its eye, spun his body and lifted the other spear.
His muscles contracted as he drove it downward!
As the light in the beast's eyes dimmed, he also sank along into the dark blue depths. His eyes remained open as he gazed at the bottom of the boat parts. That action drained his last strength.
Shockingly, a blue glowing astral projection of the Skylark Shark separated from the body and shot into his glabella!