Divine Intervention

The ocean is not a silent entity. Its waves could suppress means of basic communication, but it is never silent. This is what Galf had always felt. Although he was covered by the construct of spiritual energy, he didn't filter the water of the ocean. After all, the moment his fish-shaped swimming skill breaks apart, the damage of the ocean filling into an empty space would be quite a dangerous ordeal. Although his mask covered every orifice of his face, he still traveled through the ocean while moving around the pieces of broken furniture without any issues.

'You're being followed by the Chieftain's spirit,' A deep male voice filled Galf's mind as he silently followed the luminous phantom of the giant turtle.

Avoiding the torn settlement of the community turned out to be more annoying than Galf had previously imagined. Without minding the brown-colored sparrow-fish mutant creature, Galf soon found himself away from the area of impact and deeper into the ocean as the Luminous phantom finally turned around. Before it could even charge, the turtle slowed down as its aged eyes watched another glowing fish-shaped existence swimming towards itself.

'Merely a projection, I wonder where the real beast hides,' The same voice commented as Galf slowed down. The Alcohol sparrow only swam round and round energetically while it would leave a thin trail of alcohol from its anal fin.

"Hehe, for hundred years I lived a false life," Galf cackled as his swimming skill dissipated. "Endure I did, living life of else. But, finally, a path to Summoner, a path to truth. Come forth, Satya! Change the path of false to the truth! No longer will I divine the false for the end of life is one of the truths!"

Galf hollered as spiritual energy exuded from his body in visible, concentric rings of white glow as they made the ocean current ripple. Even the Alcohol sparrow was pushed back while a figure appeared behind Galf.

It was a humanoid structure made of light. The glowing silhouette depicted wavy hair that flowed up and a slim figure. The 'face' of the figure turned to Galf as the charismatic voice continued.

"I am grateful for everything you did for me, Galf. For your hardship, I will let you seek one true divination. This will be my parting gift," the figure's voice was laced with sadness.

"Hahahaha! Finally! The truth!" Galf ripped his mask away from his face and instantly, his face was torn off as a bloody mist surrounded Galf's face. Surprisingly, on the other side of the mask, torn flesh could be seen still attached to its surface as the mask slowly descended into the depths of the ocean.

"This is it!"

Feeling a strange sense of danger, the turtle's phantom started to turn more translucent but the figure snapped his fingers and instead of turning translucent, the phantom grew more real until it was composed of flesh and blood.

"A summoner needs another summoner as a sacrifice for truth," the light's voice was cold as the azure-shelled turtle wished to move only to find that it couldn't swim away or charge.

*Aaaaannnnggggg*

The turtle raised his head and let out a strange call. The ocean currents moved against the dangerous tiny figures in front of the turtle but none budged.

Suddenly, within the bloody mist, Galf turned to look at the timid sparrow who couldn't move, too.

"Tell the Chieftain this divination of mine—

Your secrets won't be yours,

Your love shall be forever lost,

A hint of greed, a hint of curiosity;

It takes a single life to change.

What is past shall always pass,

Hold onto this phantom,

Cry if you must, let the tears smear,

But the ghosts of the past,

They no longer fear."

As Galf completed, his entire body was crushed into a meaty patty and the same was true for the Spirit beast of the Projector realm.

"Sigh... from Low-ranked common cultivation technique to Mid-Exotic... no, it should be legendary now. I need to find a new host and adapt to the world's method of cultivation... how many years have passed already?"

The strange spirit did not dissipate with the death of its host, instead, it began swimming deep into the ocean before vanishing without a trace.

The sparrow who had witnessed all this started moving in a strange route until the trail of alcohol leaking from its body turned into words—

I'm not drunk enough for this shit.

---

Looking at the clear path ahead through the broken windows of the office, his trusty poster that had been together with him since his teen now probably in the depths of the ocean, Jolly had a somber expression.

*Tuc*

*Tuc*

*Tuc*

Aside from the steering orb and the inscription map in his office, the place was destitute. Everything had been cleaned yesterday during the accidental drowning of the community ship. But this wasn't something that truly made Jolly feel grim.

*Chirp*

Gentle yet continuous chirps filled his mind as the alcohol sparrow communicated with Jolly, once again reporting its findings as his gaze flickered.

"That old Galf has been on this ship for even before I was born... or so the old chief used to brag. Good riddance... an atrocious chief and an even more despicable prophet with each divination turning out to be incorrect but..." He scratched his grey beard in annoyance, "Did he really... I need to move her again. Close to the engine where nobody can find her..." His gaze flickered.

"But... the fact that a spirit can remain autonomous even after the host's death is an extremely strange matter. Not to mention, the strength and quality of the humanoid spirit must be extraordinary. Just what mystery did Galf unleash upon the ocean?" Jolly mumbled with a thoughtful expression. The ocean is the synonym of mystery for all cultivators. Of course, he didn't feel too strange that such things could occur.

---

"Come on! One pill! Just one!"

"Trilok! Don't be so stingy! I'm sure you have a stock of Oil, right? Just a single vial is all I'm asking... I'm this close to a breakthrough!"

"You should start credit services already! How can we pay for supplements at these moments? Even the emergency tents are barely holding us up!"

"Just one pill! Or my wife will drain me! Hear the plea of a brother... I need to sleep!"

"I will pay you the total amount in three days! Just three days!"

With the years of establishment of the community, it had faced a lot worse than a simple destruction of all the settlements. Naturally, the Ark kept all the community equipped with emergency resources for these extraordinary circumstances.

"If not for money, then think of the Pirates! Although the Ark would send reinforcement and the professionals to rebuild the settlement, we will be encountering pirates in a month... maybe less since we clearly had to speed up during the storm. If something happened to my baby girl..."

Voices of concern, dread, and anger covered the three ordinary tents that could hold fit a 2*3 living room but only one of these three tents was currently occupied.

The entrance was, of course, zipped shut.

Within the tent, five figures sat cross-legged in a circle with distressed and almost listless expressions.

"Tri... how many vials of the Spirit Trace Oil you had in stock?"

"I was at my 13th when the storm hit," Trilok pursed his lips, "And I have the materials enough to raise the number to 57 but..." he seemed hesitant. Less than 15 individuals held spatial storage artifacts and the number was reduced by one when Jolly announced Galf's aka Adalf's death. So, when the storm simply appeared without warning, many found themselves running for the shelter, and even if they were calm enough to quickly grab their savings... what about the rest?

Right now, the ship was in an utter mess. The port was undamaged, but the fishing ships attached to the Community Ships were destroyed. None could leave, or enter the community, not without sufficient strength and a private ship stashed into their spatial rings, at least.

Not to mention, aside from Trilok's current supply of raw materials, he had nothing left. Even his coin would prove useless at the moment for none had anything to sell.

"What about you?" Trilok looked at Noland.

"14 butt pills and 17 spirit enhancement pills. Still, I don't have raw materials to push them through 20 each," Noland's shoulders were slumped.

After focusing on body cultivation, the weakness due to lack of rest in the hours of alchemy had stopped pursuing Noland, and in fact, he looked healthier than ever. However, at this moment, his gaze was slightly dispirited. To the man for whom alchemy meant everything, just a single day without smelling all the medicinal herbs being refined meant torture.

"I want to smoke..." He added, quite enjoying the act in the Carnival Trade Ship.

"Since the storm was unannounced and abrupt, this disaster falls into the category of extraordinary risk..." Trilok opened up, "I say, we take this time to invest in ourselves. We all have earned our fill and this may be a blessing in disguise. The threat of pirates is ambiguous. The Chieftain says that they aren't a threat but his drunken self has lower credibility than even Late Galf..."

Trilok sighed softly, "At least, I'm going to start training more. Practice a few skills. And cultivate harder. But... this opens us to a risk..."

His words made Kol and Noland sigh collectively.

Vayu and Ron looked at each other and seeing the confused look on the other, they smiled bitterly.

"Brother... I don't understand," Ron looked at Noland.

"Me either," Vayu coughed.

"That's because you both are ignorant," Noland scoffed, making Trilok nod.

"Spitting facts," he agreed.

"Consider the situation from the beginning. We were allowed one of the bigger tents. We are allowed better meal supply and Trilok requested a bulk supply which was met instantly. Why?" Noland smiled.

"Er... because he's scary?" Ron eyed Trilok cautiously while Vayu distanced himself from his brother slightly.

"Not as scary as I will be if you don't take this seriously!" Noland slapped Ron's fleshy back with his palm spread wide and the young boy instantly shivered in pain.

"I- I don't know!" he hurriedly replied.

"That's because we both have contributed to the community. Taxes, better products, and a great goodwill amongst suppliers in the port. We attained this at a young age which only makes our situation pop out like a sore thumb. But right now... if we withdraw our products, that would deplete all three of the situation on the ship. Even if it's for a month, the taxes, supply of goods, and our good faith with suppliers will take a huge dent.

Of course, the administration won't truly trouble us for taxes as long as we don't try to overly trick them in accounting books. But...

Withdrawing the pills and oils from the community means dissatisfying the members. In such a stressful time, although others will only insult us behind our backs and revert to their previous state when we start supplying once again... there may be a few who would inflict physical harm on us.

Now, if we consider that there are a few cultivators who will try to cause us loss in health, who's to say they won't target our suppliers out of spite. Once our suppliers are touched, they would in return feel betrayed and may create more trouble for us instead of helping us find the culprit..." Noland sighed.

Ron instantly paled as he thought of being hurt and shivered.

"Come on, this is only the worst-case scenario," Kol smiled, trying to alleviate the tension in the tent, we can have a chat with our suppliers, tell them to look after themselves this month while cultivating ourselves. Those who can hurt us would need to be stronger than us. As long as we focus on strength instead of profit this month, we might not have too many bumps.

Not to mention, the situation will have to settle by tomorrow somewhat. The reinforcement from the Ark is not a simple matter of quantity... they will be strong, dangerous... and likely, ill-tempered. So, as long as we try to keep ourselves on good terms with these experts, we should be fine."

Ron gulped, still nervous.

While Trilok stood while looking at Noland, "Let's just go and buy ourselves some time. If things really go out of control, we will supply the community slightly."

"Fine... oh, I just remembered something. Did you meet Nelly in the safe house?"

Trilok flinched and inquired with a stiff expression.

"Why?"

"Cause... she's targeting us, you know," Noland shrugged, "I mean, she found me in my room while Ron was out shitting. Said that with her addition to the venture, things would change. But... since she's probably on Uncle Roa's side, that means she'll try to lower our benefits."

"She's a bitch, what she is and she'll probably give birth to a dog-human hybrid... or a bitch-human hybrid... depending on the gender of Roa's kid. Trying to ruffle our feathers, tch... we'll deal with one problem at a time..."

Noland's expression brightened.

"What do you think the hybrid would look like? A dog with long hair?" He snickered as he went out alongside Trilok.

As they left, the chatter of the outside filling the interior of the tent even more loudly, Ron looked towards Vayu.

"Can such a hybrid even talk?"

"Probably not... maybe only bark out names..." Vayu mumbled.

"Or, you could stop being distracted and study," Kol slapped the back of both of their heads as the two boys scowled and picked their scrolls they had set aside to study their theory.

"Ah! They're out! Come on! Feed us!" One shameless woman knelt and opened her mouth, making Noland cringe in disgust.

'Woman... you should have shown your ass if you wanted to be fed... don't you know about Noland's pills by now?' Trilok pursed his lips but she wasn't the only one. In fact, such extreme reactions came from those who had lost all their hopes in cultivation but the addition of Trilok's and Noland's products had not only reignited their passion, but also turned them slightly more obsessed.

A person realizes the value of something once it's lost. Those who felt that they had lost their potential... achieving progress in cultivation would clearly affect them harshly.

Glancing at each other, Noland and Trilok stated quite plainly without entertaining the crowd with pleasantries.

"We need a week's time to recuperate from losses ourselves. Wait till then," Trilok stated.

"And those who cannot wait, please, we are just like you, eager to make new products. Go into the ocean, dive deep, and find more raw material. We will gladly fulfill commissions that we can."

They were given a reasonable time period, and even provoked to find raw material themselves in a situation where a few find themselves impatient.

Enduring a few shouts, the two repeated the same sentence in different iterations until the group finally dispersed.

"Fuck... now let's see the situation with the cultivators from the Ark tomorrow..." Trilok sighed.