Fast—fast to the absolute extreme!
Mad Treasure's pupils shrank violently as the shadow of death swallowed him whole. There was nowhere to dodge, nowhere to run. With only raw survival instinct left, he went completely berserk, frantically weaving chain after chain, layer after layer, into a dense mesh wall in front of himself—making one last, desperate struggle.
"Pshk—!"
But it was all pointless. The dark iron greatspear, wrapped in baleful qi and the power of vengeful souls, tore through every chain defense like a hot knife through butter, then slammed in—clean, ruthless, and decisive—straight through Mad Treasure's chest!
The enormous impact blasted his body backward. With a heavy thud, he was nailed hard into the shattered cabin wall behind him!
Mad Treasure's body jerked. The light in his eyes dimmed at once, and his head drooped limply.
A local tyrant, a treasure hunter with a 60,000,000 Beli bounty—Mad Treasure—dead!
The instant Mad Treasure died, a soul far denser than an ordinary man's—packed with brutality, greed, and unwillingness—was forcibly ripped from his corpse. It let out a soundless shriek, turned into a streak of light, and was sucked into the very dark iron greatspear that had pinned him.
The spear shaft trembled faintly. A banner-like form flickered in and out, as if it had just enjoyed a hearty meal.
With the captain slain and the officers wiped out, the remaining Pirates completely lost the will to resist. Wailing and howling, they sprinted madly for the railing, desperate to jump into the sea and escape.
Tabito's face stayed flat. A thought moved.
The dark iron greatspear flashed with black light, reverting to the Human Emperor Banner's true form as it flew back into his hand. Holding the pole, he gave it a light wave.
"Souls… return."
An invisible suction spread outward from him.
Those Pirates who had just leapt overboard—and even those still running across the deck—suddenly froze mid-step. Then, one after another, blurred, terrified soul-shadows were forcibly yanked out of their bodies, wailing and struggling as they were drawn—like a hundred rivers returning to the sea—straight into the dark red banner.
Over a hundred members of the Treasure Pirates, along with their captain's soul, all became nourishment for the Human Emperor Banner. The blood-red color on the banner seemed to deepen by a shade, and the black currents curling around it thickened slightly.
Tabito could feel it clearly: the baleful qi and resentment stored within the Human Emperor Banner swelled to fullness in an instant. He nodded with satisfaction, then waved the banner again.
In the next moment, more than a dozen figures stepped out—stiff movements, hollow eyes, skin with a dead-ash sheen—humanoid corpse puppets.
Silently accepting Tabito's orders, they began methodically looting the entire ship.
These corpse puppets were monstrously strong and never tired. They hauled box after box of gold and jewels out of the treasure hold, carefully pried out priceless gemstones embedded in the hull, and a few even jumped straight into the sea to fish up valuables the Pirates had tossed away or dropped in their panic.
In less than half a day, the deck before Tabito had become a glittering little hill—coins, gems, goldware, jewelry—piled into a shining mound. In the sunset's afterglow, it refracted a dizzying, intoxicating light.
Yet as he looked at this "hill" worth a fortune, Tabito's brow creased slightly.
'Plenty of stuff… but damn. No storage artifact.'
He found himself missing the mustard-seed ring he used to carry in his previous life. With this much loot, how was he supposed to take it all with him?
After thinking for a bit, he chose the simplest, plainest method.
He ordered the corpse puppets to bring the sturdiest sailcloth aboard and pack the treasure into two enormous bundles. Then he personally severed Mad Treasure's head, treated it roughly with lime, and wrapped it separately.
Anyway, the one doing the heavy lifting was the tiger corpse puppet. With its terrifying strength, carrying all this while walking across the sea was no burden at all.
'Just not sure how much all this will sell for.'
Tabito stared at the two huge bundles strapped to the tiger's back and the separately wrapped head, muttering under his breath.
"Based on a preliminary estimate, the valuables on Mad Treasure's ship are worth about 940,000,000 Beli. If you add his 60,000,000 Beli head, the total value is already over 1,000,000,000 Beli."
A crisp female voice, with a trace of deliberate ingratiation, sounded from behind him and cut off his thoughts.
Tabito turned.
The two girls who had come out of the engine room—who had been hiding at a distance and watching carefully the whole time—were now standing not far behind him.
The one speaking was the tall, purple-haired girl. She wore a perfectly measured smile—enough to show respect, without losing sweetness.
Beside her, the orange-haired girl still had a bit of wariness and unease in her eyes. But her lively gaze—and the strikingly bold curves that couldn't be concealed even under tattered work clothes—were just as eye-catching.
Looking at these two stunning girls, each with her own allure, a thought popped up in Tabito's mind out of nowhere:
'Actually… in my previous life, I did know a thing or two about dual cultivation.'
It wasn't that he was thinking with his lower half. As a transmigrator—and someone who had clawed his way through three hundred years in the cultivation world—Tabito had seen everything there was to see.
The path of cultivation was evolution of life itself. Unless a technique was special, cultivators became more and more "perfect" in looks and bearing as their cultivation rose. In his previous life, those so-called righteous fairy maidens and demonic enchantresses—who wasn't drop-dead gorgeous?
He had even had fleeting entanglements with some of them—each taking what they needed. Afterward, they forgot each other and walked away.
In his view, those "pure and spotless" fairy maidens were often the most disgusting behind the scenes. For the sake of resources and the Great Dao, plenty of them secretly used the men under their skirts to carry out slaughter and plunder.
Compared to them, these two girls were immature—but far more real. And their potential was enormous. Given time, they would become beauties capable of toppling nations.
"Give me your names."
Tabito steadied his mind. His gaze was calm as it fell on them, and he spoke directly—his tone carrying an indifferent chill that allowed no refusal.
"My name is Carina, and this is my good friend Nami."
Carina spoke first, cutting in before Nami could. She stacked on a sweet smile.
"We were unlucky adventurers captured by Mad Treasure. Thank you for saving our lives, Tabito-sama!"
She deliberately blurred the fact that she was a thief, wrapping herself up as a harmless victim in distress.
Nami?
Short orange hair, a pretty face, and a chest far beyond what her age should allow…
In Tabito's mind, that name instantly clicked into place with a key figure from his memory fragments—a genius navigator with absurd talent, someone who could even predict the weather.
He'd been worrying about finding a navigator.
This was truly searching high and low only to have it delivered into his hands.
The corner of Tabito's mouth lifted by an almost imperceptible arc.
As for whether she would refuse?
Heh. When Tabito did things, why would he ever care about someone else's wishes?
Besides… he was the kind of demonic cultivator who would stop at nothing to grow stronger.
His gaze lingered on Nami for a moment—an appraisal, as if he were looking at a tool that was destined to belong to him, and would be extremely useful.
(End of Chapter)
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