A Farmer's Journey To Immortality

Chapter 641: Kalingoot’s Full-scale Attack on Emerald Cove

The sea was calm under the full moon, its surface glowing like a sheet of silver.

A medium-sized ship floated quietly in the open waters, not too far from Emerald Cove Island. The night air was cool, with only the soft sound of waves brushing against the wooden hull.

On the deck stood a bald man with his hands behind his back. His expression was stern, his eyes steady and sharp. A faint sword aura wrapped around him like a warning, making the air feel heavier near him. He was a late-stage Foundation Establishment Expert, and his presence alone kept everyone on edge.

Behind him, on both sides of the deck, warriors of Kalingoot stood in two neat lines. Each man stood straight, not daring to move, their eyes focused on the sea ahead. Their armor glinted faintly under the moonlight

The bald man—Expert Heebyuk—narrowed his eyes suddenly. His senses picked up a disturbance in the air.

A moment later, a sharp whistle cut through the silence.

Something was approaching fast.

A streak of light tore through the night sky, coming closer with great speed. Its form became clear as it descended—a young man riding on a flying saber. His robes fluttered wildly in the wind as he guided the saber down with shaky control. It was clear he was new to the Foundation Establishment realm.

On his shoulder hung a middle-aged man whose hands were bound tightly by glowing runes. More runes sealed his mouth, silencing him completely. His eyes were full of fear, but he couldn’t speak or move much.

The flying saber tilted, and the young cultivator leapt off, landing on the deck with a short skid. He shook his arm and tossed the middle-aged prisoner toward the corner of the ship like a sack of grain. The man hit the wooden floor with a dull thud.

Landing in front of Heebyuk, the young cultivator bowed deeply.

“Expert Heebyuk,” he said, catching his breath, “after conducting five probing attacks on Emerald Cove and two successful infiltration attempts, I’ve confirmed some of the guesses we made earlier.”

Heebyuk’s gaze locked onto him. The sword aura around him grew a little sharper.

“Good work,” Heebyuk said in a firm voice. “Now tell me what you’ve found so far.”

Renyen took a breath and spoke.

“Firstly,” he said, keeping his voice steady, “Expert Nuya, the co-owner of Emerald Cove along with that scared-cat Aksai, is not on the island. Rumours say she has ties to one of the three major demonic sects and that she went to meet a relative there. Others say she went out to explore some unknown region. Either way, she is gone from Emerald Cove.”

Heebyuk’s brows twitched a little, but he did not interrupt.

Renyen continued, “This is good for the Kalingoot. Without her on the island, we don’t have to worry about offending whatever force stands behind her. From what I heard, she broke through into the middle stage of the Foundation Establishment realm not long ago. Among drifting cultivators, she is seen as an extremely rare rising talent.”

He paused and looked up at Heebyuk.

“So her absence means fewer troubles for us.”

Heebyuk let out a slow breath. Though calm, his eyes carried the weight of someone thinking three steps ahead. He nodded once.

“That is indeed good news. You may not know at your level but her background indeed makes her a tough target to deal with,” he said quietly. “What else?”

Renyen’s face tightened as he moved on to the second point.

“Secondly, Aksai seems to have gone into closed-door cultivation. Even when we mocked him during the probing attacks, he didn’t show himself. From what I gathered, he is trying to break through into the middle stage as well.”

The young expert shook his head slightly.

“He was last seen hoarding many resources that he stored on the island before disappearing. Nobody has seen him outside since then. It’s not certain if he’ll come out even when we start a full attack, but… the risk he brings is small.”

Heebyuk closed his eyes for a moment, letting the information settle. When he opened his eyes, they were firm and sharp once more.

“Good. This gives us a clearer picture,” he said. “With Nuya absent and Aksai hiding in his little shell, Emerald Cove is even weaker than it looks.”

Renyen lowered his head slightly, his face turning more serious as he continued his report.

“There’s some bad news as well,” he said. “The protective formation around Emerald Cove Island is much harder to deal with than we first thought. It looks like someone changed it recently. It’s probably that man, Aksai. He is a coward but he has some talent when it comes to handling the formations. Parts of the formation feel new… stronger, and harder to break through. Because of that, the plans we made before won’t work the same way.”

Heebyuk’s eyes narrowed a little, but he stayed silent, letting Renyen speak.

“To help us understand these changes, I brought someone.” Renyen turned his head toward the corner of the ship where the shackled man lay on the floor like discarded cargo.

“This man works with the group that maintains the island’s protective formation. His cultivation is too weak to survive any memory extraction skills we have, so I didn’t try it. Instead, I brought him here so you can interrogate him.”

Only then did Heebyuk finally look at the middle-aged man. A slow smile appeared on his face, calm but chilling.

“Good job,” he said.

With steady steps, Heebyuk walked toward the man. The sailors and warriors on the ship stood still, not daring to make a sound. The moonlight made everything look sharp and cold.

The middle-aged man trembled, trying to move away even with the runes around his wrists and ankles. His muffled cries were useless. Heebyuk crouched in front of him, studying him for a moment before lifting a hand.

He didn’t ask a question.

He started torturing him right away.

The deck echoed with low, broken sounds as Heebyuk pressed his fingers along the man’s nerves, forcing spiritual energy into places that caused sharp pain. The man’s body jerked, but he couldn’t scream, his mouth still sealed by runes.

Renyen and the warriors watched in silence. No one flinched.

After a few minutes, when the man’s body was shaking uncontrollably and sweat dripped down his face, Heebyuk finally waved his hand. The rune sealing the man’s mouth faded.

The scream that burst out was loud and raw, but Heebyuk ignored it.

“Tell me about the formation,” Heebyuk said. His voice was steady, even gentle, which made it worse.

The man took a moment to breathe, his face twisted in pain. At first, he tried to hold back. His voice shook. He muttered excuses, begged for mercy, claimed he didn’t know anything.

Heebyuk didn’t raise a hand this time. He simply placed two fingers on the man’s shoulder, slow and calm. The man stiffened.

He broke.

Words spilled out—everything he knew about the formation, every weak point he had heard of, every change that had been made in the recent weeks. Most of it was small, but the details matched the gaps in the intel the Kalingoot had been missing. It completed the picture.

When the man finished speaking, he collapsed on the deck, breathing hard, his eyes empty.

Heebyuk stood up.

“This… this should be enough.”

He raised his hand and flicked a finger. A thin wave of sword aura flashed through the air. The man didn’t even scream this time. His body stilled completely.

But nobody noticed the faint smile on the middle-aged man’s face, even with his heart no longer beating. Some of his internal organs had already turned into wood-element appendages after his supposed death, revealing that he was a special kind of Scarecrow puppet created to pose as a normal human—even in the eyes of veteran Expert cultivators.

Of course, neither Heebyuk nor Renyen cared to check the corpse after they were done with him. One of the Kalingoot warriors simply threw the puppet into the sea below the ship.

Silence returned to the ship. The waves kept moving, calm and bright under the full moon, as the Kalingoot warriors waited for their next order.

“Get ready. We will launch a full-scale frontal attack on the Emerald Cove at dawn tomorrow. The Emerald Cove is rich in resources and has the potential to become a Third Order Holy Land for the cultivators of Kalingoot.

“It doesn’t deserve to be owned by weak cultivators like Aksai. The island is screaming for its liberation, and we will be the ones to answer its call,” Heebyuk said in a low, serious voice.

Yet, within those words was all the ambition of Kalingoot.

****

At the same time, inside the hall of one of the pavilions on the Emerald Cove Island, Aksai’s direct subordinates were gathered.

Ruan, Shuan, Jasmine, Violet, Zara, Ivy, and the others sat around a round table, discussing something.

Suddenly, Shuan was contacted by someone in the middle of the meeting. He smiled and stopped speaking before informing his colleagues.

“Hehehe. They took the bait. The full-scale attack will take place tomorrow,” he said, bringing a smile to everyone’s face.