Phosphor-Flame Jade-Shell Shrimp were extremely rare Level-Four materials found nowhere outside Wangjin Sea. They could be used to refine all kinds of things, the most famous of which were Phosphor-Flame Soul-Stabilizing Pills and Jade-Shell Puppets.
As luck would have it, Xia Yunzhao had recipes for both.
Watching the Phosphor-Flame Jade-Shell Shrimp leap aboard one after another, Xia Yunzhao grinned so widely his mouth nearly went crooked. “Come give me a hand! Let’s scoop up the ones still in the water too! Once the storm stops, they’ll run off!”
In fact, there was no need to scoop them up. This species of shrimp had a habit of following its own kind. They were jumping onto the ship precisely because Xia Yunzhao’s first cast of the net had hauled up the vanguard. The rest simply followed them aboard.
Who knew how much time passed before the storm over the sea gradually subsided. The dark clouds scattered, revealing a sky full of stars once more.
A thin layer of seawater covered the deck. Everyone looked like a group of hardworking farmers as they picked up the huge shrimp one by one and stuffed them into storage pouches.
Once the last one was packed away, Xia Yunzhao formed a hand seal, gathered the water on the deck into a ball, and tossed it back into the sea.
Everyone handed him their storage pouches and asked, “Well? How much did we get?”
After counting through them all, even Xia Yunzhao was shocked. “More than three hundred jin altogether!”
Three hundred jin might not sound like much. Just a few days ago, they had collected over a thousand jin of intact aquatic-beast carcasses! But these were Level-Four materials. Who measured Level-Four materials by the hundreds of jin? Even disciples of Wentian Sect might not be this lavish!
Xia Yunzhao quickly calculated. Three hundred jin of Phosphor-Flame Jade-Shell Shrimp would be enough to refine two Jade-Shell Puppets! And he could make at least a hundred Phosphor-Flame Soul-Stabilizing Pills!
Well, this was embarrassing. They had only been at sea for a day, and Wangjin Sea had already handed them such a generous gift. The entire point of the trip was apparently to make sure they had not come for nothing!
He grabbed Shang Shuangze and headed straight into his room. Time for closed-door work!
Cloudwater Ferry had been refined by Xia Yunzhao himself, so everything aboard suited his preferences. This room was identical to the one they shared in the little mountain valley, except that two additional windows had been added so they could observe what was happening on deck.
The first thing to do after entering was still change clothes. Their protective magical treasures had kept off the rain and seawater, but Xia Yunzhao still felt as though a faint fishy smell had clung to him.
He changed into a moon-white robe. The moment he came back out, Shang Shuangze stopped him and removed his hair crown.
His slightly damp hair spilled loose. With his hair down, the lines of his face softened, making him look nine parts gentle out of ten.
Shang Shuangze carefully smoothed his hair, dispersed the lingering dampness, combed it again, and replaced the crown. “This Snow-Crane Spirit-Guarding Crown is too low-level. I should find you another protective magical treasure.”
Xia Yunzhao looked up at him with a smile. “I’m only at early Golden Core myself. The crown’s level matches mine.”
Shang Shuangze shook his head slightly. It was only at moments like this that he would disagree. “A Level-Four magical treasure would be safer.”
Xia Yunzhao was helpless. Shang Shuangze’s protective instincts toward him were a little excessive. With their current abilities, finding a Level-Four magical treasure was not difficult, but finding one as suitable as the Snow-Crane Spirit-Guarding Crown was another matter entirely.
Once he had finished tidying himself up, Xia Yunzhao flipped his hand and dumped out a pile of Phosphor-Flame Jade-Shell Shrimp. He began teaching Shang Shuangze how to process them step by step. First, the shells had to be peeled off. These jade shells were precisely the material used to refine Jade-Shell Puppets, so every shell had to come away complete, antennae and tail intact, without any damage. Second, the phosphor flame inside each shrimp’s head had to be carefully extracted. That was the material used to refine Phosphor-Flame Soul-Stabilizing Pills.
No wonder Xia Yunzhao had dragged Shang Shuangze inside with him. Doing this work alone would have been unbearably boring. Having his Dao companion beside him made it fun.
The two stayed in seclusion like that for several days. Fortunately, nothing major happened at sea during that time. Ordinary storms were no threat to Cloudwater Ferry.
The others waiting out on deck, however, were genuinely curious. Zhong Yundu in particular had no filter on his mouth. Rubbing his chin, he said, “Are those two actually doing serious work in there?”
Xiang Moyue smiled. “Have City Lord Xia and Fellow Daoist Shang ever held a formal bonding ceremony?”
Zhong Yundu thought about it and looked at Du Yan.
Du Yan pondered for a moment. They really had not!
Liang An was quick-mouthed. “Then in mortal terms, wouldn’t that mean City Lord and Senior Shang are carrying on together without even a matchmaker… ow!”
Jing Ruyun slapped him so hard he nearly planted face-first on the deck. “Keep talking nonsense and you can jump into the sea and swim by yourself!”
Clutching his ringing head, Liang An wailed, “I’ll never do it again!”
While they were talking, everyone caught a faint medicinal fragrance. Instead of being overpowering, it entered through the nose and mouth and left the mind and spirit unusually calm.
Zhong Yundu, Du Yan, and Xiang Moyue all realized at the same time that Xia Yunzhao’s alchemy had improved again. It was common for pill fragrance to escape when a furnace was opened, but for that fragrance to contain such rich medicinal power was anything but ordinary.
Zhong Yundu laughed. “Looks like we’re getting more pills to calm the mind and stabilize the soul.”
Inside the room, Xia Yunzhao beckoned with one hand. The pill furnace opened, and five round pills dropped into his palm. Phosphor-Flame Soul-Stabilizing Pills were extremely unusual. The pills themselves were translucent milky white, while a tiny flame flickered on and off inside each one. That was the phosphor flame from the Jade-Shell Shrimp. The flame could temper the divine soul and burn away impurities, making this one of the rare pills capable of repairing hidden injuries to the divine soul.
Xia Yunzhao could feel that his alchemy had improved again. The Phosphor-Flame Soul-Stabilizing Pill was a Level-Three pill, and one of the more complicated kinds at that. Yet he had succeeded on his first furnace and produced two high-grade pills and three mid-grade pills. Clearly, this pill was no longer difficult for him at all.
He even had the feeling that if he tried a Level-Four pill recipe now, he would have a very good chance of succeeding.
It seemed it was time to get his hands on a few Level-Four pill recipes and try them.
Another two days passed before the door to the inner room finally opened.
Su Meng, who had gotten so bored he had started scrubbing the deck, threw down his rag and bounced to his feet. “City Lord! Senior Shang! You’re finally out!” Traveling without the City Lord was so boring. No one started anything, no one played games, and no one even felt like eating!
But the moment he reached the doorway, Su Meng froze. Two figures had walked out, but they were not the City Lord and Senior Shang!
They were two jade puppets, their bodies pieced together from individual jade plates, looking as though suits of jade burial armor had stood up and begun walking by themselves!
Su Meng’s scalp went numb. “Wh-what are those?!”
One of the jade puppets moved. It stepped forward and raised a hand to pat the top of his head. The touch and strength felt strangely familiar, and Su Meng instinctively blurted, “City Lord?”
A soft laugh came from inside the room. Looking past the gap between the two jade puppets, he saw his City Lord standing there, smiling at him.
The others came over as well. Surprise flashed through Xiang Moyue’s eyes. “Are those Jade-Shell Puppets?” His curiosity about City Lord Xia only deepened. Rapid cultivation could be explained by extraordinary talent, but where had he obtained such a precious Jade-Shell Puppet recipe?
Du Yan praised them. “These things are rarely seen. Two puppets this complete would sell for at least ten thousand low-grade spirit stones if you put them on the market.”
Xia Yunzhao smiled. “They’re not for sale. We’re keeping them for ourselves.”
Su Meng edged closer to him. The jade puppets felt a little strange. They had no facial features at all, yet somehow one of them still seemed a little like the City Lord…
Zhong Yundu walked two circles around the pair. “I’ve heard these jade puppets are different from ordinary puppets. Puppets can act on their own according to their master’s commands, but these can be infused with spiritual sense, almost like a cultivator’s other… self?”
Xia Yunzhao immediately nodded. “Exactly.” With a movement of his spiritual sense, the jade puppet that had patted Su Meng’s head came to life. It walked nimbly onto the deck and performed a complete set of Hundred-Form Palm. Its movements and posture were indeed exactly the same as Xia Yunzhao’s.
After completing the palm technique, the jade puppet froze in place.
Everyone on deck marveled. “Doesn’t that mean we basically gained two more Golden Core companions?”
“And one of them is even a sword cultivator!”
“Hahaha! Incredible!”
Xia Yunzhao chuckled and took out more Phosphor-Flame Soul-Stabilizing Pills, handing them out one per person.
Xiang Moyue curved his lips into a smile. “I get one too?”
Xia Yunzhao laughed. “Aren’t you traveling with us? What, are you planning to jump overboard and swim by yourself?”
Xiang Moyue smiled without speaking. He glanced at Shang Shuangze, who showed no reaction, and accepted the pill. What a strange pair of Dao companions. Shang Shuangze looked as though he worried about Xia Yunzhao constantly, yet he never restricted anything Xia Yunzhao did. And Xia Yunzhao seemed utterly unconstrained, yet he never once ignored Shang Shuangze’s feelings.
Their relationship was so beautiful that it made Xiang Moyue feel a little uncomfortable.
Xia Yunzhao looked at his expression. Whatever he guessed, he took out another Soul-Stabilizing Pill and handed it over. “Thinking and worrying too much can damage the divine soul too. That cultivation method of yours is already difficult enough. Don’t end up cultivating yourself into a split personality.”
Xiang Moyue paused, then smiled. “Thank you for the reminder, City Lord.”
Xia Yunzhao shook his head. This man was like one of those idiots standing by the roadside in the dead of winter. Someone invited him over to warm himself by the fire and he stubbornly said, Thank you, but I’m not cold, as if no one could see him shivering.
Still, everyone had their own path. Xia Yunzhao was warmhearted, but he preferred to spend that warmth on his own friends. As for Xiang Moyue, at least for now, he was still holding something back.
Sure enough, the more than three hundred jin of Phosphor-Flame Jade-Shell Shrimp produced over a hundred Phosphor-Flame Soul-Stabilizing Pills and two Jade-Shell Puppets. The utilization rate was frighteningly high.
As for the shrimp meat, that was actually the least valuable part. Fortunately, it was extremely, extremely delicious.
The Phosphor-Flame Jade-Shell Shrimp were huge to begin with. Even after the shell was removed, each piece of meat was still the size of a palm. Once pan-fried, you could hold it and eat it directly without adding any seasoning. It was wonderfully sweet and fresh, without even a trace of fishiness. Not everyone got to experience the satisfaction of eating shrimp in bites that large.
The only problem was that there was far too much shrimp meat.
More than three hundred jin of shrimp yielded well over a hundred jin of meat!
And this was Level-Four material, packed with spiritual energy. Never mind the brothers Su Ying and Su Meng. Even the Foundation Establishment cultivators in the guard team had to cultivate for an entire day after eating just two pieces of shrimp.
And so everyone ate shrimp, and ate shrimp, and kept eating shrimp. After four or five straight days, they had still consumed less than fifty jin.
By the end, everyone was sick of it. No matter how delicious something was, you could not eat it like this every day! The entire deck smelled of shrimp. Even when the phantom of the Heaven-Reaching Tree appeared, it seemed to carry the sweet fragrance of shrimp meat… Xia Yunzhao had no idea whether the tree truly reached the heavens, but surely it was not going to fumigate the immortals up there too?
Forget the humans. Even Xianchan, that little gluttonous cat, had had enough. Usually, the moment it saw someone’s mouth moving, it would hurry over and beg for a bite. Now whenever everyone sat down to eat, it immediately burrowed into its cat bed. If the kitten could speak, it would probably be howling, No more shrimp! I don’t want shrimp again for the rest of the year!
Xiao Qing was still willing to take a couple of bites, but even it was not especially enthusiastic. These days it preferred following Xianbao around and eating spirit ore. Now that stuff was satisfying to crunch.
As for the Crimson-Cloud Brocadefish, it did not mind the shrimp, but it did not have much of an appetite either. Finishing one shrimp in a day was already impressive.
Eventually, Xia Yunzhao became extravagant enough to start chopping up the shrimp meat and using it as fishing bait.
And sure enough, this bait worked much better than the slaughter-beast meat from before. Not long after the hook went into the water, the float moved.
City Lord Xia, who had not personally caught a single fish since they set out to sea, instantly became excited. “A fish! A fish! Look, I’ve got one!” With that, he yanked hard and raised the rod.
If he had not shouted, not so many people would have looked. But once he did, of course everyone turned to watch.
The hook shot high into the air from the force of his pull, practically flying into the sky. Against the sunlight, everything was a white blur and no one could see clearly. Everyone wondered the same thing: where was the fish?
Only when the hook dropped back down did they finally see the fish dangling from it. It was tiny, barely as long and thick as his little finger, and transparent to boot.
Well… how to put it? Even a child from Qingxi City scooping water from the river with a basin would have trouble catching something that small.
Zhong Yundu burst into laughter. “What a massive fish. Enough to feed the whole ship!”
Du Yan said, “It’s already pretty good. The first time I went fishing, I couldn’t even catch one this small.”
Zhong Yundu opened his mouth to point out that this was not Xia Yunzhao’s first time fishing, only to get kicked. He shut his mouth.
Xia Yunzhao himself looked a little embarrassed. The float had been pulled down so hard that he had thought he had hooked a huge fish. Who knew it would be this tiny? When he took it off and looked closer, he discovered that not only was it small, it was low-level too, just the most common Flowing-Light Shuttlefish. Su Meng had already caught several of them… and every single one was bigger than his.
He hooked the fish again and threw it back into the sea, using it as live bait to keep fishing.
The weather at sea was excellent that day. The sunlight was warm and the sea breeze gentle. The fishing rod did not move for ages, making everyone drowsy.
Xia Yunzhao leaned back in his chair and decided to take a short nap.
The others on deck quieted down as well and rested on their own.
Before long, the fishing rod moved.
Xia Yunzhao cracked one eye open and thought, Oh, a fish took the bait. But he was simply too sleepy to move, so he closed his eye again.
The hooked fish struggled violently, its strength considerable. The front of the rod was pulled downward while the back rose high, and the whole thing looked ready to be dragged into the sea. Where the rod knocked and rubbed against the railing, it made a repeated clattering sound.
Xia Yunzhao frowned. Can’t even get a proper nap… Wait! He jolted awake. Why am I this sleepy?!
Just then the fishing rod flew free of its holder. Xia Yunzhao caught it with one hand and yanked sharply. A large white fish, half as long as a person, was hauled onto the deck, where it landed with a thump and began flopping wildly.
It was actually a precious Frostmoon Cod.
Su Meng, asleep on the deck, got smacked by its tail. He opened his eyes blankly, then tipped his head to the side and immediately fell asleep again.
The force of the fish had flung Xia Yunzhao against the railing. He instinctively looked down. Beneath the surface was an enormous black shadow like a gigantic octopus, thick tentacles spreading outward like an umbrella. It looked like a vast net opening beneath the water, with Cloudwater Ferry trapped like a fish inside it… A violent wave of dizziness hit him. His divine soul shuddered, and his face went pale in an instant.
He flipped out a Phosphor-Flame Soul-Stabilizing Pill and swallowed it, summoned the Seven-Star Ring with his other hand, hurled it out, and shouted, “Shang Shuangze!”
Zheng!
Mingyun answered the call. Together with the Seven-Star Ring, it plunged into the water from opposite sides and twisted around one of the tentacles… Crack!
A black tentacle was severed and floated to the surface.
Xia Yunzhao immediately felt the pressure on his divine soul ease. Quick-eyed and quick-handed, he grabbed the severed tentacle through the air and pulled it over before rapidly retreating.
The others on deck, who had somehow fallen asleep, woke as well. Zhong Yundu’s expression changed, and he moved to help.
Xia Yunzhao immediately shouted, “Don’t go near the railing! There’s something underwater! It attacks the divine soul!”
Zhong Yundu swayed slightly. “No need to worry!” He rushed to the edge of the ship and slashed downward. More severed tentacles floated to the surface.
The thing’s offensive power was high, but its defenses seemed quite ordinary.
Seeing that Zhong Yundu was indeed fine, Xia Yunzhao stopped trying to hold him back. He immediately activated Cloudwater Ferry’s defensive formation. The phantom of the Heaven-Reaching Tree rose, and two jade-colored figures flew out to stand at either end of the ship like a pair of gate guardians.
Suddenly, the water began boiling violently. Before Zhong Yundu could even warn them, countless aquatic beasts burst from the sea and attacked Cloudwater Ferry in a frenzy. Beneath the surface, more aquatic beasts began battering the bottom of the ship.
The defensive formation flashed again and again. The two Jade-Shell Puppets simultaneously used Xia Yunzhao’s and Shang Shuangze’s techniques, guarding the bow and stern. The others did not dare approach the railing, so they remained in the center and controlled their magical artifacts from afar to kill the attacking beasts outside the formation.
The surface of the sea turned blood-red in an instant.
While controlling the Seven-Star Ring, Xia Yunzhao tried to drive Cloudwater Ferry out of the area. But no matter how he maneuvered, the ship simply could not break free, as though they were trapped inside a ghost wall.
“This won’t work. These aquatic beasts are being controlled by whatever’s underneath us. We’re only wasting strength. We have to kill whatever’s in the water!”
Jing Ruyun immediately said, “But we still don’t know what it is!”
Xia Yunzhao frowned slightly and looked down at the piece of “tentacle” lying on the deck. It was black and flat and smelled strongly of the sea. It was huge, but no blood came from the severed end. Instead, a transparent mucus oozed out. Calling it a tentacle was not quite right. It looked more like… seaweed?
Xia Yunzhao immediately pulled out the sea-beast handbook Xu Zhenhai had given him and flipped to a page. Realization dawned. “This isn’t an aquatic beast. It’s seaweed! Soul-Entangling Seaweed! We’ve run into a Soul-Entangling Seaweed forest!”
After carefully reading the entry, he said, “Stop killing the aquatic beasts for now. We have to cut through the root of the Soul-Entangling Seaweed!”
Everyone quickly finished off the beasts already in front of them, leaving the rest to the formation and Jade-Shell Puppets before gathering around him. “The root? You mean we have to go underwater?”
“There’s more.” Xia Yunzhao continued, “Soul-Entangling Seaweed can attack the divine soul, but it fears implements made from gold and silver. We need weapons forged from gold and silver if we want to damage it at the root.”
Everyone looked puzzled. Du Yan said, “Gold and silver are too soft. Hardly anyone uses them to refine magical artifacts…”
Xia Yunzhao said, “It doesn’t need to be a magical artifact. An ordinary blade forged from gold and silver will do.” He did not waste any more time. He simply took out a quantity of gold and silver from his storage pouch, materials he had deliberately prepared for convenience on the road.
The Earthfire Art flared to life. He melted the gold and silver together, fused them, then drew the metal into the shape of a short dagger.
Sizzle! The seawater cooled it, and a perfectly respectable gold-and-silver dagger appeared in his hand.
Everyone stared curiously. It was hard to believe that such a small blade, containing no spiritual energy at all, could kill the Soul-Entangling Seaweed controlling countless aquatic beasts.
Shang Shuangze was reading the handbook and added, “Soul-Entangling Seaweed isn’t an aquatic beast. It’s a spirit plant, driven only by the instinct to absorb spiritual energy. It was probably attracted by Cloudwater Ferry’s spiritual energy and attacked us because of that. Its usual method of attack is to strike the divine soul directly and kill its prey in its sleep.”
A chill ran down everyone’s backs. Thinking about it now, hadn’t they all fallen asleep without even realizing it? If Xia Yunzhao had not been cautious, their ship might already have been destroyed and everyone aboard killed.
Wangjin Sea truly could not be underestimated. Even though the previous few days had been calm, this vast ocean was still trying to swallow them at every moment.
Xia Yunzhao finished the crude gold-and-silver dagger and inscribed several talisman patterns onto it. Killing Soul-Entangling Seaweed required an implement made from gold and silver. The talisman patterns were only there to slightly increase its offensive power.
Then he dug out the Water-Repelling Pills, water-repelling inner armor, and Water-Repelling Pearls and began sorting through them…
Zhong Yundu said, “I’ll go. You stay aboard and provide support.”
Xia Yunzhao immediately shook his head. “No way! There are tons of good things in a Soul-Entangling Seaweed forest. I have to go down and pick them up!”
Zhong Yundu: “…Fine. Die of poverty, then!”
After selecting the water-repelling pills and magical treasures, Xia Yunzhao began choosing magical artifacts that could protect the divine soul. Soul-Entangling Seaweed attacked the divine soul directly. If they could not guard against that, taking any number of Water-Repelling Pills underwater would still mean death.
This was exactly when he felt extremely grateful that they had hauled up three hundred jin of Phosphor-Flame Jade-Shell Shrimp earlier. At a time like this, the Phosphor-Flame Soul-Stabilizing Pills were practically divine medicine!
He picked out several soul-calming magical artifacts he was comfortable using and equipped himself. Then he thought for a moment and looked at Shang Shuangze.
Shang Shuangze was watching him calmly.
Xia Yunzhao immediately grinned and began stuffing magical artifacts and pills into his arms. “I’m taking you. Of course I’m taking you! I wasn’t planning to sneak off alone…”
Everyone: “…” He really could have skipped that last sentence.
During this brief delay, the two Jade-Shell Puppets had already gone on a killing spree. The surrounding water had turned crimson, and a broad field of sea-beast carcasses floated on the surface.
The two of them swallowed another Phosphor-Flame Soul-Stabilizing Pill, opened a gap in the formation, and quietly slipped into the sea.
The surface was already so turbulent that their entry caused no visible disturbance at all.
Du Yan instinctively gripped the Heaven-Measuring Ruler. “I wonder whether this trip will go smoothly.”
Zhong Yundu clapped him on the shoulder. “Relax. They’ve already made it through so many huge storms. Are they really going to die to a piece of seaweed?” Then he looked at Xiang Moyue and raised a brow. “Right?”
Xiang Moyue smiled and nodded. Then, without drawing attention, he walked toward the railing. Thinking of the extra Soul-Stabilizing Pill… he fell silent and flicked his fingers.
Xia Yunzhao and Shang Shuangze were diving downward. They had prepared thoroughly, so the water posed no obstacle and they descended extremely quickly.
Suddenly, Xia Yunzhao heard a familiar voice by his ear. “City Lord Xia, I’ll lend you two Information-Gathering Bees. Connect to them with divine sense and you’ll be able to see what they see and feel what they feel. They can help you gather information. These insects are extraordinarily precious, and I only have two. Remember to return them once you come back up.”
Xia Yunzhao froze, and then a faint buzzing sounded beside his ear. When he turned his head, he saw two fuzzy black little bees flying beside him. Each insect was wrapped in a tiny bubble, making them look like two ordinary bubbles in the sea and rendering them almost impossible to notice. He had no idea whether they could naturally survive underwater or whether Xiang Moyue had used some kind of spell.
Xia Yunzhao connected to them with his divine sense. The sensation was fascinating, as though another screen had appeared inside his mind. Everything the Information-Gathering Bees saw appeared on that screen in perfect detail.
He immediately understood how Xiang Moyue could know what was happening a thousand li away while still aboard the ship. So he had something this useful. Xia Yunzhao smiled slightly and sent back a voice transmission. “Don’t worry. I won’t steal your bugs.”
Shang Shuangze took his hand and continued leading the way ahead.
The two of them moved quickly. In less than fifteen minutes, they had reached the seafloor. By some faint light whose source they could not identify, they quietly examined the Soul-Entangling Seaweed that had attacked the treasure ship.
Xia Yunzhao looked up, then farther up, then backed away some distance before he finally managed to see the full plant.
Xia Yunzhao: “…”
He looked at the seaweed towering higher than a three-story building, then lowered his gaze to the tiny dagger in his hand. Well. This was like trying to hunt an elephant with a slingshot.