Xia Yunzhao was starting to regret it. If he had known, he would have brought more gold.
Gold really was the good stuff. Even in another world, it was still useful.
The two of them did not act rashly. While the Soul-Entangling Seaweed’s attention was still focused on the surface, they quietly approached its roots.
The Information-Gathering Bees flew out and circled around it once.
No one knew how many years this Soul-Entangling Seaweed had lived. It resembled a gigantic banyan tree, rooted in the deep sea and blotting out everything around it. Countless smaller Soul-Entangling Seaweeds grew nearby, forming an entire underwater forest. Xia Yunzhao could not tell if it was his imagination, but even the seabed mud here looked darker than elsewhere.
Shang Shuangze gestured to him: create a diversion.
Xia Yunzhao nodded slightly.
Weng! The water muffled the sound, making the clear sword cry duller, but the sword light remained bright as day. Mingyun shot forward without hesitation and severed the Soul-Entangling Seaweed’s longest frond!
At the same time, a tremendous crash sounded above the water. A huge black saber shadow plunged down, driving a surge through the sea!
That Zhong Yundu guy was surprisingly good at coordinating with them!
More spells followed into the water. Whether they actually hit anything was secondary. The important thing was to make the commotion enormous.
Sure enough, every frond of the Soul-Entangling Seaweed was drawn toward the disturbance. It had only a plant’s instincts and knew nothing about tactics.
Xia Yunzhao seized the chance to approach its thick roots and slipped straight into its blind spot.
Its fronds might be easy to cut, but as long as the roots remained, regrowing them would be a matter of minutes.
The deeper he went, the stronger the force attacking his divine soul became. Even though he had taken a Phosphor-Flame Soul-Stabilizing Pill beforehand, Xia Yunzhao could still feel his divine soul trembling under the pressure.
He steadied himself, continued dodging the severed seaweed limbs falling around him, and slashed at the root, which was thicker than a hundred-year-old tree.
The contrast between his little gold-and-silver dagger and the seaweed root was absurd, like a mosquito attacking a human thigh. Xia Yunzhao had not used his full strength on the first strike, only tested it lightly, and the wound he cut into the root was not even as long as a palm.
Yet that tiny wound sent the Soul-Entangling Seaweed into a frenzy. Countless vine-like fronds thrashed, twisted, and convulsed, stirring the entire sea into a whirlpool!
Xia Yunzhao immediately looked up. In the pitch-black water, a white figure darted between countless snake-like fronds. Not one of them could touch him.
Reassured, Xia Yunzhao looked back at the wound. When the seaweed’s fronds had been cut before, they had only leaked transparent gelatinous mucus. This time, however, the wound looked corroded and oozed black liquid.
It worked! Good, as long as it worked!
An idea flashed through Xia Yunzhao’s mind, and he summoned the Earthfire Art.
Using the Earthfire Art underwater was difficult, but he was not trying to attack with it. He heated the gold-and-silver dagger until it glowed red, then flung it forward. Spiritual power drove the dagger violently into the wound he had just made, deeper and deeper, twisting, then exploding outward!
Sizzle!
A huge hole instantly burst open in the Soul-Entangling Seaweed’s root. Black liquid gushed out like blood. The seaweed went mad, thrashing so violently that the entire seabed was churned upside down!
Xia Yunzhao reacted instantly and summoned a sphere of spiritual power around himself. He had more than a hundred of these things in his Hundred-Compartment Pouch, with all kinds of functions, and Shang Shuangze had given him every one of them.
His spiritual power continued driving the dagger deeper into the root while he adjusted his posture. Borrowing the force of a seaweed frond lashing outward, he shot backward in an instant and landed directly in Shang Shuangze’s arms.
Shang Shuangze caught him and signaled: Did it work?
Xia Yunzhao nodded. Shang Shuangze immediately pulled him close and rose toward the surface.
They approached the surface at top speed, then rode the wind straight back onto Cloudwater Ferry. Not daring to waste even a moment, Xia Yunzhao immediately drove the ship away. “Go, go, go! It’s going to explode!”
Everyone stared at him in confusion. “Didn’t you go down there to kill the Soul-Entangling Seaweed? What do you mean, explode?”
Xia Yunzhao’s hands never stopped forming seals, but his mouth was equally busy. “The giant seaweed! I heated the gold-and-silver dagger until it was red-hot and stabbed it inside!”
Everyone: “…”
What were they even supposed to say? Why did their City Lord manage to turn killing a piece of seaweed into such a massive production?
Cloudwater Ferry’s speed was no joke. In the time it took to exchange a few sentences, they had already fled more than a hundred li. Xia Yunzhao had barely stopped the ship when a tremendous boom sounded behind them.
It looked like an underwater geyser erupting. That entire stretch of sea exploded upward, throwing waves high enough to count as a tsunami. Fortunately, they were in the deep sea, so the coast would not be affected.
The waves rolled toward them and shoved Cloudwater Ferry several more li away.
Xia Yunzhao’s heart still ached. “The handbook said Soul-Entangling Seaweed forests have tons of good stuff. I didn’t blow all of it up, did I?”
Zhong Yundu said speechlessly, “Then why didn’t you use a more normal method?”
Xia Yunzhao answered righteously, “Shang Shuangze was still distracting the seaweed! What if he got hurt? He’s not your Dao companion, so of course you don’t feel bad for him!”
Zhong Yundu: “…”
He nearly shouted, I was distracting the seaweed too! Then he reconsidered. Xia Yunzhao’s method had effectively protected him as well. Fine, fine. There was no point getting angry at this brat.
After they waited a little longer, the water in that area gradually calmed.
Xia Yunzhao steered Cloudwater Ferry back. Along the way, sea-beast corpses floated toward them, all creatures they had killed earlier. Everyone collected them as they went. The bodies were quite intact. Even if they could not use them all, taking them ashore would bring in a considerable sum.
When they returned to the original location, the sea was perfectly calm. There was no sign that a fierce battle had just taken place, not even blood in the water.
Xia Yunzhao was eager to go. “Come on, let’s head back down and take a look!”
Shang Shuangze raised a hand and pressed a finger to his forehead. Xia Yunzhao immediately hissed, “Ow…”
A faint but distinct pain ran from the crown of his head straight into his sea of consciousness, like the sting of a tiny insect.
Shang Shuangze frowned with concern. Cool spiritual power seeped from his fingertips into Xia Yunzhao’s skin as he gently massaged the acupoint. “Soul-Entangling Seaweed can attack the divine soul directly. You faced the source of its power just now. Your divine soul isn’t injured, but it will be weakened for a while. There’s no hurry to go down again. Rest for one night first.”
Xia Yunzhao quickly nodded. Following Shang Shuangze’s guidance, he released his divine sense and examined his entire divine soul. There was indeed no injury, but instability was unavoidable.
He had still underestimated that seaweed. If they encountered one again in the future, he would have to be even more cautious.
The two of them really did rest for the night.
Early the next morning, Xia Yunzhao emerged from his room completely refreshed. Now he was ready to start beachcombing, except on the seafloor.
Su Meng and Su Ying were the only two present who actually needed sleep, yet they had gotten up early as well. They had not been able to help much the previous day, so this morning they were bustling around instead.
Yesterday, Xia Yunzhao had caught the only large fish he had managed since setting out to sea, the Frostmoon Cod. Unfortunately, the Soul-Entangling Seaweed had attacked immediately afterward, leaving no one any time to deal with it.
Now it was finally time to taste that fish.
The Frostmoon Cod was a Level-Three sea beast and exceptionally beautiful, even almost sacred-looking. Its skin was white and covered in fine scales. Even its fat and flesh were white, and after cooking, the meat turned into a translucent, gelatinous texture.
This fish was not only rich in spiritual energy, it also beautified the skin and preserved youth. And note, this was not ordinary beauty care. This was cultivation-world beauty care.
Xia Yunzhao possessed a Level-Three recipe called Youth-Preserving Paste. After application, it could make a cultivator appear ten years younger. Its effect could stack, although only up to five times. One of its primary ingredients was Frostmoon Cod fat.
If he had enough fish fat, Xia Yunzhao really wanted to try the recipe. The medicine could not cure illness or improve cultivation, but it would definitely sell for a fortune.
Unfortunately, they only had one Frostmoon Cod at the moment, so tasting it came first.
Naturally, Su Ying and Su Meng served him first. As soon as the fish soup was ready, they brought Xia Yunzhao a bowl, then gave Shang Shuangze one too.
The tender white fish soup sat in a porcelain-white bowl, topped with a single red spirit-flower petal. It had color, fragrance, and flavor all at once.
Xia Yunzhao spooned some into his mouth. His eyes flew wide, and he immediately gave both brothers a thumbs-up. Delicious!
The fish had no fishy taste at all. It even carried a milky fragrance and a hint of sweetness. It tasted almost like dessert.
Xia Yunzhao quickly finished his bowl and held it out. “Another bowl!”
Su Ying immediately put down what he was holding and moved to serve him.
Nearby, Zhong Yundu was also eating from a bowl. He complained, “How come I asked for a second bowl earlier and you said there wasn’t any, but the moment he asks, there is?”
Su Ying stammered for a while. “Well… that portion was saved for the City Lord. He caught the fish.”
Zhong Yundu looked toward the sky. He didn’t catch a single fish for days, and I don’t remember him eating any less then.
Xiang Moyue set down his empty bowl and smiled. “Fellow Daoist Zhong, don’t humiliate yourself. Another day, we’ll catch one ourselves and eat our fill.”
Zhong Yundu glanced at him and thought Xiang Moyue’s attitude was different from when they had first met. Hmm. He was a little easier on the eyes now.
Du Yan finished his own fish soup, uncorked his wine gourd, and took a drink. The fish was delicious, but not quite to his taste. He asked Xia Yunzhao, “Are we going down now? Is everything ready?”
Xia Yunzhao quickly answered, “Everything’s ready. Shang Shuangze checked it too.”
Shang Shuangze nodded slightly, indicating there was no problem.
This time, the two of them would not be going underwater alone. Zhong Yundu, Jing Ruyun, and two guards would accompany them.
The morning light turned the sea bright as gemstones. Everyone put on armor and water-repelling magical treasures, swallowed one Phosphor-Flame Soul-Stabilizing Pill each, then jumped into the sea one after another like dumplings dropping into a pot.
Xia Yunzhao knew the route well now and led the group toward the seabed. The Information-Gathering Bees continued following him, surveying the surroundings in case another sea beast tried to ambush them.
When they reached the bottom, the Soul-Entangling Seaweed was indeed dead. Only a section of charred root remained. Xia Yunzhao relaxed slightly and took out a treasure lamp to illuminate the area.
The moment the light came on, City Lord Xia’s eyes lit up too. His pupils practically started glowing with the light of spirit stones.
They could not speak underwater, but everyone could practically hear the tone behind his expression: We’re rich! We’re rich! We’ve really struck it rich this time!
The enormous Soul-Entangling Seaweed had been blown apart. Fragments covered the entire seabed, burying everything underneath.
Xia Yunzhao plunged straight into the mud, picked up a piece of Soul-Entangling Seaweed, held it up for everyone to see, then mimed putting it into a storage pouch: This one! Keep it! Keep all of it!
Then he turned deftly, dug up a piece of red coral, and signaled: This too! Take all of it!
Next he picked up a shell. No one could even tell what kind it was, but the meaning was obvious: Take it!
Then came another type of seaweed different from Soul-Entangling Seaweed, floating through the water like gauze. Same message: Take it!
Finally, he actually scooped up a handful of seafloor mud and stared at everyone with determination: This too!
Everyone: “…”
Shang Shuangze reacted first. Or perhaps, because he understood his Dao companion so well, he had prepared for this from the beginning. While everyone else was still staring, he was already moving.
Experience really did matter. Shang Shuangze was now astonishingly efficient at gathering materials. In the time it took him to bend down once, he had already cleared a small patch of seabed. Even the mud there was three layers thinner.
Only then did the others understand. Got it. Everything except the seawater itself! They immediately threw themselves into the work.
Xia Yunzhao watched his friends planting seedlings all over the field… no, collecting treasures all over the seabed, and nodded with satisfaction before continuing to explore.
The seabed of Wangjin Sea was practically a treasure vault. There were far too many valuable things. Even if they could not use them personally, they could sell them for plenty of money. Unfortunately, the place was too dangerous. If not for this opportunity, Xia Yunzhao would never have ventured to the seafloor so casually.
After rummaging around for a while, he found a strange ore beneath a layer of Soul-Entangling Seaweed leaves and tossed it into a storage pouch. He did not recognize it, so he could identify it once they returned to the surface.
Suddenly, a faint blue glow caught his attention. Xia Yunzhao lifted away the seaweed leaves and found a water-blue shell underneath.
The shell was beautiful, but unfamiliar. He had read through the entire handbook, so why did he not remember seeing this thing?
Curious, Xia Yunzhao picked it up and pried it open. Inside was a round object the size of a pigeon egg, smooth and warm like jade. Without looking closely, one might think someone had placed a jade ball inside the shell.
Perhaps sensing the change in its surroundings, the jade-like ball moved. Two short feelers emerged and rose and fell with the current as it breathed.
Xia Yunzhao thought for a moment, then his eyes suddenly widened in shock. This was a Cold-Jade Mystic-Water Clam! Something this precious actually came from Wangjin Sea too?!
This shell really was not listed in the handbook. He had seen it instead in materials for pill cultivators.
The Cold-Jade Mystic-Water Clam was also a Level-Four material, though it had very few uses. In fact, it could only be used to refine one thing, something most cultivators had never even heard of: Water-Jade Mystic Paste.
This immortal paste had only one use, and that too was something many people did not know, because it was not meant for cultivators to consume. It was used to nourish magical treasures and help give birth to magical-treasure spirits.
Yes. This medicinal preparation could help a magical treasure develop its own spirit.
When Xia Yunzhao had first read about it, he had wondered how a medicinal preparation could help give birth to a magical-treasure spirit. Magical treasures were artifacts and belonged to the path of artifact refining, while Water-Jade Mystic Paste belonged to alchemy. Most medicines were made for people. There were actually medicines meant for magical treasures?
But the moment he saw the Cold-Jade Mystic-Water Clam, he understood. The spiritual energy inside the shell was extraordinarily gentle, while the patterns on its surface concealed a trace of Dao resonance. His current insight was not enough to understand more than that, but from what he could see, this clam was anything but ordinary.
He searched all around and found three more nearby, but unfortunately there were no others.
He carefully put the clams away. Just as he was about to continue exploring, he sensed movement. Turning his head, he saw a small stone fly past his cheek.
Xia Yunzhao looked back. Zhong Yundu crooked a finger at him.
He kicked his legs and swam over, signaling: What is it?
Zhong Yundu pointed at Guang Yun beside him: He needs you.
Jing Ruyun had brought two guards down with her. Naturally, the most suitable choices were Guang Yun and Liang An, who cultivated water-attribute methods.
When Guang Yun saw Xia Yunzhao looking over, he quickly took out a green bead and gestured: This thing is strange. I don’t know whether it can go into a storage pouch, so I wanted to ask the City Lord what to do with it.
Xia Yunzhao looked down. The bead was about the size of a grape, translucent green, with a thin membrane wrapped around the outside. It looked like the fruit of some plant, and even resembled a grape.
Xia Yunzhao gestured: Where did it come from?
Guang Yun set the bead down and demonstrated. Aside from the fragments of the giant Soul-Entangling Seaweed, many smaller specimens around calf height still grew across the seabed.
Since their City Lord even wanted the mud, Guang Yun had assumed those little Soul-Entangling Seaweeds should be harvested too, so he had picked one. But all his past experience involved collecting spirit herbs on land. He had never harvested underwater spirit plants before, and the Soul-Entangling Seaweed died in his hands.
The leaves of the dead young seaweed withered instantly, and one of these green beads burst out.
By the time Guang Yun finished demonstrating, another bead had indeed appeared in his hand.
Xia Yunzhao grew even more puzzled. He had never heard of Soul-Entangling Seaweed producing fruit. He picked up the bead and examined it carefully. The longer he looked, the more familiar it seemed. What was it again…? Suddenly, his expression changed.
Guang Yun watched his City Lord practically perform an entire boxing routine in front of him. Clutching the bead, Xia Yunzhao looked ready to fly straight into the sky, and his expression might as well have had sound effects: Take them! Take every single one we can find!!!
Guang Yun nodded like he was pounding garlic. All right, all right! He would start harvesting immediately.
What was that bead? Its formal name was Hidden-Spirit Green Pearl. Pill cultivators usually called them Green Spirit Pearls. Xia Yunzhao had never seen a real one before, but he had encountered them constantly in pill-cultivator records. This medicinal ingredient was extremely famous because it was the primary ingredient for the Level-Four Minor Return-to-Heaven Pill.
The Minor Return-to-Heaven Pill was a reduced version of the Level-Eight Return-to-Heaven Pill. It likewise possessed the miraculous effects of preserving life, replenishing vital essence, and stabilizing one’s foundation.
No wonder Xia Yunzhao had been so excited he practically danced. Green Spirit Pearls were exceedingly peculiar. Although they formed as part of spirit plants, there was no fixed species capable of producing them. Or rather, any spirit plant of Level Three or above might produce a Green Spirit Pearl. And a plant that had once produced them might suddenly stop producing them one day.
Whether one could gather Green Spirit Pearls therefore depended entirely on luck.
And judging by the current situation, the Qingxi City group’s luck was excellent.
For an entire day and night, everyone dug that patch of seafloor completely clean before finally surfacing and returning to Cloudwater Ferry.
The people aboard had nearly worried themselves sick. If Xiang Moyue had not been able to vaguely sense the condition of the Information-Gathering Bees, they would almost have assumed something had gone wrong underwater.
Xia Yunzhao was not tired at all. Forget resting, he did not even bother taking a sip of water before repeatedly ordering everyone to bring out the haul. He wanted to see it now.
What else could everyone do? He was both City Lord and ship owner, and he had even enlarged Cloudwater Ferry to make room for their harvest. Everything had been prepared, so everyone could only pour out all their finds.
Xia Yunzhao happily sat down in the middle. He counted while Shang Shuangze began helping him sort.
“Let’s start with the Soul-Entangling Seaweed fragments… damn! More than six thousand pieces?! That many?”
Xiang Moyue came over to watch the fun. The two Information-Gathering Bees rested on his hair ornament, equally golden and sparkling. “That Soul-Entangling Seaweed was enormous. This many fragments isn’t surprising. Some probably drifted away as well.”
Xia Yunzhao clutched his chest. No. He could not think too deeply about this. The moment he imagined such a rich seabed full of treasures that could not all fit into his pockets… heartache.
Du Yan walked over too. “Moonlight Gauze Algae, Voice-Transmission Conches, Dragon-Blood Coral, Spirit Cattail Grass… No wonder you stayed down there so long. There really were a lot of good things below.”
Xia Yunzhao chuckled. “Brother Du, watch closely. The good stuff doesn’t stop there!”
He steadied himself and continued counting. “Eight hundred stalks of Spirit Cattail Grass, six hundred thirty-two Moonlight Gauze Algae, sixty-five Voice-Transmission Conches, Dragon-Blood Coral… whoa! More than one hundred thirty branches!”
Each time he counted something, Shang Shuangze packed it into a storage pouch. Once the top layer was sorted, another layer underneath was revealed. “Seventy-five Star-Splitting Sea Urchins, eighty-eight Flowing-Flame Crystal Clams, fourteen Dream-Weaving Jellyfish…”
He paused and turned his head. “Who caught these Dream-Weaving Jellyfish? Did you get hurt?”
Liang An raised his hand. “Me. We ran into a school of jellyfish while we were coming back up. There were fourteen in all, so I caught every one. One of the things brushed me with a tentacle, but it’s nothing. Captain already gave me an antidote pill.”
Xia Yunzhao nodded, then took out a Detoxifying Clearheart Pill and stuffed it into Liang An’s hand, warning him to be more careful in the future and not act so recklessly. Dream-Weaving Jellyfish venom could disrupt divine sense and create illusions. Anyone below Golden Core would still be in real danger if poisoned.
These jellyfish were slow, though. With Water-Repelling Pills, the jellyfish could not have caught up to them. Liang An must have gone out of his way to capture them and gotten hurt in the process. He had probably seen Xia Yunzhao digging up even the seafloor mud and assumed the City Lord desperately wanted all these things, so he had taken the risk.
Thinking of that, Xia Yunzhao warned him again. “No treasure is more important than a person. Didn’t you see that even when I went down to pick up treasures myself, I brought so many people with me? Don’t take risks like that next time.”
Liang An said nothing. He just held the pill and grinned, and no one could tell whether he had actually listened.
Xia Yunzhao decided to assume he had. After sorting the rest of the second layer, he moved on to the third. “Thirty-two Green Spirit Pearls, three Cold-Jade Mystic-Water Clams…”
Xiang Moyue and Du Yan, who were drinking tea, both spat it out.
The two exclaimed together, “Green Spirit Pearls?!”
Hardly anyone besides pill cultivators knew about Cold-Jade Mystic-Water Clams, and even most pill cultivators had never heard of them. But Green Spirit Pearls were another matter entirely. Practically any reasonably knowledgeable cultivator knew what they were.
Xia Yunzhao looked smug. “That’s right! The Soul-Entangling Seaweed on the seabed produced Green Spirit Pearls!”
Du Yan had known Xia Yunzhao for a long time, yet even now he was often astonished by his luck. “At this point, if someone says you’re the Heavenly Dao’s own son, I have no choice but to believe it.”
Xiang Moyue looked curious. “City Lord Xia has such an elegant nickname?”
Xia Yunzhao coughed dryly and finished sorting the last few things. “…Three Tidal Resonance Stones and six Rosy-Glow Shell Pearls.”
With that final tally, all the spirit materials had been sorted. Everyone nodded to themselves. Senior Shang was wonderfully domestic.
Su Ying and Su Meng had worried all day too. Once they saw the group finish, they hurried over and asked, “City Lord, Senior Shang, what do you want to eat tonight? Senior Du and the others caught lots of fish today, and there’s another Frostmoon Cod. Should we cook it?”
Xia Yunzhao was in excellent spirits. “Let’s try something new. Stew a piece of Soul-Entangling Seaweed!”
The handbook had explained it clearly. Although Soul-Entangling Seaweed could attack a person’s divine soul, eating its fronds could actually repair the divine soul and replenish divine-soul power. Its medicinal properties were also extremely gentle, so even low-level cultivators could consume it.
Cultivators who spent years operating around Wangjin Sea would often stew and eat Soul-Entangling Seaweed fronds after hunting one.
With Little Xia’s curiosity being what it was, of course he wanted to try it.
Su Ying and Su Meng obediently took a frond about the size of a table, chopped it up, and put it on to stew.
The moment the water began boiling, the smell came out.
Xianchan had wandered over hoping to beg for food. Its tail instantly puffed up, and all four paws scrambled for traction as it fled at top speed.
Su Ying hesitantly lifted the lid. Inside was a pot of dark-green gelatinous matter, and the stench of rotten fish and spoiled shrimp drifted out.
Everyone: “…”
Su Ying stammered, “C-City Lord… are you really going to eat that?”
Xia Yunzhao refused to give up and stubbornly held on. “Scoop me a little to try… um, just a tiny bit.”
Su Ying took a ladle and bowl and stirred the pot. The mixture made a wet, sticky sound. Everyone watching immediately retreated three large steps, terrified Su Ying might accidentally shove the ladle into one of their mouths.
Xia Yunzhao was beginning to regret everything, but he forced himself to accept the bowl.
Shang Shuangze was his true Dao companion after all. “Why don’t you just forget it…”
Xia Yunzhao hesitated too, but his mind immediately produced a whole collection of excuses: We’re already here. It’s already cooked. I already said I’d eat it. This opportunity is rare…
He gritted his teeth, tilted his head back, and swallowed the whole thing in one go.
And then…
No one present had ever seen their City Lord move so quickly. There was not even an afterimage. It looked like teleportation. One moment he was standing there, the next he was at the edge of the ship, doubled over and retching violently into the sea.
Shang Shuangze covered his forehead with one hand and grabbed the back of Xia Yunzhao’s collar with the other so he would not fall overboard. Then he took out Nine-Turn Golden Pill Liquid and let Xia Yunzhao rinse his mouth with it.
After Xia Yunzhao finally stopped throwing up, he shakily took out the handbook and opened to the page on Soul-Entangling Seaweed. At the very end was a single line: The flavor is unusual.
The flavor is unusual… Was this what they meant by unusual?!
Little City Lord Xia, who had just made a fortune, burst into tears. Curiosity really did kill the cat.
Elio’s Notes:
- The raw contains a small internal count inconsistency: when Xia first finds the Cold-Jade Mystic-Water Clams, it says he finds three more after the first one, which would imply four total, but the later inventory tally lists three. The translation preserves both statements as written.