Ye Ju suddenly received a secret message: use the sword to decapitate the sea monster and take its inner core! Sever its regenerative ability!
Ye Ju scanned the cultivator with her divine sense and knew it was him transmitting the message. The seabed was dim; Ye Ju’s divine sense firmly locked onto the sea monster’s form. It was likely pitch black on the surface now; it had already been dusk when she descended.
This posed a problem for Ye Ju; she didn't have a sword!
Suddenly, the warding staff in her hand shone with a golden light, transforming into a sword in an instant. The sword hilt was dark green, and the blade was a golden-red, exuding a bloodthirsty aura! Ye Ju suppressed her surprise, her will commanding the sword as she gathered all the spiritual energy in her dantian into the blade, shouting:
"Heavenly Strike!" Ye Ju didn't know why the name of the sword move came to her lips.
The surrounding seawater suddenly stopped flowing. The sharp sword energy, carrying immense pressure, slashed towards the sea monster. Faced with this attack, the sea monster felt fear and tried to escape, but it was firmly locked by the sword energy. The sword light flashed, and the sea monster’s massive head and body were cleaved in two. A fist-sized golden inner core flew out, attempting to flee, but Xiao Bai’s long tail swiftly coiled around the sea monster’s inner core.
The inner core of the previous demon emperor-level sea monster was red; this inner core was golden, which explained its immense power. This inner core had consciousness and tried to escape.
Ye Ju’s sword strike sent Xiao Bai and Xiao Mo flying back several feet, let alone the cultivator. He had already been fighting the sea monster for three days and three nights, his spiritual energy nearly depleted, and he was directly knocked unconscious by the sword energy.
Xiao Bai also coiled around him with its tail and helped reinforce his spiritual energy bubble. Ye Ju decided to return to the surface. She had also consumed a lot of spiritual energy, and now that the sea monster was undeniably dead, she didn’t bother with anything else. As for the spirit stone mine, there was no hurry; returning tomorrow would not be too late.
As she floated up from the deep sea, the sky was indeed completely dark. The night-shining pearls on the purple bamboo boat within the barrier had all lit up.
Ye Ju, riding Xiao Mo, struggled to climb onto the deck and immediately lay down. The battle had been thorough, and her heart was stirred. Gazing at the scattered stars in the night sky, Ye Ju finally gained a preliminary recognition of her own strength.
"Bang!" Xiao Bai roughly tossed the man it had found in the sea onto the deck, face first. Ye Ju felt pain just looking at it. Xiao Bai spun around and transformed into a little loli, then came to Ye Ju’s side with concern, asking directly:
"Sister ~ Sister ~ Are you alright?"
Ye Ju amusingly pinched Xiao Bai’s nose:
"Sister is fine, just exhausted my spiritual energy. Go get me some spirit spring water; I'll be fine after drinking it."
"Okay, Sister!" Xiao Bai quickly darted into the boat’s cabin to fetch spirit spring water. She had filled a large water缸 before setting sail.
After drinking the spirit spring water, Ye Ju meditated and adjusted her breathing for a moment, recovering her spiritual energy. Then she had the mood to check on the found man. He was still unconscious. Looking at the bruised and swollen face caused by Xiao Bai’s rough handling, Ye Ju felt a tiny bit of sympathy. She poured half a cup of spirit spring water from a purple bamboo cup and forced it into him. Upon a quick examination, she knew the man’s spiritual energy was depleted and his dantian was withered. Without further treatment, he would likely be crippled. She surmised he must have used a spiritual energy-absorbing artifact during the fight with the sea monster, otherwise his dantian wouldn't be in such a state.
Ye Ju recalled the flash of sword light during the fight with the sea monster in the depths. This indicated the man’s character. Even when her own spiritual energy was depleted, he had used his last ounce of strength to participate, proving he was not selfish. Though self-preservation was natural, would she have escaped using this opportunity? Or was it the allure of wealth? After all, there was such a large vein of mineral deposits!
Therefore, Ye Ju only poured half a cup of spirit spring water to help him recover, rather than using her self-healing technique to treat him. The man was severely injured, so Ye Ju asked Xiao Bai to drag him into the storage room where firewood was kept and left him there.
After thoroughly checking and treating Xiao Bai and Xiao Mo, and asking Yu Shou to reinforce the barrier and guard the purple bamboo boat, Ye Ju lost the mood to cook. She ate some fruit for sustenance and then tiredly lay down to sleep. Xiao Mo returned to the bottom of the boat to enter meditation, while Xiao Bai transformed into a white fox and curled up beside Ye Ju.
"Mmm ~" Chao Xiangzi woke up with a soft groan. His chest felt tight, and his face inexplicably ached. He knew his internal injuries were severe. He paid no mind to the injuries on his face, assuming they were from being slammed against the seabed by the sea monster. He observed his surroundings, realizing he was in a storage room for firewood. The night-shining pearls overhead emitted a soft glow – how luxurious, even a storage room was equipped with such precious lighting. He recalled the female cultivator's astonishing sword strike. After being knocked unconscious, he knew nothing of what happened afterward. It seemed a powerful individual had saved him and brought him back to the surface; he must be in the boat’s cabin now.
With effort, he sat up to adjust his breathing and examined his dantian internally. Strange, he had been battling the sea monster for three days and three nights, and his dantian was nearly depleted, showing signs of rupture. But now he saw that the cracks in his dantian had healed and faint signs of life were visible!
He had thought his path to cultivation was ruined, and merely surviving was fortunate. But encountering a great benefactor who also healed his dantian was a life-saving grace that deserved a hundredfold repayment!
He activated his sect’s cultivation technique, circulating it throughout his body. He knew he had consumed a spirit medicine, and he thought of how rare and precious spirit medicines capable of healing a dantian were. This fellow Daoist had actually used one to treat him, demonstrating such noble character! His current cultivation had only one-tenth remaining, insufficient to treat his internal injuries. The elixirs he carried had all been consumed during the fight with the sea monster. At that moment, Han Xiangzi’s mind was in turmoil, and he couldn’t help but sigh that he had encountered such a noble person! He bestowed several layers of "good person" praise upon Ye Ju.
As Chao Xiangzi woke up on this side, Xiao Bai had already sensed it, knowing that the cultivator now only had one-tenth of his cultivation remaining and was not a threat. However, Sister had said that humans were the most complex creatures; one couldn't judge a person by their appearance, and one should never underestimate anyone.
Before dawn, she let Sister sleep a little longer. Sister loved sleeping the most, and if she didn't get enough sleep, she would have morning anger. Sister herself had coined the term "morning anger." Although Xiao Bai didn't fully understand, she knew that on several occasions when Sister woke up without enough sleep, the fish she cooked had all their bones shattered, so much so that she didn't need to spit out fish bones when eating, demonstrating how terrifying Sister's morning anger could be! Sister also wondered why she ate fish without spitting out bones.
When the first rays of sunlight from the eastern sea shone into the cabin, Ye Ju opened her eyes, waking up slightly dazed.
She sat on the bed and spaced out for a while, then remembered yesterday's battle with the sea monster and the spirit stone mine, finally becoming fully alert. After she went to the stern to wash up, she came onto the deck and saw a man sitting on a stone stool. Xiao Bai, transformed into its fox form, was staring intently at him. The reason for calling it "staring" was that the man’s face was still bruised and swollen, his appearance unclear. However, she saw cold sweat beading on his temples, making him look quite distressed. Ye Ju found the scene inexplicably amusing.
"Xiao Bai, go catch some fish. We'll make breakfast later," Ye Ju said to Xiao Bai on the deck, smiling.
Chao Xiangzi heard Ye Ju’s voice and quickly stood up. He turned his head to look and was stunned. A face of unparalleled beauty, unadorned by makeup; her skin was like snow, her eyebrows like distant mountains drawn without ink, her phoenix eyes slightly upturned at the corners, her gaze flowing, sparkling with brilliance, her eyelids having an inner double fold, her black eyes so captivating they seemed to radiate a divine light that made one unable to stare directly. Her hair was simply tied in a ponytail, exuding a sense of heroism. Her clothing, however, was strange: a black, form-fitting outfit that accentuated her graceful figure. He had never seen such attire. Han Xiangzi glanced quickly, then lowered his head to bow, his ears warming slightly.
Ye Ju’s spiritual energy had transformed into a form-fitting outfit today, consisting of a long-sleeved, long-legged close-fitting and comfortable set, perfect for diving into the sea, much like a long-sleeved, long-legged tight-fitting swimsuit.
"I am Chao Xiangzi, from the Chao Tian Sect. Thank you, fellow Daoist, for saving me. This life-saving kindness…"
"Ah, it was just a coincidence. I wasn't specifically saving you; I came for the spirit stone mine," Ye Ju interrupted him.