The battle between Xiao Bai and the Qilin was fierce, with the Qilin's face taking several hits. Ye Ju squatted on the boat's prow, cheering them on. The audience had grown, with Xiao Mo, Chi Zhu, Zhi Meng, and even A You, who was leaning on a wooden plank, arriving. A You had largely recovered from his injuries, but his soul was unstable, leaving him dazed and preferring to lie down as much as possible.
Ye Ju glanced sideways and saw a whole line of companions standing beside her, watching with great interest!
Seeing Xiao Bai gaining the upper hand, the other beasts joined Ye Ju in shouting:
"Xiao Bai, go! Well done!"
"Lord Xiao Bai, fight well, go!"
The Qilin, upon hearing this, took a moment to look at the humans and beasts on the prow. They were all cheering for Xiao Bai. Only its master stood there, not watching it, but looking up at the sky. What did that mean? Was he ashamed to watch?
"Master, they're all ganging up on me?"
"Disgraceful!" Zhao Yang Zi held his forehead.
With a flash, the Qilin declared, "I'm not fighting anymore. You have too many people, all bullying me. No one is cheering for me."
Ye Ju looked at the Qilin, which was a full size larger than Xiao Bai, and was speechless. However, it did look rather pathetic. There were two scratch marks on its forehead, its bell-sized eyes were bruised and swollen, likely from a kick. The whiskers on the left side of its mouth were singed, one longer than the other. The fire cloud fur on its four paws was also burnt on two of them. It was a truly miserable sight.
The auspicious beast had turned into a dog that had lost a fight and was tossed into the water.
Ye Ju laughed gleefully. But the moment she saw Xiao Bai, her smile vanished. Xiao Bai's white fur was also burnt, and one of its tails was bald, as if it had been pulled from a fire.
This was too brutal. Xiao Bai was a girl, and they had been so harsh on her. Ye Ju glared at Zhao Yang Zi, telling him to control his spirit beast!
Zhao Yang Zi was helpless. "My Qilin seems to be more seriously injured!"
Ye Ju, feeling distressed, quickly tended to Xiao Bai's wounds. However, the fur would not grow back immediately, especially with the Qilin's ancient divine beast fire. When these two beasts breathed fire, they were truly ferocious, as if they wanted to roast each other alive...
Xiao Mo, transformed into a miniature Jiaolong, coiled like a mosquito coil in a corner of the deck. The Purple Bamboo Boat was now under his control for navigation. The fight was over, and it was time to set sail.
Xiao Bai didn't feel any pain, but she still pouted pitifully at Ye Ju, her large eyes watery.
"Sister, I'm hungry. I want to eat grilled fish."
Ye Ju couldn't resist those big eyes and readily ordered the others to work. Zhao Yang Zi and the Qilin went to the sea to catch fish. Wang You, who had been woken up by the fight, came to help Ye Ju.
When Wang You woke up, she neither cried nor fussed, calmly accepting everything. Ye Ju did not want to hide the truth or lie to the little Wang You. The sooner she knew, the sooner she could move on. Time could heal all wounds.
The little girl was very smart and didn't ask any questions. She simply said, "From now on, I belong to you, Fairy. My mother said I should listen to you."
Xiao Bai really liked Wang You and immediately pulled her towards the kitchen. She then took out the dried fish they had prepared earlier and gave it to her. She also spat out two fist-sized luminous pearls from her mouth.
When Ye Ju caught a glimpse of this, she exclaimed that Xiao Bai was a spendthrift. "Those are my favorites, my sister's favorites! Giving luminous pearls to everyone you meet? This is outrageous, I need to talk to you about this later." It was also enough to show how much Xiao Bai liked Wang You. In her human form, Xiao Bai was about the same age as Wang You, and they could play together well.
The little girl's originally cool expression was also startled by Xiao Bai's lavish gift. She remembered her mother mentioning that one of her dowries, a luminous pearl, was given by her maternal grandfather, but it was lost. Since then, Xiao Wang You had a wish: when she grew up, she would definitely buy a luminous pearl for her mother.
Holding the luminous pearl, Xiao Wang You cried and laughed. She now had a luminous pearl, but her mother was gone. In her small world, she always thought she had plenty of time to grow up, enough time to become strong enough to protect her mother. Uncle Zhang had said that she also had water and wood spiritual roots, with excellent talent.
Xiao Wang You suddenly hugged Xiao Bai and burst into tears. Ye Ju paused while chopping vegetables, then continued cutting as if nothing had happened. It was good that she could cry; after crying, she would smile.
In the time it took to drink a cup of tea, Zhao Yang Zi had skewered a string of fish. Good heavens, he was using his Fire Cloud Spear to skewer fish. This was the fifth-ranked divine spear on the Ten Great Weapons list.
The Qilin beside him was not so fortunate. The Fire Qilin was afraid of water. It had been doused by Xiao Bai's water earlier, almost extinguishing its fire. Now, Ye Ju was asking it to catch fish in the sea, threatening to withhold its meal if it didn't. Its master wasn't helping it either, so it had to paddle with a dog-paddle stroke. It failed to catch any fish and was flipped over by the waves several times, even drowning.
Zhao Yang Zi felt utterly humiliated. He didn't rescue it immediately but deliberately let it sink into the water, making it drink a few mouthfuls of salty seawater.
As a result, lying weakly on the deck, it was stepped on by Chi Zhu, who was passing by. The Qilin then started vomiting profusely. Wasn't the salty seawater bitter?
Normally, the water spider Chi Zhu would never dare to provoke the divine beast Qilin. But now that it had bullied Lord Xiao Bai and was so weak, it would be a waste not to step on it a few times, given how many legs its mother had given it.
Ye Ju heard the commotion and, as she brought out the ingredients, she found the drowned-dog Qilin amusing.
"Fellow Daoist Zhao, your little dog's mess, you are responsible for cleaning it up... otherwise, no food for you."
Zhao Yang Zi deeply regretted letting the Qilin out of its spiritual pet bag. It was a complete embarrassment!
Upon hearing that it might not get any food, the Qilin immediately sprang up and used a purification spell to clean itself. It then transformed into a boy of about fifteen years old, similar in age to A You, but with a bruised and swollen face that made him unrecognizable even standing right in front of you.
With so many people and beasts, they decided to dine on the front deck. They used four purple bamboo basins for the grilled fish and set up a barbecue grill, skewering various ingredients. This was done by Xiao Bai and Wang You together. Finally, A You also came to help. The three of them skewered a whole bucket of ingredients, a balanced mix of meat and vegetables.
It was no joke that they had purchased supplies from Pearl City. The spiritual ring space provided preservation, making it even better than a refrigerator. With two full spiritual rings, they had enough food for ten years. Ye Ju's purse had become significantly lighter.
Only those who had eaten Ye Ju's cooking would never forget it. The two spiders didn't eat cooked food, but after a taste, they exclaimed, "So fragrant!"
The Fire Qilin, using its clumsy chopsticks to grill fish, tasted the flavor but couldn't pick it up, and its speed was slow. Seeing Xiao Bai and the others skillfully using chopsticks, and the grilled fish on the table constantly decreasing, it panicked. It grabbed a purple bamboo basin, transformed into its true form with a whoosh, and with a wide-mouthed gulp, swallowed everything. It didn't care about fishbones; it could chew through rocks, so why fear fishbones?
The Qilin felt unsatisfied. It coiled the purple bamboo basin with its tongue. Suddenly, the air fell silent for three seconds. Only then did it feel the deadly gaze: Xiao Bai, Ye Ju, Zhao Yang Zi... all were glaring at it. Sensing something was wrong, it immediately took to the sky and fled.
Ye Ju was furious. She was just starting to enjoy her meal...
Xiao Bai was also angry. It had just spotted the fish's belly, the most tender meat...
Zhao Yang Zi was expressionless... He had his eye on the fish's tail...
All gone...
"Xiao Bai, beat it!" Ye Ju egged her on.
"Hmph, you stinking dog, stealing my fish, you're asking for a beating..."
Xiao Bai directly transformed into its true form and chased after it.