Chapter 45 When did you two start holding hands behind my back? ...

I slept well all night.

When Bai opened his eyes, he saw that Zhong Jiuli had already gotten up and was sitting around a round table chatting with Liu Xianyue and Alian.

"Good morning~" she rubbed her eyes, got out of bed, and greeted casually.

"Good morning, my little one~" Jiao Jiao waved her paws enthusiastically in response.

Bai walked over to the small round table, picked up a teacup, and gulped it down. She then let out a soft sigh and asked, "What are you talking about?"

Instead of answering, Liu Xianyue asked, "Little one, is the tea good?"

"Ah, it's alright, it's just the taste of tea?" Bai said, puzzled. She was a little thirsty after waking up and couldn't really taste anything. She smacked her lips and said, "It's quite fragrant and thirst-quenching."

"Pfft~" Liu Xianyue giggled, "Zhong Jiuli, did you hear that? The little tiger said the tea you drank smelled really good~"

Bai also lowered his eyes to look at Zhong Jiuli, and saw that her expression was calm and she did not seem angry.

She said nonchalantly, "I've even drunk the leftover porridge and eaten the leftover roast meat that Zhong Jiuli had finished. So what? A good child doesn't waste food."

Zhong Jiuli looked up at the self-righteous little tiger in front of her, feeling somewhat helpless.

Does this guy think that eating her leftovers is something to brag about?

“We were asking A-Lian about the Hidden Dragon Abyss,” Zhong Jiuli answered her earlier question.

"Oh, that one." Bai pulled up a round stool, sat down next to the group, took out the piece of white, jade-like bone from his storage ring, and placed it on the table.

"I examined it carefully last night. Among the second-in-command's miscellaneous belongings, this thing looks the most suspicious. Could it be the treasure they're desperately trying to steal back?"

Several people took turns studying it, but none of them could figure out what was going on. The bone was as smooth and lustrous as jade, and warm to the touch, but there was no spiritual energy fluctuation. When they input spiritual energy, there was no reaction. It seemed to be just an ordinary bone.

"Keep it for now." Liu Xianyue tossed the bone back to Bai Ye. "After we finish our business, we'll go check out the Hidden Dragon Abyss again."

Bai put away the bone fragments and turned to look at A-Lian. "The leader of the White Sand Gang saw you yesterday. From now on, you won't be able to stay on Storm Island anymore, will you?"

“It’s alright.” A-Lian smiled slightly. “They won’t make things difficult for small fry like us. At most, life will be a little tougher, but the island lord will protect us.”

"No way!" Bai shook his head and said, "You helped us, so we're friends. How can we let our friends be bullied in this wretched place? When we get back, we'll wipe that White Sand Gang out of the blue!"

Liu Xianyue gave her a flick on the forehead, annoyed. "Oh my~ Our young hero Bai is so arrogant! You've done your job and just leave like that, what are we going to do with that girl?"

Bai also covered his forehead, muttering unconvinced, "Then let's overturn everything, let A-Lian be the leader, and form a Siren Gang."

Ah Lian was so frightened that she quickly waved her hands, "I can't, I can't, my cultivation level is too low, I can't be the leader."

"Stop fooling around. Miss A-Lian, you can stay at Hai Tian Pavilion for now. I've already paid the full room fee. We'll discuss everything else when I return," Zhong Jiuli said decisively.

"Ah Lian, there are two older sisters in the next room. You can go play with them if you're bored. Wait for us to come back!" Bai continued to nag.

"Mmm!" Ah Lian nodded obediently, watching the three figures gradually disappear into the distance, a trace of loneliness flashing in her eyes.

The owner of Big White looks really amazing and beautiful; she can't compare to Big White in terms of skill and beauty.

"Come back safely..." Ah Lian whispered to the empty room.

......

The three people and the tortoise left the walled village. Liu Xianyue took out an ordinary little spirit boat and carried them into the hurricane.

Bai was still deeply shocked as she passed through the devastating storm once again. She leaned against the ship's railing, watching the raging hurricane and waves with Jiao Jiao.

“The Star Sand Sea isn’t too far from Storm Island.” Liu Xianyue held the jade slip in her palm and looked at the sea chart, saying, “If everything goes smoothly, we can arrive in three to five days.”

"What unexpected events could happen?" Bai asked casually. "We haven't seen any powerful sea monsters on our way to Dongzhou."

Liu Xianyue chuckled softly, "We took the coastal route before, which was naturally safer. Now that we've ventured deep into the heart of the East China Sea... haven't you noticed that the spiritual energy of heaven and earth here is much richer?"

Bai nodded, "It is indeed much richer in spiritual energy than the desolate state, but it seems there aren't many human cultivators in the Eastern State?"

Zhong Jiuli explained, "Dongzhou is mainly divided into three parts: sea monsters, sea beasts, and human cultivators. Human cultivators are the fewest, but due to the influx of cultivators from other states, they have gained the upper hand."

As the three talked, the spirit boat broke through the hurricane barrier and officially entered the Dongzhou sea area. Sunlight pierced through the clouds and shone down, making the azure sea surface sparkle.

Bai also pointed into the distance and exclaimed, "Look!"

At the horizon, a massive column of water shot into the sky, revealing the outline of a colossal underwater creature. Its size was comparable to that of a moving island.

"It's a whale!" Bai excitedly clung to the ship's side, staring intently at the whale spouting water.

Jiaojiao peeked out from under her clothes, waving her little hands excitedly: "What a big fish! How big of a pot would it take to cook it?"

Liu Xianyue couldn't help but chuckle, "Our Jiaojiao has quite the appetite, daring to even covet a tenth-tier demon?"

As she spoke, her hand gestures changed, and the spirit boat drew an arc in the air, far away from that dangerous sea area.

Bai watched the whale disappear into the distance and muttered to himself, "What a pity, it's the first time I've ever seen a whale spout water..."

“The vastness of the Eastern Continent Sea is beyond your imagination.” Zhong Jiuli reached out and pinched her little face. “Even if you sail the spirit boat day and night without stopping, it would probably take a hundred years to cross it. The dangers hidden along the way are beyond your imagination.”

Bai also took that hand and smiled brightly, "I know."

She gently shook their clasped hands, "I won't get carried away just because you're by my side."

Zhong Jiuli lowered her eyes and looked into the little tiger's bright eyes, which were filled with trust and dependence on her.

“However!” Bai Ye changed his tone, his eyes blazing with fighting spirit. “I won’t stay this weak forever. I will work hard to cultivate, become as strong as you, and then surpass you.”

Liu Xianyue chuckled: "Then our young hero Bai must hurry up and cultivate, after all, surpassing Sect Master Zhong is probably even more difficult than crossing the East Sea~"

After saying that, she noticed their intertwined hands. "Something's not right. When did you two start holding hands behind my back?!"

Bai was a little embarrassed by her gaze, so he pretended to be calm and let go of her hand. He turned around and leaned on the gunwale, pointing randomly at the schools of fish leaping out of the water in the distance, trying to change the subject, "This sea, it's really the sea~ and there's so much water!!"

Zhong Jiuli looked at her rambling nonsense and a smile appeared in her eyes. She really was a cowardly tiger with lustful thoughts but no guts.

The spirit boat sailed across the vast blue sea and sky, becoming a tiny dot of light, occasionally changing direction to avoid sea monsters that would pounce from underwater.

Four days passed in the blink of an eye.

The destination of this journey has finally been reached. When that dreamlike sea appeared on the horizon, Bai finally understood why this place was called Star Sand Sea.

Dozens of lush green islands are scattered like stars on the azure sea, and each island has a beach that sparkles with dazzling light on its perimeter.

Those grains of sand were not ordinary sand, but starlight sand containing a faint stellar power. These grains of sand refracted countless starlight under the sunlight, as if the entire Milky Way had been crushed and spread out in it, reflecting the hazy seven-colored glow in the sky, making it extremely beautiful.

“This…it really is true to its name!” Bai murmured.

Zhong Jiuli pointed to the largest island in the distance and said, "The Star Sand Sea is composed of twenty-eight islands, the largest of which is the main island, Tiankui Island."

"This Tiankui Island is huge! It looks like the other twenty-seven islands combined aren't even a tenth the size of Tiankui Island." Bai also felt that it was more like a continent than an island.

"Is the Sima family's spirit mine located here?"

"Not only the Sima family, but also the major families of Guzhou, as well as the major forces of other states, all own several spiritual vein mines in this area. However, over the past thousands of years, the major families have been exploiting the resources excessively, which has greatly diminished the spiritual energy of the Star Sand Sea."

“Thousands of years ago, Liu Xianyue and I traveled here. At that time, Xingsha Sea had not yet been extensively exploited. The rosy glow emanating from the islands could illuminate the entire sky. Around the archipelago, many spirit fish swam. The scenery was so magnificent that one would feel as if they had stepped into a fairyland.” Zhong Jiuli’s voice was filled with emotion.

Bai also found this somewhat laughable.

She recalled the world before she transmigrated, where humans fought tooth and nail for oil and minerals, and in this world of cultivation, cultivators plundered spiritual veins in the same way.

The accumulated power of nature over millions of years cannot ultimately withstand the greed of the human heart.

Bai also gazed at the ant-like figures entering and exiting the mine entrance in the distance, his voice so soft it was as if he were talking to himself, "Do you think... if we continue mining like this, one day, won't the spiritual energy of this world be depleted?"

Zhong Jiuli turned to look at her, seemingly surprised that this usually carefree little tiger would be pondering such profound questions.

Bai had no idea what Zhong Jiuli was thinking. If she did, she would definitely say, "I'm a girl who has received nine years of compulsory education, so naturally I know what non-renewable resources and sustainable development mean."

“Cultivators often say that they seize the creation of heaven and earth, but they forget that heaven and earth also have their limits,” Zhong Jiuli answered her earlier question.

"Hey, I'm talking to you guys!" Liu Xianyue squeezed in from the middle, putting her arms around both of their shoulders.

Her bright smile shone brightly in the sunlight. "Save such serious topics for when we get back and have drinks. Now, let's not forget why we're here!"

"Of course we're here to rob!" Bai immediately perked up. "Since it's going to be mined anyway, let's empty the Sima family's spirit mine! Shall we just rush down and rob it?"

Liu Xianyue rolled her eyes. "Such a crude method is not worthy of my, Liu's, style~"

She mysteriously beckoned with her finger, and the three heads huddled together whispering for a while.

Bai's eyes lit up immediately after hearing this. "Then let's split up?"

"It's settled then!" Liu Xianyue's eyes gleamed with excitement.

Zhong Jiuli sighed helplessly as she looked at the two eager individuals. She took out a white jade mask that gleamed with a faint light from her storage ring. "Put this on. This item can block divine sense from detecting you."

Bai also took a mask and put it on her face. The mask warmed to the touch and automatically conformed to the contours of her face. She shook her head from side to side to make sure the mask wouldn't fall off.

"I'm going first!" Bai shouted, leaning against the ship's side and suddenly leaning back, flying headfirst downwards.

"Be careful," Zhong Jiuli couldn't help but step forward and warn.

"Don't worry! With Jiaojiao here, the water is my home turf!" A muffled voice came through the mask and carried on the wind. The next second, her figure plunged into the shimmering sea like a fish.

Liu Xianyue patted Zhong Jiuli on the shoulder, "Don't worry, Little Tiger has been with us for so long, don't you know how good she is at fighting? She's always the one bullying others, when have you ever seen her suffer a loss?"

Zhong Jiuli frowned slightly as she looked at the gradually calming sea. "I'm worried that there might be high-level sea beasts nearby. You forgot, we encountered a dragon when we came here earlier."

"Then let's finish this quickly!" Liu Xianyue said excitedly.

......

Underwater.

Bai lay on Jiaojiao's golden turtle shell, experiencing the wonder of deep-sea diving. The surroundings were quiet and mysterious, with only the soft sound of water flowing past her ears.

"Wow, what a big fish! I want to eat it!" Jiao Jiao flapped her paws, her eyes wide open, staring straight ahead.

Not far away, a giant spirit fish swam leisurely, its entire body shimmering with a ghostly blue light, its scales as translucent as glass. It slightly tilted its head, its pale golden vertical pupils glancing at them, radiating an extremely fierce aura.

Bai swallowed hard and whispered, "Jiao, I feel like you might not be able to beat it!"

As she spoke, a string of fine bubbles escaped from her mouth and nose, gurgling and floating upwards.

Jiaojiao stared at the enormous back of the spirit fish, then shrugged and shrank back. "Never mind... I'm not hungry today, I won't eat."

After saying that, she decisively turned around and, carrying Bai, plunged headlong into the coral reefs next to them.

The fiery red coral reefs on the seabed resembled a burning forest, their branches shimmering with tiny, shimmering lights, and countless colorful little fish inhabited them. The intrusion of a person and a turtle disturbed this tranquility, and the fish scattered in all directions like fireworks.

"Phew, that was terrifying! I thought it was going to catch up. Luckily, it wasn't hungry," Bai said softly, patting his chest.

The aura emanating from that spirit fish was comparable to that of a Nascent Soul cultivator. In this deep sea, it was the fish's home ground, and she really didn't want to waste her energy fighting this big fish as soon as she entered the water.

"Hmph, if it dares to come any closer, I'll just open my big mouth and eat it up!" Jiao Jiao said defiantly. With that, she opened her big mouth, and dozens of spirit fish were instantly swallowed into her mouth.

"Tsk, it tastes really good! Yay! I love swimming in the sea. It's so big here, and there's so much food." Jiao Jiao's big eyes were filled with joy.

Bai Ye held a piece of coral in his hand, playing with it. The coral was fiery red all over, and it seemed that there was magma flowing inside. But when he broke it off and looked at it closely, he found that it was just an ordinary red crystal.

She grabbed Coral and poked Jiao Jiao's head, "Then you can stay in Dongzhou, don't go back to the Wilderness State, and eat your way to a big fat turtle here."

"No way, I want to stay with Yezai." Jiaojiao raised her head and looked back at Bai Ye.

Suddenly, with a muffled thud, Jiao Jiao, the entire turtle, crashed into a stone wall covered with barnacles and seaweed.

Her round head instantly retracted into her shell, leaving only her limbs thrashing about in the water.

Bai Ye was thrown out, tumbling three or four times in the water before regaining her balance. She swam back, grabbed Jiao Jiao's head, and gave her a good rub, scolding, "With driving skills like yours, I'll deduct twelve points from your license on the spot and make you retake your driving test, believe it or not!?"

"Hehe, I didn't notice!" Jiao Jiao chuckled sheepishly.

As the two were arguing, the water around them suddenly began to swirl strangely, and a powerful suction force came from ahead.

Bai was also taken aback. He looked up and saw that the stone wall was slowly opening up.

"Ah, Jiaojiao, run! It's a giant clam!" Bai shouted and quickly climbed onto Jiaojiao's back.

Jiaojiao frantically paddled with her four paws, her golden shell creating streaks of light in the water. However, the suction force grew stronger and stronger, and the surrounding seawater formed a terrifying whirlpool, encircling them completely.

"I refuse to believe it!" Jiao Jiao roared, and the golden patterns on the tortoise shell lit up. In the next instant, the two of them rushed into the wide-open mouth of the clam.

With a clang, the clam shell snapped shut, plunging the surroundings into darkness.

"Ye Zai~"

"I'm here!" Bai replied softly. The piece of coral she held in her hand emitted a dazzling red light in the darkness, illuminating the surroundings.

The moment Bai saw his surroundings, he almost laughed in exasperation. "You didn't deliberately get inside this clam just to come in and eat at the buffet, did you?"

"Mmm!" After swallowing the clam meat in her mouth, Jiao Jiao said innocently, "No, I just felt that there might be something good inside this clam, so I thought I'd bring you to see it."

As she spoke, she grabbed hard with her claws and dug out a handful of spirit pearls from under the clam's flesh. "Look, these sea spirit pearls are so pure. Wouldn't it be perfect for your cultivation?"

"You eat it yourself. We need to get out of here quickly. My breath-holding technique won't last much longer." Bai didn't take the spirit pearl from her hand, but instead looked around.

This must be the cavity of a clam, surrounded by sticky fleshy walls, beneath which grow numerous uneven fleshy growths.

In the corner, a protrusion emitting a faint light caught Bai Ye's attention. The light was different from the other spirit pearls, more restrained and purer.

"Jiaojiao, go and dig that bead out." Bai didn't want to do it herself; the flesh was covered in mucus, but Jiaojiao liked the smell anyway.

Jiaojiao resignedly moved to that corner, and with a flick of her claws, the fleshy wall broke open, revealing the crystal-clear spirit pearl inside.

"Huh?" Jiao Jiao let out a soft exclamation, picked up the spirit pearl to examine it. As a large tortoise, Jiao Jiao was extremely familiar with the fluctuations of water elemental power.

At this moment, the spirit pearl was radiating extremely pure water elemental power. "This seems to be a water-repelling pearl?"

"Hmm?" Bai also widened his eyes and looked at the water-repelling bead she was holding in her paw. This thing did look very similar to Liu Xianyue's wind-repelling bead, but that one was blue, while this one was transparent.

"Wow, I was just wondering how to get out of this giant clam's mouth when God gave us a water-repelling pearl."

Bai also grabbed the water-repelling pearl in his hand, released his spiritual power to sense it, and after confirming that he could use the Void Escape Technique, he smiled and said, "Ms. Long Jiaojiao's driver's license has been revoked by Officer Bai for driving illegally. Now, please welcome Ms. Long Jiaojiao to ride in Officer Bai's police car."

"What are you babbling about?" Jiao Jiao rolled her eyes.

"I told you to shrink your size, and I'll take you out, you stupid turtle." Bai also rolled his eyes.

"Oh." Jiao Jiao responded, her body shrinking to the size of a palm, and she flew into Bai Ye's arms in a flash.

The man and the turtle flashed and escaped from the old clam's mouth.

With the water-repelling pearl, the underwater world was no longer dangerous for Bai Ye. Her figure flashed quickly in the seawater, and after a few leaps, she entered the Sima family's mine directly from underwater.

......

As the sun gradually sinks below the horizon, the Xingsha Islands slowly light up with twinkling lights.

The miners, exhausted from a day's work, emerged in twos and threes from the deep mine shafts.

At each mine entrance stood a steward dressed in Sima family attire, holding a jade slip and counting the spirit stones each person handed over. If anyone handed over less, the steward only needed to snort, and the guards standing by would raise their whips and lash the miners.

The group included a hunched-over human elder and a sea monster girl with dull scales. All of them were bound by restrictive bracelets, their cultivation suppressed to the early stage of Qi Refining, consuming their long lives day after day in this dark and sunless mine like livestock.

A siren girl staggered due to exhaustion and was immediately lashed to her knees by the whip lashed out by the guard. Her thin clothes could not withstand the continuous lashes, and in a short while, the girl's entire back was covered with bloody welts.

"Today's quota is another ten percent short!" The steward's voice was like poison. "If you can't make up the difference by tomorrow, then you can expect to be chopped up and fed to my Cuiyu!"

Upon hearing the steward's words, everyone involuntarily shuddered. The jade mentioned by the steward was a seventh-order sea serpent, entirely emerald green, and a hundred feet long. If it were to eat freely, it could devour over a hundred people in one meal.

Several new miners looked at the beaten siren girl with pity, a sliver of humanity still lingering in their eyes. The veteran miners, however, were long since numb. This dazzling sea of ​​stardust was nothing but a magnificent cage, where countless innocent souls had been buried.

"What are you all standing here for? If you don't want to rest, go back to the mine and keep digging!" the foreman roared, snatching the whip from the guard and lashing it at the crowd.

"Crack!" The whip cracked in the air, and someone who couldn't dodge in time was immediately lashed out, his skin torn open.

Several siren girls gritted their teeth and rushed forward, shielding their injured companion with their bodies and forcibly pulling her out of the manager's attack range.

"Pah, a bunch of unlucky bastards." The steward spat, tossed the whip to the guard, and then picked up the storage bag to count the day's spoils.

He skillfully cut off a portion and stuffed it into his storage bag.

The guards tacitly averted their gaze, pretending not to see anything; this had become an unspoken rule on the island. Those who came here to be in charge were all important members of the Sima family. Although their cultivation talent was poor, their good family background allowed them to secure lucrative positions on Star Sand Island.

"You all better be careful..." The manager, rubbing his wildly twitching eyelids, swayed away with his large belly.

No sooner had he left than Liu Xianyue and Zhong Jiuli's figures silently disappeared into the heights of the mine.

The two women had witnessed the scene of the foreman disciplining the miners. They used their divine senses to scan several nearby mines and found that the situation was much the same.

The Sima family didn't care about the lives of low-level rogue cultivators at all. The cultivators who were captured to mine were either rogue cultivators or helpless demons.

Among them were many young children, barely ten years old, who were captured and brought here to mine.

"A prestigious family of cultivators has actually committed such a heinous act." Zhong Jiuli's voice was cold, and her eyes were filled with disgust.

"Get rid of them?" Liu Xianyue asked.

"Take care of them!" Zhong Jiuli said coldly, flipping her wrist to reveal a array flag in her palm.

With a casual wave of her hand, the array flags flew in all directions like shooting stars. As the flags fell, an invisible curtain of light enveloped the entire area within a radius of ten thousand miles.

"Today, we'll trap and beat them!"