If you want to go to the open sea, of course you can't just go directly like that.

Some supplies such as pills, spare magical artifacts, and flying magical artifacts need to be purchased.

"You can take a demon-hunting ship to the outer sea. It only costs 50 spirit stones to get the right to board, which will save you some trouble," Shui Zhongyue shared with Shenxian'er.

"A minor trouble?"

"Those blind cultivators who only know how to eat water demons, etc."

After about half an hour, we saw the dock at Humingfang.

Dispel the escape technique and switch to ordinary spells.

They entered the market, sold talismans, and received spirit stones.

I sold my storage bag along with my own, and then added 200 spirit stones to exchange for a five-element one.

Buy elixirs to replenish spiritual energy, treat injuries, detoxify, and so on;

Shui Wanglian bought another dugout canoe from Xu Ni, which can fly on the lake with the help of water vapor;

He bought talisman paper and ink, and thinking that he might be able to reach the Foundation Establishment stage in the outer lake, he also bought talisman skin and ink needed for second-tier talismans.

Buy books, a whole bunch of books, including talismans, foundation building tips, travelogues, and storybooks;

They received a message—a Golden Core cultivator who had previously practiced the "Ghost Escape Technique" and only went to a mortal town has been sent by the Azure Moon Sect to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a Foundation Establishment female cultivator.

Unusual.

A mere Foundation Establishment cultivator, living in the Lake Echoing Village where adventurers hunt demons, is dead. Under normal circumstances, the Azure Moon Sect wouldn't even ask about it.

Knowing this kind of news would be a waste of the sect's archives and jade slips.

But this time, not only was an investigation conducted, but a Golden Core cultivator was also dispatched, which was unusual to anyone.

Not daring to linger, the two spent some more spirit stones and boarded a demon-hunting ship called 'Canglang' that same day.

The demon-hunting ship was small, no more than a hundred meters long, and had three layers of formations, enough to cut through the waves and briefly resist a water demon in the Golden Core stage.

Most of the crew members are in the Qi Refining stage.

The captain is at the late Foundation Establishment stage, and there are three vice-captains: one at the mid-Foundation Establishment stage and two at the early Foundation Establishment stage.

There was one principal and three deputy principals, with only one being male in the early stages of Foundation Establishment.

In Wangyue Lake, a place dominated by water vapor and moonlight, women have an overwhelming advantage.

The boat traveled at an extremely high speed and encountered no attacks from bandits or water demons, taking half a day in a row.

"We're almost at the emerald green coral reef, everyone snap out of it!" a female first mate shouted from the mast.

"Yes!" the Qi Refining stage cultivators roared like sailors.

on deck.

"Emerald Coral Reef?" Fairy asked in confusion.

"You don't even know this?" A girl who was about the same age as Shen Xian'er spoke up. "The Emerald Coral Reef is the boundary between Qingyue Sect and Wangyue Lake. Once you cross the coral reef, you will be outside the Qingyue Sect's protective formation. Outside the protective formation is the outer lake."

The sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl glanced at Shenxian'er.

Seeing her beautiful face and the exquisite robes she wore, he felt a pang of jealousy and couldn't help but sarcastically remark, "You don't even know this? And you still come to the outer lake? You'll be food for the water demons sooner or later."

"Yiyi!" A middle-aged man who was talking to three others couldn't help but shout when he heard this.

He pulled the girl behind him, clasped his hands in a fist and said to the two of them, "I'm sorry, my daughter is unruly and has offended me greatly. I will definitely discipline her properly!"

"It's nothing, it's nothing," Shenxian'er waved her hands repeatedly.

The middle-aged man smiled apologetically, then turned and pulled the indignant girl away.

A gentle breeze blew by, and the fairy "heard" him whispering to the girl: "Yiyi, this time when you go to sea to meet your mother, you can't afford to make any mistakes. Don't cause any trouble."

"I didn't cause any trouble. I was just trying to be helpful by reminding her," the girl Yiyi argued.

"Was that really a well-intentioned reminder?"

"real!"

The middle-aged man sighed; he couldn't bear to lose his temper with his daughter.

Helplessly, I could only say, "Fine, consider this a well-intentioned reminder. But don't do it again, and it's best not to communicate with people, understand?"

"Oh." Yiyi knew when to stop.

Shenxian couldn't help but think of her parents.

She has almost no memory of Wangjia Village; her only memories of the village and the soil are of the terraced fields in Qingyuefang.

“Be careful,” Shui Zhongyue whispered. “Many water demons lurk at the boundary between the inner and outer lakes. Human cultivators have delicious flesh and abundant spiritual energy; the pills and magical artifacts carried in storage bags are also treasures for going to sea.”

Shenxian'er snapped out of her thoughts and hummed in agreement.

She looked out at the outer lake.

It was dusk.

The setting sun pierced through the clouds on the horizon, spreading a brilliant golden-red hue across the sky;

The waves on the lake surged in layers, stretching to the distant horizon beyond the reach of sight.

The crests of the waves, dyed by the setting sun, looked like gold being tossed about, or like the cold, gleaming tips of knives.