Chapter 47. The two pink beans in the eight tubes were washed clean and glistened by the rain...
"Smack!" A flick on the forehead shattered Bai Ye's budding heart.
"You little lecher, what you should be doing right now is meditating and regulating your breathing." Zhong Jiuli kept her word and decisively left.
Without his wife's loving embrace, Bai sat down cross-legged, ears drooping, looking dejected. Raindrops fell on her charred fur, nourishing her damaged body.
As the body circulates throughout the body, the charred outer layer gradually peels off, revealing the new skin underneath.
Bai also examined his own body and found that the spiritual energy flowing through his meridians was more condensed than before the tribulation, and the pale gold color on his bones was also more intense. In his dantian, on the small golden core, there were faint electric lights flowing, and each rotation emitted a faint rumble of thunder.
"Ha! I actually got it!" Bai shouted excitedly, eagerly transforming into human form to try out the newly acquired lightning power.
She spread her five fingers, and a small ball of dark black lightning slowly condensed in her palm. This ball was far less powerful than the lightning emitted by the Primordial Thunder Dragon, but it still exuded a terrifying aura of destruction. An ordinary Golden Core cultivator would definitely not be able to withstand this lightning strike.
"go!"
The moment the lightning ball left his hand, the world fell silent.
The next moment, with a loud bang, the low mountain in the distance that had miraculously survived the lightning tribulation was blasted into a crater hundreds of feet deep. Before the flying debris could fall, it was crushed into dust by the scattered lightning.
[Wow, Yezai is amazing!] Xiao Wang chimed in at the perfect moment.
Bai Ye looked down at his fair and tender palms and muttered softly, "It's quite powerful. Thunder magic truly lives up to its reputation as the most powerful and yang technique. Compared to this, the moves I learned before were a bit too gentle."
"Tsk tsk tsk, the little guy has really made something of himself!" Liu Xianyue's voice came from above, filled with barely concealed laughter. "That lightning ball was thrown with such precision, was it deliberately aimed at where my sister would land?"
Bai looked up at the two people standing in mid-air, and smiled adorably. "Zhong Jiuli, did you see that? Aren't I amazing?"
As soon as Zhong Jiuli opened her mouth, Liu Xianyue interrupted, "I saw it, I saw it, it's amazing! But I have a small question I'd like to ask Young Hero Bai: Is it customary for your White Tiger Clan to celebrate without clothes after passing through the tribulation?"
Bai belatedly looked down and saw her round little belly, still covered with a few glistening raindrops, trembling with each breath.
Two short, white legs, like freshly peeled lotus roots, tread on the muddy water.
She forgot that she had no clothes or fur after transforming back into human form!
"Ahhh! Liu Xianyue, you pervert, don't look!" Bai Ye instantly bristled, frantically covering his private parts, not knowing where to hide.
Liu Xianyue laughed so hard she almost fell over, tears welling up in her eyes: "Hahaha... Little guy, why are you covering yourself up? With your flat body, even if I showed it to you, I wouldn't look at you."
She straightened her back, tucked in her stomach, and ran her slender fingers down her impressive curves. "If you're going to look, you should look at someone like me~"
Zhong Jiuli stood expressionlessly between the two, her sleeves billowing out to completely cover Bai Ye.
"Hey!" Liu Xianyue stomped her foot in dissatisfaction. "Zhong Jiuli, why are you blocking the way? What's so interesting about this little bean sprout? If you block it like this, I'm going to look anyway!"
As she moved, Zhong Jiuli followed suit. With their combined cultivation levels, their afterimages filled the sky almost instantly.
Taking advantage of the situation, Bai also pulled out clothes from her storage ring, frantically putting them on while muttering to herself, "Tch, so what if she has big breasts? She's a tiger, you know. When she grows up, she'll have eight breasts..."
Suddenly, an image of a row of... things growing on her chest popped into her mind, and Bai shuddered with a chill. She shook her head, trying to shake the image out of her mind.
"Forget it, it would be too strange to grow up to look like an eight of bamboo." Bai said, neatly fastening his belt, patting his flat chest, and letting out a long sigh. "Let it be like this. What does a child need to have a curvy figure? He'll naturally develop it when he grows up."
Upon seeing that she was fully dressed, the two who had been locked in combat in mid-air stopped simultaneously and gracefully descended.
Zhong Jiuli glanced at Liu Xianyue and said indifferently, "Even a three-year-old child should know not to look at what is improper."
Liu Xianyue pursed her lips, ignoring her words, and instead leaned close to Bai Ye's ear and whispered, "Little one, don't be discouraged. You're still young, there's still time to improve. I have a breast enhancement recipe here, it only costs 10,000 spirit stones, do you want one?"
The image of "eight of bamboo" was still in Bai's mind, and he shook his head with a bit of nausea, "No, no, no, I'll just leave it like this, it's fine."
"Liu! Xian! Yue!" Zhong Jiuli's voice had a hint of gritted teeth.
"Fine, fine, I won't say anything more. Your little brat is so precious, you won't even let me look at him or say anything to him." Liu Xianyue raised her hands in surrender.
Bai didn't bother with this crazy woman and looked around.
After the rain, the scorched earth has been reborn, and a few houses that have not collapsed stand quietly in the distance.
"Huh? The entire Sima family is dead?" Bai Ye's eyes lit up, his voice filled with barely concealed excitement. "Does that mean we can go clean up the battlefield now?"
"I've already looted everything." Liu Xianyue brandished the storage ring in her hand, her eyes full of smugness. "While you two were being all lovey-dovey in the rain, I, your older sister, have already checked every single valuable item!"
"You didn't search those houses?" Bai asked, still determined.
"Which cultivator doesn't carry their storage bag close to their body?" Liu Xianyue waved her hand dismissively. "What good stuff could possibly be in the room?"
Before she could finish speaking, Bai had already dashed off like a gust of wind. As she ran, her figure seemed to grow taller against the wind, transforming in the blink of an eye from a little toddler into her previous slender form.
"First come, first served!" Bai Ye's voice carried from afar, and as she spoke, her figure disappeared into the nearest house.
"Hey, wait for me!" Liu Xianyue quickly chased after him, genuinely worried that she might have missed something good.
Zhong Jiuli looked at the two hurried figures, shook her head helplessly, and finally followed after them.
Bai opened several doors in one go, and sure enough, the rooms were empty, containing only ordinary items such as rough porcelain bowls and plates and old wooden beds.
But since she was already there, she still had to search everything. She searched each room one by one until the last one. As soon as she pushed open the door, she saw a dusty gray storage bag lying alone on the table.
"Tsk~ There are still some left over!" Bai raised an eyebrow, stepped into the room, grabbed the storage bag, and released his divine sense to probe inside.
"Hiss!" Bai also gasped, turned around abruptly and shouted, his excitement almost overflowing, "Zhong Jiuli, Liu Xianyue, come quick!"
"What's wrong? Did you find a treasure?" Liu Xianyue's voice came from afar, accompanied by hurried footsteps.
"We're rich!" Bai Ye exclaimed as he came out of the room carrying a storage bag, bumping into the two people in the process. "So many spirit stones! So many spirit stones! I can't even count them all!"
Liu Xianyue took the storage bag from her hand, and her eyebrows rose as soon as she probed it with her divine sense. The bag was more than ten times larger than an ordinary storage bag, and the spirit stones inside were piled up like a mountain.
"No wonder," she muttered to herself.
I had picked up many storage bags before, but only found some scattered spirit stones. I assumed that the bags containing the spirit stones had been destroyed by the lightning tribulation, or that the Sima family had already transported the spirit mine away.
It seems that all the spirit mines the Sima family dug this year are probably here! It's likely that they were all taken before they could be sent back to Guzhou.
Liu Xianyue weighed the heavy bag in her hand and casually tossed it to Zhong Jiuli, "Here, your little brat found this. You keep it for her."
Zhong Jiuli did not accept the bag of spirit stones, but handed it directly to Bai Ye, saying, "Now that you have formed your core, it's time to learn to be independent."
Bai Ye chuckled as she hugged the storage bag. She had never seen so many spirit stones in all the time she had been here since she transmigrated.
However, she didn't keep it all for herself. Instead, she divided the spirit stones into three portions, saying, "Everyone who sees it gets a share! I'm not the kind of person who eats alone. I've said it before, follow me and you'll live a life of luxury."
Liu Xianyue reached out and poked her forehead, "Pah! You little tiger, you've got quite the nerve. If anyone's going to be a gangster, it'll be you following your older sisters."
Zhong Jiuli smiled slightly and silently accepted the spirit stones. To her, the little tiger's sentiment was far more precious than the spirit stones themselves.
"Let's go!" Bai waved his hand spiritedly. "It's time to go and meet that Sea Dragon Gang."
The three boarded the spirit boat, and Zhong Jiuli flicked her sleeve, releasing the thousands of miners who had been previously confined. She did nothing more than remove the restraining bracelets from their wrists.
She knew that the people she had saved today were just a drop in the ocean. Those powerful families had long been deeply entrenched in the heart of this island, and if the two of them were to forcibly sever these chains of interest, they would likely incur public wrath.
What happens next is up to them.
They can save people temporarily, but not forever. Ultimately, these people still need to save themselves.
On the scorched earth, the miners, now free, awoke bewildered for a long time, wondering what had happened, why the Sima family had disappeared, and why they were sleeping outside the mine.
Looking at the mine that had been baptized by lightning, a hint of doubt gradually appeared in everyone's eyes. Could it be that a lightning tribulation descended from the sky and killed those bastards from the Sima family?
The crowd gradually became noisy, and many people immediately wanted to escape, to leave this man-eating island, and to leave this sea area.
"Fellow Daoists!" an elderly cultivator with graying temples shouted, "Heaven has taken pity on us and sent down a tribulation of lightning to rescue us from that dark and sunless mine. Now that the restrictions have been broken, if we leave now and live a life of ignominy, how will we overcome this inner demon when we seek immortality in the future?"
Her voice wasn't loud, but with the enhancement of spiritual power, it reached everyone's ears clearly.
The miners touched their wrists in unison, where there were scars left by years of wearing restrictive bracelets. They thought of the dark and sunless mine, the whips that came flying through the air, and their comrades who never made it out of the mine. Their eyes burned with rage.
"Overthrow the powerful clans!" a cultivator shouted.
"Overthrow the powerful clans!" More cultivators shouted, raising their fists in response, their eyes blazing with fighting spirit.
"Kill those scoundrels!" The crowd was indignant.
The fleeing cultivators stopped in their tracks, and many of them asked themselves inwardly: if they just ran away like this, would they be able to accept it in the future? What should they do when they are plagued by inner demons?
The elder cultivator spoke again, “Fellow Daoists, do not be anxious. We have been suppressed by that restrictive bracelet for a long time. I know the anger burning in your hearts, but at this moment, what we should do is conserve our energy.”
Upon hearing this, the hot-blooded cultivators calmed down once more. They scattered, searching for a suitable place to cultivate in seclusion, waiting for their cultivation to recover before launching their attack on the powerful clans.
The three were unaware of what had happened on the island. The spirit boat pierced through the clouds, carrying them away from the main island of Xingsha. Bai lay on the ship's railing, with Jiaojiao nestled in her arms, as they looked down at the archipelago together.
Although this place is called an archipelago, each island is actually quite far apart, and even by spirit boat, it would take most of a day to cross them.
However, compared to flight times that often take several days or even dozens of days, half a day is indeed a very short time.
As evening approached, the spirit boat finally arrived above Tian Shu Island.
“Hey kid, Tian Shu Island is so lively!” Jiao Jiao said, pointing to the dock below.
"It's so lively, completely different from the main island." Bai Ye's gaze fell on Tian Shu Island below.
Unlike the main island, which is full of pits and mines, the coastline of Tian Shu Island is dotted with lights, and the dock is bustling with people as many fishing boats return to the dock at dusk.
The cries of seafood vendors mingled with the sea breeze, drifting up to the clouds and reaching the ears of the few people. Deeper in, in the village where wisps of smoke rose from chimneys, children could be seen chasing and playing, a scene of tranquility and peace.
"Strange, the two islands are only half a day's journey apart, how can they be so different?" Bai frowned and muttered to himself. "Logically speaking, shouldn't the island be in a state of misery with a young gang leader who forcibly takes women as his concubines?"
"You don't believe me when I call you a silly tiger? Do you think all bad people have the word 'bad' written on their faces? Whether someone is human or ghost, you have to peel off their skin to see them clearly, right?" Liu Xianyue chuckled and waved her hand to put away the spirit boat.
The three avoided the bustling dock and silently disappeared into the dense forest.
"Should we split up?" Bai suggested. "One of us can go to the city to investigate the Haijiao Gang, while the other can go find the village where the Chu sisters live?"
Zhong Jiuli chuckled and reached out to ruffle Bai Ye's hair. "Our young hero Bai Ye has learned to plan before he acts now?"
"That's good, much smarter now," Liu Xianyue praised in return.
The two women's praise was very sincere. In their past training, they had also encountered scions of noble families who wielded swords and acted chivalrously. Those people always relied on their extraordinary background and high cultivation level, and would attack without asking why when they encountered injustice.
When it's discovered that an innocent person has been wrongly accused, all they get is a dismissive "misunderstanding." Some might offer some compensation, but most simply fly away on their swords, leaving behind a mess.
In comparison, the little tiger is indeed much stronger. With her current combat power, it wouldn't be too difficult for her to sweep through the entire Tian Shu Island, but she didn't do so.
Bai was a little shy because of their sudden praise. She said somewhat awkwardly, "I'm not that smart, am I? Isn't this just a normal procedure?"
"Ye Zai is the best!" Jiao Jiao poked her head out from her arms and praised loudly.
Liu Xianyue reached out and grabbed Jiaojiao's head, pulling her out of Bai Ye's arms. "Little thing, come with your sister to the city, so that your sister won't be all alone and helpless."
"Hey, hey, hey, save me! Someone's stealing my turtle!" Jiao Jiao shouted at the top of her lungs.
"Jiaojiao, you go with Sister Liu. She'll buy you some good food later." Bai waved his hand ruthlessly, completely disregarding his friend's life or death.
"Haha, Jiaojiao, come with me. That heartless little tiger doesn't want you anymore." Liu Xianyue laughed and turned to walk into the city with Jiaojiao.
The two stood there watching Liu Xianyue's figure disappear into the distance. After the twilight swallowed her figure, Bai immediately took Zhong Jiuli's hand and intertwined their fingers.
"Let's go, let's go see the fishing village~" She shook their clasped hands, her eyes shining like they were filled with starlight.
Zhong Jiuli looked down at their intertwined fingers, her voice tinged with helplessness, "Do we need to hold hands like this to gather information?"
"Of course we need it!" Bai leaned closer, seemingly unconvinced. "We've just arrived here and don't know anyone. What if we get separated?"
She leaned very close, her warm breath brushing against Zhong Jiuli's ear as she spoke, causing her jade-like earlobe to blush slightly.
Zhong Jiuli raised her hand and placed it on that head, pushing her away from her. "Let's go."
"Let's go." Bai chuckled twice, took his wife's hand, and walked out of the woods.
Moonlight filtered through the shadows of the trees, casting long, dappled shadows on the two figures as they walked side by side.
Bai deliberately slowed her pace, and her clasped hands became restless, her fingertips lightly brushing against the other's palm. She enjoyed the feeling of walking hand in hand with Zhong Jiuli.
"Stop messing around." Zhong Jiuli closed her hand, firmly restraining the mischievous hand to block the constant tingling and itchy sensation.
"Oh my, Zhong Jiuli, why are you holding my hand so tightly? Are you afraid I'll be kidnapped by a girl from a small fishing village?" Bai Ye's words were rather shameless.
Zhong Jiuli thought of the girls she had taken in, as well as the few girls in the tribe who were clamoring to marry her, and a glint of light flashed in her eyes. "You can give it a try."
His voice was slightly low, carrying a dangerous undertone.
Bai suddenly felt a chill on the back of her neck. She rubbed her neck and said, "How could I be kidnapped so easily? I am the young chief of the White Tiger Tribe. Only the village chief's daughter could kidnap me."
"Heh~" Zhong Jiuli chuckled, knowing that this little guy was talking nonsense, she played along, "I didn't expect that Young Master Bai would be so particular about marrying someone of equal social standing?"
"It's not necessarily a bad match if we're not from the same social class. The key is the person. When I was a child, a fortune teller said that my future partner should be surnamed Zhong."
"Oh? Which fortune teller is this, who can even predict the name of your future partner?"
Bai chuckled, "It was a fortune teller named Wang Cuihua. She was incredibly accurate. The first time she met me, she said that my future Daoist partner would definitely be a woman who loved to wear white and whose surname was Zhong."
"Why does it have to be a bell?" Zhong Jiuli looked at her with a gentle smile, her eyes sparkling.
"Huh~?" Bai also opened his mouth, wondering why his wife's questions were always beyond his comprehension.
Her dumbfounded expression amused Zhong Jiuli, who chuckled and glossed over the question she didn't yet know how to answer, "Let's go, it'll be too late for the villagers to rest."
Bai was stunned as she was led out of the woods by the hand. She felt like she had missed something. Why did the conversation suddenly end?
The atmosphere was so good just now, I should have taken the opportunity to confess my feelings.
That doesn't seem right either. Wouldn't confessing directly seem too insincere? If I really wanted to confess, I should have prepared a bouquet of flowers and chosen a beautiful place, not some dark, gloomy forest like this.
Lost in thought, the two had already left the dense forest.
Not far away is a small fishing village. It is dinner time, and wisps of smoke are rising from the chimneys of each household, filling the air with the fresh aroma of stewed fish and shrimp.
Several little children with pigtails sticking up in the air were squatting at the doorway, holding bowls bigger than their faces, slurping up sea crabs from the evening, their cheeks puffed out like little hamsters.
When two fairy-like sisters suddenly entered the village, the children stared at them with their big, bright black eyes, full of curiosity.
A little child mustered up the courage to come closer and asked in a childish voice, "Are you sisters fairies?"
Bai glanced at the cute little girl, squatted down to her eye level, and asked with a smile, "What's your name? How old are you?"
"My name is Liu Baobao, and I'm four years old!" the little girl answered softly. "Do you want to eat steamed crab? My mother's steamed crab is the most delicious crab in the world."
“Nonsense! My mother’s stir-fried shrimp is the best!” another child shouted, carrying a large bowl.
"No, my family's grilled fish is the best!" another snotty-nosed kid shouted.
A group of children were arguing and bickering over whose food was the best. Children's happiness is always simple; a delicious candy or a tasty meal is all they need in life.
Liu Baobao glanced at her arguing friends, then reached out and hooked her little hand around Bai Ye's finger. "Come on, I'll take you home to eat crabs."
"If you give it to me, you won't have any left to eat," Bai teased the child.
"Then baby should eat just a little bit," Liu Baobao said, glancing reluctantly at the crab in her bowl.
Zhong Jiuli gently pinched Bai Ye's ear, seemingly scolding her for bullying a child.
Bai blinked innocently and mouthed, "Do you want to go home with the child?"
“Go.” Zhong Jiuli answered silently as well.
Liu Baobao excitedly led the two fairy sisters home. Before even entering the courtyard, she shouted through the gate, "Mother, come out quickly! I've brought two fairy sisters home!"
"Baby, what are you yelling about?" A young woman with tanned skin walked out of the courtyard after hearing the voice. After she shouted, she noticed the two people following behind her daughter and immediately gave a shy and timid smile.
"Hello, ladies." He spoke softly, as if afraid of disturbing someone.
Bai's gaze fell on the person in front of him. The person looked to be in his early twenties, with a simple and honest smile, white teeth, and a thin build.
Zhong Jiuli nodded in return, "Hello, sorry to bother you."
"Baby, quickly take your sisters inside for dinner," the woman said to the child, her gaze lowered, not daring to look at the two of them.
Upon hearing her mother's words, Liu Baobao immediately jumped up like a joyful sparrow, her little hand tightly gripping Bai Ye's index finger, as if afraid that this beautiful fairy sister would run away.
As she pulled the person towards the courtyard, she looked up at them and said in a childish voice, "Sister, let me tell you, once you've eaten the crabs my mother makes, you definitely won't want to leave."
Bai let the little girl pull her into the courtyard. Looking down, she saw the two little buns on the top of Liu Baobao's head swaying with each step. She couldn't help but reach out and poke them, which made Liu Baobao giggle.
Speaking of which, Ayu also loves to wear two cute pigtails. I wonder how she is now. She should be a bit older now, since she's been at the Heavenly Sword Sect for over a year.
Zhong Jiuli lagged behind, watching the two figures, one large and one small, ahead of her. Her gaze swept over the simple yet tidy farmhouse courtyard. Fishing nets drying on the bamboo fence were still dripping water, and a pile of unprocessed seashells lay in the corner, gleaming faintly in the night.
In the corner of the courtyard, there was a stone table with several bowls of steamed seafood and a small bowl of brown rice on it.
"Please have a seat, ladies." The woman picked up her apron and wiped the already clean stone bench, her voice a little reserved. "We don't have much to offer in the fishing village, just some fresh seafood that was caught today."
Before the two could reply, Liu Baobao had already nimbly climbed onto the stone bench, her short legs dangling in the air as she pushed the bowl over like a treasure, saying, "Sister, try it quickly."
Bai also reached out and grabbed a big, bright red crab, laughing, "Then I won't be polite."
"Oh, please don't be so polite," the woman said with an awkward, sheepish smile.
Bai also noticed that she seemed to be poor at socializing and appeared somewhat uneasy.
"Don't be too reserved," Bai advised, his attention completely drawn to the crab in his hand.
As she cracked open the crab shell, a fresh and fragrant aroma wafted out. She carefully picked out the crab meat, put it in a small bowl, and pushed it in front of Zhong Jiuli. While working, she kept talking.
"To tell you the truth, my sister and I came to Tian Shu Island today to look for someone, but we got lost in these mountains and forests and happened to come to your village. So, we've shamelessly come here to ask for a meal."
The woman's expression softened slightly upon hearing this. "I see." Her gaze swept over the two young ladies. "Do you two have a place to stay tonight? I have a spare room in the west wing of my house. Although it's rather simple, if you don't mind..."
"No problem, no problem at all. We just need a place to stay. We're not picky people; a roof over our heads is all we need," Bai readily agreed.
"Please enjoy your meal, I'll go tidy up the house first." The woman said and left, very decisively, and Bai couldn't stop her.
"Sister, don't worry about it." Liu Baobao said, prying open the crab claws with her little hands. "My mother doesn't like to eat at the table. We can eat on our own."
Bai also reached out and pinched the little girl's chubby cheeks, pretending to be serious and said, "You little ungrateful thing, your mother is busy running around, and you're just sitting here eating happily."
Zhong Jiuli couldn't help but laugh at this scene. When this little tiger was at home, didn't it also lie sprawled out all day, waiting for Bai Shu to cook the food and bring it to it?
Now they have the nerve to lecture other people's children.
"What are you laughing at?" Bai asked, puzzled.
Zhong Jiuli smiled slightly but did not answer. Instead, she picked up her bamboo chopsticks, took a small piece of snow-white crab meat, and put it in her mouth, chewing slowly.
The crab meat was indeed fresh and sweet.
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