Spirit Pearl
Zhang Zitao's cries for help made Ruan Qingyu's ears twitch slightly, but she didn't intend to take Zhang Zitao's life for the time being.
Having heard about Chen Tianfeng's head all the way, Ruan Qingyu decided to save this worthless senior brother. If she could find out more information, it wouldn't be too late to kill him later.
Thinking this, Ruan Qingyu raised her hand and pointed to where Zhang Zitao was. Immediately, two firebirds flew out from the fire wall that was protecting her and flew towards Zhang Zitao's location.
Several birdsongs rang out, followed by a large burst of flames illuminating the deep sea. Completely unaffected by the seawater, they even generated a large amount of water vapor.
Lü Liangke felt the dark seawater in front of her gradually boiling, and what had been shivering from the cold now felt somewhat warm.
The two firebirds swiftly intercepted the tentacles that were entangled around Zhang Zitao, instantly clearing away the seawater that had been obscured by the tentacles.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Zhang Zitao swam quickly toward Ruan Qingyu.
His face turned pale, and his lips trembled for a long time before calming down. After his thoughts returned, he realized that Ruan Qingyu had saved him, and his expression stiffened.
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Ruan." Zhang Zitao's voice was so soft it was barely audible; only a cultivator with keen hearing and sharp eyesight could hear it clearly.
In response, Lü Liangke finally saw through this Senior Brother Zhang. No matter how tough he had been before, he still needed Qingyu's help. Suddenly, he realized that the current situation was not about working together as a team, but rather that Ruan Qingyu was carrying the two of them alone.
Thinking this through, Lü Liangke made up her mind to gradually distance herself from this Senior Brother Zhang after she left, perhaps because the level of cultivation did not necessarily indicate how powerful the other party really was.
Ruan Qingyu was unaware that her actions created a stark contrast with Zhang Zitao, instantly making Lü Liangke, who hadn't valued Zhang Zitao much to begin with, realize the difference between the two.
When Ruan Qingyu tried to persuade Lü Liangke to stay away from the other party, she realized that she had only said a few words and Lü Liangke had agreed immediately.
“Fellow Daoist Zhang, you’re too kind. It’s only right for fellow disciples to help each other. We can’t stay here any longer. Let’s return to the sea first and then discuss other matters,” Ruan Qingyu said, pointing to the sea.
Seeing that Ruan Qingyu's attitude was similar to before, or even much gentler, Zhang Zitao's initial feeling of being humiliated immediately improved; at least he no longer felt ashamed.
A hunch was that their relationship seemed to have progressed further? It seemed that this Fellow Daoist Ruan was a soft-hearted person who liked to meddle in other people's business.
It seemed that the day he would sell her to Chen Tian was just around the corner. As Zhang Zitao's thoughts raced, his expression showed even greater gratitude towards Ruan Qingyu.
“It seems that what Fellow Daoist Ruan said earlier was correct. This place is indeed dangerous. The compass must have been influenced by external forces to guide us here.” Zhang Zitao looked at the tentacles still baring their fangs outside the wall of fire and couldn’t help but feel lingering fear.
Nodding slightly, Ruan Qingyu floated upwards towards the surface of the sea. But the tentacles wouldn't give up, seemingly determined to pursue the three of them relentlessly.
"Let's head uphill first; this should be the monster's territory." If we get away from here, the monster should stop attacking.
As the seawater pressure decreased, the light gradually brightened. Only then did Ruan Qingyu realize that beneath countless tentacles, a gigantic, deep blue monster was displaying a pair of enormous blue eyes.
Its eyes gleamed as it stared at them, its fiery blue beastly pupils revealing no emotion. But the tentacles persisted, relentlessly pursuing and biting Ruan Qingyu and the others, even as its flames melted them.
Lu Liangke, who had been on tenterhooks the whole way, gritted her teeth. This was the first time she had encountered such a troublesome monster.
Ruan Qingyu used her left hand to create a ring of red bubbles around Lü Liangke, enveloping her.
He then lowered his voice and said, "Liang Ke, it seems we have to deal with this monster, otherwise we won't have any peace as long as we're still in this sea area."
Nodding, Lü Liangke couldn't speak, but the worry and determination in her eyes were evident. She clasped her hands together, reversed the hand seal, and a long, light blue whip was drawn from her palms.
Seeing Lü Liangke's posture as he prepared to fight, Ruan Qingyu felt a warmth in her heart. Her body, which had been moving towards the sea, stopped, and her voice, unaffected by the water, reached Zhang Zitao's ears.
“This monster has probably set its sights on us. Fellow Daoist Zhang, why don’t you join forces with Liang Ke and me to kill it?”
With a dark look in his eyes, Zhang Zitao nodded at the composed Ruan Qingyu and Lü Liangke, who was holding a long whip, but did not make the first move.
Seeing this, Ruan Qingyu didn't care about his actions. The flames in her palm leaped towards the center of the tentacles as if they were on land, without any impact.
The numerous tentacles seemed to know that Ruan Qingyu was going to attack his core, and gave up the opportunity to continue surrounding them.
They all intertwined, vaguely forming a black wall to block the scorching flames from entering.
The already turbulent seawater now boiled completely. So much so that Lü Liangke, who was a few steps behind, had to raise a water curtain to quickly cool down the area around him after severing another obstructing tentacle with his whip.
The originally black tentacles instantly turned into a red liquid on the outermost layer, and then into black charcoal. It was only after being melted down in an instant that it completely lost all life.
Behind him, Zhang Zitao's voice came: "Fellow Daoist Ruan, attack freely, I will cover you."
He said he would help, but in reality, he shooed away the tentacles around him and carefully distanced himself. He still remembered how the seawater had been boiling.
After a brief pause, the tentacles, which had been relentlessly drained by Ruan Qingyu, seemed to tremble as if an earthquake had struck the seabed. Countless waves crashed towards Ruan Qingyu, and if she couldn't withstand these waves, she would likely be shattered to pieces by the turbulence.
In a rare instance of underwater combat, Ruan Qingyu frowned. She had initially only used the flames generated by the Fire Phoenix Palm to gradually draw a wisp of Phoenix Divine Fire from her dantian.
Just as she was about to unleash the Phoenix Divine Fire to test the opponent's strength, the Wutong Qin, which had been quiet in her dantian, suddenly flickered.
Then, ignoring Ruan Qingyu's slightly surprised expression, he appeared before her.
Ruan Qingyu's eyes flickered slightly, but she did not reject the subtle mental communication from the Wutongqin. After understanding the Wutongqin's meaning, she held the Wutongqin in her hands.
Golden-red flames ignited at her slender fingertips, setting the strings ablaze. A sweep of her fingers across the strings instantly reversed the tide of the sea.
Below were waves ripples caused by demonic beasts, while above, waves of sonic waves suddenly appeared centered on Ruan Qingyu.
It charged straight at the distant monster, its target unwavering: the monster's core, well-protected beneath its countless tentacles.
"Thump—thump—thump—" After three sounds, the tentacles that had been flailing about suddenly stopped.
In the blink of an eye, all the tentacles lost their source of power and sank to the bottom of the sea.
At the very center, the beast's eyes, which had originally emitted blue flames, dimmed completely, and the bizarre beast that had devoured countless deep-sea monsters vanished.
Ruan Qingyu's heart trembled, and she put away her zither. Only then did she realize that her spiritual energy had been completely depleted after that attack.
With a straight smile, Ruan Qingyu quickly took out a few spirit stones and crushed them to replenish her spiritual power.
Fortunately, after the tentacle monster was dealt with, the seabed became completely calm.
"Qingyu!" Lü Liangke suddenly exclaimed, pointing to the sea below.
Below the three people, the seabed seemed to be activated by the power above, and gradually, specks of light appeared.
Ruan Qingyu couldn't help but look over, wondering what was going on. A tiny 'star' flew towards her.
Sensing the harmlessness of the starlight, Ruan Qingyu couldn't help but reach out and take it.
My gaze slid down, and I realized that it was actually a bead.
Considering their purpose in entering this Liaohai Secret Realm, Ruan Qingyu couldn't help but ask, "Could this be the Spirit Pearl?"
It was supposed to be just a small underwater monster spirit pearl, so why did it turn out to be such a huge monster? A thought crossed my mind: perhaps the compass wasn't wrong.
They were too late; all the demonic beasts had already been swallowed by the same beast that had just attacked them. Even the spirit pearls that should have been extracted were consumed along with it.
Before they could digest these spiritual pearls, they encountered Ruan Qingyu and her two companions.
Thinking of this, Ruan Qingyu swam downwards. After confirming that the starlight was indeed spirit pearls, Ruan Qingyu tossed out a storage bag.
He collected all the spirit orbs he saw into his storage bag, and the starlight vanished instantly. Zhang Zitao, who was still secretly collecting spirit orbs, paused, realizing he had only taken a few.
Recalling the scene of Ruan Qingyu's attack, Zhang Zitao only dared to feel dissatisfied in his heart, while maintaining an indifferent and generous demeanor on the surface.
"Friend Ruan, your methods are impressive; your power should not be underestimated." Zhang Zitao approached with a smile.
At this point, Lü Liangke completely looked down on Zhang Zitao. After all, they were both at the Golden Core stage, but this senior brother had accomplished nothing.
"Qingyu, you are truly amazing. If it weren't for you here today, I might already be a fish's belly." Lü Liangke's voice trembled slightly, not from fear but from excitement.
No matter how eloquently Zhang Zitao spoke, Ruan Qingyu remained calm and composed. Only when she heard Lü Liangke speak did she look over.
Lu Liangke was startled and instinctively covered his mouth with his hand, only to realize that he could breathe and speak normally within the barrier created by Ruan Qingyu.
Blinking, Ruan Qingyu said without much surprise, "It seems that the method I came up with on the spur of the moment can indeed allow you to speak underwater."
After a pause, Ruan Qingyu shook the storage bag she had just put away: "I didn't look closely just now, but there are enough spirit pearls for you to complete the mission. Any extras are on me."
Hearing this, Zhang Zitao felt a pang of regret and heartache. Of all those spirit pearls, he had only managed to grab a small number.
"That's natural. Fellow Daoist Ruan contributed the most, so it's only right that he gets the most."
The three originally planned to follow the compass's guidance, kill the monsters one by one, and then extract the spirit pearls. Little did they expect that a single monster would be enough for the entire mission.
After thinking for a moment, Ruan Qingyu looked at Lü Liangke, who needed the most training, and asked, "Do you want to look for more monsters?"
Lu Liangke was touched that Ruan Qingyu would ask such a question.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
