Taking Stock of the Haul (Please Follow)

He cast the Spirit Eye Technique again and swept his surroundings.

The reef zone remained tranquil.

No cultivators. No demon fish.

He took out a second Qi-Replenishing Pill.

Swallowed it.

Refined it.

Six breaths later.

The spiritual power within his body had fully recovered.

A sense of fullness flowed through every limb and bone.

Wang Mengde opened his eyes and let out a long breath of foul air.

His entire body was refreshed, without the slightest trace of fatigue.

Out of habit, Wang Mengde cast the Spirit Eye Technique and scanned his surroundings.

Only after confirming that nothing was amiss did he look at the pile of Azure Jade Ghost Carp heaped high on the skiff.

Thirty-seven fish.

More than seven thousand spirit stones.

The gains from this trip exceeded his total income from the past several years by far.

Yet there was little joy on Wang Mengde's face.

This voyage had claimed four lives.

He had long wanted to kill Zhao Youming and Zhou Lie.

But Qin Xiangnan had been a friend he believed he could trust.

Wang Mengde drew a deep breath and suppressed the churning thoughts in his heart.

The cultivation world had always been like this.

For resources, even fathers, sons, wives, and children might stab one another in the back—let alone friends.

There was nothing to dwell on.

He looked again at the Azure Jade Ghost Carp.

Over seven thousand spirit stones were enough to make far too many people jealous.

On Rosy Cloud Island, most fourth-level Qi Refinement cultivators earned only a few hundred spirit stones a year.

More than seven thousand spirit stones would take them over a decade to earn.

Even fifth- and sixth-level Qi Refinement cultivators would be envious.

Some might even risk everything.

The cultivation world had never lacked people willing to stake their lives for spirit stones.

He had learned that lesson today.

This wealth could not see the light of day.

At the very least, it could not all be revealed at once.

Fortunately.

He had Qin Xiangnan's storage pouch.

Wang Mengde took the gray pouch from his robes.

It was palm-sized, dull gray, and utterly unremarkable.

He drew a deep breath, sat cross-legged, and held the storage pouch in his hand.

Spiritual power slowly flowed into it.

He began refining it.

Qin Xiangnan's divine-sense imprint remained on the storage pouch and had to be erased bit by bit.

This process required time.

As Wang Mengde refined it, he habitually cast the Spirit Eye Technique to scan his surroundings.

Every few breaths, he swept the area once.

On this vast sea, he could never lower his guard.

Time trickled by.

About half an hour later.

The storage pouch in Wang Mengde's hand trembled slightly, and a mysterious connection arose within his mind.

The refinement had succeeded.

He sent his divine sense inside.

Before his eyes appeared a dim gray space, roughly one cubic meter in size.

A scattering of items lay within.

More than fifty spirit stones.

Over four hundred spirit sand grains.

Several sets of clothes.

More than a dozen talismans.

With a sweep of his divine sense, Wang Mengde identified the types of talismans.

Five Golden Arrow Talismans, three Ice Spike Talismans, four Lightbody Radiance Talismans, and four Wind Blade Sky-Splitting Talismans.

There were also five small bottles.

One bottle contained two Essence-Nourishing Pills.

Two bottles contained eight Qi-Replenishing Pills in total.

Two bottles contained five healing pills in total.

A faint smile curved Wang Mengde's lips.

Qin Xiangnan had accumulated quite a fortune.

He withdrew his divine sense and set the storage pouch aside.

Then he began taking stock of the other belongings of the four men.

Besides the items in his storage pouch, Qin Xiangnan had three talismans in his robes: two Golden Arrow Talismans and one Lightbody Radiance Talisman.

His money pouch contained more than fifty spirit sand grains.

Six talismans were found on Zhao Youming: one Golden Astral Armor-Piercing Talisman, two Golden Arrow Talismans, one protective talisman, and two Lightbody Radiance Talismans.

His money pouch contained one spirit stone and over thirty spirit sand grains.

Four talismans were found on Zhou Lie: two protective talismans, one Golden Arrow Talisman, and one Lightbody Radiance Talisman.

His money pouch contained forty-six spirit sand grains.

Four talismans were found on Sun He: one protective talisman, one Golden Arrow Talisman, and two Lightbody Radiance Talismans.

His money pouch contained thirty-three spirit sand grains.

After Wang Mengde finished taking stock, his eyes gleamed.

Together with the flying sword worth several hundred spirit stones and the storage pouch worth several hundred more.

That was another thousand-plus spirit stones.

With a tremor of spiritual power, he shattered the four men's money pouches.

Then he took Qin Xiangnan's clothes from the storage pouch, shook them apart with spiritual power, and casually tossed the scraps into the sea.

After that, he stored all the talismans, pills, and spirit sand in the storage pouch.

Next, he began loading fish into the storage pouch.

After storing twenty-nine fish, the storage pouch was full.

Not another Azure Jade Ghost Carp could fit inside.

Wang Mengde looked at the remaining eight Azure Jade Ghost Carp.

Eight fish were worth over sixteen hundred spirit stones.

That was another enormous sum.

Wang Mengde stuffed them beneath the pile of ordinary sea fish.

Channeling spiritual power, he guided the skiff slowly out of the reef zone.

As it sped onward, he habitually cast the Spirit Eye Technique to scan his surroundings.

Suddenly, a line of tiny golden words appeared in his mind.

"Spirit Eye Technique +1"

Wang Mengde absorbed the insight that had surfaced in his mind.

Then he examined himself with divine sense.

[Host: Wang Mengde]

[Fate: Heaven Rewards Diligence (Success Is Inevitable)]

[Qi Refinement Cultivation: Third Level Qi Refinement (371/400)]

[Body Cultivation: First Level Body Tempering (83/100)]

[Techniques: Luan-Phoenix Harmony Formula, Third Layer (371/400); True Myriad Beast Taming Formula, First Layer (752/1000)]

[Spells: Spirit Eye Technique (Peak Perfection) 252/3200; Fishing Technique (Peak Perfection) 150/3200; Entwining Silk Technique (Peak Perfection) 190/3200; Water Arrow Technique (Mastery) 953/1600, Water Escape Technique (Minor Mastery 2/200)]

Wang Mengde swept his gaze across the panel, a sharp gleam flashing through his eyes.

For more than a year now, he had cultivated day and night without interruption.

The Spirit Eye Technique, Fishing Technique, and Entwining Silk Technique had all reached the realm of Peak Perfection.

His Water Arrow Technique had also reached Mastery; one further step would bring it to Peak Perfection.

Half a month ago, he had caught more than ten second-tier lesser demon fish and sold them for over five hundred spirit stones, immediately buying the Water Escape Technique.

He had ground away at it for half a month, cultivating day and night, and had finally brought the Water Escape Technique to Minor Mastery.

The only thing that dissatisfied him was the pace of his cultivation progress.

It was too slow.

Fortunately, this haul had been abundant.

Once he returned, he would sell these Azure Jade Ghost Carp in batches, exchange them for pills and spirit stones, and cultivate with all his strength.

Wang Mengde drove the skiff onward, racing west.

About a quarter of an hour later, another reef zone appeared ahead.

Wang Mengde cast the Spirit Eye Technique and surveyed the surroundings.

After ensuring there were no cultivators or demon fish.

He moored the spirit boat, gathered the spiritual power within his body, and cast the Water Escape Technique.

With a leap, his entire body slipped silently into the sea like a swimming fish.

The seawater was icy, yet it did not affect him in the slightest.

He darted through the water at high speed and reached the underside of a massive reef in the blink of an eye.

He took out the flying sword seized from Qin Xiangnan.

He swung the flying sword and dug into the bottom of the reef.

Before long, he had excavated a hole about three feet deep.

Wang Mengde placed the flying sword into the storage pouch.

Then he put the storage pouch into the hole.

With both hands, he pushed sand and stones over it, filling the hole.

Then he moved over a reef and pressed it atop the leveled sand and stones.

That reef weighed over a hundred jin and blended with the surrounding rocks, showing no trace of anything unusual.

Wang Mengde memorized the reef's location.

He cast the Water Escape Technique again, his body rising swiftly like a fish.

Splash.

He burst from the water and landed steadily on the skiff.

Spiritual power circulated within his body, and the seawater on him was instantly shaken away, dispersing as a mist.

He drove the skiff onward.

Another half hour later.

He finally returned to Rosy Cloud Pier.