Shen Qingyue paused slightly, her beautiful eyes looking at Wang Mengde. "Brother-in-law, be careful. I'll wait for you to come home."
Those almond-shaped eyes were filled with gentle concern, and... faint worry.
Though the near seas were not as perilous as the open ocean, demon fish still roamed there.
Last time, her brother-in-law had been injured by a demon fish and nearly...
She hoped her brother-in-law could earn more Spirit Sand, but even more than that, she hoped he would return safely.
Wang Mengde lowered his head and looked at Shen Qingyue's concerned gaze, at her delicate, pretty appearance, at her frail air.
His heart was full of tenderness and the urge to protect her.
And also...
His Adam's apple bobbed slightly.
Wang Mengde looked away, his voice a little low. "Mm."
Shen Qingyue seemed to sense something. The tips of her ears quietly flushed with a thin layer of red.
"Brother-in-law, I... I'll wash the dishes..."
Her voice was soft, carrying a trace of barely perceptible fluster as she reached out to gather the bowls and chopsticks from the table.
The dishes lightly clinked together, making a string of fine jingling sounds.
Wang Mengde withdrew his gaze and returned to the west room.
He took down the Spirit-Pattern Fishing Rod hanging in the corner, along with the fish basket, spare hooks, bait box, water-dividing spike...
After checking every item one by one, he packed them into his basket.
He pushed open the courtyard gate and arrived at Rosy Cloud Pier.
He found his own Spirit-Powered Skiff.
His Spirit-Powered Skiff was not large, about twelve feet long and no more than four feet wide. Its hull was the color of aged teak, its paint mottled and peeling, with several old scrape marks on the bow.
A Spirit Formation Plate the size of a palm was embedded in the stern.
It was small, and very old.
Yet it was the most valuable possession the previous owner—and now he himself—had on Rosy Cloud Island.
He untied the mooring rope and stepped onto the deck.
The hull rocked gently, then steadied.
After setting down his basket, he took a grain of Spirit Sand from his robes and embedded it into the Spirit Formation Plate at the stern.
A pale cyan glow slowly emerged from the Spirit Formation Plate.
"Bzz..."
With an exceedingly faint tremor, ripples spread from the skiff's stern.
The skiff cut through the tranquil sea, trailing a thin white wake as it headed out beyond the pier.
Wang Mengde stood at the bow, steering its course.
Golden-Thread Spirit Trout favored warm currents and reef formations. They frequented the waters at the boundary between the hidden reefs and shallows southeast of Rosy Cloud Island.
As Wang Mengde drove the spirit boat swiftly onward, he cast the Spirit Eye Technique.
His gaze was like lightning as it swept over the surrounding sea and waters.
There were quite a few sea fish beneath the surface.
Gray-Headed Sharks, Sea Eels, Silver-Scaled Fish, Silver Dartfish, Yellowfin Seabream, and more.
However, Wang Mengde did not stop to fish, because ordinary sea fish were not worth much.
Gray-Headed Sharks, for example, tasted so terrible they were impossible to sell.
As for Silver-Scaled Fish, whose texture was barely edible, a pound fetched only three Blood Copper Coins.
A Second Layer of Qi Refinement cultivator had limited spiritual power. On a single trip out to sea, at most he could catch three hundred pounds of such fish, selling them for nine hundred Blood Copper Coins altogether.
That was nine grains of Spirit Sand.
After deducting the Spirit Sand consumed by the Spirit-Powered Skiff for one trip, only six or seven grains of Spirit Sand remained.
For a First Layer of Qi Refinement cultivator, that already counted as a fairly good haul.
But for someone at the Second Layer of Qi Refinement, it was rather little.
Storms often swept across the sea, so one could only go out a dozen or so times each month.
To make money, one still had to catch sea fish like Golden-Thread Spirit Trout, which contained traces of spiritual power and sold for one grain of Spirit Sand per pound.
Catching two of them meant more than fifty grains of Spirit Sand.
Even if he could not find sea fish like Golden-Thread Spirit Trout, he needed to catch ordinary fish with somewhat better flavor.
Wang Mengde continued onward.
About half an hour later, he reached his destination.
He slowed the boat and looked around.
Seven or eight spirit boats floated sparsely across the waters ahead, some skiffs and some slightly larger single-masted fishing boats.
The cultivators aboard sat or stood, fishing rods in hand as they waited quietly.
There were unexpectedly quite a few cultivators in this stretch of sea.
Wang Mengde's gaze swept over them, then paused briefly on one skiff.
That boat was slightly newer than his. Two broad-shouldered, brawny men with faces full of flesh sat at its bow.
Chen the Pockmarked and Chen Two-Tiger.
Wang Mengde withdrew his gaze and steered his skiff farther away.
Chen Two-Tiger also spotted Wang Mengde. He raised an elbow and nudged his elder brother.
"Brother, look over there."
Chen Dahu followed his gaze, then frowned. "That useless Wang Mengde... broke through to the Second Layer of Qi Refinement?"
Chen Two-Tiger froze at those words and grew somewhat anxious. "Brother, Wang Mengde is at the Second Layer of Qi Refinement now. He'll definitely make money much faster. Even if he can't earn it, he can borrow five Spirit Stones. Then we won't get that Spirit-Powered Skiff."
Wang Mengde's Spirit-Powered Skiff might be old, but its performance was excellent.
At the secondhand boat market, a Spirit-Powered Skiff in that condition could not necessarily be bought even for eight Spirit Stones.
If they took it back for five Spirit Stones, they would be making a huge profit.
Chen Two-Tiger had already treated that Spirit-Powered Skiff as his own private property.
"We'd be making a huge profit even with five Spirit Stones." Chen Dahu gave him a sidelong glance, his tone indifferent.
Chen Two-Tiger grew even more anxious. "Brother, you promised to give that Spirit-Powered Skiff to me."
Chen Dahu turned and glared at him, his voice suddenly turning cold. "Who told you, you bastard, to gamble away your own Spirit-Powered Skiff?"
Chen Two-Tiger immediately shrank down. He hunched his neck, not daring to look into his brother's eyes, but he still muttered under his breath.
"I... I just had bad luck... Besides, you keep going to Warm Fragrance Pavilion to find fairy maidens. You spend far more than I lost."
"Bad luck?" Chen Dahu sneered. "When has your luck ever been good?"
Chen Two-Tiger hunched his neck, his voice growing lower and lower. "I only wanted to win it back..."
"Win it back?" Chen Dahu stared at him, his gaze heavy. "Gamblers never come to a good end. Quit it already. If I catch you crawling into that gambling den again, I'll chop off your paws."
Chen Two-Tiger did not dare talk back and only muttered quietly.
"I'll quit, then... But if my luck turns around, I could turn things around in a single night. Wouldn't that boat come back?"
He secretly glanced at his brother's expression, then muttered again.
"It's still better than you going after those fairy maidens... Tossing away grain after grain of Spirit Sand every night—not only does it cost money, it ruins your body too."
Chen Dahu smacked the back of Chen Two-Tiger's head again.
"What the fuck do you know!"
Chen Two-Tiger clutched his head, but the corner of his eye remained fixed on that half-worn skiff in the distance.
Wang Mengde's boat had already traveled dozens of yards away and was slowly stopping in the shadow of a reef.
Chen Two-Tiger stared at that figure, leaned closer, and lowered his voice as though afraid the sea wind would scatter it. "Big Brother... let's do one more job."
Chen Dahu finally turned his head.
He looked at Chen Two-Tiger. His gaze was heavy and devoid of emotion, yet it made Chen Two-Tiger's back tighten.
"He's at the Second Layer of Qi Refinement now," Chen Dahu said. "Our rule is to only target First Layer of Qi Refinement cultivators."
Chen Two-Tiger said, "He only just broke through. How strong can he be in a fight?
"Big Brother, you broke through to the Second Layer of Qi Refinement more than ten years ago, and I've been at the peak of the First Layer of Qi Refinement for years.
"If we buy a few talismans and join forces, wouldn't taking him down be a sure thing?"
As he spoke, he stole glances at his brother's face. Seeing that Chen Dahu did not immediately refute him, his courage grew.
"Besides..." Chen Two-Tiger licked his lips. "Those little lambs at the First Layer of Qi Refinement are getting more cautious by the day. We can't find an opportunity to make a move at all. How long has it been since we last made a score?"
He paused, and a trace of a cheeky grin entered his voice.
"The few fairy maidens you fancy, Big Brother, must have already... already been rubbed raw with calluses."
Before his words had even faded—
Chen Dahu backhanded him across the back of the head again, with even greater force.
"Ow!" Chen Two-Tiger cried out in pain, half his body sinking down.
"Can't you fucking say a single human word?" Chen Dahu glared at him, the savage light in his eyes seeming ready to flay a man alive.
Chen Two-Tiger held his head and no longer dared to act cheeky.
But neither did he shut up.
He rubbed his shoulder, his eyes rolling as he leaned close again.
This time, his voice was as soft as a mosquito's buzz, yet every word carried a sticky implication.
"Brother..."
"That Wang Mengde's sister-in-law..."
"You've stopped thinking about her?"
Chen Dahu's breathing halted for an instant.
He did not answer, nor did he strike again.
His gaze crossed the sea and settled on the skiff's silhouette, now firmly at rest.
Only after a long while did he speak.
"There are too many people in these waters."
Chen Two-Tiger's eyes immediately lit up.
"Wait until he's alone," Chen Dahu said.
Chen Two-Tiger nodded hard, unable to suppress the curve at the corners of his mouth.
Before you continue