But!
"...However!" The Whale-Swallowing Beast hesitated, blinking as he asked, "What will you give me in exchange?"
"...!" Li Xiaoya and Dong Santong exchanged a glance, each seeing the helplessness in the other's eyes. Li Xiaoya cleared his throat. "Ahem!" He paused, cast the Whale-Swallowing Beast a sidelong glance, and snorted. "Nothing particularly valuable! Just your little life! How does that sound?"
"Don't you two push me too far!" the Whale-Swallowing Beast roared in fury. Black light rippled over his body, unleashing astonishing fluctuations of magic power.
"Hmph! I said I wanted half! What's the meaning of offering me only a third?" Li Xiaoya's expression did not change in the slightest. He had even faced Old Dragon Head at the Spirit Communion Stage; why would he fear this Whale-Swallowing Beast? He spoke with a cold snort.
"Huff! Huff!" The Whale-Swallowing Beast truly seemed enraged. Black qi kept spouting from every pore before he finally reined it in after a long while. "Fine! You damned human! You really are an insatiably greedy creature! Take it! Half it is!" he bellowed angrily. His entire body rapidly shrank, returning in an instant to that ridiculous humanoid, eight-tentacled form, and he flew down toward the sea around the heavenly starstone.
"Wait!" Li Xiaoya and Dong Santong hurried after him. Just as they were about to plunge into the sea, Li Xiaoya suddenly called out to Dong Santong.
"What is it?" Dong Santong asked, startled.
"Watch out for tricks! Stay up here and cover me!" Li Xiaoya told Dong Santong through voice transmission.
"Mm!" Dong Santong paused at that, but did not argue with Li Xiaoya. He nodded.
"Hey, fellow Daoist! You've turned the water so black that we can hardly go down there!" Looking at the pitch-black seawater, Li Xiaoya sent his voice down