Seeing the Water Element Spirit Seed right in front of her, Bai Xiuxiu reacted immediately. Fierce winds swirled around her, scattering all the venom as she activated her Level Five Water Shield.
"Water Shield: Mist Concealment!"
Her Star Seeds had been strengthened once. Combined with her innate talent for mutated Water Element Star Seeds and her Level Three Beginner cultivation, that allowed her to cast a Level Five Water Shield.
In an instant, the gray-white shark vanished. The Poison Swamp Lizards froze at the sudden disappearance of the intruder, halting their attacks.
On the shore of Green Lake, Di Qiu'er held the Golden Dragon Spear without a trace of fear as the Swamp Poison Jiao charged at her. She was the Emperor Auspicious Beast. Why should I back down from it?!
"Hah! Take my spear!"
She immediately gathered her power to unleash a Level Five Beginner spell against it. But a Summoning Array appeared a moment later and sent her straight back to the Douluo Continent.
The Swamp Poison Jiao lunged at empty air and froze for a moment. Then it sensed the Spirit Seed's aura vanish beneath the water and realized it had been lured away. Enraged, it let out a bull-like bellow and plunged into the swamp.
Meanwhile, Bai Xiuxiu returned to human form and took a container specially designed to hold Spirit Seeds from her Storage Soul Tool. She guided the Water Element Spirit Seed inside and secured it.
"Su Miu, I'm done here."
"Good!"
Once everything was finished, she gave Su Miu the signal, and he quickly sent her back as well. Just before leaving, she heard a bull-like bellow. Turning around, she saw an enormous jiao twenty meters tall lunging at her.
"Bye-bye~"
Bai Xiuxiu smiled and waved at it, then dove into the teleportation array and vanished. The Swamp Poison Jiao snapped at empty air again and roared in fury, but there was nothing it could do.
Elsewhere, Su Miu moved swiftly with Ling Ling on his back, deftly avoiding the Demon Beasts along the way or sending them flying with a kick.
After confirming that Di Qiu'er and Bai Xiuxiu were safe, he soon found a safe place to hide. Ling Ling had remained quiet throughout the journey, looking at him without knowing what to say.
MOO!!!
Just then, a bull-like bellow rang out over ten thousand meters. The two looked toward it and saw the Swamp Poison Jiao attacking every living creature around it as though it had gone mad.
Fortunately, they were far enough away. Watching the enraged Swamp Poison Jiao, Ling Ling grabbed the hem of Su Miu's clothes and demanded angrily:
"Why didn't you stop them? Were you really just going to watch them throw their lives away?"
Clearly, she hated the fact that he had let the two girls put themselves in danger while he fled. Su Miu explained:
"Ling Ling, I know you have questions, but this is a special case. Even if I died, Qiu'er and Xiu Xiu wouldn't."
Ling Ling stared hard into Su Miu's calm eyes. He did not seem to be lying. Could... could he be hiding some other secret?
"You'd better not be lying to me, or I'll never speak to you again. And I'll kick you out of the Azure Sky Hunter Agency."
In the end, she let go of him. Perhaps he really was hiding some secret. Su Miu picked her up and headed toward the Outer Perimeter along a Wind Track.
"I'm not. I'll explain later, because this involves my biggest secret."
"...Hmph."
Ling Ling snorted in his arms but did not press him further. After traveling for a while, they left the central region and reached the Outer Perimeter.
He set Ling Ling down and raised his hand under her watchful gaze. A Summoning Array appeared, and Bai Xiuxiu stepped out of it, still holding the azure Water Element Spirit Seed.
"Wh... what's going on?"
Seeing Su Miu summon her left Ling Ling utterly bewildered. For a moment, her head felt as though it were buzzing.
"Now you understand, right? Xiu Xiu is actually a shark, but she accidentally ate a spiritual herb that let her take human form. Then I formed a contract with her."
Of course, he had made up the explanation about Shapeshifting Grass. Ling Ling looked back and forth between them, finding it fascinating.
"I never imagined you'd actually come across a treasure that could let a creature take human form."
Still, it was not entirely without precedent. Humanoid elemental demons existed, after all, and Apas had also appeared in human form. So there were precedents; Ling Ling merely found it unusual.
But Ling Ling soon seemed to think of something. She immediately turned toward him and asked another question:
"Is Sister Qiu'er the same?"
"Yes. She's a princess of the Dragon Clan and has a secret technique for taking human form."
He nodded in confirmation. Ling Ling frowned slightly at the mention of a Dragon Clan princess. That was no ordinary identity. But a host of other questions followed.
"Are they both your summoned beasts?"
"Yes."
"Then you have three contracted summoned beasts?"
"Yes."
"You... is this another innate talent of yours...?"
Ling Ling rubbed her chin in thought. Generally speaking, summoning was divided into temporary summons and Contract Summons.
Temporary summons meant calling someone over to help for a while, whereas a Contract Summon only allowed one contracted creature. Yet all three of his were Contract Summons?
"More or less, so keep it secret for me."
He nodded, agreeing that it should remain a secret. Seeing this, Ling Ling folded her arms and made her own demand, as though she now had him firmly under her thumb.
"Then whenever you're free, you have to take me out to have fun. Otherwise, I can't guarantee I'll do what you asked."
The little girl wore a teasing smile, as though she had him right where she wanted him. He could only nod in agreement.
"All right, I promise."
"That's more like it. Let's head back to Magic City and sort through our haul."
The little girl nodded in satisfaction, and the group headed home to Magic City. After an appraisal, the Water Element Spirit Seed was classified as a Greater Spirit Seed.
However, because the lizards had used it for cultivation, its original 2.5-times amplification had dropped to 2.3 times, which everyone found rather unfortunate. Its additional effect was a toxin that could paralyze living creatures touched by the water, though the effect was mediocre.
Looking at the Spirit Seed, Su Miu shook his head. He felt its quality was lacking and ultimately decided to sell it, then ask Ling Ling to help him find a top-quality Water Element Spirit Seed later.
Next came tallying their gains. They had five eggs from Advanced Stage Servant Level Swamp Giant Lizards. One showed no signs of life, but the other four could each sell for five million, bringing in twenty million altogether.
The Exotic Bones and Exotic Hides sold for three hundred thousand. Then came dividing the proceeds. Ling Ling was not particularly short of money, mainly because she was not a mage and had little to spend it on.
She therefore took a token share of 1.3 million. Knowing that he needed money, the little girl did not fight him over the remaining nineteen million.
Next came the extra haul. The Water Element Spirit Seed fetched around twenty-eight million at the Zhao Clan Auction House.
Then there were ten servant-level spirit essences, three of which were at the Advanced Stage. Those sold for sixty million, while one Warrior Level Essence Remnant sold for twenty-six million.
Su Miu had made an absolutely insane amount of money on this trip. He was practically ecstatic!
PS: The eleventh update for June 19, bringing the total to twenty-two thousand Chinese characters.
Before you continue