After the rain, the sky cleared, and Northern Darkness Lake lay as smooth as a mirror.
The Tower Ship sailed beneath the sunlight, trailing a white wake. By the window, the red-robed Great Succubus and the Confucian Female Tutor chatted merrily about poetry, painting, and calligraphy.
Above the Boat Tower, Coal Ball spread its wings and flapped hard, drawing on the power of heaven and earth to form a north wind that blew the ship toward the southern lakeshore.
But while Coal Ball was diligently working, it suddenly heard a voice from below:
"From now on, your name is Ink Treasure. Cultivate diligently on Purple Emblem Mountain, and if you perform well, I'll let you look after all these Heavenly Treasures..."
"Goo?"
Looking rather bewildered, Coal Ball ran to the edge of the eaves and hung upside down to peer below.
Inside the captain's cabin, the White-Haired Immortal sat cross-legged on the floor in her Golden Armor, her arms folded. A dazzling array of treasures lay before her. Aside from rarities like jiazi lotus and black profound gold, there were even Dragon Pearl fragments.
The little black-and-red octopus sat among the treasures, its eyes wider than Coal Ball's, turning in circles as it looked around, not knowing what to inspect first. Clearly, it had already been bought off by this impossible-to-refuse offer.
Coal Ball thought this was going a little too far.
It had no interest in Heavenly Treasures it couldn't eat, but they were both black, and it was even blacker. Why was it called Coal Ball while the other one got to be "Ink Treasure"?
Shouldn't it be called Caught Octopus Teppanyaki?
Coal Ball hesitated, deciding this was unfair, then ran to another cabin's window and began:
Tap-tap-tap-tap...
Inside the cabin.
After resting, Xie Jinhuan felt thoroughly refreshed.