As Hou Niao listened to the zither, his heart felt much lighter; the bearing of a true master inspired heartfelt admiration. Unfortunately, he had not even had the chance to ask her name.
From the female Daoist's few words, he had already guessed what she meant: the passenger ship had been under her protection all along. The jellyfish's decadent music would not affect those of upright mind, but anyone harboring crooked thoughts could only pray for their own good fortune.
He had to admit that this female Daoist was ruthless; he had rashly intervened, only to save a lecher and nearly throw himself in as well. That lesson deserved serious reflection.
The ways of the mortal world did not work so well in the cultivation world.
It came back to the same thing: once he entered the cultivation world, strength was the foundation of everything. Beyond that, there was nothing else.
His rash actions this time had exposed many problems, and his own response had been flawed as well. For instance, according to the Daoist texts, a water demon's strength in water and out of it were worlds apart. In water, its whole body brimmed with demon power; out of water, it was a limp-legged shrimp. His saber strike had therefore been poorly timed.
The best approach would have been to wait until the water demon had leaped entirely out of the water before striking. The method he had used was ideal against a human, but insufficiently considered against a strange creature like a water demon. That was why his strike had accomplished nothing.
In his urgency, he had acted purely on instinct, forgetting that he was no longer a criminal investigator, but a Daoist cultivator wandering to the ends of the earth.
He needed to put himself in the