Along the way, Belle tried it herself too, and made significant progress.
As expected of a protagonist. Her ability to grasp things really was on another level. Good thing I had the Stat Allocation System, or who knew where I'd still be slaving away running a shop.
After exploring for some time, they finally reached the spatial rift that served as the exit.
After entering the spatial rift, accompanied by a familiar wave of dizziness, Xu An, Belle, and Yixuan arrived in an uninhabited area at the Hollow's edge.
Before the three of them lay blue-green waves, a blue sky, and a town across the sea.
"Finally out. Shame we didn't find those bastards. Otherwise, hehehe ^_^" Xu An gave a somewhat sinister chuckle.
"Why are we by the sea? It looks like we're still some distance from Waifei Peninsula... How are we supposed to get over there?" Belle was a little troubled.
"Since things have come to this... Belle, Xu An, can you swim?"
Both of them looked shocked at her words.
OAO? OAO?
What? Us? Swim across?
"Master, isn't that a little far? Are we really doing this?" Xu An said apprehensively.
Beside him, Belle nodded too, her face full of worry.
"Pfft... Relax. That's only a last-resort backup plan. That fall made such a racket that someone should come over to check things out.
"Besides, there's a shipping route to Chenghui Terrace nearby. There should be ships passing through."
"You scared me, Master. I thought you really meant to make us swim across. Σ(っ°Д°;)っ" Belle's expression relaxed after hearing that.
"I thought the training was about to start. Gave me a fright too." Xu An patted his chest as if to soothe himself.
"Ah! There's a ship over there!" Spotting a cargo ship, Belle hurriedly called out.
After the three of them waved for help together, they soon received a response and were taken aboard the cargo ship.
But, since our Xu An had just brought up training, and Yixuan seemed to have already noticed that his constitution differed from that of ordinary people...
"Xu An~ I noticed your astonishing talent today. Your stamina presumably isn't much, though, so you can swim across. Consider it some physical training." A faint smile appeared on Yixuan's face.
For some reason, Xu An felt his master looked quite a bit like Satan at that moment.
(✿^‿^)
"Master, I seriously suspect you're taking advantage of this because of what happened in the Hollow earlier..." Xu An spoke while taking off his clothes. Belle stared blankly, while Yixuan stood beside her, her expression unchanged. Only after Xu An entered the water and started swimming did the two leave on the boat.
Before they left, Xu An saw his master's gaze from aboard the boat, her face full of pity. Tsk, tsk, tsk~
Come on, Master, what's with that look? I'm exercising!
While Xu An was still swimming with all his might, over on Belle's side:
"You two came out of Lemnian Hollow, did ya? Lucky to be alive." (You two came out of Lemnian Hollow, right? You really were fortunate to survive.) The boatman seemed a little bored and started making conversation.
"Yeah, thanks for givin' us a lift," Yixuan replied politely.
(Yes, thank you for giving us a ride.)
"Headin' to Waifei Peninsula, are ya? I'll get someone to take ya into town in a bit!" (Are you heading to Waifei Peninsula? I'll have someone take you into town shortly!)
"No need. Just drop us by the shore. Someone's comin' to pick us up, so don't trouble yourself." (It's fine. Just leave us by the shore. Someone will come to pick us up, so there's no need to trouble yourself.)
"Master... what are you talking about? I haven't understood much of anything you've said."
"Oh, it's just a particular local dialect. Don't worry.
"I just called your senior sister. She'll be coming here to pick us up."
"Senior sister? Right... I can't be Mount Yunkui's only disciple. There must be other seniors. But my brother, Xu An, and I only joined today. Does that mean we're the most junior disciples?"
"That's right. I have several other disciples. Going by the order you joined, you are indeed the most junior."
As they chatted, the two watched Xu An behind them.
After reaching the shore, they waited there, watching that patch of splashing water in the distance slowly approach the shore.
"But don't worry about that. Just get along with them normally. You can ask them for help anytime you have a problem, too," Yixuan said with a smile.
"I'm a little curious about what the seniors are like."
"No rush. You'll meet one soon."
A little while later.
A cute voice rang out not far from the shore.
"Sorry for the wait, Master! Fufu's here to pick you up! Huh? Who's this?
"Aaah! You must be the junior sister Master mentioned! But I remember Master saying there were two junior brothers too. Where are they?"
"My brother's still at home handling things at the shop. As for the other one..." Holding back a laugh as she spoke, Belle pursed her lips toward the figure out on the sea nearby.
"OAO? What's going on?" Fufu froze, her ears twitching along with her.
"Never mind, never mind. Anyway, let me introduce myself again. My name's Ju Fufu, and I'm your senior sister!
"Master was being all secretive earlier. Turns out it was such a cute junior sister! Hehe!" Fufu spoke with an undisguised grin.
Meanwhile, Xu An finally made it ashore.
"Master~ Your disciple knows he was wrong~ Aww (づ￣3￣)づ" Putting on a slightly aggrieved look, Xu An walked over, only to find the three chatting, with no one paying him any attention...
"Master! Belle! And this cute tiger Thiren! I'm here! Master." Yixuan seemed to only then notice Xu An, who had just come ashore. Seeing him soaked from head to toe, she couldn't help smiling again.
"You're still laughing! Damn." Xu An wore a look that said, Damn, you're awful.
A breeze swept past, and Xu An shivered from the cold. Although spring had returned, the weather was still a little chilly.
As he spoke, Xu An used his ability to evaporate the water on his skin, while also drawing the moisture from his clothes into a ball of water and tossing it back into the sea. Any longer and he would probably catch a cold. Though, with his constitution, he probably wouldn't catch one anyway.
"Not bad. You already know how to use some of your abilities before I've even taught you."
"Wow! Junior brother, you're amazing! You learned that in just one day?! My name's Ju Fufu, and I'm your eldest senior sister!" She put both hands on her hips as she spoke.
Inside, however, she was thinking, Good thing Mount Yunkui doesn't rank us by strength. Otherwise, I probably would've lost my position as eldest senior sister ages ago. First Junior Sister Xiao Ye, and now this new junior brother.
"Hello, Eldest Senior Sister! My name's Xu An. Just call me Xiao Xu."
Xu An also looked curiously at the cute tiger Thiren before him.
(I really want to ruffle that tiger head. She looks so cute ✧⁺⸜(●˙▾˙●)⸝⁺✧)
He shook his head, throwing out those strange thoughts.
"Junior brother, junior sister! With me around, if you run into any trouble nearby, your senior sister can handle it all! Leave it to me, and you won't have to worry about a thing!"
Ju Fufu patted her barely-there chest and declared loudly.
"Ahaha... Then thanks in advance, Senior Sister~ I'll ask you for advice if I run into any problems," Belle replied.
Xu An didn't know what to say either. He couldn't exactly say that, for some reason, she didn't seem all that reliable, could he?
He could only follow up with, "Same here."
"Mm-hmm~ Whether it's food, fun, or cultivation... Oh, right!..."
Belle and Ju Fufu chatted animatedly, while Yixuan stood to one side with a hand against her chin, looking thoughtful.
"Fufu... Let's save the chatting for when we're back at Yunkui Summit. We've just come out of the Hollow," Yixuan reminded her after a while.
"Huh? Sorry, Master. I got a little carried away.
"I'll take you back right away. But... could I show Junior Sister and Junior Brother around nearby on the way back?"
"Either is fine. I'll leave it to you. I'll head back to Yunkui Summit first, then. Don't stay out too long."
"Understood, Master! Oh, right! Let me settle the boat fare you two owe first."