The Former Saintess Shows Her Strength

After getting into a lively conversation, the two started making model ships.

"A meter thick?" Zijin's eyes lit up. "I've wanted to go there to investigate for ages!"

She dropped the broom and stepped forward to examine it closely. "The shape of this bow is very strange—can it really break through such thick ice?"

"Um, how about we build sandcastles instead?"

Su Ming stepped forward, intending to destroy the model ship, but was stopped by two girls on either side.

"Hello?"

"Bury him in the sand so he won't cause trouble!" Zijin suggested.

"Good!"

****

As the sun set, Su Ming dragged his exhausted body back to the bay. The campfire was already blazing, and whole pigs and sheep were slowly rotating on the grill, with the dwarves busy turning them over and adding seasonings. On the makeshift stoves nearby, the chefs were busily preparing food. The surrounding area was piled high with freshly gathered ingredients, most of which Su Ming couldn't name.

Zijin came over and handed them the bird eggs.

"Lord Liya, Lord Su, the coconut heart stewed mutton offal soup is ready. Would you like a bowl?" A sailor stepped forward and asked respectfully.

Su Ming looked around and saw that the workers had finished work and were gathering in twos and threes. In the distance, the Blue Origin was lowering a small boat to transport beer over.

After a whole afternoon of commotion, he was indeed hungry, not to mention Zijin, who was purely hungry.

"OK."

The two found a flat rock to sit on and took the soup bowl and spoon from the sailor.

The professional chef's skills were indeed extraordinary; the mutton offal soup was fragrant and had no gamey smell. Seeing that the guests of honor had begun to eat, the sailors also relaxed and gathered around with their cutlery.

More campfires were lit, and the sailors set up long tables with planks. Golden-roasted pork and mutton were placed first, followed by a stream of more familiar and unfamiliar foods.

Su Ming specially went back to the White Triangle to retrieve a bottle of fruit wine and handed it to Zijin, saying, "You drink this."

He had personally tested the wine; its alcohol content was practically zero. The girl was somewhat reluctant, but she accepted it nonetheless.

Then he ran off to tear apart a leg of lamb.

Beianqi walked over carrying two large glasses of frothy ale. "Hey, Su Ming, let me see how much you can drink!"

"No, that's a huge glass." Su Ming waved his hands repeatedly, "I can sleep until tomorrow morning after I finish this!"

"Not as good as me." Beianqi pouted and forced a glass of wine on him. The two drank casually, with sailors occasionally bringing them freshly prepared delicacies to try.

"Su Ming, what's life like in your world?" Beianqi asked. "Is it all machines?"

"Machines are everywhere, and people are covered in electronic devices from head to toe," Su Ming replied. "However, your magical alchemy is equally amazing, it's just a matter of its development stage."

"Then tell me about your peaceful and carefree life, and make me a little envious."

"Nothing much, just going to school, taking exams, graduating in my twenties, and starting work." Su Ming sipped his ale. "I'm a mechanic too, doing a similar job to yours, just without the fighting."

His most intense battle on Earth was when he took down a big guy on the basketball court, causing the opponent to need three stitches to his eyebrow.

Beianqi also recounted her own experience, "I only stayed at the dwarven school until I was twelve, when the teachers said there was nothing more to teach me. So I went to the shipyard and became an apprentice to the great mechanic Huo De'er Copperhammer."

"At this age, she'd definitely be a child laborer, "Su Ming sighed. "But as expected of the chief mechanic on the dwarf ship, Beianqi's been a genius since childhood."

Su Ming felt immense pressure. Zijin, Xiwo, Beianqi, and that antagonistic Katharine —none of the people he'd encountered had been easy.

He was just a transmigrator randomly hit by a portal, yet he found himself among the top players in this other world, interacting with the best professionals here.

He began to miss the days when he worked at the Iron Ox Machinery Factory, where he could easily win the best employee award simply by doing his job, not being late for work, and not smoking in the workshop.

"A terrible accident happened more than a year ago." Beianqi gently touched the scar on her abdomen and continued, "My mentor, Huo De'er, died in the explosion, and I was also seriously injured. This scar is from that time. Later, I went to work on the Five Fangs."

The two clinked glasses and drank heartily. After half a glass of ale, Su Ming started to open up. "My life has become much more uneventful," he said, then paused for a moment. "The biggest upheaval was the college entrance examination—the most important college admission exam in our world. Everyone needs to go to a designated location at a unified time to participate in the assessment."

"That day, my dad borrowed a friend's car to drive me. At a narrow intersection, a private car blocked the way. We tried to go around it, but we bumped into it."

"That couple wouldn't let go. My dad wanted me to go to the exam hall first, but they wouldn't budge, demanding money first. In the end, they fought, and my dad's head was broken."

Beianqi looked puzzled. "What's their rank? Is your class countered?"

"No, no, no, we're not in this kind of fighting world," Su Ming quickly said. "Anyway, the police—that is, the law enforcement in our world—came, and after understanding the situation, they sent me to take the exam first."

"But I completely lost my composure, did terribly on the exam, and failed to get into my ideal school." Su Ming downed the rest of the wine in his glass in one gulp.

Beianqi also downed her drink in one gulp, her cheeks flushed, and she clenched her fists, saying, "We must get revenge for this, at least break their arms and legs!"

"I've already told you, it's not like that where I'm from," Su Ming said helplessly.

"And then what happened?" Beianqi pressed.

"What else could happen? He started it, and he paid for medical expenses and some compensation," Su Ming replied. "But I'm still not satisfied. I found evidence of their crime a while ago, so I reported it, and they've been arrested now."

The two were actually the director and wife of the sanatorium. When Miao Xin searched their home, she discovered records of them falsifying the sanatorium's income to launder money, which she later anonymously sent to the economic crime investigation department.

"This is karma, I guess."

"No, that doesn't count." Su Ming shook his head. "They deserved to be caught. The money and jewelry I stole were just proceeds of their illegal activities. So, this score between me and them needs to be settled separately!"

As the ale went down, the sailors' spirits soared, and several with good voices began to sing songs, while others brought out musical instruments to accompany them.

The atmosphere at the party immediately became lively.

"How about we go sing a song?" Beianqi suggested.

"If my ability to sing off-key were swapped with my magic power, I would have easily gone home long ago." Su Ming shrugged. "Go by yourself."

"Forget it, if I say anything, these people will dare to beat me up."

"It seems they are Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong," the two laughed heartily.

"How about dancing?" Beianqi invited again.

A dance circle had spontaneously formed around the campfire, with everyone happily jumping and dancing the dances of the Dwarf Continent.

"You teach me?"

Remembering her swimming lesson that afternoon, the girl became cautious, "You're not as talentless as someone who can only learn backstroke, are you?"

How will you know if you don't try!

Su Ming didn't know if his dance moves were up to standard, but he was having a lot of fun. Before he knew it, he had finished another glass of ale, and his dance partner had changed to a dwarf uncle with a full beard.

With his last shred of reason, he refused the repeated urgings to continue drinking. As he staggered to the table, he saw Zijin peeling seabird eggs.

The girl's cheeks were rosy, looking like a ripe peach. She peeled the egg carefully, stuffing the shells into her mouth as she did so.

She had thrown the bottle of fruit wine somewhere, and in its place was a large glass of ale, which she had already drunk.

There was a clear ring of teeth marks on the rim of the cup.

Su Ming jolted awake, and the effects of the alcohol dissipated almost completely. He looked at the girl in front of him, who was even more demure than usual, as if he were looking at a volcano that was about to erupt at any moment, and anxiously considered what to do.

Zijin finished eating the eggshell, discarded the cleanly peeled seabird egg in her hand, clapped her hands, and stood up. Seeing Su Ming, she gave him a bright smile.

She grabbed Su Ming, "Let's go sing karaoke!"

"How about we go back and rest?" Su Ming suggested cautiously.

"I've had enough sleep during the day!" the girl said cheerfully. "What's the rush? The night has only just begun!"

She swayed and twirled as she danced, bursting into the center of the musicians. The sailors, oblivious to her surroundings, erupted in enthusiastic applause, mixed with whistles and cheers.

The girl gave an elegant bow, then clasped her hands together, her lips, now vividly red from the alcohol, parted slightly.

The singing descended from the sky, ethereal and gentle, easily suppressing the surrounding hustle and bustle.

Everyone was captivated by the heavenly sound, unable to look away from the girl, all movements froze, and the lively noise on the beach was abruptly cut off.

The seabirds, which had initially kept their distance, began to converge on this side, ignoring the cover of night. Upon entering the area of the spell, they were all paralyzed and fell to the ground. The chirping of insects in the forest also disappeared with the spreading ripples, and the entire island fell into an eerie silence.

A clear, spring-like voice flowed through the silence, and a pure white phantom appeared in the night sky. The ethereal rhythm gradually solidified into reality. Su Ming and Beianqi raised their heads and looked at the beautiful light in the night sky.

"The former saintess's Pale New Words are indeed well-deserved," Beianqi murmured.

"Do you guys here like giving each other all sorts of weird nicknames?" Su Ming couldn't help but complain.

A beam of light appeared, as if a tangible force were descending from the sky, scattering and refracting across the ground.

"Divine Blessing Purification!"

The effects of the alcohol on everyone vanished in an instant, and they looked around blankly.

Su Ming was the first to regain his senses. In the swirling light, he stepped forward, his expression unfriendly, and asked, "Who gave her the wine?"

This is still "Divine Blessing Purification"; if it were "Divine Punishment Storm," the entire island would probably be flattened!

Beianqi straightened her clothes, which were a little disheveled from dancing, and looked at Zijin was bathed in the afterglow of the light and looked equally bewildered from sobering up.

The latter stuck out his tongue.

With a helpless gesture, Beianqi beckoned to a sailor who was backing away in the crowd, and the sailor cautiously stepped forward.

"You're responsible for cleaning up the mess; everyone else can leave after they've finished eating."

"Thank... thank you, sir!"