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Chapter 604: Chapter 610: Comforting
"Jiu, they didn’t carry many spiritual objects with them, the most precious being that piece of Deep Sea Mysterious Ice."
About half an hour later, Da Qing and Xiaoqing emerged from the space, their faces unable to conceal disappointment.
They had thought that, after all, they were two fourth-order Water Devils from the rich and bountiful Outer Sea, so there surely wouldn’t be a shortage of spiritual objects on them. However, the outcome was a huge letdown.
"They are, after all, fourth-order Great Devils, qualified to establish their own cavern dwellings in the sea. Those precious spiritual objects, of course, wouldn’t be carried on them," Li Zhirui had anticipated this and therefore calmly accepted the situation.
The reason they kept the spiritual objects in their dwellings was firstly, if they encountered misfortune, those spiritual objects could still enhance the strength of their offspring and continue their bloodline.
Secondly, they would rather let those spiritual objects never see the light of day, turning to ash, than fall into the hands of their killers.
Seeing Da Qing and Xiaoqing still dissatisfied, Li Zhirui laughed and shook his head, took the sorted spiritual objects from them, quickly scanned the inside of the storage ring with his divine sense, and nodded in satisfaction: "Not bad at all."
Besides the Deep Sea Mysterious Ice, there were also several fourth-order spiritual objects, not to mention a good amount of lower-order ones. It was hardly as bleak as Da Qing and the others had said.
"You two keep an eye on the surroundings. I’m going to refine the Thunder Serpent’s Essence Blood in the space, and by the way, disassemble the useful spiritual objects from the body of the giant octopus."
Li Zhirui seriously instructed, "No matter what kind of Water Devil you encounter, or any other sudden situation, don’t interfere! And don’t take any action! Wait for me to come out."
If they took action, then their Spirit Boat would be exposed, and without Li Zhirui there, they would no longer be able to stay hidden. They might end up being besieged by Water Devils then.
After all, the Spirit Boat had a strong human race scent to it. n𝚘vp𝚞𝚋.com
"Understood, you can rest assured," Da Qing replied.
With the reliable Da Qing present, Li Zhirui felt much more at ease and flashed into the space.
Refining bloodlines might not sound like a simple task, but in reality, it was like tempering spirit materials; one only needed to use the Spiritual Fire to turn all impurities to ash, preserving only the most valuable part.
The body of a fourth-order Devil Beast was incredibly tough. Li Zhirui used his own Pill Fire for over an hour before he truly began to refine the bloodline.
As time went by, a large amount of black impurities fell, and in the end, only a small ball of crystal-clear blood remained. Li Zhirui exhaled a breath of turbid air, carefully bottled the essence blood in a fine jade vessel, affixed a Spirit Sealing Talisman, and placed it into the storage area of the space.
As the space became increasingly large, Li Zhirui specially built a small hut to store various precious spiritual objects.
"It’s a pity that the Thunder Serpent’s evolutionary path is the Sky Serpent, not the Dragon Tribe. Otherwise, our family could have had another Thunder Dragon branch," Li Zhirui sighed with some regret.
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While Li Zhirui was refining the bloodline, Da Qing and Xiaoqing were very careful in guarding the surroundings of the Spirit Boat, being on high alert for the slightest sign of movement.
During this time, they encountered two third-order Water Devils fighting each other, equally matched and unable to overcome the other. Had they not remembered Li Zhirui’s instructions, they would have been tempted to intervene and resolve the fight themselves.
They were only two injured third-order Water Devils. Even if they had been unscathed, they would be no match for them.
In the end, they could only watch helplessly as the Water Devils left.
"This vast sea is really too boring!" Xiaoqing complained, "On our journey, it seems we have never seen an island."
Da Qing thought for a moment and said, "It seems to be because, during the historical war between the human race and the Sea Clan for control of the seas, the Sea Clan came out in full force, barely keeping the human race at bay in the Outer Sea. Since then, there have been no islands allowed on the surface of the Outer Sea."
With this, even if the human race broke the agreement and attacked again, the Sea Clan would have an absolute territorial advantage!
After all, without the islands, the human race wouldn’t have a foothold, surely they can’t just rely on their Flying Artifacts, can they?
If they really did that, lower-rank cultivators with less mana wouldn’t be able to hold on for long and would fall into danger due to a lack of mana.
It’s true that for great cultivators, creating an island wasn’t too difficult, but the mana consumption was considerable, and given the revered status of great cultivators, how many would be willing to do such tiring work?
"No wonder the Sea Clan can occupy such a large territory."
The Spirit Boat fell silent for a moment before Xiaoqing asked again, "Do you think we’ll be able to find an opportunity to evolve?"
"I don’t know either," Da Qing admitted, also quite perplexed.
Even though the Boundless Sea was said to be rich in resources, it didn’t necessarily mean they could obtain them!
"However, you must believe in Jiu, he will definitely try his best to help us!" Da Qing was sure of this.
Whether it was the companionship that had lasted them hundreds of years or the destiny they couldn’t sever due to the contract, Li Zhirui wouldn’t just ignore them!
"Besides, even if our luck is truly bad, don’t we still have a last resort?" Da Qing said with a smile: "You know, not just anyone can produce so many Spirit Fruits and Spirit Pills for Spirit Beasts to consume."
Over the years, the resources Li Zhirui had invested in them were enough for the Li family to cultivate dozens of practitioners at Foundation Establishment Perfection!
Even if they were disappointing, with the Sky Cleansing Pill and the Gold Core Formation Pill, couldn’t they at least produce five or six Golden Core cultivators? With a bit more luck, maybe there could be a dozen or so who succeeded in transcending Tribulation and condensing a Golden Core.
This would greatly enhance the strength of the Li family and alleviate the pressure caused by a shortage of Golden Core cultivators.
Yet Li Zhirui, without even a blink, gave all those tremendous resources to them.
"You’re right; I shouldn’t have complained about Jiu, it was me who misunderstood him," Xiaoqing said quietly, reflecting on their own behavior.
They only saw the inefficiency and the prospect of needing meticulous cultivation for hundreds of years before seeing a hope for evolution, without noticing the sacrifices behind it.
Moreover, a hundred years, for them, wasn’t very long; as a Spirit Beast in the Golden Core Realm, their lifespan was much longer than that of Golden Core cultivators, so they didn’t need to worry about their life span.
Xiaoqing was immersed in deep self-reproach and apologies.
Da Qing glanced at him and knew that their strategy had worked, likely completely resolving Xiaoqing’s inner conflict.
The method employed by Li Zhirui before had only slightly improved Xiaoqing’s condition, but in the long run, it would have become entrenched. Da Qing’s approach, however, aimed to fully resolve his friend’s inner conflict and induce a fundamental change.
It wasn’t that Li Zhirui was unaware of the drawbacks; it was just that he couldn’t think of a better solution at the time, and Da Qing’s intervention happened to be timely.
The Spirit Boat became very quiet until Li Zhirui emerged from the space, breaking the silence.
"What’s the matter?" he asked, seeing Xiaoqing’s depressed mood, a puzzled look on his face.
Could it be that Xiaoqing had disobeyed again, taking actions without permission? But that can’t be right! The spells he cast on the Spirit Boat were still in place.
