Ascending, Do Not Disturb

“Yes.” Kong Hou nodded and positioned the remaining fish. Seeing the fish too close together, she moved them apart.

“Why are you trying to find the dragons?” Uncle Salted Fish placed another basket by Kong Hou"s feet and motioned for her to continue. “To take the dragon core and make medicines, or to take dragon sinew for talismans?”

Continuing to place down fish, Kong Hou said, “If the dragon is alive, it is a precious and rare animal. Who would bear to take its core and sinews? I want to take two drops of dragon blood. I do not want to harm it.”

Uncle Salted Fish turned his head to look at Huan Zhong who was walking over. He was expressionless. “Oh.”

Huan Zhong could see that Uncle Salted Fish was purposefully making things difficult for Kong Hou. He bent down to help Kong Hou lay out the smelly salted dry fish. His expression was not good due to the odor, and his usually ethereal wide-sleeved robes hampered him in doing these things.

“Uncle, you live in this city?” Kong Hou continued to ask.

“Who will buy my salted fish in a poor and worn out place like this? I only coincidentally came ash.o.r.e here to see if there is any cheap fish that I can sell to foolish spendthrifts.” Uncle Salted Fish patted away the dust from his clothes and appeared dissolute.

Kong Hou: “…”
Was foolish spendthrift referring to her?

The conditions of the cultivation world and the mortal world were different. Even in this poor fishing village, they did not lack for salt. In order to preserve the fish, the women would wipe great amounts of salt on the fish. The half-dried fish and salt mixed together became very sticky. Kong Hou knew that Huan Zhong liked cleanliness and b.u.mped him with her elbow. “The dried fish is dirty. Leave this to Uncle Salted Fish and me.”

“No matter. Anything I do with you isn"t dirty.” Huan Zhong smiled at Kong Hou.

Uncle Salted Fish: “…”

These two young people were likely not right in the head. Since they were cultivators, why didn"t they use spells to lay out the fish? But seeing the two people"s sweet love, Uncle Salted Fish"s eyes dimmed slightly and he stopped being hard on them.

“Zhong Xi Shishu!” A Radiance Sect disciple who stayed behind to take care of matters hurriedly came out. He sighed in relief when he saw Huan Zhong hadn"t left and jumped off his flying sword. When he saw what Huan Zhong was doing, he was dazed. “Shi-Shishu?”

“What is it?” Huan Zhong placed the last few fish in the basket. His voice was slow and elegant, as though he was not drying fish but making seals.

“We found this when inventorying Gold Dragon Hall"s a.s.sets.” The disciple of Radiance Sect held a thumb-sized porcelain bottle in front of Huan Zhong.

The small bottle was unremarkable, and covered in dirt that had acc.u.mulated for a long time. To Huan Zhong and Kong Hou"s shock, there was a weak dragon energy.

“This is… dragon blood?” Kong Hou"s heart sped up and she stared unblinkingly at the porcelain bottle.

“Useless.” Uncle Salted Fish glanced at the bottle. “This kind of bottle cannot seal in spirit energy. After so many years, the dragon blood dried up long ago.”

Kong Hou took the bottle and carefully opened it. Her heart turned to ice. Uncle Salted Fish was correct. The dragon blood had died. It was in a black layer like dirt.

But… maybe it could be used?

Kong Hou still put away the bottle.

Noticing her movement, Uncle Salted Fish asked, “Radiance Sect disciples have searched the sea for dragon blood for so long and didn"t come here?”

The Radiance Sect disciple didn"t know who Uncle Salted Fish was. The other was dressed casually like an ordinary fisherman. He bowed. “We disciples carry talismans that can detect dragon energy and mostly stay above the sea. We inquire of fishermen who are famed on the sea. This place is poor and small. So even if we pa.s.s by, we hurry and do not stay in the city. We overlooked this.”

Uncle Salted Fish patted away the dust. “You major sect disciples speak so formally. Young Girl, I can accompany you to the sea, but my price is high. Can you afford to pay?”

“Yes, yes, yes.” Kong Hou nodded repeatedly. Based on the patterns of novels, those people who acted differently from ordinary people always had special abilities. She had an inexplicable confidence in Uncle Salted Fish.

“All right, let"s go.” Uncle Salted Fish wiped his salt-covered hands on his clothes and walked towards the sea.

Lin Hu hesitated slightly and looked at Huan Zhong. “Master…”

Huan Zhong raised a hand to stop Lin Hu. “Let"s go.”

Kong Hou held onto Huan Zhong"s arm and whispered, “Elder Lin, do not worry. The three of us are together. Even if the other has malicious intent, we will be able to escape in time.”

Lin Hu laughed. This was correct. Two Mind Dividing cultivators, and he was a Mind Manifestation cultivator. With such cultivation, they could walk all over the cultivation world and not worry about being in fatal danger. But couldn"t Miss Kong Hou be more ambitious? She was just satisfied with escaping?

They reached the edge of the sea. Kong Hou looked at the old-looking fishing ship. “Uncle, I hear that the sea has great winds and waves. Will your ship be able to withstand it?”

“If it won"t, aren"t you here?” Uncle Salted Fish untied the rope and threw the anchor onto the boat. He jumped on and said, “Come up. The sea is endless. Using your flying talismans, you will miss many interesting things.”

The three boarded the ship. This was not a large ship, but it was bigger than the fishing ships on lakes and stronger as well. Kong Hou saw the dried meat hanging in the ship, rice, flour, and vegetables that could be stored for a long time. She took out several meditating cushions from her storage ring and sat down on the deck. The sea wind swept up her hair. “Uncle, don"t you have a storage bag? Why do you put such things on the ship?”

“Life should be slowly enjoyed in order to be called life.” The ship sail billowed. Uncle Salted Fish said without turning around, “You are used to living as cultivators. How can you experience the fun of ordinary people?”

Kong Hou was thoughtful. She stood and walked next to Uncle Salted Fish. She smiled ingratiatingly at him. “Uncle, do you know many secrets other people do not know?”

Uncle Salted Fish rolled his eyes at her. “Young Girl, do you secretly read novels?”

Kong Hou"s eyes lit up. “Yes, Uncle Salted Fish, you have such foresight.”

Uncle Salted Fish turned his head expressionlessly. “It"s not that I have foresight, but ordinary people do not have strange thoughts like you.”

Kong Hou: “…”

The fishing ship moved with the wind and quickly moved away from the sh.o.r.e. Soon, they could not see land, only endless deep blue.

Uncle Salted Fish found a pot and put it on the stove to cook preserved meat. Kong Hou saw him sneakily take out a jar of water from his storage bag. She turned her head and pretended not to see. Uncle had just said that he did not use storage bags and wanted to experience the lives of common people. She could not undermine him.

As the meat was ready to eat, the ship suddenly started to shake. The seawater formed an enormous whirlpool that looked as though it was going to suck in the ship.

Huan Zhong used a spell to make the entire ship fly away from the suction.

“What is this?!” Kong Hou looked at the enormous and ugly fish in the sea. This fish had three eyes and uneven scales like rotten meat. Kong Hou inhaled. She had never seen such an ugly fish before.

“This is a sea monster.” Uncle Salted Fish turned to look at Kong Hou. “Congratulations, you managed to meet the one-in-century sea monster.”

As he finished speaking, the noise on the sea grew. Two other enormous sea monsters appeared. These two had different appearances, one looking like a two-headed moray and the other looking like a mutant squid because it had a dozen or more legs that stuck together.

Kong Hou had gooseb.u.mps from their ugliness and rubbed her arms.

“Congratulations, this is something seen once every five centuries.”

The two-headed moray sea monster suddenly screamed. Kong Hou felt the world spun at the sound. Her ears rang. She unconsciously summoned her flying sword, and jumped onto it.

Under the sound attack of the two-headed monster, Uncle Salted Fish"s ship split into pieces, and sank into the water after it was. .h.i.t by the squid-like monster. In front of these enormous sea monsters, humans appeared minuscule.

Uncle Salted Fish seemed to have some cultivation. He stood trembling on a cloak-like flying talisman. Before she could speak, one of the squid sea monster"s legs suddenly lengthened and wrapped around Uncle Salted Fish.

Huan Zhong saw the situation and cut off the leg with the Dragon Roar Sword. He pulled Uncle Salted Fish onto his own flying sword.

The squid-like monster was angered at the loss of one tentacle. His tentacles started to move madly through the air. Immediately, a wild wind erupted, as though it would blow Kong Hou and the others into the sky.

Huan Zhong"s clothes flapped in the wind. He raised his sword. As he prepared to cut through the squid-like monster, the two-headed monster screamed again. An enormous wave threw Uncle Salted Fish off the flying sword into the water.

“Uncle!” Kong Hou grabbed onto Uncle Salted Fish and said to Huan Zhong, “Huan Zhong, let"s leave.”

“We won"t be able.” Uncle Salted Fish had a grave expression. “These sea monsters are coming to get revenge on me.”

“What did you do to them?” Kong Hou looked at Huan Zhong who was fighting the sea monsters. She looked oddly at Uncle Salted Fish. “What did…”

“Over the years I"ve hunted many fish that these two monsters like to eat. They remember my scent and have come for revenge.” Uncle Salted Fish sighed. “I know you are powerful, but there are many beings in this vast sea you have never seen before. You may not be a match for them. If you put me down, they won"t chase you.”

“Uncle, you are so awesome to steal food from sea monsters.” Kong Hou had an expression of admiration. “This junior admires you.”

Uncle Salted Fish: “…”

Was there really a problem with this child"s head that she couldn"t hear the main point?

Kong Hou waved at Huan Zhong. “Huan Zhong, let"s run! Elder Lin, lead the way—we are fleeing for our lives!”

“I said if you…”

“Uncle, do not interrupt young people from doing things. That is not polite.” Kong Hou carried Uncle Salted Fish onto Lin Hu"s flying sword. “You came out to sea for us. We will not abandon you.

“Today, we will let you see how spectacular Elder Lin is.”

Uncle Salted Fish: “…”

So this young girl interrupting her elders was polite?

Translator Ramblings: Uncle Salted Fish and Lin Hu have the best outside perspectives.