Luo Mingyu watched the horizon where explosions of air and water could be heard and the secondary winds of which could be felt with a flickering light in her purple eyes. She was struggling with her inability to help in such situations.

Seeing Ye Ling being serious and nervous as she tightly clutched her hand each time Wu Long narrowly avoided an attack from the sea creature reminded her of his mortality which was largely obscured by his strength and confidence in every situation they were in before.

When Wu Long landed his strike none of them breathed, looking with strained eyes until the water that shot into the air like a giant mountain fell back and they could sense him being alive, as well as the presence of the demonic sea creature disappearing.

She realized the dilemma she had. No one could reason with a demonic sea creature and even reasoning with a human was often impossible. She remembered clearly the words she once told one of the young masters who gathered with the noble ladies to discuss the Dao in the garden of her family. She was the one to say that having strength was not something to be ashamed of and that the world needed people who could wield martial arts

Yet she was completely unable to reconcile fighting herself.? It was just not in her nature to fight because she was incompatible with the mindset required to be able to do it. Her mind wandered to the equilibrium Dao again, but as she imagined attacking a person, seeing the fear, unwillingness, and struggle to live in their eyes, and then killing them, her whole body shuddered as she broke in cold sweat.

Just being able to protect herself was already a big help but even that if done with her mindset and without actually understanding combat was a mere facade, as she would be overwhelmed and as a result bring even more trouble since they would somewhat relax their guard about her safety. She knew that awkward help was only going to bring disaster.

Yet she now acutely understood how ruthless this world was, as even Wu Long could be faced with danger he had no complete control over.? Watching him be in jeopardy while she was not helpful at all was excruciating.

They soon saw him strap the two halves of the demonic sea beast with some rope and drag it in this direction, and they smiled, some wryly, some with a little tease. They knew exactly who he was dragging it for and Wei Lan lightly blushed but still smiled with happiness.

But as he got closer their smiles disappeared again as they saw cuts that were made by droplets of water at extreme speeds all over him, as blood trickled down from them.

The body of the crab was too big to fit into any spatial ring that was produced in this undeveloped environment, so he brought the corpse to the ship. Its open deck was entirely filled with it.

“Haha, no worries, just some minor injuries. I will be fine after meditating for some time”

He chuckled to soothe them when he saw their worried expressions, but as he looked at Luo Mingyu, he saw her worries resurface again and wryly smiled. It truly was not an easy path to be a peace-loving person in the cut-throat cultivation world.

A hard path does not mean a wrong path, but he could not decide that for her, as it was ultimately her path to tread. So even if he wanted to help her, all he could offer was his advice if she asked him. But if he initiated this discussion, coupled with the previous one, it would seem to her that he wanted her to choose one path over another, limiting her own will in the choice. And she would choose the path she thought he wanted for her instead of the one she truly decided on.

“Thank you for saving us, I cannot imagine how we can repa…”

Cao Xiang was about to bow down as he not only spared them but also saved them this time but Wu Long shook his head.

“That one’s on me. Since it was lured over by something in my possession, otherwise it would have hardly appeared in the Southern Sea, leaving the Outer Ocean”

As he replied Cao Xiang nodded with understanding but was still grateful to him for sparing the ship from the fight between them, as judging by the scene they saw, the devastation it would have brought had they fought near the ship or while Wu Long was on the ship would have been catastrophic.

“But you are able to hunt down a 9th-tier demonic sea beast… it is incredible”

Cao Xiang said while looking at the corpse of the demonic sea beast, still shocked by the reality in front of her.

“Hmm, I got lucky, since it was a defense-type beast, so I had plenty of time to get the strike ready”

He lightly brushed it off as he truly was lucky in this regard. This crab was relatively slow and only the attack that it shot out itself was fast. That way the moment the pincer moved he already knew the general direction of the attacks and could stay out of its effective range by never crossing the trajectory of the pincers. The only thing he had no way of anticipating was the trajectories of the droplets of water raised by the highly pressurized air-cut waves the crab sent out.

“I think the feat of splitting the shell of a defense-type beast is even more impressive”

She said, shaking her head, as he actually defeated it in its strong point.

“Is that why you used a halberd and not the sword?”

Shen Min asked as once they made sure he was fine, Wei Lan had already begun harvesting crab meat and the shell cover which was a valuable material, though mainly focusing on the crab meat while Luo Mingyu excused herself to go and meditate on the Dao.

“Yes, I needed hard power to break its shell so I went with the halberd”

He nodded as the Sword Intent he could release was not complete and would not have given him the advantage against such a shell unless he broke the sword. But since he finally got his hands on a decent sword he chose to use the halberd which was perfectly suited to crack this shell.

The ship sailed to the Main Island of the Southern Archipelago to replenish the reserves of spiritual stones required to operate it without sea wind. While there Wu Long’s group noticed a lot of trade ships in the docks coming and going.

“Didn’t you blockade the trade to the Liugwei Kingdom? Is this all trade traffic between islands?”

Hua Ziyan asked Cao Mei, who did not have much to do since it was her mother’s ship and she commanded the crew.

“No, while we did partially cut off the trade to the Liugwei Kingdom, except for some trading companies, we do not blockade the Ziwei Kingdom facing the Southern Sea on the Wood Spirit Continent at all, and the trade goes through there to the Wood Spirit Empire, and even through the continent all the way to the Piercing Cloud Continent”

“The kingdom and even the empires are so interested in the goods from the islands?”

“Yes, this area of the archipelago produces Lotus Silk, a very high-grade luxurious product, as well as a few other local specialties that could only be produced here. And since Wood Spirit Empire is considered the high society of the three continents they have a high demand for such luxury goods”

Cao Mei nodded as this area was truly rife with specialty products because the climate allowed for it. 𝐞𝗼𝐯𝐞𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

“And no one covets it?”

“Hah, why no one, there are local rulers, commonly called governors of the big islands, but they all comply with Mother’s intentions if she presses them. However, she does not interfere much in how they govern the islands as long as they do not cross the lines the royal family of Liugwei Kingdom did”

She said with a little scorn showing through her outward indifference to the so-called governors.

“The Kingdoms cannot do anything about this area since it is the buffer zone between the empires, so none of them can extend their hands here because the Kingdoms, except for the Island Kingdom Lihai in the Easter Sea are all associated with the empires that govern their continent”

Cao Mei explained and Hua Ziyan nodded with understanding. She knew a lot about the Azure Eagle Continent, but the Wood Spirit Continent was new to her, so there was now curiosity in her eyes as she continued to ask Cao Mei questions which the latter answered if she knew the answers. However, she was also more knowledgeable about the Southern Archipelago than the continents.

Meanwhile Wu Long approached Cao Xiang who was standing on the deck and observing the workers do their jobs to dock the ship properly.

“I have been meaning to wait for you to finally decide since I felt your gaze over the past few days but it seems I needed to approach you first”

He said with a smile as she froze for a moment, and then a rueful and guilty smile appeared on her face.