Bai Qiu walked to the shore and called out to A’Yuan through telepathy.
A short while later, a green snake head emerged from the calm surface of the sea.
The moment Huang Hailing caught sight of it from afar, she quickly turned her head away and covered her mouth.
“Pfft… Hahaha…”
Bai Qiu couldn’t hold it in and burst into laughter.
The snake poking its head out was indeed A’Yuan itself.
Somehow, it had gone off who-knows-where to play, and now it had returned with its head completely covered in seaweed.
It looked exactly like a kappa, with a bright green “hairstyle” on top of its head.
And with the seaweed naturally hanging down…
Well, how should he put it?
The hairstyle looked a bit like a bob cut.
Huang Hailing deliberately looked away, afraid she would burst out laughing herself.
Bai Qiu, meanwhile, had already lost the battle and was laughing openly.
As for A’Yuan, it was completely oblivious.
Its thoughts were filled with excitement.
Holding a large crab in its mouth like a treasured gift, it eagerly swam over to Bai Qiu.
“Master, Master! Look what I brought back for you!”
A’Yuan’s cheerful voice echoed through their telepathic link.
Curious, Bai Qiu brushed aside the seaweed on its head and cast an appraisal.
Dragon Beard Seaweed
Quality: C++
Description: A plant that grows in shallow seas. Consuming it can accelerate growth.
He then looked at the trembling crab clamped in A’Yuan’s mouth.
It was just an ordinary steamed bun crab, though it appeared to be a female.
A specimen this large was quite rare.
The Dragon Beard Seaweed was suitable for A’Yuan itself to consume.
As for the crab, it was simply an ordinary cooking ingredient.
Bai Qiu took the female crab from A’Yuan’s mouth and noticed that its abdomen was carrying a huge cluster of densely packed baby crabs.
Just then, an even larger crab rushed up from the sea behind A’Yuan and anxiously circled around Bai Qiu.
“Looking for her?” Bai Qiu handed the female crab over.
The male crab was immediately overjoyed.
It carefully accepted the female, embraced her tightly, and hurried back into the sea.
“A’Yuan, crabs are just ordinary ingredients. If they aren’t useful, there’s no need to catch them,” Bai Qiu said as he gently patted A’Yuan’s head.
Holding up the Dragon Beard Seaweed, he added, “But this is excellent. Can you find some more of it?”
Receiving Bai Qiu’s praise and encouragement, A’Yuan nodded enthusiastically.
After tossing off the seaweed “wig” on its head, it turned around and shot back into the ocean.
Bai Qiu immediately followed.
After storing the Dragon Beard Seaweed inside his Storage Card, he climbed onto A’Yuan’s back, leaving Huang Hailing standing alone on the shore, utterly bewildered.
Bai Qiu wasn’t worried about getting wet.
Protected by the water bubble A’Yuan created around him, he could comfortably observe the underwater world in a completely dry environment.
The slightly deeper seabed was covered with fields of Dragon Beard Seaweed.
Many small marine creatures lived among them—clownfish, sea urchins, crabs, shellfish, and various other sea life.
Overall, it looked much like any ordinary seabed.
The only difference was that everything here was enormous.
Sea urchins the size of pomelos were everywhere.
Shellfish as large as washbasins were a common sight.
After taking a look around, Bai Qiu decided to collect some of everything.
It would make a nice addition to the dinner table, while also helping thin out the overabundant sea creatures.
After all, they were occupying vast fields of Dragon Beard Seaweed and refusing to leave.
Working together, A’Yuan and Bai Qiu quickly harvested the waters surrounding Dragon Gate Island until they were practically picked clean.
Quite a few amusing things happened along the way.
For example, when some damselfish saw Bai Qiu and A’Yuan harvesting sea urchins, they actually summoned their courage and began leading them around, guiding them to several densely populated sea urchin patches.
It gave off the unmistakable feeling of:
“Sir! Sir! Hurry over here! The sea urchins are hiding right over there!”
Unfortunately for them, once Bai Qiu had finished collecting the sea urchins and revealed his true intentions, it was already too late to regret it.
Because after gathering the sea urchins…
He started openly harvesting the fish as well.
Any damselfish bold enough to attack Bai Qiu in protest was swallowed whole by A’Yuan in a single bite.
By the time Bai Qiu and A’Yuan emerged from the sea again, the sun was already setting.
Filled with the satisfaction of a bountiful harvest, Bai Qiu looked toward Huang Hailing, who was sitting alone on a reef, looking utterly windswept and disheveled, and inwardly realized something was wrong.
“Haha… Sorry to keep you waiting. We can go now.”
Walking over to her, Bai Qiu apologized awkwardly.
He had accidentally abandoned her again.
“It’s fine… But why are your clothes still dry?” Huang Hailing asked, seemingly unconcerned.
However, she had noticed something very keenly.
Bai Qiu was still wearing the exact same cloak and armor as before, yet there wasn’t the slightest trace of moisture on him.
He had spent nearly an hour and a half underwater.
And yet he wasn’t wet at all.
Bai Qiu didn’t explain the reason directly.
Instead, he simply smiled as he stroked the approaching A’Yuan.
“For that,” he said, “I have my good partner to thank.”
A’Yuan narrowed its eyes and let out a proud cry, seemingly responding to Bai Qiu.
It then voluntarily returned to its Contract Space Card.
Bai Qiu said, “Alright, we’ve finished gathering all the resources. Do you want to divide them here, or after we leave?”
“Let’s do it outside,” Huang Hailing replied.
She took out the Dungeon Card and selected Exit.
As the Dungeon Card disappeared, the two of them were teleported out.
Bai Qiu didn’t notice that, at the very instant they left the dungeon, Huang Hailing seemed to let out a sigh of relief.
…
The moment Bai Qiu and Huang Hailing were teleported back into the safe zone, Bai Qiu suddenly felt something wrapping tightly around him.
His heart skipped a beat.
Killing intent erupted from his body as he instinctively prepared to break free by force.
But when he realized it was the snake-woman he had met before, he immediately withdrew his strength, lest he accidentally tear the presumptuous woman to pieces.
“What are you doing?!” Bai Qiu demanded angrily.
He had nearly killed her by accident just now, and even so, he still couldn’t understand what was going through her head.
He had only met the snake-woman, Animiya, once before.
Her appearance had been distinctive enough that he still remembered her.
As far as he recalled, though, their previous encounter had ended on rather bad terms.
“Hehe… Darling, you’re finally here!”
The snake-woman seemed to have completely lost her mind.
She clung tightly to Bai Qiu without letting go, babbling all sorts of incoherent nonsense.
From the day he was born until now, Bai Qiu had never witnessed anything this bizarre.
Goosebumps instantly spread all over his body.
He had completely given up trying to reason with her.
With a whoosh, Bai Qiu dismissed his Concealment Cloak and Skyward Battle Armor, taking advantage of the gap left between his body and the snake-woman by the armor.
Lowering his body in one swift motion, he slipped beneath her embrace—his nose brushing past her soft breasts.
With his Sevenfold Arcane Crystallized Eyes activated to their fullest, he moved as slickly as an eel, easily evading the coils of her tail once again before retreating several steps in rapid succession.
He activated Wind Manipulation, leaped into the air, and, to the astonishment of everyone watching, shot straight up into the sky.
Before he even had time to catch his breath, only one thought remained in Bai Qiu’s mind:
Run!
With Wind Manipulation operating at full power, Bai Qiu quickly reached the edge of the safe zone.
Just as he was about to fly out…
Bang!
He slammed headfirst into the Sanctuary Barrier and dropped straight down.
Slightly irritated after his “crash landing,” Bai Qiu looked up just in time to see the elf [Sage] charging toward him at astonishing speed.
Like a soccer player performing a knee slide across the field, the elf slid all the way over to him.
Grabbing Bai Qiu by the ankle, he completely disregarded his dignity and dropped to his knees, kowtowing deeply.
— The end of the Chapter–
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