Chapter 82: Fair Price

The light of dawn shone on the sea, brightening everything, and also fell on Xu Qing's heavy figure.

For a long while, Xu Qing let out a long breath. That terrifying existence on the seabed had now completely disappeared from his sight with the arrival of daylight.

Xu Qing did not know what that giant was, nor did he know whose carriage the dragon chariot was. The Sea Records had never mentioned it. But just now, he had felt a strong deterrent force just by looking at that giant from afar. One could imagine that this huge existence on the seabed must be terrifying and astonishing.

And to be able to have such a powerful existence pull a carriage for it, Xu Qing found it hard to imagine how glorious the owner of that dragon chariot once was.

Fortunately, this giant seemed to have no malice, or rather, in the eyes of such an existence, Xu Qing seemed not to form any obvious malice.

"Forbidden Sea..." Xu Qing murmured, a deep vigilance appearing in his eyes.

He knew and had personally felt that this Forbidden Sea was full of infinite dangers, so in the subsequent voyage, he was even more cautious, strictly following the sea chart to sail, so that the route did not have the slightest deviation.

A few days passed in a flash.

In these few days, Xu Qing did not see many people, but he became increasingly familiar with the Forbidden Sea. He encountered more sea beasts and had also made moves several times.

Every time he made a move, he obtained some biological materials from the Forbidden Sea. In this, his Forbidden Sea bearded whale made a great contribution, and the multiple attacks also made Xu Qing increasingly proficient in fighting on the sea.

As for terrifying existences like the giant, Xu Qing never encountered them again.

Until this day, the noon sun was scorching, and the sea breeze carried high temperatures. Xu Qing, who had finished his cultivation, opened his eyes and looked into the distance through the protection, frowning slightly.

His destination was the direction of the Xishan Islands, and the Sea Lizard Island was just behind the islands. According to the guidance of the sea chart, he still needed seven days to reach it.

As for the area where he was now, according to the records on the sea chart, this was a relatively safe route to the Xishan Islands, but as he approached, Xu Qing was somewhat puzzled.

In the sea area in front of him, there were a large number of vines spreading out of the sea surface. The further away, the more vines there were, and at the end, there seemed to be some boats trapped.

But the distance was too far to see clearly.

As for the edge of this sea area, the vines were relatively reduced.

It seemed they had been attracted by something before extending from the seabed, and at this moment, they were slowly shrinking, as if it wouldn't take long before they sank again.

But the arrival of Xu Qing's boat made these vines, which were slowly sinking, seem to have found a new target, rapidly approaching Xu Qing's boat, visible to the naked eye.

All this caused Xu Qing's vigilance to increase. Standing at the bow, he formed seals with both hands, controlling the dharma boat to begin reversing, trying to avoid the approaching vines.

But the vines were very fast. Although Xu Qing did not go deep and did not waste time flying away, a few still approached while spreading, winding along the hull.

These vines were pitch-black, as thick as an arm, and covered with sharp thorns, looking very ferocious. And the most astonishing thing was that these thorns contained a certain suction force. As they wound around, they actually caused the dharma boat's consumption to instantly intensify.

Fortunately, the number of vines was not large, and they could not affect the boat's speed while winding, but Xu Qing still clearly perceived that this consumption was more like spiritual energy being sucked away.

A cold glint flashed in Xu Qing's eyes. He waved his right hand, and the dagger appeared. His body leaped up instantly, and amidst the flashing cold light, those vines were all cut open. Cooperating with the dharma boat's power to pull, he gradually broke away from this area.

Until he was far away, Xu Qing looked at the distant sea area, then lowered his head, his gaze falling on the deck.

There were a few vines he had cut off there, twisting like sea snakes. Green liquid flowed from the cuts, carrying strong corrosion, dripping onto the deck and emitting sizzling sounds.

Looking at these, Xu Qing's expression was somewhat ugly. Just now, when cutting, he felt that the vines had great toughness, and it required his full physical strength to cut them.

After pondering for a moment, Xu Qing suddenly formed seals with his right hand. Immediately, the formation patterns under his feet shone, revealing the core of the Spirit Gathering Formation.

Xu Qing scanned it and found that three of the spirit stones on it appeared dim, as if they had been drained all at once.

"It really is absorbing spiritual energy." Xu Qing felt some heartache.

There were over a hundred types of records about vines in the Sea Records, and most of them looked similar, so it was difficult for Xu Qing to judge accurately at the first moment.

Especially this sea area, neither the sect's sea chart nor the sea chart he obtained from the mermaid boy had marked the vines.

"If there weren't any originally, then they should be vines that can migrate on their own. Among this type of vine, the only ones that like spiritual energy are the Spirit-Devouring Vines." Xu Qing recalled the content in the Sea Records and whispered with a frown.

"Spirit-Devouring Vines, like spiritual energy, cannot be harmed by spells, only broken by brute force. Can devour the power of dharma boats and the spiritual energy of cultivators themselves. If wound around, the state of death is extremely miserable. This object is sensitive to anomalous substances and wanders in the Forbidden Sea. The places where it exists are often places where anomalous substances are relatively scarce."

Xu Qing pondered and looked up into the distance.

This was the nearest road to the Xishan Islands. If he bypassed it, the time spent would increase a lot.

Especially since he did not know the specific range of these vines, and according to the description in the Sea Records, these Spirit-Devouring Vines often appeared in groups and wandered, with an extremely vast range.

"The time required for a detour is too long, not to be taken unless absolutely necessary. And these Spirit-Devouring Vines are not impossible to resolve."

Xu Qing thought for a moment, his eyes narrowed. He touched his storage bag with his right hand, and the next instant, a black elixir appeared in his hand.

This elixir was the black elixir containing dense anomalous substances.

Holding the black elixir at this moment, Xu Qing stood at the bow, controlling the dharma boat to approach the vine area again.

Soon, the sea surface rolled, and a large number of vines broke out of the sea, carrying intense greed, rapidly approaching Xu Qing's dharma boat.

But just at the moment they approached, Xu Qing calmly threw the black elixir in his hand toward the sea surface in front. As the black elixir fell into the sea and melted, the anomalous substances suddenly became dense.

In an instant, the vines spreading from all around all trembled in unison, as if they had encountered something extremely disgusting, instantly rolling back and avoiding from afar, making Xu Qing's dharma boat smooth and unobstructed.

Xu Qing's expression eased slightly, controlling the dharma boat to move at full speed. Although the places he passed through were in the vine area, as he threw more black elixirs, all the vines that were about to wind around showed strong repulsion and avoided them one after another.

Just like that, Xu Qing's dharma boat moved forward all the way. And as he threw more black elixirs, relatively denser anomalous substances also permeated around his boat, so that gradually he didn't even need to continue throwing black elixirs; the surrounding vines would instinctively avoid it.

Thus, in this forward movement, Xu Qing's dharma boat got closer and closer to the boats trapped by the vines in the distance, and the sea breeze also carried the human voices from there over.

Although faint, for cultivators, it could still be heard very clearly.

"Zhao Zhongheng, what kind of road are you leading us on!"

」

"Senior Sister Ding, please calm your anger... There were no vines in this area before. They must have migrated over in the past few days. I have no way either. But I have already asked my grandfather for help. I believe someone will come to take us out of trouble soon..."

The person speaking was none other than Zhao Zhongheng. At this moment, his Phoenix-Bird was completely trapped here. With a large number of vines winding around, his boat could only move forward with difficulty.

While the speed was slow, the followers who traveled with him also had their boats trapped. One by one, their expressions were anxious, but they had no way and could only try their best to constantly cut the vines.

Zhao Zhongheng was also annoyed. It was really that the vines in this area were beyond his expectations. At this moment, while fully controlling the Phoenix-Bird to try to rush out, facing the dissatisfied expression of the Senior Sister beside him, he could only apologize. On one hand, he was pursuing the other party, and on the other hand, it was also because this Senior Sister Ding had an extraordinary background.

So he hurriedly took a jade box from his body and sent it over.

"Senior Sister Ding, don't be angry. Believe me, there is no problem. I will definitely be able to take you to the Xishan Islands. This Clarity Elixir is a rare medicine that can nourish the soul and is of great value. It was given to me by my grandfather. I give it to you as an apology."

The beautiful woman wearing a light purple Daoist robe on the side seemed to have had her patience worn out. At this moment, she furrowed her delicate brows, looked at the jade box in Zhao Zhongheng's hand, and after taking it, barely made herself peaceful. She was just about to speak.

But just at this moment, the whistling sound of a dharma boat came from afar. She instinctively looked over and saw at a glance that there was a dharma boat in the distance, riding the wind and waves, rushing over rapidly.

On the dharma boat stood a person like a green pine, a gray Daoist robe fluttering in the wind. As the long hair fluttered, the sunlight fell and penetrated the hair, forming colorful light halos.

And under that halo was a cold, perfect face that was enough to make the opposite sex's heart beat faster. Even the vines seemed to be shaken by it, as if because of this person's handsomeness, they became sensitive plants, automatically avoiding and rolling back around him.

This scene made light shine in the woman's eyes, and a sweet smile appeared on her face, calling out toward Xu Qing there.

"This Junior Brother, what method did you use to make the vines avoid? Can you help me?"

Her smile was sweet, her voice was sweet and greasy, and the whole person seemed to have turned into a piece of candy, making Zhao Zhongheng, who also saw Xu Qing on the side, feel very uncomfortable in his heart.

He had shown courtesy countless times along this journey, but he had never seen the other party smile and speak like this...

This discomfort made Zhao Zhongheng's expression unhappy, carrying some hostility in his heart as he looked at Xu Qing.

Looking at him, he felt somewhat familiar, and the next instant he immediately recognized him.

"It's you!" Zhao Zhongheng recognized Xu Qing. If it were someone else, perhaps he would have forgotten long ago, but Xu Qing's face was rarely forgotten by anyone who saw it.

And now, after recognizing Xu Qing, Zhao Zhongheng also immediately felt the spiritual energy fluctuations on the other party, which seemed to be much stronger than when they met last time. But to him, as a core disciple, his noble status allowed him to ignore the vast majority of mountain-descending disciples.

So after a cold glance, Zhao Zhongheng spoke indifferently.

"You come over and use your method to open a path for us."

In daily life, he was always so bossy toward the gray-robed disciples descending the mountain. At this moment, it was the same. In his cognition, the gray-robed ones descending the mountain would all be in awe and obedient when they saw him.

Xu Qing had noticed the Phoenix-Bird not far away before, and also saw these two core disciples wearing light purple Daoist robes. At this moment, he didn't pay attention to them. The dharma boat under him did not change speed, whistling past not far from them.

"Eh? Are you deaf? Didn't you hear me talking!" Zhao Zhongheng's expression was gloomy. With a wave of his hand, large swathes of water droplets appeared in front of him, forming water swords, heading straight for Xu Qing's dharma boat.

But at the moment of approach, a water curtain appeared out of thin air, directly blocking it.

Amidst the rumbling, the water swords collapsed.

The dharma boat under Xu Qing stopped abruptly. He turned around and looked coldly at Zhao Zhongheng, who had made a move against him. In the distance, the sea waves rolled, and the sea surface suddenly exploded. A huge Forbidden Sea bearded whale leaped out from within, exposing a small half of its body in mid-air, dazzling to the extreme under the sunlight.

It emitted a roar that deterred the soul, and then crashed heavily onto the sea, sinking again. But the violent momentum spread out at this moment.

This scene immediately made Zhao Zhongheng's expression change greatly. The followers beside him also had their eyes widened, huge waves rising in their hearts. And that Senior Sister also had her expression change instantly.

"Forbidden Sea bearded whale!"

Zhao Zhongheng took a breath. When looking at Xu Qing, his expression revealed disbelief. Although he was a core disciple and had a crushing status over the disciples descending the mountain, but... this was not absolute.

Among the disciples descending the mountain, if one could cultivate a Forbidden Sea bearded whale in the eighth layer of the Sea Transformation Sutra, this represented that their aptitude was astonishing, and there was a great possibility of advancing to Foundation Establishment in the future.

Such a character, even a core disciple would not want to provoke too much, often treating them as peers. After all, once the other party advanced to Foundation Establishment, their status and position would instantly leap up. Even if they saw them, they would have to respectfully pay respects.

Xu Qing looked coldly at Zhao Zhongheng, whose expression had changed, and spoke slowly.

"One boat, twenty spirit stones. As for your boat, it needs one hundred." ===== CHAPTER 83 =====