Chapter 85: Coconut Tree Island

Even two extra pages of new sigils appeared, the ancient characters "Zhu" and "Mie".

Jiang Yu looked at the two characters with her eyes, and after a moment her eyes were sour and tearing; she quickly averted her gaze and used spiritual energy to sweep around her eyes.

At that moment, the sigil book, like a well‑fed child, wobbled and flew to the space in front of her forehead.

When she lifted her head, it flew back into the Sea of Cognition, immovable as a mountain.

Jiang Yu projected her divine sense, tried to turn the page, and found she couldn't open it this time; she sighed, "You've become the ancestor, the sigil ancestor."

She never expected that after calling "ancestor," the page would turn on its own.

Jiang Yu: …

But she didn't want to look any further, so she decisively closed it and ran to the orchard to find Thus: Xuantang Xingjun.

"Senior, do you have any high‑level disguise technique? I want to evade the watchers and, while it's still daylight, leave the western shore.

The map shows that to the southeast lies Sunleaf Island, mostly inhabited by low‑rank cultivators."

"Head to Coconut Tree Island in the southwest; it's closer to the Spirit Stone Mine.

Bring extra fresh water… never mind, the space already has it; you're really lucky." Thus: Xuantang Xingjun immediately taught her a set of techniques, saying even a Nascent Soul cultivator would have trouble recognizing it in person.

Jiang Yu practiced at once, and after several repetitions she grasped the essence, transforming into a middle‑aged qi‑refining female cultivator; after swapping clothes, shoes, and hat, she left the main gate with an air of authority.

Ao Ze, unable to see any tail‑watchers from the Dragon Stele, said, "Jiang Yu, don't you want to know who's monitoring you?"

"Fifty percent are members of Qi's family; that day I appeared on the mountain top, which was indeed unusual.

Among their party there are three Jie Dan cultivators; assigning one to watch me is easy." It was only because an elder in her vicinity had reached the Hua Shen stage that she could fully ascertain their cultivation levels.

Jiang Yu can't provoke them, but she can evade them; besides, they're already suspicious.

Fortunately, Xun Zhenjun appeared in time; otherwise Qi Haohao's Ba Shu would likely have placed a tracking mark on her.

By early the next morning, when Qi Haohao came knocking to look for her, Jiang Yu had already taken residence on Coconut Tree Island.

Moreover, she lived underground; there was no other reason—she had teleported there in less than an hour, and a sea storm had swept the entire island.

When the alarm rang loudly, a Jie Dan cultivator stationed on the island gave a command, and she, along with everyone else, rushed into the underground shelter.

The area here is comparable to the island's central zone, laid out as a square design.

The outermost ring consists of stone rooms side by side; you need a room card to enter depending on the situation.

The inner ring is a spacious platform, where one can see one‑meter‑square grids drawn on the ground with white lines.

Jiang Yu chose a grid, just as she took out a meditation mat and sat down, a cultivator bearing a law‑enforcement arm badge approached to collect fees: "Two spirit stones per day; setting up a stall costs an additional two."

Seeing others pay, she also handed over two stones in a rush; setting up a stall was impossible—she still hadn't figured out the situation.

She only looked at the tree‑shaped mark on the back of her hand and asked the law officer, "What's this?"

"It's the formation mark you received when you descended to the shelter; it will disappear once you complete the demon‑hunting task." The officer said and left.

When the law team left, she tried to extend her divine sense out of the shelter; unsurprisingly, there was a barrier.

Besides hearing the waves crashing and the gale roaring outside, her divine sense could not penetrate the underground.

Meanwhile, the cultivators around her paid no mind to the obvious mark on her hand; they seemed excited, some sitting together to chat, others communicating telepathically.

Jiang Yu listened for a while; they were all talking about which demon beasts to pick up and how many spirit stones they could earn.

Just as she wanted to hear more, a female cultivator on her left suddenly turned to her, "Companion, once the storm passes, shall we form a team?"

The other pointed at several nearby cultivators, "We already have seven members, all at the early Foundation Establishment stage; each keeps what they pick, no one takes advantage of anyone.

But if anyone tries to snatch our loot, we must act unitedly against the outside."

One of the people she pointed at also looked over, "Exactly, our squad relies on speed to pick up leftovers; internal conflict is the least likely."

"But just now someone invited me to join a team.

Sorry." Jiang Yu did not rashly accept.

The two cultivators were not disappointed, got up and went to find others to form a team.

Jiang Yu stopped using her divine sense to eavesdrop, got up and walked around; among the thousands nearby, not everyone relied on telepathy—many conversed in ordinary voices.

So within moments she realized that after the storm, sea‑clan demonic beasts would be injured or dead, and the cultivators formed teams to collect the beasts.

Moreover, this activity is a mandatory task on Coconut Tree Island; every cultivator who descends to the shelter must take part and hand over one‑third of the loot.

"Senior, we already collected the shelter fee, and taking another third of the earnings is quite a lot!"

"This is a Demon Gate; even taking half would be generous."

"Fine." Jiang Yu almost forgot that the western shore market belongs to the Demon Flame Sect, and the ports and all islands in the sea are jointly developed and managed by the Ten Great Demon Gates.

She remarked, "The Dao Demons of the Eastern Continent seem to prefer doing business to earn spirit stones."

Thus: Xuantang Xingjun disagreed: "That's because you haven't seen them fight to the death; for profit, Dao Demons can cooperate and also turn on each other.

On Tianyuan Continent, Dao Demons are constantly battling for territory."

"I was being shallow," Jiang Yu said, after wandering the stalls, yet she still couldn't find the Yuan Symbol Fragment.

Only, as she turned around, she was surprised to see a young monk setting up a stall in the outermost ring.

The latter still displayed Buddhist sutras on a yellow cloth, but beside him sat an elderly, fully‑established Foundation‑established grand monk.

"Late Nascent Soul," Thus: Xuantang Xingjun saw through at a glance.

"Ao Ze, don't look," Jiang Yu instantly averted her gaze; the old monk there lifted his eyes lightly, glanced at her, then resumed his meditation.

Inside the Dragon Pearl, Ao Ze sighed and turned his head, "When will we be able to go out for a walk?"

Soon, because the storm subsided the following afternoon.

Jiang Yu followed the cultivators in a single file out of the underground; the teleportation hall and street shops in the island's commercial center remained intact within the defensive array.

But beyond that area, one could immediately see houses and trees blown down, and coconut fruits cracked and rolling across the ground.

Even a sea beast, crawling onto the shore, lay barely alive.

While Jiang Yu was still a bit surprised, many experienced cultivators were already riding magical implements to go and finish off demons.

She hesitated briefly; instead of having Thus: Xuantang Xingjun erase the mark, she wielded her sword and flew toward the sea shore, discovering several low‑rank demonic beasts sprawled on the beach.

But everyone joyfully flew farther away.

Jiang Yu thought for a moment, did not join the bustle, and let her evading flash fall into the sea, gathering second‑ and third‑tier demonic beasts with some Refining Qi cultivators.

When the Refining Qi cultivators saw her, they swept up a whole area, retreated while whizzing and sending out transmissions.

After a short while, several law‑enforcement officers arrived and said, "Daoist friend, picking one‑ to three‑tier beasts at the Foundation Establishment stage is not counted toward the mission quota."

Within a thousand li of here, many reefs hide fourth‑ to fifth‑tier demonic beasts.

I'll go!

Jiang Yu brushed the storage bag, and a pile of demon corpses fell before the Refining Qi cultivator who hadn't sent a transmission: "Here you go."

The little Refining Qi cultivator was overjoyed and, after a while, said, "Thank you, senior."

But Jiang Yu, flying far away, could no longer hear them; she sped along, many reefs already occupied, and, helpless, had to keep searching for unclaimed spots.

Ao Ze voluntarily offered to go under the sea; Jiang Yu thought for a moment, released a flying boat on the sea surface, and said, "You may only circle the flying boat a few times; you cannot transform into a dragon."

After speaking, she slapped an invisibility talisman onto him.

But Ao Ze entered the sea for only a few breaths, then swiftly flew back, shouting, "Quick, quick, big guy."