Longevity starts with dual cultivation

Chapter 7 An unexpected surprise
Silent all night.

Early in the morning, after practicing all night, Ling Changqing unexpectedly discovered that his soul strength had increased again, from 12 to 13 before walking out of the room.

"It seems... there are more pearl divers who harbor ill will towards me? So the amount of soul origin power passively harvested by the Epoch Star Palace has also increased accordingly?"

Ling Changqing pondered secretly, as for the reason, it should be that the news that Ling Zifeng agreed to guarantee him and lend him cultivation resources spread.

This kind of thing is simply unavoidable. Those pearl divers who are at the same bottom of the society and have no hope of making further progress would most likely not have any good feelings towards a young man like Ling Changqing.

We are all low-level monks, risking our lives to make a living in the sea. Why would you have the chance to leave this hellhole in the future? To become a superior person?
Not managing and not understanding, this is human nature.

Sure enough, when Ling Changqing arrived on the deck, most of the pearl divers around him looked at him with gloomy eyes, some even full of jealousy and malice.

Of course, there were also some monks whose eyes were eager, with a hint of currying favor, especially some female monks.

Ling Changqing sighed helplessly in his heart. Deacon Ling Zifeng's attitude was like putting him on the fire.

I originally just wanted to be a quiet person in this world, but I never thought that I would become the focus of these people's attention.

As long as your brain is not hopelessly dull, you can basically guess what will happen next.

But Ling Changqing didn't feel any regret. He thought that he was mediocre if he wasn't envied. He just didn't want to cause trouble, but he wasn't afraid of it.

Gou Dao means being low-key, cautious and growing in a sneaky way, but he is not an old bastard who never shows up and tries to escape from everything.

If you don't seize the opportunity to change your destiny when it comes, you deserve to be at the bottom of society and never see the light of day for the rest of your life.

We must keep a low profile while also taking action. This is the correct way to follow the path of hiding.

"...Okay, let's get going, the agreed reward is still the same as yesterday!"

Deacon Ling Zifeng gave the order in a deep voice.

Many pearl divers agreed, walked to the side of the ship, went down the rope ladder to their own boats, and let the servants row the boats to the distant sea.

Ling Changqing intentionally fell behind the rest of the group, and only after the other pearl divers had gone into the water did he order the servants on the boat to set off.

"What a cautious and clever little fellow!"

Ling Zifeng, who witnessed the whole process, smiled, picked up the wine glass beside him and took a big sip.

Tian Wenhu looked calm and asked softly, "Who knows what bad intentions those bastards might have down there. Since you've decided to help this kid, do you want to intervene in advance?"

"Haha, no hurry..."

Ling Zifeng smiled and said, "The cultivation world is a world of great contention. Some things are unavoidable after all. Many times he can only face them himself."

"Whether he has the ability to change his fate remains to be seen."

"Is that so... that's fine."

Tian Wenhu was fanning himself with a paper fan, seeming to be lost in thought.

On the sea, Ling Changqing deliberately rowed the boat farther away this time, mainly to avoid the area where other pearl divers were active.

The sea is calm today. The dark blue water reflects the lonely and high sky. Occasionally, huge birds of prey can be seen flying across the sky.

"Brother, is this the end?"

The servant who was rowing the boat said, "Further out is the deep sea area, and there will be more and more deadly monsters in the sea."

"Ok."

Ling Changqing agreed, put away his tools, then stood up and went into the water, diving towards the deep sea.

Even with the dual effects of the water-repelling talisman and the water-controlling technique, it is still difficult to isolate the biting coldness in the sea water. A mortal's physique will be frozen to death within three quarters of an hour in such a deep sea environment.

As the depth increases, the rugged seabed gets closer and closer. The huge reefs are like dormant sea beasts. There is no telling how many deadly things are hidden in the dark shadows. It is terrifying to look at.

Ling Changqing touched his waist. He brought two silver silk net bags and fifteen sealing talismans today. He should be able to catch a few more sand-bathing clams and bring them back.

Moreover, these are resources distributed by the Ling family, and pearl divers do not need to buy them out of their own pockets. However, if they are lost or wasted, they will inevitably be whipped when they return.

Ling Changqing paddled the sea water flexibly with his limbs, carefully avoiding a group of migrating scorpion fish, bypassing a large area of ​​man-eating sand dragon seaweed, and then took a short rest on a reef to recover his strength.

Not only is the seabed terrain complex, but there are also various undercurrents and whirlpools that appear one after another. If you are not careful, you may get caught, not to mention those strange and ferocious creatures. Therefore, Ling Changqing dare not slack off at all.

After taking a quick look at the surrounding terrain, Ling Changqing was about to leave, but when he looked down, he found a faint indigo light emerging from the cracks in the reefs.

"This is... Moonflower Barnacle? You're lucky!"

Ling Changqing was startled for a moment, then he smiled. This thing tasted delicious and was one of the most favorite high-end ingredients among wealthy monks. It could replenish qi and blood and condense spiritual power, and was also an important raw material for refining certain elixirs.

In the past, the top leaders of the Ling family often asked pearl divers to collect Moonlight Barnacles. Finding one would earn them a reward of sixty spiritual sands.

Ling Changqing didn't look for this thing deliberately, but he didn't miss it if he saw it. He immediately took out the short sword and started working, while paying close attention to the movements in the surrounding sea water.

Breaking open the cracks in the hard reef, they took out these fist-sized, pagoda-shaped barnacles one by one and stuffed them into the silver mesh bag.

By the time the collection was completed, there were sixteen more Moon Barnacles in the net bag, which could be exchanged for more than nine low-grade spirit stones.

Ling Changqing put away the dagger and swam away lightly. After a dozen breaths, he arrived at the cave at the bottom of the next reef.

Hiding his body, he looked back inadvertently. On the reef before, an ugly sea monkey had swam leisurely over. Its bloodshot eyes looked around, and its sharp claws, which were comparable to magical weapons, flashed with a cold light.

so close……

Ling Changqing was terrified. If he had encountered this second-level monster head-on, he would have been in great danger. Fortunately, this creature did not find Ling Changqing's trace. It stayed for a moment and then left with its bloated body shaking.

After waiting for a while, Ling Changqing dared to move and began to look for caves where sand-bathing clams might be hiding.

"...It would be great if I had a sword of the upper-middle grade magical weapon. I could then kill it directly on the seabed and take the pearl, rather than having to carry the entire sand-bathing sea clam back with me."

Ling Changqing pondered, it was a pity that mid-to-high-grade magic weapons were not common goods, and low-level cultivators did not have the conditions to equip them, otherwise why would it be so troublesome?
Although cultivators in the middle and late stages of Qi training have top-grade magical instruments, given their status, it is unlikely that they would personally go out to do such hard and tiring work, as it would lower their status.

After a while, Ling Changqing finally found a cave hiding sand-bathing sea clams. After confirming again and again that there was no danger, he cautiously entered to search.

By the time he left the cave, there was a sea clam the size of a human head, with a faint golden-red luster, in the silver wire net bag wrapped around his waist.

Time passes quietly...

When Ling Changqing safely used up all the sealing talismans on his body, more than two hours had passed. A total of ten sand-bathed sea clams were stuffed into the two silver mesh bags.

There were also a bunch of miscellaneous harvests such as cloud bead grass, moonlight barnacles, and purple blood sea flowers, which were all trophies he found along the way.

Feeling his physical strength and spiritual power almost exhausted, Ling Changqing no longer hesitated. He immediately took out the Soul-Restoring Pill and swallowed it, then silently adjusted his breathing.

The mild medicinal power turned into a heat current, flowing into the internal organs and meridians, invigorating the exhausted body and mind.

Looking at the harvest around him, Ling Changqing felt a little regretful. If he took all of it back, wouldn't it be too ostentatious? It was totally inconsistent with his own purpose of Gou Dao.

Ling Changqing may not care about the opinions of those pearl divers, but will Deacon Ling Zifeng have other ideas when he sees his exaggerated performance?

Although Ling Zifeng is influenced by the mysterious power of the Era Star Palace, he won't have any bad thoughts about himself, but he can't be too public about it either.

After weighing the pros and cons, Ling Changqing finally made up his mind. Apart from the sand-bathing clams, he could take them back with him, and he could just eat all the rest of the harvest on the seabed.

This way you won't be too ostentatious and you can also enhance your cultivation and strive for an early breakthrough.

Half an hour later, Ling Changqing, who had eaten and drunk his fill, swam towards the sea surface.

Although it doesn't taste very good when eaten raw, my internal organs are filled with rich heat, and I feel indescribably warm and comfortable.

In fact, the remuneration offered by Deacon Ling Zifeng was very different from the price standard in the market.

However, as the pearl diver in the family, he has no say at all and is not allowed to keep the harvest privately. If he is discovered, he will face extremely severe punishment.

That's why Ling Changqing chose to digest it himself. Anyway, Ling Zifeng couldn't see what had already been eaten.

After surfacing, Ling Changqing found that the boat was a little far away from him, and he waited for a long time before getting on board.

"Young man from the Ling family, you...what are you doing..."

When the two servants rowing the boat saw the silver mesh bags full of things beside him, they were so frightened that they even stuttered when they spoke.

"Don't be surprised, go back quickly, the deacon is watching!"

Ling Changqing whispered that they had already reached the surface of the water, so they naturally didn't have to worry about what others might think.

The servant nodded and rowed the boat towards the ship in the distance.

After a while, when Ling Changqing returned to the deck of the ship with his harvest, almost everyone was stunned.

"…Asshole! He actually brought back so much? How…is this possible?"

"It's unbelievable. Is he really just a cultivator at the second level of Qi training?"

"This kid... is simply a freak!"

"You bastard, I can't stand it anymore. Why..."

"Be careful, don't let the deacon hear it..."

……

The voices of envy, jealousy and hatred from many pearl divers rose one after another. Some of them had red eyes. If the deacon had not been present, they would have probably taken action.

"Okay, open them all and take a look!"

Ling Zifeng gave the order with a smile, and several members of the Ling family agreed and came over with their magic weapons and swords.

As they dug up the sand-bathing clams one by one, they would not return empty-handed.

Finally, there were ten sparkling and excellent jade crystal winter flowers in the jade plate in front of Ling Zifeng, which made him smile.

"Little guy, you did very well, very good!"

Ling Zifeng patted Ling Changqing's shoulder and said with a smile. After hesitating for a moment, he took out a glittering short sword from his storage bag.

"Take it. This is a mid-grade magic weapon. I'm lending it to you temporarily. Don't let me down!"

Ling Zifeng said this and handed the dagger to Ling Changqing.

"Thank you for your kindness, Master Deacon!"

When he heard that it was just a temporary loan, Ling Changqing felt a little disappointed, but he soon got over it.

A mid-grade magic weapon is not a common commodity. Even considering Ling Zifeng's wealth, it is quite precious. It is a pleasant surprise that he is willing to lend it to him.

(End of this chapter)