The two avatars’ soul attacks were lightning-fast; in an instant they branded slave seals on Leng Qingxiao, then plunged into Leng Qingyao’s sea of consciousness and did the same to her.

In that sliver of time Qingyao suddenly whipped her sword sideways and killed two martial cultivators.

The pterosaurs they were riding were shockingly fierce as well—two cultivators were gashed by the beasts’ talons, and another was swatted into the sea, knocked cold by a single wing-blow.

Fortunately, the moment Qingxiao and Qingyao received the slave seals they reined in their mounts and stopped fighting.

He didn’t rush to rescue the injured men; instead he soul-scanned Qingxiao again, wanting a full picture of their strength.

One sweep told Ye Liuyun how right he’d been to open with a soul strike.

Individually, Qingxiao and Qingyao were stronger than average warriors, but not so strong they could swagger unopposed across the Desolate Sea. Their arrogance came from a combined combat art.

The two pterosaurs beneath them didn’t merely cooperate in battle—they could actually fuse into that joint technique. If all four fought in concert they could challenge a Return-to-One Eighth-Heaven cultivator.

“Talk about striking treasure!”

Delighted, Ye Liuyun had the pair help him brand the two pterosaurs as well, then rewarded the three wounded cultivators to the beasts as food.

He now considered ordinary martial artists too useless; keeping too many was pointless. Far better to let the two ferals grow stronger and boost the quartet’s combined might.

“You two tail those pirates; notify me the moment they reach the treasure site.” He didn’t keep them at his side—tracking the vault’s location was their job.

With their power and clan backing, two riders and two mounts could shadow the site without trouble.

He himself no longer needed to follow the First-Star Pirate Band; slipping away now let him explore other parts of the Desolate Sea and save time. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

“Yes, master!” Qingxiao and Qingyao answered, spurring their pterosaurs after the pirates to scout ahead.

The avatar left only three cultivators outside, stowing the rest in his spatial world, then had Dragon Girl question the blue whale about other treasures.

To the whale, places like undersea spirit-fire vents weren’t treasures—just danger zones.

After a while Dragon Girl reported: “The Desolate Sea is littered with peril; wherever it’s dangerous something good might lie—like undersea volcanoes.

Two major races control vast territories: the merfolk and the devil-jiao. There’s also the deepest trench, so mysterious no sea beast dares approach. Supposedly the most terrifying sea demon in the Desolate Sea dwells there.”

The avatar thought for a moment and told her: “Let’s start with those two big races—large territory means rich resources. On the way we’ll check any dangerous spots we pass.”

Dragon Girl relayed the order, and the whale promptly swung about, diving with her toward the depths.

“That whale seems pretty eager!”

The two avatars didn’t care where it went; they knew nothing of these waters, so random exploration suited them fine.

They remained on the surface, golden pupils scanning the surroundings, mental senses alert for sea beasts, while the three cultivators stood guard around them.

Occasional beasts leapt to bite, but none posed real threat; the avatars dealt with them easily, and no large schools attacked.

Over the next few days Ye Liuyun finished refining the True-Dragon spirit-fire into his Golden Crow Sacred Flame. Bolstered by the dragonfire, the flame’s source spirit could now speak to him telepathically.

For the first time he felt the Golden Crow Sacred Flame truly lived up to its name.

The fire-spirit demons left in the Heaven-Swallowing Cauldron he handed to his two avatars to absorb later, while he himself took over the expedition.

He’d been back on duty less than two hours when the blue whale surfaced again with Dragon Girl.

“Why are you up already?” Ye Liuyun asked her, curious.“The blue whale says there’s danger ahead!” Long Nu told Ye Liuyun.

“What kind of danger?” Ye Liuyun asked, his golden pupils peering farther out. All he could make out were three or four black-shark dorsal fins in the distance—nothing else looked threatening.

“It says sea beasts,” Long Nu relayed.

Ye Liuyun shrugged it off. Sea beasts? Perfect sparring partners.

As the blue whale broke the surface, the cruising black sharks spotted them and surged forward.

A long, low moan rolled from the whale—warning them.

Ye Liuyun instantly released both clones and shot toward the oncoming sharks.

“Guard the whale,” he told Long Nu and the three martial cultivators.

The sharks weren’t high-level; they could handle them.

Four sharks. Strongest: Unity Fourth Stage. Weakest: Sovereign Ninth Stage.

Ye Liuyun polled the women: who wanted out for combat practice?

Volunteers: Unity Second-Stage Ye Tiandao, Ge’er, Xiao Lan’er; Unity First-Stage Li Xinran, Xiao Yunfang, Meng Qingyin; Sovereign Ninth-Stage Fyeng Wanru, A-Xing, Piao Yun, Lin Fei’er, Qing Yan, Qin Mengxi.

They’d been grinding inside the clones’ accelerated time realms and were itching to temper their mystic energy—bored, restless, unafraid.

Liang Xue, Feng Hongxiu, Wu Qingcheng and the stay-soft crew passed; plenty of muscle around, and no wish to age faster by stacking time boosts. Slow, steady cultivation suited them now.

Ye Liuyun didn’t mind; when suitable enemies showed, the daredevils could stretch their legs.

He assigned one clone to the Unity Fourth-Stage shark, Ye Tiandao–Ge’er–Xiao Lan’er to a Unity Second-Stage, Li Xinran–Xiao Yunfang–Meng Qingyin to a Unity First-Stage, and Fyeng Wanru’s squad to gang up on the Sovereign Ninth-Stage runt—perfect match-ups.

At first the women faltered against such massive opponents, but equal realm kept them unscathed. It simply took time to bring the beasts down.