Chapter 1115: Long-term Tenant

However, He Lingchuan also keenly noticed that Long Hao seemed interested in Fu Shanyue. Otherwise, it would be difficult to bribe the King of Dark Serpents with just a few boxes of malevolent pearls. After all, all things in heaven and earth survive on spiritual energy, but very few species can absorb malevolent energy. It was therefore reasonable that Long Hao was curious about the ba and wanted to observe it up close.

Fu Shanyue cheered, pumped his fist in the air, and threw an arm around He Lingchuan's shoulder, exclaiming, "My good brother!"

"On Dragon Ridge Island, you absolutely must not cause trouble," He Lingchuan earnestly warned him. "I'm about to leave on a long journey, and I won't be able to help you afterwards."

Fu Shanyue thumped his chest. "Don't worry, Taotao and I will settle right in here and definitely won't cause you any trouble." He then turned to the Dark Serpent and cupped his hands in greeting. "My apologies for any offense caused earlier! From now on, let's be good neighbors and not bother each other."

The Dark Serpent grunted, and its elite messenger turned and swam away, clearly showing disdain.

Fu Shanyue then asked He Lingchuan, "When are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow."

"Where are you going?"

"East, out to sea, to handle some matters."

"Come on, let's go back to Suoding Island for your farewell party!" Fu Shanyue didn't ask when He Lingchuan would return, but slung an arm around his neck and headed towards the shore where the boat was moored. "We won't go home until we're drunk tonight."

It wasn't until the small boat was moored back at sea that Fu Shanyue sobered his expression and said seriously: "Sorry, I caused you trouble."

"It's alright," He Lingchuan replied magnanimously. "If I lived next to a paradise, I'd want to explore it too." He Lingchuan had long understood Fu Shanyue's personality, so he wasn't angry now.

Fang Canran, the representative sent by the Spirit Mountain Sect, was amiable and highly observant of etiquette in all situations. In contrast, Fu Shanyue, the representative from Beijia, was an extremely destructive individual, so much so that even the Monarch of Chiyan had no control over him. Yet, He Lingchuan managed to get along well with both of them in his own way.

"Yes, exactly," Fu Shanyue clapped his hands. "Those black pebbles you just took out are intriguing. Are they perhaps related to malevolent energy...?"

He Lingchuan had been waiting for his question. "They are malevolent pearls, refined from malevolent energy."

Fu Shanyue still found the answer somewhat hard to believe. "Who refined them?"

He Lingchuan smiled slightly. "I did." With that, he took out a small, palm-sized box and opened it. Inside, several malevolent pearls lay on fine sand.

Fu Shanyue leaned closer, sniffed twice, then cautiously picked up one with his index and middle fingers. Before he could even lift it out of the box, he recoiled sharply, as if burned by fire. The malevolent pearl fell back into the box.

"Hiss—" He blew on his fingers. "This stuff is way too potent, isn't it?"

He Lingchuan saw that the two fingers that had touched the malevolent pearl had blackened, as if he had handled coal, and his fingertips were even corroding. If even the Crown Prince of Chiyan couldn't withstand it, how astonishingly concentrated must these malevolent pearls be? However, wisps of black smoke were rising from Fu Shanyue's fingertips, and the injury was slowly healing.

He Lingchuan asked curiously, "If your father, the king, touched a malevolent pearl, would it be the same?"

"Probably not," Fu Shanyue replied, channeling his vital energy to expel the malevolent energy. "I was born a ba, carrying a trace of innate vitality from my mother's womb, otherwise I couldn't have grown up. But my old man is a living dead man born from a place of intense malevolent energy; he's very different from me." Fu Shanlie was a naturally transformed ba, a process essentially known as ghoul transformation.

"Speaking of which, Taotao is more like me. She directly transformed from an Earth Fiend Child. Although her formation was also postnatal, she didn't experience a 'death and rebirth' process. The vitality in her body has always remained, which is why her resistance to these malevolent pearls is very poor."

"The Dark Serpent clan doesn't seem to have originated from ghoul transformation either," He Lingchuan countered, stroking his chin. "They all appear quite vigorous."

"Can ordinary Dark Serpents directly touch these pearls?"

"Uh, I suppose so?" Otherwise, how could the Dark Serpent army Long Hao lent He Lingchuan freely leave the Yangshan Sea area?

Fu Shanyue's eyes gleamed. "Then I definitely need to study them closely." Ten breaths of time passed as they spoke, and his fingers returned to normal.

"Amazing!" Fu Shanyue shook his hand. "You're saying the King of Dark Serpents can swallow this whole?"

"Eat it like a candy bead."

Fu Shanyue's expression changed slightly upon hearing this. He couldn't even touch them, yet others could eat malevolent pearls like broad beans; the disparity in their cultivation levels was clear at a glance. Though potent, the malevolent pearls were not something he could handle at his current stage. He'd better stick to diligently absorbing malevolent energy for his cultivation.

He Lingchuan reminded him again, "So, cause less trouble on the island, lest the King of Dark Serpents swallows you whole like a snack, and Taotao gets dragged into it too." He wasn't worried about Fu Shanyue trying to get close to Long Hao on the island; without the Heavenly Accord Scroll, humans and Dark Serpents couldn't communicate.

"Don't worry, I definitely won't provoke it," Fu Shanyue chuckled. "When have I ever gone back on my word?"

"Alright, I believe you." Fu Shanyue wasn't exactly a peaceful person, so letting him meet Long Hao face-to-face might actually be for the best.

Fu Shanyue looked at him steadily for a moment, then suddenly sighed, "The Yangshan Archipelago is truly a great place. I finally understand why you refused to be an official in Chiyan and came here instead – who wouldn't want to be free?"

"You can too," He Lingchuan patted his shoulder. "You will, eventually."

He Lingchuan clearly knew why Fu Shanyue had come to the Yangshan Archipelago, and Fu Shanyue himself, of course, understood the tasks Beijia had assigned him even better. First, to get closer to He Xiao; second, to gather intelligence. He had no choice but to do it.

Although his rash visit to the island today was ostensibly driven by genuine curiosity about the malevolent earth veins, Fu Shanyue was also deliberately testing He Lingchuan's reaction. Not only was the other party not angry, but he also secured him the opportunity to stay on the island and cultivate. Even secrets like the presence of the highly cultivated King of Dark Serpents on Dragon Ridge Island and the ability of malevolent energy to condense into malevolent pearls – He Lingchuan kept none of this from him.

This fellow, he clearly knew why Fu Shanyue had come, didn't he? Why was he so open with him?

Both fell uncharacteristically silent.

It was only halfway through the boat ride that He Lingchuan casually brought up a new topic. "By the way, I heard you mention before that your father's old injury never fully healed?" Having fought with Fu Shanlie for over a year in the Coiling Dragon World, he now had a more intuitive impression of this Demon King of Chiyan.

"Yes, it's been over a hundred years," Fu Shanyue said, crossing his legs and pointing to his chest. "His injury is here. Even seeking help from a heavenly deity only allowed him to control its progression. Over all these years, the wound has repeatedly flared up and never fully healed."

His chest? He Lingchuan's eyebrow twitched. He, too, had stabbed Fu Shanlie in the heart when he injured him in the Coiling Dragon World.

"Who exactly injured him?"

"It was also a heavenly deity, who later perished."

He Lingchuan understood; he was referring to Mitian. In actual history, Fu Shanlie also participated in the final battle for Coiling Dragon City. No wonder he was able to establish the Chiyan vassal state; he had earned such merit.

He Lingchuan remarked leisurely, "When I was in Chiyan, I should have asked you to introduce me. Of Beijia's thirteen vassal demon kings, I've only met the Precious Tree King."