Chapter 742: Safe Journey

The Feathered Immortal Grass was surrounded by Lu Yang and the four others. Especially with Meng Jingzhou holding the Pure Yang True Fire and glaring menacingly, it knew escape was impossible. It let out a long sigh and resigned itself to its fate.

“Alright, alright, I won’t run.”

Compared to being roasted and eaten now, being captured and kept alive was clearly the path to survival.

“That’s more like it.” Seeing the Feathered Immortal Grass behave, Meng Jingzhou clenched his fist and withdrew the flame. Man Gu, ever observant, also put away the barbecue seasonings.

Man Gu had just gone through several ancestral spirits, but hadn't yet invoked the first ancestor of the Man Clan's barbecue tradition.

“But let’s be clear first, you can’t eat me. At the very least, you can’t eat all of me.” The Feathered Immortal Grass looked at the five warily.

“Of course.”

Immortal herbs of the Lesser Medicine King level were extremely precious; who would devour them all at once when they could be used sustainably? The Lesser Medicine Kings in the medicinal garden were all thriving. At most, a few leaves or roots would be plucked when needed, absolutely without harming the main body.

“Is your promise any good?” The Feathered Immortal Grass looked at Lu Yang suspiciously. It had clearly seen during their battle with the Soul Transformation cultivators that he was the most cunning among them.

“I swear to Immortal Yingtian: if I lied just now, may Immortal Yingtian strike *you* down with heavenly lightning!” Lu Yang raised three fingers and swore to the heavens.

“That’s harsh?!”

Seeing Lu Yang make such a drastic oath, the Feathered Immortal Grass was shocked by his audacity. Its leaves trembled twice, which was equivalent to nodding in belief.

“Don’t worry, we won’t mistreat you. Our sect has several Lesser Medicine Kings,” Li Haoran said with a chuckle. As the reincarnation of Sect Master Qin, he had learned Sect Master Qin’s way of managing people: to make subordinates obedient, one needed both the stick and the carrot.

Li Haoran had also learned Sect Master Qin’s skill of offering ‘carrots’ that weren’t actually tangible.

“Junior Sister Tao, you have a connection with immortal herbs. Would it be alright if we entrusted it to you until we return to the sect?” Lu Yang said with a smile.

Lesser Medicine Kings couldn’t be stored in spatial rings; they had to be placed in a box and carried in a pouch.

He already had the Immortal Fairy constantly chattering in his ear; he didn’t want another Lesser Medicine King to add to it.

“Then thank you for your trust, Senior Brother Lu.” Tao Yaoye happily accepted it. Being able to stay with a Lesser Medicine King, among other things, would certainly broaden her horizons.

Lesser Medicine Kings didn’t live for so long for nothing.

The Feathered Immortal Grass possessed its own unique ability to conceal its aura; even Tribulation Transcendent stage cultivators couldn’t find it with their divine sense.

A day later, Hero Yan emerged from seclusion, having consolidated his cultivation. He was now a genuine Soul Transformation stage cultivator.

Generally, advancing to the Soul Transformation stage would make one feel triumphant, but not Hero Yan. He always maintained a humble heart.

After all, the feat of Lu Yang and the four others, capturing twelve Soul Transformation cultivators alive while only at the Nascent Soul stage, was still fresh in his mind.

“Hero Yan, are you going to Penglai Island to advance your position? Could you take the five of us along?” Lu Yang courteously inquired. Previously, Hero Yan was a deacon in the East Sea Cultivator Alliance. Now that he had advanced to the Soul Transformation stage, he could apply to have his rank raised to Hall Master.

Having come all the way to the East Sea, they had to visit Penglai Island at least once.

With the map given by Old Ma, they knew how to get to Penglai Island, but since they were unfamiliar with the place, it would be better to ask Hero Yan for an introduction.

“Of course,” Hero Yan quickly replied.

Hero Yan gave some instructions to the other two heroes and prepared to depart for Penglai Island.

Penglai Island was far from Fangshan Island. In the past, Hero Yan would have needed to stop several times midway when flying to Penglai Island. However, with his successful advancement to the Soul Transformation stage, his dantian had expanded, and his spiritual energy was abundant, so he no longer needed such trouble.

“…Five Daoists… slow down,” Hero Yan panted, looking longingly at the five people flying ahead.

Hero Yan was sitting on a painting, which swayed precariously as if it might plunge into the sea at any moment.

He had never imagined that, despite being a Soul Transformation stage cultivator, his spiritual energy would be less than that of Lu Yang and the four others. He had just completed his advancement and didn’t have any Soul Transformation-grade Qi-replenishing pills on hand.

Lu Yang, stepping on his flying sword, spun around, splashing two trails of water on the surface, and gracefully stopped in front of Hero Yan.

“Hero Yan, are you alright?”

“Slow, slow down.”

Seeing that Hero Yan was out of energy, the five voluntarily slowed down.

Just then, a hundred-meter-long whale surfaced, its blowhole喷出 a hundred-zhang water column that shone with a rainbow of colors under the sunlight.

“Why does it feel like we keep seeing these whales along the way?”

“These are whales tamed by the Alliance. These whales have a realm within their bellies and can carry people. They are very expensive; even Qi Condensation cultivators can’t afford to ride them. I once rode such a whale when I was at the Golden Core stage, but later, as my cultivation improved, the whale’s swimming speed couldn’t match mine, so I stopped riding them.”

“This sea route leads to Penglai Island, which is why we always see them.”

Lu Yang nodded. It seemed whales were the equivalent of flying boats in Great Xia.

“Hero Yan, if you’re really out of energy, how about taking a ride inside the whale’s belly?” Man Gu kindly suggested.

Hero Yan nodded helplessly. He wasn't short on money now; he just felt a bit embarrassed recalling his initial surge of confidence when they set off.

The journey was uneventful, and the six successfully arrived at Penglai Island.

However, just after entering the whale’s belly, they coincidentally encountered the whale being hijacked by rogue cultivators. The hijackers demanded that all passengers hand over their belongings. Later, when Lu Yang and the others bravely intervened, they discovered a group of disguised escorts, posing as ordinary cultivators, who were responsible for transporting goods. The hijackers’ true objective was this batch of goods, and they had robbed everyone else merely to conceal their actual intent.

Then, the whale accidentally entered a sea vortex and was teleported to an unknown secret realm. Within this realm, a demonic entity of the Integration stage was sealed. It was later discovered that one of the passengers had long been enchanted by the demon and had deliberately orchestrated everyone’s entry into the realm to sacrifice them to the demon. Fortunately, among the passengers was the only daughter of an Integration True Monarch, who had snuck out, disguised herself as a man, and chatted cheerfully with Lu Yang and the others. When the daughter encountered danger, her father came to their rescue, resolved the demonic threat, and sent everyone, along with the whale, back to the original sea route. The daughter then had to bid farewell to Lu Yang and the others.

Furthermore, after Hero Yan regained his strength and left the whale, he encountered a battle between the Sea Rabbit tribe and the Clam tribe during his flight. The war had begun because the Clam tribe had lost a priceless treasure, and suspicion pointed towards the Sea Rabbit tribe. Later, Lu Yang discovered that the lost treasure of the Clam tribe was precisely the goods previously escorted by the bodyguards. After finding the treasure, the war ceased. Lu Yang meticulously deduced that the Clam Clan Chief’s daughter was responsible. According to the Clam Clan Chief’s daughter, she was in love with an outsider, but their relationship was not acknowledged by her clan. In revenge, she had stolen the clam pearl, instigating the war, and the previous rogue cultivators were arranged by her lover.

“We’ve finally reached Penglai Island,” Lu Yang muttered, complaining softly. “The East Sea’s public safety is really bad. We encountered so many incidents just riding a whale.”

Meng Jingzhou and the other four nodded in agreement, saying that the East Sea’s environment was far inferior to that of Great Xia.

Hero Yan looked at the five with a strange expression. “I’ve ridden these whales countless times during my Foundation Establishment and Golden Core stages, but I’ve never encountered a single accident!”

“Is it still too late to distance myself from them now?”

“If worst comes to worst, I can cripple my own cultivation, or even downgrade my spiritual roots.”