Chapter 1 Pearl Divers Yuzhou. On the vast continent, Yuzhou is located in a relatively remote area. It is located in the southernmost area of the continent and is close to the vast ocean. The dark blue sea is dotted with islands of all sizes. Some of the larger islands have abundant spiritual energy and beautiful environment. After a long period of development and management, they are now densely populated and have cities, villages, towns, ports, markets, shops, taverns and brothels. As the resources in the ocean are abundant enough and ancient cave ruins occasionally appear, many monks and chambers of commerce flock here and stay for a long time. After years of development, this place has become a mixed place with all kinds of sects and families. Zen Island is a thousand miles in radius. There are more than ten towns and villages on the island, with millions of people. The island's spiritual veins, blessed land, mineral deposits, and many surrounding islands all belong to the territory of the Ling family, a family of immortal cultivation. At noon, the scorching sun was burning the dark rocks on the seashore. Several large sea ships over a hundred feet long were anchored together. The sea breeze was blowing, and the bloated hulls were swaying gently with the surge of the tide.
On the large front deck, Ling Zifeng, the Ling family's foreign affairs steward, stood with his hands behind his back, staring gloomily at the heaving sea in front of him for a long time without saying a word. The servants around knew that the deacon was in a bad mood at the moment, so they all stood far away tactfully, and no one dared to come over and cause trouble. Ling Zifeng's gaze passed through the cold sea water and vaguely saw groups of human-shaped shadows swaying among the countless reefs at the bottom of the water. They were the pearl divers of the family carrying water-repellent talismans. The task of collecting two thousand Jade Crystal Donghua Pearls was not an easy one. Ling Zifeng brought all the pearl divers in the family territory out and worked hard for more than ten days, but only collected less than half of them, and more than twenty pearl divers lost their lives for this. However, this was a mission personally ordered by the head of the Ling family. No matter how difficult or dangerous it was, Ling Zifeng dared not neglect it. He could only force these poor pearl divers to continue to go into the water and risk their lives with a ferocious look. Anyway, in the eyes of the deacon, death is a small matter. If it delays the plan of the master of the house, he will be in big trouble. In the eyes of everyone in the Ling family, the new head of the family was notoriously difficult to serve. In the dark water, Ling Changqing poked his head out from the crevices between several huge reefs with some difficulty. He looked around cautiously and found that there were no other pearl divers lingering nearby. Then he slowly swam out. The young man in a blue shirt with delicate features and lacquer-like eyes was biting a short knife in his mouth. The water-repellent talisman attached to his chest emitted a bright golden light. In his hands, he tightly grasped a silver mesh bag, which contained a sea clam the size of a human head with a faint golden-red luster. The sea clam exuded a faint evil aura, and a glowing sealing talisman was stuck on the surface of its shell. Together with the silver wire net bag, which was also a low-level magical tool, they imprisoned it firmly and made it unable to move. With a calm expression, Ling Changqing looked around again to make sure that no jealous pearl divers would come to snatch his harvest. Then he pushed his legs away from the reef completely and swam towards the sea surface at an accelerated speed. When Ling Changqing surfaced, a patrol boat not far away immediately noticed the movement, and two servants rowing the boat rushed over to pick him up. "...Young man from the Ling family, you're lucky today?" An old servant said this with some envy. "It was just a fluke." Ling Changqing smiled and said nothing more. He sat cross-legged and silently regulated his breathing, still holding the silver mesh bag tightly in his arms without letting go. Even though after coming out of the water, the sea surface within a radius of dozens of miles was under the watchful eyes of the Lord Deacon, and no one dared to snatch other people's catch in front of him, it always wouldn't hurt to be careful. No matter whether it was the intrigues in the workplace in his previous life or the deceit within the family in this life, Ling Changqing realized that he could not have any expectations of human nature. That was why he was cautious in everything and tried his best to avoid being taken advantage of by others. Over the past few days, among those unlucky guys who were left on the seabed forever, several were actually killed by their companions.
It is because the deacon does not interfere in the disputes happening under the water, so only the harvest that is successfully brought out of the water can be considered to have a clear owner. Seeing that the calm-looking young man had no intention of speaking any more, the two servants said nothing more and rowed the boat towards the large ship a hundred feet away. When they got closer, the sailors on the ship skillfully threw down a rope ladder, allowing Ling Changqing to grab it and climb up to the front deck nimbly. At this moment, six or seven pearl divers had returned to the deck, each holding a silver net bag with one to three clams in it, and they were waiting anxiously. Ling Changqing took a quick look and found that after soaking in the cold water for quite some time, the breathing of these companions was a little scattered and weak. After all, diving for pearls consumes extremely high levels of physical energy. In addition, the clams are alert and cunning by nature and are quite difficult to find and catch. Even if pearl divers generally have some skills, they still find it difficult to endure being in the sea for a long time. Under Ling Zifeng's gaze, a sturdy man in green clothes with the fourth level of Qi training stepped forward, holding a slender and shining sword in his hand. He took out the clam from the silver wire net bag, opened the hard clam shell with ease, and stabbed it hard with the sword. Along with bursts of shrill roars, Ling Changqing only felt a slight tingling sensation in his head. This was the sea clam's dying counterattack, which could pose a serious threat to the soul of an ordinary person, but had little effect on a cultivator. The pearl divers around subconsciously held their breath, watching without blinking as the Ling family disciple cut open the soft flesh in the clam shell and dug out a thumb-sized, smooth and round pearl. In the sunlight, the beads appear a tranquil and clear sapphire blue color, with fine dark gold textures emerging inside, emitting a dreamy and charming light and shadow. This is the Jade Crystal Winter Hua Pearl, an important raw material used to refine certain elixirs. Due to the large market demand, the trading price has been rising in recent years. "Very good……" The pearl diver who harvested the clam was a thin man in his thirties. When he saw the pearl coming out of the clam shell, he breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that he had finally passed this hurdle for the day. Not every sea clam contains jade crystal winter pearls, and not every jade crystal winter pearl meets the requirements. Whether you can get a satisfactory harvest depends entirely on the luck of the pearl diver. "Master Deacon..." The sturdy man in green held the beads and presented them to Ling Zifeng respectfully. Ling Zifeng nodded, reached out to take the Jade Crystal Winter Pearl, looked at the thin man, and a hint of warmth appeared in his arrogant voice: "That's right, you can go and rest today and go into the water tomorrow." "...Yes, thank you, Deacon!" The thin man's face was full of joy, and he bowed repeatedly with gratitude. The pearl divers around him cast envious and jealous glances at him. According to convention, he will not only get a sumptuous dinner tonight, but also a reward of twenty spiritual sands, which is a very generous reward. If such surprises could happen a few more times, and if one collects a hundred spirit sands, one can exchange them for a standard low-grade spirit stone. This is the hard currency of this world and an indispensable cultivation resource for all cultivators. After the man left, the sturdy man in green continued to work. However, his luck was bad this time. The opened clam shell was empty and there was no trace of the Jade Crystal Donghua Pearl. "How could this happen..." A pearl diver with gray hair and a wrinkled face looked dejected, with obvious panic in his eyes. "Humph! Useless old bastard, this is the third time!" The sturdy man in blue had a cold expression on his face. He stood up and slapped the man hard in the face. With a "pop" sound, half of the pearl diver's face swelled up at a speed visible to the naked eye, and bright red blood flowed from the corners of his mouth. "Sir, today, today I really am..." The pearl diver covered his face and pleaded tremblingly.
The pearl divers around were silent. This was the rule set by the deacon. It would be fine if they didn't get any harvest once or twice, but if they returned empty-handed for three consecutive times, they would definitely be scolded and beaten. In the eyes of the deacon, these low-level pearl divers raised by the family are just slave tools and are not treated as human beings at all. They can be treated however the family wants. "Get out! Get out and keep looking! If you don't get a bead today, you old fool won't have to come back!" The sturdy man in blue said fiercely, and two servants beside him came over silently and dragged the begging pearl diver away without saying anything. Ling Changqing sighed secretly and silently grasped the net bag in his hand. He was sure that the sea clam in his hand contained the Jade Crystal Donghua Pearl, so the same fate would not happen to him. As the blue-clothed strong man worked hard, the clams were opened one after another. The pearl divers who found pearls were naturally happy. If there were no pearls, the pearl divers would inevitably be scorned, or even dragged away and whipped on the spot. After a moment, it was finally Ling Changqing's turn. When the magic weapon sword cut open the soft flesh inside the clam shell, a crystal round, sparkling jade crystal winter bead appeared in front of everyone as expected. "Another bead of good quality..." "What a bastard..." "This kid... has been like this for several days in a row. He has really good luck!" "Why don't I have such luck?" "That's his real ability, okay..." …… The whispers of the pearl divers around him naturally could not affect Ling Changqing at all. He bowed to Ling Zifeng as usual, took off a small leather bag wrapped around his waist and handed it to him, saying softly: "These are a few Cloud Pearl Grasses that I accidentally found in the underwater cave. They are worthless little things. I hope the deacon will not despise them!" Ling Zifeng raised his eyebrows slightly, took the leather bag with a little surprise and opened it. When he saw four dark red cloud bead grasses, each as long as a palm and with intact roots, a smile suddenly appeared on his face. This cloud bead grass comes from the bottom of the sea. It can be used to refine a spiritual medicine that replenishes qi and nourishes blood. Although it is an initial stage spiritual herb, it is not a rare thing, but no one will complain that they have too many resources. With Ling Zifeng's identity, he certainly had no shortage of these benefits, but he found Ling Changqing's capable attitude quite useful. Cultivation of immortality is not about fighting and killing, but about being familiar with the world. After weighing the beads in his palm, the deacon looked at Ling Changqing with a much softer look and said with a smile: "You have been performing very well these days, um, you can get thirty spiritual sands this time, keep working hard!" "Thank you, Mr. Deacon!" Ling Changqing's face showed a just right expression of gratitude, and he bowed again before taking his leave. At this moment, the expressions of the pearl divers present suddenly became more jealous. Some of them stared at the blue-shirted boy's departing back with gloomy eyes without saying a word. Ling Changqing knew this very well, but he didn't care, because he had done it on purpose. Returning to his own temporary cabin inside the ship, Ling Changqing silently checked the secret mark on the door to confirm that there were no signs of being touched by anyone before opening the door and going in. After locking the door from the inside, Ling Changqing tidied himself up briefly, took off the water-repellent talisman on his chest and put it away, then changed into a set of dry clothes.
Seeing that there was still some time before dinner, Ling Changqing thought for a while and decided to regulate his breathing for a while to recover the energy that had been consumed by more than half, so he turned around and sat on the bed. As the spiritual consciousness looked inward, a ball of clear light like water emerged within the body, wrapping an exquisite and delicate palace. A majestic, profound, lonely and lofty aura filled the air. This indescribable rare treasure is the key reason why Ling Changqing traveled through time and space and came to this vast world half a year ago. (End of this chapter)
