Fang Xing was now a Foundation Stage cultivator and his spirit robes were unaffected by either water or fire. When he dived into the sea, his clothes remained dry and his breath could be held for a great period of time with no worry for drowning, but after diving in deeper, the pressure from the ocean became more intense and uncomfortable. After traveling dozens of feet, he had to use Qi to protect his body and he wasn’t able to see anything unless he activated his spirit eye. A

After taking out that pale blue bead, however, the situation became much better. The bead released a light that covered his entire body, causing a cool sensation to circulate around him while all of the pressure in his chest was dispersed. With this, it almost felt as though he was walking on land, and a strange feeling rose up within Fang Xing’s mind at the same time, as though he could control the seawater.

Fang Xing had taken this bead from a kneeling corpse while fleeing the Qingqiu Tombs earlier, and he vaguely recalled that the corpse had a dragon’s head but a human body and wore a Rain Cloud Robe, signifying he likely came from the Azure Sea’s Dragon Tribe. The bead had originally been embedded in the purple-gold crown, and the Book of Revelation had revealed that it was called known as the Ancestral Water-Repelling Bead, one of the most precious treasures of the water tribes. When worn, it allowed the user to breathe underwater and even control seawater, and there were likely other unique and special abilities that hadn’t been discovered yet.

Fang Xing could see schools of fish one after another after entering the water. They were all Ghost Head Fish that the little miss had mentioned, but they were all female, and he had to dive yet deeper towards the ocean floor in search of the more delicious males of the species. After traveling for another few hundred feet, Fang Xing finally saw a Ghost Head Fish slowly swimming about, displaying a body that was thin and frail but was nonetheless one of the most delicious and difficult-to-find delicacies.

The male population of the Ghost Head Fish was extremely low compared to the females, but Fang Xing only needed to catch ten of them before he’d be given the method of obtaining the third flame. He naturally didn’t dare to take this task lightly, so he flicked out a finger to cause a water stream to turn into the likes of a net and extend out towards the fish. The Ghost Head Fish was alarmed and tried to speed away like a bolt of lightning, but it wound up caught in the net and was tugged back by Fang Xing. “That’s one…” Fang Xing counted, but he didn’t place it in his storage sack; it’d die if he did that, and its taste would deteriorate. Instead, he simply snatched some water grass from the corals on the seafloor and hanged the fish through its fin.

He could easily capture this kind of fish as long as he saw them, but this type of fish was simply too rare and exceedingly difficult to find. He’d only managed to catch six by the time an hour had passed, but just as he was hesitating on whether to rest before continuing, he was suddenly excited to see a large and fat Ghost Head Fish swimming leisurely out from behind some seaweed. It was also male from the looks of it, and the size of it alone would be enough to count as three—as long as he captured this one and one more afterwards, he should have enough.

After thinking it through, Fang Xing immediately began pushing through the water to try to capture the Ghost Head Fish. Suddenly, the water at his front left side began to move as though something large was coming his way, catching Fang Xing by surprise. From an angle, he saw two armored fish dashing towards him, one holding a large fork-like weapon while the other held a silver net. With a quick wave, the one holding the net quickly captured the Ghost Head Fish right in front of Fang Xing’s eyes.

‘Someone dares take from me in such a critical moment?’ Fang Xing’s agitation didn’t even need to be said. He folded up his sleeve and prepared to get rid of these two monsters first. Before he even started cursing out with his spirit sense, however, the two sea monsters stopped and looked sharply at the few Ghost Head Fish in Fang Xing’s hands. Their eyes filled with joy and the one with the fork in his hand pointed towards Fang Xing before shouting, “Where did such a wild monkey of the human race come from? How dare you come and hunt in the vicinity of Her Majesty the king’s daughter? Hurry and submit yourself to be captured!” Their words caused the water to quake, making them appear rather awe-inspiring.

When the two spoke, Fang Xing stopped mid-preparation for his attack and began observing them with great interest. One of the two monsters had a large mouth with sharp fangs and a dorsal fin, giving it an appearance much closer to that of a shark despite its humanoid shape, implying it was perhaps a shark beast. As for the other, its body was soft with a white robe and it carried two large shells on its back—it was most likely an old clam beast.

Fang Xing didn’t bother caring about this for too long, however; he’d normally fight things out even if he was in the wrong, so why would he hold back when faced with these two blind sea monsters who were obviously trying to annoy him? After studying them some more, he smirked and dashed forward without even any greetings to try to kill them and take all the Ghost Head Fish they were carrying in the baskets behind them.

The two sea beasts were shocked and activated their spells in defense. The shark directly revealed its original form and opened its bloody mouth to try to swallow Fang Xing whole, while that old clam spat out a shiny bead with a dim light that controlled the current of the ocean to push towards Fang Xing.

Despite only being in the early Foundation Stage, these two spirit beasts were extremely arrogant. They were part of the sea tribes that lived in the water and held a natural advantage that could overcome even mid-Foundation Stage cultivators, and being within their own territory made them prouder yet still. However, they hadn’t expected to bump into a little demon like Fang Xing; he saw them as nothing more than little fish and shrimps, so how could he not look down upon them?

Boom !

As Fang Xing attacked, a powerful force floated out from his palm like a bomb and directly slammed against the shark beast until he was dizzy. Fang Xing then used Gravitational Force to catch the old clam beast’s Water-Pause Pearl before activating the Immortal’s Snare, causing it to swim out like a fish and tightly bind the two sea monsters in a tight knot. Fang Xing had already had enough battle prowess to call himself invincible within Foundation Stage, and with the Ancestral Water-Repelling Bead, his power in the water had increased even further. He wasn’t any worse than these sea beasts who were born to move freely through the water, and in fact he was even somewhat better. Dealing with these two sea beasts was just too easy.

Fang Xing originally intended to kill them off directly, but he remembered his little miss had a great stomach. She likely wouldn’t leave any of these Ghost Head Fish behind for either him or the golden crow, so he grabbed these two sea beasts and brought them to the surface to cook them for lunch as well.

The little miss had been anxiously awaiting Fang Xing’s return, and when she saw him float up to the water’s surface, she instantly threw away the coconut in her hand and skipped forward with excitement. She didn’t seem to care at all about the two sea beasts in Fang Xing’s hands and focused entirely on the string of Ghost Head Fish instead. Her eyes were gleaming so much it looked like she’d bite into the fish right then and there if she could.

Fang Xing threw the shark and old clam in front of the golden crow. “The shark shall be made into a stew, the old clam can be roasted with some garlic!”

Fang Xing’s extremely calm and languid expression left the shark beast and old clam dumbfounded. “How dare you!” the shark beast loudly shouted, “Do you really dare to eat us? Don’t say I never warned you, Her Majesty the king’s daughter is currently three thousand miles away at the Colored Glass Palace welcoming the fairies of the northern mountains’ Endearment Branch to hold the Red Convention. The two of us have been specifically ordered to capture rare sea delicacies to prepare for its banquet. For a human cultivator to dare touch us, are you not afraid the king’s daughter will personally lead soldiers over to stomp you into paste?”

This actually left Fang Xing a bit surprised. “Fairies from the Endearment Branch?” Fang Xing knew about the Endearment Branch of the northern mountains—it was the branch the three fairies from the northern mountains had studied under. He’d made connections with them during the time in the Mysterious Domain, but plans had later changed and he led everyone to plunder the Sword Mound. He didn’t actually keep to the original agreement, leaving these unfortunate three with nothing despite the effort that had gone into making the plan.

Fang Xing had originally assumed it would be extremely difficult for him to run into someone he already knew after leaving Jambu and traveling over the vast oceans, yet who would have thought he’d hear about them in a situation like this? When had they managed to make connections with the king’s daughter in this area of the sea and take part in some kind of Red Convention?

The golden crow was the one to contribute to the conversation at a moment like this. “The person you speak of… is it that king’s daughter who won’t even spit out the bones of a human she’s eaten?”

The shark beast was overjoyed to hear the golden crow knew about its master’s reputation and proudly declared, “That is indeed so. Her Majesty the king’s daughter is the eldest daughter of the one ruling over these Azure Seas. Her power and ability has already reached the Golden Core Stage. Who doesn’t know this part of the sea belongs to her? You nobodies, not only do you dare trespass without reporting your presence, you dare to hurt us as well?”

The golden crow didn’t seem to care much about such boastful words and simply smiled. “What’s the Red Convention?”

The old clam was clever and realized these people were extremely daring; not only was their master’s name not enough to awe them, it had angered them instead. The old clam actually interposed himself in front of the shark beast and explained, “These fellow Daoists, the Red Convention is being held by Her Majesty the king’s daughter and the three fairies of the northern mountains’ Endearment Branch for the sake of finding future husbands. The news of it has been spread far and has gathered a countless number of talents in this realm, with lots of clans sending people over. Whether it be through talent or looks, as long as you are chosen by these ladies, you will be able to become a frequent and welcomed guest of our palace. I can see that the age of this fellow Daoist is not high, but he has great battle prowess. Our Red Convention has a gentle warmth that is intoxicating, so how about we guide you along to take a look….?”

These words left Fang Xing stunned, but the golden crow was smirking from the side. A frequent and welcomed guest, a place of gentle warmth, what exactly was this Red Convention?

The old clam became anxious when Fang Xing didn’t immediately reply, and it turned to show a smile to the little miss instead. It noticed her looking at the collection of Ghost Head Fish and had another idea. “Seeing that you have been trying to catch these male Ghost Head Fish, I can tell that you are all very appreciative of delicious cuisine. I dare not say much about other aspects of our Red Convention, but the number of rare delicacies cannot even be counted. The Ghost Head Fish of the northern seas, the Floral-Scaled Snake of the southern seas, the eastern sea’s Three-Star Jiaolong Dragon, the western sea’s Eight-Treasure Octopus… the delicious food can be considered endless. We even have the immortal’s wine from the Dragon Palace. Our Thousand-Stream Sea gathers the currents of all oceans, and this naturally brings an endless amount of delicious food. How could you not come and join the Red Convention to give it all a taste?” The old clam spoke with great intent. Once it was finished, he looked at Fang Xing and his group with great expectation as though it was some sort of whoremonger offering its wares.

Before Fang Xing and the golden crow were able to say anything, their little miss had formed a river with her drool.