The sturdy sails billowed in the wind, propelling the Demon Whale forward toward Moon Pivot Island.
Previously, when Xu Zihuang had used the void ability attached to his Golden Eyes martial soul's true body, he had shifted southward, crossing more than a thousand kilometers in one go.
This was the terrifying power of semi-god-level mental strength.
And this was far from its limit. It was only restricted by his current soul power cultivation that he could not fully unleash the might of his semi-god-level mental strength and Golden Eyes martial soul true body.
Ju Zi carefully compared the sea chart and confirmed their current position. They were located in the sea area three hundred kilometers northwest of Moon Pivot Island.
In this regard, she was more proficient than Xu Zihuang. After all, she had trained for more than two years in the Sun Moon Empire's South Sea Soul Engineer Corps, commanding troops and fighting at sea, where navigation ability was the most basic requirement.
Taking Moon Pivot Island as the center, they had indeed already entered the near-sea area.
However, to cross three hundred kilometers of ocean, an ordinary large sea vessel would normally take at least two to three days of sailing.
Xu Zihuang was in no hurry to rush the journey. Over the past half-month of recuperation and meditation, he had gradually gained a deeper understanding of the abilities of his Golden Eyes martial soul.
Void and Future Vision were both abilities he could control when using his Golden Eyes' true body. The Void ability needed no further explanation; he had relied on it to escape with Ju Zi, extending his mental strength to locate a position and then traversing the void, crossing a thousand kilometers.
It was similar to how, in his memories from his previous life, the Beast God Di Tian had descended from a great distance. The only difference was that Di Tian used his own reverse scale for positioning. From this aspect alone, it was clear how powerful his Golden Eyes martial soul was; it innately came with such a gifted ability. It truly deserved the title of a divinely favored martial soul.
Future Vision, as the name suggests, allowed him to see things that would happen in the future. He had previously used this ability to see many fragmented scenes, and only when the Demon Empress was on the verge of falling into his hands did the scenes become coherent.
Every one of those scenes was closely related to the Demon Empress and the Lan Fozi, mother and daughter.
Combining all of them, he could conclude that in the coming years, the Demon Empress would not approach the continent or the Moon South Archipelago.
Since he had now fully recovered, there was naturally no need for him to be overly cautious. Moreover, if he were prepared, facing the Demon Empress again, he was confident he could retreat unscathed; at the very least, he would not end up as miserable as before.
Xu Zihuang sat at the front of the Demon Whale, legs bent, feet pressing into grooves as he infused soul power. An invisible soul guide protective barrier blocked the sea wind and distorted the light.
The Demon Whale thus mysteriously vanished from the sea surface. With the existence of his spiritual attribute soul core, maintaining such a special level-six soul guide protective barrier consumed soul power at a rate lower than what the soul core absorbed from the heaven and earth essence on its own.
Not only was his soul power not depleted, but it was subtly increasing his cultivation. During the more than a month on the reef, he had basically been recuperating and had not cultivated much. Yet simply by relying on the autonomous operation of his spiritual attribute soul core, his soul power cultivation had naturally broken through to level sixty-eight.
Ju Zi sat on Xu Zihuang's lap, stretching out her jade-like arms to wrap around his neck. From the moment they set off at dawn, she had maintained this posture without seeming to tire of it.
Her eyes reflected Xu Zihuang's figure, and a faint, gentle smile played on her lips.
Xu Zihuang, who was examining the structure of a level-six sealed milk bottle in his hand, noticed Ju Zi's gaze. He raised his head, brows arched in a smile, and met her eyes. Ju Zi took the opportunity to feed a piece of plump, blood-red orange flesh to his mouth.
Sweet juice burst in his mouth. It was refreshing and sweet at first, but soon the juice entered his stomach and transformed into rolling waves of heat.
Xu Zihuang felt his already abundant vital blood and qi being mobilized, surging, and churning.
Blood-red orange. This was Ju Zi's most effective sixth soul skill, and also her only ten-thousand-year soul skill. The effect of the blood-red orange was to replenish vital blood and qi. Although it provided no boost to a soul master's combat power, for someone severely injured or suffering massive blood loss, it was a life-saving medicine.
The most valuable part was that this soul skill consumed very little soul power. With Ju Zi's current cultivation, she could easily condense hundreds or thousands of them. With such outstanding talent in a food-type martial soul, even if Ju Zi lacked talent for commanding armies in battle, she would still be highly welcomed by any army.
Over the past half-month, Ju Zi had fed Xu Zihuang one such blood-red orange every day. And each was an enhanced version that consumed nearly a third of her soul power to condense.
Although Ju Zi's soul skill had little effect on Xu Zihuang, he did not wish to let her good intentions go to waste.
Ju Zi fed him another piece and smiled softly.
"Tianhuang, if you're interested in this sealed milk bottle, you can take it back to study. There's no encryption array inside."
Xu Zihuang held the sealed milk bottle and shook his head with a wry smile.
"No need."
Ju Zi leaned closer with a beaming smile.
"This time, the entire South Sea Soul Engineer Corps was wiped out by that Demon Whale. Losing a few sealed milk bottles, no one will care."
Hearing Ju Zi's words, Xu Zihuang fell silent. How could he miss the implication behind them?
Ju Zi had still decided to return to the Sun Moon Empire's military, or rather, to Xu Tianran's side. Although there were various reasons for it, and Xu Tianran being a eunuch meant he could do nothing to Ju Zi, Xu Zihuang still instinctively felt repulsed.
After Ju Zi's devoted care over the past month, he couldn't say he was completely unmoved. He was rational enough, not devoid of emotion.
Ju Zi noticed the unusual emotion deep in Xu Zihuang's eyes, and her own heart felt doubly oppressed and pained.
But she truly had no right to be willful.
"Tianhuang."
"Hm?"
Xu Zihuang responded instinctively, but Ju Zi's beautiful face was already close at hand.
Ju Zi poured all her feelings into a hot and sincere emotion, murmuring repeatedly in her heart.
"I'm sorry, Tianhuang…"
Happy times are always fleeting.
The Demon Whale's sailing speed was much faster than that of large sea vessels. Even without deliberately hurrying, Xu Zihuang and Ju Zi arrived at Moon Pivot Port on the north side of Moon Pivot Island by noon the next day.
Due to its geographical advantages, Moon Pivot Island had several natural harbors. Moon Pivot Port on the northernmost side was the largest among them, only a few thousand meters from Moon Pivot City.
Various ships of different sizes were docked at the port: merchant ships transporting goods, offshore fishing boats, and smaller private vessels.
Only Xu Zihuang and Ju Zi had survived the Demon Empress's hands; naturally, the people on Moon Pivot Island knew nothing of what had happened in that sea area more than a month ago.
The port remained as lively and peaceful as when Xu Zihuang had left years before.
In the distant sky, not a cloud marred the view. Sunlight poured straight down, and Moon Pivot City, built along the coast, stood amidst it like a paradise on earth. The towering city walls stood fully exposed to the eye.
Xu Zihuang and Ju Zi walked side by side along the wide road toward Moon Pivot City. The temperature on land was noticeably higher than at sea; the scorching sunlight made the air distort in a hazy illusion.
With Xu Zihuang's cultivation, he had long achieved immunity to heat and cold, and such high temperatures could not affect him. But Ju Zi, who had forcibly raised her soul power through medicine, felt stagnation when circulating her soul power and could not regulate her body temperature through it.
Ju Zi wore an exquisite straw hat to shield herself from the sun while wrapping both arms around one of Xu Zihuang's arms. Xu Zihuang's body was like a piece of cold jade, emitting a cool aura that alleviated the surrounding sweltering heat for her.
Both were exceptionally attractive in appearance, drawing many glances as they walked into Moon Pivot City.
Xu Zihuang tightly held Ju Zi's soft hand and smiled gently.
"Feeling okay? Shall we find a hotel to rest first?"
Ju Zi pouted playfully. "Am I that delicate?"
"You do feel rather delicate."
Xu Zihuang chuckled with hidden meaning.
"That's only compared to you."
Ju Zi's pretty face flushed slightly. She raised her right hand to hold down the brim of her hat against the sea breeze, lifted her head to meet Xu Zihuang's gaze, and recalled what had happened during that month on the reef. Although the two had not taken the final step, they had tried almost everything else, and most of it had been at her initiative, precisely because she did not want to leave any regrets.
But Yu Tianhuang's physical strength was on a completely different level from hers, so the outcome was predictable.
Xu Zihuang bent down to lightly brush Ju Zi's red lips, then pulled her toward Moon Pivot City.
"Let's enter the city first."
"Mm."
Ju Zi nodded with a blushing face, her delicate body leaning into Xu Zihuang's embrace, her eyes misty.
On this isolated Moon Pivot Island, she did not need to worry about so many things. She only wanted to immerse herself in this brief happiness.
At Ju Zi's strong suggestion, the two did not rush to check into a hotel but instead strolled through Moon Pivot City. The main streets inside the city were wide enough for more than ten carriages to pass side by side, with tall buildings rising from the ground.
For some unknown reason, the area around Moon Pivot Island rarely experienced extreme harsh weather. The overall architecture of the city was rather retro, somewhat similar to the ancient style from the distant era on the original Douluo Continent. The dominant colors were white and gold.
However, the two, being so conspicuous, inevitably attracted the attention of those with keen eyes.
As night fell, the entire Moon Pivot City was bathed in a rose-gold ocean. The scorching heat mixed with a cool sea breeze, and the temperature dropped sharply.
Xu Zihuang and Ju Zi stopped in front of a shop by the roadside. Inside the crystal counter were displayed various exquisite ornaments, many of which were gemstones unique to the Moon South Archipelago.
Ju Zi was selecting ornaments at the counter while Xu Zihuang stood beside her with a smiling face.
Suddenly, he sensed a probing gaze and instantly released his mental strength.
A burly young man hidden in the shadows of the street clearly appeared in his mind.
The young man appeared to be around twenty-five years old, with dark skin and an honest face tinged with some solemnity.
Seeing this person, Xu Zihuang's gaze softened once more.
"Meng Lang."
During the three years of secluded cultivation on Moon Pivot Island, Meng Lang had often sparred with him. Like his father, Meng Cang, Meng Lang's martial soul was the Black-Striped Unicorn Whale, a considerably powerful martial soul.
Whale-type soul beasts in the ocean were equivalent to dragon-type soul beasts on the continent; any soul beast with the word "whale" in its name was never weak. The same held for martial souls.
After so many years, Meng Lang's soul power cultivation had improved significantly and had now reached exactly level sixty.
It was undeniable that his rapid cultivation speed was largely due to the three-thousand-year Evil Demon Tiger Whale soul ring he had absorbed back then. Such a top-quality soul ring could improve a soul master's aptitude to a certain extent.
Moreover, during the first three years with Xu Zihuang present, he had enjoyed the amplification of heaven and earth essence condensed by silver scales during cultivation. Achieving such cultivation speed was entirely reasonable.
Xu Zihuang's perception was accurate; Meng Lang had indeed just reached the level-sixty bottleneck. He had left the manor and come to Moon Pivot City this time to request assistance from Wang Xiao, hoping that a powerhouse from the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion would help him obtain a suitable sixth soul ring.
On the way, he happened to spot Xu Zihuang. That extremely familiar feeling made him stop immediately.
Over the years, Meng Lang had become much steadier and did not act rashly, instead observing from the shadows.
At that moment, a familiar voice suddenly rang in his mind.
"Meng Lang."
Meng Lang's body trembled violently, his heart surging with shock as he stared fixedly at Xu Zihuang's back.
"Young Master?! Young Master, is it really you?! You've returned?!"
"Yes, it's me. But for now, don't spread the news that I'm back. In a few days, I will personally visit Elder Wang and Brother Yang."
Meng Lang took a deep breath, suppressing his excitement and replying solemnly, "Yes, Young Master!"
Looking at Ju Zi, who was smiling radiantly beside Xu Zihuang, no matter how slow he was, he could understand why Xu Zihuang wanted him to keep quiet for now. But thinking of Ye Guyi, who had publicly declared her identity in front of them half a year ago, his expression couldn't help but turn a little strange.
However, he only thought about it casually; these were not matters a subordinate like him should concern himself with.
Moreover, with the Young Master's noble status and astonishing talent, having several women was perfectly normal.
"Then this subordinate will take his leave."
With that thought, Meng Lang respectfully saluted Xu Zihuang's back and vanished at the end of the street.
On the other side, Ju Zi was toying with a natural orange-red amber comb. Inside the amber were solidified golden petals. The combination of the two was exceptionally magnificent.
Ju Zi seemed to particularly favor orange-red colors.
The shop owner was a kind-faced middle-aged beauty who smiled warmly as she observed the charming and lovely Ju Zi and the noble, extraordinary Xu Zihuang. The two were so well-matched that it reminded her of her own youth.
"Little miss, natural amber combs of such fine quality are rare. If you like it, I won't overcharge you, just five hundred gold soul coins."
"Then please wrap it up for us. We'll take this comb." Xu Zihuang stepped forward, smiling as he placed five gold cards of one hundred gold soul coins each on the crystal counter.
A natural amber comb of this quality was indeed worth the price, and the golden petals inside were actually from a near-extinct plant-type soul beast called Golden Sun Flower. Back then, Ning Tian's Light Rebound right arm bone had come from a forty-thousand-year-old Golden Sun Flower.
If someone recognized it, even if auctioned at dozens of times the price, it would likely be eagerly sought after by noble young ladies. Rarity always drove value, especially for nobles who were never short of money.
Ju Zi turned sideways, leaning sweetly on Xu Zihuang's shoulder, and thanked the middle-aged beauty.
"Thank you."
The two bid farewell to the middle-aged beauty. By now, the sky had completely darkened. Xu Zihuang carried the packaged gift box in his left hand, holding Ju Zi's hand with his right as they walked toward the center of Moon Pivot City. They looked just like an ordinary couple.
He clearly understood Ju Zi's current thoughts, and everything he did was to accommodate her.
The sky was filled with stars and moonlight. Xu Zihuang and Ju Zi checked into a high-end hotel in the center of Moon Pivot City.
The moment Xu Zihuang closed the door, Ju Zi immediately entwined herself around him. Her fervor made even Xu Zihuang slightly unaccustomed, but soon he sensed her feelings and began to respond.
Tonight would likely be their night of parting.
The silver moon shifted slowly; starlight drowned everything.
When the sky outside the window was still only faintly bright, Ju Zi, who had not slept long, woke up. She raised her head to look at the sleeping Xu Zihuang, then, with an aching nose, opened the gift box and took out the amber comb. Sitting at the dressing table, she gently combed her long black hair again and again. Warm tears slid from the corners of her eyes, her gaze filled with a complex mix of happiness, tenderness, and reluctance.
However, she did not linger too long at the dressing table. She carefully stored away the orange-red long dress bearing Yu Tianhuang's marks into her storage bracelet, changed into fresh clothes, and walked to the bedside.
Warm currents like silk threads surged from her abdomen throughout her body. Though she had been utterly exhausted not long ago, nourished by these waves of warmth, her fatigue was greatly relieved.
"Tianhuang, if that person didn't exist, I would stay by your side forever. But now I cannot, I cannot put you in danger. I can see that even among the Shrek Academy, you are an unprecedented genius. Just the talent you have shown is enough for him to regard you as a thorn in his side. How could I push you further into the fire? We are fated to meet but not to be together. Thank you for giving me this unforgettable happy time in my life."
"In this lifetime, my heart will only beat for you. In the future, if there is still a place for me in your heart, I will give you a gift to make you the most noble person in this world."
As she spoke, Ju Zi instinctively placed her right hand on her lower abdomen, her face revealing a gentle smile filled with deep maternal radiance and longing.
"Tianhuang, you are the most outstanding soul master I have ever seen. With your talent, I believe that in the near future, you will surely stand at the pinnacle of this world. When that time comes, let me be the woman behind you, okay? Together, no one will be able to bind us anymore. You deserve better women. I don't seek status, I only hope to stay by your side forever."
Ju Zi seemed to be speaking to herself, yet also as if asking Yu Tianhuang. She lightly kissed his lips, tears glistening in her eyes as she gathered her emotions and resolutely left the room.
The moment Ju Zi left the room, Xu Zihuang opened his eyes. His gaze was deep, tinged with some inexplicable emotion.
His goal had been achieved, yet he felt none of the anticipated joy.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here are the chapters for today (づ￣3￣)づ╭～
"Don't forget there are 40 early chapters available on Patreon
[email protected]/facficmax10--------(@→a)