Chapter 104 Grilled Oyster with Garlic (g)
Translated by Gumihou
Edited by Gumihou
Fat Cat said nothing. He merely stared steadily at her.
“Is the Fire Seed so strong that you don’t think it’s safe for me to approach it?” Shiyu continued to probe. “Aside from a Fire Seed, I can’t think of anything that could force the sea temperature to rise daily.”
She continued to stare right at Fat Cat, “Could you tell me what you know? Though the path of Cultivation would result in death 9 times out of 10, I still wish to make my own choices. However, I promise not to be reckless and gamble carelessly with my life.”
She only has this one life and she cherished it more than anyone else.
Fat Cat finally softened a little and said, “The thing under the Eastern Sea is not Fire Seed. For something to put out that much heat, it could only be a Fire Spirit.”
“A Fire Spirit?”
“Fire Seeds are naturally occurring Spiritual Items of this world. However, some Seeds have more self-awareness and intelligence the moment they’re manifested into this world. Aside from the ability to grow and evolved, they could also Cultivate themselves to the point that no regular Fire Seeds could be compared. That is the true identity of the Fire Spirit.
Moreover, Fire Spirits are more aggressive than Fire Seeds and are harder to control. A weak Cultivator would be burnt to a crisp the moment they touch it. Why do you think only two Divine Transformation Beasts came to the shore? I perceived seven of them, if just one more came up, the Sea Beasts would have won the battle days ago. However, they’re not here because they went to subdue the Fire Spirit.
However, if Fire Spirits were such easy things to subdue, would the mere mention of them send shivers down the spine?”
“… …” Shiyu was feeling a little uneasy now. To think there were still things much more powerful than Fire Seeds… it just showed how ignorant she was about the Ninth Realm.
Sobering up, she said, “What happens when the Fire Spirit is conquered? With so many powerful beings under the Eastern Sea, wouldn’t the Human Race lose the battle for survival?”
“It’s very possible. However, until the final step is taken, who knows what the end result will be,” said Fat Cat.
“However, if they win the war in the end, what’s the purpose for all of our struggles to date? Have all our comrades died in vain? All of our ancestors?” Shiyu was unwilling to concede defeat. After some time she looked up, “I wish to go to the Eastern Sea and have a look.”
“Are you mad? You’re too weak now. There’s no way you can subdue it. If you managed to rise to Divine Transformation Stage, you may have a fighting chance. Even then, it’s only a very small chance.”
“I don’t want to subdue it, I’m just going to have a look,” Shiyu shook her head. “With my immortal palace, I can hide if things became dangerous. It’s not my nature to sit and wait for death. Allow me to go and have a look.”
“What you’re really thinking of is borrowing the Fire Spirit’s power to attack those powerful Sea Beasts looking to subdue it,” Fat Cat immediately saw through her plans.
Shiyu openly admitted it, “That’s right, that is my plan.”
At first, she thought Fat Cat would stop her, but the cat said, “Well, let’s try out your plan. When all is said and done, I have no better ideas for you anyway. Your master would be very happy to know that you have such courage and willingness.”
I see, so you think I’m doing the right thing because of my master, thought Shiyu.
Now that both of them had settled on their course of direction, the only thing to do now was to decide on how to carry out their plan. At Fat Cat’s advice, Shiyu requested a Water Repelling Pearl from Feng Luo. That very night, she sneaked out on [1] Cloud Beast to the middle of the Eastern Sea. She stopped over a featureless bit of the sea indicated by Black Cat.
“You can use the Saint’s Dwelling [2] to hide your presence first before going into the sea.”
She followed Fat Cat’s instruction and quietly dropped off Cloud Beast. Shiyu waved her ride off before sinking into the sea. Having the Saint’s Dwelling covering her, she felt like she was sinking into a hot bath instead of the cold sea. Down and down she went on a single breath of air thanks to the Water Repelling Pearl. Truly, the items in this Cultivation world is too amazing, ah.
From time to time, some dead creature would float past her. [3] Sometimes whole, sometimes a single white limb of some indeterminate creature. She sank down, down, down for nearly a quarter of an hour before something other than darkness and dead creatures crossed her sight. Shadows of active Sea Beasts flitted just beyond the periphery of her sight.
The dread that had been building in her stomach threatened to overwhelm her. It was so hot that it felt like she had been tossed into a hot pot. In addition to dead scary things, there were now live scary things swimming in the sea.
“Are we there yet?” she whispered.
“Further down,” came Fat Cat’s reply.
Down and down she sank. This time, passing schools of Sea Beasts swimming together. After a while, she saw fewer and fewer Sea Beast. However, Shiyu knew better than to be elated by this. This was because she was entering into some very dangerous territory that scared regular Sea Beasts away. It was very likely that she was coming into the Divine Transformation Master’s sphere of influence.
A long time later, goodness knows how long, the water temperature suddenly spiked. The view before her turned red and no longer resembled seawater.
Shiyu quickly wrapped the Blue-Azure Spirit Fire around her body before diving into the red water that looked a lot more like volcanic magma.
It was all red down here. No creatures were swimming around at all. It felt a lot like she was swimming through chilli oil but for the lack of the familiar, pungent scent.
Another quarter of an hour later, the red water gave way to yellow. Shiyu continued to sink. The yellow water grew brighter and brighter until it turned into golden waves. It took her a moment to realise that she was not looking at waves. She was in fact, looking at bright, waving flames.
The flames were all around her, some towered above her head. Shiyu estimated the tallest flame to be at least as tall as a single storey house. Through the flames into the heart of the brightest fire, she could vaguely make out the five figures.
They had to be those Divine Transformation Sea Beasts mentioned by Fat Cat that did not participate in the shore attack.
She could not risk moving closer. The moment they sensed her presence, these Divine Transformation Master would surely eliminate her.
Shiyu paused where she was, her head tipped to the side as though listening intently for something.
“Fatty,” she whispered. “Did you hear that? Someone’s crying.”
Fat Cat merely gave her the now very familiar ‘this idiot’ look. “No, I didn’t hear any crying.” He narrowed his eyes, “Did you hear something?”
“Yes,” the moment she entered the sea, a feeling of depression and hopelessness squeezed her heart. The moment she crossed into the golden flames, the sound of crying echoed eerily in her ear.
Just what is going on? Is she hallucinating? Or is there someone else around here?
As Shiyu stood by the edge of the flames, she saw that the five figures sitting close to the core of the flame had not moved. She had already spent a lot of Spiritual energy just to get to this place. She was just racking her brains for some ways to make these people fight each other when the golden flames suddenly exploded outward. One tendril wrapped around her wrist [4] like a tentacle and pulled her into the roaring flames.
Shiyu had no time to react. [4] The next time she opened her eyes, she had to squeeze them shut against the dizziness in her head. Even more curiously, the constant heat that she had been feeling was gradually receding. When she no longer feel like she was about to throw up, Shiyu found herself standing in the middle of the golden flames.
When Shiyu looked around, she saw that the five Sea Beasts were still there, just beyond the golden flames. They had stood up from their seated position, clearly having detected the anomaly within the golden flame. However, like before, they could only stare from the outside.
[4] Wait, wasn’t she behind these guys earlier?
Confused, Shiyu gazed around her and finally noticed the ball of Fire Essence before her. The ball of fire was about one foot in diameter and was burning quietly on top of a skeleton.
Is this the Fire Spirit?
Was the sound she heard just now from this ball of fire?
Still a little wary, Shiyu stared back wordlessly at the [4] featureless skull before her. Presently, the image of a beautiful young man in his twenties wearing flowing robes overlapped the skeleton. If he had not been half transparent like Old Gu, Shiyu would have thought this young man had been captured into the fire with her.
[Gumihou: Ooohhh!!! Ohhhh!!!]
[1] Added Details for Logistic Purpose: In the original text, we’re given the impression that Shiyu ‘sank deeper and deeper into the sea’ from the coast, which is… kind of impossible since we know there’s a beach. She’ll have to walk at least 10 feet for water to go over her head under normal circumstances so I got Cloud Beast to take her out to sea first with Fat Cat giving directions.
You absolutely cannot sink down, down, down for over 15 min from the shore.
Cloud Beast did not go with her into the sea because… I read ahead and know Cloud Beast did not go with her a few chapters later.
[2] Originally Fairy House – which is not very cool sounding so switched to Saint’s Dwelling.
[3] Additional Details for Dramatic Purpose: She’s floating into the sea of doom after all.
[4] Additional Details for Dramatic Purpose: Small Details to make the scene more interesting and logical.
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