Chapter 095: The Fated One

White Light Tiger was indeed a top-tier beast worth cultivating, but the problem was that even if one's sect poured in all its resources, it would likely never produce a single transcendent White Light Tiger.

“Forget it. I'll look for another one,” Ning Qi sighed.

She simply couldn’t afford it.

“If it were me, I’d definitely choose to raise that little white cat,” Chai Ning said. “It may require more resources now, but in the future, it could become a transcendent White Light Tiger.”

“You’re thinking too much, Miss,” Uncle He replied, striking down his young lady’s hopes. “That little white cat is indeed a mutated mountain cat, a rare variant of White Light Tiger. But with the Chai family’s resources, even a hundred, a thousand Chai families together couldn’t raise a transcendent White Light Tiger.”

He wasn’t about to let his young mistress develop the illusion that the Chai family was so wealthy it could afford to raise White Light Tigers.

Chai Ning was stunned, turning to look at Uncle He.

“Really, Miss, I wouldn’t lie to you,” Uncle He said seriously.

“But Shen Qingjin is raising one,” Chai Ning retorted.

“He keeps it as a pet. If you ask him, I bet he never expects to cultivate it into a transcendent White Light Tiger,” Uncle He said.

“Then I can raise it as a pet too,” Chai Ning pouted.

“If the master agrees. White mountain cat cubs are rare, but not impossible to find,” Uncle He replied.

White Light Tiger cubs were rare, but not unattainable. The difficulty lay in helping one grow into a transcendent White Light Tiger.

“I want one too. Then I can walk my cat with Young Master Qingjin,” Chai Ning said happily, looking at Qingjin.

Qingjin: “…” I have no interest in walking cats.

“Meow?” The little white cat looked confusedly at its owner, then at Chai Ning.

Before long, a fish cub swam back, wagging its tail and blowing bubbles at Qinghu, secretly reporting the results of its underwater patrol.

“Alright, I understand. Keep searching,” Qinghu responded to the little fish's report.

“Qinghu, can you really understand them just from their bubbles?” Qingjin asked curiously.

“Don’t you understand your bird cubs when they chirp?” Qinghu replied, exasperated.

“Yes, whenever they chirp, I just know what they mean,” Qingjin realized. How did that work?

“After a beastmaster contracts with their beast, they naturally understand each other. The beast knows what the master says, and vice versa,” Uncle He explained with a smile. “I really misjudged you three siblings—turns out you’re all beastmasters. Among the new generation of humanity, that's extremely rare. No wonder you dared to go to Wuding City and plan to challenge the Xuantian Tower.”

When Ning Qi and the others were searching for a boat, they mentioned their plan to visit Wuding City and see the Xuantian Tower.

Initially, Uncle He hadn’t taken them seriously, even after Ning Qi revealed her affiliation with the Ancient Saint Sect. Their cultivations were simply too weak.

Now, he realized his mistake—beastmasters were powerful because of their beasts, not themselves.

Uncle He flipped his hand and produced three exceptionally bright, colorful silk-woven pouches.

“These are three premium beast pouches. Their internal space is vast and self-contained, able to store your beasts. Whether it’s the little fish of the young miss, your bird cubs, or Young Master Qingjin’s white cat, they can all be stored within.

Consider this a token of gratitude from the Chai family for your help. Without you, we might have been stuck here forever,” Uncle He said.

Qingjin tried to be polite, but Qinghu immediately took one pouch and tossed the other two to her eldest and fourth brothers.

“You finally did something right. There are plenty of big, fierce creatures in this sea—I’ve risked my little fish’s lives to find our way,” Qinghu said.

In truth, it was hardly dangerous—Qinghu had already released a trace of her aura into the sea. The truly powerful beings wouldn’t dare provoke her unless they were tired of living.

“Qinghu,” Qingjin called her irritably.

Qinghu quickly shut up and turned to pretend she was watching the fish.

Chai Ning couldn’t help but laugh.

“Uncle He, sorry. I’ve failed to discipline my sister, I’ll make sure to deal with her when we get home.”

Uncle He chuckled, “No need. Qinghu’s words are true.”

Soon, another batch of little fish returned, blowing bubbles at Qinghu.

Qinghu immediately said, “Just now, they reported that beneath the southeastern reef cluster, there’s an altar covered in aquatic plants and shells—the only man-made structure in these waters.”

“An altar? Could it be the entrance to a secret realm?” Uncle He asked excitedly.

“I don’t know. Does anyone know how to identify and open a secret realm entrance?” Qinghu asked.

“Uh… I’ll give it a try. I’ve opened several secret realm entrances before,” Uncle He said, gritting his teeth. Everyone was surprised—no one had expected Uncle He to have such experience.

---

“How will we get there?” Chai Ning hurriedly asked. “We can’t just abandon the ship.”

“Fix the ships quickly, then find a way to drag them into the sea. We’ll sail toward the altar. Once the altar opens, maybe we can take our ships with us,” Uncle He said uncertainly.

Repairing the ships was easy, moving them was hard—especially three heavily laden vessels.

Uncle He tried every method to move the ships.

Qingjin and Ning Qi were busy cultivating.

Qinghu and Qingjin, on the other hand, were focused on seafood, spending their days eating and drinking together, exploring the Chai family’s kitchens and befriending every chef.

They bought plenty of spirit liquid, since they’d earned quite a few purple coins.

Initially, their spending was extravagant—Qinghu and Qingjin consumed spirit liquid almost like water, ten pounds a day.

Purple coins quickly flowed back to the Chai family. But on the third day, several little fish brought deep-sea blue jade to Qinghu.

Deep-sea blue jade was a superb material for crafting water-based magic items.

Depending on its quality, it could produce magic tools of varying grades, but even the lowest would be ninth-grade.

The Chai family, represented by Uncle He, accepted everything.

After that, Qingjin received a hundred or so purple coins daily from Qinghu—not to mention the spirit liquid she and Qingjin traded for with blue jade.

On the seventh day of their exile, Qingjin not only completed her transition to the Black Water Sutra but also broke through to the ninth level of Qi Refining.

After reaching Qi Refining nine, she could prepare for Foundation Establishment.

But Ning Qi privately advised, “Actually, Qi Refining has a tenth level. I suggest you refine your mana again, suppress your breakthrough, and aim for Qi Refining ten. That will greatly strengthen your foundation, benefiting your future advancement.”

Qingjin nodded seriously.

Her eldest brother had also advanced a level, prompting Qingjin to comment, “This spirit liquid is excellent, though expensive.”

“No matter, money can be earned again, but health is priceless,” Qinghu replied.

“I meant the spirit liquid helps with cultivation,” Qingjin emphasized.

“Really? I don’t care about cultivation—so long as my health is good, everything else is fine,” Qinghu said.

Qingjin was speechless, “I think you’re just making excuses for your gluttony.”

“You act like you’ve never eaten anything delicious yourself,” Qinghu retorted, giving her fourth brother a sidelong glance.

Qingjin coughed, speechless.

It wasn’t just Qinghu and Qingjin who could eat—the little cat and the bird cubs had astonishing appetites. The four bird cubs could eat a pound of fierce fish meat in one sitting. Recently, their fine, dense white down had grown in, leaving only their black eyes visible, making them look like four balls of snow.

The little cat could eat a pound on its own. Considering its tiny size, no one knew where it put all that meat.

It had also learned to meow at mealtimes, reminding Qingjin to hurry and find Qinghu for food. If Qingjin was in closed cultivation, it would carry its bowl and eat by itself.

Whether it was Qinghu or Qingjin, both were aunt and uncle—how could they let their niece go hungry?

After so many days of top-quality fierce fish meat, the bird cubs’ feathers grew thick, and the cat’s physical abilities improved daily. Its jumping ability astonished everyone—it could leap from the ship to the reefs without falling, landing lightly.

Such talent made Ning Qi envious, watching closely every time. But Ning Qi never broached the topic of a contract again.

Qingjin valued the little cat highly, but without a suitable cultivation method, the cat could only temper its body by eating meat.

Qinghu, whenever she was happy, smiled at the cat; when unhappy, she would grab it and mess with it.

The cat wouldn’t dare resist, simply sprawled out, resigned to its fate, looking utterly forlorn.

Qingjin found this hilarious every time.

The cat, when facing Qinghu, never fought back or used its claws. But with Qingjin, it wasn’t so timid—if he tried to pet it, it scratched his hands and arms without mercy.

Qingjin was exasperated. Truly bullied!

Among the siblings, the eldest brother was spared, the youngest sister was spared, and only he was scratched!

Ning Qi always kept her distance.

Only Qingjin dared to pet the cat, and the cat never seriously harmed him.

He’d seen the deep claw marks left by the cat on the ship’s side in the morning. Even the thick layer of spirit iron wrapped around the ship had been shredded by its claws.

If its claws could tear spirit iron, could they not break his bones?

---

The cat had never truly fought him.

On the fifteenth day, the Chai family finally managed to push the three ships into the sea from the tall reefs.

It was a tremendous effort.

After half a month’s delay, even if their fleet left now, some cargo would spoil before reaching Wuding City. Worse, their main ship had taken on a lot of rainwater—whether the goods in the hold could fetch a good price was uncertain.

They were sure to lose money this time.

Unless they included the Nine Death Golden Silkworm shells and the hundred or so pieces of deep-sea blue jade held by the Shen siblings.

If they counted those, then they hadn’t lost money at all—in fact, they’d made a profit.

Uncle He was both hopeful and anxious.

The three ships sailed to the altar.

Uncle He brought two trusted stewards, joining Qingjin, her siblings, and Ning Qi as they dove.

No use in others joining.

Once in the water, everyone was astonished.

All around were spindle-shaped, silver-white fish over a foot long. Each fish seemed as if its body was inlaid with mysterious sea silver, shining brightly.

“These fish looked smaller from the ship,” Uncle He said via sound transmission.

Ning Qi: No, they really weren’t this big before. In just half a month, they’ve grown more than twice as large. What did they eat?

Qingjin looked at Qinghu, who grinned sheepishly.

Qingjin was about to speak, but Ning Qi pinched his back.

He understood and kept silent.

Let Uncle He misunderstand—it wasn’t as if he was one of them.

The fish escorted them rapidly through the water to the altar.

It was a two-story deep-sea altar, rather dilapidated, as if it hadn’t been visited in ages. It wasn’t large, and without the fish, humans would have taken ages to find it among the vast reefs—provided they didn’t run into anything that wanted to eat them.

Uncle He began working at once, carefully identifying the altar’s mysterious runes. He finally transmitted, “This should be an entrance; the central depression is where spirit stones are placed—twenty spots in all. We’ll insert the stones, then quickly return to the ship.”

“Agreed,” Ning Qi replied.

“Alright,” Qingjin said.

Qinghu and Qingjin had no objections.

But as Uncle He produced spirit stones, a voice sounded: “Wait.”

A huge turtle appeared before them.

Uncle He looked closely and recognized it.

“You’re the leader of those turtles?”

“I’m not the leader—those little turtles are all my descendants,” the old turtle transmitted clearly to everyone.

“Then what brings you here?” Uncle He asked seriously.

“This secret realm is well-suited for my children, so our clan intends to stay. However, the other day, my daughter laid a special egg. I’ve divined that this egg should be raised by humans, so it may fulfill its potential.

I have come to seek a fated person.”

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Today I had to go out, worried I wouldn’t have time to update, so I posted early.

Lewen