Chapter 108: The Crystal Coins Eating Little Ones (1)
Translator: Kelaude Editor: Milkbiscuit
Besides that, there wasn’t anyone present here who would admire their style of dress. The Cave Master also ignored them and only knew how to cultivate incessantly. Other than the two of them taking care of Miao Yi’s meals for him to cultivate in peace, they also gradually immersed themselves in cultivation.
The beasts on the island ran amuck, yet none dared to approach this area. Charcoal was like a guard dog. If any dared to venture forth and seek trouble, he would immediately became so excited, to the point that he scurried about happily swishing his tail and hopping on his hooves. Almost like a cat catching mice, he enjoyed himself immensely in vigorous pursuits.
In addition, the hundred little ones were also now in a growth stage. Those beasts that trespassed into this region very easily became their meals on a platter.
Charcoal didn’t need anyone to look after him. Whenever he wanted to eat, he need not inform anyone. He would dive headlong into the sea over and over again. Once he was satiated, he would trod back and dozed off. In fact, he greatly loved this kind of life, encircled by the sea and with no one around to bother him. His swimming skills appeared to have improved as well.
Once he ate his fill, he would occasionally catch a large fish from the sea, to let the others spice up their meals.
Every quarter of the year, Miao Yi would exit closed-door cultivation once and board a wooden raft alone, invoking his art to ride the wind through the waves. He would quietly take a trip back to East Arrival Cave in order to inquire on the situation of his own territory.
Under normal circumstances, there would not be any issues. He only had to gather his subordinates and show his face to prove that he was still there. Afterwards, he would again quietly and mysteriously vanish without a trace.
The sun blazed over the sea from afar and the vast blue waves stretched beyond the horizon. Standing on the mountain top, Xue’Er gazed at the surrounding seascape from high up under the shade of a tree. Surprised, she suddenly cried out with delight, “Sister, Cave Master is back.”
Almost as if he were treading on the waves, Miao Yi broke through the waves alone as he came in their direction. Immediately, the two girls ran down the mountain.
Kicking off the wooden raft of three logs lashed together, Miao Yi jumped onto the shore. The two young girls paid their respects together, “Cave Master!”
Miao Yi smiled as he nodded his head, leading the two into the cave dwelling. When he arrived at the entrance of the cave, he waved his hand casually and over a hundred little ones immediately emerged from his storage ring, buzzing as they flapped their wings over to a tree trunk on the side, hiding in the shade. They still seemed to hate the sunlight very much.
Entering the cave, Miao Yi did not say anything excessively and turned to sit in meditation on the stone chair, resuming his cultivation.
The two young girls looked speechlessly at each other, appearing a little disappointed. They had intentionally dressed with great care to welcome the Cave Master back but the Cave Master did not seem to notice.
Outside the cave, a phantom figure gradually materialized. It was none other than the peerless Lao Bai. As if emerging from a dream, his two drooping frost-white locks of hair fluttered about in the windless air, along with his plain green cloak.
Standing with hands clasped behind his back, Lao Bai gradually lift his head, a pair of deep starry eyes landed on top of the little ones resting on the tree trunk. He nodded his head slightly and said, “It’s almost time.”
He flashed out a palm and a handful of gold crystal coins gently flew from his palm, shaking as they floated to rest just before the little ones
The little ones immediately twisted their heads about, the feelers on their heads began twitching even faster as if they had discovered some sort of mouthwatering delicacy. Every one of them flitted their wings to rise, pouncing on the levitating gold crystals.
With a wave of Lao Bai’s hand, the gold crystals dropped to the ground, and the swarming little ones immediately pounced onto the ground, seizing the gold crystals as they munched on the coins with crunching sounds of joy.
Footsteps sounded from the cave as Qian’Er and Xue’Er emerged from within. Both of their mouths were slightly pouty, as though they were fairly disappointed at Miao Yi for ignoring them.
Standing with his hands clasped, Lao Bai peacefully tilted his head to throw a glance in their direction. He shook his head slightly as he smiled, it was truly a gorgeous smile.
Both of the young girls seemed not to have notice Lao Bai at all, even though Lao Bai was standing precisely in front of them. Moreover, their attention were fixated on the ground, turning a blind eye to this peerless man; to women, this would have simply been a crime against nature. Instead, they both continued staring dumbstruck at the little ones munching the gold crystals on the ground.
With a trace of a smile on his face, Lao Bai’s body gradually became indistinct as he slowly vanished without a trace, just like a mirage.
“Sister, what’s wrong with them?” said Xue’Er, lifting her head in surprise.
“I don’t know!” replied Qian’Er, shaking her head. She lifted her skirt up as she ran to the cave in a hurry.
Not long after, Miao Yi stopped cultivating for the time being and came out trailing hurriedly behind Qian’Er.
“Cave Master, they’re right here! Please look quickly, they are actually eating coins!” Qian’Er exclaimed as she pointed at the little ones on the ground.
Staring at the ground, Miao Yi was stunned. He gradually crouched down, looking at the voracious little ones doubtfully.
He thought he was seeing things. How could the little ones be eating such hardy materials? It should be borne in mind that the toughness of these crystal coins was fairly high. Even when cultivators were refining transcendent artifacts, it was extremely difficult to extract the essence powder from within; the level of the toughness for the crystal coins was undoubtable.
Yet, the crunching sound that made one’s blood run cold sounded very clear.
Miao Yi had no choice but to reach out and separate a few little ones, snatching one of the gold crystals with his hand to examine it. Who knew that the little ones appeared to be unhappy at this action, sending out a protesting emotion to him. After seeing that their protests were fruitless, they turned around and jostled into their friends to fight for food.
Miao Yi clicked his tongue incessantly as he examined the gold crystal again and again in his grip. Evidently, a part of the gold crystal had already been bitten off.
“Their claws and teeth are already this sharp?” Miao Yi reached out to grab one of the little ones, examining him in his grip. He discovered that the limbs and the chewing mouthparts were indeed different from the time they had just hatched; he could tell from the obvious change in texture. Their bodies were also slightly larger.
A dagger emerged with a flip of his palm. He pressed the sharp blade against the little guy’s mouth. Being oppressed, the little guy struggled and bit incessantly. ‘Crack!’ A hole formed at that point of the knife.
“Tsk tsk! Still small and already so crazy! If they matured, then what would they become?!” Miao Yi cried out curiously. He let go of the little guy and threw the gold crystal back to the ground. Getting up, he asked the two girls, “Were you the ones who fed them the coins?”
He knew that the subordinates under him had gifted the two girls quite a number of coins, similar to how he had gifted Qing Ju and the rest.
Both of them hurriedly waved their hands. “Not us! We also just discovered it when we came out.”
“Not you?” Miao Yi knotted his brows. Both parties had been together for so long, so he knew that the two girls would not lie to him. But then where did these coins come from?
Looking around, Charcoal was still sleeping as he laid to the side of the cave, swishing his snake-like tail around.
‘That’s not right!’ If someone were to come here, not to mention that Charcoal would raise an alarm, the little ones would have also transmitted a message to him. Letting them roam freely was to allow them to do just that.
“Could it be that you girls accidentally dropped them without knowing?” asked Miao Yi.
‘Accidentally?’ Both girls shook their heads in hesitation.
They could not be uncertain with such a matter. It would be too dangerous should an outsider have randomly come to his side, and he wasn’t even aware of it. Miao Yi cautiously peered about his surroundings and said, “Count your coins and see if there are less.”
Usually, the two girls absolutely did not have any place to spend money on since they did not need to worry about food and clothes at East Arrival Cave. As long as they wanted any textiles or accessories, East Arrival Cave would have them sent over without requiring them to fork out any money. It was also the same on the island, even if they had the money, they had nowhere to purchase from.
Hence, they basically did not carry money on their bodies. They hastily rushed back to the cave to find their coin pouch and began to count.
After they emerged with their coin pouches, they weakly said, “A dozen coins less.”
Miao Yi breathed out a sigh of relief, pointing at the two as he nodded.