Cultivating for a hundred lifetimes to ascension

A large slab of white, oily roast meat quivered as it was piled on the table, emitting a thick aroma of meat.

Zhao Sheng furrowed his brows, stared at it for a while, then picked up the piece of meat and shoved it into his mouth. He bit off a chunk of the fatty meat, chewed it a few times, and swallowed it down.

In no time, a five-pound piece of spirit whale meat had made its way into Zhao Sheng's stomach.

Wiping away the grease from the corner of his mouth, Zhao Sheng endured the nausea, closed his eyes and started running his cultivation technique, digesting the spirit whale meat while absorbing the spiritual energy emanating from it.

As streams of spiritual energy were absorbed from his stomach into his dantian, they were quickly refined by the spirit power vortex and became a part of his spiritual power.

Through a continuous cycle of absorption and refining, Zhao Sheng's cultivation level was gradually improving.

Since Hai Dafu and others had not returned, a year had passed.

In that one year, Zhao Sheng miraculously broke through from the Qi Refining Fourth Level to the Qi Refining Fifth Level.

Indeed, in Hai Lan'er and Li Mu's eyes, this simply seemed like a miracle.

But Zhao Sheng knew it was nothing extraordinary. After all, he had gone through cultivation in his past life, and with sufficient cultivation resources in this life, he was confident he could reach Foundation Establishment before the age of thirty.

Bang, bang, bang!

Who knows how much time had passed when the spirit whale meat was completely digested, and the spiritual energy fully refined, Zhao Sheng awoke from his cultivation state.

He finished his practice, stood up, and pushed open the door to exit.

No sooner had he stepped onto the deck than Zhao Sheng's eyebrows twitched, then his expression returned to normal and even revealed a faint smile.

On the deck, Hai Lan'er was leaning against the rail, murmuring responses to the incessant chatter of the Gui Xin Tree while actually feeling thoroughly annoyed.

Looking up, she just happened to see Zhao Sheng appear, and her face instantly became radiantly joyful.

This made the Gui Xin Tree beside her, who had been desperately trying to please the beauty, look dumbfounded.

With a cheer, Hai Lan'er ran up to Zhao Sheng, narrowed her eyes, and said with an expectant smile, "Little Tian, you're out of seclusion. How's your cultivation going? If there's anything you don't understand, you can ask me... um, ask Uncle Mu!"

A year had gone by, and Hai Lan'er had finally stepped out of the shadow of her father's death, but it had brought a side effect.

Since then, she had been clinging to Zhao Sheng.

It was because Zhao Sheng had always comforted and cared for her with an "attentive big brother" demeanor.

Zhao Sheng initially did so at the behest of Li Mu and also saw Hai Lan'er as a little girl who had lost her father.

Out of sympathy and compassion, he had casually looked after her for a while, helping her step out of the gloom and rediscover hope in life.

If he had known the cost would be this, Zhao Sheng would certainly not have been so attentive.

After all... women only affected the speed of his cultivation!

Facing the overly enthusiastic Hai Lan'er, Zhao Sheng moved forward without changing his demeanor and casually asked, "Uncle Mu, has he returned?"

Hai Lan'er looked up at the sky, hurriedly followed and said, "Uncle Mu has been out for nearly three hours; he should be back soon."

In the time it took for the two exchanges, the Gui Xin Tree had already sidled over.

At this moment, a surge of jealousy welled up within him, and a flash of yellow light passed over his hands as he suddenly slapped towards Zhao Sheng's shoulder.

At the same time, he said to Zhao Sheng with a smiling face, "Little Tian, long time no see!"

A hint of coldness flickered in Zhao Sheng's eyes, his shoulder suddenly sunk down, dodging the other's attack.

"Mr. Gui, didn't we just meet yesterday?" Zhao Sheng stopped and looked calmly at the other person.

Huh?

Gui Xin Tree frowned, having intended to teach the pretty boy a lesson, only to find his efforts foiled.

"Nice reflexes! Let's see if you've made any progress recently," he said as his body flashed with a layer of yellow light and he pounced without regard for fairness due to the difference in age and strength.

Gui Xin Tree was a Qi Refining Seventh Layer practitioner, second only to Li Mu, who was at Qi Refining Perfection, among the six survivors.

Perhaps because of the long drift at sea without female company, or maybe because Hai Lan'er was too beautiful, or even intending to gain both wealth and beauty, Gui Xin Tree had been trying everything to please Hai Lan'er of late, aiming to win the beauty over.

Zhao Sheng snorted at this thought, feeling that Gui Xin Tree did not even bother to look at himself, with his sharp monkey features and advancing years.

How could Hai Lan'er ever fancy him!n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

People must have self-awareness!

The Gui Xin Tree felt good about himself, even brimming with confidence.

A Qi Cultivation Late Stage Practitioner "teaching" a couple of Qi Refining Fifth Level kids, it was supposed to be a piece of cake.

However, reality turned out to be much less ideal than he imagined!

First a lunge,

then a tear,

and a fling...

On the deck, the two figures chased and dodged, their movements so fast and elusive they made onlookers dizzy.

The Gui Xin Tree had been grabbing and kicking for quite a while, panting for breath, yet he hadn't even touched the hem of Zhao Sheng's clothes.

He didn't believe that a fifteen or sixteen-year-old kid could be stronger than him; he just thought his opponent was too cunning.

If it weren't for Li Mu's prohibition against using weapons on the ship, the Gui Xin Tree would have taken out his Magic Artifact, the Golden Bite Sword, and chopped the annoying brat into seven or eight pieces long ago.

Just then, Zhao Sheng suddenly looked up at the sky, then stopped in his tracks and waved at the Gui Xin Tree, saying, "Mr. Gui, let's stop for now, Uncle Mu and the others are back!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than a three-zhang-long mini Cloud Boat descended from the sky and landed gracefully on the deck.

The stern-faced Li Mu leapt down from the Cloud Boat, followed by two brawny men, one tall and one short, jumping down behind him.

The tall one was named Yan Kai, and the short one was Zou Li, both were Qi Refining Mid Stage cultivators.

Seeing Li Mu return, Hai Lan'er was overjoyed and hurriedly went up to greet him.

"Uncle Mu, did you find anything?"

Li Mu habitually shook his head in response, "Nothing."

After hearing this, Hai Lan'er pursed her lips in disappointment, but having been disappointed many times, she wasn't too let down.

She quickly cheered up and started chattering away to Li Mu about various trivial and boring little matters.

Li Mu had been saved by Hai Dafu in his youth, and had spent the past two decades on the Da Fu, effectively becoming Hai Dafu's right-hand man.

He had also watched Hai Lan'er grow up, so after Hai Dafu's disappearance, he started to treat Hai Lan'er as his own daughter.

This was also a major reason why the Gui Xin Tree didn't dare to be forceful with Hai Lan'er.

...

The night was calm and quiet, with a thick fog blanketing the sea.

Bang!

A dull thud suddenly broke the silence, the Da Fu trembled slightly, and a creaking friction sound ensued.

Zhao Sheng, who was meditating in the steering cabin, abruptly opened his eyes; with a slap on the floor, his body soared up, rushing out of the room at high speed.

Passing through the misty deck, he arrived at the side of the ship and saw a huge shadowy figure swaying faintly through the fog. Zhao Sheng paused with a surprised look, exclaiming, "What's this...?"

Shortly after, all six people gathered on the deck.

Zhao Sheng looked at the "sea ship" opposite them, lost in thought.

This sea ship was very strange. It was about one-third smaller than the Da Fu, a single-decked sea ship with an eerie appearance.

The cloudy boards of the ship were covered with thick layers of gray-green seaweed. The deck, masts, and various parts of the ship were filled with black demonic-looking barnacles and diverse marine life.

Slippery dark green sunflower tentacles messily "grew" out of deck crevices and ship cabins.

Seeing the sea ship opposite them, the Gui Xin Tree exclaimed in amazement, "This... This is a 'Ghost Ship'?!"

In the Shattered Star Sea, any unmanned ship that had sunk and reappeared on the sea surface, drifting with the currents, was called a Ghost Ship.

The Shattered Star Sea was full of unknown and mysterious things, and Ghost Ships were one of them.

Ghost Ships sometimes harbored unknown dangers; it was recorded that even a Golden Core Master had perished after boarding a Ghost Ship.

In fact, most Ghost Ships bore no danger and were merely abandoned vessels.

However, many lucky individuals had found treasures left behind by predecessors on Ghost Ships and had thus changed their destinies.