Then he opened his eyes and surveyed his surroundings, immediately spotting the four cultivators Zhou Yao, Jin Zhongshan, Liao Xiaozhi, and Pan Lin standing not far away, idly chatting about something, or occasionally glancing warily toward the waters surrounding the coral forest, guarding against the sea beasts that might emerge. A shudder ran through him.

Ye Qin glanced at them, his expression aloof. Recalling the recent fierce battle, a trace of lingering fear surfaced.

The bloody conflict, though brief, had been extremely perilous. The vital energy and spiritual sense within his body were almost completely depleted.

At the beginning of the engagement, in order to manifest a Dharmic Form, he had instantly expended a full thirty percent of his vital energy. Coupled with the deployment of three Primordial Spirit artifacts and one water-element magic treasure, his vital energy had drained away like running water.

Furthermore, he had simultaneously used his spiritual sense to control both his Dharmic Form and the Golden Core Skeleton Demon to fight against several demon shrimps. Given his strength at the first layer of the Golden Core stage, he had only managed to sustain the fight for the time it takes an incense stick to burn before his vital energy was exhausted and his spiritual sense withered to a dry state.

If the Golden Core Skeleton Demon had not managed to tie down one of the Golden Core demon shrimps, allowing him to swiftly eliminate another, and then deal with the remaining few demon shrimps whose strength was slightly inferior, it would have been his defeat. Ye Qin sat in meditation to regulate his breathing.

Aided by the spiritual wine, it took him a full hour to completely restore his vital energy, and his severely depleted spiritual sense recovered by slightly more than half. Seeing Ye Qin finish his recovery, the few Golden Core cultivators in the team looked at him with strained expressions, uncertain what to say, all showing awkwardness, halting mid-sentence.

It was originally the four of them who intended to dig up those few stalks of Blood Deer Antler Coral and kill the guardian sea beasts, but unexpectedly, they attracted an attack from a swarm of Ghostly Demon Shrimps possessing terrifying strength and the arts of invisibility and evasion. The situation ultimately evolved into Ye Qin single-handedly slaying this nest of guardian sea beasts, while the four of them contributed almost nothing.

If Ye Qin's strength had not been far greater than anticipated, they would have suffered a crushing defeat; even if they hadn't died, several members would have been severely wounded. This failure was their doing, and filled with guilt, they naturally had nothing to say.

The atmosphere among them was heavy and awkward. "The millennium-aged Blood Deer Antler Coral belongs to me.

The rest, the few centuries-old ones, you can divide among yourselves. Does anyone have an objection?" Ye Qin swept his gaze over the cultivators, paused for a moment, and spoke in a flat, indifferent tone.

To say he harbored no anger was impossible. If those four hadn't been covetous of the Blood Coral, that undersea rare treasure, he wouldn't have been cornered by several demon shrimps, facing a life-and-death crisis.

But he couldn't afford to unleash his anger. If they were on the land of the East Sea, Ye Qin would have long since flown away on his sword without looking back, unwilling to be dragged down by them again.

However, in this undersea passage, he needed to cooperate with them. Ye Qin knew clearly that no matter how strong he was, he could not pass through the perilous undersea passage alone to reach the Langya Secret Realm, one of the three great sacred grounds of the Earth Clan.

This small team had to cooperate to traverse this dangerous underwater route. Just like moments ago, after a bloody fight, his vital energy and spiritual sense were completely drained, rendering him almost entirely without combat capability.

If the other four cultivators in the team had not stood guard nearby, even a low-level sea beast of the second or third rank swimming by could have taken his life. Ye Qin could not blame them excessively.

The only thing he could do now was unapologetically claim the best quality Blood Coral as compensation for his recent gamble. "Brother Ye killed those guardian sea beasts; this millennium-aged Blood Deer Antler Coral is rightfully his.

I have no objection." Zhou Yao, filled with shame, kept her head down, unwilling to meet Ye Qin's cold gaze. Hearing Ye Qin ask, she quickly spoke up.

She then turned to the others, "You all have no objections either, right?" "None." Jin Zhongshan shook his head dejectedly and muttered. The millennium-aged Blood Deer Antler Coral was certainly the most valuable rare treasure; he had certainly wanted to keep it, but it was clearly not his share.

Liao Xiaozhi, having already removed the disguise of the Withering Wood Art, nodded his agreement quickly. Pan Lin also offered no objection.

They all understood clearly that without Ye Qin's intervention this time, they would likely have struggled to escape entanglement with those demon shrimps, let alone obtain these few stalks of Blood Coral. Ye Qin took the foot-long, millennium-aged Blood Deer Antler Coral.

The remaining stalks were divided among the four cultivators. When distributing the Blood Coral, Ye Qin took his share first, followed by the four others.

The gazes the four cultivators—Zhou Yao, Jin Zhongshan, Liao Xiaozhi, and Pan Lin—cast toward Ye Qin now carried a mixture of deference, astonishment, and doubt—only they themselves knew the depth of those complex emotions. What Ye Qin hadn't anticipated was an unexpected outcome following a bloody battle.

That was, in an imperceptible way, he had established his position as the leader of this small team. The five of them were all Golden Core cultivators who were captains in the various Immortal Palaces of the Heavenly Dao Alliance, so this team originally had no designated leader.

Any actions were decided through consultation among the five, relying on majority rule; no one held the authority for unilateral decisions. The spoils of war were initially intended to be divided equally.

But now, the distribution of the Blood Coral followed Ye Qin’s decree, which inherently signified that the other cultivators acknowledged his leadership role within the team. This was easy to understand; respect for strength was a common occurrence in the East Sea.

If five Golden Core cultivators possessed roughly equal strength, none would submit to the other, naturally resulting in no leader. However, if one cultivator's strength was clearly a level above the others, they would easily be deemed the leader by the rest.

Even if Ye Qin wanted to refuse, it would have been impossible. Who told him his strength was clearly a tier above everyone else's?

After collecting the Blood Coral, the group proceeded to clear away the corpses of the few slain Ghostly Demon Shrimps. "What should we do with those shrimps?" Zhou Yao asked.

"The carapaces of these six shrimps are too contaminated with corpse energy; their bodies are already starting to extensively decay, and even their demon cores are ruined," Jin Zhongshan reported after inspecting them, shaking his head with a hint of regret. "Huh?

Wait, the sharpest barbs on their heads haven't been corroded by the corpse energy." Jin Zhongshan suddenly showed delight, using a broken piece of coral to flip over their barbs; they were still tough, glistening with a crystalline sheen. "Their barbs can be cut off.

After using vital energy to dispel the surface corpse energy, they can be refined into mid-tier water-element magic blades. Although the quality is slightly degraded, these artifacts with a faint cloaking effect can still fetch a considerable price.

Brother Luo, come and help!" Pan Lin swiftly summoned his Golden Mosquito Clippers and hurried over to assist. After a short while, they managed to cut off the barbs from the heads of the six Golden Core level demon shrimps.

These barbs could only be refined into magic tools, not rare treasures with special effects, thus they were not as rare or precious as the Blood Coral. The group divided them.

"Let's go. We need to pass through this coral forest quickly to catch up with the cultivators from the other teams.

They must be far ahead now," Zhou Yao stated calmly. "Wait a moment." Before leaving, Ye Qin looked towards the dense network of caves beneath the giant coral tree.

A thought struck him. After a moment's consideration, he swam over and slipped into one of the caves.

The cave was not very deep. Moreover, all the caves were interconnected, allowing easy passage from one to another.

At the deepest point of the cave was the lair of the sea beasts… naturally, the lair of those few demon shrimps. Within a crude nest constructed of piled stones lay over a dozen eggs, about the size of a fist, tinged a pale red.

"Ghostly Demon Shrimp eggs!" Ye Qin showed a look of pleasant surprise. Just as he was about to leave, he had casually thought that the nest of these shrimps might contain eggs or similar items, and sure enough, he had found these eggs.

He found these demon shrimp eggs just in time to take them back to Fire Mist Island in the Northern Islands for nurturing. These Ghostly Demon Shrimps, invisible, silent, undetectable by Spirit Sight or spiritual sense, and possessing extremely strong combat power, were the perfect high-tier sea beasts for guarding an island.

He and Huangfu Bing'er, who resided on Fire Mist Island, were in dire need of spirit beasts to protect the island. Huangfu Bing'er had mentioned this to him before.

But he had been unable to find suitable high-tier beast eggs in the short term, and the rare high-tier eggs sold at the market in White Float City were prohibitively expensive, so the matter had been dropped. If he trained these deep-sea Ghostly Demon Shrimps as monstrous beasts to guard the island, they would certainly yield unexpected results.

Ye Qin waved his hand, collecting the more than ten shrimp eggs into his storage pouch. Ye Qin emerged from the cave.

Zhou Yao and the other cultivators stared at him in surprise. They apparently did not have the habit of clearing out beast lairs.

"Let's go." Ye Qin gave them a faint look, said nothing, and holding the Water Shell Spirit Pearl, led the group of five Golden Core cultivators through the coral forest without incident. Several hours later, following faint traces, they passed through the tranquil coral forest.

Jin Zhongshan and the others dared not invite further trouble. Even if they occasionally spotted strange items within the coral forest, they dared not entertain any thought of touching them.

The Ghostly Demon Shrimps they had encountered earlier had left them with deep apprehension. Ye Qin walked in the lead and suddenly stopped.

They had left the coral forest. Ye Qin looked ahead; it was a barren undersea desert.

Yellow sea sand, deep blue seawater. The desert stretched endlessly, devoid of any cover, likely spanning several thousand li.

No seaweed, coral, or even a single massive underwater boulder grew in the desert; it was entirely fine, yellow sand. Deathly quiet.

A scene of absolute stillness. Even the most common fish and shellfish found in the sea were almost nonexistent.

Ye Qin couldn't help but feel astonished. How could such a bizarre place exist deep under the ocean?

"What is this place?" The other Golden Core cultivators followed him out of the coral forest, their faces looking somewhat grim. They had arrived here by following the tracks left by other cultivators.

To reach the Langya Secret Realm, they certainly had to cross this silent undersea desert. The extreme openness of this undersea desert was not a good sign.

It meant that if they encountered hordes of sea beasts roaming in the desert, they would have nowhere to hide, unlike in the coral forest where they could conceal themselves from large groups of sea beasts.

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