Zhao Sheng looked up and saw a bright and beautiful face in front of him. The person was tall and slender with a full figure and long, bright red hair that was draped over her shoulders, as vibrant as fire, just like her personality.
Hailan'er, the beloved daughter of Captain Hai Dafu, is also Zhao Sheng's creditor.
"Sister Lan'er, would you believe me if I said I didn't see anything just now?"
"Heh, I don't believe it!"
"Everything I said is true, whether you believe it or not, I believe it!"
Snap!
Speak like a human being!
Although Zhao Sheng managed to dodge the slap, he chose to accept it obediently to avoid further torment.
After being thoroughly ravaged, Hailan'er finally vented her anger. After all, she was still a virgin, and she couldn't let anyone take advantage of her so easily.
If Zhao Sheng knew what Hailan'er was thinking, he would definitely have something to say. "Since she knows she's an old maid, why does she dress so scantily every day and run around on the ship? It's just..."
Hai Dafu dotes on his daughter excessively. Because of Hai Lan'er, all the crew members have had the painful experience of being tortured by the captain.
After experiencing the same thing many times over time, Hailan'er became the de facto ruler of the Dafu. All the crew members treated her like mice were seeing a cat, either fawning over her or avoiding her altogether.
Seeing that Zhao Sheng had become obedient, Hailan'er curled her lip in boredom, stretched out a slender, fair hand, and said matter-of-factly, "It's time to pay this month's interest. Two hundred spirit stones!"
Here!
While inwardly cursing the other party for being greedy, Zhao Sheng deftly took out two mid-grade spirit stones and handed them to Hai Lan'er.
Three months ago, after Hai Dafu "rescued" Zhao Sheng onto the ship, he immediately declared that he could not fail to repay the life-saving grace, and then took the opportunity to announce that this grace could be repaid with 10,000 spirit stones.
At the same time, he "thoughtfully" lent Zhao Sheng 10,000 spirit stones, with a very low interest rate of only two percent.
However, there is one problem: before paying off his debts, Zhao Sheng must work at Dafu Company. His monthly wages are paid according to his cultivation level. At the third level of Qi Refining, he only receives thirty spirit stones, which is not even enough to cover the interest.
Faced with his "lifesaver," Hai Dafu, a Foundation Establishment cultivator, what could Zhao Sheng do? To be honest, he was also quite helpless!
What frustrated Zhao Sheng even more was that Hai Dafu actually sent Miss Lan to collect the debt.
It's hard to say that this decision was his intention.
Perhaps a young lady saw that a new toy—no, a new person—had finally arrived on the ship and suddenly became interested.
Hailan'er happily accepted the spirit stones, and at the same time patted Zhao Sheng's shoulder with her other hand, encouraging him with a smile: "Little rascal, you have to work hard in the future!"
With that, she turned around and nimbly climbed up the gangway and left, giving Zhao Sheng another advantage.
Watching the departing figure, Zhao Sheng thought to himself, "Kid? Hmph, if I told you how old I am, it would scare you to death!"
Only after Hailan'er disappeared from the ship's ladder did Zhao Sheng climb up.
A moment later, he crossed the deck and entered the Spirit Stone Cultivation Room located below the second deck.
On a side note, the Shattered Star Sea is not quite what people imagine.
The distribution of spiritual energy in this ocean is extremely uneven. Areas rich in spiritual energy, such as the Inner Star Sea, have an average concentration far exceeding that of the Central Continent. However, most areas of the Shattered Star Sea have almost no spiritual energy, making them veritable spiritual energy deserts.
Cultivating in a spiritual desert is like squeezing milk out of sand; the difficulty is unimaginable.
Therefore, spiritual cultivation and food cultivation are prevalent in the Shattered Star Sea, and the popularity of spirit-gathering arrays is much higher than in other realms of the Heavenly Pillar Realm.
The Dafu whaling ship is a second-tier treasure ship, equipped with three miniature spirit-gathering arrays and matching spirit-burning arrays, which can make full use of the spiritual energy within the spirit stones.
With his cultivation experience from his previous life, Zhao Sheng's cultivation speed was at least twice as fast as the other three spiritual roots.
Although it has only been three months since he broke through the third level of Qi Refining, he has already vaguely touched the edge of the fourth level, and he will be able to break through to the middle level of Qi Refining in another half month.
The leap from the third to the fourth level of Qi Refining is a significant hurdle; once broken through, a cultivator's strength will experience a tremendous leap.
For Zhao Sheng, once his cultivation reaches the fourth level of Qi Refining, he will be able to defeat even ordinary Qi Refining cultivators at the seventh or eighth level if he uses all his methods.
Time flies, and half a month has passed.
Zhao Sheng walked out of the cultivation room with a calm expression. At this moment, no one knew that he had successfully advanced to the fourth level of Qi Refining.
Chen Lao Er was leaning against the Dragon-Shooting Crossbow when he saw Zhao Sheng. He immediately exclaimed with delight, "Little Tian, you've come out of seclusion! That's great, it's your turn to take over your post!"
Zhao Sheng stepped forward and said with a smile, "Brother Chen, you should go and rest. Don't worry about me here!"
"Be careful, kid. We've crossed the second island chain and are now deep in the ocean. It's fraught with danger here, and we could encounter unexpected perils at any moment. If something happens, remember not to be afraid, and immediately hide in the training room."
After spending several months together, Chen Lao Er genuinely admired Zhao Sheng, and so, risking being scolded by the captain, he told the "truth".
Zhao Sheng truly felt his heartfelt concern.
Without saying much, Zhao Sheng nodded and said seriously, "Yes, I understand!"
Chen Lao Er left, and Zhao Sheng looked out to sea.
This is the open ocean, with strong winds and high waves; the seabed is a deep gray-black.
Zhao Sheng knew that this meant the seawater was much deeper than he had imagined, at least several thousand feet deep, and it wouldn't be surprising if it were even tens of thousands of feet deep.
As the saying goes, dragons emerge from deep mountains and great marshes, and only the mysterious and magnificent outer oceans can nurture behemoths like whales.
Three days later, the weather was fine and the sea was calm.
On the Dafu, a group of sailors ran to the side of the ship, gazing at the sea dozens of miles away, pointing and gesturing.
There, the waves surged and the spray rolled, and every now and then you could see exceptionally thick columns of water rising high from the sea. Suddenly, huge creatures would leap out of the water and fall back into the sea, splashing up wave after wave as big as mountains.
Hearing the distant, thunderous roars, Zhao Sheng's expression turned solemn. Having lived several lifetimes, this was the first time he had encountered a creature larger than the Cloud Dragon, excluding the dead Mountain Dragon.
The Spirit Whale is one of the largest sea creatures in the Shattered Star Sea. When it grows up, it is over fifty feet long on average, similar to the Great Fortune.
To be precise, the keel of the Dafu was forged from the vertebrae of an adult spirit whale.
Once a spirit whale reaches adulthood, it becomes a second-tier demon beast, and one with exceptionally formidable strength.
After living for several hundred years, its size can grow to seventy or eighty feet, easily becoming a top-tier second-order demon beast, invincible to anyone without a Golden Core.
Occasionally, some exceptionally talented individuals, exceeding a hundred feet in size, can advance to the third tier of demonic beasts, which is not uncommon.
If the spirit whale weren't naturally gentle and non-aggressive, it would have long ago dominated a region of the ocean like the Tyrant Sea Octopus and the Flood Dragon, instead of becoming a target for cultivators.
However, even the gentlest of spirit whales can unleash an incredibly ferocious side when faced with the threat of being killed.
Whaling is an extremely dangerous activity!
Nearly a hundred treasure ships from Whale Island go out whaling every year, but only 80% of them return safely after a year.
It should be noted that a treasure ship capable of hunting spirit whales must have at least one Foundation Establishment cultivator on board, and even so, the loss rate exceeds 20%.
The danger of it is self-evident.
Of course, the greater the danger during whaling, the greater the profits after a successful hunt!
On the second deck, Hai Dafu gazed at the frolicking whales in the distance, his expression grave.
The Great Fortune is capable of hunting a single spirit whale, but it would never dare to confront a group of spirit whales.
At this moment, Hailan'er turned her head and asked, "Dad, shall we put bait on the hook?"
Hai Dafu stroked his beard and waved his hand, saying, "No rush, let's observe for a few more days and wait until we find one that's alone before making our move!"
Three days later, a thunderstorm suddenly struck.
On this day, the opportunity that Hai Dafu had been waiting for finally arrived.