At that moment, the fourth water blade veered off course and struck a nearby rock, splitting it clean in half.
Then came the fifth, the sixth... all the way to the twelfth.
When the final water blade deviated from its original path and struck the side, Mu Chenze's heart eased. His vision went black, and he pitched forward, falling straight toward the seabed coral thicket.
Jun Luo, sword in his right hand, was standing just to Mu Chenze's right.
Seeing this, he grabbed Mu Chenze's collar with his left hand and dragged him away to safety.
Jiang Yao rummaged through his storage bag and pulled out a solid black dip net with a ten-meter pole and a one-meter diameter opening. With a few quick movements, he scooped up the three severed branches of blue sea coral floating in the water.
These were the fruits of Mu Chenze's hard work; they couldn't be wasted.
Jun Luo had already swum quite a distance while dragging Mu Chenze. Jiang Yao shouldered the full dip net and hurried to catch up.
Gu Ningyun watched the massive ten-meter dip net Jiang Yao had suddenly produced, completely dumbfounded.
Was this what an artifact cultivator's storage bag was like? It contained all sorts of bizarre magic tools.
By the time the five of them reached a new location, Mu Chenze's divine sense had slowly begun to recover. The pain in his sea of consciousness vanished, and his mind cleared.
He clutched his collar with his left hand and pushed at Jun Luo's hand with his right. "Cough, cough... Jun Luo, don't carry me like this. I can't breathe."
Only then did Jun Luo notice Mu Chenze's plight.
He let go immediately. "Apologies. It was a matter of urgency, and I had no other choice."
Gu Ningyun looked at Mu Chenze's neck, which didn't have a single red mark on it, and shook her head helplessly.
With his early-stage Body Refining level twelve cultivation, it would be a miracle if he were actually being strangled to the point of not being able to breathe.
Only Jun Luo would take this guy's words seriously.
Jiang Yao finally caught up, shouldering the dip net.
From a distance, he extended the dip net toward Mu Chenze. "How's that, brother? Pretty reliable, right?"
Mu Chenze was genuinely surprised.
"Good brother! I thought those water blades were for nothing."
He pulled out three more spirit jade boxes and placed the blue sea coral branches inside. He then pressed a box into the hands of Jiang Yao, Jun Luo, and Gu Ningyun each.
"This blue sea coral can be used for alchemy, artifact refining, or even as material for special array plates.
"Wait for me to move to a few more spots. I'll cut eight or ten boxes for each of you. That should be plenty."
He paused as he looked at the box in Gu Ningyun's hand.
He knew absolutely nothing about talismans.
Would a talisman cultivator have any use for a toxic material like blue sea coral?
After a moment of thought, he said, "Ningyun, if you can't use it, you can take it back to Yunzhou and sell it.
"Blue sea coral is a creature unique to the East Sea. It sells for a decent amount of spirit stones over in Yunzhou."
"Don't worry, I think I'll find a use for it."
Gu Ningyun's normally round almond eyes narrowed into ovals, her pupils darting back and forth restlessly.
Seeing that familiar, fox-like expression, Mu Chenze had a sudden flash of insight.
"You haven't come up with another one of your schemes, have you?"
"Are you planning to wait until we return to the sect and have someone refine this blue sea coral into your peach wood sword?"
Before Gu Ningyun could object, Jiang Yao leaned in excitedly. "Ningyun, let me tell you, that's a great idea!
"Don't be fooled by the fact that the coral polyps are only at Qi Refining level three; their hallucinogenic toxin is nothing to sneeze at.
"If you let me refine it for you, I guarantee that with just a small piece of blue sea coral and a few other materials, I can use array patterns to amplify the toxicity to its absolute limit.
"It could even daze a cultivator at the early Foundation Establishment stage for a moment.
"As everyone knows, no matter how top-tier a genius is, they cannot rely solely on their own spirit energy and swordsmanship to leapfrog and kill an early Foundation Establishment cultivator while at the peak of Qi Refining level twelve.
"This is because although early Foundation Establishment is nominally only one step above level twelve, there is a massive gap between the Foundation Establishment stage and the Qi Refining stage. Their spirit energy reserves and quality are more than a hundred times greater.
"However, a peach wood sword refined by me could allow you to daze a Foundation Establishment cultivator for a brief moment."
Jiang Yao grew more excited as he spoke, his hands waving animatedly. "If you're out and an early Foundation Establishment cultivator attacks you, you can pull out your toxic sword. Even if you can't win, the sword qi you release will buy you that split second of time.
"If you swing your sword qi at them while running away, wouldn't you be able to keep dazing them with the toxin and keep buying time to escape?
"Think of how much help that would be in a life-or-death situation!"
"I intend to focus entirely on honing my wind-attribute sword qi to reach the absolute limit and cultivate sword intent.
"I'm not considering adding poison or other auxiliary functions to my peach wood sword for the time being."
Gu Ningyun pressed a hand to her forehead. "Jiang Yao, if your hands are itching to refine something, you should find another target."
For example, a certain ice-attribute sword cultivator would be a good choice.
"I see."
Jiang Yao scratched the back of his head. "Alright then."
Mu Chenze found his disappointed look rather amusing. "You guys can stay here and discuss. I'm going to go cut more coral."
Gu Ningyun toyed with the spirit jade box in her hand as her mind recalled the contents of the 《Compendium of Talismans》.
The 《Compendium of Talismans》 recorded that the primary materials for refining talisman ink were mostly various types of beast blood and spirit plant juices.
The talisman ink commonly used by talisman cultivators was made from ordinary beast blood or spirit plant juices, mixed with mild materials that helped harmonize spirit energy.
However, if special materials like snake bile or the juice of poisonous plants were used to refine talisman ink, one could draw or even research talismans with special effects.
Beneath that entry, the 《Compendium of Talismans》 listed various material formulas for talisman ink.
While the formulas didn't mention blue sea coral, Gu Ningyun was eyeing the toxin of the blue sea coral polyps.
If she used the blue sea coral polyp toxin as the primary material to refine talisman ink and then used that ink to draw a water arrow talisman, what kind of effect would it have?
Thinking of this, Gu Ningyun felt eager to try.
She decided to first learn the water arrow talisman when they returned to the spirit ship to rest.
Once she was back at the sect, she would re-read the section on talisman ink refining in the 《Compendium of Talismans》 several times and research how to use this blue sea coral toxin.
While Gu Ningyun was lost in thought, Mu Chenze had already moved through the area, cutting two or three branches from every coral cluster and storing them in spirit jade boxes.
After finishing there, he tirelessly led them to another location.
Earlier, in that moment of crisis, a strange burst of potential had allowed him to use the water spirit energy in the seawater. Combined with his divine sense, he had communicated with the water blades and changed their direction.
At the moment of connection, the water blades he had already fired felt like an extension of his own arm in his divine sense. Wherever he pointed, the water blades would turn.
This was clearly abnormal.
A cultivator could only use the spirit energy within their own body. At most, they could use their own spirit energy in conjunction with hand seals, talisman ink, or array patterns to guide the unrefined spirit energy in the air.
Once an attack had been released from the body, it was impossible to change its direction unless it was interfered with by an external force.
Rate on N.U.
