Having the Grand Preceptor row a boat for oneself would be quite prestigious.

However, Mo Ti Zhun snorted dismissively: “The lake has countless undercurrents. This small boat cannot reach the lake’s center; it can only circle near the shore.” He walked onto the pier, bent down, and extended an object into the water.

It was a pure white horn, but unlike a common ox horn, it was thinner and sharper, resembling a conductor’s baton. Mo Ti Zhun put the narrow end to his lips and blew with force, yet the two people on shore couldn’t hear a single sound.

Mo Ti Zhun withdrew the white horn and stood up straight.

For a long while, the lake’s surface remained peaceful and serene.

Apart from the gentle lapping of water against the shore, nothing unusual occurred.

After nearly an hour of rest, Feng Miao Jun finally caught her breath and uncertainly asked: “Are you looking for someone to help?” The sound waves from earlier had traveled underwater.

Mo Ti Zhun smiled: “Not someone.”

“Splash!”

As soon as he finished speaking as if confirming his words, the lake’s surface erupted with spray as a massive figure leaped out.

This figure was flat, wide, and broad like an enormous carpet, jumping more than twenty feet above the water’s surface, blocking the moonlight that shone upon them.

When it fell back into the water, it created another series of waves. Feng Miao Jun felt a light rain on her face from the water droplets it had splashed.

After appearing, the creature didn’t dive back to the depths but floated quietly on the surface, allowing them to see its full appearance.

Feng Miao Jun stared with widened eyes, pointing at it in shock: “How can this be in the lake!”

The creature was thirty feet long (10 meters) but reached a width of fifty feet (16 meters)! Such horizontally developed creatures were truly rare. Its back was smooth and dark green, with a raised center covered in tiny white spots. Neither Feng Miao Jun nor Chen Da Chang could find where its eyes were located, but they saw a long tail trailing from its rear, thin as a whip and completely disproportionate to its massive body, looking somewhat comical.

Earlier when it jumped out of the water, she had noticed its snow-white belly.

This distinctive form was not unfamiliar to Feng Miao Jun:

What she couldn’t understand was why this creature, which lived in the sea, would appear in a freshwater lake. And this particular one had a hunchback.

It stopped quietly in front of Mo Ti Zhun, who patted its head and tossed a felt blanket onto its raised back. He leaped up first, then said to the two: “Come up, but be careful not to slip.”

What a high-class ferry, thought Feng Miao Jun with amazement. As Chen Da Chang carried her and was about to jump aboard, the stingray suddenly moved backward, splashing a large spray of water.

It appeared frightened.

Mo Ti Zhun was also surprised. He reached out to gently pat its back, indicating it should remain calm.

Once it settled down, Chen Da Chang made another attempt to board, but the stingray moved away again.

The three of them: “…”

Mo Ti Zhun soothed it again, then looked at the two with suspicious eyes: “What do you have on you that makes Little White so afraid?”

Feng Miao Jun and Chen Da Chang looked at each other blankly, both shaking their heads. The latter naturally knew nothing, while Feng Miao Jun had noticed a slight warmth in her lower abdomen earlier. From there, a warm current flowed through her limbs and body, providing a comfortable heat that somewhat relieved her fatigue.

Seeing Mo Ti Zhun’s suspicion, she felt anxious, and that warm current, as if sensing her feelings, suddenly retracted.

Then, on Chen Da Chang’s third attempt to board, the stingray allowed it.

With the three seated, this enormous carpet-like creature began to move slowly, heading toward the opposite shore.

It moved faster and faster, yet its back remained perfectly stable without the slightest undulation, far smoother than riding a horse. Usually, when stingrays swim, water flows over their entire body, including their flat backs, but this one had a high, raised back that could keep everyone above the water.

Feng Miao Jun secretly sighed in relief.

Others might not know, but she had a good idea:

The stingray feared her, probably because she had swallowed the dragon pearl. The ao-fish, being of dragon descent, might have an intimidating effect on water creatures. This stingray had grown so large that it must have achieved some spiritual awareness, making it particularly sensitive to dragon aura and therefore fearful.

She was just grateful that Mo Ti Zhun couldn’t hear this strange creature’s thoughts, especially since he knew she had been to the Dragon Ascending Pool.

As she pondered, Mo Ti Zhun turned to look her up and down: “It’s afraid of you.”

“Me?” She put on a look of innocent surprise. “It’s so huge, why would it fear me?”

“That’s something I should ask you.” Mo Ti Zhun said gravely. “What else did you do at the Dragon Ascending Pool?”

Indeed, he was suspicious!

Feng Miao Jun’s mind raced, but her face showed only deep contemplation: “Nothing. I fell into the pool and swallowed a few mouthfuls of water, then crawled back to shore…” At this point, she showed a look of disgust, “Is it because I drank some of that strange fish’s blood? Its blood dyed half the pool red, so pungent.”

She had choked on water, so naturally, she had swallowed some of the ao-fish blood. This logic wasn’t hard to follow.

Mo Ti Zhun’s expression finally eased. He had also thought of the ao-fish’s origins and nodded: “It’s a bit of good fortune for you. Having consumed the ao-fish blood, you’ll be less prone to illness in the future.”

“Really?” She showed surprise and joy, then regret: “Had I known, I would have endured the smell and eaten some of its flesh. Perhaps I could have lived without illness for my entire life.”

“That’s wishful thinking. You’d have to be able to bite off a piece of its flesh first.”

Let alone biting, she couldn’t even cut a piece off—she had tried.

A smile spread across Mo Ti Zhun’s somber face: “Fortunately, you didn’t eat any. The ao-fish’s blood and flesh are rich in celestial essence; it’s not something a little girl like you could withstand. Drinking a few mouthfuls of diluted blood is harmless, but if you had eaten the flesh as well, you might have exploded on the spot!”

Her back chilled, and she felt her hair stand on end: “R-really? That powerful!”

Then what about her swallowing an entire dragon pearl? An entire one!

So despite all her precautions, had she planted a time bomb inside her body?

“Then, Grand Preceptor, how would you consume it?” Feng Miao Jun composed herself and humbly asked for guidance.

“I could swallow it whole,” said the mighty Grand Preceptor, whose physical strength naturally couldn’t be compared with Feng Miao Jun’s. “But for maximum effectiveness, it would be best to refine it into pills for systematic consumption.”

If eating a piece of flesh was this complicated, her method of consuming the dragon pearl would have been too crude! It was all because Yun had set a bad example by swallowing it raw, and that ao-fish spirit was also a bumpkin, actually teaching her to waste such a precious thing.

Or rather, it had hoped she would die quickly after swallowing the dragon pearl and exploding on the spot would have been the quickest, most direct way to die, right?

Unfortunately, it hadn’t worked on her, just as Yun had also remained unharmed.

Belatedly realizing the ao-fish spirit’s malicious intent, she discovered that in her ignorance she had already escaped a deadly trap, filling her with retrospective fear.