Chapter 249: Chapter 249: You First, Close Your Eyes

The stone pot exploded!

The tiger cub yelped in fright and burrowed into Jin Ling’s arms.

Once the black smoke cleared, Qiao Xixi peeked out from Jin Ling’s embrace. The shattered pot lay in pieces, its contents scattered all over the ground.

Her first attempt had failed. ’What a headache.’

But Qiao Xixi wasn’t too disappointed. She climbed out of Jin Ling’s arms and began to examine the scorched black things on the ground.

Jin Ling also came forward to help clean up. "I’ll go make a couple more stone pots and bring them back."

They had been using their cooking pot. Now that it had exploded, they wouldn’t even be able to make a meal.

Qiao Xixi nodded. "Okay. I’ll think carefully about what went wrong."

"Alright. Don’t rush. This isn’t easy. If you can’t figure it out, we can all discuss it together tonight when everyone else gets back."

"Okay."

Jin Ling didn’t feel comfortable leaving the mother and cub alone in the wooden cabin, so he waited for Feiyan to return with the Seven-color Salt Crystal before heading up the mountain behind them.

"Xixi, why did the stone pot explode?"

Qiao Xixi had just gone over the process in detail again. She had clearly followed all the steps, but she had no idea why it had failed.

Seeing how focused Qiao Xixi was, Feiyan, for once, didn’t disturb her. Instead, he played happily with the tiger cub nearby.

’Could it be... I used the wrong type of coral?’

The more she thought about it, the more likely this seemed. After all, the rest of the procedure had been correct. It was just that the description of the coral in the booklet seemed slightly different from what she had used.

Seeing Qiao Xixi suddenly stand up, Feiyan walked over, holding the tiger cub. "What’s wrong?"

"Feiyan, do you know where Xijing is? I need to find him for something."

Feiyan’s handsome, fox-like eyes darkened. He huffed, "What do you need him for? Can’t you just let one of us handle it?"

Qiao Xixi found his jealous act amusing. "Sure, but I need to go into the sea. Are you going to take me?"

Go into the sea? That was definitely out of the question.

It wasn’t that Feiyan didn’t dare to go. The problem was that Land Beasts were at a disadvantage in the water; if they encountered danger, it would be difficult to protect Qiao Xixi.

"Why do you need to go into the sea?"

Qiao Xixi took his hand and started walking toward the shore. "I want to find an ingredient myself. Let’s hurry, or it’ll be dark soon."

Feiyan led Qiao Xixi to the salt fields, found Xijing, and explained why they were there.

"Xixi wants to search in the sea herself?"

Qiao Xixi nodded. "Yes. I want to see if this was the reason for the failure."

Xijing nodded. "Then let’s go now."

Xijing extended a hand toward Qiao Xixi.

When Feiyan saw that hand, his eyes nearly popped out of his head. He strode forward in two steps and grabbed Xijing’s hand himself.

"Come on, old fish. Your eyes aren’t so good. I’ll lead you so you don’t trip."

The corner of Xijing’s mouth twitched. He tried to pull his hand away but couldn’t break free from Feiyan’s grip.

Qiao Xixi followed behind, holding the tiger cub, and couldn’t help but stifle a laugh.

It wasn’t until they reached the shore that Xijing finally managed to skillfully push Feiyan’s hand away. He rubbed his long fingers over his wrist, and a bead of water circled his palm as if cleansing it of Feiyan’s touch.

Feiyan huffed and turned back to Qiao Xixi’s side.

Qiao Xixi quickly placed the tiger cub in his arms. "You wait here. We’ll be right back."

"Okay."

The moment they entered the sea, Xijing wrapped an arm around Qiao Xixi’s waist. With a tap of his finger, he created a barrier that pushed all the water away.

"Xixi, the current is a bit strong today. You should hold on to me tightly."

Qiao Xixi didn’t think much of it. "Okay."

The instant Qiao Xixi hugged him, a faint smile touched Xijing’s lips, and the arm around her unconsciously tightened a fraction.

"Xijing, can you take me to the place with the most coral reefs?"

"Of course."

Xijing’s body descended rapidly. After passing through a deep-sea valley, his gentle white glow illuminated an endless sea of coral.

Xijing guided her as they weaved through the coral sea. "Take a look. What kind are you looking for?"

Qiao Xixi searched earnestly, but she couldn’t find the type she was looking for.

"Are there any other places besides this one?"

"Yes, but they’re farther away. As long as you want to go, I can take you there."

"Then let’s go take a look."

"Alright."

Xijing held Qiao Xixi and continued swimming toward the deeper parts of the sea.

This time, Qiao Xixi’s mindset was different from before. For once, she was in the mood to watch the various fish swim past them.

"Xijing, it looks like there’s another coral reef up ahead. Can we go check it out?"

Xijing suddenly stopped. He reached out a hand in the direction Qiao Xixi had indicated, as if probing with uncertainty.

"Xixi, that doesn’t seem to be a coral reef. Those are Coral Fish Beasts. They have horns on their heads that look like coral reefs. They’re one of the weaker species in the sea, and they use their coral horns to hide and avoid detection."

Qiao Xixi had a flash of realization. ’No wonder this ’coral reef’ looked so different from the previous one.’

"I want to go see."

"Alright." 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Xijing swam over with her. But to Qiao Xixi’s surprise, just as she reached out to touch one of the coral horns, the previously motionless Coral Fish Beast suddenly broke off its own horn, flicked its tail, and darted away.

"Hey, why did its horn break off?"

Xijing smiled. "When they sense danger, they break off their horns to distract predators and use the opportunity to escape."

Qiao Xixi thought the fish was a bit like a gecko. Except a gecko detaches its tail to survive, while this fish beast detaches its horn.

She curiously picked up the fish horn to examine it, then opened the picture in her Consciousness Space to compare. Unbelievably, the horn was a perfect match for the one in the picture.

She looked again at the material listed in the booklet: coral horn. She had previously mistaken it for coral. Now, it seemed highly likely that this "thing" was actually the fish horn.

To confirm her suspicion, Qiao Xixi took out a beast-hide bag and collected several of the Coral Fish Beast horns. Xijing had told her that the horns grew back quickly after being broken, so it caused them no real impact or harm.

After filling a large bag, Qiao Xixi felt she had enough. If it worked, it wouldn’t be too late to come back for more.

"Alright, let’s head back."

Qiao Xixi tied the beast-hide bag securely to her waist, ready to return to shore.

"Xixi."

"Hm?"

"I heard from Xiya that you wanted to know what it feels like for a merman to swim freely in the sea."

Qiao Xixi nodded. "Yes, I am quite curious. But I’m a Land Beast, so I probably won’t ever have that chance."

Xijing moved behind her, so close that Qiao Xixi could almost feel his soft breath.

"Xixi, you might not know this, but any female who has mated with a merman can temporarily take on merman characteristics."

Qiao Xixi turned around in astonishment. "Are you saying I can also become a mermaid?"

"Yes."

His pale, slender fingertips slowly rose and rested on her eyes. "First, close your eyes."