Seeking Truth with a Sword-Chapter 683 - 613 Sea Eel

"Welcome back."

A gentle female voice arose from the courtyard. There stood Sui Yi behind the open gate, her hair styled in the quintessential good-wife-and-mother fashion, donned in a white apron, brandishing a spatula, and with an unprecedented tenderness in her voice, she said, "Dinner is ready. Come in and eat."

"HUH—"

Li Ang’s pupils dilated in shock. He nearly choked for breath, a whirlwind of thoughts tangling his mind.

Had the Dream Eater made a move?! Altered reality once again?!

He took a half step back, instinctively releasing his Spiritual Sense to sweep through the house. Upon hearing the sounds of stir-frying from the kitchen, he breathed a sigh of relief and rolled his eyes at Sui Yi. "Sister, how old are you?"

"TCH. Really no fun."

Sui Yi instantly reverted to her carefree expression, let go of the spatula, and using her Sword Control Technique, suspended it in midair. She reached up to remove the hairpin from her head, took off the apron, and tossed it into Li Ang’s arms.

"Welcome back."

Chai Chai poked her head out from the kitchen, smiling at Li Ang. "The food will be ready soon, please wait a moment."

"MHM."

Li Ang acknowledged with a hum, hung the apron on the vine trellis on the courtyard wall, summoned the tea set with Telekinesis, and prepared tea for both Sui Yi and himself, casually asking, "Didn’t you go to Dengzhou, Sister? What brought you back so suddenly?"

The Royal Family and all of Yu Country placed great importance on the collective migratory spawning of the sea beasts. Sui Yi, as a member of the Academic Palace Supervision Department, had boarded the Heavenly Boat some time ago and journeyed to the East Sea to patrol and hunt the sea beasts.

"Don’t even mention it," Sui Yi lazily sprawled in the wicker chair, cradling her teacup, and grumbled.

The Heavenly Boat warship lived up to expectations. As the Former Sui Imperial Family’s secret weapon, this floating behemoth was fully capable of conquering the harsh extreme weather of the Endless Sea.

Its massive size was enough to accommodate thousands, including the Supervision Department, the garrison, Cultivators from various academies, sailors maneuvering the ship, and those assigned to miscellaneous tasks needed for repairs.

In combat with the sea beasts, a group of Cultivators would usually dive under the sea to form an Array first, driving the beasts to the surface. Then, using the Crossbow Cannons, talismans, and Arrays aboard the Heavenly Boat, they would slay the sea beasts.

The efficiency was incredibly high. Sometimes they could hunt three to four sea beasts in a single day, each about twenty zhang (nearly seventy meters) long.

However, compared to the vast migratory groups, this number was but a drop in the bucket. Therefore, Chen Danqiu, Lin Hongbo, Shen Tuyu, and the others stationed on the Heavenly Boat decided to adjust their strategy: the Heavenly Boat would continue its planned hunting missions while elite forces were dispatched to pursue the relatively weaker sea beasts along its sailing route.

This battle group approach, much like an aircraft carrier strike group, swiftly yielded results. The Cultivators didn’t need to kill the sea beasts on the spot. Merely enraging or frightening them to drive them into the range of the Heavenly Boat was sufficient.

If they provoked a target they shouldn’t have, the Heavenly Boat could surface promptly, ascending hundreds of meters into the sky.

The only downside...

"Stinky, it was so stinky."

Sui Yi shook her head repeatedly. "You have no idea. According to our Academic Palace’s rules, when such rare species as sea beasts are captured, if they’re identifiable, they require meticulous dissection and study. The bones are to be forged into weapons, the fish oil extracted for fuel, and Dragon Saliva Fragrance collected for spices.

"Catching an unfamiliar one demanded even more detailed dissection and study.

"When three or four disemboweled sea beast corpses lay sprawled across the vast deck, not even the Clear Wind Talisman could mask the putrid smell.

"In the daytime, when the sun shone, that scent... TSK, it was truly overpowering."

Li Ang’s eye twitched. He couldn’t help asking, "...Sister, where did you pick up such quirky phrases?"

"From Mr. Jin Jiang’s articles in the Lanling Newspaper, of course," Sui Yi replied matter-of-factly. "What’s wrong? In any case, you were wise not to follow."

"I would have liked to, actually." Li Ang sighed. As a Doctor, he was indeed curious to examine the physiological structure of those rare and bizarre sea beasts.

Unfortunately, the Mountain Master had instructed him before leaving to pass the trial of Dongjun Tower first.

At this point, Chai Chai had finished cooking. She brought the food from the kitchen and placed it on the stone table in the courtyard, where the three of them chatted while eating.

"So you haven’t passed the trial of the Lion Furnace yet?" Sui Yi picked up a piece of meat, looking puzzled. "That shouldn’t be the case. With your strength, it shouldn’t be difficult unless they’re deliberately making it hard for you. What form does the illusion from the Lion Furnace take?"

"Well, that..." Li Ang laughed, deflecting the question.

After experiencing the Dream Morphing Illusion, his Heart Thought count had greatly surpassed the amount a Telekinesis Master of the same realm would typically possess. Overcoming the illusion from the Lion Furnace was not particularly difficult for him.

The challenge laid out by the Mountain Master was to eliminate the illusion without sustaining even a minor injury, nor could he even be grazed by a Spiritual Sense scan at close range. This effectively doubled the difficulty.

This was for Li Ang’s benefit. Getting injured, even slightly, could mean exposing the Mo Si within his body.

After the meal, Chai Chai went to clean up the dishes, while Sui Yi took a tin bucket from a corner of the courtyard.

Li Ang asked curiously, "What’s that?"

"A special product brought back from the Endless Sea."

Sui Yi opened the bucket lid, and a strong fishy smell immediately wafted out.

Inside the bucket, filled with clear seawater, was a pale blue eel, almost two meters long, coiled at the bottom.

"This is a new species we accidentally discovered in the deep parts of the Endless Sea. It has an exceptionally strong Life Force, and the mucus it secretes on its surface seems to help wounds heal.

"A wound that would normally take ten days to scab over can scab in five or six days with a bit of this mucus, and the scars are also much lighter."

Sui Yi handed Li Ang a stack of observation logs, saying, "The Doctors aboard the Heavenly Boat have already started researching this kind of sea eel. Considering you’re an expert in the medical field, they had me bring a live sample for you first.

"Take a look and see if this sea eel can be utilized, or if it has any side effects."

"Is that so." Li Ang nodded. He understood that the Academic Palace Doctors must have placed such importance on this, likely considering future battles.

He bade farewell to Sui Yi and lifted the tin bucket with Telekinesis to his study.

While preparing talismans for the next trial, he simultaneously sent a stream of Heart Thought to guide a wisp of Mo Si into the sea eel’s body.

"So that’s how it is. Quite useful indeed."

Li Ang quickly came to a conclusion. The mucus covering the sea eel was a synthetic peptide composed of Glycine, histidine, and lysine, similar to recombinant human epidermal growth factor gel. This peptide could promote epidermal cell proliferation and differentiation, accelerating the healing process of wounded skin. It could be applied to burns, scalds, or relatively mild cuts to help wounds heal.

Although it fell short of regenerating flesh from bones, it was still a blessing for ordinary patients.

As Li Ang used a strand of Heart Thought to document his findings on the sea eel mucus, he suddenly remembered something and turned his gaze back to the peculiarly structured eel.