Plundering the Heavens

Fang Xing’s childhood dream of one day sailing the high seas had been forcibly turned into a trip to scavenge food.

This mysterious little miss was extremely gluttonous. From the moment she’d taken in Fang Xing and the golden crow as servants through threats and promises, her mouth didn’t stop for a single moment. The food on the ship had originally been prepared by the plump Daoist for Fang Xing and wasn’t even meant for her, yet the year’s worth of food was emptied by her within just a month. This little miss herself didn’t seem to mind, however; since all the food was gone, why not simply make use of what was available? Since they were sailing on the sea, seafood was naturally a must.

With this, the old clam that had already formed intelligence on the Emerald Treasure Island; the dolphinfish with a single horn on its head from the Blood Wave Shores; the three-hundred-year-old shrimp soldier; and even the crab general who’d taken over an area of the ocean and plundered other living beings were all captured and brought back by Fang Xing and the golden crow. Whether it was steaming, slow-cooking, or simply roasting over an open fire, all of them were turned into meals their little miss enjoyed a great deal. The only disappointment was that although the crab general was indeed juicy, it was male, and males didn’t produce roes which were the most delicious part of a female crab.

After eating to her satisfaction, this little miss would then find somewhere to sleep. She wasn’t particularly picky and ended up choosing the jade coffin belonging to the golden crow,. She’d sleep for at least two or three days at a time, and whenever she awakened, she’d start complaining before her eyes were even fully open about how hungry she was and how she wanted to eat meat.

Fang Xing had already considered throwing her into the ocean when she was asleep and then fleeing with the golden crow, but the golden crow didn’t want to part with his jade coffin nor the Blood Lotus Seeds the lotus girl offered. Fang Xing was reluctant, but he also felt that if this girl did have some method to help him complete his True Samadhi Fire, it would have been too wasteful to leave and so he could only endure it all.

When it came to improving cultivation level, Fang Xing had the Nine Turn Lucidity Pellet within him, meaning increasing levels would only be a matter of time whenever he found a few more spirit veins. For battle prowess, he’d been diligently practicing the unnamed technique given to him by the black sword embryo, and it was improving rather quickly. He was even practicing the Script of Revered Sense. He could practice and continue developing all of these things, yet the True Samadhi Fire was something he couldn’t improve upon on his own; this idiot in front of him that only knew how to sleep and eat seemed to be the only hope he’d have to complete his True Samadhi Fire.

Fang Xing originally kept an extra set of eyes observing and trying to figure out the precise identity of this little miss, but she didn’t reveal anything. At first Fang Xing thought she was doing this deliberately, but he soon realized she really couldn’t seem to remember. The girl knew she had a reason to come to this world, it was just that her spirit soul hadn’t been completed yet and her memories were scattered about, causing her to have a headache whenever she tried to think of them.

For this reason, she’d decided with a clear conscience that she would eat all of the delicacies of the world, and that so-called great responsibility and job was all left behind without any hesitation to speak of. In her own words, she’d remember it all soon or later.

—

Two people and a bird traveled leisurely on the seas for a good two months. It was a rather carefree experience, and when having a ship full of ordinary people became too inconvenient, they sought an island and released all of the boatmen and servants before paying them some money to return their freedom. This rid the trio of their burdens and their adventures became even more crazy with all kinds of deep sea exploration—there wasn’t a place they didn’t dare to go. Of course, although the ability of this trio wasn’t small, it was still inevitable that they’d run into problems every now and again.

When they were trying to capture some fresh seafood for their little miss, they ran into a great sea beast typically hidden within the depths of the sea. It had the appearance of a giant octopus with a body that seemed to stretch endlessly out into the distance, making it terrifying to the extreme. Although the cultivation level of this sea beast was only half a step away from Foundation Stage, its great size alone meant its battle prowess couldn’t be measured purely on cultivation levels alone—with a body like this, even a Golden Core would need to put in some effort to fight against it.

Both Fang Xing and the golden crow appeared extremely calm and waited without concern for their little miss to attack, but as the octopus came closer, the little miss seemed to not have any intention of attacking. All she did was calmly wait for Fang Xing and the golden crow to do so instead.

Watching the great force the giant sea beast exerted and how its movements stirred the ocean waves, Fang Xing finally couldn’t hold it in anymore. “What are you looking at? Go chop it up….”

The little miss looked at him with a peculiar look. “Why don’t you go do it?”

Fang Xing’s expression fell. “This thing is so big, yet you’re telling me to deal with it?”

The little miss replied as though it was only natural. “Of course it’d be you. You’re my servants; shouldn’t your purpose be to protect me, your master?”

Fang Xing became angry and shouted, “That is if I can beat it! Why don’t you do something since your battle prowess is so great!”

“I can’t beat it. My spirit soul isn’t complete right now, making it very difficult for me to use spells. Besides, this body of mine is too weak and unsuited for close combat; if this body was damaged by accident, there’s not even a place to have it repaired….”

Fang Xing and the golden crow were left completely dumbstruck. They could only stare blankly towards each other without saying anything for a long while, before finally shouting out, “Run!”

The three were incredibly fast when it came to fleeing, and the sea beast was not able to keep up no matter what.

It was only now that Fang Xing understood this little miss wasn’t as powerful as he’d assumed. Her spirit soul was incomplete so she was only able to perform some small tricks, and her physical body was weak so close-combat attacks were difficult for her; she was very strong, but her weaknesses were very obvious and plentiful. This wasn’t even her real body, but the method she’d used to create it was too clever and detailed for him to see through it until now.

The most powerful aspect of the girl seemed to be the spiritual light that surrounded her. It was likely the manifestation of a spell that would protect her from any damage and even prevent living creatures from getting too close, but such a spell should have its limitations. Could something like this protect against Golden Cores? Fang Xing wasn’t too sure, and although he’d originally thought he found himself a great umbrella of protection, he suddenly felt this girl wasn’t very reliable at all.

The golden crow himself was still extremely enthusiastic, and this bootlicker would stick to the lotus girl all day long. He was even more enthusiastic after receiving three or four lotus seeds, and everything soon became Little Miss this and Little Miss that. Fang Xing, however, had yet to receive anything valuable, and the method of completing the True Samadhi Fire that she’d promised him before hadn’t been brought up since; she only said she’d tell him once she had enough fun.

Fang Xing still felt something wasn’t right, though. The “fun” the girl mentioned was eating, yet that stomach of hers seemed to be bottomless; would she ever be satisfied enough? Would she find enough to eat even within the next three hundred years of his lifetime?

They fled for hundreds of miles in one go, but their ship capsized along the way and they were forced to stop on a small island. The golden crow bootlicked some more by picking a coconut for the little miss to eat in exchange for another lotus seed, causing Fang Xing to roll his eyes with fury. Although he—the golden crow’s good brother—was sitting here so thirsty his throat was smoking, the bird showed no sign of bringing him 

The little miss held a coconut bigger than her head and indulged so much that her face was covered in its juice and meat. She walked around as though trying to find other types of food even while eating, and she’d even pick wild grass from the side of the road to chew on the roots and see if they were sweet. Fang Xing hid on the side and wondered at how gluttonous this girl was; if she saw dog sh*t on the side of the road, would she want to give that a taste as well? Since this girl hadn’t told him the method of completing his True Samadhi Fire, his dislike for her grew more and more, and if it weren’t for the protective spell around her being difficult to handle, he would’ve robbed her alongside the golden crow ages ago.

Just as he was rolling his eyes, Fang Xing saw the little miss walk into the ocean water and stare straight down, to the point she even forgot about eating her coconut. After a long while, she suddenly shouted out, “Little Fang, Little Fang, come quickly!”

Fang Xing immediately rushed over with an eager smile. “What’s the matter, Little Miss?”

She reached her fingers into the water for a moment before pulling out an ugly one-foot-long fish with a black body, silver belly, and a chubby head that made it somewhat cute. The little miss was filled with joy as she explained, “Come and have a look, this is a Ghost Head Fish, one of the most delicate sea fishes. It only exists in the northernmost seas, but a cold current from the northern seas must have brought them here. This is the female of the species though, and they’re not as delicious as the males. The males are within the deep seas; hurry and go catch them….”

She spoke with so much detail that Fang Xing was left speechless. Apparently the female preferred floating on the water’s surface while the males swam near the ocean floors, meaning the males needed someone to dive down to catch them. Fang Xing was lazy and unwilling to go, however, and simply replied, “Get Goldy to go down!”

“Where’s your conscience?” the golden crow yelled from the side after hearing this. “I’m a bird yet you’re telling me to dive into the water?”

Fang Xing rolled his eyes at this. “It’s not like you’re going to drown!”

Just as they started yelling at each other, the little miss became upset and pouted her lips. “I want to eat only this fish!”

Fang Xing was filled with impatience. “What is there to eat about them? Look at how ugly they are; they cannot taste good!”

“They taste great! When I was asleep, one of my spirit souls specifically roamed the kitchens of men. After all these years, there isn’t a single delicacy I don’t know of! And the Ghost face Fish can be considered in the top ten of delicacies!”

Fang Xing was rendered completely speechless. ‘A spirit soul sent to specifically roam kitchens…. Does she think she’s Zaoshen, the god of kitchens?’ He increasingly felt this little miss was way too bizarre and refused to get into the water.

The little miss was left without any other options and put her hands on her waist. “You go get me ten of those Ghost Head Fish and I’ll tell you the method to complete your flames!”

Fang Xing was surprised for a moment, but he soon joyfully replied, “Really?”

“Of course really! I’ve always honored my words!”

“Who was the one who said they’d leave half a pot of fish soup for me but emptied it all until not even a single drop was left behind?”

The little miss’s cheeks flushed and she began waving her fists towards Fang Xing, sending him into a fright. He knew the girl’s punches hurt so he quickly ran away, only to jump into the sky a few feet later. “Remember what you said!” he shouted back at the little miss before diving into the sea and heading towards the depths, swimming and moving through the water as though he was a fish himself.

Fang Xing began to feel a growing pressure after entering the waters. He suddenly recalled something and took out a light blue bead.