Chapter 96: The Lord of the Ranch, the Mysterious Sea Beast!

Meanwhile.

"Master Wang, the situation here has already been decided. It is said that Bai Yuan Nian, your uncle elder, personally spoke up, and the Lord of the Greedy Wolf Clan made the final determination. We truly have no other choice. This Demon Fish Ranch... I'm afraid we can only yield it to you."

A middle-aged man spoke with great respect.

Before him stood an elderly, towering martial warrior, with a massive sword at his back as broad as a door panel.

"Hmph... Very well."

Wang Yuanlian spoke in a hoarse, aged voice, yet with a cold smile. "Bai Xuan? He is merely an ordinary genius. If he goes, the trouble will be handed straight to his hands."

"Trouble?"

The man facing him was stunned.

"Return then."

Wang Yuanlian said in a low, deep voice, saying no more.

In truth.

"The strength of that sea beast is not particularly terrifying, but... even I cannot kill it, and it is difficult to truly wound it."

Wang Yuanlian chuckled coldly in his heart. "Perfect. Hand it over to the next ranch master and see how you handle it!"

In his view, this ranch was like a money tree, continuously generating vast resources that benefited his own martial dao cultivation. If he had not erred, it would be extremely unwilling to hand it over now.

However, the ranch now faced a major crisis. If he continued to manage it, he would be unable to extricate himself. Thus, he actually hoped to transfer it!

...

The Demon Fish Ranch.

"Indeed, it is a ranch, and it differs from the sea qi of the outside world."

Bai Xuan entered the largest and most spacious courtyard, from which he could overlook the bay below.

In his eyes appeared boundless abyssal depths, revealing that only a few thousand pure and vast streams of qi and blood were stirring within the ranch, with not a trace of impurity.

The eerie gray mist surging atop the Boundless Sea was blocked outside the bay by dozens of condensed spirit lights. Once near, it would rapidly fade and dissipate, seemingly purified away!

Just as Bai Xuan stood there watching.

"Lord Bai Xuan."

A tall man in black robes hurried over.

"This is the harvest situation for the Demon Fish this year. It is recorded monthly."

The tall man in black robes respectfully presented a thick ledger in his hands. "My name is Bai You. I manage affairs in this ranch. Lord Bai Xuan, if there is any matter, you may come directly to me."

"Mm."

Bai Xuan flipped through the ledger.

In it were glaring, brazen entries for "fire consumption," with losses amounting to nearly two-tenths!

"Even the sea has fire consumption?"

Bai Xuan chuckled inwardly.

However, this was the prerogative of the one holding this position. Those here were the true powerholders of the four great families, having exchanged for this spot through various means.

At this position, these two-tenths of Demon Fish were an extremely precious fat source!

"To ordinary people, these two-tenths of Demon Fish would mostly need to be shared with the family or others."

"But to me... I can swallow these Demon Fish alone."

Bai Xuan's current Iron Stomach Skill, combined with the Extreme Abyss Body Forging Technique, had been cultivated countless times. His capacity had increased to six hundred jin.

In a single day, he could consume six hundred jin of qi and blood.

This was fully comparable to over ten times the amount of an ordinary martial warrior. An ordinary martial warrior at the Blood Refining Master level would need to take pills, precisely because... eating Demon Fish blood and meat to grow required such a vast capacity.

But for Bai Xuan, as long as there were qi and blood Demon Fish to consume, he was like a Taotie, devouring everything!

Just then.

"Lord Bai Xuan."

The steward named Bai You spoke softly. "There is something that needs to be reported."

"Speak."

Bai Xuan's gaze swept over, calm and composed.

He knew that such phrasing usually meant not a good matter, but a major headache.

Still, he understood that arriving at this post without any prior mess left behind by his predecessor was unlikely.

"Accounting loss, missing receipts, inventory fire... or something of the sort? Wait for me to resolve it?"

Bai Xuan spoke, his voice calm.

"This..."

The steward Bai You was stunned, secretly cursing. He knew this young genius was difficult to deal with.

Was this not an old hand? How could he say such words?

But he was not here to oppose Bai Xuan. Instead, he immediately spoke respectfully. "It is not these matters. If Master Wang were to act, his face would be lost entirely, and he would offend the Bai family. In the future, the opportunities the Wang family can obtain from this Demon Fish Ranch would be far fewer."

"However, it is a natural disaster, not a human one!"

"A natural disaster?"

Bai Xuan's gaze sharpened.

Whatever could be called a natural disaster was surely not a simple matter, perhaps even more troublesome than a human one.

"This is so, Lord Bai Xuan. Originally, this Demon Fish Ranch was established by an immortal who was once the master of Thousand Mountain Island. Using true talisman methods, he demarcated the area and fixed it in place, preventing impure qi from entering."

Bai You spoke respectfully. "Thus, it became a Demon Fish Ranch, where pure Demon Fish could be raised without interference from the outside world."

"However, this immortal's methods only fixed the so-called foreign qi, yet could not prevent sea beasts from coming and going. Although most sea beasts could not contend with Demon Fish, in recent months an extremely rare event has occurred. A sea beast has secretly entered this ranch and devoured the Demon Fish!"

"After we discovered it, we reported to Master Wang. But when Master Wang entered the water, he was unable to slay this sea beast."

Bai You's words showed dissatisfaction with the previous ranch master. "Moreover, according to Master Wang's words, he could not even wound it!"

"Wound it? Even hard to wound?"

Bai Xuan's expression tightened.

Even if Wang Yuanlian's strength were poor, he held a divine weapon, named the Shark-Slaying Divine Sword. When qi and blood were condensed with a divine weapon, its power was terrifying.

Even if he were struck, it could hardly be said he would emerge unscathed.

"Correct, according to Master Wang, when his Shark-Slaying Divine Sword was drawn, even against a powerful monster beast, it would generally be severed in flesh and blood, with qi and blood flowing away. After repeated strikes, even a great whale would be severely injured and gradually perish!"

"But this sea beast, his sword could not wound it at all, strange and bizarre!"

"This sea beast nearly arrives every day, devours several Demon Fish, and swims away freely."

Bai You was puzzled too. "We wanted to report to the master, but the ranch is always handled by the ranch master. According to convention, if trouble arises and the ranch master cannot resolve it, a replacement is needed."

"Thus Master Wang suppressed the matter. Each month, the loss on this sea beast alone amounts to one-tenth."

"Unexpectedly, Master Wang did not cover it up for long, and Lord Bai Xuan has arrived."

Bai You also knew that since this was the case, the master must have spoken, and some consensus reached. No one could question Bai Xuan.

He respectfully withdrew, awaiting Bai Xuan's orders.

"A mysterious sea beast?"

Bai Xuan understood in his heart. "So this is the trouble left for me."

He had guessed before coming, as was common since ancient times: predecessors left unsolvable matters to successors, which could not be said not to happen often, but without exception.

However, it was not accounting or warehouse issues, but a mysterious sea beast, which was beyond Bai Xuan's expectations.

"When does this sea beast generally arrive?"

Bai Xuan asked.

"Generally, it enters this ranch at dusk!"

Bai You said respectfully.

Although the ranch master could act as a figurehead, generally matters in the ranch still needed to be handled by him. Yet he secretly shook his head. He knew that even the sea beast Wang Yuanlian could not solve, Bai Xuan would be even more helpless upon arrival!

"I understand."

Bai Xuan's expression remained calm.

Half a day passed in haste.

In the spacious courtyard, in the side chambers.

"Indeed wondrous and profound."

Bai Xuan was flipping through an old book.

This old book was only half, seemingly torn apart on purpose. Moreover, it was not ordinary paper, but seemed woven from fibers of an extremely rare monster tree, enduring for a hundred years without decay.

This old book was lent to him by Bai Ehou, extremely ancient, the notes left by his Bai family ancestors.

From these notes alone, one could see that the Bai family ancestors had probably seen many top-tier experts. They had profound insights into qi and blood martial dao and inner breath changes, with a vast and deep system faintly hidden behind, from even deeper in the Chaos Sea!

Swish!

Just as Bai Xuan was flipping, he casually pressed with his palm. Two spirals appeared in his hand. With a slight movement, a third spiral condensed with a swish, forming a triple spiral!

"My Vortex Spear Technique has finally advanced another step... The various qi and blood mysteries recorded in these notes are not only applicable to contemplation diagrams but universally true across the four seas."

Just then.

"Ranch Master, today's dinner has arrived."

A respectful voice came from outside.

"Come in."

Bai Xuan set down the book and saw several servants straining to carry a wide porcelain jar. Inside were stewed, crystal-clear Demon Fish meat, with surging qi and blood rolling!

"Inside this jar are probably a hundred jin. This is the power of the ranch master."

Bai Xuan sighed inwardly. After a moment, he swallowed the Demon Fish meat in the jar. Hot qi rolled in his belly, with qi and blood continuously condensing and rising!

"This Demon Fish meat is even better in quality than the ordinary outside kind, beneficial for cultivation at the Blood Refining level."

"No wonder even half-step Masters are drooling over this position."

While digesting the Demon Fish meat, in a moment Bai Xuan's qi and blood rose faintly, forming a faint mist that swirled around his left arm. From the mist, another azure dragon claw seemed to emerge, faintly visible, grasping Bai Xuan's left arm!

"The secret of this scaled claw has also been comprehended to completion. It is time to take the Tai Sui pill."

After digesting the Demon Fish meat, Bai Xuan flipped his hand and took out a porcelain bottle to swallow a pill.

Suddenly, his brows furrowed slightly.

"Hm?"

Bai Xuan raised his head. In his eyes seemed to appear ten thousand acres of sea abyssal depths, illuminating the sea qi.

With one glance, he saw that within the few thousand Demon Fish in the ranch below, there was a vigorous green massive aura, brimming with life force, slowly wriggling and entering!

"Indeed it has come."

Bai Xuan stood up, reached out and grasped. Boom! The hidden sea spear disguised as a set of fishing gear in the corner corner flew into his palm!