I Became the Alchemy Master by Picking Up Trash-Chapter 86 - 85: Preliminary Round (Part 3)

"A bunch of kids, your carpentry work is pretty impressive!"

Wen Dao stood in the hall watching the four of them set sail, a satisfied smile on his face, yet it was soon replaced by worry.

"Teacher Luo, do you remember the Lord of Peterson River?"

"Are you referring to the devil Gustav?" Luo Jun’s expression turned grave. "The last encounter with it was three years ago; back then it was already at the twelfth-level peak. Normally, one would expect Gustav to have left Peterson River and ventured deeper into the forest by now."

Wen Dao sipped his tea and said wistfully, "Let’s hope so."

The boat borrowed the wind’s power, aided by the flowing water, and sailed swiftly on the turbulent Peterson River. Yet, the four people on board felt none of the serene joy of drifting on a boat; they finally understood why it’s said that crossing ten mountains is as challenging as traversing one river.

Choosing to traverse the forest by land allows lower-level Star Beasts to sense the powerful aura of the Primordial Spirit. Unless they’re in heat or nursing, they will normally evade. This way, Elemental Spirits won’t waste energy and their primordial spirit on low-level Star Beasts.

Water-based lower-level Star Beasts, though they also have an instinct to avoid danger, possess particularly unique instincts. When startled, low-level Water Beasts leap out, creating sounds and water ripples upon returning to the water, all meant to bluff and scare away enemies.

Sailing on the water, the boat is most susceptible to being startled by lower-level Water Star Beasts, causing them to leap continuously out of the water.

If it’s just one or two, it’s no big deal. But if hundreds or thousands leap up at once in panic, thrashing their tails, flailing wildly, and using their plump bodies to bash against the water and hull, the scene can be terrifying.

Shortly after the wooden boat set sail, the Team That Fixes Defiance found themselves in such a predicament. Countless fat and giant carp beasts would fly out from the water without warning wherever the wooden boat sailed.

Carp beasts vary in length from one to three meters, with hefty and robust bodies and powerful caudal fins. Being hit by their sturdy tails could result in bruises at best or broken bones and tendons at worst.

When the carp beasts leaped high, their plump bodies could easily bash a large hole in the boat with the aid of gravity.

To prevent the rain-like carp beasts from damaging the wooden boat, the primordial spirit must be used repeatedly to shield the wood and repel the carp beasts.

Yet even a Heavenly Armor-level Elemental Spirit can’t sustain such immense consumption. Should their primordial spirit deplete, the boat be ruined, and they fall into the water only to encounter high-level water beasts, it would surely mean death.

After deploying Violent Falling Thunder for the Nth time, Cui Tianxiao finally lost his temper.

"Damn it! How many carp beasts are in this river anyway? We’ve been exterminating them non-stop yet they don’t seem to diminish!"

Qi Ming: "Carp beasts are... are bottom-tier in the food chain, hence their numbers are naturally... quite large. I think we might have intruded into their habitat!"

They really lucked out today!

Cui Tianxiao was responsible for the above-water defenses, and the hull below suffered quite a few impacts too. Thankfully, Qi Ming’s defensive talisman array kept the bottom from being smashed.

Qi Ming’s spiritual power was greatly consumed, Li Xing gifted him high-grade blue medicine, which he had already used twice. Now his spiritual power recovery rate was several times slower than initially. If they don’t leave this water area soon, even with blue medicine, recovery will take several hours.

"Xiao Ming, can’t you just expand the defensive formation a bit, wrap the whole boat like a bubble, and make things easier for us?"

Qi Ming’s face reddened: "Such an expansion would consume spiritual power several times more than it does now. I... I can’t do it..." If he truly did as Cui Tianxiao suggested, even treating the Heavenly Spirit Pill like food wouldn’t suffice.

Cui Tianxiao sighed skyward in disappointment, Qi Ming’s face reddened further, muttering: "So... sorry, I’m too weak..."

Ye Qingting, controlling the Ice Dragon, struck a dozen carp beasts. He took a moment to say to Qi Ming, "Xiao Ming, ignore Ah Xiao’s nonsense! He doesn’t know anything about talismans; how can he understand the difficulty of setting up arrays? It’s true he doesn’t appreciate the effort involved."

Ye Qingting kicked the carp beast frozen into ice back into the water, turned to Cui Tianxiao and said, "Ever since departure, Qi Ming has been solely defending the hull, blocking all underwater attacks alone; the pressure he’s under surpasses both of ours combined!"

"There isn’t another talisman master like my cousin who can effortlessly use spiritual power; you can’t measure others by his standards—Qi Ming is already remarkable."

"Of course I know Xiao Ming is amazing!" Cui Tianxiao continued to discharge electricity while speaking: "I’m frustrated by these carp beasts, hence a few offhand complaints. Xiao Ming, forgive my lack of expertise."

Qi Ming smiled shyly and focused on controlling the boat’s talisman array.

At this moment, the number of people watching the live stream exceeded ten thousand and kept rising.

//Damn, I actually witnessed low-level water beasts brutally tormenting three Heavenly Armor masters—money well spent!//

//Carp rained from the sky, but unfortunately, it didn’t bring good fortune to the Team That Fixes Defiance.//

//So this is the calamity-avoiding instinct of low-level water beasts; it’s terrifying. No wonder tickets cost more than the Teleportation Port fees.//

//Administrator! Please keep this live stream open and maintain the angle; I’m calling my friends to come watch now!//

//I just got forced offline from another stream; heard there’s a carp storm here, so I came over for a touch of fortune.//

...

Continually using the primordial spirit, Cui Tianxiao’s face turned as white as paper: "Qingtian, I mean it! We need a good solution or when our primordial spirits deplete, we’ll fall into the water and become the high-level water beasts’ meal!"

Ye Qingting certainly knew this couldn’t go on, but he didn’t have a better solution either.

Li Xing was always resourceful, yet soon after boarding, she locked herself in the cabin, tinkering with something, ensuing occasional clanging sounds. Although curious, as a man, he found it inappropriate to inquire.

Just as Ye Qingting hesitated about calling Li Xing for help, the cabin door opened, and Li Xing emerged, stretching grandly, holding something that resembled a donut.

"Ah Xing!" Even though Ye Qingting was the team leader, he always considered Li Xing the soul of the Team That Fixes Defiance.

Although Li Xing was younger and appeared more delicate and naive, whenever he was indecisive, he instinctively sought Li Xing’s help. His trust in her was so deep, it baffled even him.

Cui Tianxiao was tearful: "Li Xing, thank goodness you’re out! Help a brother out; I’m out of power!"

Ignoring Cui Tianxiao, Li Xing spoke to Ye Qingting: "Captain, apologies for being busy with alchemy; you’ve worked hard these past hours."

Ye Qingting was dumbfounded: "Alchemy? At a time like this? Here?"

Stuffing the yellow donut into Ye Qingting’s arms, Li Xing said:

"Exactly, it’s this."