Chapter 173: The Beach Episode
Chapter 173: The Beach Episode
Atop Tianyi’s immortal boat, Daoyi, was currently playing her guqin. The air was filled with musical notes, and moonlight shimmered in and out of existence with every note. Daoyi was currently playing music using the Flying Moon Vibration technique that she had gotten from Daoist Lu years ago.
Flying Moon Vibrations was a technique that used string instruments to deliver sound attacks, but that was only on the first level. On the second level of the technique, the user could affect the emotions of others using sound. And on the third level, the user could directly cause their foes to lose control of their body or go insane. Daoyi had just entered the second level.
Currently, the emotions she was imbuing into her song were positive, like joy and serenity. In front of her was a Xiyi Talisman 1.5, a new prototype Tianyi had created that had the recording feature.
On the same deck, Xi Ri was sitting down and taking a rest. He had been sparring with Tianyi and had used up almost all his qi. Rather than sparring, it would have been more correct to say that Tianyi had been guiding him in the more profound aspects of spacetime. The more Xi Ri understood the Dao of Spacetime, the smoother his cultivation would be.
Of course, with Xi Ri’s current realm, comprehending a dao was practically impossible. It was, after all, something that even immortals never completed in their long lifetimes. Comprehending a concept of spacetime was just the first step.
When Daoyi finished playing her song, she used her spiritual sense to bring the Xiyi Talisman to her and replayed the video of the song she had just played using the Flying Moon Vibration technique. Tianyi also moved behind her to watch the video, and as he watched, he let out a sigh.
“It seems that the recording cannot replicate your technique.” Tianyi had expected it, but he still found it disappointing. He could probably figure out a way to replicate sound techniques, but that would require him to understand the basis of sound techniques and then alter the formation on the Xiyi Talisman, something Tianyi absolutely did not want to do.
“It was a longshot, anyways. I’m just happy that you can finally add the video and camera functions.” Daoyi said. “So when will you add the internet?”
Tianyi paused before rubbing his neck. “Don’t know. My biggest problem is that the spacetime signal only exists within the sect. If a disciple with a Xiyi Talisman leaves the sect, that can’t connect at all. I don’t want a Xiyi Talisman that can only connect inside the sect.”
“Why don’t you use a satellite?” Xi Ri asked.
“Xi Ri, do you realize how hard that would be? The Huang Realm isn’t a planet but a plane of existence. I can’t enter and exit the boundary without being at least an immortal monarch. And even if I could, what could I use…” Tianyi paused as he recalled the Heaven, Earth, Man Trinity Palace his mother had. His thoughts began to whirl as he began to form the skeleton of a plan.
If he could create his own palace or nexus in the Vast Void and discover a way for his spacetime signal to enter and exit realms as they pleased, would his Xiyi Talisman be able to cross realms? Still, the actual execution needed lots of work, and Tianyi doubted that even a decade would be less than a fraction of the time to devise a method.
Tianyi broke out of his thoughts as he detected a change in the environment. Looking out of the immortal boat, Tianyi saw the vast meadow change into a sandy beach, with waves buffeting the sand. The sand was sparkly white, the water crystal clear, and various seashells of all types could be found all over. He even spotted a spire shell as large as a house.
The only thing missing was a luxury resort.
Tianyi even had an urge to build a resort and shoot a video advertising what a great vacation spot it was. Although, the fact that it was in the Demon Cage Realm would make it hard to operate such a resort.
“Wow, I haven’t seen the beach in years. Especially one this beautiful,” Daoyi exclaimed in awe.
“I have never gone to a beach before. But if beaches are always this beautiful, I can see why people waste so much time and money to go there.” Xi Ri added.
Tianyi chuckled. “This beach is actually beautiful. Not all beaches are this pretty. I remember going to a beach once. The sand was grayish-white, and the water was closer to green than blue. All in all, it was an average beach, but nothing like what you see in commercials.”
“Then why didn’t you go to more beaches? Were you scarred for life because of your first experience?” Daoyi joked.
Tianyi stayed silent as he began to reminisce about his first time at the beach. His father was still with them at the time, and he had no worries in the world. Finally, Tianyi said in a low voice, “No, my situation just changed, and I didn’t have any more chances.”
Sensing Tianyi’s change, both Daoyi and Xi Ri stayed silent. Everyone had their own stories and circumstances. If Tianyi didn’t want to share, it wasn’t their business to pry.
Tianyi controlled the immortal boat to land on the beach and then turned towards Daoyi and Xi Ri and said, “I haven’t visited a beach in this life either. How about we stay here for a day and relax? For the past weeks on our way here, both of you have just been fighting demons after demons. It’s nice to have a change of pace.”
Indeed, Tianyi had been controlling the immortal boat to fly towards the territory of the Leviathan Clan after the Azure Leaf City fiasco. Along the way, they had encountered more demons who had formed their demonic cores, so Tianyi let Daoyi and Xi Ri fight to temper themselves.
There weren’t that many Nascent Soul Realm level demons for Tianyi to fight. Tianyi always fought them, but he could never seem to erase the nervousness in his heart whenever he faced them. Tianyi couldn’t help but think he had gotten trauma due to the Dragon Emperor and even muttered, “Does the Huang Realm have any therapists? Do they even know what a therapist is?”
Daoyi nodded in agreement, but Xi Ri had some issues. “How? We don’t have swimsuits, and swimming in our current robes won’t be good. I mean we can, but it just won’t feel right.”
Tianyi slightly tilted his head and looked at Xi Ri in confusion. “Just refine some materials to make a swimsuit. We’re cultivators, we refine artifacts. Just do it for a swimsuit. After all, we do have a lot of material from the demons we slew. It’s not like the materials for a swimsuit will take much.”
Xi Ri thought about it and decided Tianyi made sense. “Alright.”
“Okay, so everyone agrees? Great!” Tianyi said and clapped his hands. Ten stellar pseudo clones were created using the Stellar Incarnation Technique, and numerous items popped up from Tianyi’s spatial ring. The stellar pseudo clones picked them up and began to set up umbrellas, blankets, chairs, and all the beach necessities.
“Hey, Tianyi?” Daoyi asked.
“Yeah?” Tianyi responded.
“Isn’t that umbrella some kind of spacetime immortal artifact? And the sheet, isn’t that also an immortal artifact or material? I recognize that platform placed on the sand, it’s the Spirit Nourishing Altar that is incredibly beneficial to the soul!” The more Daoyi said, the more disbelief was etched onto her face.
“Yeah, I didn’t exactly prepare for a beach day, so I had to find things to substitute. I mean, we can’t use them for their actual purposes, but their form is more than enough for our needs.” Tianyi said while scratching his cheek. He realized that he was being wasteful and demeaning the immortal artifacts, but he left most of the artifacts he created at Jade Peak. Plus, most of the artifacts he created were weapons and not umbrellas, sheets, and the like.
Xi Ri just stared at Tianyi before sighing. He thought his treatment as a prince of the Xi Dynasty was too much, but compared to Tianyi, all he received was a speck of dust. Hell, what his aunt gave to his emperor-father was probably only worth a tiny scrap of what Tianyi had.
The three of them returned to their rooms of the immortal boat, each creating their own swimsuits.
Tianyi had created a dark purple swimsuit with dragon designs on it, but that wasn’t why Tianyi was admiring himself in the mirror. Choosing some poses, he flexed his muscles and admired himself… before immediately having his face turned red in shame at how childish he was being.
No one must ever know of this!
After hiding this piece of memory deep into his subconsciousness, Tianyi held his chin and observed himself. He had always worn robes and didn’t exactly look at his bare body in the mirror, so he never noticed his body shape.
Tianyi’s body was lithe but powerful. He didn’t have bulging muscles like a bodybuilder but specialized and condensed muscles like those of a hunter or sprinter. There were no excess muscles or hints of fat at all. If this was back on Earth, coupled with his looks, he would no doubt be at the peak of the human physique. At least in appearance, his pure raw power had long ago surpassed normal humans.
Still, cultivation was wonderful!
Without having to undergo any strict training regimen, Tianyi had attained a perfect physical body. This was also the reason why cultivators generally had more outstanding beauty than mortals. Even the fat Daoist Moneybag looked highly pleasing to the eye.
In fact, as a cultivator’s sense of existence was raised, so did their senses. When using those same senses to look at regular mortals, a cultivator could see an infinite number of imperfections and impurities on the mortals. It was like looking at a person covered in literal crap. Of course, that was just a metaphor, and the mortals weren’t really covered in feces, but most of them still looked extremely dirty to cultivators.
Having finished admiring himself in the mirror, Tianyi walked out of his room and onto the beach before immediately regretting it.
Tianyi had been the last one to come out of his room despite being the first to finish his swimsuit. His eyes had been immediately drawn to Xi Ri, wanting to compare their swimsuits. Xi Ri’s physique was slightly wider than his but followed the same principles as Tianyi’s. That wasn’t what drew Tianyi’s attention.
What really drew Tianyi’s attention was the damn bright red speedo that Xi Ri had refined. It was as if time had stopped, and Tianyi couldn’t help but stare at the pronounced bulge.
He had to immediately restrain his urge to blast out an attack so as to wipe the existence of the swimwear from the face of the Huang Realm, or rather, the Demon Cage Realm. And that was after Tianyi stopped himself from gouging his own eyes out and pouring bleach into them.
The image was now permanently seared into his memories.
Tianyi turned towards Daoyi, hoping to replace the unpleasant image with something more pleasant, and found himself staring. Daoyi’s body didn’t have any noticeable muscle, but it was obviously healthy with milky white skin, which was more pronounced by her black one-piece swimsuit with a spiderweb design.
What caught Tianyi’s attention more was Daoyi’s shapely legs. Tianyi never realized how much he was attracted to legs until this day. Perhaps it was because the attire of the Huang Realm was far more conservative than Earth, so mortals and cultivators didn’t show much skin.
“Can you not stare so much? It feels kinda embarrassing to show so much skin after years of being fully covered.” Daoyi said, her cheeks flushed as she tried to cover her legs with her hands, a futile effort at best.
Tianyi coughed into his head and turned away, slightly embarrassed, realizing that he seemed like a thirsty teenager. He only had the appearance of a teenager, but his actual age was over thirty, fifty if you counted his mental age.
“Alright, let’s just forget about cultivation today and just enjoy ourselves. Only reincarnators like us can probably enjoy beaches.” Tianyi announced, trying to change the topic from his earlier actions.
“I’ve been very interested in beaches, so what should we do?” Xi Ri asked.
“Of course we…” Tianyi stopped speaking upon realizing he didn’t know what they should do. What did he do at the beach? Holding his chin, Tianyi recalled that he pretty much just tried building a sandcastle, but that was too childish for his current age.
“How about beach volleyball? I recall playing it with my team when we went to the beach.” Daoyi suggested.
“That sounds good.” Tianyi agreed but immediately realized the problem. “But we have three people, so should we take turns?”
Daoyi and Xi Ri looked at one another and agreed. What could they do? They only had three people.
Tianyi went and cut down some trees for the net poles, while Daoyi used her spiritual beast, Shuijing’s silk, to create a net. Tianyi made sure to stand a safe distance from that little beast.
Daoyi then made an idle comment while she was weaving the net. “Actually, back then, I wanted to name Shuijing Hotaru because the little light in her abdomen looked like little fireflies, or Hoshi since they also looked like stars. But I didn’t because it wasn’t a native language to the Huang Realm.”
Tianyi paused and remarked. “I probably would have confronted you later if you were a reincarnator then. It would have saved me a lot of trouble.”
“Really?” Daoyi said as she looked suspiciously at Tianyi. “Why do I feel like you would have delayed with some excuse… like researching the language of the Huang Realm to see if you could find any language similar?”
Tianyi’s mouth shut with an audible snap. Daoyi’s words were spot on. If it weren’t for the stress and trauma the Dragon Emperor inflicted upon him, coupled with the accumulating emotions concerning his status as a reincarnator, not to mention loneliness, Tianyi would have likely not confronted Xi Ri and Daoyi then and there upon seeing the factory.
“Hey, are you done with the net yet? I want to hurry up and play. I haven’t played any Earth sports in years.” Tianyi said, his intent obvious.
Daoyi rolled her eyes and quickly finished the tent.
The two people up were Tianyi and Xi Ri. Tianyi’s eyes kept drifting towards Xi Ri’s crotch before he mentally stopped himself. It was much like how a human would constantly poke at their bruise despite knowing how much it would hurt. Tianyi immediately tried to change his thought and muttered, “Sure would be nice if I brought one of my clones.”
His first clone, Juedai Fenghua’s whereabouts, were still unknown. His second clone was out on adventures. Tianyi planned to have it come back occasionally so he could take the treasures his clone had before exchanging them for more useful resources. The more important thing was to experience his clone, Donghai Longzi’s memories.
This way, Tianyi could experience the perils of danger and sharpen himself without having to personally experience danger. Plus, with his abnormal strength, it would require him to fight unity venerables and above. Something that Tianyi wasn’t exactly keen on. Fighting those in the Unity Realm would just take too long, and he had no confidence taking on transcendent mortality sages.
Tianyi slammed his forehead and realized he was an idiot. “Daoyi, go join Xi Ri’s team.”
“Wouldn’t that be unfair against you? You are a realm above us, but we set some rules too.” Daoyi said.
Tianyi shook his head and dramatically snapped his finger. Instantly, an exact copy of him formed from the white light next to him. It was his Stellar Incarnation Technique. It was kind of a waste to use such a technique just to play beach volleyball, but when has that ever stopped Tianyi?
“Don’t worry. I’ll go easy on you two.” Tianyi said, his face smug.
As it turned out, Tianyi was terrible at beach volleyball even with his higher realm and suffered a catastrophic loss at the hands of Daoyi and Xi Ri.