Fields of Gold

Zhu Junyang was furious. He had never stepped into his little lass’s bedroom before yet these damned bastards were snoring in her room and lying down on the kang bed that she used to sleep on. That was not okay! These bastards all needed to die immediately!

Consequently, the whole room full of Wokou pirates was sent down to greet the King of Hell in their dreams with the help of Zhu Junyang and Commander Zheng.

Yu Xiaocao’s room had been completely messed up by the pirates. Her better sets of clothing had been all moved onto the pirates’ ship to bring back to their land. Even if they couldn’t sell them, the clothing could be given to their own women to wear. As for Yu Xiaocao’s and Xiaolian’s old clothing, they had all been unceremoniously thrown onto the floor.

Their swimsuits had been stuffed into a corner of their room. It took a bit of searching for Zhu Junyang to finally find them. He had never expected that the first time he entered his little lass’s room would be under circumstances like these. He looked at how the lass’s bedroom had been defiled and had a sudden desire to poke more holes into these dead pirates with his sword.

However, after thinking a bit, he decided not to act on that impulse. How could the lass live in this room that had been dyed with blood? And all of these dead pirates...they needed to take them out to prevent Xiaocao from having misgivings about living here in the future. Right then and there, he came up with the idea that once the pirates were all eradicated he was going to take out money to have the Yu Family’s old residence completely renovated. It wouldn’t be comfortable for his little lass to live in a place where people were killed.

The seven to eight pirate corpses that were in the east room had all been moved out by Zhu Junyang and Commander Zheng and thrown into the nearby mountain forest for beasts to drag away. Inside the forest, Yu Xiaocao changed into her sharkskin swimsuit and then the four of them snuck out under the light of the moon towards the beach. 

To get to the ocean required going through the entire village. When she saw that the vast majority of houses and residences had been burnt to a crisp in the village, Yu Xiaocao felt rage burning inside her. These bastards were really too evil. Stealing the villagers’ things was one thing, but what was the point in burning down their homes? She also rejoiced that the villagers had all fled. Otherwise, those cruel and vicious bastards wouldn’t have shown any mercy to them! The sorrowful sight in front of her further solidified her desire to sabotage all of the pirates’ ships tonight.  

In a dark and secluded area of the reef, Yu Xiaocao easily slipped into the ocean and seemed to become one with the water. It was as if she had turned into a cute dolphin, swimming swiftly in the ocean. Zhu Junyang couldn’t catch her even when he tried and could only stare blankly as she swum further and further away to become a hazy black dot in the distance. 

‘Didn’t we agree that you were going to stick close to me ah? You forget your promises so quickly!’ Zhu Junyang couldn’t vent his temper right now. Fortunately, Yu Hai’s swimming abilities were decent and he stuck closely to Xiaocao in the water. Only then did the prince feel his anxiety drop.

Once they got to the bottom of the Wokou pirates’ ship, the father and daughter pair were both like oysters and clung tenaciously to the bottom of the ship. With chisels in their hands, they forcefully started to chip at the hull.

[Little Divine Stone, are you there?] Trying to damage the hull of the ship underwater was truly an arduous task. Yu Xiaocao couldn’t help but try to find some outside help.

[Don’t talk to me, this divine stone doesn’t have much energy and I’m currently in the middle of cultivating…] The little divine stone thought that it personally contributed a lot to the previous events, so it decided to use this as an excuse for the near future to not help.

[Such nonsense! You helped me a lot this last time and you managed to save so many lives at the Tanggu Docks and Dongshan Village. You must have gained a lot of energy for these deeds so it’s more likely that your cultivation has increased tremendously and your energy restored! Stop making excuses and start helping out now!] It’d be more surprising if Yu Xiaocao believed the lying stone’s words.

It was getting harder and harder to fool its master. The little divine stone rolled its eyes. However, Xiaocao wasn’t wrong at all. At this time, the little divine stone had gained a lot of energy and the fetters on its body had loosened again. With its cultivation increased, now it could form a material body and speak!

This time its ability to make a physical form wasn’t like the past when it could only become a little kitten. As long as it wanted to, it could take the form of a child around three to four years old and also make ordinary people around it hear it talk. This was already a great improvement. It was confident that, before long, it would regain all of its cultivation, break through its chains, and travel to the heavens, leaving behind this godforsaken place. It could finally return to Goddess Nuwa’s side…

It accepted its fate and channeled some spiritual energy into Xiaocao’s arm. Yu Xiaocao suddenly had supernatural strength in the arm holding the chisel and the damage she inflicted upon the hull increased. After a few more pushes, a giant hole appeared at the bottom of the ship. Ocean water rushed into the ship and the hole became wider and wider. The ship slowly started to sink…

The Wokou pirates, who were on the ship guarding it, very quickly discovered that there was something wrong. Sounds of them jabbering could be heard and some went down into the ship to patch the hole while others looked over the sides of the ship. The other three people weren’t like Xiaocao with the little divine stone to help them breathe underwater. Very soon, one of the pirates on the ship had spotted Zhu Junyang swimming in the water. 

“The enemy is attacking! There are people in the water attacking the ships!” The pirates on the ship hollered. Following that, the sounds of a few people dropping into the water could be heard. A dozen or so pirates who were good at swimming headed towards the four people to pincer them. 

If they were on dry land, these dozen or so pirates wouldn’t be able to do much against Royal Prince Yang. However, in the water, Zhu Junyang was like a tiger who had its fangs pulled out and he couldn’t put up a real fight.  Yu Xiaocao swam up to him and pulled on his arm to take him towards another ship in the water. Yu Hai did the same for Commander Zheng to help the other man swim. Naturally, with another person dragging them down, their speed in the water decreased. The pirates who were swimming after them slowly caught up.

At this time, a group of little dolphins swam over and used their heads to push the humans through the water. Among them was the little dolphin that was Xiaocao’s good friend, Xiaobu. Apparently, every time Xiaocao entered the water she emitted the tell-tale signature of spiritual energy, which spread throughout the water. Xiaobu was able to sense it very quickly and always swam over to find her to meet up.

With the help of the little dolphins, the speed of the four people increased again. They were able to evade the pirates in the water and damage all of the hulls of the other ships that the Wokou pirates had brought over. The number of pirates in the water increased steadily and it was starting to get hard to avoid them. Zhu Junyang and Commander Zheng encountered a few of them and ended up getting injured in the process. 

At this time, another batch of pirates were swimming over. Yu Xiaocao made a hand signal towards her father, hinting that he should take the heavily injured Commander Zheng back to land. She, on the other hand, stuck onto the little dolphin’s back and secretly headed towards one of the Wokou pirates. Yu Hai was so worried that tears almost came to his eyes. It was such a dangerous situation and his daughter didn’t have any skill at fighting. If she was discovered by the pirates, she was done for!

However, he was currently holding onto Commander Zheng, who had lost consciousness. If he didn’t bring the heavily injured man to land to get treatment, the commander of the bodyguards would likely perish here. Yu Hai wasn’t able to leave behind a wounded person so he could only swim towards land with his heart in his mouth.

Zhu Junyang’s eyes almost popped out of his head when he saw her actions. This Yu Xiaocao was really too disobedient. Was this the time to play around? If she wasn’t careful, she would end up losing her life...however, despite his worry, he didn’t have any methods left for him any more. He was currently tussling with two pirates and couldn’t break free from their grasp. Since part of his attention was on that lass, Xiaocao, he wasn’t careful and ended up getting stabbed in the leg by one of the pirates. Fresh blood dyed the water around him and started to spread throughout the ocean. 

Perhaps it was because the little dolphin swam around the pirate’s line of sight, but Xiaocao found it very easy to sneak up on him. The chisel in her hand flashed with a cold light. If someone was looking closely, they would be able to make out a faint golden hue on the tool. The chisel, which had been strengthened with the little divine stone’s spiritual power, wasn’t an ordinary weapon anymore. 

When she was about a meter away from the unsuspecting Wokou pirate, she jumped off the little dolphin’s back and silently swam to the pirate. The chisel in her hand flashed and she stabbed it towards the left side of the pirate where the heart was located. It slid into the pirate as if the person in front of her wasn’t made of flesh and blood but of tofu instead. The tool embedded itself deeply into the pirate before coming up. Dark colored blood oozed out of the pirate. That pirate didn’t even have the chance to struggle before he sank into the deep ocean waters.

This was the first time she had killed a human being in both of her lives. Yu Xiaocao didn’t have any time to feel scared or any other emotion when another pirate started swimming in her direction. She hurriedly climbed back up onto the little dolphin’s back and had the creature bring her far away. With the little divine stone helping them out, the little dolphin shot off like an arrow from a bow into the water. In a moment, the two of them swam a great distance. 

After circling around the scene, Yu Xiaocao came back as she wasn’t convinced that the young royal prince’s water skills were good enough. She saw that he was currently entangled with two pirates and didn't have the chance to surface to breathe more air. Those two pirates were likely trying to keep him underwater so that they could drown him in the ocean.

In actuality, Zhu Junyang felt like his chest was about to explode from lack of air. His movements gradually slowed down and the wounds on his body increased. He felt like this was the day when his life would be over. The only bit of regret he had in his heart was that he wouldn’t have the opportunity to marry Yu Xiaocao and have her become his wife anymore. Sigh...perhaps it was his destiny to spend his life alone, the bane of everyone’s existence…

He felt his mind starting to turn dark as bubbles spewed out of his mouth. As his body got heavier and heavier, there was a force that seemed to bring him up. He wasn't sure if it was an illusion or real. When he couldn’t hold onto his breath any longer, the substance he breathed in wasn’t seawater but fresh air!

Yu Xiaocao had attacked one of the pirates who was besieging the young royal prince and then went underwater to drag the drowning Zhu Junyang away. She then directed the dolphin to swim in the direction of another pirate. Xiaobu seemed to have its heart linked with hers and swam over to drag the two of them away. It swam very quickly to escape with them. She hadn’t fed the little dolphin with mystic-stone water in vain.

Zhu Junyang, who was able to breathe again, gradually regained consciousness. When he opened his eyes, he saw Yu Xiaocao’s delicate and pretty little face. The expression on that little face looked quite solemn and her pair of large eyes seemed to have a hint of concern. Was she worried about him? Zhu Junyang couldn’t help but wonder about this.

Unexpectedly, Xiaocao looked over at this time and met his eyes. When she saw that he was awake, the little lass seemed to let out a sigh of relief and then fiercely glared at him. Zhu Junyang revealed a dazzling smile at her and he didn’t even notice the pain of his wounds anymore.

He was currently so close to his little lass and could feel warmth coming off the other person. In addition, it seemed like her body was giving off that particular smell of a young maiden...Eh? Apparently he wasn’t dreaming, he...really could breathe underwater! He moved his nose closer to Xiaocao and deeply inhaled. It smelled so good. It was a scent that could clean a person’s heart and he couldn’t help but want to smell more. 

“Are you a dog ah?” Zhu Junyang’s breath tickled the back of Yu Xiaocao’s neck. Xiaocao couldn’t take it anymore. If this guy wasn’t injured, she would have pushed him away long ago.