This Sword Cultivator is Somewhat Dependable

After idly wandering around the ship for a long while, the King Rat, touched his little belly and felt peckish once again.

"I refuse to believe such a large ship doesn't have any decent food aboard. These crew members must be hiding something!"

Thinking this, King Rat's eyes rolled around swiftly, and he immediately began to search each cabin on the ship.

Uh?

Once again coming up empty, King Rat was about to leave this exceptionally tidy cabin when out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly spotted a few books carelessly placed next to the pillow on the bed, and Lu Qingshan's words involuntarily came to his mind, sparking a little idea.

Without further hesitation, King Rat immediately hopped onto the bed and flipped through the documents.

The cover of the first ancient book had a few curved characters written in tiny script.

Although he did not specifically study the Human Race's script, having loitered in human cities for a while after his intelligence awakened, he had picked up a few simple characters from what he heard and saw.

"Uh,... Swordsman's Tale? I don't recognize the first two characters, but it looks like some kind of ranger biography.

I don't know what these humans are thinking; why do they love swords so much? Even writing a ranger's biography has to involve swords.

Swords are cold, utterly boring, I thought only Lu Qingshan would be interested in them."

King Rat muttered a few words, then ignored it, tossing aside the 'Swordsman's Tale' and picked up another slightly thinner ancient book.

"South... Sea... Spirit... Beast Diagram!" This time, he recognized all five big characters on the cover.

Spirit Beast!?

After stumbling through the title word by word, King Rat's eyes suddenly sparkled with excitement, and he began to flip through it as if he had found a treasure.

As soon as he turned the first page, a detailed drawing of a grey-white Longevity Whale filled his view.

This whale was mountain-sized, with a blowhole on top of its head that opened like a volcanic crater; its tail fins were heart-shaped, broad and flat, emitting an ancient and vicarious aura.

Below the image was a detailed description; King Rat, mixing guesswork with his poor reading skills, read haltingly, "Longevity Whale...the oldest Spirit Beast in the South Sea...lifespan...almost unlimited... size boundless...always in slumber...inside the whale is a small world..."

Uh? Could this be the transforming island whale that the storyteller spoke of?

So such things really exist? Is this what a Spirit Beast is?

King Rat pondered for a moment, shook his little head, licked his paw, and eagerly turned the next page.

A picture of a dragon clad in scale armor, with whiskers, horns, and five claws, looking majestic and fierce, appeared on the page.

King Rat was instantly immersed in this bizarre and curious world, oblivious to his surroundings.

After a long while, as he carefully turned the last page of the thin ancient book, he still felt somewhat unsatisfied.

"I'll take it back with me, to savor it slowly!"

In a flash, King Rat made up his mind, grabbed the book with his paw, and prepared to make a run for it.

"You're done reading, but are you planning to take it away too?"

The sudden voice gave King Rat a fright.

Becoming too engrossed in the Spirit Beast Diagram, King Rat had failed to notice that at some point, a young girl had appeared in the cabin.

The girl's clear eyes revealed curiosity as she sized up King Rat and clicked her tongue, "That's quite rare, a book-loving giant rat?"

How careless!

King Rat inwardly cursed in dismay.

If it had been a common human, it would have been fine, being discovered wouldn't have mattered much.

But the girl before him was indeed a Cultivator, and though she appeared very young, her Cultivation had already reached the latter stages of Foundation Establishment, surpassing Lu Qingshan.

As for himself, the King of the Western Rats had a clear understanding. Even though he was a Second Grade Demon Beast, he actually had no decent means of attack and his combat capability was basically nil. This girl, she was an existence he couldn't afford to provoke!

In the midst of his panic, an idea suddenly flashed through the mind of the King of the Western Rats.

Squeak—

The King of the Western Rats lifted his tiny head, gazing at the girl with a look of confusion in his eyes, emitting a series of squeaks.

Watching the King of the Western Rats squeaking at her, the girl couldn't help but pause, a curious expression flashing across her eyes, and she said, "You can't understand what I'm saying?"

The King of the Western Rats had just thought about nodding his tiny head vigorously when, in a flash of inspiration, he hurriedly began to shake his head chaotically, continuing to squeak incessantly.

"Maybe I'm overthinking it. How could there be a Demon Beast aboard the ship? And one that can read?" Seeing the behavior of the King of the Western Rats, the girl seriously nodded her head.

Seeing that the girl no longer doubted him, the nerves of the King of the Western Rats finally relaxed.

That was a close call. Good thing I'm sharp and quick-witted.

The King of the Western Rats thought to himself.

"It seems you're just an ordinary large rat. Since that's the case, you may leave," said the girl, her tone revealing a hint of cunning.

Granted permission by the girl, the King of the Western Rats forcefully suppressed the joy in his heart, hopped on his legs, and left the cabin with the calm demeanor of an ordinary large rat, not showing any slip as he inwardly gave himself a thumbs-up for his quick thinking.

Close to vermilion, one gets stained; close to ink, one is dyed. After being with Lu Qingshan for so long, my intelligence clearly has grown!

But something feels a bit off?

Before he could figure out what was wrong, the King of the Western Rats had just slipped to the cabin door only to find a shadow engulfing him.

Looking up, there stood the girl, blocking the cabin entrance, tilting her head, with a look that was somewhere between smiling and not smiling, "Oh?"

It was only then that the King of the Western Rats realized, and his face turned pale as chalk.

Humans are too cunning!!!

.....

Knock, knock, knock—

Inside the cabin, Lu Qingshan, who was engrossed in studying Sword Qi, was interrupted by a knocking sound.

"Come in," said Lu Qingshan as he regained his composure and put away the Jade Slip.

The cabin door was gently pushed open, and a girl in a light green dress entered.

The girl looked to be around fifteen or sixteen years old, with curved eyebrows, a slightly upturned nose, dimples occasionally appearing on her cheeks, and black, lively eyes.

In the girl's hands, she carried the King of the Western Rats, who wore a sullen face.

"Um, Lu Qingshan, I'm back," said the King of the Western Rats, hanging in mid-air by the neck, awkwardly waving a small paw at Lu Qingshan, "and I also brought back a fellow Daoist."

Seeing Lu Qingshan, the girl then released her grip on the King of the Western Rats.

Free from captivity, the King of the Western Rats instantly dashed, frantically scampering back to Lu Qingshan's side, and started to complain pitifully, "Lu Qingshan, she is a bad woman, she tricked me…"

Lu Qingshan's mouth twitched involuntarily.

"My name is Zang Xiaojian," said the girl, cutting straight to the point, her voice extremely clear and sweet.

"Lu Qingshan."