Jing Baiyu was furious and yelled at Cao Yun.

"Get off my ship!"

"Captain Jing, please, listen to me. I don't understand your outburst."

Jing Baiyu was ready to smack the young man but he controlled himself. Cao Yun wasn't sure whether it was because he could obviously break the old man in two without trying, because he had been sent by Lord Wanghuo, or simply because Jing Baiyu restrained himself. But Jing Baiyu's ill temper didn't relent. He was still so enraged that his voice caused the deck to shake.

"No demonic beast is allowed on my boat. You should have known that, you ignorant brat! Demonic beasts attract each other. If we sail with your chicken, we'll be swarmed with other demonic beasts. Even I won't be able to insure the safety of our trip. You're literally asking us to die for no good reason. And then you ask me why I'm mad?! You should have educated yourself before begging for my help!"

Suddenly, Cao Yun realized the anger of Jing Baiyu. But he also realized that the issue was easy enough to deal with. Indeed, demonic beasts would often attract each other because unlike humans they were unable to hide their Wei Qi. In fact, they even prided themselves with their Wei Qi in order to mark their territory. Of course, demonic beasts could hide their presence for some time while they were hunting or in hiding. But this wasn't something they could maintain long term. After all, they had no knowledge of martial arts or cultivation. Everything they were doing came to them instinctively.

"Captain Jing, your anger is understandable. But it is unwarranted. First of all, Hongyu is much more capable at stealth than any other demonic beast you'd ever encounter. Moreover, I am an array formation master. This is no difficult feat for me to set up an array formation aboard your ship so that her presence will be completely hidden. As a matter of fact, I should be able to conceal all your crew's presence much better than they can do themselves. Please, I simply ask that you let me prove it to you."

"... Boy...!"

Jing Baiyu was upset but he still controlled himself. Looking at the bowing Cao Yun, his rage slowly diminished. Another reason why he was furious was superstition. Although there was a practical reason behind why demonic beasts were not accepted on his ship, there was also another one. Almost every ship who ever transported demonic beasts of sufficient strength got toppled and sunk. Of course, no one could know the real reason. Maybe the beasts themselves had caused the disaster. Maybe their very presence had attracted other demonic beasts who had attacked the boat.

From those disasters, a superstition had emerged. Demonic beasts were ill omens. Even seeing a demonic beast before leaving a port was seen as a bad omen. The crew would practice several rituals to purify themselves. As much as Jing Baiyu didn't care for those superstitions, he knew that most of his crew would. A crew who was worried and didn't trust their captain was worse than any other demonic beast for Jing Baiyu. Still, he also knew that he couldn't simply throw out a boy sent by Lord Wanghuo. He could enjoy his freedom thanks to his usefulness. But there was a limit.

Moreover, Jing Baiyu was actually sensing a lot of sincerity from Cao Yun. Thus, he decided to change his mind. But he had ulterior motives. Hopefully, he could convince Cao Yun to leave.

"Fine, boy. I'll agree. But you and your chicken will have to obey my every order. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir."

A huge grin deformed Jing Baiyu's face. He walked toward a bucket full of turbid water and threw it in front of Cao Yun's face along with a mop.

"My crew left for their permission. They won't be back before three weeks. In the meantime, I except you to take care of my Fading Fang with me. First of all, you'll clean the entire deck. And you can't use any of your cultivation. She is fragile so using too much strength might damage her."

Looking at the state of the deck, Cao Yun doubted Jing Baiyu's words. Clearly no one was too delicate with the poor boat but the wood used was just extremely sturdy. On the other hand, the deck was indeed dirty after many months out at sea. Without any word of protest though, Cao Yun immediately began to clean the deck. He didn't use any of his cultivation. With his spiritual senses, he could have controlled the mop without even touching it. Instead, he was using his own body.

Obviously, such a work was taxing on a mortal but it was nothing at all for a cultivator. The only thing was that it was long and tedious. Also, many cultivators would have felt insulted to be asked to simply clean the deck of any boat. On the other hand, Cao Yun didn't mind. If it could help Jing Baiyu accept him, he was ready to do so. Besides, while he was mopping the deck, he was still cultivating. At the moment, his cultivation only required that he focused his intent in his Soul Embryo. As such, mopping the deck was in fact a good way to release his internal tensions. He was using it as a relaxation tool.

Jing Baiyu didn't do anything and simply watched Cao Yun clean the deck. The captain was hoping that giving degrading tasks to Cao Yun would make him protest or resist. Either the young man would quit and this would be it or Jing Baiyu could use his refusal to work to justify throwing him out of his boat. Unfortunately, Cao Yun obeyed his every order. Even when Jing Baiyu made him clean absolutely everything in the boat using the most tedious methods, Cao Yun simply obeyed.

As a matter of fact, Cao Yun's mind was solely focused on his internal cultivation. His acts were purely mechanical. After all, they didn't require much knowledge. But it began to change. Indeed, seeing Cao Yun being so obedient, Jing Baiyu began to ask him to do other things. He even taught him many things about the boat. Cao Yun learned how to take care of the sails for example. In less than a week, Cao Yun had visited the entire boat and learned almost everything one could learn about it.

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Then Jing Baiyu began to teach him more and more about how to navigate. Since Cao Yun was both extremely responsive, curious and could understand all of that as soon as he heard it, Jing Baiyu got more and more excited. All day long, he taught Cao Yun about his passion. And indeed, Jing Baiyu was a passionate man. Etiquette was something he didn't care at all. When it came to teaching someone, it could be an issue in fact. Oftentimes, he reprimanded people who didn't understand what he had taught them only one time. But with Cao Yun, this wasn't a problem. He could not only remember everything but he could also apply it after seeing it once.

Cao Yun quickly realized that Jing Baiyu didn't know how to speak about anything else than his boat and the sea. And even then, he was a very pragmatic man. There was no poetry or deep meaning in his words. However, Cao Yun could still perceive the vibrant passion in Jing Baiyu despite his matter-of-fact tone.

Before two weeks had passed, the two men had developed some deep tie. Cao Yun was glad to have learned so much. Although Jing Baiyu was a terrible teacher, he had the knowledge. On the other hand, Jing Baiyu was happy to have found someone whom he could teach. Until now, he was simply getting angry simply because a crew member had not understood in an instant what Jing Baiyu had learned in ten years. Such experiences were frustrating for everyone. But his crew put up with it simply because Jing Baiyu was indeed the greatest navigator there was. Moreover, even getting a fraction of his knowledge and experience was better than getting all the knowledge from another navigator.

So his crew accepted his rashness. And they knew it was only due to his terrible quality as a teacher. Even behind his harsh words, Jing Baiyu wasn't unnecessarily mean. As long as his crew was doing what they were told, he would never be unfair. However, when a mistake was made, he was also implacable. His judgments were fair but strict. After all, even a small mistake could cost lives on the Divine Blood Ocean. His crew loved this aspect of their captain. He never gave them a task they couldn't perform but he expected them to perform their duty to the best of their ability.

Cao Yun quickly realized all that about Captain Jing Baiyu. On the other hand, Jing Baiyu realized how talented Cao Yun, and how earnest and sincere he was. This became a huge problem for him. He had no reason to expel Cao Yun. But worse than that, he didn't want to expel him at all. In fact, Jing Baiyu would have loved to have Cao Yun join his crew. Unfortunately, he knew that this was impossible. As much as Cao Yun could learn and was eager to learn, he didn't have Jing Baiyu's passion for the sea. Maybe he could develop it when they would be sailing, but Jing Baiyu doubted it, from his own experience.

With a deep sigh, Jing Baiyu reached the moment when he had nothing more to teach Cao Yun. There would be other things but those would only happen while navigating. Theory wasn't Jing Baiyu's forte. In fact, nothing was his forte when it came to teaching. But there were things he could only show and not explain. Thus, he had nothing more to task Cao Yun with and nothing else to teach or show him. As a consequence, he had to give him his final judgment. After some hesitation, Jing Baiyu finally spoke.

"Boy, I'll accept your chicken on my ship. But she must remain in the lower decks. And you must show me those array formations of yours. I'll convince my crew, but they won't be happy. You'll have to show them you can be useful. I can't have too much tension among my crew members. When we're sailing, we don't have time for this. You must understand that we always have to adapt to the sea. So it's very unpredictable. Sometimes nothing will happen for days. And suddenly, the entire crew will need to work harder than they did their entire life for an extended period of time. It's imperative that they can all work together without friction."

"I understand, sir. I don't want to cause you any trouble. And I can swear on my Dao Heart that Hongyu won't be a problem at all."

"Fine... But show me your array formation first."

So Cao Yun did. They went to the lower decks. Looking at the place, the young man was uneasy. According to Jing Baiyu, the trip to God's Land could take six to twelve months depending on the weather and the demonic beasts. So Hongyu would have to stay hidden in this place for a very long time. The lower decks didn't have any view of the exterior. So Cao Yun could imagine that the trip would be harsh for Hongyu. Hopefully, it wouldn't be too bad. Despite his efforts to make her understand the risks, she was adamant about her decision to follow him.

The young man gave orders so Hongyu could enjoy her freedom as much as she could before the departure.

He set up an array formation in the lower deck and proved his point to Jing Baiyu. While inside the array formation, even by circulating his full blood cultivation, the captain couldn't sense a thing at all. Of course, he wasn't as sensitive as powerful demonic beasts, but he could tell how incredible this array formation was. Using all the space he could, Cao Yun made sure the array formation would allow some movement to Hongyu. Thankfully, the Fading Fang was large. After all, it had been used to transport slaves from the Desolate Sepulcher to the Empyrean Asura Theocracy. Such a thought wasn't too pleasant as Cao Yun imagined Hongyu being transported like a slave. She was not a pet or a domesticated beast, she almost was like a little sister to Cao Yun at this point. After all, her parents had died for her and they had entrusted her to him.

Finally, Jing Baiyu was convinced.

"I'll convince my crew about this. Go fetch your chicken. Our ship will depart in two weeks as soon as the sun rises. If you're not there, we'll leave without you. And during the entire trip, you'll be a member of my crew. In other words, you'll obey all of my orders without any question. Any mistake will be dealt with fairly but harshly."

"I understand, sir."

Clearly, Jing Baiyu was reluctant. But Cao Yun knew that it would disappear after seeing Hongyu. At least, he hoped that it would. And he couldn't be sure about the crew's feeling. Hopefully, it would go well. After all, they were going to spend close to a year together in restricted space while entrusting their lives to each other. Indeed, Cao Yun wasn't sure whether he could survive alone in the Divine Blood Ocean. The sudden changes in the weather were terrible enough. But the demonic beasts could also be a great threat to any human or demon.

Cao Yun was already ready so he simply had to fetch Hongyu. He made sure that she could enjoy her freedom as much as she could. But finally, the day of the departure came. Cao Yun used his stealth to help Hongyu conceal herself. Jing Baiyu didn't want to hide her from his crew, but he didn't want anyone else to know that he had taken a demonic beast aboard his ship. Indeed, there were heavy superstitions about them among the navigators.

Hongyu was led to the lower deck. Finally, she realized why Cao Yun had tried to warn her so much. The space wasn't too narrow, but it was still rather small. She felt as though she was confined in stables. And in a sense, she was. Besides, she could also feel that Jing Baiyu didn't want her here at all. And she knew the entire crew would be like that. Apart from Cao Yun, no one wanted her here. This wouldn't be a leisure cruise for her.