CHAPTER 195

🙞❤︎🙜

“There it is!” I said when the [Tranquil Tide Treasure Isles] appeared below us. They were just three small dots in the azure water, but I was excited at the thought of unlocking this region’s special crops. I raised my voice and told the others, “I’ll prepare for landing.”

Back at the control panel, I sat down and pushed some buttons while mentally using the System to set the [Solarium’s] speed to gradually decrease. The menu showed that it would take 22 minutes, so I asked Yinuo to let the clan members know, but Lari volunteered to do it.

Kharli and Mo stood beside me as the ship smoothly descended.

“Teacher, the islands are smaller than I thought they would be.” Kharli bent forward to peer at the map display. “Aren’t they larger on the map?”

“Yeah, I thought they would be bigger.” I took out a parasol from my inventory and shrugged my jacket off, wishing that I had worn thinner clothing. The weather on the island was sunny, which was strange since we should be quite far north of the farm.

“It looks like we won't be able to plant much,” said Mo.

There was a slight jolt as we landed on the biggest island.

“We’re here!” I gave my two girls parasols, and we all made our way to the ship’s entrance, which was already open.

The clan members flew down while my apprentices and I, followed by my household staff, used the escalators. The biggest island was only 60 acres while the two were half that size. A long sandbar linked the smallest two islands to each other.

“The sky and sea are so blue.” I smiled up at Prince Baiyu. “What would you call that shade?”

“Cerulean.” He took the sunshade from me and opened it, holding it above both our heads to shield ourselves from the bright sunlight.

The beach was a pristine stretch of fine black sand which contrasted sharply with the deep turquoise color of the sea. Palm trees, their fronds swaying languidly, lined the beach. From above, we had seen that the island was totally covered in dense vegetation except for a small hill area near this beach which I could use to plant crops. The place was so tiny that I didn’t want to chop down the trees for more farm area in case it damaged the island’s fragile ecosystem.

I took a deep breath of the bracing sea air.

“This beach is so picturesque!” This thought gave me an idea, and I waved at Muchen, my maid’s handsome young husband who was a painter. “Baiyu, let’s commission a few paintings.”

With Fengying’’s help, I negotiated a fee for Muchen to paint the scenery for us. Yinuo was delighted at the prospect and fiercely haggled on her husband’s behalf, but this only stimulated Fengying’s competitive spirit.

I reeled back in an overly dramatic way when Yinuo named her price. “That’s highway robbery!”

Yinuo merely raised an eyebrow. “No, my lady, highway robbery is when a group of bandits take all your belongings by force. You wound me deeply with your low offer.”

Fengying shook her head and hauled her off to the side where they held a whispered conversation punctuated by waving hands. Even from afar, I could tell that Yinuo was being bested by Fengying.

Meanwhile, Prince Baiyu’s parents were in deep discussion with Prince Muyang while the other Black Tortoise clan members were all kissing the ground, crying, and praying. Prince Baiyu and I leisurely strolled towards the palm trees where I set up a picnic blanket that we sat on. The kids and the staff either followed our lead and rested or took their shoes off and played in the water.

“So how’s your zidan now?” I asked Prince Baiyu.

“It’s hard to describe. Now that I’m here, I feel like I’m home, but it’s not my own home…” He smiled and put an arm around me. “Maybe it’s like when I’m at my grandparent’s house. I know I’m very welcome there though it’s not my personal territory.”

“A welcoming feeling, but also a feeling that you’ll eventually have to leave? That makes sense. This is a great vacation spot, but not a place for us to settle down.” I leaned on him and we silently cuddled like that while we waited for the clan members to finish making plans.

After a few minutes, Scholar Wu came to tell us that Prince Muyang wanted to speak to me. All of us crowded around the prince at the landing area to find out what they planned to do, but first, the Black Tortoise clan members all bowed deeply to me and formally thanked me for my efforts.

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“Lady Violet, you will forever be known as the explorer who discovered the hidden location of the Blessed Isles that our people have spent centuries searching for.” Prince Muyang took a jade amulet off his belt sash and offered it to me. “With this, I grant you all the privileges of a Benefactor of the clans.”

I solemnly accepted the token and bowed back. As we had previously discussed, this item also symbolized the clan's permission for me to use the islands while we were here. Everyone clapped, and the prince told us that he and his men would be leaving immediately to explore the main island. They would be gone for at least three days to make a preliminary survey of the newly discovered land.

We bid them farewell, and Fengying arranged for them to take tents, blankets, food, and so forth from the ship before they left.

Since they were in a rush to leave, Scholar Wu explained the details to me.

“There are a lot of legends about the Blessed Isles, and there could be a lot of treasure here.” Scholar Wu, capable as always, started off with the most important piece of information. “According to tales passed down by the elders, this is where the Black Tortoise gathered all her children and ascended.”

I actually already knew that from the books that Scholar Wu had given us before we left. “Yes, I get it. Are they salivating at the thought that the demigods probably left behind some good stuff?”

“My lady, ‘salivating’ is a somewhat inelegant term to use… but, yes.” Her eyes twinkled. “Is there any chance that your bloodline inheritance has information about the White Tiger’s Enlightenment Temple?”

She was referring to the mountaintop temple where the White Tiger ascended with her progeny.

Prince Baiyu laughed. “If she did, she would’ve led us there first, right?”

He kissed the top of my head.

“Hey, behave yourself, I think your parents are watching!” I looked around, but Lady Yuying and Lord Yulin were nowhere to be seen. They must have gone to the ship with Prince Muyang. “Sorry, I don’t know about the temple.”

“Your housekeeper also wanted me to tell you that lunch will be served on the ship shortly,” said Scholar Wu.

“Oh, we better get going then. I want to change into better clothes for planting the crops today.” I looked around for my apprentices and then waved them over.

“Right now? Shouldn’t you eat first?” asked Prince Baiyu.

“It might be too hot later on,” I said.

The kids joined us and we went back up to the [Solarium] where we changed into plain cotton robes and pants. Prince Baiyu and Scholar Wu walked with us to the small bald spot on the hill. The sun beat down on our heads with great ferocity, and I was sweating like a pig by the time we got there.

“This area is very small. We’ll get very little exp,” said Mo.

I surveyed the nondescript open field which was covered in some type of soft, creeping grass. “It’s small but the regional crops we can grow on this special patch of land will be ready to harvest in five days.”

“Five days?! Amazing!” Kharli grinned and took out her hoe.

“Yes, let’s start. I want to plant everything before noon, otherwise this won’t count as day one.” I began plowing the land while Prince Baiyu and Scholar Wu watched.

Tilling the soil took only a few minutes since the space was tiny. At the end of the task, we had only thirty-six square tiles that we could use.

“Nine for each of us,” said Kharli while Mo and Lari were still counting out the number of tiles in their hands.

“Correct.” Scholar Wu patted Kharli’s shoulder, proud that her pupil could do mental math so fast.

We then added [Mysterious Goo] to the soil and I gave them nine seeds of each type of crop.

“These will grow at an accelerated rate on this island, and when we get back home, we can plant them on Emberstone Farm though they will grow at the usual rate there.” I poured the seeds into their waiting hands.

“[Dragonfire Pepper]? The chef will love this,” said Lari.

The aptly named Demon Chef was very fond of spicy ingredients, but he was very professional and always made less mouth-burning versions of the dishes that I liked. I asked Lari to read the description of the seeds out loud for the prince’s and scholar’s sake.

[Dragonfire Pepper:

Blazing red and impossibly hot, this pepper is rumored to bestow courage and strength upon those who can endure its fiery heat.]

“Don’t take the given texts too seriously,” I said to Scholar Wu. “Practically all of my bloodline inheritance items have bombastic item descriptions.”

Scholar Wu made a noncommittal sound that signified neither agreement nor disagreement. Prince Baiyu just smiled.

Next was [Mermaid’s Kiss Cacao]. Using the System’s text-to-speech function, Mo recited the description out loud.

[Mermaid's Kiss Cacao:

A delicate pink plant whose beans have a sweet, floral taste. The ancient immortals used to brew a sweet Vitality Nectar whose main ingredient was the Mermaid’s Kiss Cacao.]

“Do you know anything about Vitality Nectar?” I asked Scholar Wu, who shook her head. “Okay, now the last one.”

It was Kharli’s turn to recite next.

[Ocean’s Heart Coffee:

A coffee plant that produces deep blue coffee beans with a salty tang, providing a surge of energy and enhancing mental clarity.]

The description made me remember my school days back on Earth. “Kids, let me tell you a secret. When you have an exam, you can drink coffee with chocolate and lots of honey to energize your mind.”

“I would like some if it can keep me awake and alert during patrols,” said Prince Baiyu.

He and the other clan members were often called on to do patrol duty at the site of the demon boss’ egg since it was important to monitor the qi in that area.

I shook my head. “Noooo, it’s highly addictive! You can only have the super sweet honey chocolate coffee when it’s really important, like if there’s a big event.”

“Too bad,” he said. Then the naughty prince leaned down and whispered into my ear, “But you’ll still give me something sweet, right?”

I blushed and playfully swatted him away without answering. “Please just stand aside for now. We’re almost done.”

My apprentices and I planted the seeds and watered the tiles. Just as we finished our work, a large shadow passed over us.

Shading my eyes with one hand, I looked up and saw an enormous flying beast.