Looking at the golden-red stick, neither wood nor iron, a bit short, Ye Ju felt it resembled Sun Wukong's Ruyi Jingu Bang, but it couldn't be called that. Ye Ju decided to give the divine wood a name. After much thought, no impressive name came to mind. It couldn't just be called "Divine Stick," Ye Ju shook his head. He thought of the divine tree that once shaded the world, giving birth to and protecting countless beings. It had a name. He'd call it Yushou, meaning 'protection.' As soon as he spoke, the divine wood in his hand shone brightly, transforming into a ball of green light and merging into Ye Ju's brow. A bud-shaped mark appeared on his forehead before vanishing.
Ye Ju's vision went dark as he entered his sea of consciousness. Yushou floated in its center. The golden-red stick emitted a faint green light, appearing rather peculiar. His sea of consciousness was about the size of a lake. Ye Ju now understood that his cultivation had advanced, but he was still unaware of the specific stage. He also had no idea how this sea of consciousness had formed. If Yushou hadn't intruded, he wouldn't have known there was a lake in his head. Yue Ju knew he couldn't apply conventional logic to these matters.
"Yushou? Do you like this name?" Ye Ju asked foolishly.
The divine wood swayed, as if nodding.
"Then how do I get out?" Ye Ju asked again.
And then there was no "then." He was struck out of his sea of consciousness by Yushou. Ye Ju's eyes snapped open, and he heard Xiaobai happily exclaim, "Master, you have your innate magical treasure! You can't play favorites! But Yushou is so scary. Master, you must tell it not to bully me." Xiaobai's childish voice sounded both happy and conflicted.
Ye Ju smiled and said, "Xiaobai, don't be afraid. You've saved me twice. You're amazing!"
Hearing his master's praise, Xiaobai jumped for joy. "Master, this is what Xiaobai should do. Master, you have given me the grace of rebirth. Without Master, I would still be an unintelligent creature, possibly hunted before I could awaken my spiritual intelligence and cultivate."
"Hunted? Xiaobai, are there ferocious beasts on this island?" Ye Ju asked in surprise.
"Master, there are none on the island, but there's a giant electric eel spirit in the sea. It almost injured me several times when I was catching blue spirit fish. After awakening my bloodline, I realized that blue scaled fish are a delicacy on the fox dragon's menu! Especially the inner core of the scaled fish, which is an excellent treasure for enhancing cultivation." Even without spiritual intelligence, it couldn't resist the temptation of blue scaled fish, venturing into the sea to catch them.
"Xiaobai, do me a favor and get my clothes from the wooden house," Ye Ju embarrassedly asked Xiaobai for help.
"Master, what are clothes? Can't I just grow fur like me? Or can't you use spiritual power to materialize them?" Xiaobai asked innocently.
Ye Ju rubbed his forehead. It was difficult to explain to a child, let alone beings of different species. Materialize with spiritual power? He'd try. Imagining the clothes he wanted, he could only manage to materialize a chest wrap and shorts. He couldn't help it; his cultivation wasn't enough. It was much better than the previous three-point attire. These chest wrap and shorts felt slightly cool, likely due to his ice spiritual power. They were a pale blue. He drank more spiritual spring water and sat in meditation to regulate his breath. Upon internal inspection of his dantian, he found the five-colored energy cluster had grown several times larger. The blue element occupied half of it, and a white element had appeared. Previously, it was red, yellow, blue, green, and purple. In his sea of consciousness, Yushou's green light had also slightly intensified. This was essentially wood spiritual energy. Ye Ju tentatively guided the green element towards Yushou in his sea of consciousness. Yushou's green light visibly strengthened, but a wisp of green element, as fine as a silk thread, detached and returned to his dantian. The energy cluster in his dantian also changed; the green element became more concentrated, but its proportion remained the same. Ye Ju was puzzled but found nothing amiss, so he let it be.
When he opened his eyes, it was already the next morning. Cultivation pays no heed to time. Xiaobai lay obediently beside him. Yue Ju's stomach rumbled. Having not eaten for a long time, he hadn't felt it while soaking in the spiritual spring, but now, after regulating his breath, his internal organs protested.
"Master, I'm hungry too. I ate all the food you found earlier," Xiaobai said guiltily upon hearing Yue Ju's stomach rumble.
"Alright, let's go catch fish in the sea. My cultivation feels like it's improved quite a bit. If we don't go into the deep sea, we should be able to handle it." Yue Ju wanted to test his limits, and with the divine wood Yushou, he felt confident.
Patting Xiaobai's head: "It's okay. If you ate the food, you ate it. If not, it would have gone bad after so many days. I should thank you, Xiaobai! Come on, let's go to the beach. Xiaobai, tell me where there are many fish. We'll go catch your favorite blue scaled fish, and that ferocious electric eel. Let's see if we can beat it."
"Master, in the eyes of us spiritual beasts, your current cultivation is about stage two. That electric eel is stage three, and I'm stage two. We can ambush it. I hadn't awakened my spiritual intelligence before, so I went when the electric eel was sleeping," Xiaobai said with some worry. It noticed that the master had no combat experience before. Ye Ju also felt a bit concerned, thinking it was best to test his spiritual power first.
"～Ice Blade～" Yue Ju's mouth opened slightly, and with a pointing finger, a surge of spiritual power with ice spiritual energy was instantly unleashed towards a tree as thick as a person's torso. With a rumble, a person-sized tree fell, its broken surface smooth and even. Xiaobai, watching its master display divine might, also opened its mouth and emitted an ice blade, cutting the entire tree into segments. Ye Ju was not surprised; he knew Xiaobai liked water, and its spiritual power aligned with his.
"Again!" Yue Ju exclaimed excitedly.
He simultaneously channeled fire and ice spiritual power. Integrating them, he pointed his sword finger at the pile of logs. With another rumble, the logs exploded and were reduced to ash in an instant.
Xiaobai was stunned. After a while, it snapped back and shouted excitedly:
"Master, you're so fierce!"
Ye Ju rubbed his forehead. Was this a compliment, or a compliment? Well, this uneducated, furry creature... he'd have to find an opportunity to teach Xiaobai some cultural knowledge later.
"Master, you're amazing, so fierce! Let's go catch fish. We can totally dominate that ferocious electric eel..." Xiaobai chattered excitedly, darting left and right around Yue Ju. This young cub must have been bullied terribly before, or it wouldn't be so vengeful.
Arriving at the beach, the tide had receded considerably. The tide often rose at night, and though he had been here for a long time, he still didn't understand why. He and Xiaobai went to the wooden house to retrieve a purple bamboo basin. The wooden house was indeed messy, thanks to Xiaobai.
"Xiaobai, did you eat that electric eel too?" Yue Ju asked.
"Mmm-hmm, Master. I used fox fire to bake and melt the ice, and I ate it. But it tasted awful. Not as good as blue scaled fish," Xiaobai said, sticking out its tongue in disgust. Yue Ju found Xiaobai's human-like action amusing. As for the fox fire Xiaobai mentioned, it was likely another of Xiaobai's innate skills.
"When we catch one next time, I'll roast it for you. Add some sea salt and squeeze some sweet and sour fruit on it. It'll be absolutely delicious." Xiaobai's mouth watered at Yue Ju's description, proving it was undoubtedly a glutton.
"Great, Master, let's go now!" With that, it darted out. Yue Ju shook his head; this little fellow was truly impatient. He walked slowly behind Xiaobai. He couldn't help it; after so many days without eating, although he had replenished with spiritual spring water, he still felt a deep craving for food, as if he had no strength. In a word, he was hungry... In reality, this was Yue Ju's illusion; he hadn't yet achieved abstention from food, so he still had desires of the palate.