Chapter 751: 751 in hand
"Right. Master, do you see that grove over there? That’s the Thunder Tiger’s lair, which was captured with me. Do you want to check it out? Its lair might still be unoccupied by other beasts."
Tan Shaoting shook his head. Right now, nothing was more important than the Water Spirit Pearl. Since he knew its whereabouts, he needed to get it as soon as possible.
After two days of walking, Xiao Huei suddenly stopped, "Master Dad, up ahead is the Jiao’s territory. I don’t dare to go any further."
Tan Shaoting nodded. Qi Wen then put Xiao Huei away.
"The three of you enter the space as well. We haven’t been discovered yet."
Qi Yan and the others knew they would be a burden to their dad. Now, Tan Shaoting was left alone. He plucked a peacock feather, applied an Invisibility Talisman on himself, and cast a Protective Shield before heading in the direction Xiao Huei pointed.
Carefully approaching, he actually realized the Jiao’s Divine Sense wasn’t stronger than his, so he noticed it, but the Jiao didn’t sense an intruder in its territory.
All along, Tan Shaoting pondered on how to lure the Jiao out of the water so he could sneak in unseen.
The odds of this succeeding were very slim. He thought it best to enter the space; this way, the chances of being discovered would be much lower.
Tan Shaoting controlled the space to submerge underwater. He intended to stealthily steal the Water Spirit Pearl as there were no other options.
The weather was excellent today. The Jiao was in its lair cultivating and had sensed a spatial fluctuation earlier, which leisurely brought it out of its lair.
Tan Shaoting and the Jiao unexpectedly came face to face, giving him a scare, yet the Jiao didn’t notice him.
The four family members were all extremely tense. Watching the Jiao leave, Tan Shaoting felt fortunate, crediting his spouse’s uncanny luck not being for nothing.
He hurriedly controlled the space to quickly enter the Jiao’s lair.
Qi Wen also extended her Divine Sense, having a special affinity for the Water Spirit Pearl, which allowed her to locate it the fastest.
"Dad, it’s over there."
Tan Shaoting controlled the space towards the direction his daughter indicated.
Reaching a chamber, it was dazzlingly colorful. Naturally, as a descendant of dragons, Jiao liked collecting beautiful and precious things.
Tan Shaoting immediately spotted the Water Spirit Pearl and directly used the space to collect it, leaving the other items untouched to avoid making Jiao too much of an enemy.
The Jiao went ashore, following the scent to where they had just entered the space.
"So it was that annoying peacock. Clever enough not to come in, otherwise, it would’ve surely met its end."
When it returned to its lair again, it didn’t sense any unfamiliar presence nor notice the Water Spirit Pearl was gone.
Tan Shaoting controlled the space, leaving Jiao’s territory before coming to a stop.
The continuous exertion of controlling the space was indeed draining his Divine Sense. He rested inside the space while the children cultivated on the side.
A day later, Tan Shaoting awoke and discussed with the children.
"We’re not going anywhere else. Let’s quickly leave the Demon Realm. It’s not a place we can stay for long; it’s too dangerous."
Now that the Water Spirit Pearl for Mom had been found, the three children naturally had no objections. In their hearts, nothing was more important than Mom or going back to her.
In their young hearts, the desire to return hadn’t faded after over two years away from Mom; instead, it intensified.
Tan Shaoting cautiously controlled the space, not moving too fast. Low-level demon beasts posed no threat, but high-level ones did.
In the Demon Realm, caution was necessary for everything.
Tan Shaoting encountered countless demon beasts along the way, losing count eventually.
He also had vague thoughts. With the strong reproduction capability of demon beasts and this continent being cursed, there was no generation of cultivation resources, meaning using resources now would reduce them later.
Causing large-scale chaos might eliminate many with poor aptitude, following the law of the jungle.
Tan Shaoting frowned, thinking cooperation to find the cause of the curse and find a solution for mutual benefit was most important.
Finally arriving at the Barrier, demon beasts were even more abundant here.
Tan Shaoting frowned; leaving seemed troublesome.
He tried carefully approaching the damaged part of the Barrier, spotting a Fourth Rank Black Bear.
Tan Shaoting controlled the space to directly land on the Black Bear’s back, sticking to it, hoping it would carry them out.
This was a last resort.
The Black Bear felt it but couldn’t reach its back, so it only scratched an itch before losing interest.
The father and sons took a deep breath inside the space; the earlier situation had them very tense amidst a horde of demon beasts, as a misstep could lead to being trampled.
The children didn’t dare disturb Dad now, worried about causing a distraction.
Soon it was the Fourth Rank Black Bear’s turn to exit, with hardly any Third Ranks left at the Barrier now.
Tan Shaoting thought it must be because the Third Ranks had been exhausted, leaving Fourth Ranks as the main force now.
The Barrier was guarded by two Seventh Rank demon beasts: a Heaven-devouring Python and a Flame Wolf.
As the Black Bear passed, the Flame Wolf glanced with suspicion but didn’t notice anything unusual.
Within the space, the father and sons held their breath, their hearts in their throats. It was truly terrifying. Once out of the Barrier and back into the Cultivation World, they finally relaxed halfway, but Tan Shaoting still didn’t leave the Black Bear.
The creature had long hair. Besides, they would leave this mountain range first.
Now the Black Bear followed behind a Sixth Rank Thunder Tiger, saving them some effort.
They kept their nerves taut along the way. Once out of the mountains, they finally detached themselves from the Black Bear.
This demon beast troop was heading for the battlefield, but they were returning to the Mortal World.
Tan Shaoting waited until the group of demon beasts left his Divine Sense range before controlling the space to find a secluded spot for them to exit the space.
"Dad, are we going back?"
"Yes, to complete the mission, and because we’ll definitely be asked about our passage. We’ll say we relied on the Invisibility Talisman to get out."
The three children nodded. Tan Shaoting wasn’t worried about the children speaking of the space; they couldn’t even if they wanted to, as it was a self-protection measure of the space.
The children also knew not to mention the things obtained in the Demon Realm, while everything else could be told truthfully.
Tan Shaoting returned to the previous forest, where the four exited, each using an Invisibility Talisman.
Upon leaving the forest, they encountered a group of demon beasts, led by a Sixth Rank with a Fourth Rank main force.
They avoided conflict with the demon beasts this time because they were too close to the Barrier, which had Seventh Rank beasts guarding it. A confrontation would have been unacceptable.