Chapter 561: Chapter 545: Survival on a Deserted Island

Zhao Changhe had already taken off his own shirt when Dragon Sparrow was fetching stuff, as the damp garment absolutely could not be worn while exposed to the wind, leaving him completely bare on the upper body now.

At present, the posture between the two, San Niang leaned softly against Zhao Changhe’s left arm, her entire body unresistingly nestled in his bare embrace, with the lower half and arm sections of her clothes already torn off, revealing a stark whiteness; the upper half was also ragged and practically nonexistent, basically facilitating skin-to-skin contact.

While Zhao Changhe’s right hand was wiping beneath San Niang’s ribs, intermittently touching the southern hemisphere unintentionally on purpose, and San Niang’s cheeks flushed red, turning her head away in silence.

Even with Cui Yuanyang, whom everyone had acknowledged, they had never adopted such an overbearingly intimate posture; after all, it wasn’t the right occasion.

The degree of intimacy shown by Tang Wanju seemed already high, but it was always over clothes, and every attempt to undress would provoke her indignation, unwilling to let you cross the line.

San Niang’s sudden advance over Cui Chao and Tang nearly allowed her to compete with her clan’s Holy Daughter Xia Chichi.

More crucially, San Niang was now in a state where she couldn’t resist at all, and if Zhao Changhe wanted her at this moment, she would have no way to resist and could only endure the humiliation, totally fitting the role of a female superior. Thinking further, even after the fact, turning against each other might not happen, whether considering the current survival, the future with the pirate group, or their home, the Four Symbols Sect; without Zhao Changhe, chaos might erupt.

It’s very likely a lost cause if played.

What would happen next depended solely on Zhao Changhe’s character.

However, Zhao Changhe felt this was testing his own character, whereas San Niang perhaps just thought he couldn’t perform. For a fleeting moment, Zhao Changhe really wanted to let her know whether he could or not…

Forget it, he’s not that kind of guy. The evil thought lasted only a second and quickly dissipated, but don’t blame him for swooping in for a little advantage.

So, although he had already evenly applied the ointment, Zhao Changhe continued to stroke and even let his hand wander slightly upward…

The head-turning San Niang finally couldn’t bear it any longer, turned irritatedly without any expression, “Do you enjoy touching?”

Zhao Changhe replied with one final stroke, “It’s okay. Not as good as my Qing’er.”

Upon hearing the word “Qing’er”, San Niang nearly chuckled, forcibly suppressing the urge to laugh, her eyes swirling as she spoke coquettishly, “Why don’t you feel a bit more? Completely?”

Zhao Changhe, however, felt that this so-called coquettish voice was nearly gnashing its teeth and dared not overstep again, so he remained silent, gloomily using her torn clothes to apply the ointment.

After everything was done, Zhao Changhe slowly helped San Niang up, whispering, “Your internal injury is also severe, and being soaked and chilled is extremely harmful to you. I’ll help you lean here for a while, try and see if I can find some stones or dry grass to start a fire… ”

San Niang paused, silent.

Zhao Changhe himself was suffering from a severe headache and wasn’t really in the mood for anything else, looking around, but seeing nothing—only the octopus carcass blocking the view. He then sat San Niang down against the octopus’s body, turned away to look for others.

Just as he turned his head, a wave of dizziness and blurred vision struck, causing him to fall straight down.

“Damn it.” Zhao Changhe spat, spitting out a mouthful of sand, and shakily propped himself back up, picked up Dragon Sparrow as a makeshift cane, limping around the octopus to the back.

San Niang silently watched him fall and get up, staggering, without making a sound from start to finish.

As Zhao Changhe circled a small area, the island turned out to be quite small, visible to its end at a glance, much smaller than the secret realm isolate island he and Yue Hongling had once entered… Huh, is it also Xuanwu related? Are man and woman stranded on an island for survival doomed to this fate?

There were no trees on the island, only some unknown dwarf shrubs without any fruit. There were plenty of rocks, but those in sight were mostly wet, finding dry stones and dry grass seemed nearly impossible.

The Dragon Emperor sword he had lost to the tentacles of the octopus was just off the shore. Zhao Changhe picked it up, passing it to San Niang, “Be careful, something else might sneak out from the sea, hold this for self-defense, I’ll look further.”

Picking up the Dragon Emperor sword reminded him of the Night Emperor Sword Blade that had pierced into the octopus; Zhao Changhe climbed up and delved into the wound for a while before reaching the blade.

Storing the blade and moving forward, a dimmed crystal lay there; Zhao Changhe weighed it, frowning a bit.

Unlike the previous one Xia Longyuan had given him, everything valuable had been absorbed by Xia Longyuan from that one, even including memories, leaving only a pure water crystal with extremely thin energy, useful only for water avoidance and could be regarded as a special effect gem.

The current crystal had not been absorbed by someone like Xia Longyuan; faint shades of sinister and vicious energies still lingered within it, and the surrounding water elements continued to converge towards it, even the moisture on his body was being absorbed, albeit slowly.

It seemed that if it continued to absorb the surrounding water energy, it might revive.

The Sea Emperor could then still observe the surroundings through this crystal; fortunately, it was within the octopus, pitch-dark and nothing visible. If it were outside, the intimate scene would have been exposed.

Grasping the blade, Zhao Changhe stabbed the crystal again, producing a “clang” sound with a spark shooting up, unblemished.

Zhao Changhe was not alarmed but delighted, and instead of retrieving the crystal, he quickly crawled back the way he had come, leaping off the octopus carcass and exclaiming to San Niang, “You should move aside… uh, can you move?”

“I can…” Poor Guigui, slow to react, had no idea what he was doing and moved slightly aside.

The next moment, Zhao Changhe, with both hands, grabbed the huge octopus carcass whose arms visibly swelled up, his muscles knotting, bursting with explosive power.

His True Qi was gone, but his physical strength was still there. That was the advantage of a man who practiced Body Refining.

Not only was he strong, but also immensely powerful.

San Niang watched, wide-eyed, as Zhao Changhe effortlessly lifted and flipped over the giant octopus carcass, exposing the crushed and chaotic bushes underneath.

The bushes had been broken during the fight last night, and now the sun was high in the sky. After the crystal had slowly absorbed it overnight, and with the seawater unable to reach, it was indeed much drier under the belly of the octopus and the bushes below it.

Zhao Changhe picked out some of the driest twigs, took the Dragon Sparrow knife’s back and smashed it against the Night Emperor Sword Blade, sparks scattered, and after who knew how long, a bonfire slowly rose.

With a cheer, Zhao Changhe jumped up, but quickly became dizzy again and groaned as he collapsed downwards.

Just as he was about to crush the hard-earned fire, Zhao Changhe, with a narrow escape, twisted his body midair and managed to awkwardly avoid it, laying down beside it.

Coughing, he looked up only to find himself face to face with a pair of bare, crystal-clear feet.

Zhao Changhe: “…”

San Niang couldn’t help but laugh: “Hey, did you do that on purpose?”

“Ptui!” Zhao Changhe propped himself up, grinning, “We’ve got fire!”

The way he proudly announced it, he might as well have been a general who had just won a great victory.

San Niang’s gaze was softer than ever as she gently hummed in agreement.

In this short time, Zhao Changhe, standing tall and proud, reminded San Niang of her father back in her childhood home.

Once there was fire, a person’s confidence indeed increased significantly. Zhao Changhe carefully added more bushes to the fire, hesitantly turning to glance at San Niang.

Apparently, her wet clothes should have been taken off by now, but they were all torn apart, leaving just a bit of the chest wrap, and even that was revealing. It didn’t seem necessary to undress; it should be fine just warming by the fire. It wasn’t like he could ask her to take off her pants… although those pants didn’t really cover much either.

After all, San Niang, even with her injuries, was not really like Lin Daiyu; her constitution was not like an ordinary person’s. As long as there was a heat source, she should be fine.

But it seemed… the safer the situation, the less likely it was that they could ever freely touch and play like he had while holding her in his arms just before… now the sight of her was more of a torment than a pleasure.

Forget it, why always think of such things. Zhao Changhe shook his head, laughing, “Need to replenish some energy… Fancy some grilled octopus?”

San Niang replied, “This octopus had human-like intelligence, it’s not really seafood, wouldn’t it disgust you?”

“No, this octopus is just a normal octopus. The intelligence was provided by that crystal core, it has nothing to do with the octopus itself.” Though he said this, Zhao Changhe ultimately felt a bit disgusted and shook his head as he stood up, “I’ll go fishing instead.”

San Niang asked, “The fish around here… won’t they all have mutated into fish-people?”

As Zhao Changhe walked towards the seashore, he waved his hand, “Don’t worry, the Sea Emperor only mutates a portion of the species, it’s not like nuclear waste with contagious radiation. The Sea Emperor wouldn’t irradiate at will… That said, I think the villains of this world aren’t evil enough…”

San Niang: “?”

Zhao Changhe didn’t explain further and directly jumped into the sea, soon emerging with a fish half his height, laughing, “Rest assured, it’s definitely a real fish.”

San Niang slightly smiled, watching him return triumphantly, it was hard to pinpoint what she felt at the moment.

However, as the triumphant Zhao Changhe walked, suddenly everything went dark before his eyes, and he, along with the fish, collapsed to the ground, fainting once again.

He had been persevering through a soul-sea in turmoil, suffering from splitting headaches, and acting as the pillar for their survival. Now that everything had settled, the injuries healed, the fire made, and food secured, his spirits relaxed, and fatigue overwhelmed him, leaving him unable to hold on any longer.

As he collapsed like a falling golden mountain and a toppling jade pillar, San Niang felt her heart wrench, inexplicably feeling an apocalyptic panic.

Such a sentiment, she hadn’t experienced it in at least twenty years…