Chapter 97

After resting, Bai Cangdong and Captain Jin fought again. This time, Bai Cangdong's imitation martial arts were still no match for Captain Jin. In critical moments, he could only rely on his own agility to save himself.

After a fight and a rest, and then another fight, they didn't know how much time had passed. Bai Cangdong didn't feel anything, but Captain Jin became increasingly alarmed and felt more and more uncertain.

At the beginning, Bai Cangdong's imitation of martial arts was indeed very poor, one might say he was trying to draw a tiger but ended up with a dog. However, Bai Cangdong kept growing, while Captain Jin's imitation remained at the same level from the start, never changing.

At some point, Captain Jin began secretly increasing the number of his innate divine light slots, no longer daring to use the same thirty slots to fight Bai Cangdong.

At first, Captain Jin only secretly increased his innate divine light slots a little, but later he increased them more and more, until he used all of his innate divine light. He also dared not use the imitated martial arts anymore, instead using his own true skills. Bai Cangdong, however, continued to use the martial arts he had learned from Captain Jin, which, although not exactly the same as the original, were indeed what Bai Cangdong had learned from him.

"So, your true skill is spear techniques," Bai Cangdong said with a smile when he saw Captain Jin summon a golden spiral-patterned spear.

"I have many skills," Captain Jin said stubbornly, his spear piercing out with a whistling sound of innate divine light.

Bai Cangdong didn't summon any weapons, still using the martial arts and agility he had stolen to engage Captain Jin. Captain Jin's spear techniques were grand and sweeping, the spear dancing like a tornado, with astonishing power.

Bai Cangdong didn't take it seriously at first and even wanted to steal Captain Jin's spear techniques. However, he gradually felt something was wrong. The tornado created by Captain Jin grew stronger, as if accumulating the innate divine light he had released, rolling like a snowball, growing larger and larger. By the time Bai Cangdong realized it, the tornado had almost become unstoppable.

"Die!" Captain Jin, in a killing frenzy, completely forgot they were still in the alchemy chamber and actually tried to kill Bai Cangdong with the tornado.

As soon as the tornado left the spear, Captain Jin regretted it. Pirates who dared to kill on Sword Island never had a good end.

"Open!" Bai Cangdong summoned the dual serpent blades and fiercely slashed at the tornado, the innate divine light forming a pair of fierce serpents that tore the tornado apart.

Captain Jin was chilled to the bone. That tornado spear strike was his strongest attack, yet it was shattered by Bai Cangdong, who only had thirty innate divine light slots. This was truly shocking.

Bai Cangdong's dual serpent blades appeared and disappeared in an instant, and he didn't even have time to see what they looked like.

"Now, can we talk about cooperation?" Bai Cangdong said calmly.

Bai Cangdong was still Bai Cangdong, his height and weight unchanged, exactly the same as before entering the alchemy chamber. However, in Captain Jin's eyes, Bai Cangdong seemed completely different from when he first entered the chamber.

"How do you want to cooperate?" Captain Jin asked, frowning.

"What else can I think of? We already agreed that I would provide the demon ghost crystals and you would provide the secret, and we would split the benefits. Now that the passage token is in your hands, you should be able to tell me the secret, right?" Bai Cangdong said.

Captain Jin's expression changed, and he was quite conflicted. Given Bai Cangdong's displayed strength, if he didn't tell Bai Cangdong the secret, even with the passage token in his possession, he wouldn't be able to leave the chamber.

But if he told Bai Cangdong the secret, it would be like giving him a handle, and he would definitely be at a disadvantage in the future.

"You're just afraid I'll leak the secret, but why worry? Even if I don't know the secret, I can still make many people believe that the demon ghost crystals have a secret. Don't you think so?" Bai Cangdong added when he saw Captain Jin's hesitation.

Captain Jin's expression changed, and he finally sighed, "I know this secret can't be kept for long. I can tell you the secret, but I have one condition."

"Go on."

"After you give me the demon ghost crystals, you need to wait three months before I can give you your share."

"Fine," Bai Cangdong agreed readily.

Unexpectedly, Bai Cangdong suddenly became easy to talk to, and Captain Jin was taken aback, saying suspiciously, "Aren't you afraid I'll run away?"

"I have no intention of leaking the secret of the demon ghost crystals. You can continue to collect them on Demon Ghost Island. Why would you give up a laying hen for a single benefit? So I believe you won't do something that foolish," Bai Cangdong said, though he was thinking, "I just want to know the secret. As for the demon ghost crystals on the ship, there are only two or three hundred. What does it matter if I give them all to you?"

Captain Jin pondered for a long time, then took out a demon ghost crystal and said to Bai Cangdong, "This secret was discovered by chance. Apart from me and my knights, no one else in the Golden Pirate Gang knows about it. The effect of the demon ghost crystals is too powerful, and I didn't dare to ensure the secret wouldn't be discovered by others. I also feared that a large-scale collection would draw attention, so I sent Jin Dou to collect them quietly. I didn't expect it to benefit you."

Bai Cangdong listened quietly without contradicting anything.

Captain Jin held the demon ghost crystal in his hand and summoned a rankless Undead Egg, which transformed into a sea turtle-like Undead. The sea turtle was peculiar, with a bone-white body, including its head, limbs, and tail.

"This is a Bone Turtle, a common type of Undead in the Bone Sea, with no rank," Captain Jin said, placing the demon ghost crystal near the Bone Turtle's mouth. The Bone Turtle's eyes lit up, and it immediately swallowed the demon ghost crystal.

Captain Jin then took out nine more demon ghost crystals from a nearby bag and fed them to the Bone Turtle one by one. After the Bone Turtle ate the tenth crystal, an incredible scene occurred.

The Bone Turtle's body trembled violently, inflating like a balloon, and then a mark of a Baron appeared on its body.

"Demon ghost crystals can advance the rank of Undead!" Bai Cangdong was shocked beyond measure and immediately asked, "Does this effect work on Baron or Viscount-level Undead?"

"I don't know. I don't have enough demon ghost crystals to test it. Ten demon ghost crystals are definitely not enough to advance a Baron to a Viscount. More would be needed for extensive testing," Captain Jin said.

Bai Cangdong was extremely shocked. Even if the demon ghost crystals couldn't advance a Baron to a Viscount, just advancing a rankless Undead to a Baron was already incredibly powerful, making the value of demon ghost crystals skyrocket.

After all, Undead Eggs were rare, and rankless Undead Eggs were the easiest to obtain. With just ten demon ghost crystals, a rankless Undead could be advanced to a Baron. If one could have a large number of Baron-level Undead, the difficulty of advancing a Baron to a Viscount would be greatly reduced. With demon ghost crystals, as long as one had enough, advancing to a Viscount would be much easier.

Moreover, demon ghost crystals might even advance a Baron to a Viscount, and a Viscount to a Count, making their value immeasurable.

"Both the demon ghost crystals and the Jade Armor Sky are treasures of immeasurable value. We must firmly hold onto Demon Ghost Island. But how can we keep the Golden Pirates' mouths shut?" Bai Cangdong's mind raced, but he couldn't think of a good solution. The Golden Pirates were strong, and with their four knights and three hundred Viscounts, it was impossible for just three people to defeat them.

"Now you understand why I can't give you the Life Scale immediately. If the secret of the demon ghost crystals gets out, many people will go crazy. The crystals on Demon Ghost Island will never fall into our hands again. It's better to use the demon ghost crystals to advance Undead Eggs and then disperse them. Although this might eventually draw attention and expose the secret, it's better than selling the crystals. If you keep the secret, not only this batch of demon ghost crystals, but any future ones we collect, I will share the profits with you, though not fifty percent, but enough to satisfy you."

"Since you've said this much, I have no reason to refuse. Besides, I never intended to leak the secret," Bai Cangdong said.

"Great, I wish us a pleasant cooperation," Captain Jin said with a smile, though his thoughts were elsewhere.

Bai Cangdong smiled even more brightly, thinking, "I wonder what Captain Jin's expression will be when he sees there are only two hundred demon ghost crystals on the ship."

The two spent the remaining time in friendly conversation, then left the alchemy chamber arm in arm, looking very intimate, which made the pirates and Feng Xian, who came to meet them, stare in amazement.

"Brother Bai, don't worry. Once I get the Life Scale, I won't keep you waiting a moment. You can always come to Demon Ghost Island to visit," Captain Jin said with a bright smile.

"Brother Jin, I will definitely come," Bai Cangdong said sincerely, with no intention of deceiving Captain Jin. He truly intended to visit Demon Ghost Island.