Putting away the bronze flying sword, Ian Song landed on the deserted island's beach and finally breathed a sigh of relief. Luckily, his luck held—he found an island just before his true essence ran out.
Otherwise, if he fell back into the sea, he had no idea how much longer he could last.
Suddenly, a wave of intense fatigue surged through his body, making him stagger and almost collapse onto the sand.
Lyra Hale reacted quickly and caught him, her eyes full of concern. "Brother-in-law, are you okay?" she asked.
Ian Song waved her off. "I'm fine, just burned through too much stamina."
Hearing this, Lyra felt a little less worried, but guilt welled up in her heart. Her voice grew low: "Brother-in-law, I really dragged you down. If it weren't for me..."
"Silly girl." Ian interrupted Lyra. "Don't overthink it. I need to meditate for a bit. We don't know if this island is safe, so don't wander off."
"Okay, brother-in-law. I'll listen to you."
Watching Ian Song sit down cross-legged and begin meditating without a trace of defense, Lyra's expression grew extremely complicated.
It's said that true feelings show in hardship. Even now, her brother-in-law hadn't abandoned her. Especially after everything they'd gone through together—they'd already had skin-to-skin contact. Thinking of this, Lyra's cheeks flushed, but her face quickly turned pale as she remembered her mission: to bring Ian Song to Mountain-Sea Divine Palace.
"Am I really going to just watch my brother-in-law get killed?"
For a moment, Lyra's face was filled with struggle and hesitation.
Actually, Ian Song wasn't as trusting as Lyra imagined. Ever since he opened his middle dantian, he discovered he could split his consciousness and control two dantians at once during cultivation.
So, even while cultivating with just one dantian, he could still maintain keen awareness of the outside world. If Lyra really tried to attack while he was 'weak,' he'd react instantly.
An hour later.
The true essence in Ian Song's lower dantian had fully recovered, and as it circulated through his body, all physical fatigue vanished.
When he opened his eyes, he found Lyra staring at him in a daze.
He couldn't help but wink at her. "Lyra, does your brother-in-law look good?"
"No way," Lyra blurted out, thoroughly embarrassed.
"Alright, now it's your turn to meditate. I'll stand guard for you."
"Thank you, brother-in-law."
While Lyra meditated to recover her strength, Ian Song activated his Clairvoyant Vision to survey the island.
It was an irregularly shaped, small island—his Clairvoyant Vision could cover the whole area.
There wasn't much vegetation or trees, and apart from a few snakes and insects, no other animals.
"Looks like it's a deserted island!"
Ian Song frowned. His Storage Ring contained some food and water, but at best enough for two people for half a month. After that, they'd run out. In this era, ocean-going ships were rare, so hoping to run into one was unrealistic.
Taking a deep breath, Ian decided to set those worries aside for now. Since the island wasn't dangerous, he didn't need to keep an eye on Lyra every second. He planned to gather some firewood, catch a few fish to roast, and save the food in his Storage Ring for emergencies.
But with so few trees on the island, collecting firewood wasn't easy.
After searching the entire island, Ian barely managed to scrape together a bundle of firewood.
When he returned to the beach, he found Lyra had finished meditating and was anxiously looking around, clearly searching for him.
"Brother-in-law!"
As soon as she saw Ian, a look of delight spread across Lyra's face. She ran to him—and to his surprise, she threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly.
Smack!
The bundle of firewood slipped from Ian's hand. His now-free arms instinctively wrapped around Lyra's slender waist. Gently, he asked, "Lyra, what's wrong?"
"Brother-in-law, I thought you'd left me!" Lyra clung to him even tighter, her tone full of grievance.
"Silly girl." Ian softly stroked Lyra's still-damp hair. "Don't worry, I promise I won't leave you behind."
"Brother-in-law, you're really good to me. No wonder Jade Fox is so obsessed with you," Lyra said wistfully, a hint of envy in her voice.
"Now you know how great your brother-in-law is! Alright, let go for now—I'll go catch some fish in the sea and grill them for you."
...
Splash!
Ian Song dove headfirst into the sea, activating Clairvoyant Vision in his eyes. Catching a few fish was ridiculously easy.
In less than ten minutes, Ian caught a seven- or eight-jin blue sea fish and leapt out of the water.
Seeing Ian catch a fish so quickly, Lyra couldn't help but run over. "Brother-in-law, you're amazing!"
"That's nothing—my grilled fish skills are even better!" Ian joked.
He cleaned the blue fish, tossed out the innards, then took some seasoning from his Storage Ring to marinate it. Finally, he skewered the fish on a stick.
Next up: starting the fire.
When Lyra saw Ian's lighter, her curiosity flared up again.
In less than fifteen minutes, Lyra was sitting by the campfire, smelling a faint aroma wafting from the grilled fish. She hadn't eaten for over ten hours, and her mouth instantly started watering.
A few minutes later, Ian saw the fish was cooked. With a little flourish, he pulled out several spices and sprinkled them over the fish, sending an irresistible aroma straight to Lyra's nose.
Ian took out his bronze flying sword, sliced off a piece of fish, and handed it to Lyra. "Try it—see how it tastes."
"If it's grilled by you, brother-in-law, it must be delicious."
After praising Ian, Lyra brought the piece of grilled fish to her lips and took a small bite. Instantly, an indescribable flavor flooded her mouth. She chewed twice and realized the fish wasn't just tasty—it was unbelievably tender.
"Well? Told you your brother-in-law wouldn't lie to you," Ian laughed.
"Mhm!" Lyra nodded enthusiastically, swallowing the fish before saying, "Brother-in-law, I've never had grilled fish this good."
"Really? Looks like my cooking hasn't gone downhill." Suddenly inspired, he pulled a bottle of white liquor from his Storage Ring and handed it to Lyra with a grin. "Meat needs wine—sis, want to have a shot?"
Lyra was a little surprised to see Ian pull out a bottle of liquor, but after witnessing so many of his miracles, she barely blinked. She took the bottle, twisted off the cap, and took a small sip.
She followed it with another bite of fish, looking utterly content.
Seeing this, Ian also cut off a piece of fish for himself and chewed slowly, finding the blue sea fish far tastier than anything he'd eaten on Earth.
"Here, brother-in-law, you have a shot too." Lyra mimicked Ian's tone, handing him the bottle—a perfect copycat move.