Chapter 34: Underwater Cave
Ling Xiao chuckled softly. He, of course, knew what Mikayla Baines was thinking. The investment women made in their appearance often surprised him beyond belief. So he continued, "Of course, such a rejuvenation treatment also costs a lot. One session requires 100,000 usd. Today is the first time, and I'm charging my usual fee, but if you plan to continue with this service, then my fee will increase…"
"Money is not an issue!" Mikayla Baines said decisively, "As long as your results keep up, money is not an issue."
"That's good," Ling Xiao turned a corner while driving and continued, "This type of rejuvenation treatment is different from before. Once a month is enough. Of course, if you have special needs, we can make other arrangements."
"Alright, it's settled then. Thank you for the 100,000 usd this time!" Mikayla finished speaking and hung up the phone. Women are equally obsessed with money and appearance. Taking out 100,000 usd at once, for Mikayla Baines, was not a small sum.
Ling Xiao knew quite clearly that Mikayla Baines's annual income was less than 5 million usd, and that was before taxes. If calculated at twelve times a year, that would be 1.2 million, which would definitely sting her.
Mikayla had only recently become famous in the past two years, and there were not many companies willing to pay a high price to hire her for movies. The truly big brand companies all had their own endorsement plans and would not easily approach her.
Participating in a jewelry exhibition called "Diamonds: Rare Radiance" held at the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles was also an opportunity for Mikayla. If she performed well enough, she could secure an endorsement deal with a top jewelry company, which would bring in 3 million usd in endorsement fees annually. If she could truly secure this deal, Ling Xiao would have helped her immensely.
After parking his car in the parking lot outside Santa Monica Beach, Ling Xiao changed his clothes, walked out of the parking lot, and then headed directly towards the most crowded part of the beach, disappearing into the crowd shortly after.
At this moment, two Caucasian men not far behind Ling Xiao suddenly panicked because Ling Xiao's trace had completely vanished from their sight. The two quickly pulled out their phones and made calls. After talking for a long time, they reluctantly left the beach.
Not long after, at a pier to the north, a figure emerged from the sea. This was where Ling Xiao had moored his speedboat last week.
Starting the speedboat, Ling Xiao departed from Santa Monica Beach. A long, thin white line quickly appeared on the azure ocean, heading rapidly northward.
Ling Xiao's small speedboat was extremely fast, capable of over a hundred miles per hour. On the azure ocean, with continuous green mountains on one side and the vast Pacific Ocean on the other, speeding across it gave one an exhilarating feeling of peace and joy.
Ling Xiao's destination was El Matador State Beach, further north. Compared to Santa Monica Beach, its popularity was much lower.
If you wish to temporarily escape the noisy and bustling crowds and find a quiet beach to fully enjoy a cool summer, then El Matador State Beach will be your ideal dream paradise.
Unlike other Los Angeles beaches, El Matador State Beach is hidden beneath rocky cliffs. In addition to its secluded nature, the white sandy beach also features reef caves of various sizes and scales, and rocks of different shapes stand on the beach.
Especially beneath the towering cliffs, there are even more unknown caves hidden within, and this was precisely the purpose of Ling Xiao's trip.
Near a towering, steep cliff, Ling Xiao stopped his yacht, put on the oxygen tank from the speedboat, and then flipped into the sea, diving towards the depths of the ocean.
At the bottom of the sea, there were also countless hidden caves, some completely submerged in water, others only partially.
Ling Xiao quickly dove forty to fifty meters deep into the ocean, reaching the base of a mountain that extended from the cliff on shore. He found a dark cave and cautiously entered it.
In fact, with Ling Xiao's current Fusion stage cultivation, he could reach such depths of the ocean without an oxygen tank. But to be safe, he still brought an oxygen tank, and even a protective dagger stored in the yacht.
Inside the dark cave, Ling Xiao did not turn on a light but relied solely on memory and his greatly enhanced eyesight after his Breakthrough in cultivation to slowly proceed deeper into the cave. If anyone were to follow Ling Xiao at this moment, they would definitely not be able to avoid making a sound.
Ling Xiao was a very cautious person, even excessively so. In fact, for a person living in this world, being a bit cautious is not a bad thing; the fear is not being cautious enough.
"Matters are accomplished through secrecy, and words are ruined by leaks." This famous quote from "Han Feizi — Difficulties of Persuasion, Chapter 12" has been proven correct countless times throughout history. The most typical example is the destruction of the Song Dynasty. Ling Xiao always believed that the downfall of the Song Dynasty was due to too many people knowing the true core secrets; the literati of the Great Song Dynasty had very little sense of confidentiality, and countless military secrets were inadvertently leaked.
As he walked, Ling Xiao suddenly felt an emptiness before him, and he had already walked out of the water and into a hidden cave within the mountain.
This place was actually about thirty meters below sea level. From inside the cave, the underwater passage Ling Xiao entered appeared to be just a bottomless small pool, sloping downwards into the deep sea.
The entire cave was not very large, only about twenty to thirty meters in circumference. The moisture inside the cave was heavy. In the very center of the cave, a slender stalactite hung from above. A tiny droplet of water accumulated at the tip of the stalactite, dripping into a small bottle placed below after a long time.
This was Ling Xiao's small private base. Gan Jing knew nothing about this place, just as she knew nothing about Ling Xiao's cultivation. She always thought Ling Xiao practiced a virgin boy technique, not knowing that it was not the case at all.
At this moment, the translucent small bottle beneath the stalactite was already full of water. If Ling Xiao had arrived one day later, the water would have overflowed the bottle.
Ling Xiao did not directly take the bottle with his hand but stood before the stalactite, solemnly performing hand seals.
As Ling Xiao performed the hand seals, jade-white lines slowly began to appear around the stalactite. If one stood at a higher vantage point, they would notice that these jade-white lines connected to form an Eight Trigrams Formation.
Only after Ling Xiao finished his hand seals did the Eight Trigrams Formation slowly disappear again. At this point, Ling Xiao truly let out a sigh of relief.
This Eight Trigrams Formation not only served to protect the surroundings but also converted the water droplets dripping from the stalactite into Ren Water, which was a necessity for Ling Xiao to cultivate herbs and for his own cultivation. As for the small amount of substance used for others' youth preservation, it was merely the result of Ling Xiao diluting it. It was diluted by dozens of times, so the two could not be compared at all.
Taking a deep breath, Ling Xiao reached out with his right hand and took the translucent water bottle that was placed there. He immediately capped the bottle and then placed an identical water bottle back in its original spot, continuing to collect the dripping water from above.
These water bottles were not made of ordinary glass, but specially purchased tempered glass bottles. This type of bottle has high strength, high stability, and strong temperature resistance, possessing good thermal stability. It can withstand a temperature difference three times that of ordinary glass, enduring temperature changes of up to 400℃.
Even so, when Ling Xiao held the bottle full of Ren Water in his hand, an irresistible chill still permeated from the Ren Water bottle into his hand. Only when Ling Xiao circulated his True Qi did he manage to resist the invasion of the cold.