Xu Qi’an beckoned, and the corpse of the mermaid, bobbing up and down amid the blue waves and white foam, rose into the air and hovered before the two of them.
“There aren’t any obvious, clear bite marks. The attacker’s body should’ve been enormous, it bit her clean through in one go…”
Xu Qi’an examined the wound where the merperson had been severed at the waist and made his judgement:
“She ran into a large predator.”
The Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox waited for him to finish, then calmly took over:
“As far as I know, there aren’t any large predators entrenched or dwelling in these waters. If this mermaid wasn’t one of the Mermaid Queen’s personal guards, but an ordinary merperson, then she may have run into a predator that strayed into merpeople waters by chance.
“As for now, there’s most likely trouble on Mermaid Island. Because the queen’s personal guards wouldn’t leave her side.”
Xu Qi’an nodded.
“So if a guard ran into a predator, that means the queen ran into a predator too. And the Mermaid Queen is a beyond-mortal expert, yet one of her guards still got killed…”
The conclusion spoke for itself, the enemy was beyond-mortal too.
“Are there really this many beyond-mortal experts overseas? We only just put to sea and we’ve already run into two?” Xu Qi’an said in astonishment.
A place like Mermaid Island, where a race had lived for generations, was like a small faction, a faction made up of descendants of gods and demons. It was understandable for it to have a beyond-mortal expert holding the fort. Another example was Silkworm Island, where the Hell Silkworms lived.
But to run into a beyond-mortal so casually still felt rather exaggerated.
The silver-haired fox demon curled her lip.
“The last time I went to sea, apart from those experts in their fixed habitats, I practically didn’t run into any beyond-mortal gods or demons on the way.”
In other words, this was a low-probability event.
Perhaps the merpeople had provoked some powerful enemy, or perhaps descendants of gods and demons from elsewhere had just happened to wander here.
Xu Qi’an continued examining the corpse. Suddenly, he frowned and said:
“Perhaps the ones in trouble are us.”
The Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox looked at him and made a puzzled sound.
“Hm?”
“This mermaid’s corpse has been soaking in the water for more than ten hours, but the merpeople haven’t recovered their companion’s body, and there aren’t any signs of fish or shrimp in the sea having nibbled at it either.” Xu Qi’an smiled. “What does that tell you?”
The silver-haired fox demon was extremely quick-witted. With just that hint, she understood at once.
Frowning, she said:
“That powerful predator is still roaming these nearby waters!”
So the merpeople didn’t dare leave the island, and the creatures in the surrounding sea had either been eaten or scared off. That was why the corpse had remained relatively intact, without being gnawed at by fish or shrimp.
The blue waves rippled, and the ship continued forward at an even speed, rising and falling slightly with the swell.
For the next stretch of the journey, Xu Qi’an and the Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox silently waited for something.
The sun shone brilliantly, the sky was azure, and the salty sea wind lifted their hair and tugged at their clothes. Suddenly, Xu Qi’an’s ear twitched. He heard the undercurrents in the seabed not far away suddenly surge, some enormous monster swimming through the water.
At the same time, a martial artist’s danger sense began to warn him.
Bare, undisguised killing intent and malice…
Xu Qi’an glanced at the silver-haired fox demon. The fox spirit walked to the ship’s rail, her two long legs slender and strong.
With a slight twist of her narrow waist, one fluffy fox tail suddenly shot up and stabbed into the sea.
The other eight tails rose behind her, slowly swaying like a peacock spreading its tail, poised to strike.
Xu Qi’an listened intently. All he could hear beside his ears was the rush of surging water, and the undercurrents beneath the sea surface suddenly grew countless times more violent.
It’s wrapped around it… he said silently to himself.
At that moment, the taut and shapely long legs of the Nine-tailed Fox beside him suddenly tightened, her knees sinking slightly, and the eight tails behind her drew taut in an instant.
With a twist and pull of her slim waist, she exerted force like an angler.
The next moment, the sea bulged and spray burst forth.
Splash!
White foam and azure waves erupted more than a dozen zhang high. Amid the “torrential rain”, an enormous shadow leapt out of the sea and entered the sight of Xu Qi’an and the Nine-tailed Fox.
It was a river dragon, its body covered in jet-black scales, with a savage and ugly head. A row of bony spikes grew along its back, and there was also a spear-like horn on its forehead.
Unlike ordinary river dragons, its four limbs were exceptionally thick, and thick webs of flesh stretched between its claws.
Overall, it looked more like a lizard.
In addition, its body was covered in twisted, chaotic patterns. Just one glance at them made a person dizzy, tight-chested, and nauseous.
Mid-stage beyond-mortal by the look of it. Vigorous qi and blood, very strong… Xu Qi’an estimated the other’s cultivation with a single glance.
It wasn’t that his judgement was particularly sharp, but that the river dragon hadn’t concealed its aura at all, instead flaunting its savage ferocity to the fullest.
Its eyes were blood-red, full of violence, lacking sufficient reason.
Its body was bound by the fluffy fox tail. Seeing that it couldn’t break free from the fox’s tail, the river dragon let out a deep growl and actually rammed straight at them.
“Hmph!”
The silver-haired fox demon curled her gorgeous red lips. The eight tails behind her, already poised to strike, shot out like iron chains, hooking onto the river dragon’s neck, limbs, tail, and waist respectively.
Rip, rip…
Amid a horrifying sound of flesh being torn apart, the dragon’s body separated inch by inch, scarlet blood raining down.
Before the blood could splash onto the sea, Xu Qi’an gathered it together and held it condensed in his palm.
Even after being cut into sections, the river dragon still hadn’t died. The flesh and blood at the severed ends writhed, trying to regenerate.
But it failed. The Nine-tailed Fox knew well how to deal with third rank descendants of gods and demons (martial artists). The answer was to slice them up, and the finer the pieces, the better.
Then control the severed limbs and not let them gather together.
That way, although a beyond-mortal with formidable vitality wouldn’t die at once, the vitality of the severed limbs wasn’t enough to regenerate an entirely new body.
Just like now, every section of the river dragon’s body was trying to “be reborn”, but its essential blood was limited, and it couldn’t possibly grow into a brand-new individual.
“It seems its intellect has gone wrong. It can’t communicate…” the Nine-tailed Fox judged after studying the river dragon for a moment.
“What could’ve caused a beyond-mortal river dragon to lose its mind?”
As Xu Qi’an spoke, he flicked a finger.
With a pop, the river dragon’s skullcap was flipped open, and shattered bone and brain matter splattered everywhere.
At the same time, an illusory river dragon separated from the flesh. This was its primordial spirit.
The river dragon’s primordial spirit was intact, but its violent savagery hadn’t improved because of what had happened to its body. After circling once in the air, it dove at the two on the bow again.
It’s completely lost its reason… In that case, even a Daoist soul-questioning spell wouldn’t get any useful information out of it. Oh right, I forgot, I’m only a coarse martial artist. I don’t know Daoist arts…
Xu Qi’an opened his mouth and sucked hard.
Like an abyssal maw, he drew the river dragon’s primordial spirit into his mouth.
At the back of Xu Qi’an’s neck, the Sevenfold Gu propped up his skin, revealing a clear outline. Its head wriggled slightly, as though it were chewing on something.
A moment later, Xu Qi’an said:
“Put it back together.”
The Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox released her restraints and brought the segments of body and limbs together. They began writhing and reconnecting on their own, and very quickly the fierce and powerful river dragon was restored.
The river dragon hovered silently in the air, motionless.
Xu Qi’an opened his mouth and spat out the dragon soul. It no longer had the savage ferocity from before, but its expression was vacant, its form even more illusory, and its head was no longer that of a hideous river dragon, but a triangular insect head.
Its consciousness had been erased, and the heavenly soul among its three souls had also been devoured by the Sevenfold Gu.
This was the ability gained by the Corpse Gu after stepping into the beyond-mortal realm, devouring part of a puppet’s soul, then fusing the remaining remnant soul with a child gu.
In other words, the dragon soul at this moment was the child gu.
The dragon soul returned to the river dragon’s body. Its eyes regained a little liveliness, though compared with normal living beings they were still somewhat vacant.
Seeing this, the Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox withdrew her tails and let the river dragon fall into the sea.
The river dragon obediently circled around the ship like a loyal guard.
“Tsk tsk, Gu arts really are useful. Just like that, you’ve subdued a beyond-mortal descendant of gods and demons.”
The Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox’s voice was full of envy.
Mm, even if it’s only scraps of meat, the life essence of a third rank is still a great tonic for me. If this voyage doesn’t end with me hunting a descendant of gods and demons at second rank, or even first rank, then collecting some third ranks isn’t bad either. It’s better than going home empty-handed…
Xu Qi’an was fairly satisfied.
As long as he’d gained something, he felt more at ease.
The Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox seized the chance to ask for a share, speaking in a coquettish tone:
“Silver Gong Xu, finders keepers doesn’t mean all for you!”
At that moment, the river dragon poked its head out of the sea and spoke in human language, complaining:
“Are you having a laugh, sir? Why are you still keeping such a meddlesome woman around? Sleep with her, then kick her into the sea, you brat!”
The silver-haired fox demon’s face darkened as she glared at Xu Qi’an.
Whatever it says has nothing to do with me… Xu Qi’an beamed.
Ignoring the fox spirit’s displeasure, Xu Qi’an focused and sensed the river dragon’s innate gifts. His brow instantly tightened. Opening his eyes, he said in surprise:
“There’s something wrong with this river dragon!”
The silver-haired fox demon sneered.
“Is there something wrong with it, or something wrong with you?”
Xu Qi’an wasn’t joking. The river dragon’s innate divine powers were abnormally chaotic. It had water, fire, lightning, earth, and other elemental divine powers. On top of that, it had all sorts of other messy abilities.
That was obviously not normal.
As he brought the ship to a halt, he told the Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox what he’d discovered.
The silver-haired fox demon’s beautiful brows knit tighter and tighter as she listened.
“Impossible!”
She seemed to think of something. Two fox tails reached into the water, and amid the crashing of the waves, “grabbed” the river dragon and lifted it into mid-air.
“A Yao clan member’s innate divine powers are usually condensed in the inner core. As for descendants of gods and demons, it depends on how thin their bloodline is. If the bloodline of gods and demons is purer, then it’s branded into their flesh and on the surface of the body. If the bloodline is thinner, then it’s branded into the inner core.”
The Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox explained.
Xu Qi’an said:
“Then the patterns on this river dragon’s body are its innate divine powers, right?”
The silver-haired fox demon fixed her sparkling eyes on those twisted patterns. As she nodded, she said:
“I think I roughly know the reason… these patterns disorder the primordial spirit, so I didn’t inspect them closely just now. Look, they’re all chaotic.”
Xu Qi’an nodded.
The Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox continued:
“Not only that, the innate divine powers represented by these patterns are all different. And every single pattern is incomplete. It’s like an aggregate of incomplete innate divine powers.
“I think that’s why you sensed such a chaotic jumble of innate divine powers.”
Xu Qi’an pondered for a moment, staring at the demoness’s gorgeous face.
“What kind of situation is this?”
For professional questions, ask a professional.
“How should I know?”
She rolled her alluring eyes, then her face turned grave.
“Innate divine powers are inborn, they exist within the bloodline. Some are single-element, some are dual-element, but a case like this shouldn’t exist. The mere fact that these innate divine powers are incomplete is enough to show there’s a problem.”
Xu Qi’an considered his words before saying:
“It fell into a berserk state and lost its reason. Could that be connected to the strange patterns on its body? Perhaps it went mad precisely because it gained all these messy powers.”
The Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox gave an “mm”.
“I suspect that too. But its mind is already gone. We have no way of knowing where it went before this, or what it encountered.”
She looked regretful.
But Xu Qi’an smiled.
“We don’t know, but the Mermaid Queen might. Let’s pay Mermaid Island a visit first and see what’s going on. We’ve helped her deal with a powerful enemy, so asking around for some information isn’t too much, is it?”
Besides that, there was information about the settlements of descendants of gods and demons in various places, the dwelling places of powerful creatures, and so on.
Mm, and while I’m at it, I can also have a look at the Mermaid Queen who’s famed for her beauty.
At that moment, a head emerged from the sea not far away. It was an exceedingly striking beauty, with dark green hair, pupils like scattered gold, and pointed ears.
She looked at Xu Qi’an and the Nine-tailed Fox on the bow with both curiosity and timidity.
Just in time… Xu Qi’an muttered inwardly and stretched out his hand, his five fingers closing forcefully in a grasp.
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