The mermaid struggled in terror, her long fish tail lashing constantly like a fish being held up in mid-air.
Only then did Xu Qi’an get a clear look at the mermaid’s lower body. It wasn’t much different from an ordinary fish, but the forked tail fin was thick and broad, and it felt as though one flick of that tail could smash a person to death.
This tail moves powerfully, with beautiful lines. If it were on a human woman, that would be, no, a pair of long, athletic legs… Xu Qi’an noticed that she was wearing rattan armour, and around her neck hung a necklace strung with pearls and shells. He sent his thoughts to her:
“Are you one of the Mermaid Queen’s guards?”
Merpeople certainly couldn’t speak the human tongue. Fortunately, once one’s primordial spirit became powerful enough, one could transmit thoughts directly in place of speech.
At its most basic, this only let the other party sense one’s joy, anger, sorrow and delight. But to use thoughts in place of language, one’s primordial spirit had to be at least beyond-mortal, for martial artists at least.
“Who are you people!”
the mermaid said.
She spoke in the language of gods and demons, a tongue passed down from ancient times, so Xu Qi’an couldn’t understand her.
The silver-haired Yao beauty said coolly:
“You’re not qualified to question us. Answer mine.”
She released a wisp of her aura at once, and the mermaid’s tail trembled as fear showed on her face. She nodded hard.
The Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox looked stern, exceptionally cold and beautiful. Only at moments like this did she truly have something of a queen’s aloof majesty. She asked:
“Has your Mermaid Island run into trouble?”
As she spoke, she glanced at the half corpse of a merperson on the deck.
The mermaid, whom Xu Qi’an was “holding” in the air, fixed her gaze on the corpse on the deck and showed a look of grief. “Not long ago, a powerful descendant of gods and demons came to Mermaid Island and devoured quite a few of our people. The Queen led the guards out to sea to fight it, but couldn’t drive it away. Many of my sisters were eaten.”
The merpeople’s view of love was so loyal it was almost twisted. If they encountered a wilful married couple, they would even insist on a one-child rule. Let alone three children, they weren’t even willing to have two.
So even after endless ages of reproduction, the merpopulation had never really increased. Sometimes it even showed negative growth.
Every single member of the tribe was extraordinarily precious.
Xu Qi’an asked:
“Why did that river dragon want to eat you?”
The mermaid shook her head in grievance and said:
“I don’t know.
“Our people are now hiding in the caves on the island and don’t dare go out to sea. The Queen was injured and is recovering in the palace. I came out to investigate the situation. Just now I heard its roar from this side, so I came over to have a look.”
At this point, she remembered again the terror of being dominated by that monster. Her golden eyes darted about in panic as she looked left and right, trembling as she said:
“You were attacked by it too, weren’t you?
“I only came to investigate. I meant no harm. Please let me go. If it discovers me, it’ll go mad.”
Seeing that Xu Qi’an and the Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox both looked calm, as though they had no idea how serious the matter was, she grew even more anxious.
“You may not know this, but it goes mad the moment it sees a merperson. Once it goes mad, even the Queen isn’t its match.”
Don’t think that just because it’s not here any more, it’s not much to worry about.
Xu Qi’an, who couldn’t understand the language of gods and demons, turned to look at the Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox, and she translated the mermaid’s words for him.
Xu Qi’an’s face changed. He pointed at the sea beneath the mermaid in alarm and said:
“Is it that one?”
The mermaid lowered her head to look. On the undulating blue waves, a savage dragon head had emerged. Its scarlet eyes stared at her grimly as it slowly opened its bloody maw.
“Ah!”
She let out a scream. Her face twisted with fear, her fish tail convulsed and trembled, and a certain part near the base of tail split open and sprayed out a clear liquid.
This is enough to scare her into peeing herself? Hm? Wait, fangs… Xu Qi’an noticed that when this mermaid screamed and opened her little mouth, two sharp little fangs were visible.
The merpeople really have no luck with fine eating… he thought with some regret. He didn’t keep scaring her, and instead controlled the river dragon to dive beneath the sea. After the mermaid had calmed down somewhat, he said:
“It’s already been subdued by me. Now take us to see the Mermaid Queen.”
The mermaid kept glancing at the sea and hadn’t fully believed it yet. Her face was still full of fear.
Xu Qi’an controlled the river dragon to surface, then made it swim around the ship in an obedient manner.
After seeing it with her own eyes, the mermaid gradually accepted reality and chose to believe them. When she looked at Xu Qi’an, she could hardly hide her astonishment.
One had to know that this river dragon was even stronger than the Queen, yet such a powerful creature had actually submitted willingly.
That was even harder than killing it.
She knew the evil river dragon was insane and devoid of reason.
Thinking of this, the mermaid felt even more awed.
But she still stubbornly shook her head.
“I, I need to report to the Queen first.”
There was no way she could privately bring such a terrifying expert to see the Queen. That was the awareness a queen’s guard ought to have, an awareness above life itself.
Xu Qi’an nodded slightly.
“Go and come back quickly.”
With a casual toss, he threw her out. The mermaid traced an arc through the air and fell into the sea with a splash.
…
The capital.
In a secluded little courtyard in Lingbao Temple, Chu Yuanzhen sat cross-legged in a meditation chamber, looking at Luo Yuheng, cold and breathtaking as a fairy from the Ninth Heaven, seated on the prayer mat opposite him.
“National Teacher, how do you think I ought to walk my own path and advance to beyond-mortal?”
Chu Yuanzhen asked humbly for guidance.
As a nominal disciple of the Human Sect who practised the sword path, the only person he could seek instruction from was Luo Yuheng.
Xu Qi’an’s words before leaving, together with the successive advancements of the Earth Book Society members into beyond-mortal, had placed enormous pressure on him, making him desperate to improve himself, transcend mortality, and step into the beyond-mortal realm.
Before outsiders, Luo Yuheng was always cold, proud and untouchable.
After a slight pause for thought, she said slowly:
“The Human Sect has three great sword arts, control, heart, and qi. To bring the first two to their utmost, both require a powerful primordial spirit as support. Since you don’t cultivate the Daoist mental methods, fourth rank is already your limit. As for qi, your nurtured intent has already opened up an entirely new path.
“It’s just that this move emphasises accumulation before release. It can serve as a trump card, but it’s hard to use in a normal fight.”
Chu Yuanzhen smiled bitterly.
“National Teacher, your insight is sharp indeed.”
Luo Yuheng said:
“Nurturing intent means nurturing spirit and emotion as well. The Human Sect’s karmic fire happens to be the seven emotions and six desires. Why not try exploring in that direction?”
Chu Yuanzhen’s eyes lit up, but his expression soon turned complicated.
On the one hand, he felt the National Teacher had opened the gates to a new world for him. On the other, he felt there might be a bottomless abyss behind that gate.
What if I’m consumed by karmic fire too? Am I supposed to dual cultivate with Xu Qi’an as well… Zhuangyuan Chu’s expression became even more complicated.
…
Mermaid Island, inside the caves.
The interior of the island was covered in natural karst caves. Their entrances connected to the seabed, and seawater flowed into them, forming natural shelters suitable for merpeople to live in.
Azi swished her strong, powerful tail, stirring the undercurrents as she sped through the seabed. The flesh beneath her arms parted, revealing gills that allowed her to breathe underwater.
Before long, she had returned to Mermaid Island.
She accurately found an underwater cave leading into the caverns and agilely slipped inside.
She quickly passed through the long, narrow underwater passage, then started rising. A few seconds later, she broke the surface smoothly.
Azi switched her breathing system, twitched her fine, straight nose, and took several deep breaths of fresh air.
This was a gigantic cavern. From the ceiling hung jagged stalactites like interlocking fangs. In the middle ran a broad “river”, and on both sides of the river were uneven paths that could still be walked on.
Azi continued swimming along the river. After many twists and turns, she finally saw the palace built within the immense cavern.
The palace was pressed against the rock wall, half submerged in the water and half exposed above it.
Its architectural style was ancient and simple, built of piled stone with pointed roofs, lacking any especially ornate decoration.
Inside the cavern, outside the palace, there were many, many merpeople. Some were in the water, some sat on the shore with their fish tails soaking in the water, talking in low voices, their faces full of sorrow.
Ever since that evil river dragon had arrived, the merpeople no longer dared go out to sea.
With more than two thousand merpeople in the tribe, food had become an enormous problem.
At first, some merpeople still dared venture out of the underwater caverns to catch food nearby, but gradually there were no fish left around Mermaid Island to hunt.
And since merpeople were killed every time they went out, none dared leave any more.
Their current food sources were wild fruit on the island and the animals living on it.
But feeding the entire merpeople tribe with that was still only a drop in the bucket.
“This can’t go on. I’ve already been hungry for two days. If there’s no food soon, I’ll go mad.”
“But there’s no food left nearby.”
“Even chewing seaweed would be better. Going out means death, hiding here means death too.”
“Why is that evil river dragon targeting our merpeople tribe? Even the Queen isn’t its match. What are we supposed to do…”
Whispers spread among the merpeople.
Every face was heavy, every brow furrowed. There were no smiles, and the whole tribe was filled with a stifling, oppressive atmosphere.
Some merpeople were already so hungry they had no strength left.
“Lady Azi is back!”
Some of the tribe spotted Azi returning. Delighted that she hadn’t died in the river dragon’s jaws, they also asked eagerly:
“Did you bring food back?”
Azi shook her head.
“There haven’t been any fish or shrimp nearby for a long time.”
The tribe member who had asked looked full of disappointment, and the merpeople around them, who had been watching with eager eyes, also dimmed.
After a few seconds, another member of the tribe asked:
“What about that evil river dragon? Azi, did you run into it?”
The tribe all looked over again.
Azi nodded.
“It was killed.”
The cave abruptly fell silent. The merpeople farther away all turned their heads in unison, shock, doubt and a faint trace of hope in their eyes.
“Azi, what did you say?”
an elderly merperson asked in a trembling voice.
“Really, Azi? Is what you’re saying true?”
“Don’t lie to us. How could that monster possibly be killed? The Queen is still recovering from her injuries in the palace.”
“Azi, if you’re lying, I’ll go and report you to the Queen.”
The surrounding merpeople became agitated at once, all questioning her at once and stirring up a noisy swell of voices.
At that moment, the doors of the distant main hall opened, and a middle-aged mermaid swam out holding a steel fork. Looking at the gathered merpeople in the river running through the hall, she rebuked them:
“The Queen is recovering. Stop making such a racket.”
She was pretty, though the years had left obvious traces on her face, with faint crow’s feet at the corners of her eyes.
Yet in terms of charm, she had more flavour and elegance than the younger mermaids.
This middle-aged mermaid then looked at Azi, and the severity on her face softened slightly.
“It’s good that you’re back.”
Azi twisted her waist and swished her tail as she swam over.
“Captain of the Guard, I need to see the Queen. I have something to report.”
The middle-aged mermaid nodded slightly.
“Come with me.”
The two merpeople immediately swam into the hall. The interior of the palace was simple in structure, a huge pool, and countless luminous pearls were set into the walls like stars scattered across the sky.
In the middle of the pool stood a pedestal carved from brilliant crimson coral, and on top of it was a large bed also made of red agate. Gauzy curtains as thin as cicada wings hung down, and reclining sideways upon the bed was a beauty with a graceful figure and skin like jade.
She was breathtakingly beautiful, her features flawless beyond criticism.
Her long dark green hair spread softly like seaweed, smooth and flowing. Her high breasts were wrapped in a tough fishskin binding, her lower abdomen was flat, and her navel looked delicate and charming.
Only her face was somewhat pale, and her delicate brows were faintly drawn together, giving her a weak, pitiable air rather than the cold pride of a queen.
“You’re back!”
The Mermaid Queen’s voice was soft and sweet, and her golden eyes seemed dreamlike.
Azi glanced at the Mermaid Queen’s lower abdomen. The exaggerated wound from yesterday had already vanished, and she relaxed inwardly.
The Mermaid Queen noticed her gaze and said gently:
“Without food, our people won’t hold out for long. By tomorrow my injuries will have healed. I’ll try to lure that fellow away. You can take the chance to go out and hunt.”
The captain of the guard’s face changed slightly. She opened her mouth as if to dissuade her, but in the end chose silence.
That evil river dragon was powerful, and it too possessed an affinity for water. The Queen might not be able to escape its pursuit.
And once entangled by it, there would be another bitter fight, perhaps even the risk of falling.
But this was the only way.
Azi drew a breath, as though making up her mind, and said:
“Your Majesty, I ran into that evil river dragon outside, and there were also two mysterious powerful figures.
“T-that evil river dragon was subdued by one of them, a male human.”
Mm, probably a huma.
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