Azi wasn’t entirely sure whether he was a male human, because in all her life she had never seen a human before. She had only heard the elders of her clan describe the human race’s physical traits by word of mouth.
The descendants of gods and demons lived overseas and had almost no dealings with Jiuzhou. However, every so often, the merpeople would send someone ashore to gather information about Jiuzhou and learn of its history.
Thus, there were legends about merpeople in the coastal regions, though they weren’t widely spread.
To return to the main point, the more powerful a descendant of gods and demons was, the more likely they were to retain some traits of their original form after taking human shape. Unless they used illusions to hide them, such traits were difficult to suppress.
For example, after the Queen transformed into human form, the colour of her eyes and hair wouldn’t change, and scales would remain on certain parts of her body.
Azi hadn’t seen anything unusual about that man, so she boldly guessed that he was a male human.
Oh, right, and that fox with the nine tails… Azi added:
“The other female is a descendant of gods and demons. She…”
Azi described the appearance of the Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox in detail, chiefly praising her unrivalled beauty and soul-stirring charm, while largely overlooking her strength.
That was because she hadn’t seen the nine-tailed fox make a move.
The mermaid Queen knitted her delicate brows, then showed a look of sudden understanding and said softly:
“I know now. So it’s her.”
Looking at Azi, she smiled with a watery gentleness and softness and said quietly:
“You’re mistaken. The one who subdued the evil river dragon should’ve been the nine-tailed fox, not that male human.”
Azi looked astonished. She thought, That’s not right. That male human was obviously very strong. I saw with my own eyes how respectful the evil river dragon was towards him. Also, who is this nine-tailed fox?
The captain of the guard beside them thought for a moment, then said uncertainly:
“Your Majesty, you mean…”
The mermaid Queen gave a slight nod.
“In the Southern Marches of Jiuzhou, there is a Wanyao Kingdom. Its ruler is the Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox. They are descendants of the ancient god-demon Qingqiu Fox. Three hundred years ago, the Nine-tailed Fox once came to Mermaid Island. Back then, Azi hadn’t been born yet.
“The Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox is extremely powerful. Whether on Jiuzhou mainland or overseas, she is among the foremost of the strong.”
At this point, her willow brows drew together slightly.
“Not long ago, I sensed her aura once. By rights, she shouldn’t be venturing out to sea so often. Could something have happened on Jiuzhou mainland…”
Several months ago, on Mermaid Island, she had sensed the aura of that ruler, but the other party had merely passed by. Her aura vanished in an instant and she hadn’t stayed on Mermaid Island.
The Queen’s reasoning was sound and well supported, and only then did Azi realise she had identified the wrong person. So the real important figure was that fox spirit, no, that Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox.
She was the one who had subdued the evil river dragon.
The captain of the guard broke into a smile.
“No matter what, she subdued the evil river dragon. To our merpeople, that’s a kindness as great as heaven.”
It had resolved the merpeople’s urgent crisis.
Azi seized the chance to say:
“I saw her outside just now. She asked to see you.”
The mermaid Queen didn’t agree at once. After pondering for a long while, she slowly nodded.
“Where are they? I’ll personally go out with my people to welcome them.”
She had dealt with the Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox before. Although the fox spirit was flirtatious and capricious, her attitude towards the merpeople had been fairly mild, or at least not hostile.
Besides, with the other’s cultivation, forcing her way onto Mermaid Island would’ve been effortless. There was no need at all to have Azi come and report it.
As she spoke, she sat up from the agate bed and lightly floated into the water. The current seemed to be endowed with life, surging up like a fountain to support the mermaid Queen’s delicate body.
The surging water carried her towards the palace entrance, with the captain of the guard and Azi following closely behind her.
The three left the palace. By this time, a densely packed mass of merpeople had already gathered outside. Some stood in the water, some sat by tables, all chattering noisily.
They were arguing fiercely over the news Azi had brought, yet not one of them dared go out to verify it.
At that moment, the palace doors opened wide, and the Queen, standing atop the fountain, came before her people.
The merpeople immediately stopped discussing. They realised the Queen would give them an accurate answer.
“My people!”
The mermaid Queen’s eyes, like shattered gold, swept across the crowd, her voice soft and melodious.
“The evil river dragon has already been subdued by friends who came from afar. Our crisis has been resolved.”
The merpeople looked at one another. After a brief silence, cheers echoed through the cavern and lingered for a long time.
Azi hadn’t lied.
What exalted being had subdued the evil river dragon?
…
“National Teacher, karmic fire scorching the body is no trifling matter. One misstep, and the result could be eternal damnation.”
Chu Yuanzhen frowned as he voiced his concern, then continued:
“Besides, only when the Human Sect’s cultivation method reaches the beyond-mortal realm does one suffer the danger of karmic fire scorching the body. How am I supposed to…”
Before he had finished speaking, he saw Luo Yuheng’s horsetail whisk lightly swish towards him. Chu Yuanzhen instinctively wanted to dodge, but restrained himself.
The whisk struck his arm. The force wasn’t great, but along with it came joy, anger, sorrow, fear, love, hatred, desire… These emotions were so intense, like floodwaters bursting a dam, that in an instant they crushed Chu Yuanzhen’s reason.
At times he was so furious he wanted to destroy the world, to destroy this murky human realm. At times he was so sorrowful that he thought himself a failure and felt life had no meaning. At times he was so delighted he wanted to leap up and sing and dance…
Then Luo Yuheng’s voice sounded by his ear, like ice cubes striking one another, magnetic and rich in texture:
“Centre yourself and return to unity. Try using the secret method of nurturing intent to control the seven emotions.”
Her words carried a certain power. They effectively soothed Chu Yuanzhen’s chaotic spirit. He seized upon that thread of clarity, steadied his primordial spirit, and then began using the mental method of “nurturing intent” to try and transform the seven emotions into sword intent.
So-called nurturing intent meant accumulating and compressing emotion within the sword, day after day, little by little, until finally all of it erupted at once.
Its core required a powerful emotion or will.
Karmic fire scorching the body happened to fit perfectly.
Luo Yuheng’s gaze brushed over Chu Yuanzhen’s face and fell upon the longsword behind him. Though it remained in its sheath, its edge was already fully revealed.
Once unsheathed, just how powerful would it be?
Satisfied, she nodded and once more tapped Chu Yuanzhen’s shoulder with the horsetail whisk, withdrawing the seven emotions and six desires she had planted within him.
At the level of an Earthly Immortal, karmic fire was no longer a threat. One could even control it and use it against enemies.
After the karmic fire was withdrawn, Chu Yuanzhen’s state immediately improved. He opened his eyes, joyful yet wary, and stared at Luo Yuheng’s flawless face as he sighed:
“So this is karmic fire scorching the body. So the National Teacher has been enduring this kind of pain all along.”
As expected, every figure capable of reaching first rank possessed great perseverance, great talent, and great fortune.
Not to mention anything else, just the Human Sect’s karmic fire scorching the body alone would long since have turned anyone without a sufficiently firm will into a slave to the seven emotions, or driven them mad to death.
Yet Luo Yuheng had endured it for a full twenty years.
“National Teacher, how should I gather the seven emotions by myself?” Chu Yuanzhen asked humbly for guidance.
He didn’t cultivate the Human Sect’s method. Even if Luo Yuheng’s method was correct, if he couldn’t produce the “fuel” himself, it was meaningless.
Luo Yuheng said flatly:
“Figure it out yourself.”
…Chu Yuanzhen opened his mouth, wanting to speak but stopping himself.
The National Teacher’s temperament really was unlikeable.
The zhuangyuan only dared mutter inwardly a little, then by conditioned reflex he glanced left and right. Not seeing Protector Yuan, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Like Xu Ningyan and the others, he too had come down with a condition called “Protector Yuan stress disorder”.
Luo Yuheng’s face turned cold and she said indifferently:
“Get lost!”
She had seen this expression on Xu Qi’an several times. It was practically identical.
Chu Yuanzhen’s vision blurred, and the next moment he found himself sent out of Lingbao Temple, standing outside its gates.
“Whew…”
He let out a breath, bowed deeply towards Lingbao Temple, and turned to leave.
As for the road ahead, he would walk it himself.
The youth in azure robes wandered on as before, just as in those years when he had abandoned letters for martial arts.
…
On the rippling sea, Xu Qi’an suddenly saw the water ahead bulge upward, forming a surging spring.
Upon the fountain stood a mermaid in the full bloom of youth. Her dark green hair was loosely pinned up and adorned with two pieces of mother-of-pearl. Her eyes, like shattered gold, were dreamlike in their beauty. Her features and face combined into a breathtaking loveliness, yet there was also a kind of frail softness that stirred pity.
That gentle and delicate air made him inexplicably think of his younger sister Xu Lingyue. They were both the sort of seemingly weak girls who looked as if one punch would leave them down for ages.
It very easily aroused a man’s urge to protect and possess.
Around her neck hung a pearl necklace. Her chest was bound in tough fish skin as a small top, exposing a fair, supple, slender waist and faint abdominal lines. Her lower body was a lithe, long fish tail covered in azure scales.
Around her, more and more fountains rose, and upon each fountain stood a merperson.
At a glance, there were probably over two thousand of them.
“Heh, quite the display.”
The silver-haired demoness folded her arms across her chest and struck a highly aggressive pose, slightly raising her sharp little chin like a queen waiting for envoys to pay court.
The mermaid Queen rode her surging fountain forward and stopped more than ten metres from the ship. She curtsied gracefully and said softly:
“My respects to the ruler of the Wanyao Kingdom.
“Three hundred years apart, and your grace remains as before.”
The Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox gave a faint “Mm” and, while sizing up the mermaid Queen, said with a smile:
“The same to you.”
The mermaid Queen discreetly glanced at Xu Qi’an, pretending not to mind his unabashed stare, and continued:
“I heard from Azi that you subdued that evil river dragon. Many thanks to Your Majesty for coming to our rescue. Zhenzhu is deeply grateful.”
After speaking, she said with a trace of anticipation:
“May I take a look?”
The Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox nodded. One of the tails behind her plunged into the sea, and with a twist of her slim waist, she hoisted up a gigantic river dragon.
The river dragon lay still and obedient, letting the fox tail lift it up.
The merpeople in the distance stirred in alarm and fell into fear, but they quickly realised the evil river dragon had become more docile than fish or shrimp, and so gradually calmed down. They pointed this way and that and let out cries of delighted surprise.
Because they had confirmed that the powerful and savage river dragon really had been subdued.
The mermaid Queen examined the river dragon, her delicate brows drawing together. “He… his intelligence has been erased?”
“You may think of it that way,” said the Nine-tailed Fox.
“It’s our puppet now.”
The mermaid Queen let out a breath, her expression complicated, holding both hatred and wistfulness. In a gentle voice she said:
“Your Majesty’s great kindness will be remembered by the merpeople.”
The Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox accepted this calmly. After all, this river dragon had originally been captured by her.
“This time I came to sea with a friend for a journey, and happened to pass Mermaid Island. It was only a convenient gesture, that’s all. Don’t just thank me.” The silver-haired demoness glanced at Xu Qi’an.
The mermaid Queen followed her gaze and looked at Xu Qi’an, then smiled sweetly.
“And this gentleman is…?”
Xu Qi’an couldn’t understand a word. The Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox introduced him:
“He is a newly advanced beyond-mortal martial artist of the Jiuzhou mainland, the famed Silver Gong Xu of the Central Plains dynasty.”
The mermaid Queen nodded politely. There were quite a few beyond-mortal experts on Jiuzhou mainland, and a beyond-mortal martial artist wasn’t particularly noteworthy. As for “Silver Gong Xu”, she had no idea what that meant.
Still, since he was a powerhouse of the same realm, she naturally wouldn’t slight him.
The silver-haired demoness added with a smile:
“A first rank martial artist.”
The mermaid Queen abruptly turned her head and sized up Xu Qi’an all over again. Unconcealed shock flowed in her shattered-gold pupils.
She understood what first rank meant. The rank system had been spread by humans, but that wasn’t a recent matter, so as a descendant of gods and demons she too understood what realm a first rank martial artist symbolised.
Even in the ancient age when gods and demons ran rampant, that was a realm that could be called strong.
As for the present age, a first rank martial artist could all but sweep across Jiuzhou and the forces of the various descendants of gods and demons overseas.
The mermaid Queen immediately lowered her head and no longer dared look at Xu Qi’an. Her tone unconsciously carried a timid softness.
“Zhenzhu greets you, sir.”
She suddenly realised Azi hadn’t been wrong. Rather, she herself had misunderstood.
The one who had truly subdued the river dragon and refined him into a puppet was most likely this supreme expert of the human race.
What on earth are they talking about… Xu Qi’an remained expressionless.
…
On Mermaid Island, in a pavilion at the centre of a lake.
The merpeople carried stone plates, polished smooth, on their heads. The plates were filled with seafood, and they delivered them to the lakeside pavilion in batch after batch.
Beneath this lake was a cavern in the mountain’s belly connected to the waters below. It was one of the merpeople’s usual open-air activity grounds.
The mermaid Queen Zhenzhu hosted a banquet in the pavilion for the two honoured guests from Jiuzhou. The pretty young mermaids, under the pretext of serving dishes, secretly and cautiously stole looks at the human expert.
They knew he was a supreme powerhouse, someone even the Queen had to deal with carefully.
It was precisely he who had subdued the river dragon.
Attaching themselves to the strong and worshipping the strong was in their nature.
As Xu Qi’an ate seafood, he signalled to the Nine-tailed Fox with his eyes.
The latter smiled and said:
“What a pity there’s no wine. Merpeople don’t know how to brew it.”
After sighing thus, she looked at the mermaid Queen beside her and said:
“You knew that river dragon?”
The mermaid Queen was somewhat restrained. From time to time she would sneak a glance at Xu Qi’an. Seeing the ruler of the Wanyao Kingdom ask a question, she hurriedly gathered her thoughts and said with a frown:
“He was the overlord of Dragon Island in the Western Sea. Many years ago, we had some dealings. After that, he kept pursuing me, wanting to mate with me. Extremely hateful.”
The Nine-tailed Fox narrowed her eyes.
“Then do you know how he went mad?”
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