Hearing this, the mermaid queen frowned slightly, and there was gravity beneath her gentle voice:
“His body was covered in strange spiritual essences. Those aren’t his innate divine abilities. His innate divine abilities are water element and the body. It’s simply unbelievable. I’ve never heard of spiritual essences being condensed after birth.”
“I think this may be the reason he’s gone mad. It’s a pity that the last time I saw him was five years ago, so I don’t know what he’s gone through lately.”
The Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox turned her head and translated the conversation for Xu Qi’an.
Even after going mad he still came looking for you. Looks like it’s true love after all… Xu Qi’an studied the mermaid queen’s delicate and lovely features and said:
“Can we communicate by thought? I don’t understand the language of gods and demons.”
At the mermaid queen’s level, communicating by thought wasn’t difficult.
The Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox smiled with narrowed eyes, turned her head to look at the mermaid queen, and said:
“He says he wants to communicate with you in a different special way.”
“A special way?” the mermaid queen asked in her soft, moist voice.
“Mhm!” The silver-haired Yao beauty curled her lips and said slyly:
“For example, mating!”
The mermaid queen’s lovely face flushed scarlet at once. Startled, angry, and ashamed, she glared at Xu Qi’an:
“No, no…”
Merpeople were a devoted race. They only had one partner in their lifetime.
The silver-haired Yao beauty said in surprise:
“You already have a partner?”
“No…” The mermaid queen shook her head gently.
“Beyond-mortal lifespans are long. I, I’m still young. I’m not in a hurry to find a partner. But mating is absolutely impossible. I can only mate with my own partner.”
After saying that, she felt she had refused too decisively, and worried that this first rank martial artist might turn hostile without mercy. So she knitted her little brows and pleaded pitifully:
“Your Majesty, please plead for me.”
What are they talking about? The mermaid queen’s expressions are so rich. Not learning a foreign language really is a disadvantage. Oh, my God, why am I still thinking about learning foreign languages even after transmigrating? This is awful… Xu Qi’an kept a calm face, but his inner drama was colourful.
“Don’t worry, I’ll plead for you.” The Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox turned and immediately said to Xu Qi’an, “She thinks you’re a great hero and wants to mate with you. She hopes I’ll act as a matchmaker.”
First I’ll grind my teeth… Xu Qi’an looked at her coldly.
“Do you believe I’ll pin you to the ground and spank you right now, in front of all the merpeople?”
He wasn’t some lust-crazed fool. He could tell the Nine-tailed Fox was teasing him.
Since the merpeople were such a devoted and faithful race, choosing a partner had to be something of utmost solemnity.
The mermaid queen couldn’t possibly be some wanton creature who went weak at the knees at the sight of a man. If this were submission to the strong, then she should’ve submitted to the flood dragon long ago.
The silver-haired Yao beauty’s lovely face changed slightly, as if she had recalled some unpleasant memory. She glared at him, then coquettishly whined:
“I was only joking!”
That posture carried a little of Fuxiang’s flavour, only Fuxiang was gentle and considerate by nature, unlike this fox spirit, who always liked teasing others.
The Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox looked at the mermaid queen and said:
“I’ve persuaded him for you.”
After a pause, she brought the topic back and suggested communicating by thought.
The mermaid queen nodded softly.
Xu Qi’an stirred his primordial spirit and transmitted his thoughts into the mermaid queen’s mind:
“Where is the Western Sea, and how far is it from here?”
The mermaid queen thought for a moment and said:
“Swim south-west for twenty days and nights, and you’ll reach his territory. I’ve been there before. The mutation in his body ought to have nothing to do with the territory.”
Twenty days and nights. merpeople can ride the water, so they won’t be slow. Even if I flew at full speed, it’d probably still take me around ten days. That’s too far… Xu Qi’an nodded.
That place wasn’t on the “safe sea route” controlled by the Nine-tailed Fox.
After chatting idly for a while, Xu Qi’an put the matter aside and asked about the purpose of this voyage.
“Do you know what beyond-mortal experts there are overseas? Second rank would be best, or even first rank,” Xu Qi’an asked.
The mermaid queen shook her head.
“Overseas, there are already very few at second rank and above, including second-rank descendants of gods and demons.”
At this point, she unconsciously lowered her voice:
“According to information passed down by the ancestors of our merpeople, in the endless ages long ago, a powerful god-demon came overseas and slaughtered the strong among the descendants of gods and demons on a grand scale, plundering their spiritual essences. To this day, there are no gods or demons above second rank anymore.
“Well, perhaps descendants of gods and demons of that realm were born later, but I’ve never seen any.”
Someone like her counted as a rising star, and her lifespan had not exceeded a thousand years.
The mermaid queen’s gaze swept across Xu Qi’an and the Nine-tailed Fox.
“I’ve never seen that legendary fiend myself, but I imagine it’s still alive and truly exists. If you sail overseas, you must be careful.
“Especially Your Majesty, because you too are a descendant of gods and demons. You are that being’s prey.”
These matters were ancient secrets under the merpeople’s control. She normally wouldn’t have spoken of them lightly, but this time the Queen of the Wanyao Kingdom and the human martial artist had shown kindness to the merpeople, so she held nothing back and gave them this warning in goodwill.
Xu Qi’an and the Nine-tailed Fox exchanged a look. The former sighed and said:
“Desolation’s situation is very special. No one knows what happened to Its true body. It’s fallen into slumber and can only use part of Its innate divine abilities. Hunting descendants of gods and demons is probably for the sake of awakening Its true body, or something along those lines.”
Ever since learning that “Desolation” was that god-demon from years past, Xu Qi’an had changed his form of address to “It”, capital, marking divinity.
Every Beyond-rank was an existence like a god.
The Nine-tailed Fox nodded.
“You might as well be bolder. It’s doing it to return to its peak and regain the Beyond-rank realm.
“It devoured the powerful gods and demons overseas one after another, and when it discovered that still wasn’t enough to restore it to Beyond-rank, it turned its attention to the Jianzheng, believing the gatekeeper’s spiritual essence could help it recover its full prime.
“You overpowered it by brute force last time. Next time, it’ll be the one crushing you.”
Xu Qi’an rubbed his brow, his head aching.
Three Beyond-ranks in Jiuzhou weren’t enough, and if this overseas “Desolation” also returned to its peak, then the Central Plains would be split among four great Beyond-ranks.
Shenshu and I would only be able to crouch down with our hands over our heads and yell, “Big shots, go easy”… Xu Qi’an thought bitterly, trying to amuse himself.
The mermaid queen listened in on their conversation and sank into confusion.
What are they talking about?
“It” refers to… that one? The Queen of the Wanyao Kingdom said this supreme human expert had once overpowered that one by brute force?
An intense desire to know surged in Zhenzhu’s heart.
Seeing her widen her broken-gold eyes and stare at him curiously, Xu Qi’an gave a brief explanation:
“That fellow is called ‘Desolation’. It came to Jiuzhou not long ago, and I drove it back. Finding it is one of the purposes of my voyage.”
To maintain the bearing of a first rank martial artist, he didn’t go into a long explanation.
But the mermaid queen was still deeply shaken. Her small mouth parted slightly as she stared at him in a daze.
This human martial artist had fought the being from merpeople legend and had even driven it back? Just how powerful is he? And such a powerful male had just proposed mating with her?
The mermaid queen’s heart pounded wildly. For a moment, she couldn’t tell whether she felt anticipation or resistance, joy or panic.
But as a beautiful female, her vanity had indeed been enormously satisfied.
Next, he asked the mermaid queen for a “deep sea map”, which recorded some gathering places of descendants of gods and demons.
Regrettably, most of these gathering places weren’t very powerful. Some didn’t even have a beyond-mortal expert in residence.
But there were two places the merpeople had listed as forbidden lands. One lay to the south-east. It was said to be an ancient battlefield from antiquity, and in that battlefield there was an abyss where terrifying monsters dwelt.
Anyone who approached died.
The other was an undersea volcano somewhere in the Western Sea. Deep within the volcano lived a creature that devoured everything. The merpeople ancestors speculated that the ancient god or demon “Undying Bird” dwelt there.
I remember the Undying Bird died long ago. That’s what the Gu God’s memories said… Xu Qi’an listed both places as possible destinations. If this voyage yielded nothing, he would go and investigate them.
After finishing the serious matters, Xu Qi’an rubbed his hands and said:
“I’ve heard the merpeople’s inner core can reveal who one’s beloved is. I boldly ask for one.”
Naturally, the mermaid queen didn’t refuse. What her people lacked least was mermaid pearls.
“Ordinary mermaid pearls only work on ordinary people. If you want to test the beloved of a beyond-mortal expert, it has to be a mermaid pearl left behind by a beyond-mortal merpeople. Only then can it make the holder reveal their true feelings.”
The mermaid queen pressed her lips together in a smile, gentle as water.
“I’ll have someone fetch one at once.”
She immediately ordered the captain of the guard waiting outside the pavilion, the one with fishtail lines at the corners of the eyes, to fetch the mermaid pearl.
A quarter of an hour later, the guard captain with fishtail lines returned, holding an enormous clam in both hands, and presented it to the mermaid queen.
The mermaid queen beckoned lightly, and the giant clam, black as lacquer and shaped like a bronze basin, flew to the stone table by itself and slowly opened.
Nestled in the soft, pale clam flesh lay a translucent pearl the size of an egg. It was milky white, without the slightest impurity.
Judging by its appearance alone, it was already worth a fortune.
The Nine-tailed Fox stared at the pearl with burning eyes, wholly focused, as if waiting for Xu Qi’an to take it.
I can use this to trick Li Lingsu later and make him take it in front of all his confidantes… Just as Xu Qi’an reached out, his heart suddenly stirred. He turned to the silver-haired Yao beauty and said with a smile:
“You take it.”
Given this fox spirit’s nature, with such an interesting treasure, she’d definitely have been the first to play with and admire it. There was no way she’d be this obedient.
The Nine-tailed Fox narrowed her eyes and smiled.
“What, Silver Gong Xu doesn’t dare take the pearl in front of me? Are you afraid of exposing the fact that you secretly admire your princess?”
Xu Qi’an immediately countered:
“Yes, yes, so I can only let Your Majesty take it.”
The silver-haired Yao beauty gave a cold snort and lifted her sharp little chin.
“This Queen shan’t let you have your way.”
Xu Qi’an looked at her suspiciously and asked in return:
“Your Majesty dares not take it because you’re afraid of exposing your true feelings, aren’t you?”
If it had been another woman, she’d surely be blushing by now, but a fox spirit wouldn’t. She smiled seductively and said:
“Guess!”
The two schemed against each other for a while, then Xu Qi’an looked at the mermaid queen and said with a smile:
“Your Majesty, please.”
Zhenzhu did as he asked and picked up the mermaid pearl. Nothing happened.
That damned fox really was lying to me… Xu Qi’an took out his Earth Book fragment, shone it at the mermaid pearl, and stored it inside.
This mermaid is probably one whose heart hasn’t yet awakened to love.
…
After enjoying the delicious food, the mermaid queen next arranged for mermaids to perform a dance in the lake. While admiring the merpeople dance, Xu Qi’an checked the messages.
Although the signal was weak, he could still receive transmissions from members of the Heaven and Earth Society.
【FOUR: Everyone, do any of you know a way for me to be scorched by karmic fire without entering the beyond-mortal realm?】
When they saw Chu Yuanzhen ask this question, the members of the Heaven and Earth Society all fell silent.
【FIVE: Do you also want to dual cultivate with Xu Ningyan?】
Lina had been clever since childhood, and she voiced the first guess that had flashed through the minds of the Heaven and Earth Society members.
??? Chu Yuanzhen hurriedly sent a message to explain:
【Lina, don’t talk nonsense! I’ve only found the path to advancing into the beyond-mortal realm, but I need the seven emotions and six desires as a medium.】
Number One, Number Two, and Number Three all breathed a sigh of relief.
The essence of cultivating intent is the accumulation of will and emotion, and karmic fire is a fierce form of “emotion”. If he could mobilise karmic fire at will to use the intent-cultivation technique, Zhuangyuan Chu’s combat power would absolutely advance by leaps and bounds and undergo a qualitative transformation… Xu Qi’an, who was equally proficient in cultivating intent, immediately grasped the essence.
【SEVEN: Brother Chu, isn’t lying flat enough? Why are you so determined to advance to beyond-mortal? The future trend is a struggle between Beyond-rank and first rank. Second and third rank can only play supporting roles. Even if you advance to third rank, it won’t help much.】
The Holy Son had already lain flat.
Both in real life and in bed.
He displayed an extremely pessimistic attitude.
At most, every day after getting up he cultivated martial arts for two hours, then went to the Sitianjian to ask his sworn brother for miraculous pills to strengthen virility and nourish the kidneys.
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