Into the Sea

The black-clad man was dead at last.

The combined power of Drifting Ice and Zhuying’s Twin-Sword Fusion was overwhelming; with blood balefulness wrapped around him, he naturally could not withstand the righteous strike of those two swords.

Yan Jue clutched Drifting Ice tightly, still finding it hard to believe.

The cold corpse lay on the beach.

Qi Xianqing glanced at Yan Jue. “Go on.”

Yan Jue blinked. “Go on with what?”

Qi Xianqing lightly kicked her shin. “Don’t you like searching people?”

Yan Jue choked back a retort, muttered inwardly in annoyance, then flashed forward and began patting down the black-clad man’s cloak.

After she took the cloak off, what Yan Jue saw was an extremely ordinary man with a scruffy face and stubble covering his jaw.

Yan Jue frowned slightly and searched inside the cloak. Her fingers suddenly brushed something cold.

She hooked the object out.

It was a broken bone flute, with a pale red ribbon tied to the mouthpiece.

Yan Jue only felt that the bone flute was somewhat familiar, as if she had seen it somewhere before.

She reached into the cloak again and drew out another object.

It was a gourd.

Yan Jue lifted it and gave it a shake.

A crisp clinking sound came from inside.

She then opened the stopper and saw more than ten pale-yellow pills inside.

She didn’t know what they were for.

Yan Jue handed the gourd to Qi Xianqing. Qi Xianqing lowered her head and sniffed it, her expression thoughtful.

Then Yan Jue kept searching and fished out something else.

It was a pitch-black pearl, cold as ice all over; under the moonlight, it gave off a faint luster.

Yan Jue frowned slightly.

This looked a little like...

She remembered that the pearl Bai Ying had spat out for her last time was ice-blue, and it had been a lightning-avoidance pearl.

This pearl was black and gleaming, and it was quite similar to the one Bai Ying had given her.

Qi Xianqing was observing the surroundings when she suddenly heard Yan Jue ask, “Senior Sister, do you know what this is?”

Yan Jue then handed the pearl over.

Qi Xianqing turned it over in her hand and said after a moment’s thought, “A Water-Avoidance Pearl.”

Yan Jue blinked.

Then she took out the lightning-avoidance pearl that had once saved her life.

The two pearls, one ice-blue and the other pitch-black.

They looked exactly the same.

Yan Jue asked, “What is it used for?”

Qi Xianqing: “Cultivators can’t move freely in water. Even if they have a protective barrier formed from true qi, if they stay underwater too long, they’ll still die once the true qi is exhausted.”

“Taking this pearl in hand is equivalent to learning the immortal art of Water Avoidance. Unlike an ordinary Water-Avoidance Art, which can only last half an hour, the immortal art can continue indefinitely without consuming true qi.”

Yan Jue nodded slightly, put the Water-Avoidance Pearl into her Qiankun bag, and then continued searching the black-clad man. Her fingertips suddenly touched something else cold.

Yan Jue pulled it out and couldn’t help freezing slightly.

It was actually a... crystal bottle?

When the crystal bottle shook, it made a crisp sound.

Yan Jue removed the stopper and saw that it was filled with tiny pearls.

Each pearl shimmered with dazzling light, as if each one contained a boundless sea of stars.

Yan Jue and Qi Xianqing exchanged a look.

Merfolk pearls.

-

After dealing with the black-clad man, the two of them returned to the village.

Qi Xianqing spread out her divine sense to search, and as expected, aside from the black-clad man, everyone living in the village was an ordinary mortal.

Each family’s backyard in the village was actually set with the same formation.

Qi Xianqing took the Water-Avoidance Pearl she had just looted from the black-clad man and entered the formation; soon she rescued the merfolk trapped inside.

Yan Jue used the same method and, with a Water Sphere Spell, sent the merfolk back to the sea.

Luckily, the small fishing village had a limited population. Even if someone had been awakened by the commotion at the shore, they were no match for the two of them.

After rescuing all the merfolk, the two of them went to the village head’s house.

Just in case, they were still wearing their Concealment Cloaks.

The village head’s house was the farthest from the beach, so it had naturally been unaffected by the fight and was still asleep in bed.

When he heard the outer door make a sound, he immediately shoved on his shoes and came out to look.

Seeing the two people in black cloaks, he was so frightened that he didn’t even know how to speak. He dropped to his knees and kept begging for mercy.

Yan Jue drew out her sleeve crossbow; the arrowhead, gleaming coldly, was pressed tightly against the village head’s throat.

He had only ever been an ordinary mortal. How could he have seen such a scene before? He was immediately so frightened that he fainted.

Yan Jue formed a seal with one hand, and a huge water sphere appeared above them at once. Yan Jue slammed it down.

“Boom..."

A massive splash struck the man in the face and woke him up in one go.

The village head jolted awake and immediately dropped to his knees, trembling all over. “Immortal Lord... please spare me, Immortal Lord!”

Yan Jue: “Speak. Why did you keep so many merfolk in your backyard?!”

At her words, the village head’s face instantly turned ugly.

Yan Jue pushed the sleeve crossbow forward. “If you can explain it clearly, I’ll spare your life!”

Qi Xianqing watched from behind and couldn’t help finding it amusing.

Yan Jue was usually such a gentle person, but when she turned fierce, she was absolutely unmistakable.

Though why did she feel... that she was a little fierce in a cute way?

The village head slowly lowered his gaze to the sharp sleeve arrow, swallowed hard, and began to speak.

It turned out that this small fishing village had suffered a famine ten years ago.

The village was in a remote area and couldn’t seek help from the city at all. When the famine came, everyone had nothing to eat.

So the men began to eat the women.

First, the village head set an example. During an argument with his wife, he killed her.

To survive, everyone else followed suit.

Once all the women had been eaten, there was naturally no one left to bear children for them.

That was why the merfolk in the sea had repeatedly suffered at their hands.

After the man finished speaking, the room fell silent for a moment.

Qi Xianqing stood behind them, her expression darkening slightly. Her hand at her side unconsciously tightened.

Over the years, Qi Xianqing had traveled far and wide, and she had seen countless ugly faces in the world.

At times, she felt that human hearts were just as terrifying as demon hearts; perhaps even more terrifying than demons. If she had not been a disciple of a righteous immortal sect, if she had not been taught from childhood that “using violence to answer violence means not knowing that it is wrong,” and if she had not known that for the sake of the sect’s reputation she truly could not lay a hand on such people, she might already have...

Yan Jue’s expression was also very bad. The village head, kneeling on the ground, was finding the posture uncomfortable and was just about to shift his leg when Yan Jue grabbed him and slammed him hard back to the ground with one hand. “Don’t move.”

Qi Xianqing stepped forward and said coldly, “You’re all mortals. It’s impossible for you to have set up that kind of formation.”

She was referring to the illusion formation they had seen in the backyard earlier.

The reason the people of this fishing village could capture merfolk so brazenly was probably inseparable from that black-clad man.

The village head’s face immediately turned livid. He didn’t even dare lift his head from the ground. “The formation... he really did help us set it up.”

“That year, that expert came to our fishing village and saw how desolate and miserable it was, so he came up with this plan for us.”

“The merfolk were also caught with his help.”

Suddenly, they heard the sound of rain outside the window.

Yan Jue walked to the window and looked out; it was actually raining.

Threads of rain hit the window, little by little, gradually turning into a torrential downpour.

Dark clouds covered the sky. In an instant, a bolt of lightning crossed the horizon, illuminating the girl’s face with brilliant white light.

Qi Xianqing frowned slightly and suddenly said, “There’s something strange about the sound of the waves.”

Yan Jue listened carefully and indeed heard that the sound of the sea was different from usual.

The roar of the waves came from afar, clanging like drumbeats, almost as if they were playing a melody.

Yan Jue suddenly thought of something. Her body flashed, and she ran toward the beach.

Not far away was the sea.

Under the cloud-covered sky stood densely packed figures.

To be exact, many merfolk.

The waves slowly rose; more than a dozen merfolk floated on the surface of the water, their long fish tails hanging down.

In this world, the merfolk’s status was far lower than that of humans. Humans did not accept them, and dragons looked down on them; the merfolk could be said to occupy a very awkward position.

But the merfolk were also the most beautiful in appearance.

From a distance, whether male or female, each of them was handsome and graceful, with fair skin and striking beauty.

Their clothing was extremely revealing; the women wore only bellybands, while the men bared their chests outright.

Yan Jue instinctively looked at Qi Xianqing.

Qi Xianqing pressed her lips together slightly, looking somewhat uncomfortable, and the hand hanging at her side also tightened.

Yan Jue mentally gave a soft snort; her gaze landed behind the merfolk crowd, where only a golden-haired girl stood wearing a tight-fitting bellyband, her long hair dancing in the wind.

It was Hai Ying, the one they had just rescued.

Hai Ying clearly saw Yan Jue and Qi Xianqing too, and waved at them excitedly.

Yan Jue was stunned.

Hai Ying had brought the entire merfolk royal clan.

In the very center of the merfolk crowd stood an elder with white hair.

The elder’s upper body was bare; his chest was covered in bulging slabs of muscle, and below was an exceedingly beautiful blue-green fish tail.

He stood atop the surging waves, wearing a shell necklace around his neck and a white dragon scale at the center of his brow.

One look was enough to tell that his status was extraordinary.

Qi Xianqing stepped forward and cupped her hands. “Greetings, Your Excellency.”

Hai Ying said to the old merfolk, “Father, it was these two who saved your daughter.”

Hearing how Hai Ying addressed him, Yan Jue understood. Since Hai Ying called him father, he should be some sort of elder king of the merfolk clan.

The old merfolk smiled and gave Qi Xianqing a look full of gratitude. “This immortal lord saved my daughter. This old one has no way to repay the favor. I have lived in the sea year-round and do not know the immortal lord’s esteemed name. Judging by the sword behind the immortal lord, could it be the immortal sword Zhuying, once famous throughout the world? Immortal lord is..."

Qi Xianqing: “This one comes from the Five Dragons Sect; my surname is Qi, my name is Xianqing.”

The old merfolk looked at Qi Xianqing for a long while, then lowered his head respectfully. “This old one would like to invite the two immortal lords to my humble palace for a seat. I wonder whether the two of you would be willing..."

“Immortal lord, your divine powers are so great... this old one has one matter... and would like to ask the immortal lord for help..."

Yan Jue glanced at Qi Xianqing.

Qi Xianqing lowered her eyes. “To be invited today by the old merfolk king, I am deeply honored.”

Just after Qi Xianqing finished speaking, Yan Jue suddenly slapped her forehead. “Oh no.”

“Hm?”

“There’s someone else we forgot.”

-

By the time Yan Jue and Qi Xianqing reached the back mountain of the small fishing village, Jiang Mengchu had just come out from inside, rubbing sleep from her eyes. “Senior Sister, Sister Yan Jue, what happened?”

Yan Jue picked up her outer robe for her. “Nothing happened. The old merfolk king invited us to sit down under the sea; hurry up and get dressed, let’s go together.”

Jiang Mengchu blinked and immediately put on her outer robe.

The few of them arrived at the beach together.

But facing these human cultivators, the old merfolk quickly ran into a problem.

Human cultivators couldn’t move freely underwater.

Even if they had mastered a Water-Avoidance Art, they still couldn’t hold out for very long underwater.

The old merfolk turned back and looked at them in embarrassment. “You all..."

Yan Jue: “No need to worry about that.”

She then took out the Water-Avoidance Pearl she had seized from the black-clad man from her Qiankun bag.

Under the moonlight, the pitch-black Water-Avoidance Pearl emitted a faint luster.

The merfolk entered the sea first.

Yan Jue followed behind them.

Holding the Water-Avoidance Pearl in her hand, she slowly stepped into the ocean; only then did she hear waves and splashing sounds ahead.

What had originally been a stormy sea actually parted open directly before them.

Qi Xianqing followed beside Yan Jue, her expression solemn as she looked around.

The group slowly walked toward the depths of the ocean.