Mermaid Fiends
From Mu Yu’s head, Xiaoshuai raised his claw and shouted, “I know! I know! The flow of water in the ocean is based on density and the direction of the wind. Level five fiend beasts and below use the temperature of the water and the flow of spiritual qi I the water to navigate!”
“Spot on.”
“How do you determine if a fiend beast has laid claim to a certain zone?”
“There will be unusual spiritual energy floating around. By the same token, you can determine the fiend beast’s power based on the frequency of said spiritual energy.”
“How do you chase enemies underwater?”
“Every fiend beast or cultivator will leave their signature smell in the water. You can use black fiend apes’ black juice to track them.”
“How many questions do we need to answer to gain entry?” questioned the dragon vine, cranky.
“You don’t have to get the answers correct, but you must learn them. The point of assigning me to guard duty is to teach every fiend basic knowledge, increasing their chance of survival in the ocean. Can’t you tell how practical the questions are in nature?”
“In other words, we can enter even if we’re not correct?” asked Mu Yu.
“Correct.”
Mu Yu palmed his face, thinking, “Why so many questions, then?”
“As you are Green Dragon Kingdom’s subjects, and he is a true dragon, you can visit whenever you fancy,” verbalised Seahorse Taotao, moving the coral reef aside, thereby revealing a path, as it waved its tail imbued with spiritual energy. He then blocked Mu Yu and Qiao Xue’s path, stating, “You two can’t enter because you’re not fiends.”
“They are with us,” informed Lu Xiong.
“It makes no difference. Humans aren’t welcome.”
“Not even if I order you to let them through?” the dragon vine asked in a somewhat aggressive voice.
Seahorse Taotao shook his head. “Unless His Majesty permits, no human cultivator is allowed through a sacred path.”
“And if I insist?” Mu Yu asked.
“Then, I shall close off the path.”
If Seahorse Taotao closed off the path, all of them would be plunged into the ocean.
The fiends lacked the confidence to face Ghost Gate without Qiao Xue since she had been helping them the entire way.
“Head on first,” conveyed Mu Yu, assuring Lu Xiong with a nod. For the reason that Lu Xiong couldn’t shake off his concern for the dragon vine’s safety, Mu Yu added, “Don’t worry. He’s been safe and sound all these years he’s been with me.”
Lu Xiong had no choice but to continue on for Ghost Gate’s group might’ve already arrived. They had to check on the island even if they were no match for Ghost Gate’s crew. Hence, he reminded, “Qiao Xue, make sure to protect Lord True Dragon.”
“I will,” promised Qiao Xue.
Mu Yu and Qiao Xue stopped once they could no longer see Seahorse Taotao, who went back to sleep, after the group split off in separate directions.
“What’s the plan?” Qiao Xue inquired.
“Mm… We’ll capture a black fiend ape. When I tapped Elder Lu on the shoulder before, I marked him with my qi. We can use a black fiend ape’s black juice to track them.”
“How about we visit the mermaid? I think she’s quite nice,” Xiaoshuai propounded.
“Did that path lead to the mermaids?” Mu Yu asked.
“Mermaids are warriors who guard the kingdom, so they will treat us as enemies,” cautioned Qiao Xue.
“We have no choice but to leave the sacred path, then.”
“We won’t be able to see this path again once we enter the ocean. Are you sure you want to leave?”
“There’s no point hanging around.”
Mu Yu decisively strolled to the edge of the path and signalled for Qiao Xue to keep up prior to entering the ocean. Qiao Xue generated a bubble as their vehicle, keeping the underwater pressure outside. The sacred path was nowhere in sight when they looked back.
“The two of us have a knack for sharing woes, huh?” Mu Yu commented with a hapless smile. “I’m reminded of when we infiltrated the underground palace at Second Heaven.”
“I don’t recall anything nice happening whenever I bump into you,” Qiao Xue voiced cheerfully.
“That hurts!” Mu Yu leaned onto the bubble and said, “We’re technically sharing a room now.”
“Do the two of us need to erase our presence,” inquired the dragon vine, being sensible.
“What for?” Qiao Xue asked.
“So that you two have some private face for, you know…” innocently responded Xiaoshuai, gesturing with his thumbs.
“How about we concentrate on finding a black fiend ape and catching up with Elder Lu?” Mu Yu argued, steering the conversation back on topic.
Soon, they heard singing again.
“What the?”
A number of something started to assemble them.
I think we’ve accidentally waltzed into the mermaids’ turf,” opined Xiaoshuai.
“Why didn’t you say so sooner?” snapped Mu Yu.
“You didn’t ask!”
“Great, there are dozens of aggressive, grey, scaly, muscular-armed hungry mermaids armed with tridents surrounding us now. Try to show some initiative next time.”
“Why do they look so hideous when their voices are so nice?” Xiaoshuai complained, disappointed.
“What did you expect? Sultry mermaids? There are four level six and over thirty more level five of them. How about we worry about something pertinent?”
“Well, that was what I was hoping for.”
“Tell them we mean no ill will. See how deep you can penetrate into their soul, Rodent.”
“No time for that!” Mu Yu interjected, watching the tridents resembling some fiend beasts’ bones coming toward them.
Qiao Xue waved her hand to control the water from the tridents, only to then quit and accelerate the bubble to dodge. The mermaids sung again, oscillating the cylindrical blasts, thereby criss-crossing the chain-like blasts to create a water cage.
“They’ve infused the water around this zone with their fiend energy, so it’s beyond me to control it. We need to get out this area now!”
Once underwater, there were plenty of fiend beasts that could rival the spirit lord’s ability to control water. In order for Qiao Xue to control the body of water in the mermaids’ domain, her spiritual energy needed to overwhelm their fiend energy.
“Damn it, not even going to give us a chance to explain ourselves?” cursed Mu Yu, catching another dark-grey blast fired from the tridents.
Qiao Xue shielded her allies with her water spirit, then implanted it in the water to seize control of the water. She proceeded to wrap Mu Yu in her water spirit and accelerated at maximum velocity to charge out of the water. They thought they had escaped, only to see the mermaids elevate themselves on water columns.
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