As Ao Hang turned back into a black dragon and flew off, Three Bean collapsed into a limp little cat puddle, pawing weakly at Gu Baiqing’s collar.
“Master, please wake up… If Ao Hang comes back, I’m dead, I’m really dead…” he cried in panic.
Then suddenly, he noticed the water-repelling barrier around Gu Baiqing starting to crack.
Three Bean didn’t know that Mo Xuanli had cast that spell — nor that it meant Xuanli might have lost consciousness.
He froze for a second, then realized — they were in deep sea. Gu Baiqing had no spiritual power and was unconscious. If he didn’t get him to the surface soon, wouldn’t he… drown?!
Heavens — an exalted immortal drowning? Three Bean couldn’t even imagine it!
He panicked, trying his best to drag Gu Baiqing upward, but in kitten form he couldn’t transform back, nor move him at all. The absurd helplessness nearly drove him mad.
Fortunately, he remembered that the battlefield was nearby — surely he could find some merfolk to help.
But when he climbed to a higher point and looked around, he was horrified — the battle that had just raged was completely over.
All the merfolk on the field had fallen.
Only the Beast-Taming Manor’s people remained, searching for survivors among the merfolk and stuffing them one by one into strange pouches — clearly spatial bags meant to contain living creatures.
As they continued, Three Bean realized that most of the floating merfolk were being taken, while only the clearly dead ones were left untouched.
Could it be that the ones being captured were still alive — that Beast-Taming Manor hadn’t actually gone for the kill this time?
Then, something even stranger happened — while those people were packing the merfolk away, they also started taking things out from other bags and tossing them into the water.
When those objects drifted closer through the current, Three Bean took a careful look — and gasped sharply.
They were severed limbs and broken remains of merfolk.
What were they doing? Taking away the living merfolk, while throwing merfolk corpses here from somewhere else?
What did this mean?
Completely confused, Three Bean saw a few masked, expressionless people walking toward him.
He immediately darted back to Gu Baiqing’s side, biting at Gu Baiqing’s hand over and over, hoping to wake him — but it was useless.
Those people kept coming closer.
Three Bean bristled all over, fur puffed out, trying to look fierce. The masked people only paused slightly, as if assessing what exactly he was.
Three Bean thought irritably — are they idiots? But then, suddenly, he felt a familiar type of energy — that was… illusion-type demonic power? How could they have that?
At that very moment, the barrier around Gu Baiqing shattered. Three Bean froze, then turned just in time to see Gu Baiqing blow out a few bubbles.
He didn’t care whether those people were friend or foe anymore — he couldn’t let his master drown! He was about to speak when, to his shock, Gu Baiqing suddenly gulped, and then… began breathing underwater.
Everyone else could only breathe here because of a protective barrier, or because they were a beast species with that ability — but Gu Baiqing’s state right now looked just like… like that of a merfolk!
His master had gained this ability in just a few days?!
The approaching people tilted their heads slightly, as if locking onto a target, then reached their hands out toward Gu Baiqing.
….
Meanwhile, on the other side, when Ao Hang arrived, the Sky-Covering Wyvern was already gravely injured. But more people from the Beast-Taming Manor had joined, all besieging Mo Xuanli together.
Mo Xuanli was drenched in blood, his body covered in wounds. Just as Ao Hang had predicted, Mo Xuanli was already at his limit, and with the sacred ground that had been sustaining him now gone, even the divine weapon God Nine Transformations in his hand could no longer hold back their combined assault.
After one last exchange, Mo Xuanli was struck by the backlash of spiritual power and fainted. It was only the immortal-grade artifact in his hand dragging his body away that saved him for the moment — but without its master’s control, its effect was limited.
Just as the second and third elders launched another frenzied attack, a dragon’s roar shook the entire field.
Before anyone could react, a massive dragon tail swept across the battlefield, stirring up raging waves. The impact left everyone reeling and vomiting blood — those already wounded or of weaker cultivation fainted outright, their fates unknown.
The survivors barely managed to steady themselves when they saw, with shock and awe, a true dragon soaring past — and the Mo Xuanli who had been on the verge of death had vanished along with it.
Ao Hang had no patience for these mortals. He only wanted to finish his task quickly and return to his “San’er.”
As he sped through the water with Mo Xuanli coiled in his tail, he could feel the demonic energy within the youth growing heavier — clearly, the life-or-death struggle had stirred the latent demonic power within him. Had Ao Hang arrived any later, Mo Xuanli might have truly succumbed to his inner demon.
After some hesitation, Ao Hang finally exhaled a burst of dragon’s breath, dispersing the encroaching demonic energy and stabilizing the youth’s condition.
In Ao Hang’s eyes, becoming a demon wasn’t necessarily a bad thing — but remembering what Three Bean had said, that this man was both his master and his benefactor, and that their lives were tied together, he decided it was better to keep him from turning demonic.
Feeling somewhat pleased to have fulfilled his duty — and even gone beyond it — Ao Hang thought to himself that, if not for this boy holding the betrothal gift meant for his Shan’er, he might have even liked the human. Brave, unyielding, clever, adaptable, a flexible fighter who stayed calm under pressure — if his cultivation were stronger, battling him would have been exhilarating. And he valued loyalty and affection, too — a rare quality among humans.
But of course, that was only if he didn’t try to steal his “San’er.” Whatever their relationship was — it was unacceptable.
When Ao Hang finally returned to where he had left Three Bean, however, he found the place empty.
Instantly enraged, he wrapped his tail tighter around the unconscious Mo Xuanli and shot upward, scanning the area from above — but aside from the merfolk corpses scattered among the coral, there was no sign of any living creature.
Ao Hang let out a thunderous roar, his voice reverberating through the water, but still no trace of Three Bean appeared. Furious to the point of madness, he almost slammed Mo Xuanli to death right then and there.
But remembering that this man was now his only link to Three Bean, he had to restrain himself — barely. His rage almost burst his chest.
He didn’t know whether Three Bean had run away again or something else had happened — he only felt as though he had been toyed with once more.
His fury churned the sea into chaos around the coral reef, but even then, he could not flush Three Bean out.
In the distance, the surviving Beast-Taming Manor members, still recovering, heard the disturbance and immediately began retreating. Their losses were already tremendous — they had recovered only a fraction of the sacred mer-pearls from the sanctum, and they could not afford another confrontation with a true dragon.
They didn’t even know what the dragon was doing here, but fleeing was clearly the wiser choice. After all, true dragons rarely came ashore — the land had to be safer than the sea.
On the far side of the sea, at the exit of the teleportation array, the surviving merfolk had gathered within the ruins of the deep-sea sanctuary. The place was filled with rock caverns that offered temporary refuge.
Junhua had just regained consciousness and immediately sat up.
“Your Highness, you’re badly injured — please rest,” the priest urged.
Junhua pushed him away, gritting her teeth. “No, I have to go back — there might still be merfolk who—”
“Your Highness, it’s too dangerous for you to go now. Please rest. We’ll send others instead,” the priest said quickly.
Junhua didn’t answer, only turned her head to look at the clansmen hiding within the rocky hollows behind her. They peered out with worried eyes, but every gaze was clouded with despair — the devastating battle that had nearly wiped out their race had left deep shadows in their hearts. Many were still wounded, lying beside her on the same stretch of rock.
In the deeper, unseen parts of the cave were the remaining wounded soldiers, women, and children. They wept, mourning their ruined homeland. Young children cried for their lost families, while only the infants in their swaddling clothes smiled blankly, thinking they had simply arrived somewhere new and strange.
A white pearl rolled over from the side. Junhua stared at it blankly, the grief in her heart slowly being replaced by hatred. She crushed the pearl in her hand, watching the spiritual energy disperse.
Why?
Why must the merfolk race go through all this?
What have they ever done to deserve such a fate?
Junhua closed her eyes, but in the end, she rose to her feet. She was of the royal family, the leader of her people—the second princess of the merfolk. She could not abandon any chance of rescuing her kin.
When Junhua led the remaining warriors back to the coral reef, all she saw was deathly silence and the sea floor littered with the broken limbs of merfolk.
The others who came with her were unable to even stand. For a moment, they couldn’t even bring themselves to weep.
The scene itself carried its own suffocating weight, pressing down on them until they could barely breathe.
When they had left, it hadn’t been this bad. Why… why was it like this now?
So their kin were all dead—none survived?
Junhua trembled, her whole body wracked with bone-deep pain, as she slowly swam inward.
The corpses around her were like countless blades stabbing into their hearts. The hatred in her chest all but dyed her eyes red, and the whip in her hand quivered violently.
“Your Highness, let’s go kill all those cultivators!”
“Your Highness, we will never forgive them!”
“Your Highness, we must avenge them! Even if it means death, I will avenge our people!”
The merfolk who had followed her were overwhelmed with grief at the sight before them. Even those still wounded could not wait to rush to the surface.
The once pure and innocent merfolk had finally tasted the cruelty of being slaughtered at others’ mercy.
Junhua stood before the palace—now utterly destroyed—silent.
What should she do? How could she protect her people? How could she soothe this hatred carved into their bones?
Suddenly, a sound came from behind.
Junhua and the merfolk instantly raised their weapons in alert.
Ao Hang, seeing them, was momentarily stunned—almost surprised.
Once, the merfolk, upon hearing a sound or seeing something new, would always approach out of curiosity. Never before had they shown such ferocity in their eyes, never stood ready to attack.
Ao Hang frowned slightly. In his eyes, these weak beings treating him with such hostility was mildly irritating.
“Ao Hang… you—” Junhua started to speak when she saw the black dragon at last, but then she noticed that from beneath him trailed a long dragon tail, dragging along an oval sphere of light—and within that sphere was the blood-soaked, battered figure of Mo Xuanli.
“Xuanli!” Junhua cried out in alarm, rushing forward.
“So you do know each other,” Ao Hang said, frowning. He had already guessed as much—when that man had used the Sacred Land’s spiritual power, Ao Hang knew he must be connected to Junhua and the others.
“You… you’re saving him?” Junhua asked, both shocked and bewildered.
After all, the dragon race was born proud—truly proud. They considered the lives of mortals beneath their notice. To them, the death of any creature in the lower realms was none of their concern. The only reason Ao Hang had once considered a marriage alliance with the merfolk was because he had grown bored upon reaching adulthood and needed to reproduce. Since he disdained every other race, he had looked toward the merfolk, who also lived beneath the sea.
But after the failed alliance, Ao Hang had nothing more to do with the merfolk. Given his indifference, Junhua had never expected him to involve himself in their affairs—much less use his own power to save Mo Xuanli.
“Tch. I’m asking you—have you seen a tricolored illusion cat?” Ao Hang demanded directly.
Junhua froze. Wait—a tricolored illusion cat? Three Bean? She had thought that name sounded familiar. Hadn’t she once seen this very dragon holding a portrait while searching for such a cat?
She didn’t know why Ao Hang was asking about that now, so she hesitated before answering vaguely, “Our people have been fighting nonstop; we haven’t seen anything. But this man is our benefactor. Thank you for saving him. Have you perhaps seen another man in black—about his age—who was with him?”
“You mean the one who’s supposedly my San’er’s master?” Ao Hang growled irritably. “They disappeared the moment I looked away. I’m still looking for them! If I didn’t need this brat for clues, I’d have let him die already.”
Junhua quickly pressed, “Tell me exactly what you saw! How was that man? Was he injured?”
To Junhua, both Mo Xuanli and Gu Baiqing were the merfolk’s benefactors. She had to make sure they were safe.
But Ao Hang had little to say—only describing the battle and how Three Bean had forced him to look for Mo Xuanli, only for both men to vanish afterward.
Junhua’s expression shifted repeatedly. Gu Baiqing, unconscious and severely wounded—the Weakwater Barrier had collapsed, and they were surrounded by seawater. If he was still unconscious, then wouldn’t he—?
But then she remembered she had recently given Gu Baiqing a mer-pearl to swallow, and she finally breathed a sigh of relief. That kind of pearl wasn’t only usable in the Sacred Land—it was originally developed to let land-dwellers breathe underwater freely for several days, living like the merfolk. For now, at least, she didn’t need to worry about that.
Still, Gu Baiqing wouldn’t have simply abandoned Mo Xuanli there.
“Gone… did he leave on his own, or was he taken?” Junhua frowned, thinking. Remembering how Mo Xuanli had called Gu Baiqing ‘Master,’ she had already guessed his identity. “They’re master and disciple—there should be a connection between them. You should focus on saving him first.”
Seeing how badly Mo Xuanli was hurt, she knew she couldn’t heal him herself—but a true dragon’s power surely could.
Ao Hang didn’t need her to say it. He snorted coldly but continued to channel his energy.
“Have you… seen anyone else—”
“No. There’s nothing else alive in this sea except the few of us,” Ao Hang interrupted indifferently—whether Junhua was asking about her kin or her enemies, to him the answer was the same.
Junhua’s expression was cold and severe. She forced herself to stay calm, instructing her companions to begin tending to the bodies floating on the sea’s surface. The merfolk had their own burial rites, after all.
She herself remained by Ao Hang’s side, waiting for Mo Xuanli to wake. Ao Hang’s moods were unpredictable, and she feared that Mo Xuanli might meet with misfortune if she wasn’t there.
But the longer she watched, the more Junhua sensed something was wrong.
Why was demonic energy continuously gathering here? If not for the dragon’s aura holding it back… Back in the Sacred Land, Mo Xuanli had nearly succumbed to qi deviation—what was happening now?
Just as she was thinking that, Ao Hang suddenly turned his head, his gaze sweeping toward a shadowed corner nearby.
“Come out,” Ao Hang said coldly.
Junhua immediately raised her whip, every nerve on alert.
From the darkness, a man in a black robe stepped forward. His hood concealed half his face, but his scarlet eyes gleamed unmistakably.
The man glanced at Ao Hang, then quickly suppressed the murderous intent in his gaze—like a beast recognizing a predator far stronger than itself. He lowered his eyes, making it clear he meant no threat.
Ao Hang sized him up briefly, saw he wasn’t a match, and lost interest.
“Demon race!” Junhua froze for an instant before every scale on her body seemed to bristle in alarm. “A beast demon?”
Since merfolk, too, possessed the ability to summon and communicate with spirit beasts, she could immediately sense that this intruder was no ordinary demon.
“What are you doing here?” Junhua asked warily.
The beast demon gave a low, mocking laugh. “The royal family of the merfolk truly is pitiful. Tell me—ten or so years ago, your elders helped those righteous cultivators, and as a result, nearly all your male warriors died on the Immortal–Demon battlefield. Your people couldn’t recover for years. And now, under your rule, the righteous cultivators have destroyed your home and nearly wiped out your entire race. Yet you still regard us demons as your enemies? Don’t you think that’s ridiculous?”
Junhua’s expression darkened. His words tugged at a buried resentment deep within her heart.
“To us demons,” the man continued with a sneer, “your kind has no value whatsoever. But to humans—you’re treasures.”
The biting irony in his tone made Junhua’s pale face almost crack apart.
The beast demon drew closer, his gaze full of scorn and ridicule.
“Your fate is one of your own making. The weak deserve to be trampled, don’t they? You’re too weak, too naïve. Always dreaming of freedom and peace, so few of your people ever pursue true strength. Even your command over beasts stops at what you were born with—you never strive for more. Even with a place like your Sacred Land, you treat it merely as a symbol of heritage and longing, never truly using it for what it could be. The reason you’ve fallen to this point isn’t just human greed—it’s also your own stupidity, your failure to protect yourselves or to know where you belong.”
Junhua turned toward him, her eyes cold as the abyss. “So what—you think we should belong with you demons? Don’t forget, your kind has never respected us either. You may not covet our treasures, but there are plenty among you who treat us as pets… or playthings.”
“That’s still better than those righteous hypocrites who claim to respect you while secretly destroying you,” the beast demon retorted mockingly. “At least the demons with their twisted fetishes are rare. Anyway, I didn’t come to argue. I came to deliver an offer—on behalf of the Holy Maiden of the Demon Realm. If the merfolk are willing to submit and join us, we’ll protect your clan’s safety and help you level Longan Port—wipe out the Beast-Taming Manor!”
