novelapdf Chapter 294 Mermaid
Chapter 294 Mermaid
A guess surfaced in Jiang Mu's mind.
He had the two women hold him tightly, and then explored the invisible barrier to the left and right for more than ten feet.
Finally, it soared directly into the air.
No matter which direction he changed to, or even when he used his sword energy to slash, that invisible wall always stood between heaven and earth.
indestructible.
The slash didn't even create a ripple.
It uses this small island as its center, encompassing the entire island and the surrounding sea area.
Left with no other choice, Jiang Mu took the two women back to the island.
"It seems that this island, along with the surrounding small area of water, has been completely sealed off."
Jiang Mu's expression was solemn.
"Does that mean we're stuck here?"
Chu Lingzhu sat on the beach, hugging her knees with both hands.
Jiang Mu shook his head and said:
"If a powerful being sealed this place off from the outside, then with my current cultivation level, there is indeed nothing I can do."
However, if the seal was triggered from within, it means that the island contains a key or pivot point that can open the barrier. The person who sealed the barrier couldn't possibly have sealed themselves inside forever.
He suddenly thought of the cyan-gold bone bead in his companion space.
Granny Feng said that swallowing it would allow one to return directly to that secret realm.
But the thought was fleeting.
He would never take any risks until he had figured out the old woman's background and thoroughly investigated the side effects of the bead.
Over the next two days, Jiang Mu led the two women to search the entire island from top to bottom.
He carefully scanned every suspicious place with his divine sense.
Chu Lingzhu drew a sketch of the island, marked out the suspicious landforms, and eliminated them one by one.
But still, nothing was found.
They couldn't even find a single stone engraved with runes.
Chu Lingzhu sat on the beach, staring at her sketch covered in crosses, and suddenly looked up and blurted out:
"Boss, do you think it might be in the sea?"
These words reminded Jiang Mu.
He searched every inch of the island, but he hadn't explored the area of sea enclosed by the barrier.
If there really is some hidden mechanism, it's much more likely to be underwater than on an island.
So he told the two girls to wait on the shore while he jumped into the sea.
The light suddenly dimmed the moment it entered the water.
The sea overhead looked like a constantly swaying blue-green glass.
He used his star power to protect himself, and took out the water-repelling pearl that Qiu Yuexin had given him, putting it in his mouth.
With this treasure of the Qingqiu Fox Clan, he could not only breathe freely underwater, but the water pressure and resistance would also be greatly reduced.
The underwater world presents a deep, tranquil blue hue.
Jiang Mu swam into the depths of the sea like a fish, spreading his divine sense to detect any trace of spiritual energy fluctuations.
However, just as he descended to the edge of a dark trench, a strange feeling suddenly welled up in his heart.
In the water behind, a dark shadow seemed to flash by.
Jiang Mu turned around, but there was nothing behind her.
Only a few palm-sized, silvery-scaled fish were nibbling at the floating algae in the coral reef.
Even the ripples in the water returned to their original calm.
After searching underwater for nearly two hours without finding anything, Jiang Mu, filled with doubt, had no choice but to surface first to prevent the two women on the shore from encountering danger.
The next few days.
After confirming that there were no monsters on the island, Jiang Mu went to sea to explore during the day and returned to the shore to rest at night, leaving the two girls to collect herbs and food on the island by themselves.
Chu Lingzhu discovered several rare herbs on the island that she had only seen in pharmacopoeias before. At first, she was quite excited and picked basket after basket of herbs, but later she couldn't pick them anymore.
Jiang Mu's feelings underwater grew increasingly strange.
He didn't know when it started, but he could always vaguely sense that something on the seabed was watching him.
But every time he turned around or used his divine sense to scan the area, he found nothing.
That night.
On the edge of the island, a campfire roared in front of a rather exquisitely built simple wooden house.
This wooden house was built by Chu Lingzhu and Lan Rou'er in their spare time.
The main timber was naturally chopped by Jiang Mu.
After all, it was really inappropriate for someone traveling with two delicate young girls, enduring wind and rain and sleeping outdoors all the time.
Jiang Mu even dug a small pool behind the wooden house, channeling spring water and paving it with smooth pebbles, so that the two of them could have a convenient place to bathe and wash every day.
"That's it, I don't like this awful place at all anymore."
Chu Lingzhu lay on Jiang Mu's lap, looking like a wilted, dried-out salted fish.
Bored, she tugged at the loose thread on Jiang Muyi's hem, muttering:
"What a load of rubbish, what a lousy paradise! It's not fun at all. It'd be better to bring a few monsters to kill for fun, at least that way I can stretch my muscles."
Listening to the girl's resentful ramblings, Jiang Mu remained silent.
After several days of fruitless searching, coupled with the ever-present feeling of being watched in the deep sea, he gradually began to feel anxious and frustrated.
But he still forced himself to suppress his emotions, raised his hand and gently patted the top of Chu Lingzhu's head, comforting her:
"Don't worry, I'll leave."
After dinner, Lan Rou'er went to bathe alone in the pool behind the wooden house.
Chu Lingzhu chatted with Jiang Mu casually.
As the young healer spoke, her voice gradually weakened, and before long, she fell into a deep sleep.
The little head naturally rested on Jiang Mu's lap.
The flickering firelight illuminated the girl's delicate sleeping face.
Long eyelashes cast two faint silhouettes under her eyelids, her small nostrils flared with even breathing, and her usually chattering little mouth was slightly pouting.
It exudes a touch of girlish innocence and cuteness, like a cat sleeping soundly on its owner's lap.
Jiang Mu looked down at the pretty sleeping face so close to her, and a tender feeling welled up in her heart.
He reached out and gently brushed aside a stray strand of hair stuck to her cheek, his fingertips lightly caressing the girl's face twice.
Her skin was as soft as a freshly peeled egg, with a cool and delicate feel unique to young girls.
His fingers slid slowly down her cheek, stopping at the corner of her lips, and then he gently stroked her lower lip with the pad of his thumb.
When you press down with your fingertip, it leaves a slight indentation; when you release it, it springs back.
As Chu Lingzhu slept, she seemed to sense something. A tiny bit of her tongue peeked out from between her teeth and unconsciously licked the corner of her lips, just in time to touch his fingertip.
It was like a small fish gently nibbling.
Jiang Mu scoffed. This girl can turn into a demon even when she's asleep.
Just then, a scream came from outside the house.
Jiang Mu's fingers stiffened.
Chu Lingzhu opened her eyes almost simultaneously, groggily propping herself up, her hair disheveled:
"What's wrong? Is it an earthquake or a demon?"
Jiang Mu's figure had already disappeared from the spot.
The wooden door rattled loudly as a gust of wind blew it.
When he reached the edge of the pool, Lan Rou'er was huddled on the edge, her pretty face as pale as paper, shivering in the water.
The pool water only reached her waist.
The moonlight shone on the water, making the half of her body that was above water appear to glow white.
"What's wrong? Is there a monster?"
Jiang Mu didn't see anything unusual around him and said strangely, "Could it be that something else can't be taken out again?"
"No, that's not it..."
Lan Rou'er's two tender pink lips trembled as she pointed underwater, her voice trembling with sobs, and she managed to squeeze out a sentence in broken sentences:
"It feels like...it feels like someone is touching my calf..."
What?!
Jiang Mu's gaze sharpened, and killing intent emanated from his body.
He stepped forward, grabbed Lan Rou'er's arm, and pulled her out of the pool.
A splash of water.
Large splashes of water were sent flying high into the air.
The girl's snow-white body was then exposed to the moonlight.
Her long, wet hair clung to her smooth back, and water droplets rolled down her slender waist like a string of pearls.
Chu Lingzhu happened to run out of the house.
With lightning speed, he grabbed the skirt next to him and draped it over Lan Rou'er's shoulders, wrapping her up completely.
Jiang Mu turned around and inhaled sharply into the water with her right palm.
The water in the pool was pumped out, turning into a water tornado that flew into the air and then splashed onto the grass next to it.
The bottom of the pool was exposed.
However, when Jiang Mu and the other two saw the bottom of the pool, they were all stunned.
She was a little girl shivering.
More accurately, it was a monster with the upper body of a human girl and the lower body of a fish tail.
"A mermaid?"
Jiang Mu was dumbfounded.
However, no matter how harmless the other party seemed, Jiang Mu did not let her guard down.
He waved his hand and released the Forgotten River Flying Sword.
The silver-white sword hummed as it hovered three inches in front of the mermaid girl's face.
The cold light from the sword tip made the girl's face appear deathly pale.
Jiang Mu coldly asked, "Tell me, where did you come from? Why are you here?"
"Great...Great Immortal, spare my life!"
The mermaid girl, gripped by the sword's aura, was so frightened that her scales stood on end, and tears streamed down her face.
"I came from the Crystal Sea. I didn't mean to hurt that older sister. I just... happened to see you all, so I came over out of curiosity... I meant no harm!"
"The Sea of Crystal?"
Jiang Mu's brows twitched slightly.
He suddenly realized: "These past two days, while I was exploring the seabed, I kept feeling someone watching me from the shadows... Was that shadow hiding in the deep-sea trench also you?"
The mermaid girl nodded timidly:
"It's me. I'm sorry, Great Immortal... At first, I thought you were one of us fish, but I found out you weren't."
I wanted to talk to you again, but the elders said that humans all hate demons, and I was afraid you would kill me…”
Jiang Mu's eyes remained sharp:
"Since you say you come from the Crystal Sea, why have I searched the sea thoroughly these past few days and not found even a single demon's lair of your mermaid race?"
The mermaid girl shook her head, gently patting the water with the tip of her tail: "Our demon's lair isn't in this sea."
"Where is it?"
The mermaid girl lowered her head and remained silent.
Seeing this, Chu Lingzhu squatted down, revealing a "kind" smile, and pulled out a small knife from her sleeve, gesturing with it:
"Boss, look at the scales on her fish tail, aren't they beautiful? And the flesh looks much fresher and more tender than the sea fish we catch during the day."
"Why don't we just slice her up and grill her over a fire? With my secret seasoning, it'll definitely be delicious."
"Ah?! Don't eat me! My flesh doesn't taste good at all! It's sour!"
The mermaid girl was so frightened by the thought of being roasted and eaten that she curled up into a ball.
Faced with the little doctor's food-themed threat, she finally couldn't hold back anymore and pointed to the sky with a tearful voice:
"Our home is in heaven!"
In the sky?
Jiang Mu and the other two looked at each other in bewilderment.
These days they've been scouring islands and diving into the sea, turning every inch of land and every stretch of seabed upside down.
But they never thought of looking up at the sky.
Who would have thought that the mermaid race, who live in the water, would build their nest in the sky?
Jiang Mu raised her head with some skepticism, gazing up at the dark night sky.
No matter how hard he strained his eyes, he could not find any trace of floating islands or palaces, except for clouds and starlight.
He raised his hand and unleashed several sword strikes.
The blade energy whistled as it flew towards the sky. When it reached a height of about several tens of feet, it seemed to have collided with something and then dissipated.
It was exactly like the invisible wall he encountered on the sea.
The mermaid girl sighed:
"It's no use. There's a protective array around the island, set up personally by a thirteenth-realm immortal. No one outside the island can enter. No matter how powerful you are, immortal, you can't break it."
Thirteen Realms!
Jiang Mu gasped.
No wonder.
Jiang Mu suppressed his shock, stared at the mermaid girl, and asked in a deep voice:
"Since no one outside the island can enter that barrier, what about you? If you want to leave this place, you have a way to freely go in and out of the top, right?"
The mermaid girl had a mournful face:
"Master, it's not that I don't want to help you, it's just that I can't go back myself now. I escaped."
A few days ago, our mermaid clan experienced internal strife. The high priest rebelled... Princess and I risked our lives to escape, but we got separated on the way.
The princess is now missing, and her fate is unknown.
I can't go up there either.
The girl grew increasingly distressed as she spoke, her eyes reddening, and her two fan-shaped ear fins drooped down, like a sea anemone wilted by the rain. Jiang Mu felt a headache coming on.
What's with this mermaid princess popping up again?
Which mermaid princess?
Is it the black merman that Disney recently filmed?
Jiang Mu scrutinized the trembling mermaid girl.
Although it was uncertain how much of what the little girl said was true, judging from the aura emanating from her, she was at most a fourth-tier minor demon. A mere fourth-tier demon, yet she possessed a terrifying speed in the sea that even his seventh-level divine sense struggled to detect.
It can only be described as "like a fish in water" in the literal sense.
He thought for a while and asked again:
"You just said that this island-protecting formation was set up by a powerful being at the thirteenth realm, so besides you mermaid demons, there are other people cultivating here, right?" The little mermaid girl nodded vigorously.
"Yes. The deserted island we are on now is actually just an abandoned 'abandoned island' in the lower realm."
The true core island, called "Liuli Island," floats in the sky.
The root of this internal strife among our mermaids lies in what originated from the Glass Island.
"Liuli Island?"
Upon hearing these three words, Jiang Mu felt that the place name sounded strangely familiar.
In a flash, a lightning bolt struck his mind.
Jiang Mu's expression changed drastically, and he stared intently at the mermaid girl, asking, "Is the lord of this Glass Island surnamed Beitang?"
"Yes!"
The little mermaid nodded timidly.
Jiang Mu suddenly realized.
It turns out that the Red Umbrella Cult's despicable teleportation array actually threw them directly into Beitang Batian's territory.
Beitang Batian was the previous island lord of Liuli Island.
When the Purple Star appeared in the world, this old fellow, nearing the end of his lifespan, had no choice but to risk his life to break through to a higher realm, resulting in his body exploding and dying. After exploding, the old fellow was not completely dead; his ghost, wrapped in a wisp of remnant spirit, escaped and somehow appeared at Lan Rou'er's aunt's house, even nearly possessing Jiang Mu.
After Jiang Mu used the magic slot to drain his demonic energy, the old man fled in a sorry state, now wearing a woman's body.
Their whereabouts remain unknown.
Unexpectedly, after going around in circles, I ended up in the backyard of someone else's lair.
Who is the current owner of the island?
Jiang Mu pressed for more information.
"The old island lord has been missing for a long time."
The mermaid girl answered truthfully, "The current island owner is Beitang Kun."
When the name was mentioned, the girl's eyes visibly dimmed for a moment, and her tail fin involuntarily curled up.
"He is Beitang Batian's son. He's the one who instigated this internal strife among the merfolk."
Jiang Mu nodded thoughtfully.
After processing this information in his mind, he turned his attention back to the mermaid girl and returned to the main topic:
"So, you really can't activate the barrier and get us out of here?"
The mermaid girl shook her head with a wry smile:
"No. If Her Highness were here, she would definitely have a way, given that she carries the royal teleportation mark."
But I really don't know where Her Highness is.
The princess must be on this island, but I've been searching everywhere, both in the water and on land, but I just can't find her.
Jiang Mu didn't completely believe her.
He found some vines, pasted two binding talismans on them, and tied the mermaid girl up tightly.
Then have the two girls watch over her in the cabin.
He put the water-repelling bead in his mouth again, plunged into the sea, and began a thorough search.
The cold, dark seabed.
Jiang Mu's divine sense swept across every spot like a radar.
He searched for a long time but still found nothing. Just as he dived into a coral reef, his gaze suddenly sharpened.
A huge seashell is wedged between two massive underwater reefs.
The two shells were tightly closed, fitting together perfectly.
Its surface is a pearly white, emitting a faint glow in the dark seabed.
Jiang Mu was quite certain that he had not seen this thing when he explored this sea area a couple of days ago.
He swam over to take a look and reached out to try to pry the shell open.
However, the shell was stuck together very firmly and did not move at all.
Jiang Mu swung his blade again, each slash a fierce and sharp strike against the shell's surface, leaving not even a shallow mark, but only stirring up rings of shimmering white light.
"Is this piece of junk really that hard? Looks like it's a protective magic item."
He knocked twice more forcefully.
Two muffled thuds sounded, with a faint echo inside, but it was hard to make out the details.
"Never mind, let's get them out first."
Jiang Mu simply gripped the rocky crevice at the bottom of the shell with both hands, unleashed his star power, and dragged it out of the seabed to the surface.