Temple on the Small Island

The giant mermaid looked at the floating mermaid corpses around her. The beautiful woman at the very top had her eyes turn blood-red, fixing them on Zhang Chen. With a flick of her tail, she approached him at an extremely high speed.

"So fast?"

Zhang Chen didn't have time to marvel. He could only grab Xiao Lan tightly and swim towards the shore at an accelerated pace. However, the distance was still about four to five hundred meters.

Seeing the giant mermaid behind him getting closer and closer, at this rate, he would eventually become food for the mermaid.

"Right, I can accelerate too."

In his desperation, Zhang Chen actually conceived a way to increase his movement speed. He began to concentrate his telekinesis behind him, using it as a propulsion device to increase his speed.

As the telekinesis continuously pushed backward, Zhang Chen's speed became almost equal to that of the giant mermaid. Moreover, the small island was now within sight. If he maintained this, he would reach it in less than a minute.

Suddenly, the beautiful woman at the top of the giant mermaid behind him moved her mouth and spat out a white bone needle, shooting directly at Zhang Chen's body.

Zhang Chen, who thought that as a water form, physical attacks wouldn't work, regretted it when the white bone needle shot into his water body.

The bone needle seemed to have a life of its own, remaining stationary within his body. The giant mermaid behind him also stopped pursuing, turning around and abandoning the chase.

"What is this thing? It doesn't seem to have any effect on me."

When the bone needle first entered Zhang Chen's body, he was naturally very nervous and tried to expel it from his body. However, no matter what method he used, even if he stripped away the part of the water body where the bone needle was located and discarded it, an identical bone needle would reappear within Zhang Chen's body.

But after observing for a while, he found that this bone needle simply stayed within his body, posing no danger, and he couldn't sense any unusual aura.

"I'll study this thing later when we get ashore."

Shortly after, the two finally reached a large island on the other side of the lake. In the center of the island stood a towering rocky mountain. From the villa, this rocky mountain could be seen through the white mist.

After landing, Zhang Chen transformed back into his human form and held Xiao Lan in his arms. Although Xiao Lan's body was paralyzed, her eyes were still fixed on him, and her helplessness and sadness were evident in her gaze.

"Xiao Lan, I only severed your connection to your body earlier for the convenience of taking you with me. Once I confirm you're alright, I'll reconnect it for you."

Zhang Chen would not allow Xiao Lan to regain her freedom until he was sure she was no longer controlled by the giant mermaid. Otherwise, if she accidentally escaped into the water, all their efforts would be in vain.

"Will you save me?" Xiao Lan, held by Zhang Chen, finally managed to speak.

"Don't worry, I'll find a way. Before that, I'll take you away from this deserted island and back to the villa."

"No... I don't want everyone to see me like this. Can you help me return to normal first?" As she said this, Xiao Lan's eyes showed a look of pain.

"Okay, let's see the situation on this island first."

Zhang Chen, having just escaped a crisis, didn't pay much attention to Xiao Lan in his embrace.

At this moment, although Xiao Lan had many scales covering her vital areas, she was not wearing any clothes. Her short hair was wet, and combined with her already somewhat cute face, if her legs had turned into a fish tail, she would truly be a little mermaid.

After calming down and staring at Xiao Lan in his arms for a while, Zhang Chen's face gradually turned red. Xiao Lan in his embrace also felt a little embarrassed.

"Um... you should be free from that giant mermaid's control now, right?" Zhang Chen asked.

"I don't know. That thing can control my consciousness. It was like this in the bedroom at first."

"I'll try to release your nerves first. If something feels wrong, I'll sever them again."

"Okay."

After Xiao Lan finished speaking, Zhang Chen moved his right hand, and the liquid adhering to Xiao Lan's cervical spine returned to his hand.

"How is it? Can you walk?" Zhang Chen asked.

"My whole body feels a bit weak. It might be because I was in the water for too long. I'm not used to being on land yet."

"Then I'll help you down to try."

Saying that, Zhang Chen supported Xiao Lan's waist and slowly lowered her to the ground.

"Ah!" Xiao Lan tried to take two steps, but her legs began to spasm, and she fell to the ground. Zhang Chen quickly went to help her up.

"How about I carry you first to find something to eat, and then we'll look for a place to rest and try walking again slowly?" Zhang Chen said considerately.

"Okay."

Zhang Chen slowly carried Xiao Lan onto his back. Neither of them was wearing a shirt, and their skin was separated only by a layer of scales, which was a bit much for the underage Zhang Chen to handle.

"What time is it? Still thinking about such things. If Wang Yizhi finds out, she'll beat me half to death. I should focus on finding food and a place to stay on this island first. We can only consider returning to the villa when Xiao Lan can run normally and I've fully recovered."

With that thought, he headed towards the depths of the island. After all, his telekinesis was almost depleted. If he could find some edible fruits to replenish his energy, that would be good too.

He hadn't walked far when Zhang Chen actually saw a wild boar.

"What's going on? There are creatures on this island? I'll kill it first and see if there's anything unusual."

Zhang Chen didn't need to act. He directly used his telekinesis to pick up several sharp stones nearby and shot them all at the wild boar, piercing its body and killing it instantly.

Xiao Lan, behind Zhang Chen, couldn't help but widen her mouth in surprise at this sight.

"I'll check this wild boar for any problems later. If there are none, we can have roast pork," Zhang Chen said to Xiao Lan on his back.

Zhang Chen's strength was far beyond that of ordinary people. Carrying Xiao Lan and dragging a wild boar with his right hand, he didn't feel any strain.

Walking on the island, Zhang Chen naturally extended his residual telekinesis to a radius of two meters around him. As they walked, small insects and even snakes occasionally passed by under Zhang Chen's feet in the grass, which Zhang Chen found somewhat incredible.

"This island should be surrounded by this lake, and the lake water is undoubtedly undrinkable, but how did these creatures survive?"

With this question, Zhang Chen walked for nearly half an hour and finally saw what he was looking for.

"Xiao Lan, look, that up ahead should be a house, right?"

Xiao Lan, on Zhang Chen's back, followed the direction he pointed. A small, dark hut was vaguely visible ahead.

"En, I see it too."

"Then let's head over. There are a lot of bugs and snakes in the grass here. If we have a dilapidated house, we can roast this guy and eat him."

As the two approached the house, they gradually realized that what looked like a small house from afar was actually a dilapidated temple, and it was quite spacious.

"A temple? It seems there's no one inside, and no dangerous aura."

Zhang Chen stood at the temple entrance with Xiao Lan on his back. The large wooden door was in disrepair from years of rain. He gently pushed the door open, and a large Buddha statue sat in the main hall. However, the statue was covered in dust, and the hall appeared to have been deserted for a long time.

"Ah!" Xiao Lan cried out from behind.

In front of the Buddha statue sat a skeleton, its legs crossed, resting peacefully.

"Is this... self-immolation?" Zhang Chen had seen on TV how eminent monks would ascend to immortality after death, their physical bodies turning into relics.

However, this temple seemed to have only this skeleton as its resident. There were no relics to be seen on the cushion it sat on, unlike what was described on TV.

"Don't be scared. We're just borrowing this place to rest. As long as we're respectful, I'm sure the old master won't mind." Zhang Chen bowed to the skeleton, then placed Xiao Lan on a cushion before going to see what else was in the temple.

"Wait for me here. I'll go look around and be right back."

Actually, Xiao Lan really wanted to go with Zhang Chen, but thinking about how Zhang Chen had carried her all this way, she felt too embarrassed to ask him to carry her again. So, she nodded.

"Can you hurry?" Xiao Lan looked at the skeleton sitting beside her and still felt a bit scared.

Zhang Chen made an okay gesture and left.

Behind the temple's main hall was an exit leading to a relatively wide backyard. In the yard stood a small wooden house of only 10 square meters.

As Zhang Chen walked out, he saw a well in the backyard and quickly went over. He placed his right hand on it, and clear water from the well slowly rose with his gesture, coiling around his right arm and gradually merging with his body.

"As expected, this water is normal. No wonder life can exist on this island. We can eat that wild boar with peace of mind now."

Zhang Chen's mood immediately improved. At least the problems of food and drinking water were solved. Then, Zhang Chen's gaze fell upon the small wooden house in the yard.

"Let's see if there's anything useful in that wooden house. It would be good to find some clothes to wear."

"Creak~~" Zhang Chen gently pushed open the dilapidated wooden door, and quite a bit of dust fell.

"How many years has it been since anyone came here?" Zhang Chen pushed the door open and saw only three things in the room: a simple wooden bed, a wooden desk, and a monk's robe hanging on the wall.

"This monk's robe seems quite clean. I can give it to Xiao Lan to wear later." Zhang Chen took down the robe and continued searching the room for anything useful.

The dust on the wooden desk was at least 1 centimeter high. Zhang Chen covered his nose and opened the only drawer on the right side of the desk. He found a yellowed notebook with four large characters written on it: "Daoist Hand Scroll."

Just as he was about to open it, a scream suddenly came from the main hall.

"This is bad, something's happened to Xiao Lan." Zhang Chen tucked the notebook into his waist and immediately ran towards the main hall.

A chilling scene unfolded. Xiao Lan was now sitting opposite the skeleton, their arms clasped, seemingly performing some ritual.

Just as Zhang Chen was about to intervene and eliminate the skeleton, he noticed that the scales on Xiao Lan's body, whose hands were being held, were continuously falling off. The moment they fell, a small amount of black blood flowed out, and then the wound healed automatically.

"Xiao Lan, hold on. The old master is helping you remove the scales," Zhang Chen whispered to Xiao Lan. Xiao Lan nodded in pain.

The entire process took half an hour. During this time, Xiao Lan's expression was one of extreme pain, and sweat dripped from her face onto the ground. Finally, the last scale fell to the ground, and the wound healed.

At this moment, the small bone needle in Zhang Chen's body automatically flew out, landing on the skeleton's hand. Together, they gradually turned into dust and vanished into thin air.

Zhang Chen saluted the skeleton with great solemnity. The skeleton's actions reminded him of how the Faceless Man in Xie Wen's basement sacrificed himself, dissipating his soul, to buy him time.

"Little benefactor, you have also found the old monk's hand scroll, which contains much useful information for you. The young lady's fish poison has been removed, and the bone mark within you has been extracted. If you have the ability, eliminate that great demon. If not, leave as soon as possible. This old monk does not wish to see widespread suffering after death."

Zhang Chen could not sense any soul in the surroundings. He silently nodded...

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