Chen Yu, hiding in the Swamp, saw Seja slip into it as well. Silently, he edged deeper into the marsh, then cautiously poked out his head to keep watching.
It had to be said, this Lizardfolk's vitality was truly tenacious. She could still move after all that, and she even dared let her wounds touch filthy swamp water—she clearly had no fear of infection.
He had hidden behind a rock and watched the confrontation between the two groups of Demihumans unfold, but he quickly realized a problem.
He had listened to those Demihumans chattering away for ages, yet he could not understand a single word. Their grudges and enmities were completely beyond him.
So, whether it was this female Lizardfolk or that Hunting Squad, he had no intention of lending either side a hand.
But by sheer coincidence, perhaps this female Lizardfolk's life was not yet meant to end, or perhaps she was simply lucky. That earlier Lesser Arrow Technique had just happened to provoke the Stinger Bees and Digger Beetles into another round of fighting.
The moment those Demihumans arrived, they enraged the Stinger Bees, who treated them entirely as invaders. Poison stingers rained down like stars filling the sky.
At first, Chen Yu had thought he could not handle the Stinger Bees because Slimes were too weak. But now that he looked at it, weren't these Demihumans suffering under the Stinger Bees' venomous stingers too?
It seemed the Stinger Bees had good reason for claiming that taller Twisted Oak.
Seeing the Hunting Squad scatter like a flock of frightened birds, the three Demihumans fled wildly from the area. The buzzing gradually faded, and the forest returned to silence.
Still, not everyone had left. At the very least, that female Lizardfolk remained hidden in the pool.
It was Chen Yu's first time encountering such a foreign race. He did not dare approach carelessly, so he stayed concealed in the Swamp and watched her.
Seja lay quietly submerged in the mud. Only after the Stinger Bees above her head fell silent did she slowly let out a breath.
After recovering a little strength, she wearily swam to the opposite bank, crawled ashore, and lay on the ground gasping for breath.
"Putu must be watching over me."
Having passed through the gates of death, her entire body had gone limp with exhaustion. Yet she still forced herself to rise, knelt carefully by the shore, and prayed with devotion, murmuring obscure words of prayer.
This prayer came from the ancient Demihuman tongue and had been personally taught to her by her father. Although no one knew the prayer's original meaning after its long passage through the ages, her father had once told her that prayer was merely a formality. So long as one kept reverence and devotion for Putu in one's heart, the gates of the Swamp would forever stand open to the Lizardfolk.
After praying, Seja slowly opened her eyes, sorrow written across her face. "Father was right. Putu watches over and blesses us. But from this day onward, those Lizardfolk obsessed with the power bestowed by the Spirit of Scale and Claw will forever drown in the lies of power woven by Corrupted Morgul."
"Once I return to Putu's embrace, there will be no more Lizardfolk by the riverbank who believe in nature..."
At that thought, Seja unconsciously clenched her fists. Her mind still replayed that blood-red night: the blood gushing from her father's chest, the priest's merciless and grim expression.
She knelt there for a long time, unable to let it go, but her attention was soon drawn to green bubbles rising from the pool.
The sun climbed higher. Morning light fell upon the gloomy forest, barely dispersing the poisonous mist hanging all around. Rays filtered through gaps in the leaves, forming patches of light across the Swamp and the ground, and spilling over Seja's body.
Her body felt warm, and even the cold blood within her gradually began to warm.
One Slime after another floated up from the pool, lazily basking in the sun as they began another day of feeding.
These Slimes did not seem afraid of Seja. They even appeared quite close to her, boldly hopping into her arms to compete for sunlight.
The sight warmed her heart, slightly dispelling the unpleasant memories in her mind.
Seja cupped a Slime in her hands and kissed it in thanks.
"Descendants of Putu, thank you. It was your prayers that brought Putu's gaze upon me."
Chen Yu, still hidden in the Swamp, saw this scene. Watching those Slimes show no fear toward the female Lizardfolk, a trace of surprise surfaced in his round eyes.
As one of the Slimes, he knew exactly how timid they were. Even when they encountered a somewhat larger beetle, they would tremble in fright and become too scared to move.
Were they close to this female Lizardfolk because she posed no threat?
Or did Slimes actually share some kind of symbiotic relationship with certain Lizardfolk?
Everything in Zeyarila was unknown to him. Mere guesswork made it difficult to understand this world.
After thinking it over, since his Slime instincts had raised no alarm, Chen Yu decided to reveal himself and try making contact with this female Lizardfolk.
Of course, it was not as though he had no precautions...
On the shore of the Swamp, Seja was still stroking the Slime in her arms when she suddenly noticed that the Slimes floating in the pool seemed to have encountered a natural enemy. They all swam toward the bank in terror, leaving an empty stretch of water in the middle of the pool.
"A predator?"
Wariness appeared on Seja's face. She pulled off the fang necklace hanging around her neck and stared intently at the pool.
Ripples spread across the water. A black carapace slowly emerged, and at a glance, she recognized it as the shell of a Digger Beetle. Her wary expression gained several shades of disgust.
As a believer of Putu, she hated what Slimes hated—especially predators that hunted Slimes.
She clenched the fang in her palm, every nerve taut as she prepared to strike at any moment.
But to her surprise, in the next instant, a Slime slowly emerged from beneath that black carapace... a Slime?
Huh?
A Slime?
Seja's face instantly turned blank with confusion.
What was she seeing?
A Slime wearing a beetle shell.
Was Lord Putu playing a joke on her?
Her mind could not process it all at once. At a complete loss, she faced the Armored Slime swimming toward her.
Staring at this sight that challenged everything she knew, she stood frozen for a long while. Somehow, she connected it to the earlier scene where the Stinger Bees had suddenly attacked and driven away the Hunting Squad.
Could it be...
Ripples of realization stirred within Seja's heart.
Had this Slime saved her?
The moment that thought surfaced, her amber slit pupils trembled and brightened. Unable to restrain herself, she reverently stretched out both hands and cupped the Armored Slime before her, once again muttering obscure words.
What she did not know was that the instant she picked up Chen Yu, he had nearly attacked. Only when he saw that she was merely mumbling strange words he could not understand did he let it go.
What is she babbling about?
Chen Yu was puzzled. Since he could not understand her, he decided to ask her himself.
Fortunately, he had long felt that he would eventually come into contact with intelligent beings in Zeyarila, so he had practiced the Sound Transmission Technique early on. Now, it could finally come in handy.
The "sound" transmitted by the Sound Transmission Technique was not something the ears could hear. It referred to the Voice of the Soul. It had the same marvelous effect as divine-sense transmission, but it could only work through physical contact.
The Voice of the Soul acted upon the soul and the heart. It was the primordial language shared by all living things, understandable to creatures no matter what language they spoke.
It could even take in the other party's Voice of the Soul in return. It was practically no different from an automatic translator.
These days, the monsters of Xuxuantian were all fiercely competitive. Before even taking human form, every one of them began practicing listening, reading, and writing, leaving the Sound Transmission Technique with nowhere to be used.
But in Zeyarila, where languages could not be understood, it was perfectly suited.
The only question was, what should he ask?
Chen Yu thought for a few seconds and decided to begin with the simplest greeting.
With a thought, his soul stirred, sending out a faint ripple.
"Hello, Miss Lizardfolk."
Seja, who had been praying, heard the voice ring out in her mind. She froze at first, then her eyes widened.
"A... a Slime spoke?!"
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