Deals and Compromises / The Undersea City ...

It's not surprising that elves can undergo any significant changes.

Ultimately, she's not his subordinate. He can change her appearance however he wants. Her mere Strong Rank talent isn't worth him adding another female elf to his ranks.

Just as You Zhi waved for the other person to leave, a sudden thought flashed through his mind. He called the other person back and asked curiously, "Since the Swordsoul Sect's cultivation method can be practiced across races, can I practice it too?"

(Zhaizhu: When I was working on the outline, the new Neon Stone Sprite card hadn't been released yet. The original storyline was for Neon Stone Sprite into Icejade Emperor and stay in the Spirit Realm as its leader. However, two months after the book was published, the new Neon Stone Sprite card was released, and its name even had the word "sea god" in it. It was such a coincidence that I thought the Yu-Gi-Oh!! translators were reading this book, so I had to change the outline accordingly.)

Chapter 204 Deals and Compromises

"This is my Sword of Heart-Image?"

You Zhi observed the spiral sword in his hand, which seemed to be formed by two intertwined black and white snakes.

After learning about the cultivation method of the Swordsoul Sect from Moye, he practiced day and night, adjusting his physique to the most suitable state through the simulation of Strength-Weakness Mimicry. In the process, he even grew Dragon Tail. Finally, on the fifth day, he successfully entered the sect and condensed the Black-White Spiral Sword in his hand.

The hilt of the spiral sword has two patterns: one looks like a gloating smile, and the other is a face of a fanatical obsession—neither of which is a good omen.

Moye stood expressionless, but her heart was in turmoil. She had spent three years just learning the basics; while not outstanding, she was still above average. Was the difference between people really that vast?

With a hint of resentment, she said softly, "If this were the Sword Swordsoul Sect, with sword acumen like that, you would definitely be expelled by the Grand Duke."

Even if you wanted to do something like Longyuan splitting his sword in two, you couldn't; at least Longyuan had half of his sword, which was normal.

You Zhi laughed and didn't pay any attention. He carefully experienced the mysteries of the Swordsoul Cultivation Method.

The sword in one's hand is formed from the mind's image, and is an extension of the body. Therefore, once one enters the Swordsoul Cultivation Method, one can reach the state of oneness with the sword, which is the envy of a large number of traditional martial arts swordsmen.

With a thought, spiritual energy naturally flowed to the sword, and the spiral sword immediately began to spin at high speed, emitting a buzzing sound. The surrounding airflow was also stirred up, forming Mystical Space Typhoon.

"Without a blade, this sword cannot be used for slashing, only for thrusting. It can also be used as a drill to pierce through hard objects."

With a casual wave of his hand, You Zhi unleashed a serpentine sword aura that slid along the ground, leaving a crooked trail. This was quite different from the usual straight sword aura, making it much harder to dodge.

Of course, in Moye's eyes, this was a manifestation of dishonesty, and he couldn't help but worry about the future of the Icejade Clan.

The pragmatic You Zhi didn't think this was a bad thing. He was certain that his combat power would skyrocket after acquiring this sword, and he would have a good chance of winning even if he immediately went to fight the Phantom Emperor. However, if he wanted to teach the opponent a lesson like he had subdued the berserk Demon Lizard Yihao, he would have to raise his Strength-Weakness Mimicry to another level.

"It's powerful, but unfortunately it's not the trainer's style, making it difficult to immerse the user. It shouldn't be used unless absolutely necessary."

After practicing for a while, a satisfied You Zhi sheathed the Spiral Sword and, incidentally, activated his Strength-Weakness Mimicry to eliminate the Dragon Tail.

The elves' definition of a human is clearly different from common sense. Swordsoul Sect all the swordsmen with Dragon Tail in the Xiangjian Sect as human, but there are no people who look like that in the real world.

After a while, Yuan Ying walked over with a joyful and excited expression and said, "The leader of the Sea Dragon God has arrived."

Just as You Zhi was about to leave, he noticed something unusual about the other person and, after thinking for a moment, asked, "You've broken through?"

Yuan Ying nodded, trying her best to control her expression, and said, "I advanced to the eighth star this morning, thanks to the spiritual energy I received earlier, which saved me several years of accumulation."

Congratulations!

The transition from Seven-Star to eight stars is a significant hurdle; many powerful spirits are eight stars, especially HERO spirits.

The two emerged from the cave and arrived at the beach, where they met Neo-Daedalus, the leader of the Sea Dragon God. Compared to last time, he had many more wounds on his body and looked exhausted.

While wild Pokémon have strong regenerative abilities, they still can't compare to the effects of Pokémon Card. Even if they're badly injured, as long as they stay in the Pokémon Card for a day, they can be summoned back to full health.

"Human, I've heard you want to make a deal with us, the Sea Dragon God?"

"That's right, I hope you can help search a sea area. In return, I can grant you a reasonable request."

"Alright, I want this island. As long as you drive those seabirds away, we'll do things for you."

"I'm sorry, your request is unreasonable, and I choose to refuse," You Zhi said, ignoring the other party's expression. "The premise of a deal is fairness. I only need you to search a sea area. You don't need to fight anyone, and theoretically there shouldn't be any danger. This is not difficult for you."

Neo-Daedalus grinned coldly. "But it's very difficult for you. The value of a transaction should be determined from the perspective of the demander, not the executor."

"It's a normal difficulty, not extraordinary. You've come from too far away. I recently found a replacement, so you are the best, but not the only, choice."

You Zhi clapped his hands, and a group of Ikejade Sprite floated up. They were slightly afraid when they saw the fierce-looking Sea Dragon God, but they immediately calmed down after You Zhi summoned the Icejade Aegirine.

When Neo-Daedalus saw the petite Ikejade Sprite, he initially wanted to make a few sarcastic remarks. However, upon seeing the Icejade Aegirine and sensing its powerful aura, his expression changed instantly, and he adopted a posture of being on high alert and ready to retreat at any moment.

"Don't worry, they are a group of content and law-abiding elves. All they want is a place to live, and they have no interest in invading other people's territory."

You Zhi waved his hand, indicating that the Ikejade Sprite could leave, and then said, "Now you understand how unreasonable your request was, right? Hurry up and find another one."

Neo-Daedalus was silent for a moment, then said, "You will help us deal with the Mermail Clan."

You Zhi gave him a look that said, "Do you think I'm stupid?": "The Mermail Scales are more powerful than your Sea Dragon God. If I had the ability to wipe out a race living in the ocean, why would I need your help?"

"You don't need to fight the Mermail, just eliminate their leader, or you can subdue them."

You Zhi thought about it seriously for a while, then shook his head and said, "If the other party lived on land, I would definitely agree without hesitation, but a Supreme King in the sea is not someone I can deal with. This request is still unreasonable. Let's find another one."

"This won't do, that won't do either, human, you have absolutely no sincerity."

Neo-Daedalus couldn't wait to leave after speaking. The pressure from the ice crystal girl was too strong. Previously, it thought it had the advantage of the terrain and could come and go as it pleased, which was why it dared to meet You Zhi despite its injuries. But now the situation was different. The other party had a powerful Pokémon that was equally skilled in water combat, and it was now possible that the other party would forcibly keep it here.

You Zhi did not order Icejade Aegirine to take action, but instead said Yuyu, "The fact that I did not seek cooperation with Mermail is the greatest sign of sincerity."

Neo-Daedalus froze, turned around, and said in a grim tone, "Human, are you threatening me?"

"What, are you so noble that you can't be threatened, or do you have a bad temper and will fight to the death if you're threatened?"

You Zhi countered sharply, refusing to back down an inch, and even disdaining to use "I was just stating the truth" as an excuse.

Neo-Daedalus and You Zhi exchanged glances for a moment, then finally compromised, saying, "Give me the Skill Stone from this island, and I'll search the seas for you."

"So your goal was Skill Stone! I always found it strange. Why would a sea elf like you want to seize an island? It couldn't be just to sunbathe, could it?"

You Zhi suddenly realized what was going on, and couldn't help but ask, "What kind of Skill Stone are on this island?"

"Thunderbolt."

Chapter 205 Underwater City

You Zhi initially thought, "Why are you Water-type Pokémon learning Thunderbolt?" But then he thought again, there seem to be quite a few Water-type Pokémon can learn Thunderbolt, such as Gyarados and Lapras.

Therefore, it's not surprising that these Sea Dragon God can learn Thunderbolt, since their names all contain the word "dragon," and Electric-type are effective against Water-type attacks.

Once Neo-Daedalus masters Thunderbolt, it will undoubtedly be a powerful weapon against its competitors. No wonder it was unwilling to honestly reveal its true purpose before, making up a bunch of excuses. It was clearly afraid that You Zhi would not give it to it if he found out, or would simply keep it for himself.

"This deal is fair. Although I don't know how you obtained this information, it doesn't matter. I'll have the elves search the island's caves later, and you can have them once they're found."

You Zhi agreed. After all, in this world, the characteristics of Pokémon are a very important part of their strength. Having a single super move doesn't guarantee you can dominate the game.

Even if Neo-Daedalus were to unify the seas and become the overlord of the sea spirits with his Thunderbolt, what business is it of his?

He's not the protagonist of a shonen manga, so he assumes anyone who wants to conquer the world is a major villain.

Whatever.

Neo-Daedalus was somewhat surprised that the other party was so easy to talk to. If it had known this would happen, why would it have gone through so much trouble? If it had learned the Thunderbolt before going to fight the Mermail, it would never have ended up injured and without gaining any advantage.

It didn't doubt that You Zhi was deceiving it, because at this point, if the other party wanted to embezzle, it could simply turn its back on them. Anyway, it had nowhere to reason with those who broke their promises, and even if the matter was exposed, as a human, it didn't need to care about the reputation of the Pokémon.

Soon, You Zhi responded to its trust with concrete actions, and doubled it!

"Based on the location you provided, we have found two Skill Stones."

You Zhi generously took out two stones, which made Neo-Daedalus look at him with newfound respect and raise his opinion of him even higher.

After all, even if he secretly kept one, Neo-Daedalus wouldn't know, and they would still have fulfilled their deal, so there would be no fault to be found.

Of course, You Zhi simply felt it was unnecessary to do so. Although Thunderbolt is a powerful skill, it can be purchased with points in the Pokédex Marketplace. He cleared the Anomaly a bit too quickly, resulting in a lot of bonus points lying around in his account.

If he were to replace Thunderbolt with rare, exclusive skills like Roar of Time, Spacial Rend, or Precipice Blades, he would probably turn on him and keep it for himself.

"I only need one; the rest will be a tribute to your integrity."

Neo-Daedalus Bite a Skill Stone and swallowed it, learning Thunderbolt in the fastest way possible, while resolutely refusing to accept the other one.

Just kidding, if it accepts two Skill Stones, wouldn't it have to give one to its subordinate? What if the subordinate gets the idea of "taking its place"?

One leader with a killer move is enough; having more will only cause internal strife.

"Then I won't stand on ceremony."

You Zhi didn't think too much about it and accepted it without hesitation; there was no reason to give up a free advantage.

Next, he took out a map of the sea and taught Neo-Daedalus to recognize the location. It was very simple; as long as Whirl Island was used as a reference point, one could roughly understand the direction.

"I understand. In short, we need to find the island circled in the picture and check if there are any strange buildings on it." Neo-Daedalus's intelligence was no less than that of an ordinary human, and he quickly came up with a general location.

You Zhi added, "If there aren't any strange buildings on the island, look in the sea below the island."

"Understood, leave this to me."

Neo-Daedalus and his men left satisfied.

You Zhi and Yuan Ying could only continue to wait. Fortunately, the former needed to formally practice the sword techniques of the Swordsoul Sect, and the latter needed to consolidate her newly broken-through spiritual power realm, so they didn't find it boring.

Two days later, Neo-Daedalus returned with an indescribable expression to report.

"Found it. Although I don't know if it's the target you're looking for, it seems they're definitely involved."

"Judging from your expression, it seems you've found something incredible."

"That's not wrong. I saw a man-made city in the trench below that island."

Upon hearing this, You Zhi and Yuan Ying exchanged bewildered glances.

Even if elves exist in this world, building a city underwater is impossible, since elves are better at destruction than creation.

Neo-Daedalus said, "I know it's hard for you to believe, and in fact, I'm starting to wonder if I'm seeing a hallucination myself, but whether it's real or not, you'll know once you see it for yourself."

That makes sense.

You Zhi and Yuan Ying had already made preparations for this day, each summoning their spirits and following the Sea Dragon God to their destination.

Because they were going to dive to the bottom of the sea at a depth of over 800 meters, even though the physical strength of humans in this world far surpasses that of humans on Earth, they would not be able to withstand the water pressure at such a depth. Therefore Steam Healer released a huge bubble to envelop the two of them, and the Sea Dragon God pushed them down. You Zhi didn't need to do that, but he still had to pretend to be a normal person.

After an unknown amount of time, a light suddenly appeared in the pitch-black seabed.

As they approached the light source, the two saw the city Neo-Daedalus had described. It was a sizable sci-fi city, isolated from the sea by a huge transparent dome, sitting quietly on an underwater hill, without a sound or a single person in sight.

"I can only take you this far. There are several terrifying auras in this city, and combat is not included in our deal," Neo-Daedalus said cautiously.

"Could you please wait nearby for a moment? If we haven't come out in two hours, you may leave on your own."

"Yes, but please be careful, both of you."

Neo-Daedalus headbutted the bubble, propelling the two towards the underwater city, then found a place to hide.

The transparent shield protecting the city blocked the bubble enveloping the two people. This thing did not have the function of automatically recognizing living beings and allowing them to pass; it was just a shield that could withstand heavy pressure.

In response, Yuan Ying easily teleported the two of them inside using a Spirit-Accumulating Spell Card called "Swap".

You Zhi, relying on his ability to Strength-Weakness Mimicry, took the initiative to leave the bubble. After confirming that the environment in the city was no different from that on land, he called Yuan Ying out.

"What a unique architectural style! I've never seen anything like it on the ground before. Judging from the cracks in the walls, it seems to be a very old building. Is this city an ancient city? If so, wouldn't that mean that humans had a civilization close to modern times a long time ago?"

Yuan Ying observed and pondered with curiosity.

You Zhi suddenly remembered the environment Spell Card he had recently acquired, called "The Legendary Ocean".

"Atlantis, a city sunk at the bottom of the sea? I've never heard of such a concept in Pokémon, but there seems to be an anime-original storyline in Yu-Gi-Oh!! that's related..."

Suddenly, a presence appeared in the distance and rapidly approached the two.

Chapter 206 the Seal of Orichalcos

The newcomer was a masked man with a well-proportioned build and signs of martial arts training.

Because he couldn't see the face, You Zhi couldn't determine whether the other person was Yuan Ying's father, but for Yuan Ying, it was obvious that she didn't need to see the face to confirm his identity.

"Father!" Yuan Ying exclaimed excitedly.

Upon hearing this, the masked man paused noticeably, but then said in an icy tone, "Outsiders, Atlantis does not welcome you. Please leave immediately."

Yuan Ying naturally wouldn't obediently listen, and said again, "Father, don't you recognize me? Why haven't you sent any messages home? Mother and I are very worried about you!"

The masked man, as if operating on a mere programmed machine, said, "Second warning: If you do not leave immediately, I will use force to expel you."

You Zhi stroked his chin. "This person actually gave a warning before taking action. If he was conscious, it means he wanted to remind us to stay away from danger. If his mind was controlled, it proves that this person is inherently upright and will adhere to his principles even when controlled by others."

After hearing the analysis, Yuan Ying became even more resolute. "Father, if you want to pretend to be a stranger, please take off the mask on your face."

"The third time!"

The masked man's warning, accompanied by a painful groan, abruptly stopped as You Zhi launched a sneak attack. Although the masked man, who had practiced martial arts for many years, reacted instinctively to dodge, the difference in their strength was too great. Let alone a sneak attack, he couldn't dodge even under normal circumstances. He was immediately kicked in the face and sent flying more than twenty meters away, only stopping after crashing into a wall.