A Merfolk

The Extreme Sea lay in the southeast of the Lu Yu Continent.

Its waters stretched vast and wide for hundreds of thousands of li, scattered with countless islands like stars, and the Extreme Sea Secret Realm was located on one of them.

The island was enormous.

When Chu Zeming led his junior brothers and sisters there, many people from other sects were already gathered before the secret realm. The entire Extreme Sea Island teemed with people and cultivators.

After landing, Chu Zeming set Yue Lian on the ground.

Although Chu Zeming had later cast a barrier around him, he had deliberately flown quickly over the past two days. The biting wind had still chafed Yue Lian's fair face.

Led by Ning Weiyu, the other disciples gathered around him, asking after his well-being. Seeing Yue Lian's exquisite, lovely face somewhat red, they could not help feeling distressed. Though they said nothing aloud, they had developed a trace of resentment toward Chu Zeming.

—Senior Brother was narrow-minded. Jealous that Junior Brother was favored, he had deliberately targeted him.

Chu Zeming pretended not to see those looks and sneered disdainfully to himself.

The wind reddening his cheeks had saved him the cost of rouge. Since he loved pretending to be a woman so much, then he could pretend to his heart's content. Did he think Chu Zeming did not know how those romantic rumors from the past few days had spread...?

"You can bully me all you want, but don't bully Junior Brother."

Ling Tian's voice suddenly rang out.

Chu Zeming raised a brow and looked at Ling Tian.

He remembered that, in the book, Ling Tian seemed uninterested in the innocent and captivating Junior Brother. Why was he suddenly warning him not to bully Junior Brother?

Had the world's romantic plotline changed?

So he had come to defend Yue White Lotus too?

Chu Zeming leaned forward slightly, his eyes fixed directly on Ling Tian's, as though trying to pierce through the surface and see what lay in his heart.

"What, you like him too?"

Ling Tian's face flushed crimson, and his eyes nearly spat fire. "Is there something wrong with you?"

Then he flicked his sleeve and left.

Once again, he isolated himself from the Nine-Clear Haoran Sect disciples, his baby face stiff as he blankly stared at the sky, looking utterly withdrawn.

Xuan Mo followed beside his senior brother and slowly said as he watched Ling Tian, "Senior Brother, I feel like Ling Tian has been a little strange lately."

Chu Zeming nodded. "Mm."

He really was strange.

But it had nothing to do with him.

Retracting his gaze, Chu Zeming began meditating where he stood.

The secret realm would open in three days. Traveling had consumed too much of his energy, so he needed to recover quickly, lest he be unable to compete with disciples from other sects after entering.

Seeing this, Xuan Mo hurriedly sat down as well and began regulating his breath in meditation alongside Chu Zeming.

The other sect disciples had all come to the Extreme Sea for the first time and were curiously looking around when a cool, slightly hoarse voice transmission suddenly rang out—"Why aren't you hurrying to adjust yourselves? Do you want to get beaten senseless by other sects after entering?"

All the sect disciples froze.

Chu Zeming lazily swept his gaze over them and continued, "Although I am leading this expedition into the secret realm, do not expect me to be like the other senior brothers and elders, personally protecting you in every little matter. Three days from now, when we enter the secret realm, I will give each of you a Teleportation Jade Token. If you encounter danger, teleport yourselves out. But if you do, treasures and the like will no longer have anything to do with you."

After saying that, Chu Zeming ignored them and closed his eyes again.

The disciples looked at one another, all wearing expressions of disbelief.

What did Senior Brother mean? Once they entered, he would simply disregard whether they lived or died?

How could he do that?

The Nine-Clear Haoran Sect was merely a relatively minor third-rate sect. Compared to the major sects, its strength was already a notch weaker. Senior Brother wanted them to face those sect geniuses and cultivation monsters on their own?

They wanted to say something, but after glancing at their senior brother, whose Sword Qi ran wild around him and made others afraid to approach, they swallowed the words that had reached their lips.

There was no helping it. They were not in the sect now and could only submit to Chu Zeming's tyrannical might.

With bellies full of grievances, the sect disciples also sat down where they were and earnestly began meditating to rest.

Thus, at the entrance to the Extreme Sea Secret Realm, among a crowd of thrilled cultivators filled with anticipation, the Nine-Clear Haoran Sect disciples stood out like cranes among chickens. Instead of taking the beaten path, they all sat down to meditate, cultivating with worried faces!

"What are they putting on airs for...?"

"They're just some minor sect. No amount of sharpening the spear at the last minute will help."

"But there are two people in their sect who are so pretty..."

"Junior Sister, you cannot judge people by appearance alone. They are merely embroidered pillows; once they enter, they'll be beaten into pig heads."

Many voices discussed them in hushed tones.

Chu Zeming acted as if he had heard nothing.

Yue Lian was likewise too lazy to pay attention to those discussing him. Rarely, he began cultivating as well. Having been hung from a sword sheath and rushed along for three days seemed to have dealt him quite a blow.

The three days flashed by, and the secret realm officially opened.

A massive white vortex appeared before everyone. All of them were invigorated and eager to move.

Once the secret realm entrance fully unfolded, countless cultivators transformed into streams of light and rushed toward the white vortex. In the blink of an eye, the once bustling plaza had become empty.

Seeing everyone else rush into the secret realm—

The Nine-Clear Haoran Sect disciples clutched their jade tokens anxiously.

Why had Senior Brother not yet given the order to depart? All the good things would be snatched up first by others.

What if they missed a treasure suited to them because of these few minutes? Their thoughts showed on their faces, and some disciples could not help looking at Chu Zeming with resentment.

Chu Zeming sensed their gazes. A cold smile appeared on his unrestrained, striking face, but he did not expose them. Instead, he slowly said, "Next, I will tell you a few things to watch out for after entering the secret realm. Listen carefully and commit them to heart."

"But... before leaving, the elders already told us the precautions." A disciple muttered softly.

Chu Zeming shot the disciple a chilly sideways glance and said blandly, "If you do not want to listen, you may enter the secret realm ahead of us."

His tone was icy, and his gaze terrifying.

For a moment, none of the disciples dared speak. They held their breath and lowered their heads.

—Fine, they would listen. They were already behind everyone else anyway, so what did it matter how much later they became?

Chu Zeming withdrew his gaze and said each word distinctly, "What I am about to tell you differs somewhat from what the sect master and elders said. Etch it firmly into your hearts. Do not let treasures cloud your heads. First, after entering the secret realm, if you see graves, corpses, or anything of the sort, remember to show some respect. Kowtow or burn incense—do whatever you can; second, if you encounter some strange old man dressed in tattered clothes, do not look down on him with dog eyes. Treat him better. Perhaps that will be the opportunity destined for you; third, if you seize a treasure and are pursued into a desperate situation, then fall off a cliff, do not despair. For precisely at such times, even more precious peerless manuals and inheritances may appear; fourth, keep your dog lives intact. Senior Brother will not come save you."

What Chu Zeming said was bizarre, and the disciples looked at one another. Then, seeing his face covered in frost, their hearts trembled, and they hurriedly called out, "Senior Brother, we will remember."

Only then did they fly into the secret realm one after another.

At that moment, they did not yet know that, after the secret realm ended, they would worship without limit this man who was flamboyantly handsome, whose face was darker than his robes, who coldly and mercilessly told them to keep their dog lives intact and would not save them.

Before entering the secret realm, Yue Lian hesitated for a long time. In the end, he did not heed Ling Yunzi's instruction to remain at Chu Zeming's side at all times, instead choosing to enter alone.

Watching Yue Lian's retreating figure enter the secret realm, Chu Zeming could not help feeling surprised.

For the first time, he felt Yue Lian had finally become somewhat manly.

But manly or not, opportunities still had to be seized.

With a flick of his sleeve, Chu Zeming also transformed into a stream of light and flew in.

To give his fellow junior brothers and sisters those instructions, Chu Zeming had entered the secret realm many steps later than disciples from the other sects. He had to hurry—

Upon entering the secret realm, the scenery around him immediately changed.

The landscape was beautiful, with birds singing and flowers fragrant.

The secret realm was boundlessly vast, containing forests and rivers, deserts and Gobi wastelands... It seemed some spatial overlapping restriction had been used, causing its interior to form a world of its own.

After entering the secret realm, Chu Zeming headed straight for a cold pool deep within a forest a thousand li away.

He remembered that Yue Lian had been extremely delicate in the book. After killing a Devil Beast in the secret realm and getting splattered with blood, he had made the original owner take him somewhere to bathe.

Then, with tremendous luck, they had found beneath the cold pool a great treasure capable of increasing a cultivator's chances of advancing—the Azure-Blue Pearl.

After all, he had only read the words on a page. Chu Zeming knew little about the cold pool's exact location in the dense forest. He spread out his divine sense and searched the vast forest for an entire day before finally finding, among more than a hundred cold pools, the one emanating dense spiritual energy, with darkly cold water so deep its bottom could not be seen.

Taking a deep breath, Chu Zeming jumped straight in.

The pool water was bone-piercingly cold. His black robes clung tightly to his skin, while his ink-black hair, reaching his waist, undulated through the water like seaweed. In his arms, Xiao Hei suddenly floated up, then clamped its teeth tightly around Chu Zeming's collar so the immense buoyancy would not carry it to the surface.

Long, slender silver-white fish giving off a faint glow swam around him. As though they had never seen a cultivator before, they curiously gathered before Chu Zeming and gently brushed against his porcelain-white cheek.

Gradually, the dark pool water, deep as ink, began to brighten. A fist-sized pearl shimmering with dark green light appeared before Chu Zeming.

Delighted, Chu Zeming reached out to grab it.

Suddenly, the water around the Azure-Blue Pearl began to churn, as though the entire body of water were trembling.

Immediately afterward, an exceedingly terrifying claw with sharp black nails appeared without warning and slashed viciously at Chu Zeming.

Chu Zeming abruptly withdrew his hand and retreated dozens of meters with lightning-fast reflexes.

When he raised his head again, he saw an ugly creature with a terrifying aura, its body covered in spikes, a human torso and fish tail, suddenly appear before the Azure-Blue Pearl in the stance of a guardian. It wore no clothes, its entire body covered in scales.

A pair of dark-blue eyes, like two ghostly flames, stared fixedly at this suddenly intruding human cultivator.

Chu Zeming: Fuck.

The book had not said there was a merfolk guarding this cold pool.

Author's note:

Author: Surprised? Special love, for the special you.

Chu Zeming: I do not want your love, thanks.