"Merfolk nobility?"
Sea Xuan Zi studied the strange being before him, surprise flickering across his face before he sneered. "You think a lie like that will hold water? If you came seeking help, why did you flee all this way? More importantly..."
He paused, his voice growing grave. "You came through a rift in the void. You must be one of the Demons and Monsters from Beyond the Mundane!"
The Merfolk struggled. "I truly came to ask for help! But I suffered one calamity after another. The journey was fraught with danger, and fiends even hunted us down. There were ten of us; nine were lost. I alone survived. When I finally saw daylight again, I found myself surrounded. I fled because I feared for my life."
Sea Xuan Zi did not believe him. Still, this fiend from Beyond the Mundane spoke like anyone else, and curiosity stirred in him. As he secretly laid out a formation, he said, "Still making excuses? As far as I know, the Merfolk kingdom lay in the Southern Sea, but it declined after the Pre-Qin era. What Merfolk nobility could still exist today?"
"The Southern Sea?" The Merfolk looked puzzled, then shook his head. "I have never heard of it. Ever since the first Merfolk king founded our kingdom and established its institutions..."
He was about to continue when his whole body twisted. His form blurred in an instant, and Mist Aura gathered and scattered along its edges.
Sea Xuan Zi did not hesitate. He raised a finger and traced several strokes in the air, forming a glowing Talisman that pressed straight down on the Merfolk.
The Merfolk cried out, "Great god, spare me! I did not lie—"
Before he could finish, his entire body abruptly contracted. The Talisman compressed him into a ball