Silver Snow immediately thought of Swallowing Heaven, which Su Jiu had mentioned before.
Silver Snow glanced at Su Jiu's profile. "Is he the friend you met in Swallowing Heaven?"
Su Jiu nodded. Seeing Jiao Chen meditating to regulate his breathing, she stayed back and answered Silver Snow, "He's the king of the Merfolk Tribe in the Swallowing Heaven World."
Silver Snow smiled. "What a coincidence. Little Jiu picked someone up and happened to pick up a king."
Perhaps out of wariness, Silver Snow and the others remained deeply distrustful of Jiao Chen's appearance. Though they were not exactly hostile, their attitudes could hardly be called friendly.
After a while, Jiao Chen emerged from his meditation. The instant his awareness returned, he sensed the presence of others.
By reflex, he turned and unleashed an art.
But he was gravely injured, after all. Even with his Cultivation Level at the Void Refinement Stage, his attack was greatly weakened. Su Jiu simply raised her hand, and a barrier of light formed from ice spiritual qi appeared before them.
Jiao Chen's art struck the barrier and dissipated outside it.
"A Jiu!?" His voice carried a note of delighted surprise; he had evidently recognized Su Jiu.
Silver Snow remarked with a half-smile, "A Jiu? How affectionate."
Only then did Jiao Chen turn his gaze toward the man speaking in that barbed tone. One glance was enough to tell him that, judging by his current Cultivation Level, this man was likely no weaker than he was.
Su Jiu smiled. "Jiao Chen, long time no see."
"It certainly has been." For Su Jiu, perhaps only a short hundred years had passed, but for him, it had been well over a thousand.
Then he looked up and asked, "May I ask who these three are?"
"Demons from the