Pearl

Azi wasn't sure if he was a male human because she had never seen a human in her life, only heard descriptions of human appearance from her elders.

The descendants of Gods and Devils live overseas and have almost no contact with Kyushu. However, every so often, the Merfolk would send people ashore to inquire about the situation in Kyushu and learn about its history.

Therefore, legends about merfolk exist in coastal areas, but they are not widely circulated.

Getting back to the main point, the more powerful the descendant of Gods and Devils, the more likely they are to retain some of their original features when they transform into human form. Unless they use illusion magic to conceal these features, it is difficult to hide them.

For example, when the Queen transforms into human form, her eye and hair color will not change, but scales will remain on certain parts of her body.

Azi didn't see anything special about the man, so she boldly guessed that he was a male of the Ming race.

Oh, and there's also that nine-tailed fox, Azi, who added:

"The other female is a descendant of Gods and Devils, she..."

Azi described the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox's appearance in detail, praising her unparalleled beauty and captivating charm, while neglecting her strength.

Because she didn't see the nine-tailed fox make a move.

The mermaid queen frowned slightly, then looked enlightened and said softly:

"I know, it was her."

She looked at Azi, her smile gentle and beautiful, and whispered:

"You're mistaken. It was the nine-tailed fox, not that human male, that subdued the evil dragon."

Azi looked surprised, thinking to herself, "Something's not right. That human male was clearly very strong; I saw the evil dragon treat him with utmost respect. Besides, who is the nine-tailed fox?"

The head guard beside him recalled for a moment, then said somewhat uncertainly:

"Your Majesty, are you saying..."

The Mermaid Queen nodded slightly.

" In the Southern Frontier of the Nine Provinces Continent, there is a Kingdom of Ten Thousand Demons, whose ruler is the Nine- Gods and Devils Celestial Fox. They are descendants of the ancient gods and demons of Qingqiu. Three hundred years ago, the Nine-Tailed Fox came to Mermaid Island. At that time, Azi was not even born yet."

"The Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox is extremely powerful; it is a top-tier expert both on the Kyushu continent and overseas."

At this point, her eyebrows furrowed slightly:

"I sensed her presence not long ago. Logically, she shouldn't be going to sea so frequently. Could something have happened on the Kyushu continent?"

Several months ago, she sensed the presence of that king on Mermaid Island, but he was just passing by, and his presence vanished in an instant, without lingering on the island.

The Queen's words were reasonable and well-founded, and Azi finally realized that she had made a mistake. It turned out that the real big shot was that fox spirit, no, the nine-tailed celestial fox.

She was the one who subdued the evil dragon.

The head guard smiled.

"Regardless of the circumstances, her subduing of the evil dragon is an immense favor to our merfolk."

This solved the mermaid race's urgent problem.

Azi followed suit and said:

I saw her outside just now, and she asked to see you.

The Mermaid Queen did not immediately agree. After pondering for a long time, she slowly nodded:

"Where are they? I'll lead my people out to greet them myself."

She had dealt with the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox before. Although the fox spirit was alluring and captivating, and had an eccentric temperament, she was relatively mild-mannered towards the merfolk, at least without hostility.

Moreover, given the other party's cultivation level, it would be easy for them to force their way into Mermaid Island; there would be no need for Azi to inform them.

As she spoke, she sat up from the agate bed and floated lightly into the water. The water seemed to come alive, gushing up like a fountain to catch the mermaid queen's delicate body.

The 'gushing' vessel carried her out of the palace, with the head guard and Azi following closely behind the queen.

The three left the palace. By then, a dense crowd of merfolk had gathered outside. Some stood in the water, while others sat at tables, making a noisy commotion.

The news brought to Azi caused a great deal of controversy, but no one dared to go out and verify it.

At that moment, the palace gates opened, and the Queen stood above the fountain, coming before her people.

The merfolk immediately stopped their discussion, realizing that the queen would give them a definite answer.

"Fellow clansmen!"

The mermaid queen's golden eyes swept around, her voice soft and melodious:

"The evil dragon has been subdued by our friends who came from afar; our crisis is over."

The merfolk looked at each other in bewilderment. After a brief silence, cheers echoed through the cave, lingering for a long time.

Azi didn't lie.

Who is the powerful figure who subdued the evil dragon?

"Imperial Preceptor, being burned by karmic fire is no child's play; one wrong move and you'll face utter destruction."

Chu Yuanzhen frowned, expressing his concern, and then said:

"Besides, only those who cultivate the Human Sect's mental techniques to the transcendent realm will suffer the calamity of being burned by karmic fire. How could I?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw Luo Yuheng gently flick the whisk in his hand. Chu Yuanzhen instinctively wanted to dodge, but he managed to control himself.

The whisk slapped his arm with light force, but the accompanying emotions—joy, anger, sorrow, fear, love, hate, and desire—were so intense, like a flood bursting its banks, that they instantly overwhelmed Chu Yuanzhen's reason.

He was sometimes so angry that he wanted to destroy the world and the corrupt human race; sometimes he was so sad that he felt like a loser and that his life was meaningless; and sometimes he was so happy that he wanted to get up and dance.

At that moment, Luo Yuheng's rich, magnetic voice, like ice cubes colliding, rang in my ears:

"Embrace the primordial unity and attempt to control the seven emotions using the Secret Method of cultivating intention."

Her words contained a certain power, effectively calming Chu Yuanzhen's chaotic mind. He seized this sliver of clarity, stabilized his Primordial Spirit, and then began to use the "Nourishing Intent" mental technique to try to transform the seven emotions into sword intent.

The so-called cultivation of will is to accumulate and compress emotions within the sword, day after day, little by little, until finally all of them erupt at once.

At its core, it requires a strong emotion and will.

The burning sensation from karmic fire perfectly fits the description.

Luo Yuheng's gaze swept past Chu Yuanzhen's face and landed on the long sword behind him, its sharpness already fully revealed even in its sheath.

How powerful will it be once unsheathed?

She nodded in satisfaction, then patted Chu Yuanzhen's shoulder with her whisk again, withdrawing the seven emotions and six desires that had been planted in his body.

Once one reaches the realm of a terrestrial immortal, karmic fire is no longer a threat; one can even manipulate it to fight enemies.

After withdrawing the karmic fire, Chu Yuanzhen's condition immediately improved. He opened his eyes, both delighted and wary, gazing at Luo Yuheng's flawless face, and sighed:

"So this is what it means to be burned by karmic fire; so this is the pain the Imperial Preceptor has been enduring all along."

Indeed, every person who achieves the highest rank is someone with great perseverance, talent, and fortuitous opportunity.

Putting aside everything else, those who are not strong-willed enough to be scorched by the karmic fire of the human race would have long since become slaves to the seven emotions, or died of mental breakdown.

But Luo Yuheng endured it for a full twenty years.

"Imperial Preceptor, how can I collect the seven emotions on my own?" Chu Yuanzhen humbly asked for guidance.

He did not cultivate the Human Sect's mental cultivation method. Even if Luo Yuheng's method was correct, it was meaningless if the "energy" could not be produced by itself.

Luo Yuheng said calmly:

"Figure it out yourself!"

Chu Yuanzhen opened his mouth, but then stopped himself from speaking.

The Imperial Advisor's personality is really not likable.

The top scholar only dared to mutter to himself, and then, as if by reflex, he looked around and, not seeing Protector Yuan, breathed a sigh of relief.

Like Xu Ningyan and others, he suffered from a condition called "Yuan Hufa Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder".

Luo Yuheng's face turned cold, and he said indifferently:

"Get out!"

She had seen this posture on Xu Qi'an several times; it was almost identical.

Chu Yuanzhen's vision blurred, and he soon found himself being sent out of Lingbao Temple, standing outside the temple gate.

"Call"

He exhaled, bowed deeply to Lingbao Temple, and turned to leave.

He will walk the rest of the way on his own.

A disheveled young man in a blue robe walks along, just as he did back then when he abandoned literature to learn martial arts.

On the rippling sea, Xu Qi'an saw the sea surface in front of him suddenly rise up, forming a gushing spring.

Standing on the fountain was a beautiful mermaid woman in her prime. Her long, dark green hair was casually tied up and adorned with two mother-of-pearl pieces. Her eyes, like scattered gold, were as beautiful as a dream. Her features and face shape combined to create a breathtaking beauty, while at the same time, she had a delicate fragility that made one feel sorry for her.

This gentle and delicate temperament inexplicably reminded him of his younger sister, Xu Lingyue; both were the kind of frail women who looked like they would take a long time to fight.

It can easily arouse a man's protective instincts and possessiveness.

She wore a pearl necklace, and her chest was wrapped in tough fish skin, which served as a blouse, revealing her fair and slender waist and faint abs. Her lower body was a graceful and long fish tail covered with blue scales.

Around her, more and more fountains rose up, and a mermaid stood on each one.

At a glance, there were probably more than two thousand people.

"Wow, quite a big fuss."

The silver-haired enchantress crossed her arms, striking a very assertive pose, her pointed chin slightly raised, like a queen awaiting an envoy's audience.

The Mermaid Queen, riding her "Surge," arrived and stopped a dozen meters from the ship. She gracefully bowed and softly said:

"Greetings to the King of Kingdom of Ten Thousand Demons."

"Three hundred years have passed, yet your charm remains unchanged."

The Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox hummed in agreement, scrutinizing the Mermaid Queen as she smiled and said:

"Same to you."

The Mermaid Queen glanced at Xu Qi'an subtly, pretending not to notice his blatant gaze, and continued:

"I heard from Azi that you subdued that evil dragon. Thank you so much, Your Majesty, for saving us. Pearl is extremely grateful."

After saying that, she said with some anticipation:

"May I take a look?"

The nine-tailed celestial fox nodded, its tail dipping into the sea, and with a twist of its waist, it lifted out a huge dragon.

The dragon remained obedient and motionless, letting the fox's tail lift it up.

The merfolk in the distance stirred with fear, but soon realized that the evil dragon had become more docile than fish and shrimp. They gradually calmed down, pointed in their direction, and cheered with delight.

Because they confirmed that the powerful and ferocious dragon had indeed been subdued.

The mermaid queen scrutinized the dragon, her delicate brows furrowing slightly. "He... he's been stripped of his intelligence?"

"You can think that way!" the nine-tailed fox said.

"It is now our puppet."

The Mermaid Queen exhaled, her expression complex, a mixture of hatred and regret, her tone gentle:

"The Merfolk will forever remember the King's great kindness."

The Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox accepted it readily; she was the one who had captured the dragon in the first place.

"I just happened to come across Mermaid Island while traveling at sea with a friend, so I did this on the spur of the moment. Don't just keep thanking me." The silver-haired enchantress glanced at Xu Qi'an.

The Mermaid Queen glanced at Xu Qi'an and smiled sweetly:

"Who are you?"

Xu Qi'an couldn't understand, so the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox explained:

"He is Xu Yinluo, a newly emerging extraordinary martial artist from the Nine Provinces Continent and a renowned figure in the Central Plains Dynasty."

The Mermaid Queen nodded politely. There were many extraordinary experts on the Nine Provinces Continent, and one extraordinary martial artist was not worth paying attention to. As for Xu Yinluo, she didn't understand it at all.

But since they were experts of the same level, she certainly wouldn't underestimate them.

The silver-haired enchantress added with a smile:

"A first-rank martial artist."

The Mermaid Queen abruptly turned her head, re-examining Xu Qi'an, her golden pupils revealing undisguised shock.

She understood what the first rank represented. The rank system was introduced by the human race, but it wasn't a recent development. Therefore, as a descendant of Gods and Devils, she could also understand the realm that a first-rank martial artist symbolized.

That was the realm of the strong, even in the ancient times when Gods and Devils roamed freely.

As for now, martial artists at the first-grade level can almost sweep across the entire Nine Provinces continent, as well as the forces of various Gods and Devils ' descendants overseas.

The mermaid queen immediately lowered her head, not daring to look at Xu Qi'an again, her tone unconsciously carrying a timid and weak quality:

"Pearl greets Your Excellency."

She suddenly realized that Azi was right, and that she had misunderstood.

The one who truly subdued the dragon and turned it into a puppet was probably this supreme human being.

"What are they talking about?" Xu Qi'an asked expressionlessly.

Mermaid Island, in a pavilion in the middle of a lake.

The merfolk carried plates made of polished stone on their heads, filled with seafood, and delivered them in batches to the pavilion in the middle of the lake.

The lakebed connects to a cave inside the mountain, which is one of the places where the mermaids usually spend their time outdoors.

Queen Pearl, a mermaid, hosted a banquet in the pavilion to entertain two distinguished guests from Kyushu. The charming mermaid women took the opportunity of serving the dishes to carefully observe the powerful human.

They knew this was an extremely powerful figure, someone even the queen had to be careful around.

It was he who subdued the dragon.

It is in their nature to attach themselves to and worship the strong.

While eating seafood, Xu Qi'an gestured to the Nine-Tailed Fox with his eyes.

The latter laughed:

"It's a pity there's no wine; merfolk don't know how to brew wine."

After she finished her reflection, she looked at the mermaid queen beside her and said:

"You know that dragon?"

The Mermaid Queen was somewhat reserved, occasionally stealing glances at Xu Qi'an. Seeing the Kingdom of Ten Thousand Demons speak, she quickly composed herself, frowning as she replied:

"He is the overlord of West Sea Dragon Island. Many years ago, I had some interaction with him. Since then, he has been pursuing me, wanting to mate with me, which is extremely annoying."

The nine-tailed fox narrowed its eyes:

"Do you know how he went insane?"