Chapter 60

In the Yongding River, Ran Xi could sense how far he swam; upon entering the sea, surrounded by darkness in all directions, he could only judge the depths he reached by the types of fish around him.

Slowly, he felt the presence of another merperson ahead.

Ran Xi stopped, unsure if the one ahead was friend or foe. He knew among merpeople there were those like the woman who urged him to stay in the human world, as well as loyal followers of Qing Lang.

The merperson ahead swam closer, a beautiful woman with crimson scales and red curls, who sized up Ran Xi and said in the merperson's language: "Little prince of the Silver Scales tribe, you've returned."

Ran Xi: "Could you tell me how to get to my home, the Silver Scales tribe? I'm lost and just want to go home to see."

The woman merperson looked at him with a cold laugh: "The Silver Scales tribe no longer exists, didn't you know?"

Ran Xi: "...I didn't know, can you tell me more about it?"

The female merperson directly asked, "Do you intend to kill the king of the Green Scales tribe?"

"...," Ran Xi didn't expect her to be so straightforward, flicking his tail, "That's exactly why I've returned, big sister."

The female merperson laughed.

"Alright, follow me."

"But you'll need to change your tail color, or being recognized will cause me trouble."

With the Ring of Myriad Forms on his hand, Ran Xi thoughtfully changed his silver tail to match her crimson one.

The female merperson said, "My name is Zhi Feng, a pharmacist of the Red Scale Tribe. I was nearby gathering herbs. You can stay at the coral reef where I reside while gathering herbs. Recently, the Green Scale Tribe has been patrolling the area, searching for any merpeople who escaped their net."

Ran Xi: "Okay."

After swimming for a while, five Green Scale Tribe soldiers wielding whalebone spears swiftly approached.

They interrogated Zhi Feng briefly and observed Ran Xi.

Zhi Feng explained, "This is my younger brother; he's ill, so I brought him along to gather herbs."

One of the Green Scale soldiers touched Ran Xi's face, saying, "He looks a bit like the Silver Scale prince the king fancies. But he's married now, how dull."

Ran Xi: "..."

He was angry but restrained himself to avoid causing trouble for Zhi Feng.

Zhi Feng handed the soldiers some valuable herbs and flattered them before she managed to take Ran Xi away.

They quickly swam to the coral reef where Zhi Feng temporarily resided for her herb gathering.

Zhi Feng: "This is Red Scale Tribe territory. Our king hasn't completely fallen out with the Green Scale Tribe, so we're still okay."

Ran Xi asked softly, "What about the Silver Scale Tribe?"

Zhi Feng: "Let me start from the beginning."

"Since Yu Qinglang killed the previous king of the Green Scale Tribe, he went to the Silver Scale Tribe to propose to you. Your parents refused, and then he attacked the Silver Scale Tribe. Your parents and tribe members were all injured, and you were forced to go to the Green Scale Tribe but were later released by someone inside."

Ran Xi felt a wave of sorrow, envisioning those blurry and tragic scenes where playful, singing silver-tailed merpeople were suddenly attacked, their blood dyeing the sea red, darkness as far as the eye could see.

"After that, Yu Qinglang used your release by a spy as a pretext to start a massive purge within the Green Scale Tribe, while enslaving all merpeople of the Silver Scale Tribe."

"Adult merpeople are enslaved, while the young ones are tied up in the sea market for the other five merpeople tribes to buy, to be used as tools for sexual release."

"He has destroyed the millennia-old monogamous tradition of the merpeople."

"Those who support him can freely prey on the young merpeople, without the equal and loving bonding ceremony, and ultimately, these young ones die from the depletion of their spiritual energy."

"Dozens of underage merpeople from the Silver Scale Tribe have been tortured to death, with nine already dead, and the rest not far from dying."

Ran Xi looked steadily at Zhi Feng, with tears forming pearl-like drops in his purple eyes.

The sea's cold temperature made him unable to feel the warmth of his tears, only the coldness in his heart.

Zhi Feng: "As a healer, I cannot stand to see these deaths."

"Recently, the king of the Black Scale Tribe began to resist, but Yu Qinglang used treachery to have the Black Scale king brutally killed, and now they are dividing up the Black Scale Tribe's merpeople."

"Who knows when it will be our turn, the Red Scale Tribe."

Ran Xi: "Sister Zhi Feng, I'm not familiar with the merpeople tribes. How can I get close to Yu Qinglang?"

Zhi Feng gave a bitter smile: "How would I know? Yu Qinglang is adept at using human trickery. Last time, the king of the Black Scale Tribe invited him to a sacrificial ceremony intending to assassinate him, but he was killed first by Yu Qinglang, who claimed to have anticipated the trap, calling it a 'Hongmen Banquet'."

"Wait here for half a day for me; I'll go back and ask for you."

Ran Xi obediently waited.

But a day passed, and Zhi Feng had not returned.

There were some fish carcasses stored in the coral reef; Ran Xi ate some and then went out to catch some more to store for Zhi Feng.

At night, a scent of blood wafted through the sea water.

Ran Xi sensed something was wrong, hurriedly swam out, heading towards the source of the blood scent.

This scene seemed like a reenactment from his memory.

The coral reefs, with their varying heights, held up shell houses, forming the magnificent city of the deep-sea merfolk.

The Red Scales merfolk, who should have been singing freely, were being slaughtered indiscriminately by a group of Green Scales merfolk, as if they were butchering chickens and dogs.

A Green Scales merperson, armed and sneering, grabbed a young merperson, about to drag him into a nearby shell house.

Unable to stand by, Ran Xi fiercely swam over, tail-whipping the Green Scales merperson away, snatched the whalebone spear from his grasp, and thrust it upward from below, piercing through his heart from the tail.

"Hide well," Ran Xi instructed the young Red Scales merperson, then took the whalebone spear to fight off the enemies around.

He couldn't understand why he was so formidable.

Perhaps it was because he himself was the pure-blooded royalty that Qing Lang coveted.

Plus, he was now of age.

His features were no longer the naive and tender visage of his youth; he looked more like a young man, his arms stronger, his claws harder, and his tail longer and more robust than before.

Inside him, a new merpearl had formed, drawing on the millennia of water elemental spiritual energy accumulated in the sea, growing wildly.

He was now very powerful.

He could not let the tragedy that befell the Silver Scale Tribe happen again.

Ran Xi swiftly killed those malevolent Green Scale merpeople.

He showed no mercy.

Merpeople are inherently innocent and kind, their greatest pursuit in life being to spend it with their beloved.

Yet, Yu Qinglang taught them to plunder and bully, leading them to forsake their nature and harm their own kind.

Ran Xi almost effortlessly killed more than twenty Green Scale soldiers, with more and more Green Scale merpeople coming to besiege him.

The majority of the Red Scale merpeople managed to escape, while the king of the Red Scale Tribe and a few elders stayed behind to rescue Ran Xi.

Ran Xi shouted to them, "You go too."

He thought he could handle it.

But from a distance came the command: "Form the array."

Forty-nine Green Scale soldiers took their positions, forming seven Minor Dipper formations, which together constituted a larger formation.

Ran Xi immediately felt the strain. As his spear was blocked, a large net fell from above, capturing him.

Ran Xi grabbed the net and tore it apart with force, breaking free amidst his rage. But then, a huge cassock descended from the sky, enveloping him completely.

He couldn't move.

This was a human treasure plundered by Yu Qinglang.

Trapped by the cassock's power, Ran Xi didn't know where he was being dragged.

After a while, he heard people discussing nearby, likely the command center of their expedition.

"Our attack on the Red Scale Tribe went poorly; the king will surely punish us."

"It doesn't matter, since we've captured a Silver Scale escapee, we can offset our faults with this merit."

"That won't do, these are the king's orders. I'll go out again to chase and see if I can capture a few more Red Scale slaves."

Ran Xi felt the departure of that strong spiritual force, leaving only a relatively weaker one.

After waiting a bit, the cassock imprisoning him was lifted, revealing the face of a middle-aged man.

This middle-aged man had a refined appearance, similar to a scholar from the land, in stark contrast to the directness of merpeople, this man exuded an air of someone well-read and deeply cunning.

Typically, merpeople live for thousands of years and retain the appearance of their twenties until death. It was unusual to see one with the visage of middle age.

Ran Xi looked at him curiously.

"My name is Zhou Yu," the middle-aged man said. "You should have heard of me."

Ran Xi: "I haven't."

Zhou Yu raised his hand.

On his hand was a gold ring identical to Ran Xi's.

The Ring of Myriad Forms, of which there were originally two.

The founding emperor of the Linghu family gifted one to his half-merperson lover, who, yearning for the sea, rode a white dolphin away after seeing the lover choose the throne over the sea.

……

The Water Moon Palace was swept by the emperor's fury.

Fortunately, with Princess Pearl present, her innate water elemental spiritual power contained her father's demonic fire, leaving the Water Moon Palace mostly unharmed except for a few scrolls and silks stained with smoke.

A tiny silver fish frantically circled in a ceramic basin.

It couldn't speak and, in desperation, headbutted the basin until, with a flash of silver light, the basin exploded.

Linghu Xuan's rising anger was forcibly halted as he stopped to check on his daughter, only to discover the little silver fish had disappeared.

A chubby, bald baby girl wriggled on the ground, exquisitely beautiful like her other father, and despite her youthful appearance, stretched her arms towards her raging emperor father, asking to be held.

Linghu Xuan sighed deeply and picked up his daughter.

"Tomorrow, we will mobilize the troops of the nation and head straight for the East Sea."