“Back then in the Feilian hall, I could sense your intentions to protect me. We definitely have to go for a hearty drink this time.” Li Qingshan helped up elder Blue and smiled at him. Xiao An became expressionless again and stood by Li Qingshan’s side silently.
“The Crystal palace is right below. I lost track of time, so please forgive my rudeness!” elder Blue said. He understood the weight behind these words, as he was afraid Li Qingshan would just turn around and leave if he was angered.
“It’s a small matter, so why dwell on it? Let’s go!” Li Qingshan swung his hand. He had never been one to care about courtesy. As long as others were sincere to him, he would be more than happy to treat them with sincerity too.
Elder Blue thought, His true strength far exceeds mine, enough to stand on equal footing with the queen, yet he doesn’t look down on me just because I willingly serve as the queen’s mount. It definitely is not like the fake politeness from mister Ram of the King of Yue’s estate either. Honestly, he’s not a very difficult person to get along with. He’ll just erupt whenever people try to deal with him. He refuses to put up with them. Hopefully, the three majesties don’t make things too difficult for him. Then the talks of the alliance can proceed smoothly. Oh right, hopefully that Divine Nun of the South Sea doesn’t end up stirring trouble either.
They travelled beside one another, arriving in the water and diving deep. As they dove deeper, the surroundings became darker and darker, but in Li Qingshan’s eyes, it seemed to grow brighter and brighter instead, as the spiritual qi was becoming denser and denser. The entire ocean rippled and glowed.
From time to time, Merfolk guards on orcas would swim by, bowing towards elder Blue and casting amazed and breath-taken gazes towards Li Qingshan and Xiao An. However, they were highly vigilant. Although they knew the two of them were Gong Yuan’s guests, they clearly did not know about Li Qingshan’s glorious deed of defeating the giant god of fire and saving the Merfolk Queen on Giant Ship island.
Gong Yuan had told all who accompanied her that time to keep their mouths shut, just in case it damaged her prestige as the queen. The regular merpeople only knew she had miraculously turned the tables when her back was to the wall and used the Heart of the Abyss to achieve victory in the end.
Li Qingshan studied the rare sight of the deep sea around him. Strange fish, either extremely large or multicoloured, glided past beside him. His gaze returned to Xiao An in the end. Her seaweed-like hair rippled with the water, and her bright eyes seemed to be able to contain the entire ocean. It brought peace to his mind.
Xiao An smiled back at him, even stunning elder Blue beside them. He thought, This girlie sure is strange. It seems like some kind of art of charm, yet it also doesn’t, even stunning an old whale like me. If I were human, I’d definitely be enamoured by her. Along the way, he noticed several Merfolk guards gaze at her figure blankly as she vanished off into the deep ocean before finally turning around reluctantly and continuing their patrol. They had completely forgotten about their contempt for humans.
There was a flash in the corner of Li Qingshan’s eye, making him turn around. He was amazed. “So this is the Crystal palace. It really does live up to its name.”
Within the deep sea, a palace constructed from crystal stood atop an underwater mountain, like it was the only existence in the world. The tall towers shimmered with azure light, as magnificent as the castles from fairytales, but it also bore an unfathomable sense of coldness and prestige. Behind the mountain was a bottomless black abyss.
Passing through the numerous formations, they finally arrived before the Crystal palace. Li Qingshan was once again amazed by its towering size. From afar, it felt like nothing, but once he was up close, the Crystal palace seemed even more extraordinarily large. He had once used the Profound Light Illuminates All to observe the palace on Fire Melt mountain. Originally, he thought the Crystal palace of the Merfolk would be of similar size and scale, but he never expected it to be hundreds, thousands of times larger. It was basically like a mountain constructed from crystal.
“The Crystal palace was originally constructed by the Merfolk for a true dragon, which is why it’s so large!” Elder Blue introduced.
“A true dragon? Then it sure has some age to it!” Li Qingshan could not help but think of the underground world beneath the Clear River prefecture and Cobweb city that the night roamers had built for Spider Queen Lolth. Then he thought back to a million years ago, when the daemons, or perhaps better described as the dragons, reigned over the world. Afterwards, the godfolk took over, now followed by the humans who built the empire and lorded over the nine provinces. With the constant shifts in history, no one could reign supreme forever!
“But it’s said that the true dragon preferred sleeping in the abyss behind here.” Elder Blue smiled, but he furrowed his brows in an undetectable manner. Gong Yuan had actually sent no one to receive them, but fortunately, Li Qingshan seemed to be engrossed in his thoughts about history, so he did not notice this further discourtesy.
A gust of wind swept out of the Crystal palace. As it turned out, Ji Changfeng had come to receive him.
In the depths of the Crystal palace, in the tallest tower, several pairs of eyes gazed at the projection on the crystal wall and watched them.
“Yuan’er, are you certain? Did he really save you on Giant Ship island? He hasn’t even undergone the third heavenly tribulation yet!” asked an old, graceful and noble madam from beside Gong Yuan with a face full of doubt.
“Yes, granny. He defeated the giant god of fire summoned by the fire devourers through the Divine Fire tablet, and he helped me suppress my inner demons, controlling the Heart of the Abyss. If the King of Southern Yue had not interfered, we almost would have prevented the three fire devourers from leaving the South sea forever!” Gong Yuan said politely.
This was not the first time the two other Merfolk Kings, a woman and man, had heard of this, but they were still surprised. A human cultivator that had not even undergone the third heavenly tribulation had almost turned the tables and forced the Divine-Fire-tablet-wielding Fire Devouring Kings into dire straits. If it had not been Gong Yuan who was telling them with such certainty, they never would have believed it.
“If it really were the legendary Divine Fire tablets, then it couldn’t be him that defeated the giant god of fire. There must be something up with the arcane treasure. Though, the fact that he helped you suppress your inner demons is much more worthy of attention. He might have obtained some kind of special cultivation method. If we can get it from him, it’ll be of great benefit to us! We have to get him to hand over the wretched spawn too. You were in the wrong back then. You shouldn’t have let them leave the South sea!”
“Granny” prattled away, treating Li Qingshan like a lamb to the slaughter, someone she could butcher whenever she wanted.
“That Li Qingshan isn’t a person who yields easily, and he’s saved my life after all. He’s also come to assist us against the fire devourers this time. Even the King of Southern Yue has to show him some respect.” Gong Yuan frowned slightly. Originally, she did want to cut Li Qingshan down to size, but she found that “granny” would be going a little overboard. In particular, what she said at the end crossed her bottom line.
“Don’t forget about your identity. Since you are the current king, the interests of the Merfolk come first for everything, not your personal likes and dislikes!” “Granny” suddenly became stern.
“If you don’t like it, you’re welcome to dismiss me, granny!” Gong Yuan smiled frigidly and radiated with coldness.
The two other Merfolk Kings spoke up in a hurry to mediate the situation. They were both older than Gong Yuan, but neither of them dared to treat her as a junior. As a practitioner of the All Water to Ruin’s End and the wielder of the Heart of the Abyss, only “granny” with the greatest cultivation could contend against Gong Yuan. In the war against the fire devourers, her strength would be even more important than “granny”.
And due to the inner demons, she had always been very ill-tempered.
“Y- you’ve changed!” “Granny” sighed helplessly and said to the old nun beside her, “Just some awry household affairs. I’ve made a fool of myself before you, fellow!”
The old nun seemed to hear nothing at all. She stared straight at the crystal wall, at Xiao An.
