In the early morning, a thin mist spread over the East Sea as the brilliant, multicolored dawn clouds separated the sky from the distant ocean.

Scattered morning stars dotted the azure sky as several seabirds glided leisurely, skimming freely over the blue-purple sea surface.

Xu Qi’an stood at the bow, facing the sea breeze, advancing as if cleaving through waves.

Several zhang behind him, the Nine-Tailed Fox sat against the ship’s rail, her slim waist wrapped in a fur coat serving as a skirt. She narrowed her bewitching fox eyes, gazing at the distant sea surface.

In the sea breeze, her eyelashes trembled slightly, her profile exquisitely beautiful—a peerless beauty of the age.

The vessel beneath their feet was a ritual tool from the Bureau of Astronomy and Calendar. It could travel a thousand li daily, powered by water and wind formation arrays that Sun Xuanji had carved in the lower hold. Given the ship’s construction materials, its service life would be about two months.

Any longer would require ritual masters for maintenance, replacing arrays and the materials supporting them.

“Fascinated?”

The Nine-Tailed Fox’s smile was like that of an experienced courtesan teasing an inexperienced youth. “The Netherworld Silkworms aren’t far from the Southern Borderlands, but this is your first true ocean voyage. Are you very eager to see what lies overseas?”

He had been standing at the bow for several hours.

Xu Qi’an ignored her, standing silently and gazing into the distance. After a long while, he pointed to the horizon and said in a deep voice:

“Do you know what lies beyond the sea?”

The Nine-Tailed Fox was startled and instinctively answered:

“The descendants of gods and demons.”

“No!”

Xu Qi’an shook his head and turned around, his eyes blazing:

“I originally thought freedom lay beyond the sea, then I discovered it was enemies, and later I realized it was a virus!”

Seeing the fox beauty’s blank expression filled with confusion, Xu Qi’an felt dispirited.

How boring, she doesn’t get my references!

At this moment, the Nine-Tailed Fox recovered and said reproachfully:

“You’re talking nonsense again.”

Xu Qi’an countered:

“What do you mean ‘again’?”

As if we were that familiar.

The Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox was not an obediently answering maiden. She blinked her eyes and said slyly:

“Guess!”

Besides Float Fragrance, who else… Xu Qi’an ignored her, too lazy to answer, and continued gazing at the sea surface, saying:

“Tell me about your experiences overseas.”

The silver-haired demon beauty withdrew her coquettish manner and looked southwest, saying:

“Five hundred li southwest from here is an island full of caves where merfolk dwell. Their queen is in the Transcendent realm, roughly early Third-Rank in strength. That’s our first destination after setting sail.

“After reaching Merfolk Island, we’ll sail south.”

Merfolk ah, being only Transcendent is somewhat lacking. Even draining her blood essence would be of no benefit to me… Xu Qi’an’s thoughts stirred:

“Don’t they sing? Using their songs to lure fishermen at sea and trick them into the water to eat them?”

The Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox shook her head:

“If they want to eat humans, why would they need songs to lure them? They could just stir up waves to capsize ships.”

This is different from the merfolk I imagined… Xu Qi’an asked reluctantly:

“What do they look like?”

The Nine-Tailed Fox casually explained:

“Human body with a fishtail, the tail covered in blue or black hard scales. Merfolk are beautiful, with both males and females possessing exceptionally attractive appearances. Hmm, they’re said to be extremely loyal to their mates. Once they establish a pair bond, they only become aroused by their partner.

“And once their mate dies, merfolk never seek new love, often becoming solitary. When merfolk reach three hundred years of age, a pearl forms in their body. When holding this pearl and meeting their true love, it glows.”

This reminds me of that troubling question faced by many young people—choose the head or choose the tail… While Xu Qi’an internally joked, he commented:

“An interesting race.”

The only disappointment was the human body with a fishtail—highly ornamental but not very practical.

“Besides the familiar ‘routes,’ have you tried expanding the sea lanes?” Xu Qi’an said. “You haven’t found your kindred; they might not be on this familiar path.”

“This shows you’ve never been to sea; your experience is limited.”

The silver-haired demon beauty smiled enchantingly, her smile carrying a kind of superiority, like an eagle soaring in the sky looking down at a frog in a well.

“The overseas world isn’t as simple as you imagine. Although you can now travel from the Western Regions to Jing Mountain in a day, the Nine Provinces are just part of this world, not all of it. You have no idea how vast the world beyond the Nine Provinces is.

“Nor do you know how magnificent and boundless the ocean is. Once you take the wrong route, you might get lost in the endless sea. Even as a First-Rank Martial Warrior who can ride the wind, you would still lose your way.

“Let me tell you a secret that ordinary Transcendent experts wouldn’t know. Once, a descendant of gods and demons went to sea exploring and got lost in the endless ocean. When it finally returned to the Nine Provinces, more than ten years had passed.

“Do you know how it found its way back? This involves a secret of this world.”

After speaking, the silver-haired demon beauty stared intently at Xu Qi’an, trying to see surprise and curiosity in his eyes.

“What secret!”

Xu Qi’an asked carelessly.

It’s nothing more than circumnavigating the world and discovering it’s round… he thought sarcastically.

The Nine-Tailed Fox was dissatisfied with his attitude. She let out a coquettish snort and changed her mind, deciding not to tell him what the real world was like.

Such as how beyond the Nine Provinces, on the vast ocean, there weren’t just islands but also boundless expanses of land.

Such as how that descendant of gods and demons, after drifting for years, flew in one direction and unexpectedly returned to the Nine Provinces, discovering that the world was round.

These secrets, though not important, concerned the fundamental nature of the world.

Since becoming a First-Rank warrior, Xu Ning Yan has become so arrogant. She didn’t feel like telling him these things.

Let him remain an uncultured provincial from the Nine Provinces.

“Among the routes you know, are there any Second-Rank descendants of gods and demons?” Xu Qi’an asked.

The silver-haired demon beauty shook her head:

“This Sovereign alone could steamroll all the settlements of divine and demon descendants along the path.”

This is quite troublesome; only “leftovers” remain, completely useless. Xu Qi’an frowned deeply.

Trying to advance to Semi-Divine Warrior using Third-Rank blood essence was almost impossible. Although quantitative changes could lead to qualitative changes, even Xu Qi’an didn’t know where that quantitative threshold lay.

Perhaps killing all the Third-Rank experts in the Nine Provinces, including the descendants of gods and demons, might not be enough to support his advancement to Semi-Divine Warrior.

“This sea voyage was always about trying our luck; don’t have too high expectations. However, after passing Merfolk Island, eight hundred li south might yield something interesting.”

The Nine-Tailed Fox left things open-ended.

“What’s there?” Xu Qi’an naturally asked.

But the silver-haired demon beauty kept the mystery, not telling him.

They drifted at sea like this for three days. On the fourth day, Xu Qi’an immersed his consciousness in the Earth Book fragment and discovered that in the chaotic space, the light clusters corresponding to the eight fragments had become extremely dim.

This meant that the connection between the fragment in his hand and the other eight fragments had become very weak—in simple terms, there was no signal.

Feeling that in a few more days, he would lose contact completely… As his consciousness was immersed in the Earth Book, his ears caught the silver-haired demon beauty’s soft, pleasing voice:

“That’s Merfolk Island over there.”

Xu Qi’an quickly opened his eyes to see the Nine-Tailed Fox’s tall figure standing at the bow, pointing toward the horizon.

There, the vague outline of an island could be seen.

Due to distance and angle, only a corner of the island was visible, making it impossible to determine its exact size.

The silver-haired demon beauty said with a smile:

“Merfolk are quite gentle. We can visit them as guests and learn if there are any settlements of divine and demon descendants underwater. You know, water-attribute divine and demon descendants prefer living in the sea.

“And the seabed isn’t our familiar territory, while merfolk can live both on land and underwater.”

Although she had been to sea several times, she had never explored underwater.

Fox spirits weren’t good at underwater combat. With bad luck, they might be defeated by a water-system Transcendent of the same rank.

Of course, crude warriors didn’t have such concerns. Even if attacked by a water system Transcendent of the same rank, a warrior could rely on their crudeness to return safely to the surface after taking the most vicious beating.

“Hmm, if I remember correctly, the Merfolk Queen is still unmarried. Silver Constable Xu could subjugate her and keep her by his side, favoring her when lonely,” the fox spirit said with a coquettish smile.

“Does teasing me make you happy?” Xu Qi’an glanced at her sideways, then changed the subject:

“Well, time is of the essence. Let’s hurry to Merfolk Island to gather intelligence.”

As they spoke, the surging blue waves brought a floating corpse. The body had been bleached white by the water, with the upper body not much different from a human woman’s. The hair was dark green, with a row of small dorsal fins along the back.

The lower body should have been a fishtail—the reason for saying “should have” was because the tail was severed at the waist, the severed end a bloody mess, as if bitten off by some monster.

This merfolk wore light armor woven from vines, but beneath the armor was a bloody mess. She had been dead for some time.

“Oh!”

The Nine-Tailed Fox examined the corpse for a moment, then said:

“This is from the Merfolk Queen’s guard. Hmm, it seems the merfolk have encountered trouble.”