“Why should I?” She was already worried about escaping, so why should she go down to the bottom of the abyss? Wouldn’t that take her further from her goal?

“Hanging in this tree, you can only wait to die,” the Ao-fish somehow found some patience. “If you go down, I have a way to keep you alive.”

“Tell me about it first?” Hungry and exhausted, she felt terrible. But to survive, she could endure hunger and fatigue to learn the truth.

“You have no food, and you’re becoming ill. You’ll likely die of sickness before starvation.” He raised two fingers. “In less than two days, you’ll follow my fate.”

She fell silent. Exposed to wind and rain all night, even someone with an iron constitution might not withstand it, let alone this fragile girl’s body. With stars dancing before her eyes, she didn’t need to feel her forehead to know her temperature was soaring. He made it sound simple—at this rate, she wouldn’t last a day before dying.

“What’s down there that can save me?” She rolled her eyes. “The Ao-fish’s meat?”

His face filled with anger: “My dragon pearl!”

He further explained: “If you consume my dragon pearl, you’ll receive my remaining life force and can live for a very, very long time.”

The rain had stopped, and the sky was brightening like dawn was about to break. She was skeptical: “How do I know you’re not lying to me?”

“What would I gain from lying? Even if I were alive and wanted to eat you, you wouldn’t be enough to fill the gaps in my teeth!”

Considering the Ao-fish’s size and her petite frame, his words rang true. “How do I get down?” Staying here meant certain death; she might as well go down to find a way to survive.

“Just jump.” It was only about ten zhang down, with deep water below—the fall wouldn’t kill her!

The bottom was still dark, so she decided to wait a little longer; daylight would come soon anyway. “That person killed you, so how can you still…” she gestured at him, “still appear like this?”

The Ao-fish gnashed his teeth: “I was no match for him, and he gouged out my dragon pearl. But he underestimated my cultivation, not knowing I could release my elemental soul. However, my physical body is dead, so I can’t maintain this form for much longer.”

Death comes to all, fish included. With her survival at stake, she had no time to mourn for him: “Who was that person?”

“Yun Ya.”

Just a name? “What about his identity?”

“I don’t know.”

He had died in vain. “Is he human too?”

The Ao-fish was silent for a moment: “Perhaps.”

“What does he want your dragon pearl for?”

This question hit the Ao-fish’s anger point, making his face contort: “Naturally, to seize my cultivation and life force, to live a long, long life!”

“I had accumulated potential for many years and was about to transform into a dragon during today’s storm, but he came to intercept and kill me!” His gaze toward her grew vicious. “You humans have short lives, not as powerful in life force as we are, so you always seek ways to extend your lifespan!”

His words were indeed true; she also wanted to live a long, long life. It seemed Yun Ya had been closely monitoring this Ao-fish, waiting until its dragon pearl’s potency was at its peak before intercepting. “How long have you been here?”

“Three hundred years.”

It appeared Yuan Yan was also a person accustomed to patience. “What era is it now?”

“Era?”

“What factions currently control the outside world, and who holds power?” This place was quite strange; the political system was likely different from her original world.

“The once-mighty Haoli Kingdom perished three hundred years ago. I know nothing of what came after.” The Ao-fish gave her a strange look. “You came from outside, so you should know better than I do!”

She touched her face, shamefully saying: “I’m still young.” This little face felt good, full of collagen; there was no shame in playing innocent.

“Wasn’t your dragon pearl eaten by Yun—Yun Ya? How can you give me another one?”

“I told you, he underestimated my cultivation!” The Ao-fish sneered. “After I passed four hundred years of age, I could form a second dragon pearl. He only took one.”

Shivering, she asked the crucial question, knowing she couldn’t hold out much longer: “Why are you saving me?”

The Ao-fish grinned, displaying a smug expression: “If you survive, you can avenge me.”

“This dragon pearl, after eating it, can I also have… cultivation?” She thought for a while, learning his new term. “But if you couldn’t defeat him, I certainly can’t. How can I avenge you?” Honestly, if she could escape from here, she would avoid Yun Ya. That person wasn’t the decent sort.

“You’re dreaming. His abilities are formidable among humans. What are you compared to him?” The Ao-fish snickered. “But if you consume this dragon pearl, you two will be in a state of life and death connection! If you die, he cannot live!”

Thinking of this pleased him so much that he let out a loud laugh. The echo of the child’s shrill laughter throughout the hollow was utterly creepy.

She quickly soothed the goosebumps on her arms while exclaiming in surprise: “So you mean if I live, he lives, and if I die, he dies too?”

“Exactly!” The Ao-fish said triumphantly. “And vice versa! This is the curse I cast before my death. But his chances of dying first are slim. As long as you die after consuming the dragon pearl, I will be avenged!”

“…” This creature’s thought process was truly unique; she was left speechless.

“Go down now.” The Ao-fish smiled cheerfully, seemingly in a good mood. “You wouldn’t be foolish enough to refuse the dragon pearl, would you?”

“I’ll eat it, I’ll eat it!” She gave him an annoyed glance. The Ao-fish had revealed his scheme completely, confident that she had no choice but to accept.

At this point, she couldn’t care less whether his plan was sinister or straightforward. Without the Ao-fish’s dragon pearl, she wouldn’t last two days; with it, she could at least live longer. Even if it meant drinking poison to quench her thirst, she would accept it.

By now daylight had broken, and she could finally see the pool below. She identified her landing spot and jumped down with her eyes wide open.

If the Ao-fish had been more perceptive, he might have noticed her strangeness. No ordinary child would have the courage to leap from a height of thirty meters. Unfortunately, he was already dead, and new ghosts tend to be obsessed with their final living thoughts, indifferent to other matters.

The wind whistled past her ears as she aimed precisely, landing right on the massive Ao-fish’s body. The creature’s belly was extremely resilient, bouncing her into the water like a spring mattress, leaving her unharmed.

Falling into the pool, she discovered several schools of fish of various sizes lurking underwater, each one opening its mouth and thrashing its tail in a frenzy, churning the calm water into a boiling cauldron.

“They’re fighting over my blood,” the Ao-fish noticed her confusion and said gloomily. “I am of dragon lineage, so my blood is highly nourishing to them. Given time, they might even become spirits or demons.”

Deep pools nurture large fish; the largest ones were longer than her leg, with mouths full of sharp teeth. Fortunately, the fish were busy consuming blood and paid no attention to her. She swam to the shore, picked up a stone shard, swam back to the Ao-fish’s corpse, and climbed up with effort, holding the stone shard: “Where should I cut?”

“You think you can cut it?” The Ao-fish’s soul was sneering again.