“You deceived me?” Rong Yu’s face suddenly darkened. The silver scales on his face faintly turned black, and his fingernails grew with the wind. In just a moment, both hands had become black claws. He let out a wild howl, his demonic aura surged violently around him, and he fiercely pounced toward Gu Baiying.

Gu Baiying shouted: “Xiugu—”

A silver long spear suddenly appeared in his palm. The youth gripped the spear and became entangled in combat with the demon merman.

The demonic aura on the merman’s body was extremely fierce, and the spear wind from Gu Baiying’s hand also stirred up strong winds around them. Ordinary people could no longer withstand such a chaotic battle and would be injured by flying stones. Li’er Kingdom’s guards protected the sovereign as they retreated into the white jade palace, calling out: “Your Majesty, be careful!”

Seeing this, Rong Yu, who was fighting with Gu Baiying, struck a palm toward the sovereign: “Don’t think of escaping!”

“Stop him!” The other cultivators surged forward, each raising their weapons to charge at the demon merman.

For a moment, the sounds of clashing swords and blades echoed throughout the imperial mausoleum.

The cultivators going to the secret realm were all disciples carefully selected by major sects, and their cultivation was not inferior. Yet this merman was extremely difficult to deal with. So many people couldn’t gain even the slightest advantage, and even though Gu Baiying was at the late stage of Spirit Transformation, when his Xiugu spear struck Rong Yu, it could only cause the merman some superficial wounds.

Meng Ying and Mu Cengxiao exchanged glances. One wielding the Moonpo Sword, the other gripping the Mieshen Saber, they both flew up simultaneously and slashed at Rong Yu from front and back. When the blade edge and sword point fell on Rong Yu’s loose robes, the ordinary robes were like cast iron, leaving not the slightest mark. The merman sneered coldly and suddenly circulated his demonic power. Meng Ying and Mu Cengxiao were both sent flying.

Tian Fangfang pulled his golden axe from his waist. Fire Wolf Fang released a stream of fire serpents that coiled around the axe blade. Tian Fangfang shouted to Zanxing, “Junior Sister, let’s attack together!”

Zanxing understood. The tip of her Panhua Stick immediately bloomed into a sea of flowers. She leaped up and rushed toward Rong Yu’s back together with Tian Fangfang. However, before the stick tip could touch Rong Yu’s robes, large patches of black mist emerged from under the merman’s robes. The black mist quickly devoured Zanxing’s Jing Hua Shui Yue and also devoured Tian Fangfang’s Dragon-Slaying Fire.

He suddenly struck out with his palm. Zanxing and Tian Fangfang were hit by the massive demonic aura and sent flying, crashing heavily to the ground. Zanxing’s spine ached terribly. When she tried to speak, she spat out blood as soon as she opened her mouth.

“Junior Sister,” Tian Fangfang struggled to get up and pulled her to her feet. “This merman is too strong. We’re no match for him.”

Looking in the distance, cultivators from Xiangling Sect, Yinfeng Sect, Chihua Gate, and other sects were also lying scattered all over the ground. This merman had an extremely vicious temperament. Those with lower cultivation were directly pierced through the chest by his claws and had their blood essence drained. Those with higher cultivation were also beaten without any ability to fight back.

“Relying on Seventh Master-Uncle alone simply won’t work,” Zanxing murmured, then looked toward Mu Cengxiao, who was covering his chest and standing up nearby.

This male protagonist from the original story—shouldn’t this be the perfect moment for his protagonist’s halo to surge and put on a performance? Why did he currently show no signs of a comeback?

“Look!” Tian Fangfang’s gaze suddenly focused. “Seventh Master-Uncle hit him!”

Zanxing looked up and saw that under the night sky, the silver spear in Gu Baiying’s hand was suddenly stained with a bright red dot, while across from him, the silver scale below Rong Yu’s eye was scratched, leaving a line of blood.

The merman reached out and slowly wiped away the blood below his eye. He looked at Gu Baiying. Those deep blue eyes were magnificent like the vast sea, but now this sea had stirred up tremendous storms.

“I came for revenge, and it has nothing to do with you. Why must Master Gu meddle in other people’s business?” Rong Yu’s voice rang in the air, carrying a sinister chill. “How about we each take a step back, and you just pretend you didn’t see me.”

Gu Baiying raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Only for revenge?”

“What else?”

The demonic aura was like black mist. The youth’s vermilion hair ribbon still shone brilliantly like sunset clouds in the deep night. He smiled at the corner of his mouth, his gaze bright with insight into everything, his voice calm: “If it’s for revenge, why hide your demonic aura and go to such lengths to enter the constellation platform?”

Rong Yu’s expression changed slightly.

“I don’t know why you’re now killing innocent young women in Li’er Kingdom, but your original purpose was just to enter the secret realm, wasn’t it?” Gu Baiying’s gaze was sharp. “You chose to target Rong Yu from Liuli Sect because Liuli Sect was inconspicuous among the sects entering the secret realm this time. You were afraid that Liuli Sect would discover their disciple’s life token had shattered and cause complications, so you spared Rong Yu and his senior brother’s lives simply because you hoped everything would be foolproof before entering the secret realm.”

“If not for tonight’s foot-binding technique exposing your flaw, you should have successfully entered the secret realm.” Gu Baiying’s silver spear pointed at the merman. Tiny snowflakes danced at the spear tip, the snow and moon interweaving light in the night. He asked: “But I don’t understand—Li’er Kingdom’s secret realm isn’t anything special. You went to such lengths to enter the secret realm… what exactly is in the secret realm?”

The air was silent.

After a long while, Rong Yu began to laugh. The merman was beautiful. When he smiled, much of the murderous aura between his brows dissipated. In the dim night, he had a soul-stirring demonic charm. He said, “Worthy of being Qinghua Xianzi’s son. But what’s in the secret realm, I don’t know either!” At the end of his words, his voice suddenly turned harsh, and his entire being transformed into a mass of black mist rushing toward Gu Baiying!

The silver spear was instantly engulfed by black mist. Mendong cried out in alarm: “Master-Uncle, be careful!”

“Go help!” Seeing this merman becoming increasingly frenzied, Meng Ying and Mu Cengxiao once again rushed toward Rong Yu with sword and saber. Tian Fangfang also shouldered his axe and joined the battle. Zanxing’s blood had soaked the honeysuckle pattern on the front of her Tianji Magical Robe, red. She had been seriously injured by Rong Yu’s palm strike earlier. Looking up again, she saw that the black mist around Rong Yu was endless, as if it had no limit, and it was becoming wider and denser.

How could he have such an intense demonic aura? If it were like this back then, how could he have been killed by the demon-exterminating formation? If this continued, even Gu Baiying probably couldn’t kill him, and Li’er Kingdom would eventually be destroyed.

Just then, the Xiaoyuan Pearl at her heart suddenly moved.

Zanxing was stunned.

Ever since she entered Li’er Kingdom, this Xiaoyuan Pearl had been like a dead weight. Zanxing had gradually almost forgotten the Xiaoyuan Pearl’s existence. But at this moment, this pearl began to warm up slightly.

Everything before her eyes seemed covered by a layer of mist. Zanxing rubbed her eyes and suddenly discovered that something was different.

She could see Rong Yu in the black mist. She could even see Rong Yu’s true form—he had a silver-white fish tail, and on his chest, there was one scale that was different from the other silver scales. It was pitch black, just like the black mist around his body.

“This is… his weakness?”

A surge of wild joy swept through her heart. Zanxing patted her chest. This Xiaoyuan Pearl wasn’t bad after all. She shouldn’t have spoken ill of the Xiaoyuan Pearl. At the crucial moment, it was still reliable. Excellent!

“Master-Uncle, I’m coming to help you!” Zanxing held her Panhua Stick and charged toward the heart of the black mist.

The flower cascade blooming from the stick tip transformed into a ray of sunset light, heading straight for the merman’s heart!