“What are the mermen you know like?” Mendong asked curiously.

Zanxing paused and said, “The merman I know was a girl…”

She told the story she had heard countless times from beginning to end, finally saying: “The next morning, the sun rose from the sea, and the merman turned into foam and disappeared on the ocean.”

This Western story was far too shocking in the Eastern cultivation world. Mendong, being young, immediately had red eyes after hearing it and murmured, “How could this happen?”

Zanxing was about to comfort the child when she suddenly heard someone speaking behind them: “That’s quite a fresh story, but the kind merman in your tale only exists in stories. Real mermen are far more vicious than that.”

Everyone turned around to see an unfamiliar old woman standing behind them, not knowing how long she had been listening to their conversation. This old woman had graying hair meticulously bound into a bun, wore a crimson robe cinched at the waist with a black belt, revealing black boots. Though Li’er Kingdom was hot and the locals mostly dressed lightly, this old woman was heavily clothed. Though aged, one could still see traces of her youthful charm from her brows and eyes alone.

The locals of Li’er Kingdom were always languid with leisurely smiles on their faces, but this woman was like a taut bow—beautiful, spirited, radiating a sense of power from head to toe. Even though she was advanced in years, she still immediately captured people’s attention with a brilliance that was hard to ignore.

“You are…” Zanxing asked.

“Just a passerby.” The red-clothed woman didn’t answer Zanxing’s question but walked to the statue’s side, looking at it and speaking indifferently: “Forty years ago, Li’er Kingdom had demons causing trouble, harming young women, and feeding on their blood. The ruler personally led the city guard army to battle the demons and discovered that the demons were mermen from the Western Sea. The demon mermen were vicious, nearly killing all the city guard army. The ruler personally killed the demon merman but was also severely wounded in the process, ultimately perishing together with the demon merman.”

She spoke with melancholy, as if she had personally witnessed the scene of the ruler slaying the demon merman back then.

The red-clothed woman looked at Zanxing: “Young lady, demons are vicious. You can tell stories, but don’t beautify them. Otherwise, the blood shed by the ruler and city guard army back then would have been spilled in vain.” When she said the last sentence, her expression suddenly became serious.

Zanxing felt somewhat embarrassed and could only cast a pleading look at her fellow sect members.

Tian Fangfang laughed and smoothed things over: “Madam, we were just talking casually—naturally it shouldn’t be taken seriously. Li’er Kingdom’s old ruler took the lead and fought the demon merman, protecting the people of the entire nation. Amazing, so impressive! We all greatly admire him!”

This praise sounded slightly insincere. Zanxing was thinking whether to add a few more sentences to sound more genuine when Mimi beside her suddenly let out an “Aowu” sound, arching her body with all her fur standing on end. Zanxing was startled and was about to speak when she suddenly heard screaming in the distance. Looking up, she saw countless figures on the beach instantly thrown into chaos, scattering in all directions with terrified shouts mixed in.

“Help, help! Someone’s dead!”

“Monster, there’s a monster—”

“The monster killed someone!”

Tian Fangfang was startled: “What’s happening? What’s going on?”

“There’s demonic energy ahead.” Gu Baiying frowned, looking toward where the crowd was fleeing. “I’ll go take a look.”

……

On the beach by the West Coast, civilians quickly dispersed and retreated under the direction of the city guard army. When Zanxing’s group reached the inn, it was already surrounded by city guards. Seeing Zanxing’s group preparing to enter, a guard asked: “Who are you?”

Meng Ying showed him the pass issued by the ruler. After the guard looked at it, he immediately put away his sword and said respectfully, “So you’re the immortals from Taiyan Sect. Please enter.”

“What happened here?” Mu Cengxiao asked: “Are there demons causing trouble?”

“It’s hard to explain in just a few words,” the guard showed some difficulty: “Please go in and see for yourselves, immortals.”

There were many inns near the beach in Li’er Kingdom. The “Immortal Seeking Sea,” where Zanxing stayed, was closer to the city with the best scenery, convenient shopping, and the highest prices—cultivators with money often stayed there. The other end, near the depths of the red mangrove forest, was much cheaper, though the scenery was also nice. Local wealthy households and officials of Li’er Kingdom occasionally stayed there for short periods.

The inn where the incident occurred was the one near the red mangrove forest.

As soon as they entered the inn, Mimi jumped down from Tian Fangfang’s shoulder with a “whoosh” and ran straight in a certain direction. Everyone followed and saw Rong Yu from the Liuli Sect, whom they had met during the day, standing in front of a room holding Mimi with a surprised expression.

“Rong Yu?” Zanxing asked: “What are you doing here?”

“I saw there was an herb shop nearby and came out to find some medicinal herbs for my senior brother. On the way, I heard something happened here, so I came in to look…” Before he finished speaking, another familiar figure appeared from behind him—it was Tan Tianxin and his two companions from the Chihua Sect.

Tan Tianxin probably hadn’t expected to encounter Zanxing’s group here either and was also stunned for a moment.

Zanxing noticed some bruises on Rong Yu’s face and understood. This person couldn’t have coincidentally run into Tan Tianxin and his group here and been bullied again, could he?

Gu Baiying was impatient with pleasantries and simply pushed through the crowd into the room, saying: “Such a strong smell of blood. What happened?”

Zanxing quickly followed.

This was a single-occupancy guest room, not very large. Upon entering the room, they were immediately hit by an enormous fishy smell. Looking around, the inn room’s ceiling, walls, and floor were covered with splattered blood. The hanging snow-white gauze curtains were almost completely dyed red with blood. On the bed lay a “person”—though calling it a “person” was hard to justify since it barely looked human at all. It was more like a withered tree trunk, with only skin dried and clinging to bones, eye sockets deeply sunken.

Zanxing had no psychological preparation for encountering such a scene and let out an “Ah.” Gu Baiying turned back: “What are you making noise about?”

Zanxing grabbed his arm and placed it in front of her eyes, whispering: “…Dead person.”

Having lived this long, honestly, she wasn’t unfamiliar with seeing dead people, but seeing someone who died this way was a first. The situation was so terrifying that she would probably have nightmares when returning to the inn tonight.

“Let go.” Gu Baiying said angrily.

Zanxing hesitated in her heart several times before finally steeling herself, closing her eyes, and releasing his arm. She turned around and only dared to open her eyes when her back was to the female corpse on the bed. As soon as she opened her eyes, she heard a woman’s voice from outside the door, carrying undisguised mockery: “I never expected that the new female disciple the Taiyan Sect recruited would be such a coward, afraid even of dead people.”