In the evening, the sun set behind the western mountains, and the clouds formed rolls of colorful brocade.
The sailing ship plowed through the endless ocean. They had departed very early, yet evening had arrived before they reached their destination.
After boarding the ship, Zhou Ji had drooped listlessly for a long time, but now he finally stopped grieving.
He had figured it out so what if he was just tagging along? If he could pull off some achievements in this mission, wouldn’t that make his older sister look at him in a whole new light?
Full of vigor, Zhou Ji stood up and instantly spotted a mermaid surrounding Shiyu.
Didn’t this green mermaid refuse to speak when they first boarded the ship?
How could Shiyu get chummy with someone from the mermaid clan so quickly? That simply wouldn’t do.
Originally, they were just making up numbers to fill quotas, but now Shiyu had already begun gathering information ahead of time, while he hadn’t made any progress at all.
“Hey! Mermaid brother” Zhou Ji had a booming voice, catching their attention from a distance.
Seeing Hawk’s attention shift to Zhou Ji, Shiyu quietly let out a sigh of relief.
When Hawk had first approached, Shiyu intentionally offered him stepping stones and conversation topics. He had originally thought it would just be a simple chat, but Hawk had opened the floodgates and kept talking all the way until now.
He finally witnessed firsthand just how pure a mermaid’s nature truly was.
Hawk had practically finished introducing all of his family members to him.
Shiyu said right on cue, “You guys chat first.”
Oddly enough, the look Zhou Ji gave him was quite indescribable as if he had betrayed the organization.
Shiyu: ?
Zhou Ji thought Shiyu had been exposed by him.
Sure enough, Shiyu was making stealthy progress behind his back, and taking advantage of the time when he was feeling depressed, no less.
Zhou Ji wanted to make progress far too badly.
He mustered every ounce of his strength to make small talk with Hawk, but Hawk’s attitude was exceptionally perfunctory and faintly carried a tone of condemnation.
Could it be that he had arrived too late?
According to the tropes he had read before, crucial clues were only ever spoken once.
Left high and dry, Shiyu cast a aimless glance around.
Just as he wanted to find out where Wennisi was, he raised his head and locked eyes with him directly.
The crimson setting sun seemed to sink right into the surface of the sea, its twilight spilling over the vast ocean and cleaving light and shadow into two distinct worlds of brightness and darkness.
At that moment, Wennisi was standing before the second-floor railing. The fiery red light illuminated half of his body, while his expression remained obscured and indistinct within the shadowy gloom.
When Shiyu raised his eyes and happened to meet his gaze, he was in the light while Wennisi was in the dark, leaving him unable to decipher Wennisi’s expression.
Was it just a coincidence, or had Wennisi been standing there for a long time?
What kind of prolonged observation was he carrying out once again?
Shiyu’s gaze fixed straight onto Wennisi. Casually, he raised his hand and crooked his finger toward Wennisi’s direction.
“Come here.”
The corners of Shiyu’s mouth twitched upward, shaping the words silently to Wennisi.
The amusement of teasing a little puppy.
Wennisi paused for a fraction of a second before his figure vanished from the second-floor railing.
“What is it?” He quickly walked up to Shiyu.
Without answering, Shiyu carefully traced Wennisi’s expression with his eyes.
“Why are you unhappy?”
His tone was not a question, but a certainty.
Wennisi lifted his eyes to look at him, his pitch-black pupils as bottomless as an abyss, mixed with complex emotions.
“I’m indeed a bit unhappy, but you should be quite happy.”
He slowly closed the distance toward Shiyu. Their gazes intertwined as the space between them shrank until Wennisi’s line of sight was level with Shiyu’s.
Just a tiny bit further forward, and the tips of their noses would touch.
Shiyu offered a shallow smile. “Why?”
Clearly, it was Wennisi who had approached first, yet he was also the first to avert his gaze, turning his head aside.
“Because you’ve gained yet another new companion to chat with.”
Therefore, Shiyu ought to be quite happy.
As Wennisi spoke, he heavily emphasized the word “yet.”
It was a deeply resentful tone.
It felt awfully familiar; the last “new companion” seemed to have been Zhou Ji.
The corners of Shiyu’s mouth curved upward.
Just as he was about to say something, the other people on the ship suddenly let out a few cries of exclamation, and Shiyu held his tongue.
“Crap!” Zhou Ji was the first to let out an exclamation.
“Wah, look over there.”
“Is this… Mermaid Island?!”
Not only Zhou Ji, but the other blood hunters were also visiting this place for the first time, all wearing looks of stunned amazement.
After sailing for a long time, a brand-new scenery finally emerged across the boundless, open sea.
In the distance, it looked like a tiny speck of white, growing larger and larger as the sailing ship drew closer.
Shiyu gazed intently at that spot.
Wennisi’s voice chimed in gloomily, “The Mermaid Island you were looking forward to has arrived.”
As the ship drew near, the distant little white speck gradually magnified until it became a massive expanse of hazy white mist right before everyone’s eyes.
The island was surrounded by thick white fog, and amidst the swirling vapor, the fairytale-like island could be faintly discerned.
As if possessed by some kind of magic, the mist welcomed their ship.
The white fog swept past them, instantly obscuring everything from sight.
Suddenly, a vibrant, life-filled landscape unfolded like a scroll before their eyes.
Zhou Ji’s jaw dropped, rendered completely speechless by the sheer shock of seeing the interior of Mermaid Island clearly.
Even though it was dusk outside, the interior of the island was as bright as day.
Inside the island, all sorts of rare and exotic plants brimmed with vitality. Unlike ordinary islands, mermaids of various colors populated the sea surface.
Even while still on the ship, they could spot quite a few beautiful figures swimming and leaping through the water.
Only after truly setting foot on Mermaid Island did the group fully comprehend its beauty.
Many mermaids were swimming from the sea toward the shore, gathering together to gaze at the sailing ship with eyes full of curiosity.
When the group of blood hunters disembarked, the locals showed no guarded hostility toward strangers.
They simply crowded close to one another, peeking at them with secret curiosity.
When Shiyu disembarked, he heard the surrounding mermaids chatting animatedly, seemingly using a special mermaid dialect that he couldn’t quite understand.
When Hawk appeared, the mermaids who had merely been waiting swarmed forward, surrounding him as if asking him questions.
Curious to know what was going on, Shiyu stared intently at Hawk to investigate.
With his own eyes, he saw a few mermaid girls gesturing, and the direction of their fingers seemed to be pointing straight at him and Wennisi.
As soon as those girls finished chattering away, Hawk pulled an angry expression, wildly waving his hands and chattering right back at them at great length.
He looked as though he were refuting the girls’ words.
The girls refused to back down either, and both sides went through several rounds of a debate whose words Shiyu couldn’t comprehend.
Shiyu furrowed his brows slightly, a helpless expression crossing his face.
“They are saying you’re very pretty.”
Wennisi’s low voice sounded right beside his ear. With wide eyes, Shiyu whipped his head around, his eye tails curving up slightly as he stood very close to Wennisi.
“You actually know the mermaid language?” Shiyu felt genuine, unfeigned admiration, though he couldn’t help but doubt Wennisi’s proficiency level in mermaid linguistics. “With the way they were arguing and waving their hands around, did they really just say… I’m very pretty?”
By the end of his sentence, Shiyu’s voice dropped, and he eyed Wennisi suspiciously.
He looked ready to demand a full explanation from the other man.
Lowering his gaze to conceal the expression in his eyes, Wennisi let out an “mm.”
“The mermaid clan has many dialects. They sound quite long, but the meaning is actually the same.”
Wennisi didn’t honestly tell Shiyu the whole truth.
Just now, the mermaid girl had indeed pointed at Shiyu and said he was very beautiful, like a mother-of-pearl shell found only in the deepest ocean, hiding a glowing, lustrous pearl within its shell.
However, after that, she had started asking Hawk about the other person’s age and various other details.
The mermaid people spoke with sincere and straightforward honesty, and the girl felt no shyness at all. She had generously expressed her desire to give Shiyu a piece of shark-silk she had woven herself during the upcoming courting ritual.
Such an intention was as clear as day she had a crush on Shiyu.
Who would have guessed that as soon as she finished speaking, Hawk grew unhappy and started arguing with her. Hawk felt that the shark-silk he wove looked much prettier than the girl’s, and if Shiyu was going to accept any, he should accept his.
At this thought, Wennisi shot a chilly glare at Hawk and the girl, who were still chattering away in an endless dispute.
Hawk couldn’t help but glance behind him.
Why did he suddenly feel a chill down his spine?
Someone from the mermaid clan exchanged a few words with Zhou Qi before leading them deeper into Mermaid Island.
Amidst their movement, Wennisi brought up as if casually: “Did you notice the fog from earlier?”
Shiyu blinked. “You mean the white fog on the outer perimeter of Mermaid Island?”
“Mm.” Wennisi turned his head slightly, guiding Shiyu to look back as well. “That’s not ordinary white fog; it carries the aura of witchcraft.”
“Rather than calling it decorative white fog, it’s more accurate to use a different term: a barrier isolating the mermaid clan from outsiders.”
From the ship earlier, it had looked clear enough the thick white fog slowly dissipated upon encountering their vessel, allowing their ship to successfully approach Mermaid Island.
That made it easy to assume the ship had merely brushed against the fog and caused it to scatter.
Yet, thinking carefully in accordance with Wennisi’s words, this seemed to happen precisely because it was a ship belonging to the mermaids.
If it were replaced by other vessels and people, could they enter just as easily?
Shiyu pursed his lips, casting a pensive look at Wennisi.
“I remember rumors in the past saying that the mermaid clan stopped being captured and exploited by scheming individuals because no one could find the specific location of Mermaid Island,” Shiyu mused, continuing with a guess: “There were also rumors that it’s because Mermaid Island’s location can shift at any time.”
“Is it possible that this fog is responsible for all of that?”
Wennisi looked at him approvingly, as if waiting for him to analyze such an answer.
The architectural furnishings deep within Mermaid Island were vastly different from those on land.
The building structures were primarily made of wood, decorated with various shells and pearls, brimming with dreamlike colors.
It felt like a world straight out of a fairy tale.
They arrived at a solemn location.
Several tall, cylindrical stone pillars stood upright from the ground, supporting a circular dome overhead. In the center of the pillars lay a massive circular area, countless ancient spell formations bearing the traces of history carved across its surface. They converged little by little from the edges toward the center, forming a platform at the very middle with a space designed to inlay something.
Right now, that spot was empty.
Diyou stood right at the center. His long golden hair harmonized with the surroundings, making him look like a deity carved from an ancient Greek statue, radiating an ancient and mysterious aura.
The corners of his azure eyes curved upward.
“Welcome, brave blood hunters.”
Zhou Qi exchanged polite greetings with him as well.
Since it was the first time the other blood hunters were seeing the High Priest of the mermaid clan, they all stared fixatedly.
Mermaids were naturally blessed with good looks, and Diyou was especially peerless.
Perhaps growing up in the ocean gave mermaids a unique temperament unlike anyone else’s.
Pure and clean.
“Daytime hours are relatively long inside Mermaid Island; there is no dusk, generally only daytime and late night,” Diyou explained patiently. “I hope you won’t find it strange; it’s caused by the unique geographical location here.”
“Comprehensible. Mermaids must all love daytime very much.”
Zhou Ji chimed in with cheerful, casual comprehension.
Shiyu casually exchanged a glance with Wennisi.
What seemed like ordinary words precisely proved that Diyou was also aware that this anomaly existed.
Furthermore, the reason for this anomaly was attributed to their geographical location.
It felt more like the true reason couldn’t be spoken aloud, and Diyou couldn’t let them find out.
“Nighttime is approaching shortly, and since everyone has been traveling by sea all day, you must all be exhausted.”
“Accommodations have already been arranged, so everyone can go and rest first.”
Diyou’s tone was gentle as he said, “We will hold the courting ritual tomorrow morning, and once it concludes, we will set off together toward the awakening site of the Deep Sea Colossus.”
His attitude as a host was impeccable, making arrangements that were thoroughly considerate.
“High Priest, let me ask a question,” Zhou Qi spoke up, looking puzzled. “If I remember correctly, past courting rituals should take place after the trial of the Deep Sea Colossus.”
“Why is it being brought forward this time?”
Looking unsurprised, Diyou explained, “The specific time for the mermaid clan’s courting ritual is determined by my divination prophecy. This year is very special; according to divination, the courting ritual needs to be placed before the trial.”
“So everyone might have to set off a bit later.” He offered an apologetic, helpless smile.
Upon hearing this, Zhou Qi expressed her understanding.
Delaying the trial by a single evening plus tomorrow morning added up to a little over half a day.
It sounded like a logical explanation without any loopholes, yet Shiyu frowned.
He looked at Diyou without masking his gaze. The other man locked eyes with him instantly, only to look away with a complicated expression.
The premature awakening of the mermaid clan’s Deep Sea Colossus was an extremely urgent matter.
Yet the divination had now changed to require a delayed departure.
Quite interesting, indeed.