Chapter 98

Chapter 98: The One who Emerged from the Fifty

The night was as quiet and still as stagnant water.

The wind was as sharp as blades.

Xu Qing’s figure sliced through the dark night like a knife, swiftly piercing through the air as he pursued the merfolk.

Since he had already made a move, Xu Qing didn’t care about the repercussions anymore. The merfolk woman had found him, so he had no choice but to kill her!

Even if she had the third highness’ backing, since she attacked him first, Xu Qing was ready to bear the third highness’ anger.

Worse comes to worst… He would just flee into the sea after killing her and leave Seven Blood Pupils.

Although it would be a pity to leave, Xu Qing couldn’t care less at this point.

He was extremely fast and continued to close in on the fleeing merfolk woman in front of him.

However, this merfolk woman had an extraordinary cultivation level and a lot of talisman treasures. She didn’t hesitate to burn her cultivation base to boost her speed, and when she realized that Xu Qing was closing in, she took out three flight talisman treasure as well.

This caused her speed to reach an astonishing level, and the distance between her and Xu Qing widened in an instant. She arrived at the port area.

Although she had managed to pull some distance, she still didn’t feel relieved. The deaths of her subordinates and the dying head of her sister caused her heart to be completely taken over by terror.

Xu Qing’s ruthlessness gave her an unprecedented sense of crisis, and the coldness in his eyes made her heart tremble.

It wasn’t until she saw a familiar magic boat up ahead that the sense of crisis in her heart eased and hope appeared in her eyes.

She no longer thought about why the Dao Protectors hadn’t arrived. All she wanted at that moment was to board the magic boat up ahead as soon as possible and beg her lover for asylum.

“You killed my brother, killed my kin, and left me in such a sorry state. Xu Qing… I’ll have the third highness expel you from Seven Blood Pupils, and then I’ll have my revenge!”

The merfolk woman gritted her teeth. Her eyes were red and she even burned her blood to increase her speed even further.

Xu Qing’s eyes became colder and colder. He clearly saw the other party’s destination – the third highness’ magic boat. Even from here, Xu Qing could see the luxurious boat belonging to the third highness in the distance.

It was brightly lit, and the sounds of singing and dancing could be heard.

This made the killing intent in Xu Qing’s eyes grow even stronger. Not caring about the expenditure, he unhesitatingly burned the flight talismans to increase his speed. But in the end, he was still a bit too slow.

Ten breaths later, the merfolk woman finally arrived at the third highness’ boat. After stepping on board, she staggered and let out a miserable cry.

“Li darling, save me!!”

As her cry echoed out, followers of the third highness immediately rushed out of the magic boat and looked vigilantly at the surroundings.

The third highness himself also walked out of the cabin. Surprised, he quickly walked over to the merfolk woman’s side.

“Baby, why are you crying? Who bullied you?”

The third highness had a heartbroken expression as he looked at his lover’s sorry state. He gently helped her up, then saw the dying head of the younger sister beside her.

“How could this happen?” Anger appeared on the third highness’ face.

At that moment, Xu Qing’s figure finally caught up and landed on the surface of the sea outside the third highness’ boat. He had a gloomy expression on his face as he stared at the merfolk woman in the third highness’ arms.

“It’s him! Li darling, that Xu Qing is the one who killed my brother. My sister and I went to speak reason with him, but this villain suddenly killed my kinsmen and ruthlessly destroyed my sister’s body. It was all I could do to burn my blood and barely escape.”

“Li darling, you have to uphold justice for me. My merfolk race definitely won’t let this matter go, whether from an individual standpoint or the standpoint of our factions’ alliance. Look at the pitiful state my sister has been forced into!” The merfolk woman gritted her teeth and pointed her finger at Xu Qing.

At that moment, the head of the younger sister also slowly woke up. With her dying breath, she looked at the third highness and began to weep.

“How courageous. Daring to go so overboard, you’re really courting death!” Listening to these words, the third highness’ expression turned cold.

The followers around him also revealed chilly gazes in their eyes.

Xu Qing was silent. At that moment, the sea breeze suddenly blew over, causing his Daoist robe to billow and his long hair to flutter. He looked at the third highness, then at the sea outside the port, and came to a decision in his heart.

Seeing this, the merfolk woman finally breathed a sigh of relief. Her expression as she looked at Xu Qing turned into one of powerful hatred.

She was already thinking about how she would deal with him after this. By now, the merfolk woman even felt that her younger sister’s words earlier were too generous. She wanted to inflict pain ten times worse on Xu Qing and make him truly regret ever being born into this world.

“Thank you, Li darling, but please…” The merfolk woman’s eyes were filled with viciousness as she opened her mouth, but before she could finish speaking, the third highness interrupted her with a soft voice.

“Baby, you got it wrong. You’re the one I was saying was courageous.”

“Li darling, you…” The merfolk woman was stunned for a moment and looked up at the third highness. She saw the same familiar face, no different from before, still with a distressed and heartbroken expression. His gentle eyes still seemed to carry deep love.

This made her think she had heard wrongly, and she was about to continue speaking. However, the third highness had already raised his left hand, stroking her hair as usual before gently tapping his palm on top of her head.

With a bang, the merfolk woman’s whole body trembled. Her head exploded into pieces.

Chunks of blood and flesh drowned out her vision before her eyes collapsed. Her headless corpse fell to the ground, dead.

Xu Qing’s eyes narrowed as he watched this scene, and intense surprise filled his heart.

As for the younger merfolk sister, who was weeping and on her last breath, she was completely stunned.

The weak and pitiful expression on her face was instantly replaced by complete stupefaction, as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

The tenderness and love on the third highness’ face was no different from usual, and his expression didn’t change at all as he wiped the blood from his hands.

This scene caused the younger merfolk sister to feel utterly confused.

She couldn’t believe that the man who had once hugged them in his arms, who was so close and affectionate to them, had actually smacked her sister to death without any change of expression.

If his face had changed when he attacked, turning from tenderness to indifference, then she could still accept it.

But the man in front of her had a tender and loving expression from beginning to end, making the younger merfolk sister’s mind shake with unprecedented terror.

“Li darling…” The merfolk sister’s eyes were filled with horror.

While wiping his hands, the third highness smiled tenderly at the younger merfolk sister before raising his head and looking at Xu Qing with the same peaceful expression as always.

“Sorry about that, Junior Brother. Did you need me for something else?”

All the hairs on Xu Qing’s body stood up one by one. He stared at the smiling third highness, then looked at the corpse that had fallen on the boat’s deck, and finally swept his gaze over the terrified head of the younger merfolk sister.

This merfolk sister was already severely poisoned and wouldn’t last much longer.

Xu Qing fell silent, and his heart turned cold. The words and actions of this third highness made Xu Qing feel a chill run down his spine. He had never seen such a person before.

This development wasn’t something Xu Qing could ever have expected. In fact, just now, he was about to just flee from Seven Blood Pupils entirely. Now, all he could do was stare at the kindly face of the third highness in complete silence. After a while, Xu Qing cupped his fists and bowed.

His heart was filled with extreme vigilance as he left.

After leaving, he glanced back at the third highness, who was still standing on the deck of the luxurious boat. The scene of the other party smacking the merfolk woman to death with a gentle expression appeared in Xu Qing’s mind.

Xu Qing fell silent. This third highness… was extremely dangerous!

The third highness still had a gentle expression on his face. It wasn’t until Xu Qing’s figure was long gone that he turned to look at the head of the younger merfolk sister on the ground and spoke with a loving gaze.

“Baby, you two sisters are really great. Not only did you help me finish Master’s assignment, you also got the little fiend of Sea Lizard Island to owe me a favor. Not bad, not bad, I like you even more now.”

The third highness’ voice was gently, but as his words reached the ears of the merfolk sister, her expression changed drastically. Panic filled her eyes as she opened her mouth to speak, but in the next moment, the third highness raised his foot and stomped down.

Splat. The head collapsed.

“Sigh, I can only recall your softness in my memories now.” The third highness showed a regretful expression. As he spoke, the followers around him all bowed their heads, not daring to look at the third highness as they quickly cleaned the flesh and blood off the deck.

Soon, the deck was completely clean again. One of the followers went up to the third highness holding a crystal bottle and respectfully whispered in a low voice.

“Third Highness, those merfolk Dao Protectors have been captured along with the stolen goods.”

“Very good.” The third highness smiled.

“Go and deliver a message to the merfolk race for me. I’ve helped them cover up the matter of stealing our sect’s magic boat blueprints, but they need to send me a drop of their royal family’s ancient tears as soon as possible.”

After speaking, he took the crystal bottle and took a sip of the medicinal water inside before handing it back and stepping into the air. His whole body turned into a long ray of light that shot straight toward the Seventh Peak.

Before long, the figure of the third highness appeared on top of the Seventh Peak.

At that moment, inside the main hall on top of the mountain, the Seventh Master was sitting in front of a Go board. His brows were furrowed in thought, and on the opposite side of the board was the servant.

“You made the wrong move!” After a while, the Seventh Master raised his head and looked seriously at the servant. The servant lowered his head and picked up a Go stone, placing it on the other side.

“Why are you taking back your move? A takeback is considered losing, you know. You lose!” The Seventh Master waved his hand and shuffled the Go stones. After that, he looked over at the third highness, who had just arrived.

“Greetings, Master.” The third highness’ expression was extremely respectful, completely different from earlier. He knelt down and bowed deeply.

“What is it?”

“Master, this disciple has investigated the merfolk race. Although there were some accidents during the process, in the end, it all turned out fine.

“They really were trying to steal the blueprints to our Seventh Peak’s magic boats to give to the Sea Corpse race. Moreover, this disciple has also confirmed that the merfolk race is secretly building bone towers to curry favor with the Sea Corpse race, our human race’s mortal enemy.

“The evidence is right here. In addition, there are four deacons in the sect who were bribed by Merfolk Island. The list is also in here.” The third highness took out a jade slip and respectfully offered it up with both hands.

The Seventh Master raised his hand and grabbed the air, causing the jade slip to fly over. After looking through it, his eyes fell on the third highness, and his expression turned a little colder. He didn’t speak.

The third highness’ body trembled slightly. After a while, he spoke up in a low voice.

“… There was also a matter that this disciple must apologize for. The merfolk race prince tortured and killed the children of civilians in our Seven Blood Pupils main city, and his sisters cooperated with him. This disciple was negligent and allowed it to happen. Please punish me.”

“The rules mustn’t be broken. Seclude yourself in the Candle Bone Cave for seven days.” The Seventh Master’s expression finally softened as he spoke.

Hearing the words “Candle Bone Cave”, the third highness’ heart trembled. He bowed his head in deference and left.

After watching his disciple disappear into the distance, the Seventh Master stood up and looked thoughtfully at the port area at the foot of the mountain. He seemed to be looking at Dock 79.

After a while, he raised his head and looked in the direction of the sea further away.

The servant beside him spoke softly.

“The merfolk race isn’t stupid. It’s unlikely that they would something like sending people to blatantly steal the magic boat blueprints…”

“The third child is greedy, and I naturally can see through his little tricks. However, he wouldn’t dare to lie about such a huge matter as the construction of bone towers.” The Seventh Master said slowly.

“The merfolk race… Recently, they’ve been too close to my Seven Blood Pupils’ mortal enemy, the Sea Corpse race. Their wolfish ambitions couldn’t be more obvious. Sigh, all the materials we sent to support them and all the disciples who died to resolve their crisis back then… everything was not worth it!”

“Since that’s the case, we naturally have to take everything back. With interest.” The Seventh Master looked in the direction of the sea, and a cold light flashed through his eyes.

Explanation of the chapter title (Author’s note by Er Gen)

Seventh Master gave out fifty white tokens back then. In the cruel environment at the foot of the mountain, there was one who stood out among the fifty wolf cubs who were initially favored by the Seventh Master.

It was the eternally gentle third highness.

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