Chapter 99

The night was as silent as stagnant water.

The wind was as sharp as a blade.

In this silent night, Xu Qing's figure was like a blade, its sharpness breaking through the night color ahead as he pursued through the air.

Since he had already struck, Xu Qing couldn't care about anything else. The mermaid cultivators had taken the initiative to find him, so he could only kill!

Even if the other party were people of the Third Prince, since they had attacked him, Xu Qing was prepared to anger the Third Prince.

At worst... he would just kill them today and leave the Seven Blood Eyes by sea overnight.

Although it was a pity, things had reached this point, and Xu Qing did not have much hesitation.

At this moment, his speed was extremely fast, getting closer and closer to the mermaid woman fleeing ahead.

It was just that the mermaid elder sister had decent cultivation and many talisman treasures. Now, she was burning her cultivation without regard for the cost, and after realizing Xu Qing was about to catch up, she was so terrified by the life-and-death crisis that she took out three more flying-type talisman treasures to bolster herself.

This allowed her speed to reach an astonishing degree.

In an instant, she widened the distance between herself and Xu Qing significantly, reaching the port area.

Although she had widened the distance, this range was not enough to ease her heart. Her inner state had long since reached its limit following the death of her attendants and the near-death state of her younger sister.

It was truly the ruthlessness of Xu Qing's strikes that gave her an unprecedented sense of life-and-death crisis, especially the coldness in his eyes, which made the mermaid woman tremble intensely inside.

It wasn't until she saw the familiar magic boat ahead at the port that the crisis in her heart eased slightly, and hope appeared in her eyes.

She no longer pondered why the protectors hadn't come. At this moment, all she wanted was to step onto the magic boat ahead as quickly as possible and seek the protection of her lover.

"Killing my younger brother, killing my clansmen, and making me so wretched—Xu Qing... I will definitely make the Third Prince expel you from the Seven Blood Eyes. When that time comes, it will be the time for my revenge!"

The mermaid woman gritted her teeth, her eyes blood-red. She even began to burn her bloodline, and her speed surged once more.

Xu Qing's eyes grew colder. He recognized the direction she was heading; it was where the Third Prince's magic boat was located. Even from afar, Xu Qing could see the Third Prince's massive and luxurious magic boat.

It was brightly lit, and sounds of singing and dancing seemed to be coming from it.

This scene made the murderous intent in Xu Qing's eyes even thicker. He accelerated the burning of his flying talismans to gain more speed, but in the end, he was still a little slow.

Ten breaths later, the mermaid woman in the distance, under the speed of burning both her bloodline and cultivation, finally neared the Third Prince's magic boat. Her body lunged and she stepped directly onto it. After landing, her body staggered, and she let out a miserable cry for help.

"Li-lang, save me!

"

Following the sound, a group of the Third Prince's attendants immediately rushed out of the magic boat and stood guard all around.

The Third Prince's figure also walked out of the cabin rapidly, looking somewhat surprised as he flew to the mermaid woman's side.

"My beauty, why are you weeping? Who bullied you?"

The Third Prince looked at his lover, who was in a wretched state, her face full of sorrow like a begonia flower in the rain, looking pitiful. He lifted her up gently with a pained expression, then saw the head of her younger sister, who was on the verge of death, to the side.

"How could it be like this?" An angry expression appeared on the Third Prince's face.

At the same time, Xu Qing's figure also arrived abruptly, landing directly on the sea surface outside the Third Prince's magic boat. He stood on the sea, his expression cold and gloomy, looking at the mermaid woman being supported by the Third Prince.

"It's him! Li-lang, it was this Xu Qing who killed my younger brother. My sister and I went to reason with him, but this wicked villain was brutal, destroying my sister's body and killing many of my clansmen. Even I had to burn my bloodline to escape this disaster."

"Li-lang, you must seek justice for me. Whether from a personal standpoint or that of the race alliance, my mermaid race will not let this matter rest, especially regarding my younger sister—she is truly pitiful." The mermaid woman said with grief and indignation, gritting her teeth and pointing at Xu Qing on the sea surface.

At this moment, the head of the younger sister in her hand also slowly woke up, looking at the Third Prince in her near-death state and crying out in complaint.

"Such audacity, to be so excessive—you are truly courting death!" The Third Prince's expression turned cold upon hearing this, and he spoke slowly.

The attendants around him also each exuded a murderous aura.

Xu Qing was silent. At this moment, the sea breeze blew, causing his Daoist robe to rustle as he stood on the sea surface. His long hair also danced in the wind. He looked at the Third Prince, then toward the sea outside the harbor, a decision already made in his heart.

Seeing this, the mermaid woman finally felt relieved in her heart, and intense resentment appeared in her eyes as she looked at Xu Qing.

She had already thought about how to deal with the other party next. She even felt that her younger sister's original plan was a bit soft-hearted; she wanted to make this person regret coming into this world ten times more than what her sister had said.

"Thank you, Li-lang. Please, Li-lang, take this..." The mermaid woman, with malice in her eyes, was just about to speak, but before she could finish, the Third Prince beside her spoke gently.

"My treasure, you've misunderstood. I was saying, my treasure, you have such great audacity."

"Li-lang, you..." The mermaid woman was stunned. She looked up at the Third Prince. What she saw was still that familiar face, no different from before. His expression even carried the same pained look as before, and his gaze was incomparably gentle, seemingly filled with deep love.

This made her think she had misheard. Just as she was about to continue speaking, the Third Prince had already gently raised his left hand and, as he usually did when stroking her hair, brought his palm down onto the top of her head.

With a bang, the mermaid woman's whole body shook, and her head shattered into pieces, exploding directly.

Flesh and blood blurred her collapsed eyes, drowning out her gaze, leaving her headless body to fall to the ground, her life extinguished.

This scene made Xu Qing's pupils shrink; he was surprised to the extreme.

And the mermaid younger sister, who had been crying out in complaint on the verge of death, was completely stunned.

The lingering weakness on her face was instantly replaced by a look of intense confusion; she seemed unable to believe what she was seeing, finding it hard to believe that all this was happening.

Especially the gentleness and love on the Third Prince's face, which remained as usual, as he wiped the blood off his hands without any change in expression.

This scene caused the mermaid younger sister's mind to fall into a state of intense chaos.

She couldn't imagine that the man who had once held her and her sister in his arms so intimately was now gently patting her elder sister to death.

If the other party had changed his face when striking, turning from gentle to cold, she could have accepted it.

But this man before her had maintained a look full of love from beginning to end. This caused the mermaid younger sister's heart to rise with unprecedented trembling.

"Li-lang..." The mermaid younger sister's eyes were filled with incomparable terror.

The Third Prince smiled gently at the mermaid younger sister while wiping his hands, then looked up at Xu Qing with the same gentle smile.

"Excuse me, Junior Brother. Is there anything else?"

Every hair on Xu Qing's body stood up. He looked at the Third Prince, who was gentle and smiling, then shifted his gaze to the corpse on the deck, and finally scanned the head of the younger sister, who was completely terrified.

The mermaid younger sister's head was clearly poisoned deeply and wouldn't live much longer.

Xu Qing was silent. As his hair stood on end, a deep chill rose in his heart. The Third Prince's actions and words truly made Xu Qing feel a sense of dread; he had never seen such a person.

And the direction this matter had taken was also something he hadn't expected. Just a moment ago, Xu Qing had been prepared to flee the Seven Blood Eyes. At this moment, in his silence, he looked at the Third Prince's harmonious face, and after a long while, he cupped his fists and bowed to the Third Prince.

Then, with deep vigilance in his heart, Xu Qing left the place.

After going far away, he looked back at the Third Prince standing on the deck, the scene of the man gently patting the mermaid woman to death flashing through his mind.

Xu Qing was silent. He felt that this Third Prince was extremely dangerous!

At this moment, the Third Prince on the magic boat was still gentle and smiling. Only after watching Xu Qing's figure go far away did he turn his head to look at the head of the mermaid younger sister on the ground, his gaze filled with tenderness and deep love as he spoke softly.

"My treasures, you two sisters are truly well-behaved. You not only helped me complete my Master's mission but also allowed me to do a favor for that little fiend on the Sea Lizard Island. Not bad, not bad. I find I like you even more now."

The Third Prince's voice was gentle, but as the words reached the mermaid younger sister's ears, her expression changed abruptly, and deeper terror appeared in her eyes. Just as she was about to speak, the next instant, the Third Prince raised his foot and stepped on her.

With a crack, the head collapsed.

"Sigh, in the future, I can only reminisce about your softness in my memories." The Third Prince showed a look of regret. As he spoke, the attendants around him lowered their heads, not daring to look at the Third Prince, and quickly cleaned up the flesh and blood on the deck.

Soon, after the entire deck was clean again, an attendant disciple arrived at the Third Prince's side with a crystal bottle and spoke in a low, respectful voice.

"Third Prince, those protectors of the mermaid race have already been controlled, caught red-handed."

"Very good." The Third Prince smiled.

"You go and send a message to the mermaid race: I have suppressed the matter of them stealing our sect's magic boat blueprints, but I need a drop of the mermaid royal family's ancient tears. Send it to me as soon as possible."

After speaking, he took the crystal bottle, drank a mouthful of the nourishing water inside, handed it back, and stepped forward to walk through the air. His entire person turned into a long rainbow, heading straight for the Seventh Peak.

Not long after, his figure appeared on the summit of the Seventh Peak.

At this moment, in the great hall on the summit, Seventh Uncle was sitting in front of a chessboard, deep in thought, with a servant standing opposite him, accompanying Seventh Uncle in a game of chess.

"You made the wrong move!" After a long while, Seventh Uncle looked up at the servant sternly. The servant lowered his head, picked up a chess piece, and placed it on the other side.

"Why are you still taking back your move? Taking back a move counts as a loss, you know? You lost!" Seventh Uncle waved his hand to mess up the chess pieces and turned his gaze to the Third Prince who had arrived.

"Greetings, Master." The Third Prince's expression was completely different from before; he was extremely respectful, kneeling and bowing deeply.

"What is it!" Seventh Uncle said indifferently.

"Master, the disciple has investigated the mermaid race matter. Although there were some accidents in the middle, in the end, it went smoothly."

"They were indeed trying to steal our Seventh Peak's magic boat construction blueprints for the Sea Corpse race. While catching them red-handed, the disciple also confirmed that the mermaid race, in order to curry favor with our human race's mortal enemy, the Sea Corpse race, secretly built a Bone Tower as a token of their allegiance."

"This is the evidence. Additionally, there are four deacons in the sect who were bought off by Mermaid Island; the list is also here." The Third Prince said, taking out a jade slip and presenting it respectfully with both hands.

Seventh Uncle raised his hand and grabbed the jade slip from the air, scanned it, and then his gaze fell on the disciple below. His expression turned a bit colder, and he didn't speak.

The Third Prince's body slowly began to tremble slightly. After a long while, he said in a low voice.

"But there is one matter for which the disciple asks for punishment: the mermaid race's scion tortured and killed a young child of our Seven Blood Eyes commoners, and his two sisters assisted. The disciple was negligent in this matter before. Please punish me, Master."

"Rules cannot be broken. You go back to the Candle Bone Cave and go into seclusion for seven days." Seventh Uncle's expression softened, and he spoke slowly.

Hearing the words "Candle Bone Cave," the Third Prince's heart trembled. He lowered his head, acknowledged the order, and took his leave.

Until he watched his disciple leave, Seventh Uncle stood up and looked at the port below the mountain, seemingly looking at the 79th Port, lost in thought.

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

The servant beside him spoke softly.

"The mermaid race is not stupid; it's unlikely they would blatantly send people to steal the magic boat construction blueprints..."

"Third is greedy for profit; I naturally know his mind for setting up schemes. However, for a major matter like evidence of a Bone Tower, he wouldn't dare to fake it." Seventh Uncle spoke slowly.

"The mermaid race... walking so close to our Seven Blood Eyes' mortal enemy, the Sea Corpse race, all these years—their wolfish ambition is already very clear. The support materials our sect provided in previous years, and the disciples who were buried to resolve their race's crisis—it was all not worth it."

"Since that's the case, then we must take it all back with interest." Seventh Uncle gazed in the direction of the sea, a cold glint suddenly appearing in his eyes.

Explaining the chapter title.

From the fifty white tokens Seventh Uncle issued back then, in this cruel environment under the mountain, amidst a large number of disciples with ulterior motives, and standing out among fifty other wolf cubs also favored by Seventh Uncle.

This is the forever gentle Third Prince.