Chapter 609

The vast darkness was like boundless, with not a single point of light in the field of vision, as if the abyss was the same in all directions. This feeling could not be experienced just by throwing oneself into the deep night, because water had weight; they existed truly in the sense of touch, and every movement of his limbs could feel its pressure and wrapping.

His robes were pressed against his body, and his five senses were also blocked by ninety percent. Seeing Pei Ye burned his Qi to support his cold body, trying his best to swim forward at the fastest speed.

Only, although he said he would leave immediately and cover his tracks, in such a place, there was still too thick a barrier between vision and reality. The youth who had stumbled into the water realm and did not have fins was probably just a glowing prey in the eyes of those sensitive underwater creatures.

As the black cat's voice fell, Seeing Pei Ye gripped the sword in his hand again.

Yu Siche was still a thousand zhang away, so naturally, he couldn't have divine eyes. The Spirit Xuan floating here, he thought, could not be used by him either, otherwise, after a few words of effort, he would have already arrived before him and taken his head.

"Coming in our direction" meant that they had not escaped the opponent's pursuit. Even though they had killed that Merman at the fastest speed just now, they were still being trailed.

That was how Yu Siche could get the information that they were here.

"We can't deal with him now," the black cat whispered. "Before he catches up, we must find a place to catch our breath."

However, this was just a vision. Seeing Pei Ye said "Hm" and whispered: "I'll deal with the Mermen. You try your best to preserve your Spirit Xuan. If we have to face him, we'll still have to rely on you to maneuver."

"Hm."

Seeing Pei Ye did not speak, having already tapped a Chi fire into his hand.

With almost no chance to catch their breath, rapid water flows had appeared in the darkness again. When these creatures broke through the water, they were like blades, every detail of their streamlined bodies designed to let the water slide over them more smoothly.

Seeing Pei Ye's perception of the water flow was not precise. He couldn't quite distinguish distance, nor could he identify the direction, but he could roughly count the number—this time there were three.

"I can face at most two at the same time," Seeing Pei Ye pursed his lips.

"Hm."

A sharp screech rang in his ears. The Quail Head had given a warning earlier, but Seeing Pei Ye was still a beat slow in raising his sword. A bloody gash was cut across his chest by sharp claws, and his body lost balance again. He tilted his chin high, exposing his fragile throat.

In an instant, an icy sharpness had grazed under his chin, but the youth was like having eyes in the night. A sword light with irresistible force had bloomed from his hand, suddenly piercing the Merman body in front of him. The sound of breaking bones and cutting tendons was teeth-grinding in the water.

He thrust his sword while tilting his chin and exposing his neck. When the Merman shadow grazed past him, he happened to thrust this sword out—in the water, sluggish skills could only be compensated by intuition, judgment, and even gambling. Fortunately, the youth had already personally experienced their speed and tendencies once.

Even with a broken body holding a sword, if only this sword could pierce the throat, that was enough.

The two bodies fell into the water together. As long as there was contact, Seeing Pei Ye would never let these ghost-like creatures submerge into the surrounding darkness again. Man and Merman rolled and fought. At this time, the Vermilion Lotus fire played a great role. After paying the price of injuries and a large amount of Qi again, Seeing Pei Ye inserted the Jade Tiger entirely into its neck.

He pulled the sword out and let the still-twitching Merman body fall with blood.

He turned back to go upstream again, holding his sword to help the black cat deal with the two that were entangled.

The black cat was right. Although he possessed superb sword skills, he was indeed too prone to injury. The Life-Death Contract and the Salary did grant him a tenacious life, but they could not harden his skin and bones. Encountering such enemies who were also as fast as phantoms, he would always get wounded during the exchange.

After paying the price of three more significant wounds, Seeing Pei Ye cooperated with the black cat to kill the remaining two Merman shadows, his body already feeling somewhat strained.

And a large amount of blood from both sides was scattered in the water, making it difficult to hide their tracks. Not far behind, sharp water waves came from afar again.

"There are more Mermen than I thought, I'll take you away," the Chi fire helped him seal the new wounds again, the black cat said calmly.

What it said was the worst-case scenario they had prepared before entering the water. If things were truly impossible in the Spirit Realm, the black cat would transform into a divine Chi to protect Seeing Pei Ye and just maneuver.

The Chi Dragon's speed in the water was definitely not slower than these Mermen, and the immortal beast's body was enough to withstand a large amount of damage. As long as they dragged it out until they left the Spirit Realm, that would be enough.

The Spirit Realm had been so magnificent and colorful in the writings of Jiang Yan and Liu Gong, and the Illusion Tower was also full of fairyland-like dreams. Seeing Pei Ye had thought there should be many things to rely on for maneuvering, but here there was only depth, nothingness, and emptiness, which could be considered a heavy accident.

"Don't," Seeing Pei Ye gripped its claw a moment earlier. "Don't go, let's turn back."

"Turn back?"

"Yes," Seeing Pei Ye looked at it. In the reflection of the Chi fire, his black eyes also had a faint light in the water. "Did you notice that these Mermen all came from behind us?"

"..."

"All our actions were completed within a day. Yu Siche didn't expect us to go straight into his residence, and the Mermen in the Mirage Realm naturally weren't lying in ambush for us early on—otherwise, they wouldn't have come in such a scattered way," Seeing Pei Ye said quickly. "So you tell me, what were these Mermen doing before we jumped into the water?"

"... Doing what they were supposed to do."

"Not bad," Seeing Pei Ye's voice was fast and steady. "Think about it, what were they supposed to do? Little cat, I believe we went the wrong way, or the direction here is not consistent with the outside world at all, or heading north was not correct in the first place... In any case, I want to go in the direction they came from."

In the vast darkness, the only thing they had relied on was the direction the black cat remembered before entering the water. Now the youth said he wanted to discard this reference.

And heading toward the direction the Mermen came from, he didn't know what he would encounter.

"That way we will be closer to Yu Siche," the black cat reminded.

Even if they weren't heading straight toward those golden-purple robes, at least they were approaching diagonally.

"Then let's go," Seeing Pei Ye gripped its claw. The black cat had no more objections. Before the next Merman's cold sharpness arrived, hard and heavy scaly armor covered the youth's body first.

The huge Chi head manifested in the water, twisting its neck and opening its mouth violently, biting a Merman into three bloody sections. Then, braving four or five sharp currents that cut through its scaly body, the Chi Dragon swept dozens of zhang in a lithe motion, heading straight for where they came from.

Several Merman shadows behind turned a sharp, dangerous angle at the same time, trailing straight behind its tail in pursuit.