Chapter 731: New Lord Patrols the Realm

"Yes. Those few large scale demons have all run away without a trace. Originally, devouring them should have been able to catalyze the Meridian Tree again." Pei Ye also looked into the distance, "I don't know if those scale demons will have any changes."

"If Zhao Lingjun doesn't die, it won't return to normal in the short term." Li Xizhou smiled and turned back.

"Then it still needs to be cleaned up." Pei Ye nodded thoughtfully, then said, "What for abducting into the harem?"

Li Xizhou narrowed her eyes, and the youth looked at her innocently.

"Sometimes really stupid, sometimes pretending to be stupid—that is your specialty, Young Master Pei." She rolled her eyes beautifully and turned to fall downward.

"What are you doing?"

"Let's go, new Lord. Patrolling the world and cleaning up the remnants is the first thing after ascending the throne." Li Xizhou imitated his tone, "Loyal to the Lord's affairs, Shark Girl Xixi will do it well."

Pei Ye smiled and followed her downward.

Actually, not everything needed the woman's explanation. Carefully inspecting the newly obtained 【Bai Shui】, Pei Ye could already clearly perceive many newly acquired abilities.

First, entering and exiting the Mirage Realm was now unimpeded. He could enter it wherever there was a Mirage Realm. Entering was not like walking on flat ground, but entering a more intimate and familiar place. He was the only one in the entire Mirage Realm wandering wantonly.

Second, the power to control the opening and closing of the Mirage Realm. The rules of the Mirage Realm itself were still running. The boundary markers would still open the Spirit Realm door to people whose roads were exhausted and dreams were far, and entering through alien means like shark pearl powder was still possible. The only difference was that the Water Lord's permission would be higher than this set of rules.

Third, everything in the Spirit Realm, whether grass, trees, or scale demons, had a different kind of affinity with him. To a certain extent, he could dispatch any scale demon, but not as crudely and absolutely as Mirage City, because scale demons first had their own nature.

Fourth, everything in the shape of water was like an arm and finger, just like manipulating Chi Fire. The youth who stumbled at the bottom of the Yang Family Ferry was completely gone.

As the orthodox Water Lord with both Mirage Dragon True Blood and 【Bai Shui】, Pei Ye directly inherited the entire Spirit Realm that had spread for a thousand years and truly held the power to control it.

Besides these basic abilities directly endowed, he should be able to achieve results beyond expectations through countless more exquisite and complex operations, and if Phantom Water and Mystic Fire could combine, he didn't know how many mysteries could be produced.

But just like when he first obtained Chi Fire, everything about Bai Shui also needed learning and familiarity, and only after standing higher could he exert its upper limit.

The good news was that unlike Chi Fire, which required him to search for fire everywhere to grow, Bai Shui already came with the legacy of the previous owner who had grown for four thousand years. It was already a complete body, just needing the new owner to slowly explore and control it.

"These two high trees are the horns of the Mirage Dragon." Li Xizhou said, "Its burial place is the center of the Mirage Realm. We can't walk the entire Mirage Realm from afar. It's about enough to wander around this Longhu, and those few large scale demons can't run too far."

Pei Ye said: "Do you know where they went?"

"I don't know, but we can ask." Li Xizhou smiled back at him. This smile was quite happy and quite childlike, somewhat like that time in the forest of Le You Plain. She said, "I will take you to see these friends in the water; they are all very interesting."

"So there are good scale demons? I thought they were all killed."

"This area of Longhu was all killed and scattered, but they weren't killed off. Everyone hid in the corners in all directions. And in those more distant places where the Mirage Realm flows into lonely pools, mountain streams, underground rivers, etc., there are still a large number of scale demons, just like the changes in human dynasties often don't affect the deep mountain border people." Li Xizhou said, "And, these small scale demons who lost their consciousness won't disappear completely. As time passes, they will either return to normal, be killed by other scale demons, or die somewhere. In short, they will eventually return to their roots, and that wisp of Mirage Blood and Bai Shui will turn into new scale demons again."

She paused: "Of course, the ones eaten by you are truly gone."

She glanced at the youth, quite like you are the only toxic pest of the Mirage Realm.

"Then, can we not kill the large scale demons?" Pei Ye thought about it. Now that he was the Water Lord, his perspective on these scale demons was different. If the two water masters were Guan Yu and Zhang Fei under his command, then these scale demons were Ma Chao and Pang De. He felt a bit sorry to devour them.

"They won't listen to you even if you don't kill them."

"Oh, then kill them."

"Perhaps they might return to normal later, but during the time they are alive, they will constantly slaughter your subjects. Unlike ordinary scale demons, no one can deal with these large scale demons except you. This is suppressing a rebellion, Your Majesty. Benevolence does not command troops."

"What Lord Li says is very true."

The stay of several days was not wasted. Li Xizhou was clearly very familiar with this world. She took the youth to patrol from the north, and Pei Ye finally felt the deep and gorgeous scenery of the Mirage Realm peacefully and truly. Winding paths lead to secluded places, the grasslands were bright and open, and what he saw were scale armor intertwined, brilliant and colorful; shimmering and sparkling, the colors were vast.

Pei Ye wandered around, occasionally caught by something, and chased after it with childlike curiosity. Li Xizhou followed behind with a smile.

Pei Ye touched these beautiful strange stones, soft water grass floating past his cheeks. He turned his head and whispered: "You say, can these stones be taken out to sell for silver?"

Li Xizhou sighed lightly: "On the first day of the new Lord's ascension, what he learns first is actually selling the country."

"What kind of talk is that? Exchanging what one has for what one lacks is very normal. This is a good thing that benefits the subjects."

Li Xizhou swept around indifferently: "Is it? Which of these subjects of the Lord needs to spend silver?"

A water eel stared at them from the side, fish and shrimp shuttled back and forth on the stones, and further away, a large turtle was crawling with its neck stretched out.

"I need to spend." Pei Ye said righteously.

"Arrogant and extravagant." Li Xizhou said indifferently, turning and swimming away, "Strange stones of the Spirit Realm can of course be sold, and they have never appeared in the human world. However, if a large amount flows out, it is hard to avoid people's attention, and it will blur the boundary between the Spirit Realm and the human world... The Spirit Realm is illusory and hidden; it is not appropriate to contact the human world too much."

"Reasonable... then I have no money, can I occasionally pick a few to sell?"

"As you wish." Li Xizhou was clearly still not very happy, "Silver is everywhere, but there is only one Spirit Realm. The Lord should think about which is lighter and which is heavier."

Pei Ye threw a few carefully selected beautiful small stones in his hand, pretending not to hear like a muddled monarch.

"Silver is everywhere"—words that only a Princess could say.

They met that large water snake in the very north.

It was indeed as Li Xizhou said. It still followed its instinct to slaughter other scale demons. Its massive, slender body stirred this water area into chaos. Fleeing fish were startled and flew everywhere. When the two of Pei Ye saw it, it was biting a large turtle in its mouth, its steel-like sharp teeth pressing the shell to crack.

Pei Ye raised his hand slowly toward it, facing it with his palm. This was his first attempt to manipulate water. Imitating the experience of manipulating true Qi, he faced his palm toward this water snake, and then his five fingers fell forward lightly.

It was much easier than imagined. Seven or eight solid water ropes rushed out, the momentum making the two's hair flutter. The water snake turned its head abruptly, already ringed and trapped.

Compared to manipulating water waves, the new Water Lord was still more accustomed to doing it himself. He drew his sword and rushed up, his agile figure already hovering behind its neck.

The long sword pulled out a straight sword light, and then returned to the sheath gracefully. The water snake stiffened for a moment, its head falling smoothly, and only then did blood gush out like a spring.

"... Don't grab." Pei Ye looked at the many fish and shrimp rushing out to devour this precious blood, but he didn't drive them away either. He put his sword on the stone, sat cross-legged, and raised his hand.

Like a glutton, whether blood, flesh, tendons, or bones, everything melted into a clear, cold spring that seeped into his skin.

The fish and shrimp were eating happily, but suddenly they shivered, and only clear, cold water waves remained around them.

The length and satisfaction of this meal were beyond imagination. If it was like eating a mouthful of rice in the scale demon group before, this was a lasting whale drink. After the blood mist was the body. For a full half-quarter of an hour, there was no interruption. Bing Lu swallowed it all without missing a drop and shared it with Pei Ye, an indescribable comfort.

Pei Ye was still carrying some fatigue and wounds at this time, but he only shared a mouthful with his body. He was indeed somewhat impatient. This kind of divine object seemed to be showing its miraculousness beyond ordinary Dantian seeds for the first time. Pei Ye was eager to fill it.

Taking a deep breath, he stood up from the stone and turned his head, only to see the woman squatting there alone, leaving only her back to him, her hands fiddling with something unknown.

Pei Ye walked over and saw it was the turtle whose shell had just been bitten open.

It clearly hadn't died, nor had it suffered too heavy an injury. At this time, it was stretching its neck to chase the woman's fingers, and the wound was wrapped with two thin, soft shark silks. Li Xizhou was teasing it gently, smiling like a ten-year-old child.

Pei Ye squatted beside her and poked it twice with his finger, almost flipping it over.

"What are you doing?" Li Xizhou smiled and grabbed his arm.

"What are you happy about with it? Like a fool."

Li Xizhou ignored him, stroked this medium-sized turtle again, and then pushed it to let it go.

"You must love these large and small creatures in the Mirage Realm from now on, you know?" Li Xizhou watched it go, "It is so clean here, everyone is innocent and natural, there are no bad scale demons."

Her voice was soft when she said this. Pei Ye understood somewhat, but Li Xizhou didn't say much either. She stood up: "This kind of large scale demon occupies a side, just like a lion or tiger having its own territory. Since there is a water snake here, the other two must be in other directions. Let's go west."

Although it was said to be chasing and suppressing a rebellion, the journey was actually leisurely and relaxed. Li Xizhou told him about all kinds of grass, trees, flowers, stones, water spirits, and scale things—which ones had what personality, and which ones had what use. For those that had appeared in the human world, the woman could always climb up to the allusions. That was the encounter between natural memory and acquired knowledge.

They also often encountered things the woman hadn't seen before. The two would surround them and test them. An unfortunate, gorgeous blue small fish caught their eyes and was poked back and forth in a water bubble. After spraying arrow-like water streams and unfolding a rainbow-like peacock tail failed to force these two big things back, it simply rolled its eyes, showed its belly, and floated up pretending to be dead.

Pei Ye smiled and picked it up by the tail, scratching its belly, and it bounced up fiercely. Li Xizhou smiled and stopped his persecution, letting it go.

In the Mirage Realm, creatures evolved in all kinds of ways. Many fish and shrimp from the mortal world swam in, stained with spiritual energy, and interbred, so it was impossible to distinguish how many types there were. Even the Water Lord would have to be familiar with them for many years before he could understand them.

When they reached the west, the scenery changed. The flat and soft grasslands disappeared. Here, dense stones were like a forest, with high peaks and caves, winding and twisting, and he didn't know how many strange creatures resided here.

But the woman was very familiar here, saying that she had gathered the scale demon army here a few days ago to counterattack Mirage City, but later they were scattered, so she sent everyone to hide in all directions.

Here, they indeed encountered that huge leopard-shaped scale demon. It didn't ravage everywhere like the water snake, but lay coldly. When the two were blocked by a giant stone, it pounced out fiercely.

No matter how it claimed to be king in this water area, facing Pei Ye, it was like a child with a transparent mind. Pei Ye easily choked it on the stone and pierced its throat with a sword.

After Bing Lu had another full meal, there were already some new buds that could no longer be suppressed, and Pei Ye clearly felt that faint, stirring sensation.

Li Xizhou took Pei Ye inside and smiled: "I will introduce another friend to you. It can travel between two worlds and can be considered a guest of the Spirit Realm."

Pei Ye was curious: "What does that mean? Red Pearl Diving Carp, Water Master, can't they all travel between two worlds?"

"No, no, those are Spirit Realm creatures; they can open the door from the inside. This one is a mortal world creature, but it resides in the Spirit Realm; it can open the door from the outside." Li Xizhou mentioned this, smiling and tilting her head, "By the way, you haven't answered last time; did you use the horn I gave you?"

As soon as she mentioned this, Pei Ye remembered: "I still want to ask you. You sent a horn, why didn't you write a few words on it?"

"Write what words?"

"Write 'use fire to burn' or something would have been fine."

"..." Li Xizhou pondered for a while, "You didn't know to use fire to burn?"

"Why would I know to use fire to burn?"

"This is a very famous allusion in the 'Book of Jin'. Wen Qiao saw a spirit demon in a dream, woke up and burned the rhinoceros horn to shine on the water, seeing the shape of that spirit demon. The demon then said: 'Parting with you in the netherworld, why shine on me?'" Li Xizhou said, "I am also parting with you in the netherworld; isn't this just asking you to come and shine?"

She thought for a while and narrowed her eyes slightly: "I know now. When you were at the Imperial College, I asked you to read the 'Book of Jin', but you didn't read it at all."

"... No time." Pei Ye turned his head, "This is not important either. Where is the friend you mentioned?"

Li Xizhou rolled her eyes slightly, didn't pursue him further, and went downward: "Right here."

Pei Ye saw it. It was a huge, snow-white rhinoceros.

It lay docilely in this cave, with many new and old bloodstains on its thick armor, whether it was from fighting with the scale demon group before or just injured by that water tiger.

Pei Ye indeed sensed a spirituality one level higher than other scale demons on it. Li Xizhou swam over and stroked its head. The rhinoceros rubbed against her palm affectionately.

"The Mirage Realm is stable now, you don't have to worry about entering in the future." Li Xizhou smiled, holding the youth's sleeve and coming over, "This is the new Water Lord of our Mirage Realm. You will wander in all directions in the future; you must tell other spirit demons more that it was the new Lord who saved the Mirage Realm, and everyone must honor him."

The white rhinoceros's eyes were also warm and spiritual. It stepped forward two steps, rubbing Pei Ye's lower leg gently and submissively.

Pei Ye also rubbed its head happily and curiously.

Only then did he see the abrupt broken horn.

"So I entered with your help." Pei Ye patted it gently, "Rest assured, you can recuperate in the Mirage Realm from now on."

"The Spirit Rhinoceros Horn only grows an inch long every hundred years; it is very precious." Li Xizhou smiled, "But it doesn't matter, it can still be connected back. Bring it here."

Pei Ye was even more moved: "So that's it—what?"

"The remaining rhinoceros horn. To ensure you could enter, I gave it all to you. But since you didn't take a detour, burning it shouldn't have burned much. The rest should still be returned to it." Li Xizhou looked at him with a smile, and the white rhinoceros under her knees rubbed his leg affectionately again, looking at this new Lord with awe and hope.

"Oh—"

Pei Ye made a sudden realization sound, and then quietly stood opposite Li Xizhou, motionless.

Li Xizhou extended her hand toward him again in confusion.

"I ate it." Pei Ye said without expression. ===== CHAPTER 732 =====