Chapter 673

How could the Chief now have even a trace of the pitiful look from just a moment ago?

She peeled open her own past, tugging at my emotions, just to make me empathize with her, dragging me into the vortex of her maternal eruption.

And I was easily taken in.

Saying I was tricked isn't accurate; after all, my fate, in the end, has always been under her control.

She manipulates me as easily as handling an ant.

After a scheme succeeds, people often become overjoyed and lose themselves.

The leader's current state is exactly that.

She said, "It's your Shi Family that betrayed me first! Everything you're suffering now is what your Shi Family owes me! I'm merely taking back the Earth Fetus Spiritual Power that rightfully belongs to me!"

"Owe you?" I frowned, "What exactly happened back then? And what is the Earth Fetus?"

The power she is now absorbing from my belly—could it be coming from the Earth Fetus?

I... have I actually nurtured an Earth Fetus?!

"Merpeople are inherently rare; they dwell in the deep sea, hide in darkness, timid as mice, and rarely interact with humans, but their whole bodies are treasure; a merperson with some cultivation will, when their fish tail splits into legs, awaken a power unique to themselves."

"Among them, some can turn tears into pearls, pearls of pearls; some can develop a dual system, capable of being male or female…… But no matter what ability is awakened, those with a thousand years of cultivation are as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns, and those who possess a thousand years of cultivation and simultaneously differentiate into a female form are even rarer—one in a hundred million."

"Merpeople are a matrilineal clan; a female merperson with a thousand years of cultivation has a merpearl in her body that can absorb and condense earth vein Spiritual Power; as they age, their bodies secrete large amounts of female hormones, which I call maternity; when maternity reaches a certain height, the earth vein Spiritual Power gathers and transforms into an Earth Fetus."

"Absorbing Earth Fetus Spiritual Power, or digging it out and consuming it raw, not only can greatly increase one's Xiūwéi, but it can also ward off evil, avoid harm, and prolong life."

Having heard this, I have already vaguely guessed something.

I prompted her to continue: "Then what? Why are you obsessed with a single merpearl, and why have you set your sights on the Shi Family?"

"Why?" she gritted her teeth, "I endured hardships and finally succeeded in taking the leadership position from my father; the Shi Family, as the heads of the Red Armor Army, were my left and right arms. I trusted your ancestors so much—that woman, Shi You, who looks almost exactly like you—I never imagined she would stab me in the back."

The Shi You that the leader spoke of should be the female corpse I saw in the Golden-thread Nanmu Coffin in the ancient tomb.

She is indeed a member of our Shi Family.

She counts as my ancient ancestor; at the very least, her seniority is higher than that of my great-great-grandfather.

"When my father died, what he worried about most was me."

"Those damned men were utterly useless; they couldn't get me pregnant with a single son. I tried many methods, even crushing the corpses of baby girls and burying them under my bed to frighten the female spirits seeking rebirth, but it still had no effect."

"Later, by a fortunate coincidence, I encountered a male merperson with a thousand years of cultivation; he was truly handsome, every frown and smile captivating the heart, I was lost in his beauty and could not extricate myself; upon first seeing him, I felt that if we could together nurture a life, it would surely be a son."

"However, at that very moment, my confidant advised, rather than pinning hopes on the next generation, it would be better for me to rewrite the rules for inheriting the leadership position, dig out the male merperson's merpearl and consume it; as long as I am strong enough, no one would dare question my status."

"You say, how could there be such a perceptive person in this world? I thought he was right, so I accepted his advice, but I never imagined that the male merperson's sudden appearance in my sight was deliberate on his part."

"He's here to take revenge!" I said firmly, "Your father killed so many of his clansmen to help you change your gender—of course he hates you!"

"So what!" the leader shouted at me, "As long as I want, he can't escape my Five Finger Mountain! If it weren't for Shi You, how could the lineage of the Powerful Warriors Who Move Mountains have declined to this extent? And how could I have been trapped in this abyss for so many years, neither a living person nor a dead ghost!"

I am really curious now: "What exactly did Shi You do?"

"What did she do?" the leader sneered, "She betrayed me from within! On one hand she enjoyed the status and power I gave her; on the other she hooked up with my man, having an illicit affair with that male merperson! Even when the plot was exposed, that damned male merperson actually wounded me, destroying nearly a hundred years of my cultivation, and on his deathbed he gouged out his own merpearl and fused it into Shi You's body..."

I truly never imagined that my ancient ancestor would have done such a thing.

But is the leader before me a good person?

What my ancient ancestor did—is it wrong?

At least in my view, the male merperson taking revenge for his clansmen who died horribly is absolutely not wrong.

He could hardly fall in love with his own enemy, yet he and my ancient ancestor secretly developed feelings; to a large extent this shows that my ancient ancestor might not simply be a mere lackey of the leader.

She is a leader of the Red Armor Army with her own independent thoughts; she can distinguish good from bad, she does not want to aid the tyrant, possibly she secretly helped the male merperson quite a bit, which is why feelings developed between them.

But one thing doesn't make sense: "Shi You is not a merperson; the male merperson gouged out his own merpearl and fused it into her body—could she then absorb it?"

"This is exactly why she made such a big mistake, and the fundamental reason I haven't wiped out your Shi Family completely." the leader said, "If it weren't for the male merperson's action, how would I have discovered that your Shi Family women's physiques are so special, actually able to fuse with a merpearl bearing a thousand years of Xiūwéi?"

"I treated her so well; to let her fully merge with the merpearl's power as quickly as possible, I specially made a Golden-thread Nanmu Coffin for her—the fragrance of golden-thread nanmu not only keeps her flesh from decaying, but also promotes the fusion and absorption of the merpearl, accelerating the formation of the Earth Fetus."

"I hid her in the ancient tomb, while I myself retreated in this deep sea, waiting only for the Earth Fetus to form; I will personally cut out the Earth Fetus and consume it raw, then I can be reborn anew—just a little bit more, really just a little bit more!"

She grabbed my collar with both hands, as if she wanted to devour me alive: "Your Shi Family's ambition is truly too great, too great! I was merely in retreat, I'm not dead! That old fool Shi Jin actually plotted to seize power and usurp my position as leader!"

"How many years has the lineage of the Powerful Warriors Who Move Mountains gone without serving the imperial court, and yet he could actually accept an amnesty, digging tombs for an emperor whose fate was exhausted, seeking the Earth Fetus..."