Chapter 221: Chapter 146: Feeding on Mermaids (5k)_2

You Su furrowed his sword-like eyebrows, feeling somewhat drained by this seemingly endless journey. He decided to lean against the stone wall and take a moment to rest.

"Ah!!"

Suddenly, a piercing scream echoed through the corridor, interrupting You Su’s attempt to sip some water.

You Su’s eyes snapped open, dark as ink, as he cautiously rose and approached the direction of the sound.

As the woman’s cries grew louder, You Su moved even more stealthily. Finally, after navigating a pile of upright stones, he saw the source of the sound.

A middle-aged man in luxurious clothes was clutching a girl’s throat and lifting her high.

The beautiful girl was ashen-faced, partly due to her physical weakness and partly from sheer terror. Her eyes were bulging, staring imploringly at the grimacing Yui Zhen; the girl was none other than Xiaoyu.

The sight was even more horrifying because, just like when You Su first saw Xiaoyu, her lower half was still a glimmering fish tail. Unlike before, the dense seaweed was gone, and there were no small shellfish clinging to it.

Now, the fish tail seemed a natural part of Xiaoyu, the fusion of fish and human seamless, no longer a grotesque, forceful assembly.

Xiaoyu’s tail swung back and forth in the air. Yui Zhen, heedless of her struggles, kept her aloft, his eyes fervently scanning the mermaid’s body as if he were a fierce fisherman at the fish market admiring his most prized catch.

"So beautiful..."

Yui Zhen couldn’t help but marvel, absorbed in excitement, completely oblivious to the presence of anyone else in this forbidden place.

"No, please..."

Still begging, Xiaoyu, however foolish or aspiring to become immortal she might be, must have realized what Yui Zhen’s true intentions were in bringing her here. This was not the final step to immortality but indeed her final step of life.

Earlier, she had witnessed two girls who, like her, had transformed into mermaids being thrown into the black water by Yui Zhen, only to be instantaneously consumed, and she was destined for the same fate.

The creation of Spirit Veins to become immortal for ordinary people was utterly impossible. Even if it were feasible, how could those lofty immortals possibly help mortals transcend the insurmountable divide between them?

Just as their fishermen relied on fish for survival, how could they ever help these fish become humans?

Xiaoyu was utterly desperate, tears streaming down as her tail drooped lifelessly like a dead fish.

"Becoming part of the Water God’s power is your luck. Rest assured in your ascension, I will tell your grandfather that Xiaoyu is doing well."

Yui Zhen gently comforted Xiaoyu.

He relished offering those in despair their final solace, feeling that his cruel actions contained a trace of tender mercy, convincing himself he wasn’t a bad person, merely a decent person with questionable methods.

Upon hearing his words, Xiaoyu indeed stopped crying, closing her eyes to await the Water God’s summons, showing no further desire to live on her youthful visage.

Yui Zhen straightened his arm, suspending Xiaoyu above the dark waters, casting her a final glance before his fingers slowly loosened.

Suddenly, the sound of rushing wind! Several white snakes, swift as lightning, hurtled towards Yui Zhen’s back!

Yui Zhen whipped around, despite being a Peak of Condensed Water level expert, he was stunned by the serpents’ overwhelming force.

Yui Zhen quickly countered, unleashing a blast of pure Profound Qi, shattering all the serpents.

He dropped Xiaoyu carelessly to the ground; this serpentine skill immediately revealed the identity of the attacker, and he shouted in anger:

"You’re next! In such a hurry to die!"

From the shadows emerged a girl in a black dress, seeming frail and sickly pale, barely standing by leaning against the wall for support.

You Su, hidden in the dark, widened his eyes, his breath hastening almost revealing his position. He couldn’t believe Miss Ji looked exactly like his junior sister!

On the ground, Xiaoyu saw the girl in black, tears flowed anew, curling into herself, she kept blaming:

If when Miss Ji visited her, she hadn’t been so obsessed, would things have been different? Would Miss Ji have avoided such a fate?

"Miss Ji, I’m sorry... It’s all Xiaoyu’s fault..."

Ji Xueruo paid no mind to Xiaoyu’s apology, her full focus on the imposing Yui Zhen.

At seventeen, she had reached the Middle Realm of Spirit Platform Perfection, her talent sufficient to scorn the world, but no matter how extraordinary, such a genius cannot achieve everything in one step, and facing a Water Condensation Upper Realm Perfection enemy, she was understandably anxious.

"Your legs have turned into that, yet you insist on standing? Aren’t snakes supposed to crawl on the ground? Now that you’ve been swimming in water, what’s the fuss? After all, you don’t have legs."

Ji Xueruo’s face was icy, while Yui Zhen disdainfully regarded her.

Yui Zhen couldn’t possibly kill this perfect offering for the Water God, so he resorted to persistent caustic taunts to vent his anger from the girl’s ambush:

"Such a weak Demon Race, can you call your Clan Leader an Empress? In my view, your Snake Race Empress is rather foolish. Saving your strength for a last-minute attack might have given you a chance, but now you’ve exposed yourself early to save her. Did you know she kept quite a few things from you too..."