Xie Bai calculated the distance and swiftly passed through the Lingyin Gate, where the merman whose neck he clutched couldn't even struggle.

They landed on the peak of a mountain range, with cold white snowlines and extremely low temperatures, along with a few startled cries of golden eagles circling in the air. Xie Bai emerged from the Lingyin Gate with a flip, but his feet touched the ground so lightly that it didn't disturb the thick layer of snow.

When he tossed the merman onto the ground, he gave a slight kick to ensure this creature, with its long body and weight, wouldn't cause an avalanche.

However, his hands were already extremely cold, and passing through the Lingyin Gate intensified the chill even further. As a result, the two merfolk who had landed earlier felt inexplicably frozen, stiff as if dead. Frost covered their upper bodies, while the lower halves of their fish tails still had remnants of ice from the Peacock Lake. Even the wounds Xie Bai had inflicted on them were frozen, barely dripping any blood.

Xie Bai released the merman's neck, temporarily ignoring him, and instead, he bent down to pat the drenched black kitten in his arms. The once fluffy kitten had become skinny after getting wet, its fur clinging to its body, looking utterly aggrieved.

Black Kitten: "..."

If it were an ordinary kitten, soaking and freezing in the icy lake would have been disastrous.

This little creature, however, didn't even shiver. It just hung there with its fur wet, looking up at Xie Bai. After shaking off the water wildly and splashing Xie Bai's face, it finally seemed satisfied and continued licking his fingers, attempting to melt the frost that had formed on them.

Seeing that the kitten was lively and unharmed, Xie Bai finally relaxed.

He glanced at his own shoulder, where the piece of clothing torn by the merman's bite was already shredded, revealing flesh underneath, but the blood had frozen soon after oozing out. He saw that the wound wasn't expanding further, so he simply wiped it with his hand, and the torn fabric sealed back together as if it had never been torn.

After quickly dealing with his own injury, he bent down to inspect the "frozen fish" in front of him.

He hadn't paid much attention to the merman's appearance while they were in the lake, only feeling its great length and weight, along with its extraordinary strength and sharp teeth. But now, with the brightness of the snow, he could see clearly that the merman had the appearance of a young man, with its massive fish tail creating the illusion of great height and size.

The young merman frowned in pain, looking fierce, but strangely giving off the feeling of a paper tiger. His upper body was muscular and tough, covered with a layer of hard scales. Fortunately, the scales provided some protection; otherwise, with Xie Bai's swift slash, what lay on the ground now would have been the merman's cut in half body.

Xie Bai's body temperature was too low, and he was worried the black kitten wouldn't withstand it for long, so he let go and put it back on the ground. Surprisingly, the little creature held onto Xie Bai's fingertip for a few seconds before releasing it and jumping down on its own.

It lightly stepped on the snow, leaving a row of tiny paw prints extending from Xie Bai's feet to the merman in front.

The merman youth, lying on the ground in agony, first glared at Xie Bai with gritted teeth, then turned his fierce gaze toward the black kitten. The kitten raised its front paws, revealing sharp claws, and scratched the merman's body. Then it found a clean spot, opened its mouth, and bit down with a growl.

Xie Bai: "..."

The merman youth was so infuriated that he spat out a mouthful of blood and glared at Xie Bai. "..."

"You were being picky, weren't you? You wouldn't eat raw fish before, and you wouldn't eat the ugly ones. Now, why are you biting everything you see?" Xie Bai frowned, pinched the back of the black kitten's neck, and lifted it back into his arms, thinking it would be better to let it continue freezing rather than acting foolishly on the ground. The merman's scales were very hard, and he didn't want the cat's teeth to break.

The merman youth spat out another mouthful of blood and rolled his eyes, glaring fiercely at Xie Bai. "What do you mean?!"

Although Xie Bai's primary duty was to supervise the myriad spirits in the Zhifu Realm, most of his knowledge of living spirits still came from records and rumours.

Rumours say that mermen are evil and jealous.

Xie Bai didn't have much experience with these two traits, but he did understand the phrase "can't take a joke." He felt that as long as he and the black kitten stayed in front of this merman for a while, a few casual remarks would be enough to infuriate him to death.

Although he didn't quite understand what was worth spitting blood over.

"Do you still have the strength to talk?" Xie Bai crouched down and glanced at the merman's wounds. The long cut he had made extended from the merman's back to its fish tail, but because the merman's scales became exceptionally hard during battle, the cut wasn't very deep, but the shape of the flesh was horrifying.

Xie Bai's temper was definitely not good, especially when the other party struck first; he was always ruthless. However, since he hadn't suffered any major injuries himself and had some questions to ask, he didn't intend to take the merman's life this time.

"How many mermen are there in Peacock Lake?" he asked the merman youth.

The merman youth seemed stubborn and unyielding, tightly pursing his lips as if he refused to speak.

With a cold smirk, Xie Bai said, "I've frozen your wound shut, so your blood won't flow out, but you can still breathe. If you'd rather not breathe at all with your mouth shut, I can freeze all the blood in your body for you."

The merman: "..."

Xie Bai added indifferently, "It's okay if you don't speak now. I can read it out when you die."

Hearing this, the merman was suddenly alarmed and opened his eyes, sneering hoarsely, "You think anyone can read it?"

Like ordinary people, most spirits in the Zhifu Realm would recall their experiences from most of their lives before they die, and these memories become clearer as death approaches, especially in the last month or two. These memories are impossible for others to access, except for someone who shares a close connection with the spirit—only one person can read them, the Yin guest responsible for the spirits' death matters.

Xie Bai still looked calm, showing no signs of joking or bluffing. The merman youth hesitated for a moment, then truly became shocked. "Are you the Yin guest?"

Xie Bai replied, "Who else?"

The merman asked, "Since you can read it anyway, what difference does it make whether I cooperate or not?"

Xie Bai: "...Of course, there is."

The merman gritted his teeth, propped up by a facade of fierce resolve. "What difference?"

Xie Bai: "The difference between you being alive or dead."

The merman, like a deflated fish-shaped balloon, softened and fell back to the ground with a whoosh.

"Including me, there are a total of seven mermen in Peacock Lake," the merman youth lay on the ground, resignedly admitting, "But since you're already here, please don't go back to trouble them, okay?!"

Xie Bai coldly replied, "I don't have the time for that."

Once he realized Xie Bai wasn't trying to finish off the remaining few, the merman regained a bit of vitality. "Then what do you want?"

"Why did you mermen from the South Sea come here?" Xie Bai asked.

The merman remained silent again.

Xie Bai: "Then I'll read it myself."

The merman squeezed out two words from between his teeth: "Sacrifice offering."

Xie Bai frowned. "Another sacrifice offering?"

"What do you mean, 'another'?" The merman was puzzled. "Can you have multiple sacrifices?"

Xie Bai didn't answer, instead continuing his questioning. "Who is it offered to?"

"I don't know," the merman replied.

Xie Bai chuckled.

The merman pleaded urgently, "I really don't know his name! In our clan, everyone calls him Gaya."

"Gaya," Xie Bai repeated the word in a different language, sounding slightly heavier.

"Is that the language of the mermen?" Xie Bai guessed, noting that the pronunciation was similar to the language they had used in their chanting earlier.

"More accurately, it's the language of our branch," the merman explained. "There are many mermen, divided into many branches, you must know that. There are only a dozen or so of us left in our branch. 'Gaya' in our language means rebirth and god. It's said that our ancestors were saved by Gaya, which is how our bloodline has survived to this day. Now that Gaya is in trouble, we followed the underground river all the way here. The spiritual vein is here in Peacock River, making sacrifices here is twice as effective, and we don't have to risk our lives going inside."

"What does it mean that Gaya is in trouble? Do you know the specifics?" Xie Bai asked.

"I'm the youngest in the clan, I can't possibly know everything. I only know we were supposed to come here for the sacrifice, and that's all I've heard," the merman seemed resentful about being treated like a child by his clan, recalling with an unpleasant expression, "I remember hearing people in the clan talk about it before, rumors from many years ago saying Gaya had died, but supposedly, in the last few centuries, people have seen Gaya again. Since then, our clan leader has firmly believed that Gaya is still alive, and we pray for him every year. Until over a month ago, the clan leader said he dreamed that Gaya was trapped and wouldn't wake up."

He glanced at Xie Bai. "You must have heard about mermen's dreams, right? Centuries without dreams, but if we do dream, it's about something real. So we came here because the clan leader said that at the beginning of next month is a good day, which is once every ten years. By sacrificing before then, Gaya will definitely be saved."

Xie Bai frowned, pondering for a moment before asking, "Do you know what this Gaya looks like?"

The merman nodded. "I've seen a portrait. Do you have any paper?"

Xie Bai raised an eyebrow and conjured up paper and a pen out of thin air, handing them to the merman.

The merman saw the Yin guest's seal in the corner of the paper, and earnestly took the pen to start drawing.

Xie Bai patiently watched him draw for quite some time, his expression becoming more and more puzzled. After about ten minutes or so, he couldn't help but ask, "What race are you drawing?"

The merman youth angrily retorted, "What do you mean?! Aren't these eyes? Isn't this a nose?!" After venting, he remembered that the person in front of him wasn't someone to mess with and immediately softened, taking a deep breath as if to comfort his wounded pride, and then refused to speak.

Xie Bai had run out of patience to humor him this time and simply said, "You try your best to remember the appearance of that drawing in your mind, and I'll read it myself."

The merman's lips trembled. "Y-you, you said you wouldn't kill me?"

Xie Bai grunted. "I won't kill you, but I can still read it."

The merman angrily exclaimed, "You lied to me earlier?!"

Ignoring him, Xie Bai coldly urged, "Hurry up."

"What's the rush! I'm already thinking about it..." The merman angrily lay back down, closing his eyes with a constipated expression as he concentrated.

"The clearer, the better," Xie Bai reminded him, then placed his hand on his forehead.

The merman shuddered from the cold, gritting his teeth.

Threads of black mist emanated from Xie Bai's fingertips, extending into the merman's forehead. After a moment, a scroll appeared in Xie Bai's mind, depicting the silhouette of a person, wearing a black robe, appearing tall and imposing, strangely intimidating. At the person's feet lay a huge white tiger with a sinister aura.

Xie Bai was stunned when he saw the scroll—it looked too much like the figure mentioned in " trivial talk by the western window”.

 

Translator : DarNan