Chapter 510: “Mermaid” and Birds (Part 1)
“The water temperature is still very low, close to zero degrees…”
All that met Su Jiu’s eyes were frigid currents as she swam beneath the deep ice. The water was a hazy gray, and in such conditions, humans easily lose their sense of direction; navigating wasn’t easy.
What was interesting was the small fish swimming alongside Su Jiu. They seemed curious, sticking to her energy shield, wanting a closer look at this large “mermaid,” but the shield acted like an isolation wall, preventing the fish from getting close.
After swimming for about half an hour, the current ahead suddenly became very strong, forming three whirlpools in the path. Su Jiu illuminated the intersection ahead with the glow of her External Qi. Focusing her gaze, she saw that there were now three diverging paths.
“Huh?! There are more forks?”
Su Jiu froze at the intersection, completely bewildered, unsure of which way to go next.
She felt her thinking was too linear, lacking foresight. If she continued blindly, it would only become more chaotic. One fork implied a second and third…
“Miss, can’t you hear what they’re trying to convey?”
A soft, sweet voice sounded from behind Su Jiu. Bairnis had appeared behind her at some point, her backside gently nudging Su Jiu’s habitual posture, causing her body to slowly tingle.
“Such a cute little mermaid, yet she doesn’t utilize her bloodline advantage…”
Next, a soft touch pressed against Su Jiu’s back, fingertips tracing her arm. Bairnis parted her red lips, her moist breath touching the fish-scaled ear fin, making the scales prick up as if startled.
“W-what do you mean?”
Her fin was touched, and Su Jiu’s scales on her arm felt itchy, her skin turning from pale to rosy. She felt the seemingly unconstrained touch and swallowed, asking softly.
“What I mean is…”
Bairnis’s voice drifted over, with a hint of teasing. She released Su Jiu’s arm and then gently touched the energy shield, pressing her hand against it and speaking softly to the small fish outside.
“Look, those fish are asking you, their highness, where you wish to go.”
Hearing this, Su Jiu was slightly taken aback and curiously turned her head to look at Bairnis, her eyes wide. “You can understand them?”
It was one thing to understand written words, but to communicate with non-monster fish too?
Bairnis, my God!
“Of course I can’t understand them – why would Miss think I could understand little fish?”
Tilting her head, Bairnis looked innocently at Su Jiu, her light blue eyes blinking as if to say, “What foolishness are you talking about?”
“Uh…”
Su Jiu’s mouth twitched. She felt Bairnis was the epitome of “white lotus, black heart” (fake innocence, hidden maliciousness). Hand over the tiny, cute Little Sisi from before!
“It’s through sensing emotions. Miss, our Blood Clan’s mental power is very strong. Don’t be stingy with its use… little ones, don’t you agree?”
Before Su Jiu could ask further, Bairnis beckoned the small fish with her slender white finger. The fish quickly formed a circle and then, one loop after another, kissed the energy shield.
Hearing this, Su Jiu said no more. She tapped her brow, activating her mental power. Her mental power focused on the circling fish, and she felt their happiness, even a sense of eagerness.
“It’s true…”
Feeling this through her mental power, she suddenly understood why Bai Zhi could discern her thoughts so easily back then – mental power truly had many strange and varied uses.
She paused again, asking with some confusion, “Then how should we make them understand our meaning? Their intelligence shouldn’t be that high, right?”
“They can’t understand, but Miss is different. You can communicate with them simply.”
Bairnis seemed to enjoy touching Su Jiu’s scaled arm, her hand stroking it repeatedly. Inadvertently, she even plucked off a scale and secretly watched Su Jiu’s reaction as she asked softly, “It seems Miss knows less about her own body than I do?”
“What do you mean…”
Every time a scale was plucked, Su Jiu felt a strange stimulation, a peculiar, indescribable sensation.
“What I mean is… Miss doesn’t understand the Ice Chih Bloodline, neither the outside of the body, nor the inside.”
Bairnis chuckled softly, secretly blowing air at a fish fin. When the fin shivered, she released Su Jiu’s arm and slowly curved her lips upwards, appearing triumphant.
Her ear was blown on again, and Su Jiu’s face turned as red as fire. A surge of anger began to build within her. The Bairnis of the past was pitiable, but the current Bairnis…
Made her want to…
“How do we communicate?”
She could barely suppress the primal desire within her, but it was clearly not the time to think about that. It was more important to find the ancestral land quickly.
“Disperse the energy shield and take out that egg. That should likely convey your meaning to them.”
Gazing at Su Jiu tenderly, Bairnis’s smile grew more radiant. She narrowed her eyes slightly and suddenly a smile lifted the corners of her lips – what strong desire, does she want to devour me?
But then… I want to devour Miss too.
I want to see Miss cry when she’s suppressed, I want to bully Miss fiercely, I want to care for the now-faded-cute Miss, I want to protect Miss at all times…
Heh, the best hunter should begin with the prey’s performance.
Suppressing the desires within her, Su Jiu did as Bairnis suggested and dispersed the energy shield. “Rumble—” The sound of rushing water filled her ears.
Instantly, the water pressure surged in, and Bairnis retreated into her spiritual space. Su Jiu’s clothes were instantly soaked, and the scales on her hands seemed to shine even more. The fish shoaled around her, swimming in circles.
However, she felt no discomfort. This made her realize that the Ice Chih Bloodline was indeed well-suited for combat in water; breathing was certainly not an issue.
“What is this…”
Just as she was about to take out the egg, she noticed a faint firelight flickering from her pocket. She was slightly stunned, then pulled it out. It was the feather from before, but now its appearance had transformed into a burning flame shape.
“The feather from before?”
The flame burned ethereally in the water, like a lantern illuminating the dark river ahead. The fish seemed to sense something, leaving Su Jiu’s sides and making gurgling sounds as they rushed towards the leftmost river.
Without further thought, Su Jiu pushed off with her feet and followed in a clumsy frog-stroke. Along the way, she encountered several more forks, finally arriving at an extremely dark and narrow intersection.
Entering this river, after swimming for a few more minutes, Su Jiu realized it was some sort of undercurrent. The environment here resembled being beneath a mountain.
The fish and the feather emitted faint light, allowing Su Jiu to keep track, but it didn’t allow her to swim quickly. She could only glide along slowly.
After swimming in this rather dark river for about half an hour, Su Jiu noticed the water beside her had actually warmed up. Following this, a point of light finally appeared at the end of the river.
“We’re here?”
Seeing the light, Su Jiu didn’t hesitate. She gently tapped a small fish on the head and tossed a Warrior Class medicinal herb from her ring. “Little guys, thank you.”
Saying this, she accelerated forward under the watchful eyes of the fish. Soon, with a flash of white light, she burst out of the water, feeling as if she had stumbled upon the Peach Blossom Spring.
Looking at the scenery before her, she could sense that she had arrived at an independent scenic spot, enclosed by mountain peaks. Although it was a bit cold, it was generally like spring, with lush trees and abundant grass.
Su Jiu looked up at the rock crevices in the sky. She felt that Catherine I might have fallen while climbing a mountain, encountering a fortuitous encounter, just like in a fantasy novel…
However, the most peculiar thing she saw was that there was actually a hot spring within. Su Jiu lowered her head slightly, looking at the hot spring not far away, which was emitting layers of steam.
Although she really wanted to jump in and wash away the chill, the most important thing now was to take care of the egg. Her gaze swept over the hot spring, and she slowly took out the egg she had been protecting with External Qi from her pocket and walked towards the hot spring.
Should she put the egg in?
“It’s useless. The energy in the rock spring is already gone.”
Just as she was about to bend down, a mature female voice sounded, a faint tone echoing in this small paradise.
“It seems I failed again. That girl… sigh.”
