After the main character who took the blame retired, the female lead quit.

Many merfolk marry out to other races, including humans.

As for Xiao Yu having lived in the South China Sea, she absolutely did not believe it. Not to mention that humans cannot breathe underwater, the fact that the Merfolk in the South China Sea forbids humans from entering is enough to dispel this idea.

She leaned closer, sniffed, and indeed detected a faint fluctuation—a blessing placed on the body of the person the merman admired.

It can ensure calm seas during voyages, prevent shipwrecks, protect against attacks from sea monsters, and provide significant resistance to water-based magic... and many other wonderful uses.

"Um...almost...about the same."

Xiao Yu tilted his head slightly and spoke vaguely.

When he was serving as the strategist for that merman saintess in the South China Sea, he had spent quite some time underwater, so he was naturally very familiar with the merman's style of dress.

"By the way, what are you doing here? Aren't merfolk generally reluctant to come ashore?"

"Well... actually, to be honest, there's no need to hide this. I came ashore to find the holy maiden of my clan, the merfolk. I wonder if you've ever seen her."

Perhaps because Xiao Yu's family included merfolk, the yellow-scaled merfolk pondered for a moment and decided to tell the whole story. After all, the more people who knew, the greater the chance of finding her. What if he knew the whereabouts of the Holy Maiden?

“Just a few months ago, our clan’s holy maiden, Xia Nianmo, went missing. No one in the clan could find any trace of her. The clan elders suspected that she might have sneaked out into the outside world, and they were furious, saying that they would remove her from her position as holy maiden.”

As one of the Saintess's followers, I naturally did not want to see this scene. Moreover, without the Saintess's suppression, the environment in the South China Sea gradually deteriorated, so I set out to find her on my own initiative.

Unfortunately, upon reaching the land, an accident occurred while searching for a suitable place. He nearly died, but was saved by the passing Xuan Ding Pharmacist.

The yellow-scaled merman sighed, his mouth opening and closing silently. "To repay the life-saving grace, and also to better search for the Holy Maiden, I will temporarily stay by the apothecary's side, helping out as usual."

After all, she's been traveling all over to find medicinal herbs! Having a doctor by her side is much better than being alone; she doesn't have to worry about catching a headache or fever on the road. The outside world... is indeed much more dangerous. I wonder where the Holy Maiden is now, and whether she's injured!

"Haha... She's definitely alright. Maybe she's resting on some island in the sea right now. You can search around here; you might find some news."

Xiao Yu thought to himself, "As expected, the mermaid heroine is gone, leaving behind such a huge mess."

Now, coming to his senses, he couldn't understand how Xia Nianmo ended up on Jumo Island. How did she get caught up in the underwater currents?

She, a mermaid, should know perfectly well where the underwater currents are! How could she make such a basic mistake?

"Thank you for your comfort, fellow Daoist, but I still want to search further on land. The Holy Maiden must have sneaked out once to see some beautiful landscapes that she doesn't usually see..."

Just as the yellow-scaled merman was speaking, a sudden commotion erupted from inside the tent, followed by the voice of the Xuan Ding Pharmacist:

"Hey! Fishman... what are you doing? Stop dawdling! Hurry up! This guy's coughing up blood again, get a basin!"

"Oh... I'm coming..."

The yellow-scaled merman answered without turning her head, her eyes still fixed on Xiao Yu:

"Anyway, I'm quite happy to have met a relative of the merfolk in the outside world. Although I don't know which merfolk cast the blessing on you, I will pay them a visit after I find the Holy Maiden and return to the South Sea. Goodbye..."

After speaking, she hurriedly lifted the curtain and went inside. Through the lifted curtain, Xiao Yu saw that the red-haired man was vomiting blood, black blood clots were being spat out, and he was talking nonsense, his face was ferocious, and he was muttering something incoherently... like a madman.

No wonder the Pharmacist Xuanding specially arranged for him to be placed near the exit.

Xiao Yu stood in front of the tent, looking somewhat constipated, and began to talk about the Yellow-Scaled Merfolk.

The plot is getting more and more out of control; even the merfolk are starting to come ashore.

However, speaking of which, the saintess has been missing for so long, and only one merman has come out to look for her?

What about the rest?

Logically speaking, Xia Nianmo was, after all, the saintess he had painstakingly helped rise to power. After such a major incident, it shouldn't be that only a small merman with a mere follower was searching aimlessly like looking for a needle in a haystack.

But then, thinking about the intricate factional struggles within the Merfolk clan, Xiao Yu almost understood. Before the election for Holy Maiden, there were several factions, and now that the Holy Maiden has neglected her duties and disappeared, they've started to resurface.

hiss……

This is troublesome. We need to get rid of that merman on the island as soon as possible. A saintess isn't someone any merman can just become. Otherwise, once the sea eye on the seabed rots, we'll all be finished.

Now... let's figure out the current situation of the secret realm first.

Xiao Yu and his group seemed to have arrived quite late, after all, they had rushed to the Tongtian Ancient Tree area while their backsides were on fire.

Some cultivators had already explored the area before, but it's unclear why they've all ended up crowding here.

As Xiao Yu rubbed his chin, lost in thought, suddenly, the two moons in the sky slowly dimmed, and in a daze, a shadow climbed up to them.

Suddenly, it got dark, and at the same time, something landed on his shoulder with a snap.

"Eh?"

Xiao Yu turned his head, and in the darkness, Long Wanyan's gray eyes, like those of a cat in the night, flashed with a red light.

Chapter 50, The Peach Blossom Calamity

The sects participating in this Fengqiu Secret Realm included well-known major sects and some lesser-known ordinary sects that were just trying to take advantage of the situation. A total of 36 sects participated in this Fengqiu Secret Realm.

Besides these, there were also some independent cultivators from the mountains and wilderness. Initially, this type of cultivator made up a large part of the group. Unfortunately, after the restrictions prohibiting independent cultivators from entering the country were issued, most of them were blocked outside the secret realm, becoming part of the current internal and external troubles.

"Sect Master, the attacks from those rogue cultivators outside the protective barrier are fierce, and the array patterns in some places have already cracked."

If this continues, and that leading Nascent Soul cultivator were to make a move, he could probably shatter it in an instant, and then... it would be all over.

Outside the secret realm of Fengqiu, a disciple arrived at the third floor of the inn and reported to the room at the far end of the corridor.

He lowered his head, considered his words for a moment, and finally spoke:

"Disciple begs the Sect Master to intervene and annihilate those arrogant and ignorant rogue cultivators outside the sect, thus enhancing the prestige of our sect!"

The third floor fell silent, with only the crisp sounds of various spells striking the barrier echoing through the air.

"No problem. With me here, that Nascent Soul cultivator won't dare to make any rash moves. Call some cultivators in the square who understand array patterns to repair the damaged parts of the array and fix them."

I am currently at a critical moment in my breakthrough to the Nascent Soul Realm, and I cannot afford to make any mistakes. When I emerge from seclusion, I will severely punish these rogue cultivators.

If he interferes with my chance to break through the barrier, I'll make him regret it.

A voice, deliberately lowered, came from behind the door. It belonged to the Nascent Soul Realm and was mixed with a faint dragon's might. With just a few words, it calmed down the disciple's restless heart.

"Moreover, I have already sent out the details of the situation within the secret realm. Reinforcements should arrive soon, so you don't need to worry."

"Yes……"

Suppressing his excitement, he retreated from the third floor. Their sect leader was about to break through to the Nascent Soul stage, which was great news for the entire sect.

Although there are already cultivators in the Nascent Soul stage and even higher in the Divine Refinement stage within the sect, the significance is different. Their sect leader has broken through to the Nascent Soul stage, making him the youngest and fastest Nascent Soul cultivator in Dragon Head Continent.

The prestige of this title is self-evident.

The disciple swiftly left, leaving the empty third-floor corridor empty except for the room at the end where someone was staying. There were originally two other rooms for disciples to rest, but those two disciples had gone into the secret realm, so at this moment only the room at the end of the third floor was lit, making it feel strangely deserted.

"Ugh……"

Inside the room, someone sighed softly. Judging from the sound, it seemed that they felt a lot of pressure, having taken on other people's burdens, cleaning up their messes, and covering for them. They seemed exhausted.

A love triangle is a calamity... a love triangle is a calamity... once you're deeply involved in a love triangle, there's no escaping it; it's bound to happen sooner or later.

……

Peng!

Inside a brightly lit tent next to the Xuan Ding Pharmacist in the Fengqiu Secret Realm.

At this moment, Long Wanyan, who was well covered and had not yet noticed that he had left his post, grabbed Xiao Yu and forced him into a dead end.

Bai Lin's large hands clenched tightly, pinching Xiao Yu's collar of his clothes little by little, the force so great that it twisted several creases.

"Huh? Say it again, how many other women besides me have you been in contact with?!"

Xiao Yu was about to hold up five fingers, but then he thought about it and only held up four.

Instantly, Xiao Yu felt the fist gripping his collar tighten, making a cracking sound.

"You really dare to say that..." Long Wanyan stared intently at the man in front of her with her dragon eyes.

Men's words can never be completely trusted. Merfolk are xenophobic, especially towards other races. Judging from the enthusiastic attitude of that merfolk just now, there were probably five of them.

No kidding, at that moment, Xiao Yu felt like he was about to be torn apart by the dragon woman in front of him.

The four fingers he held up weren't an exaggeration; they were his calculations of close female friends. However, there was a lot of exaggeration involved, and he probably only had two real relationships with them.

First of all, Bu Suantian and he are strategic partners. The two came together because of divination. Xiao Yu has no interest in this little glutinous rice ball, and she probably feels the same way. The two are completely innocent.

It was only because they lived together and caused some rumors that Xiao Yu included them among the four.

Next is Tie Yanran, which is funny... He has always treated her like a brother... cough cough, but she seems to care about him for some reason, her attitude is ambiguous and she's acting coy, so he counts her as one of the four.

It was only afterward that Li Yunshang and Xia Nianmo truly became involved, which is inexplicable because of the ill-fated relationship created by the previous substitute protagonist.

Xiao Yu originally wanted to include Bai Yan, but... then he thought again, was Bai Yan a woman with whom he had a relationship?

Those are family members, and dragging one's own apprentice into one's own manly competitive nature is rather shameless.

That's right... Xiao Yu holding up four fingers was partly due to his vanity as a man, which stemmed from a certain degree of pride.

Even that scoundrel Liu Shicheng had three or four women secretly in love with him. Unfortunately, he was too ambitious and had the air of a hero to notice them. He was so busy flirting with other men's wives that he neglected the hearts of those eager girls.

Under these circumstances, how could he...

Actually, Xiao Yu initially thought of reporting eight, but then he thought that the illusory number was too unreal and even a bit pathetic.

Therefore, he almost angered Long Wanyan in her dragon-human form.

However, to be honest, there have only been four women he's been getting close to lately.

Long Wanyan stared at Xiao Yu, and suddenly, she laughed angrily, loosening her grip on his hand.

As soon as the white-scaled gloves loosened, Xiao Yu was immediately freed from the iron grip.

Xiao Yu guessed that after this incident, Long Wanyan had probably lost all illusions about him, and the marriage and Daoist partnership that had been arranged were now off the table.

He breathed a sigh of relief. If he hadn't been afraid of being shot dead by Long Wanyan, he would have already confessed everything.

The so-called overstated four fingers might also contain elements that made Long Wanyan think he was a scumbag, thus rendering their Daoist partnership and marriage contract invalid.

However, a pleasant female voice rang out, and its content, as always, was beyond Xiao Yu's expectations: