Chapter 328 Grouping

Clara paused for a moment, then smiled, her eyes sparkling with sweetness as she looked at Mei Fei'er. Yes, she was a mermaid, a daughter of the sea, a free and whimsical mermaid.

Seeing Clara smile, Mei Fei'er, though not understanding why, also smiled. As long as Clara was happy, she felt joy. Clara had rescued her from a cage. Three years ago, after losing everything in a clan competition, she was sold as a sea slave by the rival Pike Whale Clan and was condemned to mine crystals in underwater caves for life. It was Clara who, despite offending the Pike Whale Clan, saved her and her two younger brothers, and helped her rebuild the Mei Fei'er Whale Clan in the lower five seas! She became Clara’s general, gathering intelligence and protecting supplies at sea.

When she marked the new territory of the Mei Fei'er Whale Clan with a special symbol, Mei Fei'er made a vow to the sea: Clara was her master for life!

"Accompany me for a walk," Clara said with a smile, looking at the crouched Mei Fei'er.

"Yes, Your Highness," Mei Fei'er immediately stood up and walked out of the cabin, maintaining a high level of vigilance even on her own ship.

Clara walked to the ship’s edge, gazing at the sea, her mind racing. In fact, her influence had expanded rapidly over the past two years, and she had a considerable number of people at her disposal, but only two were truly skilled: Suokala, who was in charge of Aurora City, and Mei Fei'er, who was also a ghost-level warrior.

With such limited strength, she was no match for the four major clans.

Beneath the surface of power lies a stark imbalance of strength. Thus, the queen's command merely gave her a righteous cause, but without real power, even the grandest cause is just a mirage on the sea.

It was precisely because she lacked more power that she struggled to retain the profits from the Golden Shell Trading Company. Beyond the expenses on the books, most of it had to be handed over to Alonso. Clara paid a price for every portion she withheld. And Clara knew well that only a fraction ended up in the Mermaid Royal Family’s treasury, with many powerful figures meddling in the process.

And Wang Feng was the key to her breaking the deadlock. As long as she obtained the secret formula... she could break through the internal structure of the Mermaid Royal Family and sit at the table of the entire Sea Dragon Clan.

That would be a world stage as vast as the sea, capable of accommodating any ambition.

She wondered how Wang Feng was doing in Dragon City. He never came to her with good news, only when there was trouble...

"Are the items on the list all prepared?"

"Yes, Your Highness."

Clara nodded, unsure of Wang Feng’s plans, but he always surprised her. However, the situation in Dragon City was too direct this time. She hoped he would be alright...

Suddenly, a deep horn sounded in the distance. Mei Fei'er's expression changed, "Your Highness, it's the horn of the Sea Dragon Clan."

Soon, a massive ship flying the royal flag of the Sea Dragon Clan approached Clara's flagship from the side.

On the deck, Urix stood with his hands behind his back.

Clara clenched her fists, the pressure of her status making her hold her breath. But she quickly relaxed, smiling gracefully and bowing slightly, "Prince Urix."

"Princess Clara, what a coincidence, a rare encounter on the vast sea," Urix's eyes flickered as he invited, "I heard the princess is collecting high-grade soul crystals. I happen to have a batch. Why not come and discuss?"

Clara scoffed inwardly. A coincidence? That would be naive. Her massive fleet took two days to switch ships at Crescent Island.

The Sea Dragon Prince clearly had designs on her. Boarding his ship would surely cost her virginity. While she could endure humiliation without losing her chastity at the Grand Princess’s residence, on the Sea Dragon Prince’s ship in the lower five seas, she’d be as vulnerable as a fish on a chopping block!

Afterward, no one would pursue Urix,

only to mock mermaids as naturally promiscuous. Moreover, Clara knew the Grand Princess all too well, with her overwhelming jealousy. How many of the women who warmed Urix’s bed at the princess’s residence lived long? Even if she had any involvement with Urix, just Urix glancing at her a few times could cause the Grand Princess to create significant trouble for her in the royal city.

"Prince Urix, the trading company has already acquired enough soul crystals. I can only accept your kindness in spirit. Please forgive me for being unwell and unable to attend. I beg your pardon."

With that, Clara gave another slight bow and, without giving Urix a chance to speak further, quickly returned to the cabin with Mei Fei'er's assistance.

On the massive ship, Urix's gaze deepened, and his inner restlessness intensified.

Most mermaids are truly lascivious, it's in their nature, but this mermaid is only superficially so!

And unlike other mermaids, who have various "special preferences" that he disdains, after being deflowered, the truth is one of debauchery.

And Clara...

A mermaid like her is one in a million.

Urix narrowed his eyes, gazing at Clara's flagship in the distance. With his power and strength, he could naturally board the ship by force.

But...

"Conquest is more fun when you take your time."

As for his darker desires, he never lacked for female company.

...

Mapeier's injury wasn't serious. Old Wang had planned a two-day rest, but she only rested for one night. By the next day, Mapeier's wound had nearly closed up, and she was full of energy, naturally choosing to continue the journey.

It was already the fifth day after entering the dark cavern. A powerful surge of soul power erupted from the center, and everyone knew that the opportunity for the second level was likely about to appear.

Whether it was the League of Blades or the Nine Gods, those who were afraid of death or lacked strength had already left during the first level. Only the toughest made it this far, and no one retreated. Almost everyone instinctively moved in this direction. As they ventured further in, the tunnels grew fewer, and the caverns expanded, growing taller and wider, as if they were getting closer to the central area.

Crowds began to form. Whether it was the League of Blades or the Nine Gods, after the initial days of slaughter, these days they began to consciously form groups. No matter which Holy Sanctuary they came from, having more people meant less risk. As more people gathered, fights became rare. Unless they stumbled upon a lone wanderer, even if two sides met, they wouldn’t dare take on a group of ten or more. In such an environment, news spread quickly.

Word spread of the deaths of the Nine Gods' Golden Left Hand and Blood Demon Manku, and even faster was the news of Wang Feng's death.

This was the 'grand prize' in the eyes of the Nine Gods' cultivators. Many were disappointed someone else had beaten them to it, but they also gave up distractions and accelerated towards the direction of the opportunity.

The tight cavern tunnels thinned out, replaced by massive underground caves linked together, clustered like a heap of marbles.

Old Wang and Mapeier had just passed through two connected caves, both littered with bodies. Besides a few bodies of War Academy and Holy Sanctuary disciples, there were more of various dark creatures. There were the green-headed lizard monsters that Old Wang and Mapeier had seen before, as well as giant vampire bats with wings that could open up to one or two meters wide, and many other strange energy-based creatures.

The energy pulses grew more intense. It was clear that they were now extremely close to the heart of the dark creatures' domain. The bodies and battle scars showed both academies had been through. These monsters were tough but dumb. Organized groups of disciples easily outmatched them.

These caves had been cleared out, making Old Wang feel like a trailblazer. The ice bees returned with fresh intel on the caves, discovering more than a dozen disciples from different Holy Sanctuaries.

When Old Wang brought Mapeier over, those dozen Holy Sanctuary disciples were sitting on the ground resting and bandaging their wounds. The cave was quite large, but there were not as many dark creatures as before. A dozen Gothes lay sprawled on the ground, humanoid monsters about three meters tall, covered in thick black fur as hard as iron. Ordinary Tiger Peak martial artists could hardly harm them, making them quite powerful. However, they were extremely afraid of thunder magic, and among the Holy Sanctuary disciples, there were seven or eight Thunder Mages, effectively countering these monsters. After killing more than a dozen, most of the Holy Sanctuary disciples had only suffered minor injuries.

They were recuperating and restoring their combat power when they suddenly saw Hei Wukai and Mapeier walk in. The Holy Sanctuary disciples were slightly startled, but then they showed a hint of joy.

Honestly, outside, these Holy Sanctuary disciples didn't think much of Hei Wukai. On one hand, everyone who came here was a proud prodigy from their own small place, not used to idolizing anyone. On the other hand, Hei Wukai was from the Eight Tribes, and a human being close to the Eight Tribes would give people a sense of spinelessness.

But here it was different. Those who were arrogant, wild, and couldn't face reality had either died or had their edges smoothed by the harsh two-layer illusion, realizing they were nothing here. Otherwise, there wouldn't be a scene of a dozen originally unruly people spontaneously forming a group.

For those who were still alive, safety was the primary pursuit. Now that Hei Wukai's reputation had already spread, traveling with such a figure undoubtedly offered the highest safety factor.

A few people immediately stood up enthusiastically and greeted him, thinking he might put on the airs of the top expert, acting cool or something. But unexpectedly, 'Hei Wukai' walked over with a smile: "Hi, brothers!"

This amiable attitude made even those who were still putting on a tough face smile and respond: "Brother Hei! Nice to meet you!"

"Brother Hei, only two of you? You can join our small team, all Holy Sanctuary brothers, more people can look out for each other!"

Old Wang smiled, noncommittal, and took the opportunity to ask: "Have any of you seen our Rose people?"

Everyone shook their heads, except for a female disciple who said: "Two days ago, I saw Winnie Lee and your Eight Tribes companion, they were with the Ice Spirit people."

Old Wang felt relieved. Being able to gather together meant the others had good luck. With Winnie and Mo Tong's strength, combined with the Ice Spirit people, they would have enough self-preservation ability no matter who they faced. As for Old Hei, he didn't need to worry at all. However, he hadn't heard any news about Kela and Fantexi. These two were the weakest in the team and hadn't joined up with their teammates, which made Old Wang quite concerned.

After a few words of conversation, they became familiar. The gathered group had similar strength, ranking between one hundred and two hundred, with different accents. Except for a few from the western Tufan region, whose speech was too fast to understand, the others' spoken language was not much different. The League of Blades had made great efforts in language unification, promoting a mainstream spoken language two hundred years ago. Now, no matter where League of Blades people were from, communication was basically not a problem.

The female disciple from earlier showed quite a bit of interest in Hei Wukai, frequently talking to 'Hei Wukai' and smiling, constantly sneaking glances at him, which made Old Wang sigh. Old Hei's identity was not just for fighting; he must be a master at picking up girls too. Damn, Little Hei Hei is truly an all-rounder!

As they were speaking, a clanging sound of metal scraping suddenly came from a hole diagonally above them.

Everyone looked up to see a hole about seven or eight meters above the ground. A massive iron-clad figure stood there, with two dark, hollow eye sockets on the iron mask that emitted a piercing light, firmly locking onto Hei Wukai, who was chatting and laughing.

Everyone was startled, their expressions slightly changing as they blurted out, "Steel Demon Kaiser Mo!"

In an instant, they all stood up from the ground, on high alert as they stared at the figure at the entrance of the hole.

Steel Demon Kaiser Mo, ranked third in the War Academy, was the most ruthless and mysterious killer. His immense physical strength and steel-like defense were not his most formidable weapons. It was said that he possessed eyes that could capture souls—once he locked onto someone, they wouldn’t even know how they died!

They weren’t weak. With their numbers, they might have a shot against one of the top ten. But the problem was, who would be willing to take the first strike? Whoever went first would die! Everyone knew this, but no one would willingly sacrifice themselves in such moments. Most of the time, when a small group of a dozen or so encountered one of the top ten, they would scatter and flee, destined to be slaughtered, with only the fastest having a chance to escape.

If this had happened half an hour earlier, this group would have panicked and immediately scattered. But now it was different—because Hei Wukai was here!