Chapter 296: The Mermen Tribe

At first, Jiang Li worried whether Black and White Impermanence would head to the Tongu World to take souls. But after a second thought, he realized—Heavenly Lord had already killed all the cultivators there. What would Black and White Impermanence even bother with?

【Task Issued: The South Sea marketplace is a chaotic mix of fish and dragons. The Mermen Tribe is weak and bullied by the Flood Dragon Clan. You witness a Flood Dragon forcibly seizing a female merman and, outraged, intervene and injure the dragon. This escalates tensions between the two clans and leads to a duel. The prize is a jar of True Dragon Blood. Help the Mermen Tribe win the match and earn the reward.】

【This task cannot be declined】

【Task Rewards: A set of Invisibility Clothes, a prescription for a True Dragon Blood Medicinal Bath, and a manual of Dragon Transformation Hand】

“Mermen Tribe?” Jiang Li remembered this race—and shared some fate with them.

The South Sea was home to mermen, who lived in the water like fish and cried tears that turned into pearls.

These weren’t ordinary pearls—they were equivalent in value to lower-grade spirit stones.

A single tear equaled one lower-grade spirit stone!

The Mermen Tribe was naturally wealthy and never had to worry about spending spirit stones in their lifetimes.

However, the tribe was few in number—only about a thousand—and their cultivation talent was average. Their strongest member was just at the Soul Formation Stage.

That was why they were often bullied—especially by the South Flood Dragon Clan.

The South Flood Dragons had once forcibly taken mermaids, whipped and insulted them, even threatened them with death to force them to cry day and night and produce pearls.

Back then, Jiang Li was only at the Nascent Soul Stage. Outraged at what he saw, he beat up the young Flood Dragons and rescued the mermen.

The Flood Dragon Clan had threatened, “Just you wait—we have someone backing us!” The rescued mermen, proud and unyielding, retorted, “Well, so do we. If it comes down to it, we’ll fight it out!”

The young Flood Dragons called their elders. Jiang Li summoned the Old Human Sovereign.

The Flood Dragon Clan was stunned.

Wasn’t this supposed to be the South Flood Dragons versus the Mermen? Why did a Human Sovereign show up?!

The Old Human Sovereign came with his commanders in a grand procession and marched straight to the South Flood Dragons. Those who needed a beating got beaten. Those who needed killing were killed. In the end, he even contacted the South Sea Dragon King to warn him to keep a tighter leash on his subordinate clans.

The Flood Dragon Clan was made up of lifelong failures—dragons who would never transform fully. Their only hope lay in gaining the favor of the Dragon Clan and being bathed in True Dragon Blood for a slim chance to evolve.

In history, only a handful of Flood Dragons had succeeded.

There were East, West, South, and North Flood Dragon Clans. The South branch was under the South Sea Dragon King’s jurisdiction.

The South Sea Dragon King had hurried to assure everyone that the South Flood Dragons would never bully the Mermen again.

As Jiang Li reminisced, he arrived at the South Sea marketplace.

The place was booming. Pearls, jades, spiritual treasures, rare materials—everywhere. Sellers shouting, buyers haggling, people arguing, waves crashing… the entire scene overflowed with the energy of the mundane world.

“Too bad there’s no candied hawthorn,” Jiang Li sighed and settled for a bowl of honey-braised squid tentacles.

Might as well try something new.

Pfft—disgusting.

“This some kind of local specialty? Tastes kinda…” Jiang Li stopped short of calling it awful and tugged on a passing fisherman.

The old fisherman gave him a sideways glance. “That’s a tourist trap. Locals don’t eat that stuff.”

“…F**k.”

Jiang Li found himself missing the Tongu World. There, he had helped Yu Feng outsmart enemies, defeat the strong with the weak, win with cleverness—invincible, omniscient.

Now he was back in the Nine Provinces and immediately got scammed.

“You here for the Mermen Princess’s courting ceremony? Gonna try and catch the embroidered ball?” The fisherman seemed to pity him and chatted casually.

Jiang Li felt a little insulted.

“Mermen Princess?”

“Yeah! You haven’t heard? Tons of people are here for it. So many outsiders showed up that prices shot up—though locals still pay the same.”

Jiang Li suspected the whole South Sea marketplace ran on scamming tourists.

“Gotta say, the Mermen Tribe’s luck is through the roof. Protected by the Old Human Sovereign and Jiang the Human Sovereign—who’d dare mess with them now? Everyone wants to marry in.”

Jiang Li had indeed asked the Old Human Sovereign for help. That meant two generations of Human Sovereigns were linked to the Mermen Tribe. And with Jiang Li’s current influence, the South Sea Dragon King would be even stricter with the South Flood Dragons—terrified Jiang Li might come check things himself.

The old fisherman rubbed his bald head and chuckled, “Truth be told, I used to be as handsome as you, young man. I tried marrying into the Mermen Tribe too, but they didn’t pick me.”

Hearing him say “too,” Jiang Li had to clarify, “I’m not here to marry into the Mermen Tribe.”

“Heh heh, no need to be shy, lad. What’s wrong with living off your wife? That’s a skill in itself!” the old man said proudly.

The Mermen were wealthy for life, never lacking spirit stones. Many cultivators had no desire to work hard and hoped to marry in, relying on their looks.

And now that the Mermen Princess was holding a courting ceremony, cultivators were literally elbowing each other out of the way to participate.

Plus, the Mermen were all female. Any offspring would be mermen too—no risk of tainting the bloodline.

Thinking about how the once-bullied Mermen had become so sought-after, Jiang Li felt a bit better, despite getting ripped off earlier.

“Give me two crabs, one red shrimp, and two jin of barnacles,” Jiang Li said, buying some seafood from the fisherman and planning to get it cooked at a local stall.

The marketplace had places that specialized in cooking seafood—steamed, stir-fried, you name it.

“You didn’t overcharge me, right?” Jiang Li asked warily.

The old man looked annoyed, as if insulted. “Don’t lump me in with those crooks. You already got scammed once—how could I scam you again? If I scam anyone, it’ll be someone else.”

“Relax, I didn’t overcharge you this time.”

So you still want to scam someone, huh? Jiang Li thought someone ought to start regulating the South Sea marketplace. Its prices fluctuated like the tides.

Unfortunately, the Human Sovereign Hall didn’t manage such trivial matters.

Thanks to directions from the still-somewhat-honest old man, Jiang Li found a seafood stall only locals knew about.

“Stir-fry the crabs, steam the shrimp and barnacles.”

“Got it!” The waiter slung a towel over his shoulder and took Jiang Li’s seafood to the back.

“Huh?” Jiang Li didn’t expect to run into familiar faces here—three of them, in fact.

“Young man, this is your chance! You’re clearly in love with her too. If you don’t act now, are you gonna just watch the Princess toss her ball to someone else?”

“But… but I’m a sword cultivator. My master says this is my prime cultivation period. I shouldn’t get distracted by romantic stuff. And besides, I… I’m too afraid to confess and define our relationship.”

“Sword cultivator? So what? You’re the sword, she’s the scabbard—perfect match!” The two cultivators egged him on.

The sword cultivator felt these two were definitely the kind of guys who sold dirty books—everything out of their mouths was so suggestive.

Jiang Li facepalmed. “Commander Ma Zhuo, watch your mouth. This is a public place.”

“Hall Master?”

“Human Sovereign?!”

The three were none other than Commander Ma Zhuo and Seven Kill Daozi—Li Fugui.

Jiang Li had no idea how the three of them ended up together.