Chapter 42

After distributing the roasted fish and returning to her seat, Yu Tao reached up to touch her hair. The cat hairpin felt cool to the touch.

She quietly felt happy in her heart, but couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed. After returning to the sect, she probably wouldn’t have such opportunities again.

Hua Lian, smiling, started a conversation with her: “Junior Sister, what made you decide to go into the sea to find Yu Li that day?”

A young Qi Refinement disciple dared to go in, it really shocked him.

“Because you said Little Senior Brother can’t swim,” Yu Tao answered honestly.

Hua Lian rested his chin on his hand, pressing on: “So, you were really worried about him, right?”

Yu Tao nodded.

Hua Lian continued, coaxing her: “Normally, when facing danger, people would think of themselves first. But you went without hesitation, not caring about yourself at all. So, does that mean you… hm!”

Before he could finish, Zhu Mingyu, sitting nearby, stuffed a piece of roasted fish into his mouth, “Senior Brother Hua Lian, if you don’t eat it now, it’ll get cold.”

Lu Qingyu lightly laughed: “Senior Brother Yu Li is Junior Sister Taotao’s Senior Brother. It’s natural for him to worry. Senior Brother Hua Lian, don’t overthink it. Junior Sister Taotao was the same when she saved Junior Sister Zhu last time.”

In their eyes, Yu Tao’s feelings for Yu Li were purely those of a Senior Brother and Junior Sister. If Hua Lian stirred things up and turned it into something more ambiguous, that would be a problem. They had to stop him.

So, the two of them kept asking Hua Lian questions, one after another, not giving him any opportunity to talk to Yu Tao.

Hua Lian’s little scheme ended up going to waste, and he couldn’t help but feel frustrated.

Later that night, after everyone had grown tired, they fell asleep leaning against the rocks. Yu Tao watched as they slept deeply, wondering how much energy they had spent breaking the second formation eye. She covered Zhu Mingyu and Lu Qingyu with quilts.

Yu Tao was also about to sleep when a blue spiritual butterfly suddenly flew in front of her, circled a couple of times, and then flew toward the sea. Seeing that she didn’t follow, it flew back and circled around her again.

“It’s that mermaid looking for you,” Yu Li, who had not fallen asleep, suddenly said.

Yu Tao stood up and followed the blue spiritual butterfly. Yu Li walked behind her.

The butterfly stopped behind a huge rock, and Yu Tao saw the blue-tailed mermaid lying on a rock, lazily playing with the water.

When the mermaid saw Yu Tao coming over, her eyes brightened: “You came.”

Two seconds later, upon noticing Yu Li behind her, her expression darkened, “Why did he come too?”

“Little Senior Brother is worried I might get into trouble.”

Yu Tao crouched down, “What do you need from me?”

Feng Mian patted his fish tail, sending a few splashes of water into the air, his voice somewhat excited as he asked, “Are you the daughter of the Goddess?”

Although the Goddess had worn a veil and only showed her eyebrows and eyes, Yu Tao’s smile really resembled the Goddess’s, and she also held the Goddess’s fish-scale key in her hand.

Yu Tao gently nodded.

That golden scale was left by her mother, and the sculpture was also of her. The Goddess in Feng Mian’s words must have been her mother.

Feng Mian was delighted: “Then where is the Goddess now?”

“My mother has already passed away.”

Feng Mian was stunned. It had only been a few decades, how could she…

He couldn’t quite accept it: “She was so powerful, how did she die?”

Yu Tao pressed her lips together: “She fell into the sea.”

Feng Mian couldn’t believe it: “If you told me she was killed by a demon beast or an enemy, that would have been somewhat believable, but falling into the sea? That’s the least likely. She was so skilled, and she could swim. You’re lying…”

“I have no reason to lie to you.” Yu Tao repeated, “She fell into the sea.”

It happened right in front of her, and she saw it clearly. At that time, she had cried out and jumped in to find her, but she couldn’t catch her hand.

Feng Mian fell silent. Yes, she really had no reason to lie to him.

He never imagined that after waiting for decades, the Goddess would die like this.

Yu Tao was somewhat confused: “You said my mother’s cultivation was very high?”

Feng Mian nodded with a melancholic expression: “Yes, very high. In our mermaid cultivation system, it’s equivalent to the Dragon Transformation stage.”

“Ah, I think in your human terms, it would be called the Mahayana stage.”

Yu Tao was stunned.

But in her childhood memories, her mother was just an ordinary person with no cultivation, struggling to even fetch water.

If what Feng Mian said was true, then what had happened over the past few decades for her mother to go from a Mahayana cultivator to an ordinary person with no spiritual power?

Yu Tao asked Feng Mian how much he knew about her mother, but Feng Mian shook his head: “Aside from this, I don’t know anything else.”

Yu Tao sighed softly: “Alright.”

“We’ll be leaving here tomorrow. We’ll tell others that there’s nothing here, and try to make people ignore this place.”

“You all should try not to be so rash. If any ships accidentally enter, just find a way to send them out without damaging their vessels.”

Feng Mian felt a bit awkward: “We usually aren’t like this. I thought you were with the people from before, all here to capture us.”

Yu Tao was confused: “The people from before?”

Feng Mian nodded and reminisced: “About a month ago, before your two ships arrived, another ship entered. I thought it was just a mistake, so I ignored it and figured they’d leave on their own. But they sneaked into the sea, searching everywhere. When Little Yue was playing outside, they saw her. Fortunately, I taught her to run fast, so she nearly got caught but managed to escape.”

“There’s a restriction array in place, so they couldn’t use spiritual power. They weren’t a match for us in the sea, but they used underhanded methods and poisoned the waters. Fortunately, we had the antidote left by the Goddess, so we barely escaped.”

Feng Mian became a bit angry as he continued: “I sent out the vines to counterattack, but those bastards ran off pretty quickly. Hmph, if they had run just a bit slower, I’d have killed them all.”

Yu Tao thought for a moment. It seemed the poisonous mist near Yongning Town also started about a month ago. Could the timing really be this coincidental?

She asked a strange question: “But it’s been a month since that ship, how did you conclude that we’re with them?”

“Because of the ship,” Feng Mian said, blowing out a bubble that transformed into the shape of a triangular anchor.

“Your ship has the same mark as theirs.”

Yu Tao furrowed her brow. The ship was one prepared by Yongning Town. She had looked at the ships before boarding. Half of the ships docked at the pier had this mark, which was unique to Yongning Town.

This meant that a month ago, someone had used a Yongning Town ship to come here in an attempt to capture mermaids. However, because of the restrictions, they had failed.

Coincidentally, after that, the poisonous mist started appearing, and Brother Song Hong and the others found that the source came from this secret realm.

She looked over at the silent Yu Li, realizing that the young man was also deep in thought. It seemed they had come to the same conclusion.

Yu Tao hesitated: “Little Senior Brother, tomorrow I want to…”

“Alright,” the young man raised his eyes. “I will have them leave first.”

Yu Tao handed over the antidotes that Hua Lian had given her to Feng Mian. “If anyone poisons again, use this.”

“After they leave tomorrow, don’t restore the restrictions immediately.”

Feng Mian held the antidote: “What are you planning to do?”

Yu Tao smiled. It felt like she had used this method many times before. When she first met Little Senior Brother, he had used this approach to deal with sea monsters, and later, she learned to use it as well. It had always worked.

She chuckled and replied, each word deliberate: “Fishing.”

Feng Mian blinked a couple of times, shyly saying, “You’re being so direct. Aren’t you afraid I won’t take the bait?”

Yu Tao: “…”

The young man slowly glanced at the fish.

Hmm, with this level of intelligence, he wasn’t worried that Yu Tao would take an interest in him.

Yu Tao was momentarily speechless, not yet sure how to explain to the fish that this “fishing” wasn’t the same as that “fishing,” and certainly didn’t involve him, the mermaid. Just as she was trying to figure it out, her wrist was suddenly grabbed, and she was pulled backward.

The young man’s voice was cool and calm: “Let’s go. Time to sleep.”

“Remember not to restore the restrictions tomorrow.”

Worried the silly fish might forget, Yu Tao reminded him once more before following Yu Li back to their temporary camp.

As usual, Yu Li stayed up to keep watch. Yu Tao couldn’t convince him to rest, so she decided to wait until everyone had left tomorrow and then figure out a way to turn him into a cat to catch up on his sleep.

She was tired too, so she found a comfortable position, hugged a soft pillow, and fell asleep.

When Yu Tao woke up the next morning, she found herself lying in the bed of a small wooden cabin, and it was raining outside, the drops ticking steadily.

She pushed open the door and saw the cold, clear-eyed young man sitting under the eaves at the doorway, the rain falling in front of him.

Yu Tao asked, “Little Senior Brother, have they all left?”

“Mm.”

Yu Li’s voice was soft. “I’ve made arrangements. After they return, they’ll spread the word that the island’s restrictions only have one layer. Now we just need to wait.”

Yu Tao glanced at the sky. It was dim, yet there was a hint of light, not quite morning, more like midday. She had slept for quite a long time.

She searched her mind for a reason, then lightly cleared her throat. “Um, Little Senior Brother.”

Yu Li raised his eyes, his pale golden gaze both beautiful and cold.

“What is it?”

Yu Tao nervously fiddled with her fingers, twisting and turning as she said, “You mentioned before that you could sleep with me. Does that still stand?”

“Now that it’s daytime, there’s no real danger. Just a short rest should be fine, right? Don’t worry, I won’t do anything to you, and I definitely won’t take the chance to touch you.”

“Cough, cough, cough… Pfft!”

A sudden cough from the left interrupted the moment, and Yu Tao immediately froze, slowly turning her head to look.

Then she saw a familiar face, her pupils constricting.

Hua Lian, barely holding back his cough, finally caught his breath and sighed, “Junior Sister, you’re quite… um, proactive.”

Yu Tao: “…”

Yu Tao, feeling completely defeated, said, “Second Senior Brother, what are you doing here?”

Hua Lian clicked his tongue twice and said, “I’ve been sitting here the whole time. Who knew that as soon as you came out, your gaze was glued to Yu Li, not moving an inch? You didn’t even notice I was right here, to your left, at the door.”

Yu Tao could only cover her face, her cheeks burning. “I thought you left with everyone else.”

“What I said earlier doesn’t mean anything, I just meant sleeping, nothing more. Second Senior Brother, don’t misunderstand.”

Hua Lian nodded and waved his hand, saying, “Don’t worry, Senior Brother understands.”

He stood up, hands behind his back, and put on a solemn face. “Oh, why do I suddenly feel like taking a walk in the rain? Don’t mind me, I’ll wander around and then come back.”

Yu Tao: “…”

It seemed like she had explained, but also hadn’t explained at all.

Hua Lian left, and Yu Tao felt frustrated, wondering if Second Senior Brother had misunderstood her again.

Well… why did she say “again”?

It must be because Hua Lian was so unreliable.

Yu Li, however, didn’t seem to have much of a reaction. He stood up and walked into the room. Yu Tao had just made a little nest for him with pillows when she turned around and found him taking off his clothes, his long fingers slowly and deliberately unbuttoning his collar.

Yu Tao: “!!!”

The righteous Yu Tao immediately turned away, not daring to look, stammering, “L-Little Senior Brother, you can just turn into a cat, no need to take your clothes off!”

The young man’s tone was calm, “But I don’t want to turn into a cat today.”

Yu Tao was stunned, and then his voice came again from behind.

“Wasn’t it just about sleeping? What are you afraid of?”

He paused for a moment, and his tone became a bit more serious, “Or… do you dislike my human form?”