94.2

The cold water felt both familiar and strange against his skin, and he subconsciously looked at his legs. The tail that had allowed him to come and go freely was no more. Ice blue eyes closed gently, and when they opened again, all of his hesitation disappeared. His body shot into the darkness like an arrow. The deeper he went, the darker it grew. Then suddenly, a whole new world appeared before him.

The fine sand under his feet was white, the reef was black, and the colorful algae growing around emitted a faint light that illuminated everything.

Aside from the tail that had been lost, all the senses in his body told him -- he belonged here. But his heart resisted the calling and desired for the shore. He wandered around in the bottom of the sea, looking for traces of the sea lingzhi.

The deeper he walked, the emptier it became. When he approached an area where even seaweed no longer grew, he felt an undercurrent with a hint of something unusual. He followed it until a faint light appeared.

He walked toward the faint light until he could see the outline of a lingzhi. But before his hand could touch it, a huge tentacle swept through, generating a wave that washed Changyi back several feet. Not having a fishtail was truly an inconvenience here. He looked at the sea demon that had interfered...

A row of ten eyes blinked at him from behind the sea lingzhi, and giant tentacles swayed back and forth.

"A tail split jiaoren of royal blood, idiotic to the extreme..."

The voice was low with a soundwave that boomed and trembled across the floor of the sea. Changyi calmly formed a seal in his hands then pulled out a three foot long ice sword between his palms. He pointed it at the sea demon.

"Get out of my way." The tentacles danced chaotically.

"You abandoned this world when you gave up your tail. How dare a traitor hope to still take anything belonging to the sea?!" With a hissing roar, the tentacles viciously threw themselves at Changyi. The ice sword flipped in the dark, and a pair of blue eyes glowed behind the blade...

.....

The ice above the frozen surface was\nsuddenly torn apart by a turbulence washing up from deep within the sea. Huge waves wrapped in ice smashed against the cliff and rumbled the earth, soaking everyone waiting on top.

Qu Xiaoxing and Luo Jinsang were stunned by the sudden disturbance, they had no idea what happened down below. Luo Jinsang was holding Ji Yunhe and could not move, so Qu Xiaoxing bravely went to the edge of the cliff to check on the situation. He looked down and saw a giant tentacle emerging from the thrashing waves.

"Ahhhhhhh!" Qu Xiaoxing shrieked in fear as he tumbled backward.

"Monster! A giant sea monster!" Before he crawled even two steps, the pink tentacle landed in front of him with a thud. It twisted and writhed, but... only half there?

It had been sliced off?

Qu Xiaoxing fell to the ground again and stared at the tentacle when the sound of footsteps approached him from behind. He turned around and saw the jiaoren standing there, dripping wet and wringing out water from his silver hair. His hand held a shimmering lingzhi.

"Sea lingzhi!" Qu Xiaoxing exclaimed excitedly. The jiaoren ignored him and walked to Ji Yunhe. Qu Xiaoxing pointed at the tentacle still twisting around in front of him and asked,

"What is this thing again?"

"Dinner," Changyi replied.

"Calamari." Qu Xiaoxing's face twitched. That tentacle was almost twice as thick as him...

This jiaoren… was perhaps a thousand times more frightening in the sea...